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Researchers Simulate Building Block of Rat's Brain
slick_shoes passes on an article in the Guardian about the Blue Brain project in Switzerland that has developed a computer simulation of the neocortical column — the basic building block of the neocortex, the higher functioning part of our brains — of a two-week-old rat. (Here is the project site.) The model, running on an IBM Blue Gene/L supercomputer, simulates 10,000 neurons and all their interconnections. It behaves exactly like its biological counterpart. Thousands of such NCCs make up a rat's neocortex, and millions a human's. "Project director Henry Markram believes that with the state of technology today, it is possible to build an entire rat's neocortex. From there, it's cats, then monkeys and finally, a human brain."
I am also working on a model of the human brain. And, not to discourage you, but you, and every other researcher in the world, are *way* off. I, however, should have a fully functioning model of the human brain within 2 years . The problem with your model, and every other model in existence today, other than mine, is that your model of the neuron is completely wrong. However, I'll give you some credit. Spiking neural networks come closer than many models, but you still do not have the most important element. The amount of computational power needed is on the order of 80 PFLOPS (that is not a typo, that *PetaFLOPS*). That is the computational power of one human brain. And that *may* be an underestimate due to some rather technical issues (you would have to understand my model of the neuron). It is *very* likely that within a couple years researchers will have discovered this model (because it is based on recent research that was done this year). By that time, I will have simulated the entire human brain.