More and more of these learning computers are cropping up these days from the depths of AI labs around the world. This one is named Hal and supposedly has "fooled child language experts into thinking he is a toddler" and they expect another 10 years will bring him up to being an adult.

It probably doesn't mean much right now but being able to backup & replicate a form of intelligence does have it's merits. It may be semi-stupid and annoying to talk to, but just like visiting McDonalds when you travel you know that it'll be that way no matter where you run it. Which is good if you want consistency. So let's say I buy toddler 1.0 and you buy toddler 1.0 and install it on our home computer system. Is there a chance your toddler will grow up to be an accountant and mine will end up writing code red viruses? Would performing a diff on the data files show where I went wrong?

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