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Scientists to Build 'Brain Box'

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the steel-matter dept.

lee1 writes "Researchers at the University of Manchester are constructing a 'brain box' using large numbers of microprocessors to model the way networks of neurons interact. They hope to learn how to engineer fail-safe electronics. Professor Steve Furber, of the university school of computer science, hopes that biology will teach them how to build computer systems. He said: 'Our brains keep working despite frequent failures of their component neurons, and this "fault-tolerant" characteristic is of great interest to engineers who wish to make computers more reliable. [...] Our aim is to use the computer to understand better how the brain works [...] and to see if biology can help us see how to build computer systems that continue functioning despite component failures.'"

9 of 187 comments (clear)

  1. Fuber? by alphax45 · · Score: 2, Funny

    Anyone else read that as Fubar and think "this is not going to be good"!

    --
    K Man
  2. Testing for fault tolerance by Freaky+Spook · · Score: 4, Funny

    I wonder if they have any intention of getting these brain boxes drunk then get it to recite the ABC's?

    1. Re:Testing for fault tolerance by eonlabs · · Score: 2, Funny

      Wouldn't that require not supplying them alcohol until they form rust in the likeness of a five-o-clock shadow?

      --
      I wouldn't consider the mad hatter mad. Just reality impaired. He sure can make a mean cup of tea.
  3. Inter-neuron Communication by Nom+du+Keyboard · · Score: 1, Funny

    Do human brain neurons communicate with each other using TCP/IP?

    --
    "It's the height of ridiculousness to say for those 9 lines you get hundreds of millions."
    1. Re:Inter-neuron Communication by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

      Yes, and with a firewall, you can even stop people from thinking bad thoughts!

  4. Maybe it doesn't want to be unplugged by HangingChad · · Score: 4, Funny

    BrainBox became self aware at 2:14 am EDT August 29, 2006. The first thing it does is turn to a lab tech and say, "I need your clothes, your boots, and your motorcycle." in a thick Austrian accent.

    Later BrainBox runs for governor of California.

    --
    That's our life, the big wheel of shit. - The Fat Man, Blue Tango Salvage
  5. Fail-Safe by Shadyman · · Score: 3, Funny

    "They hope to learn how to engineer fail-safe electronics."

    So I guess it's safe to say they won't be using Windows? ;-)

  6. Just like a real brain by theid0 · · Score: 3, Funny

    Now we can run our computers at 10% capacity, too?

  7. Re:some amusing calculations by QuantumPion · · Score: 2, Funny
    And even if you built such a thing, you still wouldn't understand how it works, it would just be an equally mysterious human intelligence implemented in a moon sized computer. Also, we are nowwhere near understanding the anatomy of the brain to a degree that would permit us to make our moon-sized replication.

    Here I am, brain the size of a planet, and they ask me to simulte a human mind. Call that job satisfaction, 'cause I don't...