What do computer systems, cells, and brains have as a common factor? Computers are gadgets designed by humans; cells are biological entities crafted by development; brains are the storage containers and creators of our thoughts. But each is, in one way or another, information-processing gadgets. The power of the human brain is normally, up to now, unequaled by any existing machine or known living being. Over eons of evolution, the brain has enabled us to build up equipment and technology to create our lives much easier. Our brains possess about The Digital Mind: How Science is Redefining Humanity also allowed us to build up computers that are nearly as powerful as the mind itself. Within this reserve, Arlindo Oliveira identifies how advancements in research and technology could enable us to create digital thoughts.Exponential growth is a pattern built deep in to the scheme of life, but technical change now promises to outstrip sometimes evolutionary change. Oliveira describes technical and scientific improvements that range from the finding of laws that control the behavior from the electromagnetic areas to the development of computer systems. He calls natural selection the best algorithm, discusses genetics and the evolution from the central nervous system, and describes the function that computer imaging has performed in understanding and modeling the mind. Having regarded as the behavior of the initial system that creates a brain, he turns for an unavoidable question: May be the human brain the only program that can host a mind? If digital thoughts come into existence–and, Oliveira says, it really is difficult to claim that they can not–what will be the social, legal, and ethical implications? Will digital minds be our partners, or our competitors?