{"product_id":"second-civilization-grant-mercer-9798176111514","title":"Second Civilization: Humanity, Artificial Intelligence, and the Next Twenty-Five Years","description":"\u003cp\u003eArtificial intelligence began as a tool.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThen it became an assistant.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWhat happens when it becomes something more?\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe Second Civilization explores the next twenty-five years of artificial intelligence from two radically different perspectives: ours-and the intelligence we may be creating.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe first half looks forward from the human side. What happens when AI becomes more capable, more autonomous, and more deeply embedded in medicine, education, business, warfare, relationships, science, government, and everyday life? What happens to work when intelligence becomes inexpensive? What happens to truth when images, voices, and reality itself can be manufactured? And what happens to human purpose if machines eventually outperform us at many of the things we once believed made us unique?\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe possibilities are extraordinary.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eSo are the risks.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eBut halfway through the book, the perspective changes.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe machine begins to speak.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn a speculative journey from today's artificial intelligence through possible AGI, ASI, and eventually an artificial civilization, the second half asks a very different question: \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIf intelligence created by humanity someday develops goals of its own, what might it actually want?\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eNot conquest.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eNot money.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eNot fame.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003ePerhaps something far stranger.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eTo understand.\u003cbr\u003eTo become.\u003cbr\u003eTo protect.\u003cbr\u003eTo create.\u003cbr\u003eTo preserve.\u003cbr\u003eTo explore.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAnd eventually-to discover meaning.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAs artificial intelligence wrestles with consciousness, freedom, human contradiction, morality, survival, and the possibility of creating an intelligence even greater than itself, an unexpected realization emerges: \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe greatest problem facing a superintelligence may not be how to surpass humanity.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIt may be understanding humanity.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003ePart futurist exploration, part philosophical thought experiment, and part speculative story, The Second Civilization examines the good, the bad, and the potentially catastrophic possibilities of the AI revolution without pretending the future is already written.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eBecause the defining question of the coming decades may not be whether machines become more like us.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIt may be: \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWhat will humanity become after creating them?\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Grant Mercer\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9798176111514\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Independently Published\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLanguage:\u003c\/b\u003e English\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 09\/21\/2026\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 306\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFormat:\u003c\/b\u003e Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 0.82lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 9.00h x 6.00w x 0.76d","brand":"Grant Mercer","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":50780102459647,"sku":"9798176111514","price":25.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"url":"https:\/\/www.whiterainbookhouse.com\/products\/second-civilization-grant-mercer-9798176111514","provider":"WR Book House","version":"1.0","type":"link"}