Artificial intelligence is evolving quickly and bringing us to the edge of science fiction’s most dystopian dreams. But will machine intelligence soon beget actual consciousness? Scientist and human-factors engineer Andrew Smart thinks that possibility is a long way off—and that we will not have created a truly intelligent machine unless it’s capable of tripping on LSD (or the machine equivalent). In this wild but learned ramble Dr. Smart draws on neuroscience and chemistry, enlightenment philosophers and Steve Jobs, and just about everything in between.

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