George B. Dyson — Darwin Among The Machines : The Evolution Of Global Intelligence

Reading, MA : Perseus Books 1998 Paperback. Introducing a cast of known and unknown characters, George B. Dyson traces the course of the information revolution, illuminating the lives and work of visionaries, from the time of Thomas Hobbes to the time of John von Neumann, who foresaw the development of artificial intelligence, artificial life, and artificial mind. Deriving both its title and its outlook from Samuel Butler's 1863 essay Darwin Among the Machines, this study observes the beginnings of miniaturization, self-reproduction, and telecommunication among machines. Butler predicted that nature's intelligence, only temporarily subservient to technology, would resurface to claim our creations as her own. Updating Butler's arguments, Dyson has distilled the historical record to chronicle the origins of digital telecommunications and the evolution of digital computers, beginning long before the time of Darwin and exploring the limits of Darwinian evolution to suggest what lies beyond. Owner's Name inside. Light tanning to page edges otherwise very good. (ISBN: 9780738200309). Good.