What If Machines Could Learn the Way Children Do?

A good number of us shout at our laptops when they misbehave, often to no avail. Perhaps soon they will listen. Could we one day teach them--much like we do children or pets--how to behave? For the majority of human history, we have survived and flourished based on our ability to learn. Today's machines learn--Siri perks up at the sound of your voice, traffic lights react to the flux of cars--but only in limited ways.