12 Bytes: How Artificial Intelligence Will Change the Way We Live and Love
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- Create Date：2022-11-13 06:52:31
- Update Date：2025-09-06
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- Author：Jeanette Winterson
- ISBN：1529112974
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Summary
'Briskly and breezily， 12 Bytes joins the dots in a neglected narrative of female scientists， visionaries and code-breakers' Observer
Twelve eye-opening， mind-expanding and provocative essays from Sunday Times-bestselling author Jeanette Winterson
Drawing on her years of thinking and reading about Artificial Intelligence in its bewildering manifestations， Jeanette Winterson looks to history， religion， myth， literature， politics and， of course， computer science， to help us understand the radical changes to the way we live and love that are happening now。
With wit， compassion and curiosity， Winterson tackles AI's most interesting talking points， from the algorithms that data-dossier your whole life， to the weirdness of backing up your brain。
'Her writing engulfs you in lucid， fairytale-like realities that take you on gender-bending and time-warped explorations of religion， love， sex， and sexual identity。' Independent
*A 'BOOKS OF 2021' PICK IN THE GUARDIAN， FINANCIAL TIMES AND EVENING STANDARD*
Twelve eye-opening， mind-expanding and provocative essays from Sunday Times-bestselling author Jeanette Winterson
Drawing on her years of thinking and reading about Artificial Intelligence in its bewildering manifestations， Jeanette Winterson looks to history， religion， myth， literature， politics and， of course， computer science， to help us understand the radical changes to the way we live and love that are happening now。
With wit， compassion and curiosity， Winterson tackles AI's most interesting talking points， from the algorithms that data-dossier your whole life， to the weirdness of backing up your brain。
'Her writing engulfs you in lucid， fairytale-like realities that take you on gender-bending and time-warped explorations of religion， love， sex， and sexual identity。' Independent
*A 'BOOKS OF 2021' PICK IN THE GUARDIAN， FINANCIAL TIMES AND EVENING STANDARD*
Reviews
Crystal
，
I honestly think there need to be more humanities majors writing in depth about technology so I appreciated this book。 Sometimes a bit basic for my tastes but I finally noped out of being a sysadmin in 2015/2016 after about 17 years so I'm definitely rusty and AI was never something I had dabbled in。 She's a lot more hopeful than I am about AI and tech and her take on it would likely not move too many people in tech but hopefully this gets some people interested on either side。 I honestly think there need to be more humanities majors writing in depth about technology so I appreciated this book。 Sometimes a bit basic for my tastes but I finally noped out of being a sysadmin in 2015/2016 after about 17 years so I'm definitely rusty and AI was never something I had dabbled in。 She's a lot more hopeful than I am about AI and tech and her take on it would likely not move too many people in tech but hopefully this gets some people interested on either side。 。。。more
Berni
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This book by British Writer Jeanette Winterson takes the form of 12 essays on Artificial Intelligence （AI） and how it impacts our lives and how it will continue to do so （sometimes in frightening ways） in the future。 A fascinating read。 I highly recommend it， although perhaps I would have preferred to remain blissfully in the dark on non-biological life forms of the future， made to look like us。
Stacey
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3。5 rating 。。"and there's no need to be afraid of the technology。 It's how we use it that matters。"In her latest novel， Winterson explores how artificial intelligence has slowly become part of our society。 There are many people， like Elon Musk， who feel that “the scariest problem is artificial intelligence — an invention that could pose an unappreciated fundamental existential risk for human civilization。" 。。while another part of our society would like to work alongside AI to make our life's bet 3。5 rating 。。"and there's no need to be afraid of the technology。 It's how we use it that matters。"In her latest novel， Winterson explores how artificial intelligence has slowly become part of our society。 There are many people， like Elon Musk， who feel that “the scariest problem is artificial intelligence — an invention that could pose an unappreciated fundamental existential risk for human civilization。" 。。while another part of our society would like to work alongside AI to make our life's better。I think I'm somewhere in the middle。 "Domination isn't the answer。 Compassion and cooperation are our best chance now。"The difference between AI and human beings is compassion。 I think that's where my skepticism comes in to play。 For example， Winterson brings up the self-driving car。 The idea is brilliant， but what if an animal walks in front of the car？ Most people would move around the animal to avoid hitting it， but AI （at this point） does not have that capability。 