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Recent work in the neurosciences involves advanced machine intelligence; it is a complex science, comprising fields in biology, computer science, electrical engineering, and psychology. The focus of this science is the exploitation of the quickly blurring boundary between man and machine. Although no one doubts that technology will continue to change the way we live, I believe that advances in neuroscience and the accelerating pace of computer development will combine to fundamentally alter the way we define life.

Popular technologist Ray Kurzweil writes that ?the primary political and philosophical issue of the next century will be the definition of who we are.? How will we get there? Kurzweil suggests that the path to creating non-biological human-level intelligence is to reverse engineer the human brain using our advancing medical technologies, and duplicate its organizational system in silicon hardware and software. Although anatomists familiar with the great complexity of the brain take pains to repeat the mantra of easier-said-than-done, I think that progress in this area will continue to accelerate much like the exponential advances in computing hardware.

The medical rewards from better neural prostheses are numerous, but my interests as a computer engineer lie in creating spiritual and intelligent computers, and giving humans the some of the algorithmic processing power so easily enabled in silicon. Like other controversial technologies of the past and present ? looms, nuclear weapons, human cloning, etc. ? machine intelligence is a science with its detractors who call for relinquishment. Sun Microsystems co-founder Bill Joy argues that we should stop intelligence development before we are ?shocked by the consequences of our inventions.? I argue that this is impossible. Someone will continue to develop these technologies, whether the development is approved by our society or not. I would prefer that our society enables an open, informed discussion of these issues. #