ACM TechNews

Intel: Human and Computer Intelligence Will Merge in 40 Years

Computerworld (07/23/08) Gaudin, Sharon

As Intel reaches its 40th anniversary, a top company executive looks forward 40 years to the point when human intelligence and machine intelligence starts to merge. Intel CTO Justin Rattner says that perhaps as early as 2012 we will start to see the lines between human and machine intelligence blur, with nanoscale chips or machines moving through our bodies to fix damage organs or unclog arteries. Rattner also says virtual worlds will become increasingly realistic, and robots will develop enough intelligence and human characteristics that they will become companions. Most aspects of our lives will be rather different as we approach the year 2050, with computing becoming less about running applications and more about living lives in which computers are inextricably woven into daily activities. "The intelligent systems will move from being information systems to intelligent systems that will carry out a whole variety of tasks that we just won't think of as computing tasks," says Rattner. "The technology will find its way into so many things we do, and we won't even think about it. The explicit way we've done computing in the past will be there, but it will be a very small subset of what we'll be doing." Chip advancements will continue throughout the semiconductor industry, though computer chips will extend beyond computers and phones as people seek to become more connected in virtual worlds and computers learn to react to our motions and thoughts.

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