[extropy-chat] Mission to build a simulated brain begins

[Emlyn]

On 07/06/05, Max M <maxm at mail.tele.dk> wrote:
> Emlyn wrote:
> 
> >Ah, the singularity. I just grabbed this from >HTech, opinions?
> >-----
> >
> >http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn7470&feedId=online-news_atom03
> >
> >Mission to build a simulated brain begins
> >
> 
> Very interresting.
> 
> The best result would be if it turned out that neurons in them self are
> unimportant, and that the "real action" takes place in higher structures.
> 
> It is a big difference in AI if a brain must be simulated from
> individual neurons, or if groups of neurons can be considdered as "black
> boxes" of functionality.
> 

They do say that they are going to try to do higher level black boxes,
which seems like a good approach. As far as a full
down-to-the-molecular-level sim, in my opinion a higher level sim is a
good start, because from there it'll be a matter of getting bigger
hardware and tinkering over time to refine and refine it until we get
to a full neuron-by-neuron machine. But the big and rather bold leap
is this first one; having the gumption to try building the first
version. Much kudos to all involved!

Emlyn