if you could write a program that perfectly emulates the neural processes that lead to thinking and set it in motion, the machine would be thinking. or, at least it would be insofar as it would be doing exactly what we do when we think; if we can think, the machine can. if you take it to the next step, you could even conceivably upload your own brain (maybe even by something as simple as a scanning process) and emulate your *own* thinking. not going to happen tomorrow, sure, but...

really, i'm a little disappointed to see him get this backwards. it's the kind of thing we usually see him criticize. it's not that the machine cannot act like a brain, it's that the brain acts like a machine. we realize the heart is a machine, kidneys are a machine. what's with the mysticism surrounding the brain, noam?