Employee of the future

“Neurons in the cockpit: Thomas DeMarse holds his [postage-stamp-sized] ‘brain-in-a-dish,’ a collection of approximately 25,000 rat cortical neurons cultured on a 60-channel multielectrode array. In one breakthrough application, the cells were trained to pilot a flight simulator.”

- Aileen Constans in “Mind Over Machines,” The Scientist, Feb. 14, 2005

Just think of all the tasks that a little dish of rat neurons could handle: Bye bye, Alan Greenspan, for starters....