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First computers beat us at chess. What will they think of next? We are on the verge of the next stage in life's evolution, the stage where, life takes control of itself and guides its own destiny. Never before has human life been able to change itself, to reach into its own genetic structure and rearrange its molecular bases; now it can. More recently, our bodies have become sites for more than 250 types of artificial implant: synthetic heart valves, pacemakers, artificial hip and knee joints, synthetic arteries, and eye lenses, not to mention those used in plastic surgery. As the separate fields of bioengineering, artificial intelligence , and robotics converge, the division between carbon-based life and artificial life will become less and less detectable.
In February, 1996, and then again in May, 1997, the world's best chess player competed against a computer. The matches were between an IBM supercomputer nicknamed "Deep Blue" and Garry Kasparov, the world champion. The first match ended in one win for Deep Blue, three wins for Kasparov, and two draws. Some of the games lasted six hours. Garry Kasparov won the first match, but towards the end of that series his adviser said, "Gerry is more exhausted than I've ever seen him." Kasparov, after studying Deep Blue's weaknesses, agreed to the rematch in 1997. However, IBM programmers had also fine-tuned Deep Blue's RS/6000 SP parallel processing software. The rematch was disastrous for Kasparov, ending in two wins for the computer, one win for Kasparov, and three draws. The posthuman era had dawned. 1997 Deep Blue match was possibly the last time a human would ever win against a computer. Sceptics can say that the games won by Deep Blue were actually won by the half dozen IBM programmers who worked on the software.
Hugo de Garis, a computer scientist working for ATR laboratories in Japan, is coordinating the creation of a computer he calls a "silicon brain" and, when it is completed in the year 2001, it will have more than a billion artificial neurons. What is extraordinary about this brain is the fact that it is designing itself. Its neurons are "cellular automata," every one of which has its own computer programme. This project is just one example of dozens of research programmes in laboratories throughout the world that are racing towards artificial intelligence. I. J. Good wrote, "an ultraintelligent machine could design even better machines; there would unquestionably be an intelligence explosion; and the intelligence of man would be left far behind. Thus the first ultraintelligent machine is the last invention that man need ever make."
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