Read books. There is plenty of sci-fi that deals with exploring the intersection of computers and consciousness. Authors like Neal Stephenson, Charles Stross, and Vernor Vinge are well known in this area.
That's what I was referring to by more modern scifi ideas. Why aren't they included in the storylines of older yet more mainstream stories like Star Trek / Futurama / etc
A great novel that came out recently about transhumanism is Nexus: transhumanism: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0857662937/ref=as_li_ss_tl?...