Computers using Humans for Problem solving
What are computer games for?
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-8246463980976635143
That is near the top if not my favorite tech talk video. What a creative way to use what we and computers are good for. I hope it does bring quicker really AI like improvements as it seems like it will, along with incredible search results. He is a great speaker and what a cool presentation!!
I also looked at some of the 'Second Life' presentations. Something quite profound is going on there. It is a place where many experiments can be acted out safely, and beneficially carried through to the real world. And it is also a very effective way of gathering huge amounts of AI and computer-human interface data.
The old adage, "strength in numbers", holds true. Now networked together, amazing things can be done for good while multitudes of us have fun. It is neat to see all of this power being tapped in too.