[ExI] Human Brain Project kicks off today

[Eugen Leitl]

On Tue, Oct 08, 2013 at 11:41:31AM -0700, Ben Zaiboc wrote:
> Eugen Leitl <eugen at leitl.org> quoted:
> 
> 
> > What if you could build a computer that works just like the human brain?
> > 
> ...
> > There's just one catch: computers that fast simply haven't been invented yet.
> 
> 
> Hilariously ironic, as the biological version can't transmit signals faster than the speed of sound!

We have hybrid systems which can render about a day's worth of dynamics 
in a second. But they're not all-purpose, so you need exascale systems to
figure out how to build dedicated hardware, which can't be modifed after
the fact, only adjusted in some operational parameters.
 
> It's almost as if someone is taking the beer-cans-and-string argument too far.  Sure, a brain could be built out of beer cans and string.  In principle.  Unfortunately, we don't yet have enough string...
> 
> I suspect Maslow's Hammer is at work here.   Minds and classical digital computers may be a poor match.

Bootstrap stages are sacrificial/discardable, just as in compiler bootstrap.