Publication date 2004 ISBN 978-0252072239 | Pages 320 Originally published 2004 Page count 320 | |
 | ||
Publisher University of Illinois Press Subjects Artificial intelligence, Robot, Artificial general intelligence Similar I - Cyborg, Failsafe Control Systems, Artificial Intelligence: The Basics, Turing's Imitation Game: C, An introduction to control | ||
March of the Machines: Why the New Race of Robots Will Rule the World (1997, hardcover), published in paperback as March of the Machines: The Breakthrough in Artificial Intelligence (2004), is a book by Kevin Warwick. It presents an overview of robotics and artificial intelligence (AI) and then imagines future scenarios. In particular, Warwick finds it likely that AIs will become smart enough to replace humans, and humans may be unable to stop them.
Contents
Book outline
Warwick proposes that because machines will become more intelligent than humans, machine takeover is all but inevitable. The drive to automate is fueled by economic incentives. Even if machines start out without intentions to take over, those that self-modify in a direction toward a "will to survive" are more likely to resist being turned off. Arms races will likely create ever-increasing pressure for greater autonomy by robotic warfare systems, and this pressure would be hard to curtail. Machines have a number of advantages over human minds, including the ability to expand practically without limit and to spread into space where humans can't reach. "All the signs are that we will rapidly become merely an insignificant historical dot" (p. 301).
Reception
John Durant is not convinced that machines look set to replace mankind. Present-day computers "are not threats to us, but rather expressions of our power: we use the machines; they don't use us." Durant cautions against Warwick's apparent anthropomorphism, such as his (perhaps sarcastic) ascription of intentions to Deep Blue. And he wonders why, "If Warwick's thesis about impending world robot-domination is correct", Warwick continues to undertake cybernetic research.
Don Braben begins his review of Warwick's book by noting that "Specialists love to share dire predictions of the future, which stem from limited perspectives."
Medvedev and Aldasheva dispute Warwick's contention that machines will become superior to humans on the grounds that "machines are man-made human organs", i.e., they extend what humans do. Moreover, if machines were to rebel against humans, humans could make use of other machines to combat the rebels. If AIs were created, humans would program them to align with human goals, and while some AIs might go awry, this would not be so different from the situation of human maniacs. All told, they consider Warwick's predictions of robot rebellion "grossly exaggerated".
Martin Robbins quotes Warwick's predictions of robot abilities as an example of "Extravagant claims" that "have been damaging the reputation of our soon-to-be robot overlords for decades now".