Here Be Dragons

Science, Technology and the Future of Humanity

Olle Haggstrom

Offers vital outside-the-box thinking about the future.
Demostrates the key role of ethics in thinking about the future of humanity.
Offers a uniquely balanced view of transhumanism (its pros and its cons).
Gives insights into climate science, artificial intelligence, nanotechnology and a wide range of other fields.

Here Be Dragons

Science, Technology and the Future of Humanity

Olle Haggstrom

Description

There is a widely held conception that progress in science and technology is our salvation, and the more of it, the better. This, however, is an oversimplified and even dangerous attitude. While the future will certainly offer huge changes due to such progress, it is far from certain that all of these changes will be for the better. The unprecedented rate of technological development that the 20th century witnessed has made our lives today vastly different from those in 1900. No slowdown is in sight, and the 21st century will most likely see even more revolutionary changes than the 20th, due to advances in science, technology and medicine. Particular areas where extraordinary and perhaps disruptive advances can be expected include biotechnology, nanotechnology, and machine intelligence. We may also look forward various ways to enhance human cognitive and other abilities using, e.g., pharmaceuticals, genetic engineering or machine-brain interfaces - perhaps to the extent of changing human nature beyond what we currently think of as human, and into a posthuman era. The potential benefits of all these technologies are enormous, but so are the risks, including the possibility of human extinction. This book is a passionate plea for doing our best to map the territories ahead of us, and for acting with foresight, so as to maximize our chances of reaping the benefits of the new technologies while avoiding the dangers.

Here Be Dragons

Science, Technology and the Future of Humanity

Olle Haggstrom

1. Science for good and science for bad
2. Our planet and its biosphere
3. Engineering better humans?
4. Computer revolution
5. Going nano
6. What is science?
7. The fallacious Doomsday Argument
8. Doomsday nevertheless?
9. Space colonization and the Fermi Paradox
10. What do we want and what should we do?

Here Be Dragons

Science, Technology and the Future of Humanity

Olle Haggstrom

Author Information

Olle Haggstrom, Professor of mathematical statistics, Chalmers University of Technology

Olle Haggstrom is a professor of mathematical statistics at Chalmers University of Technology and a member of the Nobel Prize awarding Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. His most noted research achievements are in probability theory, but his cross-disciplinary research interests are wide-ranging and include climate science, artificial intelligence, and philosophy. He has more than 80 publications in scientific journals, and is a prolific science blogger.

Here Be Dragons

Science, Technology and the Future of Humanity

Olle Haggstrom

Reviews and Awards

"This is an engaging tour through the hinterlands of techno-possibility. Highly recommended." --CHOICE

Here Be Dragons

Science, Technology and the Future of Humanity

Olle Haggstrom

From Our Blog

Can a robot be conscious?

Can a robot be conscious? I will try to discuss this without getting bogged down in the rather thorny issue of what consciousness '' really is. Instead, let me first address whether robot consciousness is an important topic to think about. At first sight, it may seem unimportant. Robots will affect us only through their outward behavior, which may be more or less along the lines of what we tend to think of as coming along with consciousness, but given this behavior, its consequences to us are not affected by whether or not it really is accompanied by consciousness.

Posted on January 22, 2016

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Does the 'Chinese room' argument preclude a robot uprising?

There has been much recent talk about a possible robot apocalypse. One person who is highly skeptical about this possibility is philosopher John Searle. In a 2014 essay, he argues that "the prospect of superintelligent computers rising up and killing us, all by themselves, is not a real danger".

Posted on January 28, 2016

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Let us not run blindfolded into the minefield of future technologies

There is a widely held conception that progress in science and technology is our salvation, and the more of it, the better. This is the default assumption not only among the general public, but also in the research community including university administration and research funding agencies, all the way up to government ministries. I believe the assumption to be wrong, and very dangerous.

Posted on January 15, 2016

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