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SpiNNaker Powers Up World's Largest Supercomputer That Emulates a Human Brain
The world's largest neuromorphic supercomputer, the Spiking Neural Network Architecture (SpiNNaker), was just switched on for the first time yesterday, boasting one million processor cores and the ability to perform 200 trillion actions per second. HotHardware reports: SpiNNaker has been twenty years and nearly $19.5 million in the making. The project was originally supported by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), but has been most recently funded by the European Human Brain Project. The supercomputer was designed and built by the University of Manchester's School of Computer Science. Construction began in 2006 and the supercomputer was finally turned on yesterday.
SpiNNaker is not the first supercomputer to incorporate one million processor cores, but it is still incredibly unique since it is designed to mimic the human brain. Most computers send information from one point to another through a standard network. SpiNNaker sends small bits of information to thousands of points, similar to how the neurons pass chemicals and electrical signals through the brain. SpiNNaker uses electronic circuits to imitate neurons. SpiNNaker has so far been used to mimic the processing of more isolated brain networks like the cortex. It has also been used to control SpOmnibot, a robot that processes visual information and navigates towards its targets.
SpiNNaker is not the first supercomputer to incorporate one million processor cores, but it is still incredibly unique since it is designed to mimic the human brain. Most computers send information from one point to another through a standard network. SpiNNaker sends small bits of information to thousands of points, similar to how the neurons pass chemicals and electrical signals through the brain. SpiNNaker uses electronic circuits to imitate neurons. SpiNNaker has so far been used to mimic the processing of more isolated brain networks like the cortex. It has also been used to control SpOmnibot, a robot that processes visual information and navigates towards its targets.
...that the article does not mention that the project lead, Steve Furber was one of the team at Acorn that created the original ARM chip back in the 80s.
Which is it, genius editors ?
Thank you.
The Chinese Room is one of the worst thought experiments ever to have entered the discourse on functionalism. In its basic form it fails miserably at answering simple questions such as "how many fingers am I holding up?"
When challenged with the requirements to answer such questions, staunch supporters then modify the Chinese Room again and again until the person in it is reduced to nothing more than a hand writing the results of a complex processing system on a piece of paper. Given that no one reasonably assumes understanding or consciousness of a hand, the argument against functionalism has then successfully defeated itself.
A much, much more interesting thought experiment is that of the China Brain. It is really, really hard to wrap your head around how consciousness would exist in a collection of scattered scraps of paper in possession of billions of individuals. The role of space and time in the constitution of our own consciousness become very important in that analysis.