Jill Lepore, Harvard professor, warns that Artificial Intelligence is going to impact our Government…in a negative way. She notes that currently, we have no guard rails to protect us from rogue AI. We are building massive Data Centers that will increase the cost of electricity and water. And the impact on the Job Market will be…devastating!
My favorite chapter in The Rise and Fall of the Artificial State is Chapter 11, “I, Robot.” Lepore explores the early Science Fiction stories about Artificial Intelligence and Robots. She especially focuses on Isaac Asimov’s series about robots and his Three Laws of Robotics. It would be nice if those Laws existed in AI today.
If you’re interested in the current State of the Art of AI, The Rise and Fall of the Artificial State will orient you to what is happening today…and tomorrow. Are you ready for The Terminators? GRADE: A
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
PREFACE — xiii
PART ONE: GOVERNMENT BY MACHINES –1
- The Book of Numbers — 17
- Technocracy Inc. — 26
- Machines That Think — 37
- Computopia — 52
- The Twitter Revolution — 72
- AI.gov — 93
PART TWO: WHAT ROBOTS WANT –– 117
7. La Bete-Machine — 131
8. Darwin Among the Machines — 140
9. Man and Nature — 149
10. War With the Newts — 165
11. I, Robot — 184
12. Murderbot — 205
EPILOGUE: THE LAST DAYS OF THE ARTIFICIAL STATE — 225
Acknowledgements — 229
Notes — 231
Index — 259
Considering who is currently profiting from “AI”, it should be clear how little this is for the benefit of most of us. Alas, Asimov’s three laws of robotics, distilled by magazine editor and fellow sf writer John W. Campbell, Jr., always were too optimistic…which Asimov and others explored in their fiction.
Lepore interviewed by Michele Martin on NPR’s MORNING EDITION:
https://www.npr.org/2026/08/25/nx-s1-5768185/author-jill-lepore-discusses-new-book-the-rise-and-fall-of-the-artificial-state
This keeps being relevant: https://www.honest-broker.com/p/stanfords-secret-course-on-how-to