2024
The Moral Animal
by Robert Wright
A book about evolutionary biology that presents how various human emotions and aspects of society are the result of the evolutionary process. It’s an older book (1994), so I’m not sure how much of the research is still up-to-date. The main idea - just as parts of bodies evolved, so did the brain, and with it our experiences - doesn’t seem controversial to me, and has for me blurred the line between humans and non-human animals even more.
Nexus
by Yuval Noah Harari
Harari on information, democracies, and AI. I think I enjoyed all his books, and this one is no exception. One of the central themes is the tension in information networks between their function to maintain order and discover truth.
While not the main focus of the book, I found the problem of misaligned AI well described.
The Making of the Atomic Bomb
by Richard Rhodes
An excursion from scientific discoveries that in quick succession enabled the creation of the atomic bomb to the Manhattan Project. I found it more relevant today due to existing and potential parallels with advanced AI, which may become similarly useful and dangerous as nuclear weapons.