Terry,
These types of comparisons with electronics are meaningless.
...Hmm... "meaning" like beauty... may exist in the mind of the beholder, and several intelligent perspectives on this subject can coexist while differing markedly on the meaning each assigns to these efforts at cross-comparison.
... not unlike many diverse and controversial subjects we are touching on these days...
http://www.cochrane.org.uk/opinion/articles/intelligenceandlife.php
But can you really trust anyone so obsessive as to give a word count ;-)
Actually this is an interesting article, but the experts differ, and though one should be careful about siding with SciAm just because they are SciAm, that article seems to be a decent overall appraisal - even if it was instantly "dated" by the introduction of the XBox.
In the end, once AI arrives, even if it is not "human" intelligence - because it is a little "too perfect" and a little too uncreative, and a little too whatever, it is my feeling that the former nay-sayers will be amazed at how similar was the underlying maturation process (i.e. many layers of evolved connections and/or "software" = "learned rules" = memes). In looking at the "manufactured way" compared to the natural way, there is tremendous underlying similarity - even though the materials used in the connections themselves are markedly different. i.e. semiconductors and wires vs. potassium channels and ionic membranes.
Jones
Word count = 316 words and a few not-too-sures
