Artificial Intelligence Update

As the social behavior of large groups of humans becomes more definable through progress in data gathering, new informatics tools and increases in computational power, we will be able to "predict with unprecedented foresight, specificity and scale such things as the economic and social effects of billions of new Internet users in China and India, or the exact location and number of airline flights to cancel around the world in order to halt the spread of a pandemic":

http://www.physorg.com/news167579576.html

Virtual Reality Update

A new modeling technology allows the creation of computer generated characters that are so lifelike they are almost indistinguishable from real:

http://technology.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/tech_and_web/article4557935.ece

Be sure to view the video!

Once truly practical virtual reality and artificial intelligence arrive, we won't be able to tell the difference between virtual and real people.