Sometimes, the taste is predictable.The pantheon of teenagers trying to change their reading habits often includes The Great Gatsby, The Catcher in the Rye, or 1984. But even before becoming CEO, he tried to differentiate himself from other companies. other CEOsElon Musk tried to break the mold, eschewing the usual classics in favor of famous science fiction literature. This sets him apart from his peers, but it’s still a predictable move for the man behind SpaceX and OpenAI.
Musk found that science fiction could address his simmering curiosity as a teenager in a way that religion and science alone could not. Walter Isaacson writes in his new biography of the CEO that neither man had satisfactory answers to his questions about where the universe came from and why it exists. Elon Musk.
“As he reached his teenage years, he began to feel that something was missing from him,” Isaacson writes. This feeling led to a “teenage existential crisis,” which Musk sought to address through books.
“I started trying to figure out what the meaning of life and the universe was,” Musk said. “I felt really depressed about it, like life might have no meaning.” He turned to existential philosophers like Nietzsche, but they made him feel even more adrift (he doesn’t recommend it as teen reading material). Instead, he found solace in the supernatural world.
Isaacson writes that three authors and three books guided Musk through this phase and on to the other side of trying to colonize Mars and bring robots to life in ways that benefit humanity rather than harm it.
The moon is a harsh mistress Author: Robert Heinlein
The novel, a favorite of Musk’s, takes place in a lunar penal colony ruled by a supercomputer named Mike. Isaacson writes that the AI transcended its robotic state “with self-awareness and a sense of humor,” which led it to self-sacrifice during the rebellion.
“This book explores a question that would become central to Musk’s life: Will artificial intelligence develop in ways that benefit and protect humanity, or will machines develop their own agendas and pose a threat to humanity,” Isaacson explains.
Musk will soon fix this problem Helped found OpenAI 2015 with Sam Altman. He often talks about the dangers of artificial intelligence, arguing that AI systems need safeguards to prevent them from replacing humans (a topic he often debates with Google co-founder Larry Page, ultimately leading to their disagreement). Musk’s views on AI safety form the basis of OpenAI’s goal to “advance digital intelligence in ways that are most likely to benefit all of humanity,” according to a statement from OpenAI. Company website.
Isaac Asimov’s Robot Series
Musk found more futuristic AI bait in Asimov’s series of 37 short stories and six novels, which revolve around, you guessed it, robots. This work touches on the same topic of AI ethics as Heinlein’s work. “These stories lay down the laws of robotics, designed to ensure that robots don’t get out of hand,” Isaacson writes.
Even stupider, one book named one of the rules the “Zeroth Law,” which states: “A robot shall not harm a human being, or allow a human being to be harmed by inaction.” The books had a lasting impact; as Isaacson noted, decades later, Musk tweeted, “The Fundamentals Series and the Zero Law were the foundation upon which SpaceX was created.”
This is another influence in Musk’s quest with Altman to create OpenAI in a way that benefits humanity. The problem of “AI alignment” aims to align AGI (Artificial General Intelligence) with human values and intentions—much like the rules in Asimov’s novels aim to prevent robots from taking over.
The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy Author: Douglas Adams
Isaacson hailed the classic novel as the single most influential on Musk’s “Wonder Years,” writing that it “helped shape Musk’s philosophy and added a zany sense of humor to his no-nonsense approach.” And Not production Thin penis jokes As Musk often does, Adams took a more sarcastic view, which Musk said helped him shake his depressive state.
The story also revolves around understanding the meaning of life. In it, citizens give a supercomputer a task to answer what is the purpose of the universe. Seven million years later, the supercomputer gives the answer “42”. “Honestly, the problem is you never know what the problem is,” the computer told the shocked crowd.
It seems that Musk brings the lessons of this galaxy and his subsequent interest in video games into every venture he explores now. “I learned from the book that we need to expand the scope of science so that we can better ask questions about the answers, the universe,” he said. He carried this idea with him when creating his own artificial intelligence. After Altman left OpenAI in 2018, xAI established a venture capital company rejected his offer Operating companies.
He said in a Twitter Spaces Talk in July that the goal of xAI is to “build a good AGI whose overarching goal is to try to understand the universe. The safest way to build an AI is actually to create one with the greatest curiosity and pursuit of truth.” AI.”
With investors pouring billions into technological advancements in the field earlier this year, AI innovations are sure to start to feel otherworldly and sound as weird as any well-known science fiction story. Drawing from his favorite book, Musk told U.S. senators at a summit on the subject this week that artificial intelligence is a double-edged sword and called for deeper regulation of artificial intelligence.
As one of the early inventors in the field of artificial intelligence, Musk wants to avoid becoming the kind of person he once studied in science fiction, an ego-based scientist who might one day lose control of his invention. Although he later regretted leaving OpenAI and called himself “a big idiot.” Maybe curling up with a book will help ease the sting.
Svlook
