Book Reviews Archives - Page 26 of 32

September 26, 2018

Origins

Origins by Dan Brown is yet another great book by this excellent writer. He knows how to keep you reading and I loved how this book touches upon some deep topics.

I will just make a short review for my own notes so please don’t read further if you haven’t read the book yet.

In the book there is an AI (Winston, from Winston Churchill) and it’s portrait as an AI system that I believe is only decades away. It knows how to find information, how to process requests (and understand our underlying questions) and even communicate with the outside world.

In the end one of the aspects of this is that he makes decisions that follow a consequentialist philosophical leaning (greatest good for the most people) and he makes sacrifices along the way. It’s something that we have to think about a lot nowadays. Self-driving cars will have to decide for us and someone has to program it what to do.

Can we decide on one moral framework? I don’t think so. But it will be very interesting to see what we can do.

Also he talks about AI as a new species and I like that analogy and I agree that it will probably be the dominant species in the not so distant future (especially looking on an evolutionary timescale). Let’s hope it has consciousness.

Also see Life 3.0 for more about that.

September 18, 2018

The Omnivore’s Dilemma

The Omnivore’s Dilemma by Michael Pollan takes a deep dive into our food system and won’t let you out without some scars, lots of corn, and a new understanding of how our food is made. Pollan is very neutral and this allows for you, the reader, to form your own opinions.

In the book, we get to take a journey of three different meals. The first is an industrial meal (think big corn fields, McDonald’s), the second is an organic meal (and we get to see two different visions of organic at play), and a meal gathered and hunted by Pollan.

The conclusions from the first meal will probably not surprise you. Animals locked in small cages, places that were not accessible and a subsidy system for corn of epic proportions. The animal suffering is something I can’t stand for and therefore I try and keep most of my meals plant-based (i.e. I’m vegetarian and try and consume a low number of other products that cause unnecessary suffering). The subsidising of the corn industry seems like something that is left over from the second world war and hopelessly outdated (and very expensive). There are massive grain silos and lots get thrown away each year (and farmers are in a bind in which they need to produce more and more). From an evolutionary perspective, it does seem that corn did pretty well though.

Big organic is a term I wasn’t yet that familiar with. After reading about how everything works and thinking back to Econ 101 classes, it does make sense. Organic started from a good place, fewer pesticides, more biodiversity. But both the terms (the meaning of organic) and the practice (larger and larger farms) have put a stain on the idea (at least for me). I also remember being quite sceptical of organic (especially for greens) since already a few years ago and this didn’t help.

What did help was to learn about the Salatin farm. The book follows Pollan for a week on a truly organic farm (in the way you now conceptualize it in your head). We learn that Salatin is a grass farmer (everything else starts with grass and also helps grass flourish). There is full transparency and buyers can come and see their chickens being killed right on the spot. What I also took away from this part of the book is that a piece of animal is not a standardized product. A piece of chicken from Salatin or an egg from them is a completely different product as one raised on corn with a million of its siblings.

One action I can take is to find out where I can buy food from local sources (or less local, but produced on a small scale with care) to eat better products. But I also think that the transaction costs for an action like this are higher and that I buy too little produce per week to have this be handy/economical at the moment.

Lastly, we follow Pollan on hunting and gathering trips. Here he feels more connected with nature and we see some animal instincts rise to the top. I liked that this part was included but it felt less compelling than his days at Salatin.

Ahh, the Omnivores Dilemma. Pollan states that we either look away from how our food is made, or we will not eat it anymore. In the book he tries and break that dilemma and show us how the cookie crumbles and he has done a great job here.

September 17, 2018

Superintelligence

TBD

September 17, 2018

Life 3.0

Life 3.0: Being Human in the Age of Artificial Intelligence by Max Tegmark takes you on a journey through a possible future we might inhabit with our intelligent friends. Those friends may not have flesh and blood, they may make the whole universe a computational machine, and if we will be around to enjoy it, who knows.

