Softbank CEO and founder, Masayoshi Son, was interviewed by the Wall Street Journal on various topics, the most notable being that of the future of the world, i.e. artificial intelligence. Judging by his own calculations, Masayoshi Son predicts that in 20 or 30 years time, technology will reach the point of being capable of creating machines resembling humans in terms of perception, emotion and function.

A follow-up article demonstrates how Son explained his theory by the 30 billion neurons of the human brain that work on a binary system of ‘on’ or ‘off’. Correspondingly, the transistors of computer chips work in binary basis.  Apart from the binary system, a learning machine “would need to be connected to a slew of sensors that can absorb all sorts of data to recreate the experiences of sight, touch, scent and sound; enough memory to store all of that information,” and a “massively parallel relational database.”

“In simple terms, the database would make connections between the various data points. Mr. Son gave the example of how babies are not afraid of snakes. However, children end up fearing them because they are taught to fear death and then they learn that a snake bite could lead to death. The brain, functioning like a database, connects the two learning experiences.

“Once you have a learning computer with a massive parallel relational database, eventually the chip is going to have real emotion and consciousness,” said Mr. Son, who added that such a machine could be developed in the next 20 to 30 years.”

Trying to exemplify his theory, Masayoshi mentioned the babies who are not afraid of snakes, but as they grow up they are taught by their peers to avoid death and that snake bites potentially cause death. Thus the child’s brain makes the connection between death and snake bite, eventually ending up being afraid of them. Similarly, ‘the brain, functioning like a database, connects the two learning experiences’. From here,  there is just a tiny step to embodying a chip with real emotion and consciousness.

It is well known that the Japanese nation has an affinity for robots, which could be explained by the Japanese culture that believes that everything that is created by the human hand has a spirit.  Nevertheless, Son’s comments on the future of machines are great to ponder.  It’s especially pertinent when thinking of certain attributes now being applied to computer objects and processes, where facial expressions and emotional phrases are used as ways for servers to communicate their status to a human IT manager.

Son is hopeful of highly-developed machines in the near future, but what this really means on a consumer level is far from fruition.  Yet, it’s exciting stuff to think about.