Step 2 requires something in between slugs and humans. I suggest the bipedal life forms I have seen in Ipswich.

I want an ethernet port, or at least a wifi connection, in my head. Streaming high quality pornography straight to my cortex... I mean using online resources to learn new languages quickly.

Yes, languages.

This seems like a giant step done since 1991:

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/12/07/rat_brain_flies_jet/

Just call me Denton, J.C. Denton.

Also: The Pope's a Catholic? Who Knew?

I realise you don't like Kevin Warwick here, but his team do currently have a number of circa 100k neuron 'brains' made from rat neurons. These are being used to controll little buggies via bluetooth. It's not learning as such, rather what they are doing is putting signals from sensors into the brain and seeing what comes out, where and using usefull responses. These signal/responses are then exercised to see if they get better.

He also had a human brain implant thingy a few years back.

Welcome our computationally enhanced, wetware to weaponry interfaced, Slug overlor..............WAIT........TO THE SALT MINES! DIE, YOU UPSTART GASTROPOID BASTARDS!

A bit like the neural nanonics described in Peter F Hamilton's Night's Dawn trilogy, please.

And yet no mention of Kevin Warwick? You're losing your touch!

My former colleague once admitted that he spent part of his childhood conducting experiments with electricity and slugs. Take one 240/12V step-down transformer (such as from a Scalextric power pack), place slug across high-voltage winding connections, brush 9v battery across low-voltage winding connections, and see that slug dance!

... and now [so fast!] they're back on top with silicon brain. Are there nips on IT?

/

Paris 'cos she's trying to find one.

What the pikeys don't realize, is that by expanding thought processes beyond the bony confines of one's skull into silicon space permits a functional definition of eternal life (or maybe borg life, take your pick).

The idea is that more and more of one's thought processes are 'in silico' with only an anchor in the old organic wet part. If the wet part starts to fail, you add another shiny new wet part and gradually grow into that one, eventually discarding the old decrepit wet component. Voila' one can theoretically continue the stream of conscioness forever-- or at least till the next asteroid strike or bankruptcy proceeding.

The concept of retaining the wet part is partly due to the effects that are poorly understood in the way the wet brain works. With enough silicon, one could presumably emulate the wet part, although that appears beyond the near term state of the art (even more so as resource starvation slows research).

Of course, one could simply discard the old wet organic part altogether, but is one then human anymore, or a new evolved form silico sapiens?