A few concepts and ideas stood out for me:

Life 1.0 can’t change its software or hardware (e.g. bacteria, changes via random mutations), Life 2.0 can change its software (e.g. animals), Life 3.0 can change both software and hardware.
- I like how he classifies life in these ways and leaves room for AI to take the third spot, but also leaves a small door open for us humans (life 2.1) to maybe join life 3.0
Tegmark discusses a wide spectrum of scenarios in which AI takes over. Some are positive (from our standpoint) and others turn our universe into a paperclip machine.
- Next to the fictional story I also enjoyed reading about the alignment problem (see Superintelligence by Nick Bostrom) and about his experiences with the growing field of AI safety research (which can also be seen through the Effective Altruism framework)
Intelligence is agnostic to form/matter. This means that it can be made of bits and bytes, or neurons and synapses.
We are becoming more and more powerful with our technology and can do both more good and bad at the same time (with fewer people needed for either).
- Fingers crossed that we don’t have an extinction event in the next 100 years.
AI is quite narrow at the moment. If we see our jobs/things we do (and give us meaning) as a hilly landscape, it’s now in the very low parts. It’s automating away jobs with robotics. But it’s moving up the ladder. A surgeon is worse at interpreting the scans than an AI, but he is still better at telling this to the family. Many jobs will disappear and although he doesn’t discuss it much, we need to think hard about what to do with our society (he does argue that we can still do many things next to work that gives us meaning and I totally agree with that point and its one that isn’t made enough)

And some quotes etc:

Intelligence is simply the ability to solve complex tasks
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/34272565-life-3-0

August 1, 2018

The Selfish Gene

The Selfish Gene by Richard Dawkins engrosses the reader on a journey through the latest in social biology. In this elaborate book, you are presented with both fundamental research, and broad general implications of the former. Dawkins does not hold back in this well-written book on genes. Although he remarks that a more proper title would be; The Immortal Gene, the current title is definitively an accurate description of our genes.

Genes are defined as the smallest survival unit that is fairly consistent over generations. It means that genes are most of the time DNA that has survived many millions of years. It is the molecular unit of heritability in a living organism. This living organism (for instance us) is a vehicle for the genes to survive in. The genes we possess make up our genotype, the way these are expressed (e.g. hair colour, height) is called the phenotype.

Dawkins builds on more than 100 years of research since Darwin and looks at the implications of the gene (research). He states that genes are trying to survive and have been successful in doing this since they have existed. Different mechanisms are employed and this has different implications for different species. Some species live around a lot of kin (who share 50% of your genes) and are very helpful amongst each other. But in other instances, it is smarter for a mother to invest in the strongest offspring and let the weaker die. It all comes down to gene survival.

Many examples fill the lengthy book and these are very helpful in understanding the quite biological principles behind gene selection. One of the more surprising (at first sight that is) analogies Dawkins uses is the prisoner dilemma. With this, he explains how an evolutionary stable selection paradigm can come to exist. Some of the findings in nature seem illogical at first, but soon make sense due to careful examination of Dawkins, and of course many, many other researchers.

Dawkins was the University of Oxford’s Professor for Public Understanding of Science. This is clearly noticeable in his writing which is, in one word, impeccable. His strong position on religion (he is an atheist) is present in The Selfish Gene, but to a much lesser extent than one would expect. The level of detail makes the book difficult to review in five paragraphs. What can be said is that this book is a perfect starting point for your interest in social biology, and could be the next book you read during the winter holidays!

The Book: The Selfish Gene – Richard Dawkins – ISBN-10: 0199291152 | ISBN-13: 978-0199291151

Quiet

Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Cannot Stop Talking by Susan Cain reflects strongly on our Western ideals. It successfully challenges the assumption that extraversion equals success. In her bestselling book, Cain argues for a more reflective and thoughtful world. About a third to half of the people in the world are introverts but are often overlooked according to Cain. Although the book takes some time to really take of it, it should be the next on your list, both for introverts and extroverts alike.

Beginning this review, it should be stated that Cain takes a quite liberal view of introversion. She both combines definitions from the MBTI and OCEAN (FFM, Big Five) but also includes characteristics that are related to the concept of sensitivity. She argues that introverts are people who need less stimulation to be aroused, and are therefore uncomfortable in large groups and open-plan workspaces. Throughout the book, she uses many examples (both anecdotal and research papers) to demonstrate the effects she describes. In this particular case, she explains that most technical innovations have come forth at moments when introverted geniuses worked all night long, totally alone. Noted should be that she acknowledges that one should have a stimulating environment, but maybe not all the time.

