Book Reviews: Tech Drama & Dramatic Tech

This has been a tremendous and surprising year in reading. I enjoy a good non-fiction book, especially those dealing with particle physics or astrophysics for the layperson; I also appreciate a good history. Speaking of history, I stumbled upon a delightful series of history books titled The Shortest History of… you fill in the blank. I've read several books in this series, and each has been informative and fun, both reinforcing history I'm familiar with and illuminating areas of ignorance. Still, I'm more of a fiction guy. I read for fun and to study the craft of other (more accomplished) authors.

This year, I've delved into some fascinating non-fiction regarding the rise of AI and the pitfalls of social media, which, in my opinion, are intimately intertwined, for better or worse. I also truly enjoyed a work of pure fiction that nevertheless feels eerily prescient. 

Tech Drama & Dramatic Tech

Dramatic Tech: The Singularity is Nearer by Ray Kurzweil

Let's start with the optimist of the bunch! Kurzweil is an unapologetic, optimistic futurist, especially when it comes to AI. The singularity referred to in the title The Singularity is Nearer is the merging of artificial intelligence with human intelligence. To paraphrase what he states multiple times in the book, people have no need to be afraid of AI because we will be AI. He means this in the most literal sense. He envisions a day when our biological brains will be scanned into computers, allowing us to merge seamlessly with digital intelligence.

Additionally, he views our biological brains and digital brains as complementing each other for the benefit of humanity and life on Earth. Previously insurmountable challenges will quickly become easily solvable. Kurzweil is an optimist who clearly believes in the power of technology for the betterment of just about everything. Hopefully, if what he predicts comes to fruition, it will be as beneficial as he imagines.

Oh, and by the way, he thinks the singularity is closer than you might think, as in 2045.

Tech Drama: Empire of AI by Karen Hao

You trust all those tech titans, heading companies developing cutting-edge AI, right? You might think again after reading Empire of AI by Karen Hao. Her book sheds light on the dubious practices of many AI companies, prompting you to question their leaders' moral scruples. In the quest for ever-better generative AI, companies are exploiting the global south for cheap labor, creating, in effect, an age of technological colonialism. What do the AI companies need cheap labor for, you ask? To review the nastiest content produced by their models, stuff they don't want the general public to ever see. The companies have discovered it's cheaper and far easier to hire people to review questionable output rather than build in guardrails upfront.

Let's not forget about the massive data centers needed to power the latest large language models in the pursuit, perhaps a quixotic one, of AGI or artificial general intelligence. Basically, this refers to a chatbot becoming truly sentient. The monumental strain these facilities put on the water and electrical infrastructure of the surrounding communities is no joke. Hopefully, the future benefit will outweigh the costs.

Unfortunately, the benefit of pursuing AGI is questionable at best. It comes at a cost, and there is no guarantee of success. Part of the cost of pursuing AGI is that other beneficial AI approaches are being left behind and forgotten. For example, Hao points out that there are proven machine learning models that can be used very effectively to combat climate change and find cures for maladies. However, little work is done on these models because the deciders believe the biggest rewards are in AGI.

More Tech Drama: Careless People by Sarah Wynn-Williams

One disturbing thing is the commingling of AI with social media. If you find the narrative of Careless People at all compelling, you can't help but feel that the players in the social media landscape don't have the individuals' or even countries' best interests in mind when they make decisions. They're only interested in what will bring them money and influence. One must wonder how much more polarized the world will become as AI-powered bots provide people with content tailored to keep them glued to the screen, scrolling and scrolling and scrolling.

Of course, social media companies aren't alone in this behavior. Examine how legacy media companies are treating late-night comics at the government's behest. The literary community is no stranger to censorship—just look at all the books that have been banned over the years. Do you want to be a rebel? Go watch some late-night comedy. But if you want to be a real rebel, the kind who overthrows empires, do something really perilous, an act the "man" doesn't want you to do, no matter what, read banned books and think dangerous thoughts.

Prescient Fiction..? 2054 by Elliot Ackerman and Admiral James Stavridis

This is the second book I've read by Ackerman and Stavridis. I enjoyed the previous yarn by the duo, titled 2034, about an eerily plausible World War III. It's a solid book, but not great. 2054 is much the same in terms of quality, but I liked it quite a bit more. You see, the aforementioned Ray Kurzweil and his ideas play a prominent role in the tale. I won't go into too many details here other than to say the story feels prescient, worrisome, and does not paint a sunny day scenario.

Parting Thoughts

In my day job, I work in IT, and the whole AI thing is becoming a bigger and bigger deal every single day, and has been for a while. It's not going anywhere, at least not in the foreseeable future, unless we wipe ourselves out with nukes or some equally apocalyptic catastrophe. There are many benefits to AI, from machine learning models helping combat climate change to ChatGPT narrowing down the best and cheapest hotels for the trip you're planning to Spain.

Having said that, I'm also an author whose work has been stolen to train AI models. It's not as if I make a ton of money from my writing, but I have poured my time, heart, and soul into it. And that's the problem. It's not AI that's screwing people over; it's the companies and the individuals behind them who are. They're doing that by stealing people's work. They think that since they're doing it at scale, they get away with it. Hopefully, the lawsuits being leveled against those companies will help balance the scales and convince the players in AI to stop blatantly using people's work without permission.

If Kurzweil's dream comes to fruition, the long-term success or failure of that venture won't rest in the technology, but in the humanity of its creators and users.