The Atomic Human

Understanding ourselves in the age of AI

Neil D. Lawrence

Max Planck Lecture, Stuttgart

My Leader,

I am deeply shocked by the news that my son Erwin has been sentenced to death by the People’s Court. The recognition of my achievements in the service of our fatherland, which you repeatedly expressed in an honourable way, my Leader, entitles me to trust that you will listen to the request of an 87-year-old man.

As a thank you from the German people for my life’s work, which has become an imperishable intellectual property of Germany, I ask for the life of my son.

Max Planck

E S A R I N T U L
O M D P C F B V
H G J Q Z Y X K W

Bauby and Shannon

bits/min
billions
2000
6
billion
calculations/s
~100
a billion
a billion
embodiment
20 minutes
5 billion years
15 trillion years

The Structure of Scientific Revolutions

If in this book harsh words are spoken about some of the greatest among the intellectual leaders of mankind, my motive is not, I hope, to belittle them. It springs rather from my conviction that, if our civilization is to survive, we must break with the habit of deference to great men. Great men may make great mistakes; and as the book tries to show, some of the greatest leaders of the past supported the perennial attack on freedom and reason.

  • book: The Atomic Human

  • twitter: @lawrennd

  • The Atomic Human pages atomic human, the 13 , Planck, Max 130, 274-277, 295-296, 300, 354, Letter to Adolf Hitler from Max Planck 130, 274-277, 295-296, 300, 354, Planck, Erwin 274-275, 276, 301, Rommel, Manfred 158, 273–275, 301, Le Scaphandre et le papillon (The Diving Bell and the Butterfly) 10–12, Bauby, Jean Dominique 9–11, 18, 90, 99-101, 133, 186, 212–218, 234, 240, 251–257, 318, 368–369, Shannon, Claude 10, 30, 61, 74, 98, 126, 134, 140, 143, 149, 260, 264, 269, 277, 315, 358, 363, cuneiform 337, 360, 390, Kuhn, Thomas: The Structure of Scientific Revolutions 295–299, Blake, William Newton 121–123, Blake, William Newton 121–123, 258, 260, 283, 284, 301, 306, Cicero and culture 20-21, sorcerer’s apprentice 371-374, Popper, Karl The Open Society and its Enemies 371–374, MONIAC 232-233, 266, 343, human-analogue machine (HAMs) 343-347, 359-359, 365-368.

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    The Open Society and its AI