Herbert Kaufman

Herbert Kaufman is a retired Yale University political science professor and a former senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, a Washington, D.C., think tank. In the following viewpoint, Kaufman argues that the machines of the future will evolve, much like organisms, on a new branch of the evolutionary tree. According to Kaufman, these superintelligent “biosoids” (machines “resembling living things”) will self-replicate, “think and learn,” and evolve without human instruction. Kaufman predicts a mutual interest between humans and biosoids and doubts that animosity will develop between them.

As you read, consider the following questions:

1. What evolutionary difference will set machines apart from organisms, in Kaufman’s opinion?
2. According to the author, how might future machines organize themselves?
3. What is misleading about using the term “machines,&rdquo...