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George B. Dyson

Darwin among the Machines: The Evolution of Global Intelligence Paperback – September 4, 2012

by George B. Dyson (Author)

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As timely now as it was when it was first published in 1997, Darwin Among the Machines tells the story of humankind's long journey into the digital age. Historian of technology George Dyson traces the course of the information revolution, illuminating the lives and work of visionaries -- from Thomas Hobbes to John von Neumann -- who foresaw the development of artificial intelligence, artificial life, and artificial mind. Weaving a convincing, occasionally frightening narrative of the evolution of the global network, Dyson explores the limits of Darwinian evolution to suggest what lies ahead. Computer programs and worldwide networks are combining to produce an evolutionary theater in which the distinctions between nature and technology are increasingly obscured, he argues. We are living in the midst of an experiment -- one that echoes the prehistory of human intelligence and the origins of life. Now in a new paperback edition, this classic work on the emergence of collective mechanical intelligence will resonate for generations to come.

Print length

304 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Basic Books
Publication date

September 4, 2012
Grade level

8 and up
Reading age

13 years and up
Dimensions

5.5 x 0.88 x 8.25 inches
ISBN-10

9780465031627
ISBN-13

978-0465031627
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Editorial Reviews

Review

Nature
“An extraordinarily exciting, intriguing and very idiosyncratic book.... An almost perfect example of the effective literary treatment of scientific subjects.”

Los Angeles Times
“An original, creative work of intellectual history.”

Newsweek
“A cogent, succinct history of thinkers and thinking that paved the way, occasionally unwittingly, to today's technology.”

About the Author

George B. Dyson is a historian of science and the author of Turing's Cathedral, Baidarka, and Project Orion. A boat designer and builder, he lives in Bellingham, Washington.

Product details

ASIN ‏ : ‎ 0465031625
Publisher ‏ : ‎ Basic Books; 2nd edition (September 4, 2012)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 304 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 9780465031627
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0465031627
Reading age ‏ : ‎ 13 years and up
Grade level ‏ : ‎ 8 and up
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 10.9 ounces
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.5 x 0.88 x 8.25 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #459,629 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #122 in Computing Industry History
- #1,182 in Evolution (Books)
- #1,479 in History & Philosophy of Science (Books)

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4.2 78 ratings

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Erik Brown

Nice Romp Through Digitial History

Reviewed in the United States on March 26, 2011

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This book is a great collection of history around the evolution of computers and artificial life. It reminds me of the 1970s BBC-produced "Connections" series that aired on PBS years ago. The show illustrated how modern inventions had their roots in centuries-old technology, and traced their path from the early inventions through various iterations up to the modern solution.

Each chapter takes a single topic and starts back in time when it was the germ of an idea in someone's writings and carries it forward into the 1990's. This is not a technical book nor a book about computer science. It is more about the field of artificial life or perhaps artificial intelligence and brings the threads of evolution, encoding, hardware, software, networking, and other topics under a common theme. I picked it up because of a recent interest in the work of Nils A. Barricelli and was not disappointed in this regarded. I understand the other reviewers that were disappointed in the lack of technical detail, though I really don't think this is the aim of the book.

My one complaint is that Dyson does get his details wrong at times. For example, when discussing Ray's Tierra system he implies that all digital creatures were 80 instructions long, which is not true. This makes me wonder what other details he may have off as well. I read the book as more of a broad swath of history, in which the flow of time and growth of the idea is the focus and theme. The book is extremely well notated and has sparked my interest to look up the original works behind a few areas of discussion. Like many writer's in the 1990s, Dyson expected big results in artificial life over the coming years which did not come to pass. However, as a comprehensive history of the fields behind Alife this is well worth a visit.

9 people found this helpful

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Vladimir Zuzukin

and a terrific one at that

Reviewed in the United States on January 4, 2015

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Mind-blowing work. Seriously. I read "Turing's Cathedral" first and expected this 15 year earlier work by George Dyson to be of lesser quality. I was thoroughly surprised with his treatment of the subject, especially in the late 1990's. To be fair, they are very different books written with different intent. "Turing's Cathedral" is a very thorough historical account of the IAS, Manhattan Project, and all the work involving early von Neumann machines. It was entertaining and thought-provoking, but ultimately a retrospective as a true historical account. "Darwin Among the Machines" is a forward-thinking work, and a terrific one at that. It begins slow as it gives all the necessary background material in the same manner as James Gleick's "The Information." Having already read "The Information" and other similar works chronicling the development of modern information theory, I was resolved to rate this 3/5 stars and behind Gleick's book (though to be fair it predates "The Information" by over 10 years). However, it really opens up around Chapter 9 (Game Theory) and boldly goes where no other book on evolution and/or information theory has gone before or since - tackling intelligence (natural, artificial, and invisible), economics, evolution, and technology in a master stroke. The last 1/3 of the book is simply inspiring in its concepts, and you realize that the longer first part of "known" background material is really there to set up the real topic at hand. It is the better of Dyson's two major books and ironically the more modern one (by far). I consider it as profound as Richard Dawkin's "The Selfish Gene" in turning an old subject completely around on its head. Well done!

