A detailed, functional artificial human brain can be built within the next 10 years, a leading scientist has claimed.
Henry Markram, director of the Blue Brain Project, has already simulated elements of a rat brain. He told the TED Global conference in Oxford that a synthetic human brain would be of particular use finding treatments for mental illnesses.
[…]
The Blue Brain project was launched in 2005 and aims to reverse engineer the mammalian brain from laboratory data. In particular, his team has focused on the neocortical column – repetitive units of the mammalian brain known as the neocortex.“It’s a new brain,” he explained. “The mammals needed it because they had to cope with parenthood, social interactions complex cognitive functions.
“It was so successful an evolution from mouse to man it expanded about a thousand fold in terms of the numbers of units to produce this almost frightening organ.”
And that evolution continues, he said. “It is evolving at an enormous speed.”
We’ll be providing a discount coupon for some of our special and more deserving DU commenters.
Watched Nova scienceNow last night about the lady who grew liver cells outside the body. She found the trick was to line them up so the communication pathways of the cell mass lined up properly with one another. Tooks 1000’s of trials. Don’t know what made her think this was the key, but it worked and we are on our way to growing replacement kidneys.
Brain Cells. Probably a trick to it. I wonder if consciousness is a function of numbers, density, alignment, love, stimulus, gods breaths. Looks like we are on our way to find out.
“Kill Me!”
There’s hope for jbenson2, badtimes and Alfredone…
Backup your brain? There’s an app for that!
Been hearing this for YEARS. They can’t even make an artificial kidney or liver, which should be a million times easier.
Hardware, software and now wetwear. If you want to fix your truck, go to the store and rent the proper package, stick it in a slot in your neck and all of a sudden you know everything about your truck. Whether you remember everything after you take it out is something else.
#1 bobbo
The article is about a COMPUTER SIMULATION of a human brain. Do we have to correctly align virtual brain cells to make it work?
#5 – right – If you want to fix your truck, go to the store and rent the proper package, stick it in a slot in your neck and all of a sudden you know everything about your truck.
Read Neuromancer, eh?! 😉
#6–ahtmos==you got me. I read too fast. But I’m no different than anyone else here. When caught short on my facts/interpretation, I forge on ahead as if my interlocuter is some kind of liberal: “I said trick.” and I’m sure in the simulation model, something not now considered will have to line up with something else===after all the positive and negative connections are correctly made.
A simulated model? Can’t you make a simulated model “act” in any way you want? Hard to see how the model can do anything except reproduce what we already know?
“We’ll be providing a discount coupon for some of our special and more deserving DV commenters .”
Hey wha’ch u talkin bout
Obama will wreak everything-My god is big your God if you even have one is flaccid and has been for all 6000 years-Fox/Rush is always Right-WashBoarding is not bad- USA..USA..USA Republican will some day have a new plan and it will be better (than our last one) yours- let the poor eat cake and f#›k em if they get sick- We don’t need no stinking brain we are told what to think.
#9 – It’s all about ME
Copied directly from the Republican Manifesto.
I love the humor of the Homer Simpson image with the peon brain
Reminds me of my previous employer
Anyone can now buy vastly more storage capacity than a human brain and computer chips are much faster but the brain is massively parallel.
I don’t think we can match that in ten years.
A computer brain might be able to carry on a conversation in ten years but I kind of doubt if you could learn much about the human brain by studying it.
And, we will all be driving flying jet cars by the year 1975.
uhm wouldnt a picture of the Scarecrow from the wizard of oz been more appropriate?
They may soon replicate the human male brain, but the female brain is as far away as hydrogen power.
# 7 Jägermeister, Neuromancer was a fine piece of work, one of Gibson’s best.
#7, Jag,
8)
Ah, it has been many years. Thanks for awakening some fond memories of a very good read.
“Henry Markram, director of the Blue Brain Project, has already simulated elements of a rat brain.”
In Mr. Burn’s voice: “Exxxxxcellent! Then the first brain will go to Cheney.”
Bloody good news for George Bush!
I’m skeptical, unless they feel they can learn from a simulation of a mere few thousand synapses. Hardware still progresses in accordance with Moore’s Law, but software progresses at about one fifth that rate. If that.
A fascinating introduction to the hierarchical structure of the brain can be found in “On Intelligence” by Jeff Hawkins, founder of Palm and Handspring and inventor of the Palm Pilot and Handspring Treo. Look for it at a library near you!