Screwdrivers, chain saws, computers, airplanes, and chemical plants are all machines. In the past many machines were powered by animals, but, by the time machine smartness evolved, windmills, water wheels, and steam engines had arrived followed by internal combustion engines and electric motors. No animal powered smart machines have been made insofar as I know except for dog sleds which use both the power and the smartness of animals in following a trail. People power hand tools, of course, and the hand cranked kitchen apple peeler, human powered, has a class of smartness in following the contour of the apple which we will examine in some detail later on. We will consider machines whose smartness in some ways greatly exceeds that of people, in other ways may be similar to that of people, and in other ways is far inferior to that of people.
Smart machines is a highly emotional subject.
Smart machines affect jobs, markets, money, standards of living, education, health, and war. We will deal with all of these. Smart machines are not used directly in sex, politics, or religion but their indirect effects, via TV and film for example, is enormous. We will examine effects of smart machines on society as an introduction to an enormous body of information and opinion. There is both love and hate.