[extropy-chat] Inside the future

[Giu1i0 Pri5c0]

Very interesting article on The  Age on Ian Pearson, the
futurist-in-residence at British Telecom's research labs, one of the
most hallowed halls of deep research in the world. Pearson endorses
conscious AI and uploading as forthcoming developments:
Pearson says that within a generation, we will grow computers from
biological cultures that are faster than those we today construct in
silicon, gold and plastic.
"We're looking at the idea of making conscious computers, and it's
possible any time after 2015 that we could have computers as smart as
human beings," he says. "That has a major impact for mankind, whatever
way you sum it up."
With the merger of information technology and biology comes the
possibility that we will merge our minds with machines, says the
British futurist. Education will be a doddle because we will have
intimate access to the world's information or any of our gadgetry in a
nanosecond. And if "you have a back-up of your brain on the computer,
you don't die," he says.
http://theage.com.au/articles/2005/02/14/1108229893543.html?oneclick=true