More everything forever AI overlords, space empires, and Silicon Valley's crusade to control the fate of humanity

In this biting study, science journalist Becker (What Is Real?) surveys the dubious ethics and questionable science underlying tech entrepreneurs' visions for the future. Pushing back against Elon Musk's aspiration to "save humanity" by colonizing Mars, Becker argues that the many technological challenges involved (overcoming the extreme cold, long-term effects of low gravity, and lack of oxygen and water) mean that fixing Earth is always going to be the better option. Talk of colonization, he suggests, primarily serves to obscure the need to lower carbon emissions. Becker posits that "longtermism"--an outlook espoused by crypto fraudster Sam Bankman-Fried, among others--lends an unearned moral veneer to lucrative tech ventures by suggesting that funding, say, a space propulsion think tank is a better use of money than donating to philanthropic ventures because that technology will allegedly improve more lives among future populations than there exist people today. Other technological moonshots are downright fanciful, Becker contends, discussing how computer scientist Ray Kurzweil's prediction that human consciousness will be recreated digitally by 2045 relies on a specious understanding of exponential progress and his own boundless faith in scientific progress. The penetrating critiques expose the self-serving narratives that prop up tech billionaires' quest for ever more wealth. It's a searing takedown of the Silicon Valley set. Photos. (Apr.)

A skeptical view of grand predictions. Artificial general intelligence, colonizing Mars, living in a simulation, and immortality are rigorously investigated in this timely and thoughtful book. Becker, an astrophysicist and science journalist, takes a wild ride through speculative technologies and assesses their merit, using real science--testing claims mathematically, scientifically, and through interviews with experts. He concludes that many are neither feasible nor desirable, and some are downright bizarre. For example, he writes, "It's effectively impossible to put a self-sustaining human civilization on Mars.…The radiation levels are too high, the gravity is too low, there's no air, and the dirt is made of poison. There are many other problems with this idea, and it's one of the simpler ones involved in these visions of the future." What's striking when reading Becker's work is why there isn't more skepticism. According to Becker, it's because the tech industry is operating under a wave of groupthink, promoting ideas associated with transhumanism, effective altruism, long-termism, extropianism, rationalism, and the singularity. Together, they make up what Becker calls "the ideology of technological salvation," a worldview "held by many venture capitalists, executives, and other 'thought leaders' within the tech industry" that emphasizes technological progress above all else. Becker traces the origins of this ideology to science fiction, including its early racist and authoritarian undertones, and exposes a lack of empathy and ability to deal with reality. He writes: "For a strong longtermist, investing in a Silicon Valley AI company is a more worthwhile humanitarian endeavor than saving lives in the tropics." The book looks at many of the think tanks, nonprofits, and other institutions promoting these ideas as inevitable. Yet, Becker writes, "this future (or set of futures) doesn't work." An important and sober investigation of Silicon Valley's boldest claims about the future. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.