Flesh and Machines: How Robots Will Change Us - Softcover

Brooks, Rodney

Softcover

ISBN 10: 037572527X ISBN 13: 9780375725272

Publisher: Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, 2003

Synopsis

Are we really on the brink of having robots to mop our floors, do our dishes, mow our lawns, and clean our windows? And are researchers that close to creating robots that can think, feel, repair themselves, and even reproduce?

Rodney A. Brooks, director of the MIT Artificial Intelligence Laboratory believes we are. In this lucid and accessible book, Brooks vividly depicts the history of robots and explores the ever-changing relationships between humans and their technological brethren, speculating on the growing role that robots will play in our existence. Knowing the moral battle likely to ensue, he posits a clear philosophical argument as to why we should not fear that change. What results is a fascinating book that offers a deeper understanding of who we are and how we can control what we will become.

About this title

Review

The world of HAL and Data, of sentient machines, is fast approaching. Indeed, in some ways it has already arrived, as humans incorporate bionic technology and as humanlike machines increasingly take on the work of humans.

Rodney Brooks, a professor of engineering at MIT, has been involved in this transformation for decades. He has helped design robots that reason, at least after a fashion. The machines are as yet primitive, but, Brooks writes, in five years the boundary between what is now fantasy and fact will be breached, and intelligent machines will come into their own. With them will come a host of ethical problems, as we wrestle with the implications of Asimov's laws of robotics and with the very real possibility that we have created a new kind of slave. There's no way of getting around this future, it would seem, and, adds Brooks, our species will change in the bargain: "With all these trends we will become a merger between flesh and machines."

Antitechnologists may shudder at the story line, but readers interested in the gee-whiz possibilities of the digital age will be fascinated by Brooks's vision of what is and what will be. --Gregory McNamee

From the Back Cover

“A book that will spark intense reactions and generate mind-twisting questions.” -The Boston Globe

“A stimulating book written by one of the major players in the field–perhaps the major player. . . . Offers surprisingly deep glimpses into what it is to be human.” -The New York Times Book Review

“Brooks . . . lucidly explores his life with robots....Flesh and Machines ranges far and wide, but remains unified by the author's passion.”–Wired

“Readers don’t have to share Brooks’ vision of the future to love reading his book, the imaginative work of a skilled yet genial provocateur.”–Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

“Brooks [is] the irrepressible Pied Piper of robotics.” –Los Angeles Times

“A considered and thought-provoking work. . . . This is the best kind of popular science book: The ideas are clear and accessible but not dumbed down.”–American Scientist

“A man-as-machine thesis that is presented accessibly and humanely.” –Booklist

Edition details

• Publisher: Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group
• Publication date: 2003
• ISBN 10: 037572527X
• ISBN 13: 9780375725272
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 272