A large part of the book is dedicated to disproving the extrovert ideal. Cain states that people who are the first to speak up, are in fact not the smartest (there is actually no correlation). In our culture we have come to respect people who speak up more and more. In a study into minorities in America, she finds that they find it hard to make promotion or to be taken seriously. Chinese Americans for instance, believe that you only should speak up when you definitively know something. Americans (and Dutch alike) are more prone to speak whatever comes to mind. As most psychology research finds, a careful combination of both worlds is probably the best. To maybe first think about what you know and report accordingly.

The introversion-extraversion spectrum is, according to Cain, as much a core of our identity as our gender. It affects the people we choose to be with, the kinds of environments we find ourselves in, and the way we resolve conflicts. As an integral part of our lives, it is useful to reflect on your own style. It is not that one is better than the other, it is just that they both require another way of expressing yourself. Maybe you love to have small talk with many people (extrovert) or you rather talk philosophy with one person (introvert), both are excellent ways of expressing the true you.

Cain ends with (or rather argues throughout the whole book) that we should take introversion more serious. We are to look more towards the true value of people, not how loudly they speak. The setup of the book may be a reflection of this style. In the beginning it takes some time to take of, it misses a certain catchiness to grab the reader. But when you have committed yourself to the book, you will be pleasantly surprised by the richness of its content.

The Book:

Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Cannot Stop Talking – Susan Cain – ISBN-10: 9780307352156 | ISBN-13: 978-0307352156

The Human Factor

The Human Factor; Revolutionizing the Way We Live with Technology by Kim Vicente is one of those books that excel at explaining something very difficult and technical in laymen terms. As our world grows more and more technically entangled Vicente looks at the way we can integrate technology and design. His book The Human Factor is a beautiful insight into the mechanisms behind the technological world. The book covers exciting (and dangerous) fields like nuclear installations, and also more accessible systems like cockpit designs, hospital machines and even the design of your stove. It is a book that will stay relevant for many years to come.

Technology is mostly designed by engineers and other technical staff. Push-buttons are put together on basis of the shortest distance between cables and are designed to the cheapest classifications possible. This is what Vicente (successfully) tries to counter. He argues that in a technological-driven world we should look at how we can use it, not at how it is made in the cheapest way possible. One excellent example is the redesign of the cockpit. At first, all buttons were the same, and a pilot had to remember every function by heart. Nowadays it is much easier to fly a plane, every control has its own characteristics. The landing gear feels like wheels, the throttle is something you have to push forward, and all other functions have their distinct feeling.

Vicente does an excellent job in explaining that we need to look at the functionality of technology. Through design, we can adjust technology to match with our mental capabilities. In critical situations, it is important to incorporate double-checks. In a situation where there are lots of functionalities, each should be distinct from the others. Intuition is a vital part of how we deal with technology. This is reflected in the design of a stove; something that has yet to be implemented. Vicente states that we should lower the two right pitches just a little bit to validate that the controls are for top-left, bottom-left, top-right, bottom-right. The Human Factor emphasizes that technology should be designed to fit our thinking patterns, not the other way around.

Kim Vicente has been hailed by TIME magazine as one of the 25 Canadians under 40 who will reshape Canada. He is the Hunsaker Distinguished Visiting Professor of Aeronautics and Astronautics at MIT and has been a consultant at NASA, NATO, Honeywell, and Microsoft, among others. His work in Human Factor Engineering has transformed the sector and has made the topic more accessible to the general public. The topics covered in The Human Factor range from toothbrushes to nuclear reactors, and enlighten the reader on all things related to Human Factors.

Related: The Design of Everyday Things (TBD)

The Book:

The Human Factor; Revolutionizing the Way We Live with Technology – Kim Vicente – ISBN-10: 0676974902 | ISBN-13: 978-0676974904

What Money Can’t Buy

What Money Can’t Buy; The Moral Limits of Markets by Michael Sandel is the second masterpiece by the renowned Harvard professor. In a world driven by capitalism, he urges us to reflect on the morality of money. He asks what we can or cannot buy with money, and where we have to draw the line.

