Resources
Want to go deeper? Here are some resources to continue your exploration.
Download Vocabulary (PDF) — Key terms and concepts from all three lectures.
Books
On Intelligence
- What Is Intelligence? by Blaise Agüera y Arcas — The primary source for Lecture 2. Freely available online. A radical rethinking of what intelligence is and where it exists.
- Other Minds by Peter Godfrey-Smith — A philosopher explores the consciousness of octopuses and what they can teach us about minds.
- The Genius of Birds by Jennifer Ackerman — A fascinating look at avian intelligence.
On AI
- Machines of Loving Grace by Dario Amodei (October 2024) — The CEO of Anthropic's vision for how AI could transform the world for the better. Central to Lecture 3.
- The Adolescence of Technology by Dario Amodei (January 2026) — The risks we need to navigate to get to that better future. Also central to Lecture 3.
- Co-Intelligence by Ethan Mollick — A practical and thoughtful guide to working with AI.
- Life 3.0 by Max Tegmark — A physicist's exploration of what AI might mean for humanity's future.
On Meaning and Technology
- Against the Machine by Paul Kingsnorth — A thoughtful critique of technology's impact on humanity. We engage with this perspective in Lecture 3. Also see his newsletter, The Abbey of Misrule.
Online Resources
To Try AI Yourself
- ChatGPT — OpenAI's conversational AI. Free tier available.
- Claude — Anthropic's AI assistant. Free tier available.
To Learn More
- What Is ChatGPT Doing … and Why Does It Work? — Stephen Wolfram's comprehensive explanation of how LLMs work. Technical but accessible.
- One Useful Thing — Ethan Mollick's blog on AI and its implications.
Podcasts
- The Ezra Klein Show — Thoughtful interviews on AI, technology, and society.
- Lex Fridman Podcast — Deep conversations with AI researchers and technologists.