'The Singularity' is what Silicon Valley calls the idea that, eventually, we will be overrun by machines that are able to take decisions and act for themselves. What no one says is that it happened before. A few hundred years ago, humans started building the robots that now rule our world. They are called states and corporations: immensely powerful artificial entities, with capacities that go far beyond what any individual can do, and which, unlike us, need never die. They have made us richer, safer and healthier than would have seemed possible even a few generations ago - and they may yet destroy us. The Handover distils over three hundred years of thinking about how to live with artificial agency.

Does it matter if we are ceding power to AI? Especially if we have been there before.

About the Author
David Runciman is Professor of Politics at Cambridge University and the former Head of the Department of Politics and International Studies. His previous books for Profile include Confronting Leviathan, Where Power Stops and How Democracy Ends. He writes regularly about politics for the London Review of Books and hosted the widely acclaimed weekly podcast Talking Politics.

Reviews
Persuasive ... the ever-erudite host of the terrific Talking Politics podcast ... ranges far and wide, from hunter gatherers to Elon Musk, from the wisdom of juries to the (terrifying) implications of autonomous weapons systems -- Tim Adams * Guardian *
Runciman's erudition is formidable ... a wide-ranging history of the modern state and an exploration of how AI technology may change the world [from] one of our leading public intellectuals -- Jason Cowley * Sunday Times *
Compelling ... David Runciman makes salutary arguments [about] the most urgent problem we face -- Blake Smith * Literary Review *
Quirky, meditational, disturbing ... original thinking -- Sherelle Jacobs * Telegraph *
Praise for David Runciman: 'A clear and forceful writer * Financial Times *
Runciman's flair for turning a pithy and pungent phrase is one of the things to admire about his writing ... That and [his] cogency, subtlety and style * Observer *
Refreshingly free of received and rehearsed wisdoms, Runciman doesn't tiptoe around sacred cows and invites us to take part in that most adult way of thinking: to examine contradictory ideas in tandem and ponder what the dissonance amounts to * Australian *



Book Information
ISBN 9781788163675
Author David Runciman
Format Hardback
Page Count 336
Imprint Profile Books Ltd
Publisher Profile Books Ltd
Weight(grams) 541g
Dimensions(mm) 234mm * 160mm * 26mm