Or what if there are two younger people on the left side of the car and an elderly person on the right side。 In an accident， an AI car may make the decision that the two younger people should be saved and turn the car to the right for collision。 Human beings react on instinct and make quick decision judgement calls motivated by their feelings。 AI doesn't have feelings。 As Winterson points out， human beings have a limbic system。 We act on emotions。 I think the most shocking chapter in this book is about sex dolls and how popular and advanced they have become。 😳*Winterson gives readers lots to consider in this novel。 AI has definitely improved our lives and makes things easier， but I also can see the dangers on relying on it for everything。 Time will tell how embedded it may become in our future selves。* 。。。more
Sanarya
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"Hell is a place where nothing changes" I can't put into words how genius this woman is。 Every essay in this book is carefully thought of and put together with perfect amount of information and "empathy"。 The way she variously explores everything AI can have an effect on is genius。 It's like she's holding your hand while reading the book and is constantly whispering "it's gonna be fine" Definitely my favorite read of this year。 "Hell is a place where nothing changes" I can't put into words how genius this woman is。 Every essay in this book is carefully thought of and put together with perfect amount of information and "empathy"。 The way she variously explores everything AI can have an effect on is genius。 It's like she's holding your hand while reading the book and is constantly whispering "it's gonna be fine" Definitely my favorite read of this year。 。。。more
Mark
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Ok， but in the end it just became too dull。
Benjamin Zapata
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12 essays on AI's and AGI，。。。how they got here， and how our future looks with them in our life。 Why we love them， and some people fear them， and how they can improve our world。 12 essays on AI's and AGI，。。。how they got here， and how our future looks with them in our life。 Why we love them， and some people fear them， and how they can improve our world。 。。。more
Ryan Cusick
，
Mostly great。 Winterson is one of my favorite authors ever。 I literally wrote my senior thesis about her。 I loved learning about the dawn of computer science， the gender disparities still happening today， and the possibilities for AI technologies。 However， I have trouble not rolling my eyes at this ubiquitous idea that robots are going to take over and kill us。 It's not just Winterson。 But I nearly had to quit the book。 Glad I kept reading， since each essay handles a different topic。 Would recom Mostly great。 Winterson is one of my favorite authors ever。 I literally wrote my senior thesis about her。 I loved learning about the dawn of computer science， the gender disparities still happening today， and the possibilities for AI technologies。 However， I have trouble not rolling my eyes at this ubiquitous idea that robots are going to take over and kill us。 It's not just Winterson。 But I nearly had to quit the book。 Glad I kept reading， since each essay handles a different topic。 Would recommend， but take with a grain of salt。 。。。more
C
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Ehh， this is probably a 2。5？ Winterson is great from a prose perspective。 Her essays are agile， weaving threads as variant as Plato and Descartes and vampires and Gnosticism and Buddhist philosophy with the history and future of computer technologies。 There are some great metaphors here。 And metaphor is a very powerful thing in and of itself， but this book felt a bit light on actual analysis。 If you're already a woman who's interested in topics like transhumanism and AGI， you won't necessarily f Ehh， this is probably a 2。5？ Winterson is great from a prose perspective。 Her essays are agile， weaving threads as variant as Plato and Descartes and vampires and Gnosticism and Buddhist philosophy with the history and future of computer technologies。 There are some great metaphors here。 And metaphor is a very powerful thing in and of itself， but this book felt a bit light on actual analysis。 If you're already a woman who's interested in topics like transhumanism and AGI， you won't necessarily find a lot that's new here。 I was frustrated by a tendency to fall back on a certain moralistic gender essentialism: the "we need more women in tech because of women's superior compassion and people skills" argument。 。。。more
Helen
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These essays are all really interesting。 I learnt a lot about AI， those in charge of it and the treatment of women and girls in this area of life。 I wanted to gift it to all my friends and their daughters， so that is always a good sign。
Joan Harthan
