humans are animals, hank... do you presume to be "nearly equal" to god and hence "special"? accept that you are merely a beast and you are a step closer to understanding that you and your knowledge of god will always be imperfect. then maybe you can cease being arrogant and learn the lesson jesus was trying to teach mankind: humbleness....
While I agree that Jesus came to teach humility, true humility is not acknowledgement that one is just a thinking animal. True humility is knowing who God is, who you are, and what your right relationship is to Him.
Regarding the article, it's a bit fanciful to think that conciousness is just a matter of computing power. The simple fact of the matter is that we don't even have a scientific model for conciousness as of yet, so how exactly do we propose to know when or if we will be able to duplicate it? It's like predicting when we will invent warp drive without having the foggiest theoretical notion of how we might go about beating (or cheating) the speed of light. If you're just writing science-fiction, great. If you're actually trying to be legitimate in your speculations, you have to admit ignorance where it exists.
Please spare me the humans are animals lecture, it's ridiculous.