The gulf between human beings and other animals is truly astounding. Even the most intelligent of non-human beings seems nothing more than a handicapped child when we put them to tests of cognition.
It is already possible, however, to simulate the look and behavior of human beings using computer gaming devices. The simulation of motive and recognition, will and emotion, and all the other things that are associated with humanity, may yet be the fruit of research into artificial intelligence.
The logical outgrowth of this simulation is the ability to supervene humanity, and to overcome our own limitations as a species.
If this is true, then advancing computer technology to the state of humanity may only be the beginning, and not the ending, of understanding.
Imagine a network of human-scaled artificial minds, able to live forever, resident in cyberspace, reaching every problem that ever occupied mortal minds. Imagine such a mind improving itself, grasping the answers to problems we have not yet even begun to see. Is such a mind possible?
This is a philosophical problem more than a technical one. Technology is not yet to the point where the issue is real. But it is an interesting question nonetheless, and one with profound implications for whether humanity can move beyond a threshold we dare not imagine.
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