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I listened to this as an audio book。 It's a series of essays about AI （Artificial Intelligence） starting with the industrial revolution right on up to the present day and possible futures。 It was fascinating， informative and very relevant to current social and political issues。 Perhaps Liz Truss should read the part about the best way to grow the UK economy。 I also liked that the book ends on an optimistic note for the human species。 Whether that optimism is justified or not remains to be seen。 I listened to this as an audio book。 It's a series of essays about AI （Artificial Intelligence） starting with the industrial revolution right on up to the present day and possible futures。 It was fascinating， informative and very relevant to current social and political issues。 Perhaps Liz Truss should read the part about the best way to grow the UK economy。 I also liked that the book ends on an optimistic note for the human species。 Whether that optimism is justified or not remains to be seen。 。。。more
Earwen
，
The chapters focusing on the now are decent but anything future centric is based on the faulty premise that AGI isn't only possible， or even plausible ， but inevitable。 There is no real justification given for this fantasy but reiterated again and again （"I am sure that。。" why？）。 So more than half of this is the equivalent of being based on the premise of the moon being made of cheese。 In the end a lot of the essays were a real stretch to connect to AI anyway。 There also were no less than 3 essa The chapters focusing on the now are decent but anything future centric is based on the faulty premise that AGI isn't only possible， or even plausible ， but inevitable。 There is no real justification given for this fantasy but reiterated again and again （"I am sure that。。" why？）。 So more than half of this is the equivalent of being based on the premise of the moon being made of cheese。 In the end a lot of the essays were a real stretch to connect to AI anyway。 There also were no less than 3 essays focused on misogyny， besides the one focusing on sex bots I found them out of place。 The last thing is， at some point she calls COVID-19 nature's way of culling humans， that "perhaps should be accepted"。 I am taking this out of context but there is no context that will make it more acceptable to say perhaps these deaths should be accepted。 What a callous thing to say especially considering how overwhelmingly it kills people in risk groups already。 。。。more
Megan
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Verfrissende blik op het verleden， heden en toekomst van AI， vanuit een intersectionele perspectief met aandacht voor menselijke waardes en dan vooral liefde
cat
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Rounding up from a 3。5 because 。。。 Jeanette Winterson。
Sophia Regitnig
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4。5 stars。 12 funny and provocative essays about the implications of artificial intelligence on the way we live。 Winterson has a knack for drawing correlations between classic literature， modern time， and the *future*。 And being funny at the same time。
Yara Cernich
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A must read for everyone who wants to get a glimpse of the future of technology！
Nancy Mills
，
Really fun book， I'm glad I did the audio， the author reads it herself and is delightful。 More of a collection of essays and very much from her own perspective （I don't always agree with her opinions but she is awfully likable and fun to listen to， and extremely imagintative！） NOT exactly a "sciencey" type books， more of a social commentary on People and AI。 Some quirky subjects （I mean that in a good way！） including a chapter called "My Bear Can Talk！" which addresses the apparently innate tend Really fun book， I'm glad I did the audio， the author reads it herself and is delightful。 More of a collection of essays and very much from her own perspective （I don't always agree with her opinions but she is awfully likable and fun to listen to， and extremely imagintative！） NOT exactly a "sciencey" type books， more of a social commentary on People and AI。 Some quirky subjects （I mean that in a good way！） including a chapter called "My Bear Can Talk！" which addresses the apparently innate tendency for people， from childhood， to assign conscious qualities to inanimate objects such as Teddy bears。 It gets pretty weird when she talks about lifelike female "companions" to lonely men （or those who just want a partner who is always agreeable， adoring and beautiful）。 And then there are little humanoid robots who help kids with their schoolwork， and little robotic dogs for people who don't like to clean up poop or work long hours or are not with-it enough to be trusted with a live one。。。。Lots here from the LGBTQ perspective which is kind of unique and rather interesting。 As a regular old boring straight person it's cool to have a perspective which I would normally not think of。 Some very cool stuff on women and computer programming。 It was once considered "women's work" probably because during WWII and in the early days of the space program， women were employed to crunch the numbers， generally manually。 