20 people found this helpful

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Jerry B Schutz

Not Quite Focused

Reviewed in the United States on May 27, 2018

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Since Dyson likes metaphors and analogies, I guess I will use one or two for my review. Reading the book was like eating a plate of spaghetti and meatballs: pasta for carb loading, meatballs for substance, and sauce for spicing things up. With a green salad thrown in, it would have made a tasty meal with more value. Translating my analogy, the spaghetti was the many stories told from the history of information technology, squirming around on the plate. The meatballs were the themes, compact and separate, and the sauce was the literary references. The structure of the book was much more like the flowing of a river than the design of a building. In the end, the river seems to flow into the ocean; seep into the ground; and evaporate into the air. It is up to the reader to draw off some of the water to put to work. My review may suffer from the same weaknesses, so be sure to read others. I don't like it when others based their ratings on media, but have to say that the print was too small.

3 people found this helpful

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Eduardo Luis Salinas

thought provoking, though confusing

Reviewed in the United States on August 5, 2014

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Someone I admire reccomended me this book. The author does a good job on explaining why he thinks that machines will become intelligent beings, by making analogies between evolution and how technology has improved over time. However, be prepared to see the name of many philosophers and many important names tat you may not know. The author makes some assumptions about the target audience, in which I have to say, not everyone will enjoy this book, since it can become a difficult reading.

2 people found this helpful

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Gary A. Grelli

Excellent book.

Reviewed in the United States on January 15, 2022

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Very good book. Gives a different perspective.

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Julina Hooks

Very thought provoking

Reviewed in the United States on April 17, 2013

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It was a nice read to go along with an ethics class I was taking. I would suggest it to anyone who enjoys bringing outside ideas into their academic focus.

One person found this helpful

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Wotan

Four Stars

Reviewed in the United States on October 10, 2017

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A nice intro to Butlerian perspective.

One person found this helpful

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J. Simon

Arrived fast. Exactly as pictured

Reviewed in the United States on April 14, 2019

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Arrived fast. Exactly as pictured

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Top reviews from other countries

Starlight

Dazzling

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on September 2, 2011

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This is a remarkable book and a sequel is due (sept 2011).The author is from a mathematical/ scientific family and very familiar with many branches of science;evolutionary biology;brain science;physics ;maths ;and history of science and has wide artistic knowledge to boot.

There are some very imaginative pictures.The juxtaposition for instance of the development of computers and the changes in banking and finance;the growth of artificial intelligence and methods of war;the struggle to create artificial and autonomous intelligence and to create life;or the meaning of intelligence (and of meaning itself) with the evolution of music.Quite a feast! Scintillating and illuminating,showing a kind of movement within the substructure of human consciousness.

But something is also frustrating.
Over and over again one is brought up again the question "What then is intelligence"?

The question comes up in every chapter and the frustration is that this question is really one of philosophy.

Every chapter ends in a kind of either /or,a limbo in which the question whether ordered fragments,electrical,genetic,atomic or merely mechanical can in some way become autonomous and self reproducing and replicating;and whether ,if they do that constitutes a new 'life' form which will share the planet with people .Whether that would be MIND itself.

But not once does Dyson grasp the idea of" Wholeness" as for example explained in David Bohm's work.
That wholeness comes FIRST and constitutes what we call an "idea "and the ordered fragments are the results of the loss of wholeness of the idea is not once mentioned.

So the book dazzles and leaves you breathless but unsatisfied. But if you can supply the missing key ,then the book makes many illuminating links and connections and it's follow up should be interesting.

3 people found this helpful

Aubrey Meyer

More fascinating and brilliant insights from George Dyson.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on December 3, 2020

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"The breakthrough may come by peeling away the barriers of language to reveal what lies underneath. Music is the layer through which these foundations might be exposed."

Dyson says, "in the game of life and evolution there are three players at the table: human beings, nature, and machines." He says, "I am firmly on the side of nature. But nature, I suspect, is on the side of the machines."

Darwin Among the Machines is another fascinating and brilliant book from George Dyson, but I think what he really points at is that nature is on the side of music and machinery that fails to grasp that will fail.

Ben

Good book - but not the angle I had in mind

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on December 16, 2012

Verified Purchase

I was looking for a book about the evolution of technology, not just in the past, but also about what might happen in the future. This book discusses only the former (which it does very well). I wanted something more speculative, but the content here was more historical.

Moud Jadaan

Good research, bad compilation

Reviewed in Germany on August 22, 2019

Verified Purchase

I believe that the author has done very good job in researching the biographies of scientists who provided significant contribution in this field. Unfortunately, the way of telling the story is not that good and some times it was painful to read some chapters.

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