Whether a machine could be more intelligent than its human designers, I am unsure of; the term “intelligence” is not used consistently in these discussions, in any case. But for many cognitive tasks (“task” feels less slippery than “intelligence”) I am inclined to believe that a computer could, in principle, be better than a human. There are some things, however, that I am confident a computer could never do. Math, for instance. Computers can only ever simulate calculation, at best. They cannot successfully compute any function, even the simplest ones.

Yet great effort has been expended in hiding these realities from ordinary users.