Life 3.0: Being Human in the Age of Artificial Intelligence by Max Tegmark

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

A speculative but realistically framed look at life in the age of AI. More specifically, this book contemplates advances in AI that result in human-level ‘artificial general intelligence’ and above- that an AI would be ‘capable’ to do multiple things just like we humans can (as opposed to today’s AI that is narrowly tailored to one role e.g. chess). The author puts forth a convincing case that such advancement may result in an exponential boom of AI ability- propelling such AI systems to artificial super intelligence.

A book that sets out the foregoing, in a credible yet explainable manner, is by itself instantly a must-read for every person curious about the future. What makes this book special is that it takes the chance offered by this premise to do a deep dive into the concepts of consciousness, goals and intelligence- deriving them from first principles in the context of such phenomena developing in non-living entities. Excellent. Lastly, what makes this book a bona-fide 5 starrer is that each chapter has a summary section at the end. Given the nature of the book, it was understandably felt necessary, but the skill of Tegmark’s writing often ensured that the summaries did not feel necessary.

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