AI*IA 2005 Advances in Artificial Intelligence: 9th Congress of the Italian Association for Artificial Intelligence Milan, Italy, September 21-23, 2005, Proceedings Book

I found out about this book while researching other works by Sam Williams, of whom I had read before "Free as in Freedom". I'm glad I did because Sam Williams is such as good chronicler of computer science history as he proves in this book as well as in "Free as in Freedom".

First of all, I think it's worth clarifying what this book is and what is not. This book is not a kind introduction to A.I for the general public, and neither it is a sensationalist discussion about the same topic. This book is, from my point of view, a snapshot of the state of the art of A.I at the beginning of the 21st century. It consists mainly of three interviews with 3 relevant people in the field: Ray Kurzweil, "the optimist"; Jarouz Lanier, "the humanist" and Bill Joy, "the pesimist". Among the three, Bill Joy is perhaps an intruder in the field of A.I but his essay "Why the future doesn't need us", published in Wired maganize in early 2000, where he discusses the moral implications of genetics, robotics and nanotechnology brought him to the spotlight, granting him a slot here.

Besides these 3 interviews, the essay also features a beautifully crafted chronicle of the history of A.I and computer science, without any doubt one of the best I've ever read, as well as an epilogue chapter where several conclusions, and new questions, are exposed. Another thing I loved of this book was the quality of its bibliography and references to other works.

Summarizing, I would strongly recommend this book to anyone interested in A.I from a historical point of view, but take into account that certain familiarity with A.I and computer science is probably needed.