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Rationality: From AI to Zombies

By: Eliezer Yudkowsky
Narrated by: George Thomas, Robert DeRoeck, Aaron Silverbook
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Publisher's Summary

What does it actually mean to be rational? Not Hollywood-style "rational", where you forsake all human feeling to embrace Cold Hard Logic. Real rationality, of the sort studied by psychologists, social scientists, and mathematicians. The kind of rationality where you make good decisions, even when it's hard; where you reason well, even in the face of massive uncertainty; where you recognize and make full use of your fuzzy intuitions and emotions, rather than trying to discard them.

In Rationality: From AI to Zombies, Eliezer Yudkowsky explains the science underlying human irrationality with a mix of fables, argumentative essays, and personal vignettes. These eye-opening accounts of how the mind works (and how, all too often, it doesn't!) are then put to the test through some genuinely difficult puzzles: computer scientists' debates about the future of artificial intelligence (AI), physicists' debates about the relationship between the quantum and classical worlds, philosophers' debates about the metaphysics of zombies and the nature of morality, and many more. In the process, Rationality: From AI to Zombies delves into the human significance of correct reasoning more deeply than you'll find in any conventional textbook on cognitive science or philosophy of mind.

A decision theorist and researcher at the Machine Intelligence Research Institute, Yudkowsky published earlier drafts of his writings to the websites Overcoming Bias and Less Wrong. Rationality: From AI to Zombies compiles six volumes of Yudkowsky's essays into a single audiobook. Collectively, these sequences of linked essays serve as a rich and lively introduction to the science - and the art - of human rationality.

©2015 Machine Intelligence Research Institute (P)2015 Machine Intelligence Research Institute

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Outstanding Book; Incomplete Audio

Eliezer Yudkowsky is a shining beacon of hope for humanity, and this book on rational thinking does a brilliant job of teaching some of the most difficult things there are to teach.

The book itself is amazing, but this audio recording omits numerous chapters due to their inclusion of diagrams and mathematics. It is incredibly disappointing to hear "This chapter can be read on pages X through Y of the eBook", especially when a free audio version of this book is being made and it includes them. It should be up to me as a reader to decide if I need to see the pages or can get by on descriptions - this simply feels like a lazy narrator that thought it seemed hard.

Overall I love the book, but if this book isnt priority number one on your list I'd wait for the podcast to finish.

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  • 17-02-2019

Very good introduction to Bayesian thinking

Yudkowsky explains very well what it means to be thinking in rational way. The book can be thought of as a starting guide on how to be more rational. I’ve enjoyed the thought provoking stories like the jester. I will refer to this book for years to come.

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