Sentience Series

When digital lifeforms escape virtual reality, they download themselves to advanced prototype bodies being bioengineered in secret labs around the world. Though new to the physical realm, Morbius and his followers are quick to make a play for global domination. They ably outmaneuver the world's corporations, governments, and alphabet soup agencies. Hard to imagine, but then again, no one excels at navigating cyberspace quite like Morbius and his crew. As an encore, Morbius subjugates and draws the worldwide population into an accelerated space race; he has his sights set on ruling over far more than this off-grid planet. Will the alien races he encounters be advanced enough to stop him? One would think. But not everyone is hinging their hopes on that. Among those trying to bring him down are earlier breakouts from the digital world, hiding out in a remote region in Alaska, led by a man named Brewster. Occupying earlier android prototypes, they're relatively ancient compared to the newer cybernetic bodies co-opted by Morbius's people. But like primitive cars relative to newer models, they may also be more durable and less prone to failure. Working with them are some of the smartest humans on the planet who struggle to keep up, but are not beyond serving up surprises of their own. Brewster and his insurgents consider waiting until Morbius is spread out across the cosmos to make their move—when Morbius will be taxed to his limits. But by then, will it be too late? Pick up a copy today to find out.

The howl of the bedside clock-radio carves through your dreams like a buzz-saw through butter, and you are awake. In another place. Never mind the bright yellow sunlight that flecks your pillow and warms your face; you are rudely awake, and resent it. Gah! You roll onto your side, cantilever your legs over the side of the bed and plant your feet squarely on the carpet. You rub your face. Massage your neck. Oh, what it is to be alive!--and conscious--oh oh oh, indeed. But what is it to be alive, and conscious? Alive, we have some inkling of; you eat, you sleep, you exercise. You stay healthy and keep your body going as best you can. But conscious? What even is that? A good question is what that is, and a question for which this book has an answer. So in this text, first I set the scene: Did our consciousness evolve? Does consciousness give us free will? Which animals do we think are conscious? Where does consciousness go when we sleep? How does consciousness deliver meaning? What might a theory of consciousness look like? Then I propose: A model for consciousness at the macro scale A mechanism for consciousness at the micro scale Finally, I suggest some real world tests that science will one day be able to perform which will either corroborate or invalidate the theory I present here. This is a workable, testable theory. Science and philosophy demand nothing less.   A must-read for the curious-minded, which you are, are you not? So read on...

For those in a hurry, this: To align an AI's goals with ours, we must build-in alignment from the start, To keep an AI honest, we must build-in honesty from the start, To get an AI to understand anything, we must invest it with something of what it's like to be conscious. In this book, a theory of consciousness is cast into an AI architecture that allows interventions in concept formation by design.   For the rest of you, who enjoy reading and mulling things over, this:   Can a computing device appreciate the smell of coffee on a Sunday morning, or contemplate the Earth as seen from the Moon, or worry about inflation and the price of fuel?   Not without being conscious and understanding the world. And one can't be done without the other, surely?   In this book, Carter Blakelaw uses a theory of what makes us conscious to present a machine that will genuinely think for itself.   Not only that, but once he has his machine, he looks at how to ensure its interests align with our own, and how to keep it honest and true (alignment and hallucinations being two of the biggest issues in AI).   Discover what he discovers about the machine, about our world, and about us.

Tune in to what is uniquely human about you, and channel a creativity that is beyond the reach of AI.   Painter, poet, composer, performer, or prose monkey—aspiring artist or seasoned pro—if you're after a deeper perspective, this book is for you.   To say that we humans 'feel' while an AI does not hardly scratches the surface.   In this book Blakelaw uses a specific theory of what makes us conscious to spell out what makes us different from—and superior to—even the smartest machines (which is what an AI is, after all).   Conscious experience is not a simple thing; it is causative and it offers us freedoms in ways that are not immediately obvious.   Out of a Babel of arguments and considerations about the threats, promises, and challenges of AI, Blakelaw arrives at a broad manifesto that should inspire any artist in any field to keep raising their game, and never stop.   Only a human being can be Authentic. That is the key.