The Handover cover art

The Handover

How We Gave Control of Our Lives to Corporations, States and AIs

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The Handover

By: David Runciman
Narrated by: David Runciman
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About this listen

'The Singularity' is what Silicon Valley calls the idea that, eventually, we will be overrun by machines that are able to take decisions and act for themselves. What no one says is that it happened before.

A few hundred years ago, humans started building the robots that now rule our world. They are called states and corporations: immensely powerful artificial entities, with capacities that go far beyond what any individual can do, and which, unlike us, need never die.

They have made us richer, safer and healthier than would have seemed possible even a few generations ago - and they may yet destroy us. The Handover distils over three hundred years of thinking about how to live with artificial agency.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.

©2023 David Runciman (P)2023 Profile Books Ltd Modern Political Science Politics & Government Robotics Technology Socialism Capitalism

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I loved this because og connects many of the dots of modern life and explains why we should engage in building new control systems for states, corporations and AI.

I would like more in depth on new ways of making democracy more human and as a social psychologist I disagrees with the notion that we as humans do not change in interaction with social systems, states and corporations. But that does not lessen how much I like this book 👍

what a story

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Listened to this over the course of a week. David is very good at keeping the subject of States, Corporations and AI very engaging although I suspect a prior interest in this type of thing helps. Overall a very thoughtful and considered opinion on the possible futures that await us and how we can impact those futures.

A very interesting listen

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The supposed removal of individuality by AI is not a new phenomenon. Our loss of autonomy began in the 17th century when nation states set agendas for us. In the 18th and 19th centuries, modern corporations took on the role and identity of the state (think of Amazon disputing cases and determing justice, etc). These, according to the political philosopher David Runciman, were the original thinking machines. Drawing on Thomas Hobbes's 'Leviathan,' he argues these social entities have developed their own logic and, to some extent, consciousness. AI is just the latest iteration of these thinking machines.

Does this mean that we will give up all responsibility to AI to make decisions for us in the future (algorithms deciding which patients are worthy of operations when there's limited resources) and if so, what does this mean when AI has no human awareness of consequence of action? Guess we'll find out soon...

Leviathan 2.0

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