Image provided by bbc.co.uk
Scientists in Switzerland believe they are on the cusp of creating the first, fully functional, artificial human brain. The Blue Brain Project was launched in 2005 by a group of scientists in Switzerland who hope to “reverse engineer” the human brain.
So far the Blue Brain Project has already successfully simulated the elements of a rat brain, however Henry Markram, director of the Blue Brain Project, is confident that his team should now focus all their attention on the human brain, as opposed to recreating the brains of other animals. “It is not impossible to build a human brain and we can do it in 10 years,” exclaimed Markram.
Markram and other scientists have focused on the neocortex of the brain. The neocortex is made up of thousands of neurons which contribute to the higher functions of the brain, such as communication, sensory perception, reasoning, and motor skills.
The project now has a software model of “tens of thousands” of neurons – each one of which is different – which has allowed them to digitally construct an artificial neocortical column. Although each neuron is unique, the team has found the patterns of circuitry in different brains have common patterns.
“Even though your brain may be smaller, bigger, may have different morphologies of neurons – we do actually share the same fabric,” [Markram] said. “And we think this is species specific, which could explain why we can’t communicate across species.”
To recreate the human brain model, Markram and his team use the IBM Blue Gene Machine, which has 10,000 processors (one processors for each neuron of the brain).
Kids, if you are looking for a science fair project topic then look into how complex organs are being cloned or replaced with mechanical devices. See if you can come up with ways to improve the function of these engineered organs.
[...] from the department of things I find weird and creepy, Engineering &… has a feature on Scientists Creating a Human Brain. I wonder what Dr. Hfuhruhurr would think? Share and [...]
The brain is an amazing information storage and retrieval tool, and the best problem solving machine ever created, but that said, I believe it’s possible to mimic some of it’s capabilities.
One thing the brain’s been accredited with (incorrectly), is with owning personality and self. I’ve heard it said “Your thoughts are not you, and you are not your thoughts” and I believe that is true and important to everyone to realise. People need to stop living out of their minds… but I digress.
Anyway, interesting blog post
[...] from the department of things I find weird and creepy, Engineering &… has a feature on Scientists Creating a Human Brain. I wonder what Dr. Hfuhruhurr would [...]