I'm sure neural nets will herald AI right after the mechanical gears and pneumatic pistons that were envisioned as the secret sauce during the turn of the last century.
The key, of course, is redefining life and intelligence as whatever the current state-of-the-art accomplishes. (Cue explanations that the brain is just a giant pattern matcher.) It makes drawing parallels and prophesying advancements so much easier. Of all our sciences, that's perhaps the one thing we've perfected--the science of equivocation. And we perfected it long ago; perhaps even millennia ago.
The key, of course, is redefining life and intelligence as whatever the current state-of-the-art accomplishes. (Cue explanations that the brain is just a giant pattern matcher.) It makes drawing parallels and prophesying advancements so much easier. Of all our sciences, that's perhaps the one thing we've perfected--the science of equivocation. And we perfected it long ago; perhaps even millennia ago.