Interesting... thanks for the link.
Personally I dont think it is possible to develop an intelligence near to a human mind at this point in time. From what I understand, its not yet possible to make a hardware version that has nearly as much complexity (as many neurons) as the human brain. Even granted such a device, you still have the problem of appropriate input mechanisms. For example, visual recognition systems arent good enough yet to allow the computer to learn this way (I work in the field right now, so I know) and the same could probably be said for hearing, touch, etc.
Think of it like this. Imagine a human child born without hearing, eyesight, touch, taste, or smell. Furthermore, the kid cant move a muscle. Instead of these things, the child may have some sort of ability to sort out text files transmitted through a wire. How intelligent is the kid going to be? Would it develop the complexity of mind that a normal human would have? I think it would not. In the case of the russian's brain, we should liken it to a child who is severly mentally retarded. Not much to get too excited about. Yet...