 Harper Audio presents What To Think About Machines That Think Today's Leading Thinkers on the Age of Machine Intelligence Edited by John Brockman Read by Brett Berry and Lisa Larson Preface The 2015 Edge Question In recent years, the 1980s era of philosophical discussions about artificial intelligence, AI, whether computers can really think, be conscious and so on, have led to new conversations about how we should deal with the forms of artificial intelligence that many argue have already been implemented. These AIs, if they achieve superintelligence, per Nick Bostrom's 2014 book of that name, could oppose existential risks, leading to what Martin Rees has termed our final hour. Stephen Hawking recently made international headlines when he told the BBC that the development of full artificial intelligence could spell the end of the human race. The Edge Question 2015 What do you think about machines that think? But wait, shouldn't we also ask what machines that think might think about? Will they want? Will they expect civil rights? Will they have consciousness? What kind of government would an AI choose for us? What kind of society would they want to structure for themselves, or is their society our society? Will we and the AIs include each other within our respective circles of empathy? Numerous edgies have been at the forefront of the science behind the various flavours of AI, either in their research or their writings. AI was front and centre in conversations between Pamela McCordock, machines who think, and Isaac Asimov, machines that think, at our initial meetings in 1980. And such conversations have continued unabated, as is evident in the recent Edge feature, The Myth of AI, a conversation with virtual reality pioneer, Jaron Lanier, whose explication of the fallacies involved and fears evoked by conceiving of computers as people, evoked rich and provocative commentaries. Is AI becoming increasingly real? Are we now in a new era of intelligent machines? It's time to grow up as we consider this issue. This year's contributors to the Edge Question, there are close to 200 of them, a grown-up bunch, and have eschewed mention of all that science fiction, and all those movies, Star Maker, Forbidden Planet, Colossus the Forbidden Project, Blade Runner, 2001, Her, The Matrix, The Borg, Sample complete. Ready to continue?