Can a machine improve itself?

Computers do everything they do just by following rules. They blindly follow the instructions written by their programmers. Surely if that is all they do they can never be considered intelligent. Our intelligence shows itself in our flexibility. We can deal with new situations and most of all we learn from the experience. We can teach ourselves new skills, and improve them over time.

So can machines learn? Well actually yes, and computer scientists have come up with a whole host of ways they can do it. The rules they follow no longer have to tell them exactly what to do. Instead they just tell them how to learn.

Then its down to them...