This chapter is about how to reverse engineer the human brain. It outlines the elements that this project will consist of.
First, it talks about the tools that we will need. Things such as better imaging tools. It also talks about how we must get better at modeling how various parts of the brain work: large scale and small scale.
Then comes the task of making computer hardware act like brain wetware. They are very different in how they function. It's like the difference between how a bird flies and how a jet plane flies -- they both fly, but that's about all they have in common. Likewise, when a computer is able to model a brain well, it will also do all sorts of other kinds of activities much more quickly and cheaply as well. For this computer that can act like a brain, doing so will be a waste of much of its time and resource.
Kurzweil points out that the brain is not a simple thing. It has lots of layers of organization and functionality. He then goes on to outline in detail the basic differences between silicon computers and brains.
He points out that our ability to analyze the brain is one of those phenomenon that are undergoing exponential growth, so these days we are learning a lot more, and a lot more quickly.
And finally, there's a lot of meat in this chapter about how the brain functions. If you want to see how the brain looks when viewed through the eyes of a computer geek, this is the place to do it.