The Rationalist's Guide to the Galaxy : Superintelligent AI and the Geeks Who Are Trying to Save Humanity's Future

The Rationalist's Guide to the Galaxy : Superintelligent AI and the Geeks Who Are Trying to Save Humanity's Future
ISBN: 9781474608794
Publication Date: 12 January 2021

A deep-dive into the weird and wonderful world of the rationalists

Are paperclips going to destroy life as we know it?
What can Mickey Mouse teach us about how to programme AI?
Could a more rational approach to life be what saves us all?

This is a book about about a community of people who are trying to think rationally about intelligence and what insight they can and can't give us about the future of the human race. It explains why these people are worried about an AI apocalypse, why they might be right, and why they might be wrong. It is a book about the cutting edge of our thinking on intelligence and rationality right now by the people who stay up all night worrying about it.

About the Author

Tom Chivers is a science writer and author. He was awarded the Royal Statistical Society 'statistical excellence in journalism' award in 2018, and was highly commended for the same prize in 2017; he has also been shortlisted for the Association of British Science Writers award and a British Journalism Award in science writing, and won the American Psychological Society media award, all in 2017. His first book, THE AI DOES NOT HATE YOU , was declared one of the Times's science books of 2019.

He worked for seven years at the Telegraph and three years at BuzzFeed before going freelance in 2018, and was once described by Sir Terry Pratchett as 'far too nice to be a journalist'.