Artificial Intelligence Can't Think but It Can Transform the Economy | George F. Gilder Interviewed

September 29, 2021

In this far-reaching and compelling Independent Conversation, bestselling author, economist and futurist George F. Gilder is interviewed by Dr. Graham H. Walker (Executive Director, Independent Institute) to discuss Mr. Gilder's recent book, "Gaming AI: Why AI Can't Think but Can Transform Jobs."

Pointing to the triumph of artificial intelligence over unaided humans in everything from games such as chess and Go to vital tasks such as protein folding and securities trading, many experts uphold the theory of a “singularity.” This is the alleged trigger point when human history ends and artificial intelligence prevails in an exponential cascade of self-replicating machines rocketing toward godlike supremacy in the universe.

"Gaming AI" suggests that this belief is both dumb and self-defeating. Displaying a profound and crippling case of professional amnesia, the computer science establishment shows an ignorance of the most important findings of its own science, from Kurt Gödel’s “incompleteness” to Alan Turing’s “oracle” to Claude Shannon’s “entropy.” Dabbling in quantum machines, these believers in machine transcendence defy the deepest findings of quantum theory. Claiming to create minds, they are clinically “out of their minds.” Despite the quasi-religious pretensions of techno-elites nobly saving the planet from their own devices, their faith in a secular, materialistic, techno-utopian singularity is a serious threat to real progress.

An industry utterly dependent on human minds will not prosper by obsoleting both their customers and their creators. "Gaming AI" calls for a remedial immersion in the industry’s own heroic history and an understanding of the actual science of their own human minds.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

George F. Gilder, one of the leading economic and technological thinkers of the past forty years, is the author of nineteen books, including "Wealth and Poverty," "Life After Television," "Knowledge and Power," "The Scandal of Money," and "Life After Google." A founding Member of the Board of Advisors for the Independent Institute, he has been an influential venture investor and a fellow of the International Engineering Consortium, Kennedy Institute of Politics at Harvard University, and Discovery Institute, where he began his study of information theory.
https://www.independent.org/aboutus/person_detail.asp?id=375

WATCH THE VIDEOS:

"Silicon Valley at a Crossroads?" featuring George F. Gilder
https://www.independent.org/multimedia/detail.asp?id=4898

"The Secret to Restoring the American Dream," featuring George Gilder
https://www.independent.org/multimedia/detail.asp?id=4825

"Recapturing the Spirit of Enterprise," featuring George Gilder
https://bit.ly/2ZZScXG

"Developing the Developed World: Entrepreneurship, Liberty, and the Future," featuring Peter Thiel
https://bit.ly/3iLIb6Z

READ THE ARTICLES:

"C. S. Lewis on Mere Science," by Michael D. Aeschliman
https://www.independent.org/news/article.asp?id=1649

"Naturalism and Libertarian Agency," by Stewart Goetz
https://www.independent.org/publications/article.asp?id=1756

"Economic Science and the Poverty of Naturalism: C. S. Lewis’s 'Argument from Reason'," by David J. Theroux
https://www.independent.org/publications/article.asp?id=2278

"Knowledge and Naturalism," by Dallas Willard
https://www.independent.org/publications/article.asp?id=1725

BUY THE BOOKS:

"Gaming AI: Why AI Can't Think but Can Transform Jobs," by George F. Gilder
https://amzn.to/2Yz1jyi

"Life after Google: The Fall of Big Data and the Rise of the Blockchain Economy," by George F. Gilder
https://amzn.to/3Bod0pL

"Wealth and Poverty: A New Edition for the Twenty-First Century," by George F. Gilder
https://amzn.to/3FuD19i

"Winners, Losers & Microsoft: Competition and Antitrust in High Technology," by Stan J. Liebowitz and Stephen E. Margolis, with a foreword by Jack Hirshleifer
https://www.independent.org/store/book.asp?id=50

"Zero to One: Notes on Startups, or How to Build the Future," by Peter Thiel and Blake Masters
https://amzn.to/3BrMSKH

"Future: Economic Peril or Prosperity?", edited by Robert M. Whaples, Christopher J. Coyne and Michael C. Munger
https://www.independent.org/store/book.asp?id=121

ABOUT THE INDEPENDENT INSTITUTE:

The Independent Institute is a non-profit, non-partisan, public-policy research and educational organization that shapes ideas into profound and lasting impact through publications, conferences, and multi-media programs. Our mission is to boldly advance peaceful, prosperous, and free societies grounded in a commitment to human worth and dignity.

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