The Atomic Human: What Makes Us Unique in the Age of AI
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- Create Date：2024-09-09 02:20:29
- Update Date：2025-09-07
- Status：finish
- Author：Neil D. Lawrence
- ISBN：B0CLKQBTW1
- Environment：PC/Android/iPhone/iPad/Kindle
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Summary
A renowned computer scientist seeks to understand whether artificial intelligence and machine learning will dominate us， separating myth from fact about one of the most important issues of our time。 Fears of AI not only concern how it invades our digital lives， but also the implied threat of an intelligence that displace us from our position at the center of the world。 If artificial intelligence is the automation of decision-making， what， then， is unique and irreplaceable about human intelligence， what does it mean for the human left behind？ Is there an essence， the core of the human， that can’t be replaced by the machine？ Through storytelling from his personal， family， and professional life， Neil Lawrence brings a timely， fresh perspective to this new， emerging era， recounting his personal journey to understand the riddle of intelligence。 By understanding the core of what makes us human – the “atomic human” – Lawrence provides the grounding we need to understand how AI can either be a tool for us or that we become a tool of AI， enabling us to choose the future we want。 Lawrence persuasively shows that we can only control AI and decide what is right for society by understanding our intelligence and contrasting it against the new intelligence we are creating – an intelligence he describes as “helpless” without humans， but also able to manipulate us if we do not have a frame of reference for AI’s way of thinking in relation to our own。 By contrasting our own （evolved， locked-in， embodied） intelligence with the capabilities of machine intelligence through history， The Atomic Human reveals the technical origins， capabilities and limitations of AI systems， and how they should be wielded。 Not just by the experts， but ordinary people。
Reviews
F K
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Geez， well， there are certainly many meaningful thoughts in this one， but the stream-of-consciousness-circular way it goes about getting to the point， but never actually reaching the full clarity of it， well it certainly got on my nerve and bored me at points， especially at the beginning， with the constant revisiting the Normandy landing story， adding little details each time， alas not always， sometimes it was literally the same story， and the story and other stories worked well because they mad Geez， well， there are certainly many meaningful thoughts in this one， but the stream-of-consciousness-circular way it goes about getting to the point， but never actually reaching the full clarity of it， well it certainly got on my nerve and bored me at points， especially at the beginning， with the constant revisiting the Normandy landing story， adding little details each time， alas not always， sometimes it was literally the same story， and the story and other stories worked well because they made sense in the context （remember this word） and were also personal， so good going there， mister Lawrence， but maybe， certainly， some editing wouldn't go amiss， or a lot of it。There was a lot of very interesting， cool stuff too， like how Amazon's machine-learning algorithms work behind the scenes to ensure the highest-standard customer service Amazon is known for; how encrypted communications were decrypted during WWII; how AI even came into being and how there were （are） two ways to go about it。All that swirling， encircling the main point: that humans process data less effectively but communicate more effectively than AI， and that converse is also true。 That AI exists in a limbo， but we humans don't， with that atomic particle， the indivisible substance that makes us human impossible to simulate or emulate。For now， at least。 Evil laughter。 。。。more
Teodora Petkova
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I enjoyed reading Lawrence's book a lot。 I loved the clear description of I/O throughput issues that humans have compared to a machine， as well as the critique to the reductionist approach to computer science。 Moreover， as a young professional in the space， it was really interesting for me to get an intuition of the recent history of AI/Comp Sci。My guess is that the book will be a bit hard to follow for people outside of the AI field。 I relied a lot on my already developed intuition about how bo I enjoyed reading Lawrence's book a lot。 I loved the clear description of I/O throughput issues that humans have compared to a machine， as well as the critique to the reductionist approach to computer science。 Moreover， as a young professional in the space， it was really interesting for me to get an intuition of the recent history of AI/Comp Sci。My guess is that the book will be a bit hard to follow for people outside of the AI field。 I relied a lot on my already developed intuition about how boolean logic， mathematics， deep learning， and probability work to understand the analogies and examples provided by the author。 Still， that's one of the few books that made me jump out of my seat to grab my diary and write and think deeply about the AI field。 10/10 would recommend to people seeking an impactful engagement with AI。 。。。more
Yosra Ali
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Don't read it if you are not okay with some disappointment。 This book lacks good quality editing。 It is longer than needed， badly structured and very badly drifting at points。 I can see a much better version of this book with around 100 pages or more truncated， many stories removed， and paragraphs reorganized。 I felt lost many times and bored some other times。 All “personal” stories concerning the grandparent for example can be easily just dropped。 And this is just one example。tThe book's stren Don't read it if you are not okay with some disappointment。 This book lacks good quality editing。 It is longer than needed， badly structured and very badly drifting at points。 I can see a much better version of this book with around 100 pages or more truncated， many stories removed， and paragraphs reorganized。 I felt lost many times and bored some other times。 All “personal” stories concerning the grandparent for example can be easily just dropped。 And this is just one example。tThe book's strength in my opinion is pulling all bits and pieces to help the reader understand “how did we arrive to where we are now” when it comes to Artificial intelligence （AI）。 It explained this with a taste of authenticity that is appreciated。 