"Jim Fisher" wrote in message
. ..
An interesting excerpt from
http://www.cnn.com/2005/TECH/05/23/b...oad/index.html :

" Pearson (some brainiac computer expert guy) predicted that it would be
possible to build a fully conscious computer with superhuman levels of
intelligence as early as 2020.
IBM's BlueGene computer can already perform 70.72 trillion calculations a
second and Pearson said the next computing goal was to replicate
consciousness.

"We're already looking at how you might structure a computer that could
become conscious. Consciousness is just another sense, effectively, and
that's what we're trying to design in computer."

Pearson said that computer consciousness would make feasible a whole new
sphere of emotional machines, such as airplanes that are afraid of
crashing."



I'm not sure if this is scary as hell or not.

--
Jim Fisher

Sounds redundant to me. You've already got the pilot who's afraid of
crashing, plus any passengers. No need to unnecessarily torment an innocent
machine by scaring it too...

KB