Winterson talks about the programmer-cum-enterpreneur Stephanie Shirley who becomes an independent programming contractor who hires only women， mostly working at their kitchen tables， and when the company goes public 70 of her employees along with herself become millionaires （she was a huge philanthropist。） In order to be taken seriously in these early days of computer science， she slightly changes her name to "Steve" and business booms。 Women back then were looked at as somewhat inferior and definitely not generally capable of logic！The only thing I objected to in the book， when she was talking about social media and regulating and such， was she said several times that "Hate Speech is not Free Speech。" This perspective can be dangerous。 The opposite of Free Speech is， say， prisoners of war being forced to denounce their country to avoid torture， or （more commonly） a person being forbidden to express their opinions or testimony to the public。 AI has absolutely no clue， especially at this juncture， on what's acceptable speech and what's not。 My sweet friend got a severe warning and was censored by the Facebook nazis because she commented on Peter's post: "Peter， you are extremely eloquent pig！" Well。。。。this is just wrong on so many levels。 First of all， Peter was a pig。 He had his own Facebook page with friends around the world。 And he was indeed very eloquent。 And also 。。。 you mean， Facebook allows people to let fly the F bomb all over the place but objects to the label "pig？" I mean 。。。。 if you cant keep your values straight， then STOP JUDGING。 Free Speech should always be given the benefit of the doubt， unless it is obviously harmful。 On the order of allowing users to plan a terrorist attack。 Not speech that might hurt the feelings of curmudgeonly old prudes or emotionally delicate woke people。 IFree Speech is a Big Deal （'course， I'm an American and we are kind of defensive about our Constitutional rights）。 I do not trust the government， social media， my dearest friend， or any kind of AI to censor my speech。 But just disagreeing on a point or two did not diminish my enjoyment of this clever book。 Very educational and entertaining。 Do not expect it to be an in-depth study of how AI works， but rather an engaging and imaginative comtemplation on how it affects us， and possibly will impact the future。 。。。more
Allisonperkel
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What a lovely， fresh and powerful take on humans， our future， our past and AI。 The work is amazingly well researched， the conclusions are thought provoking， the history lessons powerful and the writing superb。
David
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12 ensayos sobre el futuro de la sociedad y de cómo la inteligencia artificial， los robots y el feminismo pueden ayudar a que sea un poco mejor。Apuesta por el feminismo de referentes。 Crítica con el patriarcado。 Interesantes ensayos con datos interesantes。
Laura
，
I loved this book of essays by this author who I love。 essays about technology and the future。 I love the discussions about technology not just from a doomsday or optomistic perspective
annabelle
，
this rocked top 5 nonfiction books i’ve ever read！ gave it to my dad to borrow
Michelle Welch
，
Another example of how I love everything Jeanette Winterson writes。 This collection of essays about technology， AI， the history of computers， and what the future might look like is educational but easy to grasp， wary yet hopeful。
Alicia SG
，
Jeannette Winterson me hace volverme egoísta， me gustaría poder absorber todos los textos de sus libros por la piel para que se quedasen intactos en mi memoria para siempre。 Un libro sobre inteligencia artificial y como puede influirnos en el futuro。 Cómo humanizar la tecnología y conseguir un espacio mejor para todxs。
Daan
，
A very nice collection of essays about the potential role of AI in relation to humans。 It's very refreshing to read a different take on this than what is often a dystopian future。 It also explores different kinds of relationships between humans in the past as a basis for the argumentation of possible outcomes in the future。 As a technical reader I did irk a few times on some of the more technical statements and/or explanations， but understood in the end that that is not the goal of this book。 Th A very nice collection of essays about the potential role of AI in relation to humans。 It's very refreshing to read a different take on this than what is often a dystopian future。 It also explores different kinds of relationships between humans in the past as a basis for the argumentation of possible outcomes in the future。 As a technical reader I did irk a few times on some of the more technical statements and/or explanations， but understood in the end that that is not the goal of this book。 The author tries to tell stories; a different kind of story by people not in tech about the creations that the tech industry produces。 And that it accomplishes very well。 Would like to give it 4。5/5 。。。more
HLD
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Very interesting collection of essays on artificial intelligence through a feminist lens。
Elizabeth
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Thought provoking。
