Rating: 
Summary: Not Too Bad
Review: The book was not too bad. On a positive note, it provided a overview of a topic that is incredibly complex in terms that can be grasped by anyone with a moderate vocabulary. But here's the rub, I found the writing to be somewhat boring, mainly because Dyson has a tendency to cram in more information than is really necessary to make his point. I often felt that he was being a little ostentatious by trying to demonstrate a breadth of knowledge that included literary allusions to texts that to me were unrelated to the topic. Still, I'm gald I read it. I definitely know more about AI than before I opened the book.
Rating:
Summary: A Difficult Read
Review: The title implied that this book was about Artificial Life - evolution as applied to machines. Rather it is more of a collection of biographys of scientists involved with this field.I found the book very difficult to read, with very little relevant details for modern researchers in Artificial Life and complex systems. Even as a 'historical' book it is long winded, and does not bring the people being described alive. Rather dissaponting for a book with such a nice title.
Rating: 
Summary: Placed in the wrong section.
Review: There are two sides to this book. First, as a book on the academic topic of artificial intelligence, the book is little better than an overview. I cannot fathom why any serious computer scientist would bother with this book from an academic standpoint. The flip side, is the sociological/anthropomorphic aspect; as an introduction to theories that real researchers are investigating the book is silent. As an introduction to the presumed goals of AI research from a pop-culture standpoint the book is excellent. This book does not belong in an AI researcher's library, but in a CS ethicist's.
Rating: 
Summary: The most insightful book on the future of intelligence
Review: This book is valuable on many fronts. The historical presentation of evolutionary theory and thought is priceless. Dyson brings us back to the development of evolutionary thought and subtly (and at times not so) suggests that we reconsider some of the ideas that have been abandoned. This reminder of the processes of organization prepare us for a nice discussion of the development of computers. Even computer pros are bound to learn things here. Remember, the author's father worked with these original developers. Once this is all established, Dyson then points out a few things that have deep, deep, deep implications. His use of science fiction to illustrate these ideas is great. Dyson's presentation is full of reliable information. It is humorous and he makes connections where I would have missed them otherwise. His argument is astounding, but plausible and probable. He is subtle and never argues with the reader. Rather, he takes ideas and gives them to you in a manner that says "What if we consider these things in this way?" I think that the theory suggested about the future of global intelligence here is actually too deep for many people to catch the first time through. It is so different from the other predictions that I have read. Perhaps people choose not to pay attention to this, I don't know. I have the utmost respect for the mind that put these pieces together. I think that this book is ahead of its time, and the ideas presented here will be returned to in a decade or so. AT that point, the book will no longer be a predictor, but rather our guide to the world we live in. I encourage everyone interested in the relationship between techonology and society to read, re-read, and ponder this book. It can and will fundamentally alter the way you think about everything. Bravo, Mr. Dyson!
Rating:
Summary: The most insightful book on the future of intelligence
Review: This book is valuable on many fronts. The historical presentation of evolutionary theory and thought is priceless. Dyson brings us back to the development of evolutionary thought and subtly (and at times not so) suggests that we reconsider some of the ideas that have been abandoned. This reminder of the processes of organization prepare us for a nice discussion of the development of computers. Even computer pros are bound to learn things here. Remember, the author's father worked with these original developers. Once this is all established, Dyson then points out a few things that have deep, deep, deep implications. His use of science fiction to illustrate these ideas is great. Dyson's presentation is full of reliable information. It is humorous and he makes connections where I would have missed them otherwise. His argument is astounding, but plausible and probable. He is subtle and never argues with the reader. Rather, he takes ideas and gives them to you in a manner that says "What if we consider these things in this way?" I think that the theory suggested about the future of global intelligence here is actually too deep for many people to catch the first time through. It is so different from the other predictions that I have read. Perhaps people choose not to pay attention to this, I don't know. I have the utmost respect for the mind that put these pieces together. I think that this book is ahead of its time, and the ideas presented here will be returned to in a decade or so. AT that point, the book will no longer be a predictor, but rather our guide to the world we live in. I encourage everyone interested in the relationship between techonology and society to read, re-read, and ponder this book. It can and will fundamentally alter the way you think about everything. Bravo, Mr. Dyson!
Rating:
Summary: Wonderful treatment of an important subject
Review: This book was really extraordinary to read. Dyson correctly approaches digital evolution and delivers expansive and well thought theories. Really thought provoking and well laid out. While the prose is difficult sometimes the ideas burn through it and communicate some very powerful ideas that still bounce around my head months after reading it. The exploration of macro-consiousness in the economy and the world-wide network were really enlightening and almost unsettling.
Rating: 
Summary: Computer history woven through with insights from nature.
Review: This one's a keeper. George Dyson skillfully
interlaces the threads of life, intelligence, and
consciousness throughout the history of both men
and machines. Throughout the book, he makes a case that intelligence is a result of a multitude of small objects arranged in an irregular manner. Individually the objects are unintelligent - they just follow simple rules. But taken together, the network created may be a human brain - or the worldwide Internet. The breathtaking scope and ambition of Dyson's theories make this a great read. The book is a little short on the technical details of how all this is supposed to work, but if you want an overview of computer evolution, life, and intelligence, this is a good place to start.
