Virtually Human
Every day, social media is automatically uploading our thoughts, memories, preferences, beliefs, and history to a virtual existence, essentially creating a “mindfile” of users. From this mindfile, thousands of software engineers across the globe are working on “mindware” to create personalities and humanlike consciousness in computer software—or cyberconsciousness. In the next decade or two, these efforts will result in the first digital copies of our identities, which will be our “mindclones.” As we communicate with our own mindclones, and as they and we interact with mindclones of other people, even those whose bodies have died, these cyberconscious beings will become part of the fabric of our daily lives and routines. In Virtually Human, author Martine Rothblatt shares her insights into how cyberconsciousness will manifest in our lives and what we need to consider when a new, high-tech population of mindclones awakens to the rights, privileges, and obligations humans take for granted. With her passion, commitment, and continued financial investment in this emerging technology, she is poised to be a leader in the paradigm shift already under way. Virtually Human conveys in clear, positive language a profound understanding of how close we are to achieving a full simulation of the human brain via software and computer technology. It raises numerous ethical and moral questions we absolutely need to address now, before the technology becomes commercially viable and accessible to all of us. Rothblatt launches an urgent investigation into what we will all face over the coming decades as our relationship with our virtual selves evolves and deepens. She gives us the philosophical and technological tools to understand the far-reaching implications of artificial intelligence. Martine Rothblatt has been at the forefront of AI research and is a clearheaded—and optimistic—thinker when it comes to understanding the ethical concerns that will play a significant role as we move toward living side by side with our mindclones. Virtually Human will be the essential companion audiobook to the future of mankind.
Martine Rothblatt (Author), Jeff Cummings, Laural Merlington (Narrator)
Audiobook
