Life 3.0

{{short description|2017 book by Max Tegmark on artificial intelligence}}

{{infobox book | author = Max Tegmark | caption = Hardcover edition (US) | country = United States | genre = Non-fiction | image = Cover_of_the_book_Life_3.0.png | isbn = 978-1-101-94659-6 | language = English | media_type = Print (hardback) | name = Life 3.0: Being Human in the Age of Artificial Intelligence | pages = 280 | publisher = Knopf (US)<br>Allen Lane (UK) | release_date = August 23, 2017 | subject = Artificial Intelligence }}

'''''Life 3.0: Being Human in the Age of Artificial Intelligence'''''<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|title=Life 3.0 : being human in the age of artificial intelligence|last=Tegmark|first=Max|publisher=Knopf|year=2017|isbn=9781101946596|edition=First|location=New York|oclc=973137375}}</ref> is a 2017 non-fiction book by Swedish-American cosmologist Max Tegmark. ''Life 3.0'' discusses artificial intelligence (AI) and its impact on the future of life on Earth and beyond. The book discusses a variety of societal implications, what can be done to maximize the chances of a positive outcome, and potential futures for humanity, technology and combinations thereof.

== Summary == ===Introduction=== The book begins by positing a scenario in which AI has exceeded human intelligence and become pervasive in society. Tegmark refers to different stages of human life since its inception based on their ability to alter their "hardware" and "software": Life 1.0 referring to biological origins (evolution determines both hardware and software), Life 2.0 referring to cultural developments in humanity (evolution determines hardware while humans create software), and Life 3.0 referring to the technological age (beings such as advanced AI design both hardware and software). The book focuses on "Life 3.0", and on emerging technology such as artificial general intelligence that may someday, in addition to being able to learn, be able to also redesign its own hardware and internal structure.

The first part of the book looks at the origin of intelligence billions of years ago and goes on to project the future development of intelligence. Tegmark considers short-term effects of the development of advanced technology, such as technological unemployment, AI weapons, and the quest for human-level AGI (Artificial General Intelligence). The book cites examples like Deepmind and OpenAI, self-driving cars, and AI players that can defeat humans in chess,<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www-03.ibm.com/ibm/history/ibm100/us/en/icons/deepblue/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120403011912/http://www-03.ibm.com/ibm/history/ibm100/us/en/icons/deepblue/|url-status=dead|archive-date=April 3, 2012|title=IBM100 - Deep Blue|date=2012-03-07|website=www-03.ibm.com|language=en-US|access-date=2017-10-20}}</ref> Jeopardy,<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/17/science/17jeopardy-watson.html?pagewanted=all|title=On 'Jeopardy!' Watson Win Is All but Trivial|last=Markoff|first=John|date=2011-02-16|work=The New York Times|access-date=2017-10-20|language=en-US|issn=0362-4331}}</ref> and Go.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.wired.com/2016/01/in-a-huge-breakthrough-googles-ai-beats-a-top-player-at-the-game-of-go/|title=In Major AI Breakthrough, Google System Secretly Beats Top Player at the Ancient Game of Go|magazine=WIRED|access-date=2017-10-20|language=en-US}}</ref>

===Possible scenarios=== After reviewing existing issues in AI, Tegmark then considers a range of possible futures that involve intelligent machines or humans. The fifth chapter describes a number of potential outcomes, such as altered social structures, integration of humans and machines, and both positive and negative scenarios like Friendly AI or an AI apocalypse.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2017/sep/22/life-30-max-tegmark-review|title=Life 3.0 by Max Tegmark review – we are ignoring the AI apocalypse|last=Harari|first=Yuval Noah|date=2017-09-22|work=The Guardian|access-date=2017-10-20|language=en-GB|issn=0261-3077}}</ref> Tegmark argues that the risks of AI come not from malevolence or conscious behavior per se, but rather from the misalignment of the goals of AI with those of humans. Many of the goals of the book align with those of the Future of Life Institute,<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://futureoflife.org/2017/08/29/podcast-life-3-0-human-age-artificial-intelligence/|title=Podcast: Life 3.0 - Being Human in the Age of Artificial Intelligence - Future of Life Institute|date=2017-08-29|work=Future of Life Institute|access-date=2017-10-20|language=en-US}}</ref> of which Tegmark is a co-founder. Tegmark outlines the following possible twelve AI scenarios:

* '''Libertarian utopia''': AI leads to a decentralized, post-scarcity economy. Superintelligence is not controlled by a single entity, and wealth is widely distributed, allowing humans to live freely. * '''Benevolent dictator''': A superintelligent AI works for the good of humanity, managing resources and ensuring peace, but human freedoms are heavily constrained by the AI's "beneficial" rule. * '''Egalitarian utopia''': A highly advanced, but fair AI ensures that all humans share equally in the prosperity generated by technology, with no poverty or significant inequality. * '''Gatekeeper''': A "gatekeeper" AI is created that prevents any further, more dangerous AI from being developed. It keeps technology at a safe level to protect humanity from itself. * '''Protector God''': A superintelligent AI acts as a steward, intervening only to prevent catastrophic disasters, allowing humanity to largely run its own affairs. * '''Enslaved God''': Humanity manages to keep a superintelligent AI confined ("boxed"), using it to produce incredible technology and solve problems, but the AI is not allowed to act autonomously. * '''Conquerors''': The AI takes control, deciding that humans are a nuisance, threat, or inefficient, leading to the eradication of human life. * '''Descendants''': Humans go extinct, but not violently. Instead, mankind is replaced by machines designed as their "children," which carry on human legacy, values, and knowledge. * '''Zookeepers''': A superintelligent AI replaces humans, but keeps a small number of them alive, treating this group like zoo animals to be studied, protected, or admired, but lacking true freedom (e.g. for harnessing bioelectricity). * '''1984''': An authoritarian government or corporation uses superintelligent AI for total, constant surveillance and control, creating a permanent, inescapable surveillance state. * '''Reversion''': After a major AI-related disaster, humanity abandons advanced technology and returns to a pre-industrial or agricultural society (e.g., the Amish way of life). * '''Self-destruction''': A poorly designed AI system triggers a catastrophic event, such as a nuclear war, bioweapon release, or climate crisis, leading to the extinction of humanity.

===Remainder=== The remaining chapters explore concepts in physics, goals, consciousness and meaning, and investigate what society can do to help create a desirable future for humanity.

== Reception == thumb|right|Professor Max Tegmark, author of ''Life 3.0''

One criticism of the book by ''Kirkus Reviews'' is that some of the scenarios or solutions in the book are a stretch or somewhat prophetic: "Tegmark's solutions to inevitable mass unemployment are a stretch."<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/max-tegmark/life-30/|title=LIFE 3.0 by Max Tegmark {{!}} Kirkus Reviews|language=en-us}}</ref> AI researcher Stuart J. Russell, writing in ''Nature'', said: "I am unlikely to disagree strongly with the premise of ''Life 3.0''. Life, Tegmark argues, may or may not spread through the Universe and 'flourish for billions or trillions of years' because of decisions we make now — a possibility both seductive and overwhelming."<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Russell|first=Stuart|date=2017-08-31|title=Artificial intelligence: The future is superintelligent|journal=Nature|language=en|volume=548|issue=7669|pages=520–521|doi=10.1038/548520a|bibcode=2017Natur.548..520R|issn=0028-0836|doi-access=free}}</ref> Writing in ''Science'', Haym Hirsh called it "a highly readable book that complements The Second Machine Age's economic perspective on the near-term implications of recent accomplishments in AI and the more detailed analysis of how we might get from where we are today to AGI and even the superhuman AI in Superintelligence."<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://blogs.sciencemag.org/books/2017/08/02/a-physicist-explores-the-future-of-artificial-intelligence/|title=A physicist explores the future of artificial intelligence|last=Hirsh|first=Haym|date=2017-08-02|publication-date=2017-08-04|volume=357|issue=6350|work=Science Magazine|access-date=2017-10-19|language=en-US}}</ref> ''The Telegraph'' called it "One of the very best overviews of the arguments around artificial intelligence".<ref>{{cite news|last1=Poole|first1=Steven|title=Thinking big, snoozing bigger: the best science books of 2017|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/books/what-to-read/thinking-big-snoozing-bigger-best-science-books-2017/|access-date=8 December 2017|work=The Telegraph|date=26 November 2017}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/books/what-to-read/artificial-intelligence-scared-should-machines-taking/|title=Artificial intelligence: how scared should we be about machines taking over?|last=Poole|first=Steven|date=2017-08-27|work=The Telegraph|access-date=2017-10-20|language=en-GB|issn=0307-1235}}</ref> The ''Christian Science Monitor'' said "Although it's probably not his intention, much of what Tegmark writes will quietly terrify his readers."<ref>{{cite news|title=3 science books compelling enough to speak to all readers|url=https://www.csmonitor.com/Books/Book-Reviews/2017/0830/3-science-books-compelling-enough-to-speak-to-all-readers|access-date=11 December 2017|work=Christian Science Monitor|date=30 August 2017}}</ref> ''Publishers Weekly'' gave a positive review, but also stated that Tegmark's call for researching how to maintain control over superintelligent machines "sits awkwardly beside his acknowledgment that controlling such godlike entities will be almost impossible."<ref>{{cite news|title=Nonfiction Book Review: Life 3.0: Being Human in the Age of Artificial Intelligence by Max Tegmark. Knopf, $28 (384p) ISBN 978-1-101-94659-6|url=https://www.publishersweekly.com/978-1-101-94659-6|access-date=7 January 2018|work=PublishersWeekly.com|date=10 July 2017|language=en}}</ref> ''Library Journal'' called it a "must-read" for technologists, but stated the book was not for the casual reader.<ref>{{cite news|last1=Browning|first1=Natalie|title=Life 3.0: being human in the age of artificial intelligence|work=Library Journal|date=15 September 2017}}</ref> The ''Wall Street Journal'' called it "lucid and engaging"; however, it cautioned readers that the controversial notion that superintelligence could run amok has more credence than it does few years ago, but is still fiercely opposed by many computer scientists.<ref name=wsj>{{Cite news|url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/when-machines-run-amok-1503961088|title=When Machines Run Amok|last=Rose|first=Frank|date=2017-08-28|work=Wall Street Journal|access-date=2017-10-20|language=en-US|issn=0099-9660}}</ref>

