God-like: a 500 Year History of Artificial Intelligence: Myths, Machines, Monsters will be published on 15th March 2024.
Order a signed copy from my local, Bookseller Crow in SE London, or ask your local bookshop to order one in.
You can also order paperback or e-book from Amazon
‘Beautifully written… a fascinating account of our centuries-old desire to build machines with higher intelligence and – now that we have done – our agony about what to do with them.’
– Professor Sir Christopher Pissarides, Nobel Laureate and lead on the Pissarides Review into the Future of Work and Wellbeing
In the year 1600 a monk is burned at the stake for claiming to have built a device that will allow him to know all things.
350 years later, having witnessed ‘Trinity’ – the first test of the atomic bomb – America’s leading scientist outlines a memory machine that will help end war on earth.
25 years in the making, an ex-soldier finally unveils this ‘machine for augmenting human intellect’, dazzling as he stands ‘Zeus-like, dealing lightning with both hands.’
AI is both stunningly new and rooted in ancient desires. As we finally welcome this ‘god-like’ technology amongst us, what can learn from the myths and monsters of the past about how to survive alongside our greatest ever invention?
I touched on these themes in my book GETTING HIGH. Now, in my role as Head of Communications at the Institute for the Future of Work – a research charity exploring how AI and automation are transforming the UK labour market – I have had the opportunity to work with some of the leading academics, policymakers and thought-leaders on AI. GOD-LIKE is the distillation of all of that, a book that cuts through the hype – and the horror – and gets right to the core human questions that this extraordinary technology will ask of us.
Pre-order the book here.