Mike, that’s an awesome idea. I will amend this series to look at general intelligence also; it would help highlight what makes humans different, too.

Regarding AI, I agree as well. Intelligence is a stretch when you try to compare AI with a definition of intelligence that has to do with more general-capacity thinking (similar to how the Smart in Smart Contracts in reference to blockchain is debatable, too).

You make a good point about airplanes flapping their wings, and I laughed thinking about it. One thing I’d like to point out is that the training aspect of AI is currently done so through computerized neural network design, many of which are akin to how we understand how brains work. Unfortunately, those designs often also rely on outdated understandings of our brain. Therefore, to innovate, we should update our understanding and apply that to the way we train AI algorithms, which is where modern neuroscience can make such a big impact. That being said, I do think you’re right — it doesn’t need to imitate our brain to the last neuron, but at least we can optimize it by replacing outdated architectural ideas with modern ones!