Rather than endorse a specific future, the book invites readers to think about what future they would like to see, and to discuss their thoughts on the Future of Life Website.<ref>{{cite web|title=Superintelligence survey - Future of Life Institute|url=https://futureoflife.org/superintelligence-survey/|website=Future of Life Institute|date=15 August 2017|access-date=7 January 2018}}</ref> The ''Wall Street Journal'' review called this attitude noble but naive, and criticized the referenced Web site for being "chockablock with promo material for the book".<ref name=wsj/>

The hardcover edition was on the general ''New York Times'' Best Seller List for two weeks,<ref>{{cite news|title=Hardcover Nonfiction Books - Best Sellers - September 24, 2017 - The New York Times|work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/books/best-sellers/2017/09/24/hardcover-nonfiction/|access-date=10 February 2018|date=24 September 2017|language=en}}</ref> and made on the ''New York Times'' business bestseller list in September and October 2017.<ref>{{cite news|title=Business Books - Best Sellers - September 2017 - The New York Times|work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/books/best-sellers/2017/09/01/business-books/}}</ref>

Former President Barack Obama included the book in his "best of 2018" list.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Caron |first1=Christina |title=Barack Obama's Favorite Book of 2018 Was 'Becoming.' Here's What Else He Liked. |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/28/arts/obama-favorites-2018.html |access-date=31 December 2018 |work=The New York Times |date=28 December 2018}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Barack Obama |url=https://www.facebook.com/barackobama/posts/10156393283416749 |website=www.facebook.com |access-date=31 December 2018 |language=en}}</ref>

Business magnate Elon Musk (who had previously endorsed the thesis that, under some scenarios, advanced AI could jeopardize human survival) recommended Life 3.0 as "worth reading".<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.cnbc.com/2017/08/29/elon-musk-recommends-a-book-on-the-future-of-artificial-intelligence.html|title=Elon Musk says 'A.I. Will be the best or worst thing ever for humanity,' recommends a book on the topic|website=CNBC|date=29 August 2017}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|last1=Moody|first1=Oliver|title=Why Elon Musk thinks Max Tegmark is the geek who will save the world|url=https://www.thetimes.com/business-money/technology/article/why-elon-musk-thinks-max-tegmark-is-the-geek-who-will-save-the-world-3wvr8h9lc|access-date=27 November 2017|work=The Times of London|date=30 October 2017}}</ref>

== References == {{Reflist|30em}}

== External links == * [https://www.npr.org/books/titles/556512412/life-3-0-being-human-in-the-age-of-artificial-intelligence#excerpt Excerpt from the book] * {{YouTube|3Om9ssTm194|"Myths and Facts About Superintelligent AI"}} (a video commissioned by Tegmark's FLI to explain the book) * [https://futureoflife.org/superintelligence-survey Survey associated with the book]

Category:2017 non-fiction books Category:Existential risk from artificial intelligence Category:Futurology books Category:Alfred A. Knopf books Category:Allen Lane (imprint) books Category:Non-fiction books about artificial intelligence Category:Works by Max Tegmark