Intelligence Unbound: The Future of Uploaded and Machine Minds

Someday in the not–too–distant future, the greatest minds on Earth might be intelligent machines – conventional or quantum logic programs running on immensely powerful and ever smaller computers. But can human minds bound by biology possibly keep up? And will such artificial or enhanced minds turn against humanity, or will they join us in the search for deeper understanding and meaning? Might our own minds be uploaded into “machines of loving grace” – albeit ones working at the speed of light? These provocative questions are addressed in Intelligence Unbound , a collection of state–of–the–art essays that explore the prospects, promises, and potential dangers of machine intelligence and uploaded minds. By deeply probing the nature and ethics of tomorrow’s machine minds – and the possible convergence of humans and machines – the essays consider a variety of intriguing possibilities that could emerge from the inexorable advances of science and engineering. The essays are contributed by a wide range of innovative thinkers, including top scholars in the philosophy of consciousness, experts in AI development, and neuroscientists.  All provide intriguing insights – with the occasional dash of skepticism – into the realms of machine intelligence and uploaded minds. Scholarly and thought–provoking, Intelligence Unbound offers a serious and sobering glimpse into the possible future of humankind and machine.

Notes on Contributors ix Introduction I: Machines of Loving Grace (Let’s Hope) 1 Damien Broderick Introduction II: Bring on the Machines 11 Russell Blackford 1 How Conscience Apps and Caring Computers will Illuminate and Strengthen Human Morality 26 James J. Hughes 2 Threshold Leaps in Advanced Artificial Intelligence 35 Michael Anissimov 3 Who Knows Anything about Anything about AI? 46 Stuart Armstrong and Seán ÓhÉigeartaigh 4 Nine Ways to Bias Open–Source Artificial General Intelligence Toward Friendliness 61 Ben Goertzel and Joel Pitt 5 Feasible Mind Uploading 90 Randal A. Koene 6 Uploading: A Philosophical Analysis 102 David J. Chalmers 7 Mind Uploading: A Philosophical Counter–Analysis 119 Massimo Pigliucci 8 If You Upload, Will You Survive? 131 Joseph Corabi and Susan Schneider 9 On the Prudential Irrationality of Mind Uploading 146 Nicholas Agar 10 Uploading and Personal Identity 161 Mark Walker 11 Whole Brain Emulation: Invasive vs. Non–Invasive Methods 178 Naomi Wellington 12 The Future of Identity: Implications, Challenges, and Complications of Human/Machine Consciousness 193 Kathleen Ann Goonan 13 Practical Implications of Mind Uploading 201 Joe Strout 14 The Values and Directions of Uploaded Minds 212 Nicole Olson 15 The Enhanced Carnality of Post–Biological Life 222 Max More 16 Qualia Surfing 231 Richard Loosemore 17 Design of Life Expansion and the Human Mind 240 Natasha Vita–More 18 Against Immortality: Why Death is Better than the Alternative 248 Iain Thomson and James Bodington 19 The Pinocchio Syndrome and the Prosthetic Impulse 263 Victor Grech 20 Being Nice to Software Animals and Babies 279 Anders Sandberg 21 What Will It Be Like To Be an Emulation? 298 Robin Hanson Afterword 310 Linda MacDonald Glenn Index 321

Russell Blackford is an Australian philosopher, literary critic, and author, based at the University of Newcastle, NSW. He is editor–in–chief of The Journal of Evolution and Technology , and his books include Freedom of Religion and the Secular State (Wiley–Blackwell, 2014). Damien Broderick is an award–winning Australian science and fiction writer, editor and critical theorist. He has written or edited some 60 books, including The Spike (revised, ed. 2002), the first full–length treatment of the technological Singularity, and Year Million (ed. 2008), about the deep future.