Re: Reverse engineering the human brain


"Sir Frederick" <mmcneill@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:iqolj1pdoa7aa35r9onn73kkco0hsa4cpc@xxxxxxxxxx
> http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg18725181.600;jsessionid=BKCLFBANIFFO
>
> Reverse engineering the human brain
> The most profound transformation will be in "strong" AI, that is,
artificial intelligence at the human level. To recreate the
> capabilities of the human brain, we need to meet both the hardware and
software requirements. Achieving the hardware requirement was
> controversial five years ago, but is now largely a mainstream view among
informed observers. Supercomputers are already at 100
> trillion (1014) calculations per second (cps), and will hit 1016 cps
around the end of this decade, which is the level I estimate is
> required to functionally simulate the human brain. Several supercomputers
with 1015 cps are already on the drawing board, with two
> Japanese efforts targeting 1016 cps around the end of the decade. By 2020,
1016 cps will be available for around $1000. So now the
> controversy is focused on the algorithms.
>
> To understand the principles of human intelligence we need to
reverse-engineer the human brain. Here, progress is far greater than
> most people realise. The spatial and temporal resolution of brain scanning
is progressing at an exponential rate, roughly doubling
> each year. Scanning tools, such as a new system from the University of
Pennsylvania, can now see individual interneuronal
> connections, and watch them fire in real time. Already, we have
mathematical models of a couple of dozen regions of the brain,
> including the cerebellum, which comprises more than half the neurons in
the brain. IBM is creating a highly detailed simulation of
> about 10,000 cortical neurons, including tens of millions of connections.
The first version will simulate electrical activity, and a
> future version will also simulate chemical activity. By the mid 2020s, it
is conservative to conclude that we will have effective
> models of the whole brain.
>
> There are a number of key ways in which the organisation of the brain
differs from a conventional computer. The brain's circuits,
> for example, transmit information as chemical gradients travelling at only
a few hundred metres per second, which is millions of
> times slower than electronic circuits. The brain is massively parallel:
there are about 100 trillion interneuronal connections all
> computing simultaneously. The brain combines analogue and digital
phenomena. The brain rewires itself, and it uses emergent
> properties, with intelligent behaviour emerging from the brain's chaotic
and complex activity. But as we gain sufficient data to
> model neurons and regions of neurons in detail, we find that we can
express the coding of information in the brain and how this
> information is transformed in mathematical terms. We are then able to
simulate these transformations on conventional parallel
> computing platforms, even though the underlying hardware architecture is
quite different.
>
> One benefit of a full understanding of the human brain will be a deep
understanding of ourselves, but the key implication is that it
> will expand the tool kit of techniques we can apply to create artificial
intelligence. We will then be able to create non-biological
> systems that match human intelligence. These superintelligent computers
will be able to do things we are not able to do, such as
> share knowledge and skills at electronic speeds.
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Sir Fred:

That is illuminating information, illuminating indeedy and profoundly !
Seems that technology has already passed the level of the brains of most of
the population on Capitol Hill/Wash.,D.C..

Can these new systems, that surpass human intelligence, help us catch Ben
Laden?

Can they help us figure out the proper way to stop the influx of human
detritus from around the globe flowing into our fair land through all of our
geographical boundaries?

Can they point out ways in which our population could be made more moral and
ethical?

Even if these technical/chemical/electronic/mechanical brains have the
answers to all these questions, what means can be used to make our so-called
"leadership" listen to them?

McDave
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