Contents

Sometime this century, machines will surpass human levels of intelligence and ability. This event — the “Singularity” — will be the most important event in our history, and navigating it wisely will be the most important thing we can ever do.

Luminaries from Alan Turing and Jack Good to Bill Joy and Stephen Hawking have warned us about this, and it doesn’t depend on the occurrence of Ray Kurzweil’s particular vision of an “accelerating change” Singularity. Why do I think Hawking and company are right, and what can we do about it?

Facing the Singularity is my attempt to answer these questions.

  1. My Own Story
  2. From Skepticism to Technical Rationality
  3. Why Spock is Not Rational
  4. The Laws of Thought
  5. The Crazy Robot’s Rebellion
  6. Not Built to Think About AI
  7. Playing Taboo with “Intelligence”
  8. Superstition in Retreat
  9. Plenty of Room Above Us
  10. Don’t Flinch Away
  11. No God to Save Us
  12. Value is Complex and Fragile
  13. Intelligence Explosion
  14. The AI Problem, with Solutions