first edition
1949 · New York
by Berkeley, Edmund C.
New York: John Wiley & Sons, 1949. First edition. About fine in very good jacket.. First printing of this early popular presentation of the threats and promises of artificial intelligence. Though "thinking" as defined in GIANT BRAINS means no more than handling, transferring, and controlling information, that existing capability was sufficient for Berkeley to accurately predict the development of computer-modeled economic and meteorological forecasts, automated text translation, voice and handwriting recognition, drones for both benign and destructive purposes, and artificially intelligent medical personnel. All these developments would naturally devalue human labor, but Berkeley's rather utopian solution — simply divide the "net profits from robot machinery" among "all of society" — remains unachieved.
Berkeley, a peace activist who campaigned against nuclear proliferation, tempered the optimism of his vision with the acknowledgment that developments in computing would benefit humanity only insofar as their inventors and users were reasonable, and since "most men are often unreasonable and prejudiced and, as a result, often act in antisocial ways," humanity's well-being could not be secured by technological progress alone. Happily, Berkeley's rosiest vision — "a small pocket instrument that we carry around with us, talking to it whenever we need to, and either storing information in it or receiving information from it" — came true in every detail, and without damaging the fabric of society nearly as much as it could have. A nice copy of a prescient, important, and increasingly uncommon work. 8.5'' x 5.5''. Original grey cloth. In original unclipped ($4.00) black and yellow dust jacket. Illustrated in black and white. 270 pages. Light chipping to jacket, with narrow loss to font flap fold. Faint soil and rubbing to rear panel, a bit of sunning to spine. Small bump to fore-edge of rear board. Interior bright and clean. Sharp. (Inventory #: 52890)
Berkeley, a peace activist who campaigned against nuclear proliferation, tempered the optimism of his vision with the acknowledgment that developments in computing would benefit humanity only insofar as their inventors and users were reasonable, and since "most men are often unreasonable and prejudiced and, as a result, often act in antisocial ways," humanity's well-being could not be secured by technological progress alone. Happily, Berkeley's rosiest vision — "a small pocket instrument that we carry around with us, talking to it whenever we need to, and either storing information in it or receiving information from it" — came true in every detail, and without damaging the fabric of society nearly as much as it could have. A nice copy of a prescient, important, and increasingly uncommon work. 8.5'' x 5.5''. Original grey cloth. In original unclipped ($4.00) black and yellow dust jacket. Illustrated in black and white. 270 pages. Light chipping to jacket, with narrow loss to font flap fold. Faint soil and rubbing to rear panel, a bit of sunning to spine. Small bump to fore-edge of rear board. Interior bright and clean. Sharp. (Inventory #: 52890)
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