Nowadays we can pay for someone to stand in line for us. We can pay extra to have a doctor stand ready for us within minutes instead of months. And we can pay extra to sit in the sky-box at the next game of our favourite teams. With money, we can get a competitive advantage over others, but is this morally justifiable?

Sandel argues that money has had a negative effect on many social interactions. Were we once all on the same level when going to a baseball game, now the bankers and lawyers sit in their sky-boxes and the blue collar worker sits in the rain down below. One other example is that of a Springsteen concert. Sandel argues that they can easily charge much more for the (always sold out) concert. But the philosophy of Springsteen is to have the concerts available for everyone, and not only the people who can afford it.

Markets have also infiltrated other aspects of our normal lives. Incentives for reading books have been monetized. But by giving kids the reward of money, their incentive will become extrinsic, and lose its intrinsic value. Further on in the book, Sandel argues how markets crowd out morals, how markets work in life and death, and naming rights. All of these topics make you think hard about the difference between practicality, capitalism and morality.

The book does an excellent job of giving you the tools to ponder the examples. It lets you think about the morality of choices and how you think people should act. Sandel does in no way give his own opinion on the topics discussed and allows you yourself to judge (like he does in his previous book, Justice). Anyone interested in the morals of markets, or just morals in everyday life should read the book.

The Book: What Money Can’t Buy; The Moral Limits of Markets – Michael Sandel – ISBN-10: 0374533652 | ISBN-13: 978-0374533656

Nudge

Nudge: Improving Decisions About Health, Wealth, and Happiness by Richard H. Thaler and Cass R. Sunstein teaches you all there is to know about choice architecture. With the use of excellent, real world, examples the power of choice architecture is displayed. In the book, both authors also give compelling arguments for libertarian paternalism. A comprehensive read on how choice architecture defines our everyday choices.

The book starts with an introduction about the way choice architecture works. A common paradigm that is used consists of two concepts; opt-in and opt-out. They respectively mean that you actively have to check a box to 1) a box to enter 2) or exit a choice. Not too much trouble right? It turns out that it is. When people in different European countries were presented with an organ donor form with either an opt-in (no donor is standard) or opt-out (donor is standard) form, the first group only participated 10-40% percent of the time (after much campaigning), the latter had a 90% donor rate! Just as in Predictably Irrational, we see that our answers can be swayed by the way the question is asked.

The libertarian paternalism argument is defended in two ways. People should be free to choose for themselves, and not be forced into doing A or B. And at the same time, they should be defended from ‘bad choices’ and no effort should be withheld to offer the best choices. Thaler and Sunstein propose nudging as the perfect way to accomplish this. A nudge, they describe, alters peoples behaviour in predictable ways, without forbidding any options or significantly changing their financial incentives. The opt-out form for organ donation is a perfect example of a nudge.

Humans and Econs are two of the main characters, or groups, in the book. As opposed to Econs, Humans do not make perfect rational choices. We lack the control to inhibit making short-term gains against long-term losses. We cannot process all the information we are given. And we have personal opinions about almost every topic we can think of. Through choice architecture, we can nudge people into making better choices, without constraining them in any way.

Also see Thinking: Fast and Slow

Thaler and Sunstein have done a great job in describing and defending nudges and libertarian paternalism. In the latter chapters, they take down arguments against the policy. Reviews, however, question to which extent this has worked and whether an even more rigid (or looser) policy would be more effective. It is up to the reader to judge the application on a governmental level, on the individual level it cannot be denied that is has some very interesting implications.

The Book:

Nudge: Improving Decisions About Health, Wealth, and Happiness – Richard H. Thaler and Cass R. Sunstein – ISBN-10: 014311526X | ISBN-13: 978-0143115267

Lying

Lying by Sam Harris is a short thesis on being honest. Summary will follow someday.

Try to be honest. This entails almost no lying. Also not to kids. And you can refuse to say something (option C) instead of lying.