Rating:
Summary: Computer history woven through with insights from nature.
Review: This one's a keeper. George Dyson skillfullyinterlaces the threads of life, intelligence, andconsciousness throughout the history of both men and machines. Throughout the book, he makes a case that intelligence is a result of a multitude of small objects arranged in an irregular manner. Individually the objects are unintelligent - they just follow simple rules. But taken together, the network created may be a human brain - or the worldwide Internet. The breathtaking scope and ambition of Dyson's theories make this a great read. The book is a little short on the technical details of how all this is supposed to work, but if you want an overview of computer evolution, life, and intelligence, this is a good place to start.
Rating:
Summary: A brilliant, original look at computation and life
Review: Those of us who have spent more than a few years with computers have read a great many books about the history of computing, and they seem, for the most part to be of the "kings and battles" school of history writing: Long lists of men and machines that convey the image of computing history as strictly an additive process, in which advancement is due to improvments in the low-level technology of the hardware. Thus the 1940s and 50s are summed up as the era of tubve computing, the 1980s become the era of the microprocessor and so on. We're also given a few names to spice up the narrative. Babbage makes the obligatory appearance, as do Turing, Von Neumann and Grace Murray Hopper.
But Dyson presents a very different approach. Rather than concentrating on the machines that are the exemplars of computing technology at any given time, he chooses to concentrate on the philisophical assumptions that underly the philosophy of computing at a given time, as well as how the availible technology and economics dictated how that philosophy was to be realized. At the same time, he gives us a story about the evolution of life on earth, and the interplay between theories of life, and theories of computing. Not an easy trick to pull off, and yet Dyson's narrative is both rigorous in its science, and compelling as a story.
Most histories of computing begin with the abacus, or some other tallying device, the natural consequence of seeing computers as simply larger and faster arithmatic engines. Even those who begin the story with Babbage tend to focus on the notion of Babbage's machine as a device for calculation, despite the obligatory quote from Lady Ada Lovelace about the potential of the caclulating engine for purely symbolic computing. But Dyson begins his narrative in an unexpected place- Hobbe's Leviathan. For Dyson, Leviathan is the first theory of the emergent properties of complex systems, as well as the first theory of how reliable systems can be built from unrelaible componants- a theory as applicable to biological evolution as it is to the problems of vaccum tube based computers of the 1950s or to the studies and simulations of complex systems that gained so much momentum in the 1980s and 90s. The questions raised are traced both through their impact on computing and on biology. Dyson introduces us to the brilliant and mostoly forgotton work of Baricelli in creating a numerically based "artificial life", reasearch that was going on at the Institute for Advanced Study while Dyson was a child growing up on the grounds.
Dyson also brings a new clarity to the evolutionary debate. As he explains it, the question is not between a theory of creationism relying on faith and evolution relying on evidence; it's much more subtle and complex. We actaully have three possibilities: Design from without, design from within, and selection from random processes. The former is nominally the creationist position, but it's also the position of such people as Rupert Sheldrake. The selection from random processes model of Darwin does have flows, as creationists like to point out, but those flaws do not automatically have to put us in the Creationist camp.
This brief discussion barely touches the surface of this complex and wonderful book. It's certainly one of most stimulating and thoughtful books of the last few years to touch upon the topics of complexity, self-organizing properties of complex systems and related topics, and may prove to be one of the most influential works in influenceing the direction of work in these areas in the next few years.
Rating:
Summary: Not entirely satisfying
Review: Though well written and informative, in the end DAM was a less than satisying read. Dyson marshals considerable data (and extensive and informative quotes) from the fields of history (of science and technology), the sciences (principally evolution and CS), and philosophy (as it has, historically, reflected on notions of mind and evolution). As an avid reader of history, with a deep interest in all of these subjects, I found the opening chapters of DAM quite interesting. That said, the history in DAM is not particularly deep. But Dyson writes well, and I appreciate his having shed light on several lesser known (and underappreciated) historical figures along the way.
Where DAM ultimately falters, in my view, is in its shallow futurism. I say "shallow" not because I don't think Dyson is highly imaginative. He is. And his predictions (to the extent he articulates them as such) may well be realized one day. However, though Dyson is skilfull in establishing the historical groundwork for the development of computer and communications technology as they exist today, he is far less skilfull in tracing even a speculative chain of developments from the present state of the art to the global/artificial intelligence he envisions as a possible (perhaps inevitable) future development. In fairness, every futurist has hit and will continue to hit this wall until the future comes knocking. But Dyson purports to do so.
In the final analysis, though Dyson does an admirable (and entertaining) job of accounting for the rise of computers, and the increasing complexity of computer networks, his discussion of artificial intelligence has more the ring of a leap of faith. It's a fascinating idea (though hardly original to Dyson), and certainly a possibility, but one whose potential trajectory (from idea to realization) is barely even attempted in DAM. DAM would have profited from a little more hard science, and a little less soft speculation.
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