The Digital Mind

How Science is Redefining Humanity. A discussion on how advances in science and technology could enable us to create digital minds.

What do computers, cells, and brains have in common? All three are information-processing devices. Computers are electronic machines created by humans; cells are biological entities designed by evolution; brains allow humans to process data in a way unequalled so far by any machine.This is the starting point of this book, in which Arlindo Oliveira, Professor at Instituto Superior Técnico, in Lisboa, and a specialist in Computer Science, discusses the emergence of digital minds.

But now we know that artificial intelligence will one day make it possible to model, simulate and understand biological systems and even complete brains with unmatched levels of detail. These digital minds will replace humans in many tasks, which leads the author to other unavoidable questions: will they become our partners or our rivals? Or both? And what are the social, legal, and ethical implications of their existence?