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The Line: AI and the Future of Personhood - Hardcover
$32.95
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by James Boyle (Author)
A "terrific" exploration of AI in our chatbot-obsessed era--and how it will challenge our ideas about personhood (New Yorker)
Chatbots like ChatGPT have challenged human exceptionalism: we are no longer the only beings capable of generating language and ideas fluently. But is ChatGPT conscious? Or is it merely engaging in sophisticated mimicry? And what happens in the future if the claims to consciousness are more credible? In The Line, James Boyle explores what these changes might do to our concept of personhood, to "the line" we believe separates our species from the rest of the world but that also separates "persons" with legal rights from objects. The personhood wars--over the rights of corporations and animals, over the question of when life begins and ends--have always been contentious. We've even denied the personhood of members of our own species. How will those old fights affect the new ones, and vice versa? Boyle pursues these questions across a dizzying array of fields. He discusses moral philosophy and science fiction, transgenic species, nonhuman animals, the surprising history of corporate personality, and AI itself. Engaging with empathy and anthropomorphism, courtroom battles on behalf of chimps, and doom-laden projections about the threat of artificial intelligence, The Line offers fascinating and thoughtful answers to questions about our future that will arrive sooner than we think.Author Biography
James Boyle is the William Neal Reynolds Professor of Law at Duke Law School, the founder of the Center for the Study of the Public Domain, and former Chair of Creative Commons. He is the author of The Public Domain and Shamans, Software and Spleens, the coauthor of two comic books, and the winner of the Electronic Frontier Foundation's Pioneer Award for his work on digital civil liberties.
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Standard U.S. returns are accepted for eligible new, unopened items within 30 days of carrier delivery. Returns are by mail. Customers are responsible for standard return shipping, there is no restocking fee, and standard exchanges are not offered. Once an approved return is received and inspected, the refund is issued to the original payment method within 5 business days. Damaged, defective, or incorrect items are handled at no return-shipping cost to the customer.
Return eligibility is subject to the full policy. Opened, read, or unsealed books with broken seals or visible wear are final sale. Digital downloads, gift cards, and personalized products are non-refundable. Original shipping charges are not refunded for standard returns. Contact us within 7 days of delivery about damaged, defective, or incorrect items.
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