Jay Ingram is a well known Canadian science journalist and broadcaster. Way back when I still had a TV, he hosted a daily science news show that I enjoyed. Hence as I read this book I could hear his calm, reasonable voice. He was living here in my city when he wrote this book, although he has moved out to the West coast. I don't blame him--he's 80 and winters are much easier out there.
Some sections interested me more than others naturally. Making urban environments more habitable was one of those. Nature is very important to human health and well-being, so getting more greenery into our cities seems like a no-brainer to me. I was surprised that water features provide even greater benefits, but it makes sense to me. (We don't seem to be headed for the claustrophobic cities of Asimov, among others. Thank goodness!)
I know that I am a privileged North American, but I found the food section disappointing. I am very underwhelmed by the lab grown meat possibilities. I don't eat much meat now, but if I'm going to indulge I want the real thing. And I realize that other cultures eat insects with gusto but I will only do so by accident. Yes, they are nutritious. No, I won't ingest them willingly.
I perked up once again as moving off Earth was discussed. This is an idea that I find highly unlikely. For a realistic examination of this issue, I recommend A City on Mars: Can We Settle Space, Should We Settle Space, and Have We Really Thought This Through?. The authors of that title reveal how much research is required before that plan can become a reality. It's a lot and who knows how much of it is being done? Despite what billionaires like Elon Musk think, it's not going to be easy. Ingram doesn't really get into the technical deficiencies of our current understanding, perhaps because it could be its own book.
Despite being a couple of years old, his artificial intelligence section still stood up pretty well. He points out that AI, unlike us, is not emotion driven. I think we are safe for a long time yet—it takes emotion to be truly evil or malevolent. I have read numerous fictions where a human uploads their consciousness to a computer and I have never found it convincing. We aren't us without our emotions and they are a product of physical brain structures. No physical brain, no real uploaded intelligence, IMO.
Ingram’s last chapters deal with the concept of consciousness, something we can't define even in humans. I agree that it's a stretch to attribute it to machines. He even deals with the idea that we exist in a simulation a la The Matrix. The only logical reaction to that is to live the life you want and to enjoy yourself as much as possible in case the simulation gets turned off. So let's live our lives to the fullest!
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