How fast and powerful can computers become? Will it be possible someday to create artificial "brains" that have intellectual capabilities comparable--or even superior--to those of human beings? The answers to these questions depend to a very great extent on a single factor: we can make computer circuits.

Few if any researchers believe that our present technology--semiconductor-based solid-state microelectronics--will lead to circuitry dense and complex enough to give rise to true cognitive abilities. And until recently, none of the technologies proposed as successors to solid-state microelectronics had shown enough promise to rise above the pack. Within the past year, however, scientists have achieved revolutionary advances that may very well radically change the future of computing. And although the road

from here to intelligent machines is still rather long and might turn out to have unbridgeable gaps, the fact that there is a potential path at all is something of a triumph.

   
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