When Machines Rule

Artificial intelligence experts at the Singularity Summit describe a world in which machines are smarter than humans.

Every year, computing machines become more powerful, a fact that hasn't escaped the notice of anyone who occupies an office. Many experts now agree that within a few decades, your laptop will be smarter than you are. Not only that, but your computer will be in touch with its byte-busting brethren. When that happens, the machines will "wake up."

But what takes place next? Can we stop the machines from turning us into protoplasmic peons in a world in which they are the top intellectual dogs?

Seth Shostak and Molly Bentley, hosts of the weekly radio program "Are We Alone?" from the SETI Institute, go to the Singularity Summit in San Francisco, and talk to some far-sighted humans who are preparing for the next generation of brainiacs - and they won't be your offspring!

Guests include:

• Eliezer Yudkowsky - Research fellow and co-founder of the Singularity Institute for Artificial Intelligence

• Everett Sherwood - Researcher at Motorola Labs

• Brad Templeton - Board member, Foresight Nanotech Institute, and Chair, Electronic Frontier Foundation

• Charles Harper - Senior Vice President, John Templeton Foundation

(Photo by Dan Coulter)