artificial intelligence

The term "synthetic intelligence" is sometimes used to describe "strong artificial intelligence" and sometimes to make the point that "artificial intelligence" as a term is an oxymoron. I'm not going to enter into that debate but want to here appropriate the term to describe a collective form of intelligence where collaborative kinds of wisdom can be aggregated toward some greater insight and even predictability. Synthesizing intelligence--the verbal form--may, like folksonomy, be a process whose product is only visible in retrospect.

As we find out more about imprinted genes, it may turn out that the world we create (on all levels) is the most important factor in determining the diseases to which we are susceptible. What moral and social rules should we uphold if we are not genetically determined but genetically responsible for our fate and that of others?