We do not understand the molecular mechanisms of thought and memory. Protein folds and allosteric communication networks have been evolving much longer than the organ, and may be as important as cellular structure in generating mind. The fact that you attack the exact number here speaks volumes about your argument.

: Engineered - really? Don't waste time on my wording, this is irrelevant to my point

You are the one who is claiming computers WILL be able to do everything a human can, to the point of worrying about any sort of useful employment in the future. WE are simply skeptical. The burden is on you.

The fact is that we are nowhere close to building a human mind. You don't seem to think this is an obstacle, and refer to 'exponential growth in computational power' like a high schooler. This is the crux of our disagreement. You believe that simply collecting enough nodes will become a mind. I think it's far more likely that there are impossibly complicated self referential algorithms built into the biology which allow for a mind. I used the billion years as a way to signify this complexity as very few people appreciate the vast numbers involved here.

I brought up atheism to draw attention to your own cognitive dissonance as your argument is identical to theism. I suspect you sensed this and thus returned for an attack. Individuals can have their differing 'opinions'. My 'opinion' is that I do not know the answer, but that I may safely disregard your passionate doomsday predictions until they actually begin to occur.

Time will tell.