2009/1/14 John Mikes <jamikes.domain.name.hidden>:
> Stathis,
>
> common sense, not always applicable to math-related topics
> is startled before a task on a REGULAR contraption-type Turing machine
> (binary, electrically driven finite hardware etc.) can emulate ALL the
> potentials of 11+billion neurons in unrestricted groupings and unlimited
> connectivities as to the complexity of all the codes/details
> (un!)imaginable.
> (Maybe if you change to Bruno's infinite Loebian vs. Turing machine...?? I
> doubt if you can do that, since there are different brains (eg for genetical
> etc. reasons) and I cannot figure so many (although limited number)
> variables in the 'unrestricted' (all encompassing?) Loebian machines.)
It is possible to calculate how much computing power it would take to
simulate a brain at a particular level. For simulations at the
cellular level, there is for example this work by IBM researchers
simulating a rat neocortical column:
http://www.seedmagazine.com/news/2008/03/out_of_the_blue.php?page=all&p=y
http://www.research.ibm.com/journal/rd/521/djurfeldt.pdf
It's still a long way from simulating an entire brain and observing
ratlike behaviour, but it does show that computational neuroscience is
now beyond the philosopher's thought experiment stage.
--
Stathis Papaioannou
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Received on Wed Jan 14 2009 - 04:40:15 PST