This isn’t my usual type of book (I’m more into fantasy than non-fiction) but I’ve always been interested in subjects like this, so I thought I’d give it a try. HOWEVER it should be noted I am probably not the targeted audience and hence why the book would be rated lower compared to people who are the target audience.

With AI being such a hot topic recently it was interesting to see that you could trace the roots back to the Enlightenment period and the days of Descartes with his discussion of parts of the human body being mechanical in some form of nature and meditations as a whole. It's also a fun parallel that some of the "roots of AI" can be traced to him (Descartes) as a lot of times in media (specifically media containing AI) his quote from Meditations 2, "I think therefore I am", is a common phrase used by said AI, I.e in Detroit Become Human and "I have no mouth and I must scream".

There were also some beautifully written bits like "The inventor of the deterministic demon, and the man who removed God from Newton's universe". Sentences like this would constantly draw me back when I could feel myself getting bored. The book taught me a lot too about people that I only knew by name so to see them as something other than hard maths questions was fascinating and fun. I was also introduced to an entirely new pool of people I'd never heard of so learning about probability and how it ties into the entire world in a way was very interesting.

It was a little frustrating that there was little on women, especially since it's known that many of the first "computers" were women crunching numbers and I think it would have been a good parallel to compare humans being called machines to machines now in the modern age being more human. In a similar vein, the homophobic treatment of Alan Turing wasn't mentioned which I understand isn't directly part of the subject matter but it is part of Turing who is fundamental to the timeline of said subject matter book so I think it could've been mentioned more in depth. I did enjoy this book but I do wish it spoke more about AI in the modern age.

Thank you to NetGalley and the University of Pittsburgh Press for the ARC.

This is a rich text but a bit misleading in scope. This has very little to do with artificial intelligence, modern or otherwise. Rather, this is a deep dive into the last few centuries of efforts towards operationalizing human intelligence, aka "sciences of man," aka "social sciences." More or less a history of how the natural sciences bled into the humanities. This endeavour, or at least this take on it, is very much a white Western male one, with only some differences in language to demarcate these slices of history. While interesting, I felt a bit of dread creeping up on me as I progressed ... and not because of any uncanny machinations or machines. Everyone is a "he" and "him. Why the use of "sciences of man"? (Have you heard of it? Neither have I). Then, glossing over the fact that most early computers were women (not just anyone) ... and tip-toeing around the horrific treatment of Alan Turing, a direct consequence of homophobia and discrimination ... this text deserves its own humanist reckoning. That is one of the fundamental theses: that the natural sciences and especially modern approaches to the creation and study of machines has lost its way due to its disconnect from the humanities and social sciences. But, if this text is anything to go by, the humanities and social sciences are themselves adrift. All this said, I learned a lot about some random characters that have contributed significantly to many fields of study and tools I take for granted. John Tukey, even Turing, d'Alembert ... there's quite a cast of characters, each hailing from different times and value systems, although sharing a lot of privilege among them. I found myself drawn in, despite my disappointment. A worthy history for those who don't mind its limits, including little mention of the titular subject as we know it today.

The Descent of Artificial Intelligence is an interesting non-fiction book written by Professor Donnelly. Donnelly’s expertise in history of science exudes from the page and this book offers thought-provoking perspectives on being a human, machines and artificial intelligence.

Donnelly traces the descent of the idea of artificial intelligence over the past four hundred years in philosophers such as Leibniz’s and Descartes’ thoughts (the attempts to reduce human behaviour to mechanical understandings/methodological explanations. In other words, via the discussion of various theories encompassing centuries, this books demonstrates that the curiosity with human behaviour and the development of AI technologies/thought are not separate from each other.

Certainly a well-researched and discussed title. My engagement level varied, though for the most ideal audiences for this book, the paragraphs that were lost on me may be more meaningful and engaging.