Stephanie B
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12 essays broken into 4 sections tackling the subjects of technology， AI， and AGI from a captivating， optimistic and hopeful feminist perspective。 While the book is broken into 4 sections， all of the essays play against each other and circle around each other， and really go together quite well。 I hardly put it down and read it straight through despite the topic that generally might feel a bit dry for me after a bit - Winterson is almost unbelievably engaging。 She writes in a completely accessibl 12 essays broken into 4 sections tackling the subjects of technology， AI， and AGI from a captivating， optimistic and hopeful feminist perspective。 While the book is broken into 4 sections， all of the essays play against each other and circle around each other， and really go together quite well。 I hardly put it down and read it straight through despite the topic that generally might feel a bit dry for me after a bit - Winterson is almost unbelievably engaging。 She writes in a completely accessible way， passionately and provocatively with multitudes of fascinating facts and optimistic， motivating what-if scenarios。 A very appealing part of this book is how she looks back at history to guide us （and help us make wiser choices） for where she feels we are at with technology - a crucial turning point。 Her topics are wide-ranging， she draws upon Gnosticism， Buddhism， Descartes， Frankenstein， Dracula， vampires， Oscar Wilde， Plato， Aristotle， Le Guin， the Epic of Gilgamesh， Goethe， BF Skinner， （just to name a few！） and connects these pieces through time and space by relating this wisdom to where we are and where we may go with our privacy， data， smartphones and robots。I also love how she’s able to weigh these very real problems humanity is currently facing by looking at them through a novelist's lens of love， religion， the nature of art and creativity， and the mystery of our own inner lives （which she argues we should still aim to protect）。 The essays wrap up quite thoughtfully and beautifully， and I think I will probably read this one again。 It’s almost impossibly optimistic， but maybe it’s exactly what we need。 This book is full of insights， and hopefulness for things we can do now to affect positive change on our collective future。 Even if technology isn’t heading towards AI/AGI as quickly as she thinks it may， her advice on what is happening right now is urgently important - highly recommend this one。 “AI doesn’t have a skin color or gender - by making it mostly white and mostly male at every stage， we’re reinforcing a problem we need to solve。 If AI and AGI really is going to benefit the many and not the few， people invited to the table must include more people of color， more women， and more people with a humanities background - rather than an overwhelming number of male physicists。” “The arts aren’t a leisure industry - the arts have always been an imaginative and emotional wrestle with reality - a series of inventions and creations。 A capacity to think differently， a willingness to change our understanding of ourselves。 To help us to be wiser， more reflective， less frightened people。 " 。。。more
Elizabeth
，
Even though I would have preferred a novel， the great Jeanette Winterson does not disappoint
Dale
，
Well written， thought provoking and informative。 None-the less， it is two books in one。 The authors attempt to weave together a treatise on gender discrimination with one on our emerging relationship with information technology ultimately fails。 Very worthwhile， especially listening to her read her own work。
Leah Agirlandaboy
，
100% brilliant。 This isn’t something I’d normally pick up based on subject matter （the history and future of artificial intelligence）， but I’ll read anything by Jeanette Winterson because everything she does is smart and funny and provocative and boundary pushing in ways that make her texts feel like sitting in a favorite college course with a favorite professor （one who’s mastered the art of the snarky aside）。 These essays are about technology， yes， but they’re even more about what it means to 100% brilliant。 This isn’t something I’d normally pick up based on subject matter （the history and future of artificial intelligence）， but I’ll read anything by Jeanette Winterson because everything she does is smart and funny and provocative and boundary pushing in ways that make her texts feel like sitting in a favorite college course with a favorite professor （one who’s mastered the art of the snarky aside）。 These essays are about technology， yes， but they’re even more about what it means to be human， both the good and the bad of it—love， empathy， innovation， etc。， and also greed， misogyny， and ignorance， both willful and not—and everything in between。 If your summer reading goals include something outside your usual fare and/or something that makes you think， I highly recommend this。 And if you want to explore some of the same territory in fiction， Winterson’s “Frankissstein” （dumb title， great book） is also excellent。 。。。more
John
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