The Fourth Age: Smart Robots, Conscious Computers, and the Future of Humanity, Reese Byron

In The Fourth Age, Byron Reese makes the case that technology has reshaped humanity just three times in history: 100,000 years ago, we harnessed fire, which led to language; 10,000 years ago, we developed agriculture, which led to cities and warfare; 5,000 years ago, we invented the wheel and writing, which lead to the nation state.

We are now on the doorstep of a fourth change brought about by two technologies: AI and robotics. Timely, highly informative, and certainly optimistic (Booklist), The Fourth Age provides an essential background on how we got to this point, and how--rather than what--we should think about the topics well soon all be facing: machine consciousness, automation, changes in employment, creative computers, radical life extension, artificial life, AI ethics, the future of warfare, superintelligence, and the implications of extreme prosperity.