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The Most Human Human
- What Talking with Computers Teaches Us About What It Means to Be Alive
- Narrated by: Brian Christian
- Length: 9 hrs and 37 mins
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The Most Human Human
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Summary
The Most Human Human is a provocative, exuberant, and profound exploration of the ways in which computers are reshaping our ideas of what it means to be human. Its starting point is the annual Turing Test, which pits artificial intelligence programs against people to determine if computers can “think.” Named for computer pioneer Alan Turing, the Turing Test convenes a panel of judges who pose questions—ranging anywhere from celebrity gossip to moral conundrums—to hidden contestants in an attempt to discern which is human and which is a computer. The machine that most often fools the panel wins the Most Human Computer Award. But there is also a prize, bizarre and intriguing, for the Most Human Human. In 2008, the top AI program came short of passing the Turing Test by just one astonishing vote. In 2009, Brian Christian was chosen to participate, and he set out to make sure Homo sapiens would prevail. The author’s quest to be deemed more human than a computer opens a window onto our own nature. Interweaving modern phenomena like customer service “chatbots” and men using programmed dialogue to pick up women in bars with insights from fields as diverse as chess, psychiatry, and the law, Brian Christian examines the philosophical, biological, and moral issues raised by the Turing Test. One central definition of human has been “a being that could reason.” If computers can reason, what does that mean for the special place we reserve for humanity?
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Critic reviews
"THE MOST HUMAN HUMAN is immensely ambitious and bold, intellectually provocative, while at the same time entertaining and witty – a delightful book about how to live a meaningful, thriving life." (Alan Lightman, author of Einstein’s Dreams and Ghost)
"A book exploring the wild frontiers of chat-bots is appealing enough; I never expected to discover in its pages such an eye-opening inquest into human imagination, thought, conversation, love and deception. Who would have guessed that the best way to understand humanity was to study its imitators?" (David Eagleman, author of Sum and Why The Net)
"This is a strange, fertile, and sometimes beautiful book. It has been said that man creates images of himself, then comes to resemble the images. Something like this seems to be going on with the computer. Brian Christian writes with a rare combination of what Pascal took to be two contrary mindsets: the spirit of geometry and the spirit of finesse. He takes both the deep limitations and halting progress of artificial intelligence as an occasion for thinking about the most human activity - the art of conversation." (Matthew B. Crawford, author of Shop Class as Soulcraft)
What listeners say about The Most Human Human
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Cristian Tcaci
- 29-01-22
So good that I don't even need to explain
Beautifully narrated, well put together but that's just a bonus. The whole "story" in itself is so good and humanely profound that every person in search for meaning and value will appreciate this book. It gives genuine points of view regarding very important matters such as what it means to be human, in a fascinating, calm, clear and warm way that it makes my mind wander through space.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- BEHNAZ
- 16-04-17
better AI
it was nice to hear this book, it explains some of the combats between computer and human or a better word human making artificial intelligence more human.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Federico
- 28-05-18
Fantastic audiobook
This is a remarkable book! Very enjoyable mix of philosophy and computer science. Highly recommended
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- David Mears
- 16-12-21
held my interest, would listen again
no overarching thesis per se, just thoughts related to humans and computers. would listen again
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
- George
- 26-05-11
Incredible
Gently mind-bending, eye-opening and highly engaging stuff. A little philosophy, many questions, a lot of science and a clever hook, I fear I'll be raving about this book for year to come, and evaluating myself as a human and what it means to be one for possibly longer! Thanks Brian Christian! Best popular science book for the layman since Bad Science by Ben Goldacre, which I will insist on recommending to everyone as long as I persist as a human human.
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2 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- Shah
- 15-01-23
Dam near theological in scope
This book covers the history of a simple test in concept. Get a computer to fool a human to believe it too is a human. Via a back and fourth in text only messages.
Sounds simple enough. However, this book reveals the vast gaps between man and machine and the progress made over the years by scientists in bridging that gap.
The book had me pondering upon human consciousness and our relationship with language it self. The very language we are exposed to is also shaping how we think...
Have revisted this book a couple of times. It could do with a revision to incorporate the latest advancements made, please and thank you.
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