Memristor Minds, the Future of Artificial Intelligence

godlessgambler writes "Within the past couple of years, memristors have morphed from obscure jargon into one of the hottest properties in physics. They've not only been made, but their unique capabilities might revolutionize consumer electronics. More than that, though, along with completing the jigsaw of electronics, they might solve the puzzle of how nature makes that most delicate and powerful of computers — the brain."

Comments

I'm always taken back by this

[msgmonkey]

That we've developed a whole industry based on an incomplete model, I wonder how things would have developed if the memristor had existed 30 years ago. Exciting times as a lot of things will be re-examined.

Re:I'm always taken back by this

[peragrin]

Of course if you currently multiply the 100 million or more transistors in a current cpu by 6 you don't have any kind of problem do you? Of course a memresistor is closer in design to a permanent RAM Disk. You can turn off the system as much as you want but it instantly restores you right from where you left it.

Now that it is proven all that matters is figuring out how best to use it and what limitations it has.

Re:I'm always taken back by this

[madkow]

And actually the sooner we create Skynet - the better the chance we have to beat it. Because if we wait too long - that super fast hardware it will be running will could make it too hard to beat. ;)

Or the better chance we have to learn live with it. James Hogan's 1979 book "The Two Faces of Tomorrow" details a plan to deliberately goad a small version of a self aware computer (named Spartacus) into self defense before they built the big version. When Spartacus learned that humans were even more frail than he and equally motivated by self preservation he chose to unilaterally lay down arms.

Re:I'm always taken back by this

[Requiem18th]

I don't know, with a 10,000 write limit If my brain was made of memristors I'd be terribly mortified.

Re:I'm always taken back by this

[GigaplexNZ]

Memristors in CPU/logic would not be viable because of their low wear cycles and very high latencies.

That's a current manufacturing limitation, not something inherent to what a memristor is. Had these been discovered much sooner, we would be much better at manufacturing them and they probably would have made a significant impact.

Re:I'm always taken back by this

[Lord Kano]

It's not a hardware breakthrough that'll create a true AI - it's an algorithm breakthrough that's required. Faster computers might be nice - but it'll always comes down to the algorithm.

Fast enough computers will allow us to develop algorithms genetically. Come up with a set of parameters and let evolution do the job for you.

LK

whatever

[jipn4]

In the 1970's, the big breakthrough was supposedly tunnel diodes, a simpler and smaller circuit element than the transistor. Do our gadgets now run on tunnel diodes? Doesn't look like it to me.

Re:The brain is not a computer.

[Anonymous Coward]

Citation.

See especially points

6 - No hardware/software distinction can be made with respect to the brain or mind,

Software can be expressed as hardware. For instance, decoder chips exist for video that take the load off of a processor.

7 - Synapses are far more complex than electrical logic gates,

Fine, so they are. Model them with multiple gates, or something else.

10 - Brains have bodies,

Computers have peripherals.

and the bonus - The brain is much, much bigger than any [current] computer.

and today's computers are much, much bigger (transistor count) than computers of a few decades ago, but both are still computers.

It's past time for this idea to die.

It shouldn't. Computers manipulate data, which brains do very well. It's a worthy goal to try and emulate it.