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Effort to Create Virtual Brain Begins
bryan8m writes "An IBM supercomputer running on 22.8 teraflops of processing power will be involved in an effort to create the first computer simulation of the entire human brain. From the article: '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 should also help us understand brain malfunctions and 'observe the electrical code our brains use to represent the world.'"
We kill things with consciousness all the time.
A Good Troll is better than a Bad Human.
As far as how much processing power is needed to simulate the brain, I've met quite a few people for whom a C64 and a tape drive would be more than sufficient... and maybe some duct tape.
In 10 years, I bet the first readout will read;
"I think you ought to know that I'm feeling very depressed"
They needed a simple brain to begin their modelling with.
They decided on George W. Bush.
Let's just hope....
hmmm....
I for one welcome our new artificial dumb military overlord.
but what to do with a schizophrenic supercomputer ?
Dual boot!
...If they don't then it would be kept in check by copyright law, reproducing itself would be infringing...
Actio personalis moritur cum persona. (Dead men don't sue)
Give me a shovel and a dark night and I'll get you some real brains, second-hand. And at only 1/2 the cost.
Sincerely,
Igor
Is it a male or a female brain they're simulating?
They work quite differently you know.
Some even speculate that one of those two kinds of brain might need even less than 22.8 Teraflops to simulate.
You forgot "I for one welcome..."
In Soviet Russia, supercomputers welcome you!
I'll get me coat...
Tedious Bloggy Stuff - hooray?
Guru meditation error. Duct tape in tape drive.
No, send him to space to investigate black slabs. And to operate pod bay doors.
Neutrons are responsible for indifferent behaviour towards females. Recent study shows that slashdotters have enough neutrons emitted from their brain, that, they could be used as substitude of Californium 252.
Electrons decide the level of excitement. Thats why you feel charged, after couple of beers:)
hilarious
As every nerd should know, a 6502 processor is entirely sufficient for travelling in time, impersonating a violent human being and speaking in a barely-comprehensible Austrian accent.
22.8 teraflops of processing power should be enough for anybody.
A fun though struck me when reading the FAQ.
:P
Noone seem to have real contact with murray, and his adress was not really known. He also seem to have a little to much time on is hands, posting huge amounts of usenet posts etc. What if Murray did succeed a long time agoo, and is now letting his virtual brain (that somehow thinks it is murray) do all his spamming for him.
Of course, this theory lacks in many points...
The factorial of 42 is a two-digit number?
What base are you using? Base 37483411234209726053065806?
(because in this base, it would be two-digits:
The more significant digit would have the value 37483411234209726053065805, and the less significant digit would have the value 33187259034871818286636170)
The Tao of math: The numbers you can count are not the real numbers.
... make sure you install a huge fire axe near the main power cord in case this thing decides it doesn't need us anymore!
Tiller's Rule: Never use a word in written form that you've only heard and never read. You will end up looking foolish.
Don't forget 'governing California'.
You mean I'm eventually going to have to socially interact with my computer in the future? Ugg.
I'm sorry, we're still not accepting human subjects.
Actually, I thought of this movie, wherein a time machine is created using (apparently) only a small airplane and an old microcomputer (Apple II, C64 or something similar). We learn the key to time travel can be stored on 7 5-1/4" floppies.
You are in a maze of twisty little passages, all alike.
Dave...
What are you doing Dave?
Was that a Linux pamphlet by any chance?
kurzweil_freak
5th Kyu Genbukan Ninpo/KJJR student
Be the darkness that allows the light to shine.
Yes, of course that's what he meant. However, there are certain technical difficulties inherent to a numbering system in this base; notably, the requirement to identify more than 37 septillion differentiable single-place symbols. Expressing a "digit" as a base 10 number defeats the purpose of the system, even if you draw a circle around it.
SerpentMage's key insight, of course, was that we are only interested in a particular number - the factorial of the Great Answer. This will be the only use we will ever make of the base-37483411234209726053065806 numbering system. Therefore, we only need to create unique symbols for two entities - the number 37483411234209726053065805, which we will refer to as "4", and the number 33187259034871818286636170, which we will refer to as "2". Under this system, (decimal) 42! equals (base-37483411234209726053065806) 42.
Appropriate assignment of values to the symbols "six," "nine" and (possibly) "times" is left as an exercise for the reader.
-Graham
>
> Are you processing what I'm processing??
Seeing as how they're using slices of mouse brain, I believe the correct answer would be along the lines of...
"Umm, I think so, Brain, but a billion parallelized microprocessors and a human named CmdrTaco? What would the children look like?"
My own belief is that consciousness is the sum of thousands (perhaps millions) of micro-personalities each made up of a small number of brain cells. They compete for attention and get voted on based on their relative output and importance. The ones that prevent you from walking off cliffs have fairly high importance, and almost always get listened to. The one that tells the old campfire story is almost always shouted down by the rest. The parts that do the voting are also micropersonalities like the rest - call them meta-personalities. Each of these are formed by memory and experience. Simulations are run to balance the various outputs while you sleep. We call that dreaming.
Intron: the portion of DNA which expresses nothing useful.