Brainmakers

Join David Freedman as he takes you on a fascinating tour behind the scenes at laboratories around the world as top researchers race to create revolutionary "thinking machines" that may one day lead to a new form of intelligence.

The subject of fantasy and skepticism for centuries--from William James's mechanical bride to 2001's Hal to Star Wars' R2D2--artificial intelligence has been limited to number-crunching computers that are "smart" only in highly specific domains like chess--until now. Brainmakers is an eye-opening, mind-expanding, and mind-blowing journey through laboratories engaged in cutting-edge research into neuroscience and robotics. Inside, you'll discover:

MIT's Attila, a 3.6-pound, six-legged robot that learns as it interacts with its surroundings.

Japan's efforts to grow brain cells on chips and construct a "wiring diagram" of the human brain.

UCLA's "robot farm," where robots will be "bred" for intelligence.

In exciting yet accessible detail, Freedman shows how this research has moved into a new realm that transcends computer science, combining neuroscience, microbiology, evolutionary biology, and zoology. Modeled after natural rather than artificial intelligence, thinking machines may soon develop powers that rival--or exceed--those of the human brain.