As noted in the talk, Hillis is fascinated by how simpler units form more complex and dynamic systems from which ultimately emerge greater levels of intelligenc

As noted in the talk, Hillis is fascinated by how simpler units form more complex and dynamic systems from which ultimately emerge greater levels of intelligence. He also wonders how we can understand such an emergent intelligence (EI), and whether we can detect it - and if so, how? He believes that it's possible that such EI is already happening. I would tend to agree with this. But I am not sure if we can detect it - or if we should even try, given the potential consequences. Let us imagine a scenario unlikely to happen: What if tomorrow, one of your neurons realized "Hey - I'm actually part of a larger thinking systems - what if instead of firing now - I fire a bit later - or if I do something completely at odds with what I should do? Maybe some of my friends around here would like to help? Hey guys! Guys...!" ...and let's say you - as the higher EI - noticed this happening; that is, a part of your brain "revolting" or at least trying to do something odd - what would you do? Well - you'd likely try to find a way to stop those neurons, right? Maybe via surgery or some other drastic means, you would do your best to either make sure they stopped asking such questions at the least, or destroy them at the worst. So - let us imagine right now - that we suspect some larger organization of -us- humans - are actually "processing units" or "processing elements" of a larger "entity". A large corporation could be one such entity; a religion could be another. Or perhaps just the interaction of people on the internet; maybe more than just information or what-not is being passed? If we started to "poke around" these systems, and somehow attempt to figure out whether we were creating an EI from our social and/or economic interactions (perhaps even aided and abetted by the processing power of our computer and network systems) - do you really think that such a "higher order" intelligence would just sit there and let it happen? Or do you think you, and perhaps your cohorts in "crime", would die strange and mysterious "random" deaths by accident or maybe adventure? I also posit that it may not even be possible for us - at this level - to know if such an intelligence is or has emerged from us lower level processing units/elements. We have no idea how this "being" would think, what it's language is, or what timescale it operates on - it could be that "normal time" to it is either much faster or much slower than our timescale; either way, it wouldn't help the situation. Also - we would be operating on a smaller level, trying to figure out how the greater EI system actually works; akin to trying to predict the weather by following the motion of the winds and other events. While we've had some success, weather prediction is not an exact science; I'd say we'd likely have about the same amount of luck predicting the actions or thinking of an EI. So does such an EI (or multiple?) actually exist? I don't know. But it may turn out to be an exercise in hubris to attempt to find out...