Very soon in the next millennium are coming inventions so strange, so powerful, so transcendental as to confound all understanding of what is natural and what is not, and what it actually means to be human and to be alive. About to be developed and unloosed on the planet is an intelligence far greater than that of humankind. And yes, some scientists contend, computers that feel and have self-awareness. They will be based, not on silicon, but on carbon, neurons, elements of life. Those who think so could be unaware of what machines already do.
Computers can recognize faces.
Computers can understand continuous speech. Computers can compose in the style of Bach. Computers can improvise jazz. Computers guide missiles, pick stocks, diagnose electrocardiograms, discern types of cancer, prove mathematical theorems, write poetry, play ping pong, make up jokes. That's sometimes disputable.