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AI Could Get Smarter By Copying the Neural Structure of a Rat Brain (ieee.org)

the_newsbeagle writes: Many of today's fanciest artificial intelligence systems are some type of artificial neural network, but they bear only the roughest resemblance to a biological brain's real networks of neurons. That could change thanks to a $100M program from IARPA. The intelligence agency is funding neuroscience teams to map 1 cubic millimeter of rodent brain, looking at activity in the visual cortex while the rodent is engaged in a complex visual recognition task. By discovering how the neural circuits in that brain cube get activated to process information, IARPA hopes to find inspiration for better artificial neural networks. And an AI that performs better on visual recognition tasks could certainly be useful to intelligence agencies.

9 of 89 comments (clear)

  1. Start with primitive C Elegans Worm by aberglas · · Score: 4, Interesting

    C Elegans is am extensively studied nematode with exactly 302 neurons, whose contetome (wiring) is consistent and known.

    But how its brain actually works remains a mystery. Neurons are complex, as is their interactions with the input and output.

    Not much point looking at mice with many orders of magnitude more first.

    Personally, I do not think that mapping neurons in detail will lead to AI. But if you are going to do it, start with something vaguely tractable. C Elegans.

    1. Re:Start with primitive C Elegans Worm by religionofpeas · · Score: 3, Informative

      Why not both, by different research teams ? There may be things that we can see in 50,000 neurons of a rat brain that we can't see in the 300 neurons of C.elegans.

    2. Re:Start with primitive C Elegans Worm by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Like Open Worm?

  2. The trouble with the rat race by turkeydance · · Score: 2

    is that even if you win, you're still a rat. Lily Tomlin

  3. Re:Grow the fuck up already by Kiuas · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Democrats were either hopelessly incompetent or they were deliberately destroying the US health care system so their next step could be single-payer.

    As I recall, the bill in its original form contained much sensible features such as a public option for all which would count as the 'medicare expansion' that you just blasted Trump for not doing though he promised he would. It was republicans who opposed Obamacare at every turn that caused the law to be so disfugured from its original form (pretty much a Romneycare copy) and leading to a whole host of the current issues.

    You can't blame the democrats for incompetence with regards to Obamacare when they were intentionally sabotaged by republicans, with the exact plan of leading to a dysfunctional Obamacare that they could then replace with something even more dysfunctional for health production and more suited towards the will of their corporate owners.

    As someone working for the single-payer health care system of Finland: if your intention is to provide first world level advanced care to everyone with lower cost, single-payer is the way to go, we know this from looking at the expenditure stats and results. The US currently spend anywhere from 2-3 times as much money as most economies on health care and you're the only advanced country that lacks universal coverage. That's not just a failure of grand proportions; for the richest country on the planet that's a fucking disgrace.

    So yes, I agree that the current system is a flaming trainwreck from a national health point of view but in the 10 or so years I've been following american politics it has been the republican party that's been leading the charge of fucking the american public over and driving through senseless laws because they serve corporate america way more than the interest of their voters.

    --
    "It is the business of the future to be dangerous" -Alfred North Whitehead
  4. We've been wrong all along by Nidi62 · · Score: 2

    The Matrix, Terminator, 9, etc-all wrong. The war between humans and machines will really begin over cheese.

    --
    The only thing necessary for evil to triumph is for it to be pitted against a slightly greater evil
  5. On our way to human synthetic brains? by xanthines-R-yummy · · Score: 2

    http://www.kurzweilai.net/robo...
    http://www.pnas.org/content/11...

    First insects, now rodents? Maybe dogs, then dolphins, then humans?

  6. Re:Grow the fuck up already by ranton · · Score: 2

    The Democrats had the White House, the House of Representatives, and a filibuster-proof super majority in the Senate.

    Obamacare's failures are entirely on Democrats.

    That is not true. Ted Kennedy's death and following special election win by a Republican ended the filibuster-proof super majority in the Senate before a revised bill could be voted on. This left only an early draft to be voted on, with many flaws but a Republican party who was more interested in creating a Democrat failure than in improving health care. Considering the imperfect Obamacare Bill had many significant improvements (as evidenced by how hard it has been to get enough Republican support to repeal it in its entirety) it was a much better outcome to pass it in its imperfect form than to let it die.

    The next decade was one of unprecedented obstructionism which led to many failures in the health care industry. Blame for that can certainly be shared by both parties, but one one party was not interesting in improving things. Now that this party is in power they still have to intention to improve the health care system; just to protect their votes.

    The Democrats were willing to lose their majority to help the American people. Current Republicans can make no such claim.

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    -- All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing. -- Edmund Burke
  7. Re:Grow the fuck up already by luis_a_espinal · · Score: 2

    I was never really a party line liberal, and don't blame Obama 100% for the ACA failures - he was far to conciliatory and compromised too much. Overall I didn't like Obama and am now more of an independent voter despite my family earning in the top 5% every year. My whole point is there wasn't a sane choice on either side (sure as hell wouldn't vote for Hillary), and the two party system is currently screwing the working class. Instead of only voting for the RNC or DNC candidate, vote for who you actually want like I did. If enough people do this maybe both parties will pull their heads outta their behinds.

    I'm sure that was entirely satisfying, but that didn't do that much good. After all, we have a ban on refugees that has nothing to do with security and everything to do with appeasing the demographic anxieties of illiterati. Afghan and Iraqi interpreters who risked their neck for us are now facing deportation or disown past promises for legal entry. We are rolling back EPA. And so on and so on.

    Hillary is putrid. She's waaay deep, embedded in the establishment. But crooked as it she was, Hillary wouldn't have pulled any of these idiotic things that have a human cost to them.

    I'm sure in some ways she would have been worse than Trump, but in the totality of action and agenda, no one can make that argument with a straight face. Yeah, pat yourself on the back for your vote. There are times in history that sure you can protest your vote and make it be the ideal representation of what your views should be. This wasn't one of them.