< Previous | Contents | Next >
♤ Artificial brains are man-made machines that are just as intelligent, creative, and self-aware as humans.It is a term commonly used in the media to describe research that aims to develop software and hardware with cognitive abilities similar to those of the animal or human brain. Research investigating "artificial brains" plays three important roles in science:
1) An ongoing attempt by neuroscientists to understand how the human brain works, known as cognitive neuroscience.
2) A thought experiment in the philosophy of artificial intelligence, demonstrating that it is possible, in theory, to create a machine that has all the capabilities of a human being.
3) A serious long term project to create machines capable of general intelligent action or Artificial General Intelligence. This idea has been popularised by Ray Kurzweil as strong AI (taken to mean a machine as intelligent as a human being).
♤ No such machine has yet been built, but it is only a matter of time. Given current trends in neuroscience, computing, and nanotechnology, we estimate that artificial general intelligence will emerge sometime in the 21st century, maybe even by the year 2050.