...as opposed to a slavering, ravening, human-meat grinder? As the complexities and growing pool of common knowledge on the creation of Artificial Intelligence coalesce, "What Rough Beast" might we find ourselves prostrate before? I'm just sayin'...

[exceprt] "By proposing the possibility of artificial consciousness, are you comparing the human brain to a computer?
No. The world is unpredictable, and thus it is not an unambiguous algorithm on which computing is based. Your brain has to be creative about how it integrates the signals coming into it. And computers don’t do that. The human brain is capable of symbolic reference, not just syntax. Not just the ordering of things as you have in a computer, but also the meaning of things, if you will."

"Our brain-based device learned to pick up a ball and kick it back to a human colleague.

(interesting choice of word, no? - editorial comment)

It did not just execute algorithms."

- Neurologist Edoardo Bisiach

Take a look at this story on the burgeoning brain-space being lovingly crafted by the minions of the Evil Robot Overlords...

Oh! How sweet,,,

"I could while away the hours, conferrin' with the flowers
Consultin' with the rain.
And my head I'd be scratchin' while
my thoughts were busy hatchin'
If I only had a brain.

I'd unravel every riddle for any individ'le,
In trouble or in pain.
With the thoughts you'll be thinkin'
you could be another Lincoln
If you only had a brain.

Oh, I could tell you why The ocean's near the shore.
I could think of things I never thunk before.
And then I'd sit, and think some more.
I would not be just a nothin' my head all full of stuffin'
My heart all full of pain.

I would dance and be merry, life would be a ding-a-derry,
If I only had a brain."

A whole other kind of scarecrow

Full Story at Discover magazine