At points， I was very interested to know that different fields of research were taking place at the same time but for reasons （natural， social， historical， economical，。。。） one field prevailed and that led to the progression of research in one area over another。 This part of the book was for me the most interesting and gives it the most value in my opinion。 The book also explains some （sadly， not much in this area as I would have hoped） of the debates taking place currently in the industry around the field and growth of AI。 tAnother strength of the book in my opinion is the presentation of a crucial difference in the “current” AI implementation/growth （the current computer vs the current human）。 I am here saying “current” because unlike the author， I am not sure how the AI will progress and how this progress will affect humanity even in this area。The point the author makes is that humans have a brain that is able to think and process too many ideas but very limited space and tools with which to communicate these “thoughts”。 AI on the contrary is so much more efficient in getting in and sharing information/data but is unlikely to be able to “develop a good thought process”。The book discusses how the progress of AI has resulted in a new “view” of human nature。 The need to understand the atomic nature of the human （what are the building blocks of a human） as an AI research goal to “rebuild” the “human” through artificial intelligence。 I believe the book did good in explaining different human aspects and giving value to the “human society”， “human culture” and “human vulnerabilities”。 However， I am not sure I agree with the book's conclusions around these understandings or explanations all the time。 Finally， The book adds to the ongoing struggle to fully break into the understanding of AI and the future it entails。 However， the book disappointed me into making this addition without irrelevant and nonstop storytelling。 The book is also weak in offering a direction or a means that we can use to go from where we are now （giant companies holding the power of AI） into what the author believes we should do “less power to AI by disallowing it to make decisions without running it by humans”。 。。。more
Brian Clegg
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This is a real curate’s egg of a book。 Let’s start with the title - it feels totally wrong for what the book’s about。 ‘The Atomic Human’ conjures up some second rate superhero。 What Neil Lawrence is getting at is the way atoms were originally conceived as what you get when you pare back more and more until what’s left is uncuttable。 The idea is that this reflects the way that artificial intelligence has cut into what’s special about being human - but there is still that core left。 I think a much This is a real curate’s egg of a book。 Let’s start with the title - it feels totally wrong for what the book’s about。 ‘The Atomic Human’ conjures up some second rate superhero。 What Neil Lawrence is getting at is the way atoms were originally conceived as what you get when you pare back more and more until what’s left is uncuttable。 The idea is that this reflects the way that artificial intelligence has cut into what’s special about being human - but there is still that core left。 I think a much better analogy would have been the god of the gaps - the idea that science has taken over lots of what was once attributed to deities， leaving just a collection of gaps。At the heart of the book is an excellent point: how we as humans have great processing power in our brains but very limited bandwidth with which to communicate。 By comparison， AIs have a huge amount of bandwidth to absorb vast amounts of data from the internet but can’t manage our use of understanding and context。 This distinction is a crucial one and I’ve never seen it put better。There are plenty of other nuggets of fascination。 For example， from Lawrence’s time working at Amazon it’s interesting to hear how in the time it takes a customer’s web page to load， the system has to work out in the background where the customer is， what the stock is and where it’s located， from this calculating when to stop offering same day or next day delivery。 Another random intriguing part is the rift that effectively killed off the predecessor of AI， cybernetics - Lawrence says its demise was caused by a lie that was a ‘fabrication designed to drive a wedge between Wiener （Mr Cybernetics） and McCulloch （cyberneticist turned AI engineer）’。 Frustratingly， though， we are not told who told the lie or why they did so。What gets in the way of this being a great book are its length and （lack of） structure。 The content simply doesn’t justify such an endlessly long feeling book。 But I could have coped with that if it wasn’t for the way it’s put together。 To say it meanders is a huge understatement。 It’s quite ironic that at one point Lawrence comments that at Facebook an ex-colleague discovered that ‘instead of a patchwork quilt you needed to weave a tapestry’。 This is no tapestry。There’s a sort of greatness to the plethora of scattergun references repeatedly pulling back to central themes of AI vs human intelligence and the twin foci that Lawrence repeatedly visits of the end of the Second World War and his personal experience， particularly when working at Amazon。 It is to a popular science book what a James Joyce novel is to a readable one。 Some love Joyce… others don’t。 I’m afraid I found it hugely irritating - the book cries out for some imposition of order。One other small moan - you would think from reading this that Cambridge Analytics had been eminently successful in their ability to use post likes to predict psychometric measures。 Yet David Sumpter’s Outnumbered tells us that it was a useless predictor of almost all measures， only likely to have succeeded to a degree with one。 I have no reason to doubt Sumpter on this。I am still giving the book four stars because when you get to those nuggets the content is important and interesting。 We could have done with a bit more on the practical aspects of controlling AI - I take Lawrence’s point that the essential is preventing AI from being used to make life-changing decisions unchecked by humans （which probably includes not allowing it to drive cars）， but it doesn't really suggest how we get practically from here to there。 Even so， it’s an interesting book if you can cope with that near stream-of-consciousness storytelling。 。。。more
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the atomic human what makes us unique in the age of ai the age of ai and our human future the age of reason the age of enlightenment what makes us human common humanity中文