From the billions of documents that form the World Wide Web and the links that weave them together, computer scientists and a growing collection of start-up companies are finding new ways to mine human intelligence.

An overview of the semantic Web--an extension of the current Web-- that may act as a "collective memory," augmenting individual brain power and accelerating the pace of human learning and discovery. The author argues for guidance now to "avoid the emergence of a dystopian digital dictator."

Researchers are developing "chatterbots" that are renewing debate about the extent to which computers can achieve intelligence. The electronic personalities of this generation use the vast repository of information on the World Wide Web as their memory bank, not just some rigid database.

Researchers are working on a new form of web markup that would enable machines to talk intelligently with other machines. It would be an extension of the current Web, a place where "information is given well-defined meaning, better enabling computers and people to work in cooperation," according to Tim Berners-Lee.

The Web is huge but not very smart. Computer scientists are beginning to build a "Semantic Web" that understands the meanings that underlie the tangle of information.

Technologists are working on what may be a key piece of the next generation of networks -- a ``Semantic Web'' where machines talk intelligently with other machines to solve all kinds of problems.

Charles Platt takes a broad look at the prospects for artificial intelligence in the form of chatbots, the semantic web, and humanoid robots.

HTML revolutionized the way information is shared worldwide. Can a new language do the same for the human genome? Mark Pesce speculates on the potential for Gene Expression Markup Language to revolutionize genetic engineering.