The Line (Hardcover)

James Boyle

ISBN 10: 0262049163 / ISBN 13: 9780262049160

Published by MIT Press Ltd, 2024

About this Item

Hardcover. How AI will challenge our ideas about personhood.A "terrific" exploration of AI in our chatbot-obsessed era-and how it will challenge our ideas about personhood (New Yorker)Chatbots like ChatGPT have challenged human exceptionalism- we are no longer the only beings capable of generating language and ideas fluently. But is ChatGPT conscious? Or is it merely engaging in sophisticated mimicry? And what happens in the future if the claims to consciousness are more credible? In The Line, James Boyle explores what these changes might do to our concept of personhood, to "the line" we believe separates our species from the rest of the world but that also separates "persons" with legal rights from objects.The personhood wars-over the rights of corporations and animals, over the question of when life begins and ends-have always been contentious. We've even denied the personhood of members of our own species. How will those old fights affect the new ones, and vice versa? Boyle pursues these questions across a dizzying array of fields. He discusses moral philosophy and science fiction, transgenic species, nonhuman animals, the surprising history of corporate personality, and AI itself. Engaging with empathy and anthropomorphism, courtroom battles on behalf of chimps, and doom-laden projections about the threat of artificial intelligence, The Line offers fascinating and thoughtful answers to questions about our future that will arrive sooner than we think. How AI will challenge our ideas about personhood. Shipping may be from our Sydney, NSW warehouse or from our UK or US warehouse, depending on stock availability.

Seller Inventory # 9780262049160

Bibliographic Details

• Title: The Line (Hardcover)
• Publisher: MIT Press Ltd
• Publication Date: 2024
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0262049163
• ISBN 13: 9780262049160
• Binding: Hardcover
• Condition: new

About this title

Synopsis

A “terrific” exploration of AI in our chatbot-obsessed era—and how it will challenge our ideas about personhood (New Yorker)

Chatbots like ChatGPT have challenged human exceptionalism: we are no longer the only beings capable of generating language and ideas fluently. But is ChatGPT conscious? Or is it merely engaging in sophisticated mimicry? And what happens in the future if the claims to consciousness are more credible? In The Line, James Boyle explores what these changes might do to our concept of personhood, to “the line” we believe separates our species from the rest of the world but that also separates “persons” with legal rights from objects.

The personhood wars—over the rights of corporations and animals, over the question of when life begins and ends—have always been contentious. We’ve even denied the personhood of members of our own species. How will those old fights affect the new ones, and vice versa? Boyle pursues these questions across a dizzying array of fields. He discusses moral philosophy and science fiction, transgenic species, nonhuman animals, the surprising history of corporate personality, and AI itself. Engaging with empathy and anthropomorphism, courtroom battles on behalf of chimps, and doom-laden projections about the threat of artificial intelligence, The Line offers fascinating and thoughtful answers to questions about our future that will arrive sooner than we think.

About the Author

James Boyle is the William Neal Reynolds Professor of Law at Duke Law School, the founder of the Center for the Study of the Public Domain, and former Chair of Creative Commons. He is the author of The Public Domain and Shamans, Software and Spleens, the coauthor of two comic books, and the winner of the Electronic Frontier Foundation’s Pioneer Award for his work on digital civil liberties.