Introduction: The Substitution of Human Faculties with Technology: Artificial Intelligence and Expert Systems Research in artificial intelligence, starting in the 1960s, yet formulated a new goal: the automation of thought processes with intelligent machines. Although first attempts to develop "thinking" machines had only little success as the aimed at solving very general problems, the invention of expert systems marked a breakthrough. Albeit the application of those semi-intelligent systems is (still) restricted to quite narrow domains of performance, such as taxation and medical image interpretation, they are able to mimic the knowledge and reasoning capabilities of an expert in a particular discipline. While the development of intelligent machines, which are able to reason, to generalize and to learn from past experience is not likely to become reality in the very near future, research in artificial intelligence progresses quickly and sooner or later the substitution of men's unique faculties will come true.

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biotechnology summary The fusion of flesh and machine is trend which, although inscribed in the history of modern technology from its beginnings, has reached a unprecedented momentum in recent years as a result of crucial advances in information technology, biology, and the development of global networks. Consequently, doubts are emerging concerning the viability of a distinct and definable human nature. Historical and social theories and concepts are being unhinged by the spread hybrids and by new forms of artificial life which are likely to trigger social changes escaping the grip of calculation. Attempts to defend an essential human nature against technical hybridisation, rather than strengthening the human subject, may have further blurred the question of historical subjectivity. Large amounts of money are invested into research and development of artifical biology, making some of the predictions of AI and robotics experts about radical and far reaching changes a matter of time.

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1500 - 1700 A.D. 1588 Agostino Ramelli's reading wheel Agostino Ramelli designed a "reading wheel", which allowed browsing through a large number of documents without moving from one spot to another. The device presented a large number of books - a small library - laid open on lecterns on a kind of ferry-wheel. It allowed skipping chapters and browsing through pages by turning the wheel to bring lectern after lectern before the eyes. Ramelli's reading wheel thus linked ideas and texts and reminds of today's browsing software used to navigate the World Wide Web. 1597 The first newspaper is printed in Europe.

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plaintext the original, legible text

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Backbone Networks Backbone networks are central networks usually of very high bandwidth, that is, of very high transmitting capacity, connecting regional networks. The first backbone network was the NSFNet run by the National Science Federation of the United States.

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Server A server is program, not a computer, as it sometimes said, dedicated to store files, manage printers and network traffic, or process database queries. Web sites, the nodes of the World Wide Web (WWW), e.g., are stored on servers.

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MIRALab MIRALab is a research laboratory attached to the University of Geneva. Its motto is "where research meets creativity". MIRAlab's objective is to model human functionalities, such as movement or facial expression, in a realistic way.

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