This book features over twenty contributions from thought leaders in philosophy, psychology, neuroscience, and technology who propose a broad range of responses to a monumental question of our time: How is the new AI transforming human nature, both in terms of how we think, learn, write, create, and imagine, and also in terms of how we see ourselves? The multidisciplinary contributions herein explore what we stand to gain, and lose, as AI becomes increasingly enmeshed with human life, blurring the line between human and computer. While 20th century AI was an innovative tool for reifying the computational model of mind, it arguably did not bring us any closer to an understanding of our unique human nature; while we wanted a mirror, it gave us only a dim reflection. The revelation in 21st century AI is that it has finally become that mirror in which we catch a glimpse of ourselves and become aware of what we valued most about human nature and what was unique in being human. This book will be of great interest to philosophers of science and anyone curious about the AI paradigm shift we're living through right now.

Liz Stillwaggon Swan has a PhD in philosophy from the University of South Carolina. Her scholarly research examines fundamental synergies among patterns in nature, humans, and technology. She's the Editor of Origins of Mind (Springer, 2013; translated into Chinese, 2016), co-Editor of Origins of Design in Nature (Springer, 2012), and writes for Psychology Today, where she explores fringe curiosities of human nature. Swan teaches scientific and technical writing at the University of Colorado Boulder.