Question: When (if ever) do you think computers will become smarter than humans?

David Corne answered on 15 Jun 2011:

Computers are machines that process information — humans are machines that process information – humans are already computers, with a different kind of hardware and software than you would normally expect. This is not just playing with words: in computer science and biology, we are already looking into using biological cells for information processing, and most of the smarter computer programs use methods that are inspired by the way that brains process information. What I’m getting at is: computers are already as smart as humans, because humans are computers. What you mean to ask is: when will we make a computer that is smarter than a naturally born one? OK, now you have to define “smarter”. Computers can now play chess better than most humans, but they can’t write better music or novels (but they *can* write music and novels). They can design and do scientific experiments all by themselves, but they haven’t produced any breakthroughs yet. They can fly an aircraft more safely than most humans, but today’s most sophisticated robot couldn’t make a cup of tea in a strange kitchen its never seen before. Personally, I think being able to make a cuppa in any situation is the pinnacle of intelligence, and the challenge there is mainly the engineerig technologies of robotic joints and locomotion (the machine vision and action planning technologies are already just about good enough) – I think that will take 45 years.