Will our brains merge with computers? Futurist says yes, and soon

Science fiction has a long tradition of pitting artificial intelligence (AI) against humanity in a struggle for dominance. Ray Kurzweil, Google's director of engineering and a noted futurist and inventor, envisions a more co-operative future. He says the human brain will soon merge with computer networks to form a hybrid artificial intelligence. "In the 2030s we're going to connect directly from the neocortex to the cloud," said Kurzweil, speaking at the Exponential Finance conference in New York on June 3. "When I need a few thousand computers, I can access that wirelessly."