Genius Makers by Cade Metz Summary
Overview of Genius Makers
"Genius Makers" unveils the maverick scientists who revolutionized AI at Google and Facebook. Walter Isaacson called it a "colorful page-turner" that humanizes tech's most transformative quest. What ethical price are we paying as Geoffrey Hinton's deep learning dreams reshape our world?
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The Birth of a Revolution: When Machines Began to Learn
In December 2012, a peculiar scene unfolded in Lake Tahoe. Geoff Hinton, a tall, distinguished AI researcher who hadn't sat down for seven years due to a back injury, found himself at the center of a high-stakes bidding war. Tech giants Google and Baidu were offering millions for his tiny company, DNNresearch. What made this three-person startup so valuable? Hinton and his students had achieved a breakthrough in neural networks that demonstrated unprecedented accuracy in image recognition-igniting what would become the deep learning revolution. This moment marked a dramatic turning point in artificial intelligence, but it was hardly the beginning of the story. The seeds had been planted decades earlier, in 1958, when Frank Rosenblatt unveiled the Perceptron-a machine heralded as an electronic brain capable of mimicking human cognition. "We are now on the threshold of an era that will be strongly influenced, and quite possibly dominated, by intelligent machines," Rosenblatt declared with remarkable prescience. But the Perceptron's abilities were vastly overstated, creating the first in a series of boom-and-bust cycles that would characterize AI's tumultuous history. The field soon split into competing camps: those who believed in brain-inspired neural networks versus those who favored rule-based symbolic AI. When Marvin Minsky published a devastating critique of the Perceptron's limitations, neural network research was effectively sidelined for nearly two decades-a technological road not taken that makes you wonder: how different might our world be if this approach hadn't been abandoned?
The Underground Years: Persistence Through the AI Winter
Google Brain: The Sleeping Giant Awakens
From Games to Reality: AI's Watershed Moments
The Shadow Side: Ethics in the Age of Intelligent Machines
The Human Element: What Machines Still Can't Do
Beyond Technology: AI as the New Frontier
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From Columbia University alumni built in San Francisco
"Instead of endless scrolling, I just hit play on BeFreed. It saves me so much time."
"I never knew where to start with nonfiction—BeFreed’s book lists turned into podcasts gave me a clear path."
"Perfect balance between learning and entertainment. Finished ‘Thinking, Fast and Slow’ on my commute this week."
"Crazy how much I learned while walking the dog. BeFreed = small habits → big gains."
"Reading used to feel like a chore. Now it’s just part of my lifestyle."
"Feels effortless compared to reading. I’ve finished 6 books this month already."
"BeFreed turned my guilty doomscrolling into something that feels productive and inspiring."
"BeFreed turned my commute into learning time. 20-min podcasts are perfect for finishing books I never had time for."
"BeFreed replaced my podcast queue. Imagine Spotify for books — that’s it. 🙌"
"It is great for me to learn something from the book without reading it."
"The themed book list podcasts help me connect ideas across authors—like a guided audio journey."
"Makes me feel smarter every time before going to work"
"Instead of endless scrolling, I just hit play on BeFreed. It saves me so much time."
"I never knew where to start with nonfiction—BeFreed’s book lists turned into podcasts gave me a clear path."
"Perfect balance between learning and entertainment. Finished ‘Thinking, Fast and Slow’ on my commute this week."
"Crazy how much I learned while walking the dog. BeFreed = small habits → big gains."
"Reading used to feel like a chore. Now it’s just part of my lifestyle."
"Feels effortless compared to reading. I’ve finished 6 books this month already."
"BeFreed turned my guilty doomscrolling into something that feels productive and inspiring."
"BeFreed turned my commute into learning time. 20-min podcasts are perfect for finishing books I never had time for."
"BeFreed replaced my podcast queue. Imagine Spotify for books — that’s it. 🙌"
"It is great for me to learn something from the book without reading it."
"The themed book list podcasts help me connect ideas across authors—like a guided audio journey."
"Makes me feel smarter every time before going to work"
"Instead of endless scrolling, I just hit play on BeFreed. It saves me so much time."
"I never knew where to start with nonfiction—BeFreed’s book lists turned into podcasts gave me a clear path."
"Perfect balance between learning and entertainment. Finished ‘Thinking, Fast and Slow’ on my commute this week."
"Crazy how much I learned while walking the dog. BeFreed = small habits → big gains."
"Reading used to feel like a chore. Now it’s just part of my lifestyle."
"Feels effortless compared to reading. I’ve finished 6 books this month already."
"BeFreed turned my guilty doomscrolling into something that feels productive and inspiring."
"BeFreed turned my commute into learning time. 20-min podcasts are perfect for finishing books I never had time for."
"BeFreed replaced my podcast queue. Imagine Spotify for books — that’s it. 🙌"
"It is great for me to learn something from the book without reading it."
"The themed book list podcasts help me connect ideas across authors—like a guided audio journey."
"Makes me feel smarter every time before going to work"
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