Oren Etzioni The World in 50 Years

Editor's note: Etzioni has answered this question in the form of a hypothetical news story from the future. BREAKING: Food company X and technology company Y have officially completed their merger into a juggernaut computer manufacturer--lab-grown computers with super-human intelligence. In the early 2000s, scientists speculated that cellular DNA offered transformative opportunities for computer memory. Likewise, companies began to investigate high-bandwidth links between our human neurons and artificial neural networks. Proceeding in secrecy, in offshore locations, ethical concerns were quickly shunted and a race ensued toward growing an artificial brain in a lab; a genuine "brain in a vat."