Genetic programming is the new frontier: A human creates the environment, and a computer hacks the code.

One of the pleasing prospects that\'s ballyhooed as a future benefit of the
Human Genome Project is in-creasing human longevity. The trouble with
longevity is that if you go waltzing far enough down the path of long life
you might find that you have merged with the highway of immortality without
stopping at the weigh station of wisdom. Is that a perfectly good thing?

Caroline Benner argues that the catastrophic scenarios of information warfare planners is just hype and that potential \'cyber-terrorists\' lack the skills and motivation to launch a full-scale attack on our critical infrastructures.

As talk heats up that the Bush administration is creating a new Cold War environment in its tough talk with China, Russia and North Korea, even alienating our allies in Europe who are distressed by plans for a national missile defense, some in the field of security are floating ideas that could ease the tensions between the U.S. and the rest of the world while still maintaining our national security interests. The most idealistic of these are proposals for a pact of mutual restraint: Don\'t spy on us, and we won\'t spy on you.

Steve Grand, designer of the artificial life program Creatures, talks about the stupidity of computers, the role of desire in intelligence and the coming revolution in what it means to be "alive."

Barak Jolish argues that it is impossible for the U.S. to stop terrorists from using advanced encryption technologies and attempting to do so would sap U.S. economic strength.

The author examines Meir Lehman's theory of software evolution which tries to analyze the life cycle of large-scale software programs.

Scientists are on the verge of breaking the carbon barrier -- creating artificial life and changing forever what it means to be human. And we're not ready.