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Unintended Consequences

By Will Michaels

Review of Superintelligence By Nick Bostrom

June 11, 2021

I read Superintelligence at a time in my life when I knew that I was interested in math and science, but I didn't know how those things translated to the real world. Teachers told me that I should become an engineer, but I didn't really know what such a career would entail. After reading Superintelligence I realized the importance of engineering and computer science. Reading about the potential power of artificial intelligence and how it could change the world so quickly made me realize that math and science are not limited to the classroom and their applications can be very exciting.

I can say with confidence that I would not have been as likely to become interested in computer science if I had not read Superintelligence when I did. I knew computer science was relevant, but I didn't realize the depth of the impact it could have. Reading about possible scenarios showed me that a world with sufficiently advanced artificial intelligence would be unrecognizable to people today. The ability for intelligent machines to outclass humans in almost every domain is scary, yet inspiring. Even though I didn't understand many of the concepts at the time, simply being exposed to topics such as Von Neumann probes and the control problem expanded my curiosity and ability to think about engineering problems.

Superintelligence is one of the most impactful books I have read. The topics within it have stayed with me for years and I still revisit some chapters frequently because they are so engaging. I often recommend this book to anyone interested in artificial intelligence, but I think that the scenarios described in Superintelligence will be so relevant in the next decade that everyone should read it.