9.0

Author: Thomas Georges Excerpt: "Digital Soul stands out among the writings on future articial intelligence by taking seriously the reader's concern about the surrounding moral and societal issues. Georges paces these concerns in a proper perspective relativel to both the current state of the art and a future that we all know is coming" - Dr. Jay Palmer, physicist (retired), NOAA. .: Buy at Amazon.com :. .: Buy at Amazon.co.uk :.

This excellent books covers a lot of ground, but in a remarkably open and easy-to-follow fashion. The book is thoughtfully split into three main sections: the first dealing with AI and more philosophical questions, the second deals with moral and ethical issues surrounding new technologies and the final section looks at other pertinent issues such as societal issues and the effect of new technologies on our concept of God.

As mentioned, the book opens with a look at Artificial Intelligence, quite how computers can be smart, as well as an initial look at the Turing Test. Common philosophical questions and topics are covered such as the Mind-Body problem, the Chinese Room and the evolutionary value of introspection. While fairly rudimentary, the book attempts to provide a good, solid look at the areas of Artificial Intelligence that are pushing boundaries.

It becomes very apparent at this early stage that Georges is a very skilled writer; he takes a well balanced persepective, looking at both the pros and the cons of the subject matter throughout the book.

This is probably best demonstrated though during the middle section of the book that discusses the moral and ethical implications of new technologies. One chapter on the legal implications of sentient machines was definitely one of the most interesting chapters I've read in a book in a while. Georges extends the chapter to look at how changing legislation to deal with sentient machines might have implications that extend far into our own legal system - calling into question the penal system and much more.

It was these digressions and tangents thoroughout the book that made it so interesting. Far from distracting the reader from the case in point, these additional discussions added a further depth to the points Georges attempts to make, and provides a huge amount of brain food.

This trend continues through the final section of the book, that covers topics such as culture, immortality, even electronic democracy. The final section provides a excellent conclusion to the book - wrapping up various loose ends, and adding closing thoughts on how our technologies may affect even the most established or obscure areas of our life.

While the book isn't revolutionary, nor explores much new ground, it does present existing material is a very palatable way and from a variety of interdisciplinary persepectives.