[extropy-chat] Wetware vs. Hardware (was IQ vs Upload)

[Emlyn]

Just in case you all missed it the first time (or was it only on >Tech?)

http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn7470&feedId=online-news_atom03
Mission to build a simulated brain begins
00:01 06 June 2005 
NewScientist.com news service 
Duncan Graham-Rowe 

An effort to create the first computer simulation of the entire human
brain, right down to the molecular level, was launched on Monday.

The "Blue Brain" project, a collaboration between IBM and a Swiss
university team, will involve building a custom-made supercomputer
based on IBM's Blue Gene design.

The hope is that the virtual brain will help shed light on some
aspects of human cognition, such as perception, memory and perhaps
even consciousness.

It will be the first time humans will be able to observe the
electrical code our brains use to represent the world, and to do so in
real time, says Henry Markram, director of Brain and Mind Institute at
the Ecole Polytecnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Switzerland.

It may also help in understanding how certain malfunctions of the
brain's "microcircuits" could cause psychiatric disorders such as
autism, schizophrenia and depression, he says.

Until now this sort of undertaking would not be possible because the
processing power and the scientific knowledge of how the brain is
wired simply was not there, says Charles Peck, IBM's lead researcher
on the project.

"But there has been a convergence of the biological data and the
computational resources," he says. Efforts to map the brain's circuits
and the development of the Blue Gene supercomputer, which has a peak
processing power of at least 22.8 teraflops, now make this possible.

Mapping the brain
For over a decade Markram and his colleagues have been building a
database of the neural architecture of the neocortex, the largest and
most complex part of mammalian brains.

Using pioneering techniques, they have studied precisely how
individual neurons behave electrically and built up a set of rules for
how different types of neurons connect to one another.

Very thin slices of mouse brain were kept alive under a microscope and
probed electrically before being stained to reveal the synaptic, or
nerve, connections. "We have the largest database in the world of
single neurons that have been recorded and stained," says Markram.

Neocortical columns
Using this database the initial phase of Blue Brain will model the
electrical structure of neocortical columns - neural circuits that are
repeated throughout the brain.

"These are the network units of the brain," says Markram. Measuring
just 0.5 millimetres by 2 mm, these units contain between 10 and
70,000 neurons, depending upon the species.

Once this is complete, the behaviour of columns can be mapped and
modelled before moving into the second phase of the project.

Two new models will be built, one a molecular model of the neurons
involved. The other will clone the behavioural model of columns
thousands of times to produce a complete neocortex, and eventually the
rest of the brain.

The end product, which will take at least a decade to achieve, can
then be stimulated and observed to see how different parts of the
brain behave. For example, visual information can be inputted to the
visual cortex, while Blue Brain's response is observed.



On 15/06/05, Max M <maxm at mail.tele.dk> wrote:
> The Avantguardian wrote:
> 
> >     So by my back of envelope analysis of Moore's Law
> >versus the Flynn Effect, the Singularity would still
> >happen but it is still at least 30 years away.  I
> >actually think I might be more prepared to deal with
> >it on such a timetable than if it happened tomorrow.
> >Consequently I will not lose any sleep over it. Ciao.
> >:)
> >
> You are asuming that the interresting stuff in the brain goes on at the neuron level. We don't know this yet.
> 
> Most likely the neurons are organised in meta patterns, and if we can model those only we can probably do it with a lot less hardware.
> 
> Even if the neuron level is the most interresting, there is a lot of redundancy in the brain. So we might be able to get along with less in non-biological systems.
> 
> But the major problem is not really the hardware. Even if we had it today, we would not know what to do with it. As far as I know, not even an insect has been modelled in a usefull way.
> 
> Otherwise my house would be filled with robots with insect intelligence for cleaning, and my garden would be minded by another bunch of them.
> 
> --
> 
> hilsen/regards Max M, Denmark
> 
> http://www.mxm.dk/
> IT's Mad Science
> 
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> 


-- 
Emlyn

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