THE AGE OF INTELLIGENT MACHINES A Conversation Between a Human Computer and a Materialist Philosopher

Blaine Mathieu is the founder and President of Turning Point Software in Canada, a computer firm interested in many aspects of the small computer industry. There are few questions more mysterious and thought provoking than whether a nonhuman machine could ever be considered truly human in any important sense of the word. Let us jump ahead a few decades and imagine, for a moment, that all the problems of creating a truly intelligent machine have been solved. How would two "people," a philosopher and a computer, handle some of the physical, emotional, and moral issues of such a creation? A philosopher sits in his office considering how many of life's great mysteries have yet to be solved. Philosopher [opening his window]: What in blazes are you doing on that ledge?