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May 28, 2013lifetoward rated this title 5 out of 5 stars
Currently one of the most comprehensive and useful views of humans' place in the cosmos. His explanations about the fungibility of pre-quantum potentials is fantastic. His theory of the power of "hard to vary explanations" is enlightening and very useful. He identifies knowledge, being accurate working models of the nature of the universe, as essential components of the cosmos, and humans' facility with knowledge as what makes them so special on the planet and in the grand scheme. While great, the book is weak in its lack of distinction between essentially subjective aspects of being and those objective features of the universe which science can access. He also doesn't clarify the important distinction between "designed" complex beings (including artifacts like computers) and "deeply derived" complex beings (like animals and people). Lacking this distinction I think he overestimates the achievability of a meaningful form of artificial intelligence, but even with this said the whole of the book seems to me to loudly suggest these important distinctions between the lines. Comprehensive, very readable, and extremely interesting, this book is a page turner and will occupy a spot among my "top shelf books" for many years I'm sure.