news.bbc.co.uk— Scientists have been able to run a "cortical simulator" which emulated half a mouse brain - on IBM's BlueGene supercomputer.
Apr 28, 2007View in Crawl 4
If you're replicating an existing system, the arrangement of that system is the software within itself. It's not necessary to understand how one neuron relates to the next to run their simulation. If you want to extend that system or create your own arbitrary system, then yes, but in the case of simulating a mouse or human brain, it's the equivalent of installing an operating system from a disk, you don't have to know how it works to use it.
Delving into how brains work and simulating them realistically is going to be some of the most frightening and fascinating work in science. I'm not so sure we are going to want to hold up a mirror to see what really makes us think, seeing our fallibilities laid out in synaptic diagrams. Will we even be able to comprehend the complexity? Will we be able to simulate the effects of hormones and other chemicals on brain processes? If we could speak to our subconscious, what would we say? What would it say back? This is the realm of dreams, goodness and evil, of mental conception and interpretation, of sanity and madness, wonderful and scary.One thing I foresee coming out of these studies is a new appreciation of the incredible processes of evolution. We developed from something similar to a bacteria, whose mental processes were all chemical reactions, to incomprehensibly complicated multi-cellular organisms with the ability to attain the concept of spirit if not spirit itself.Tread carefully in the realm of the human mind.
> US researchers have simulated half a VIRTUAL mouse brainNo they haven't! They've simulated half a REAL brain.Sheesh. Journalism today! :-(Tim NorthPerth, Western Australia
Gotta love headlines: MOUSE BRAIN SIMULATED ON COMPUTER, right beneath it reads "Scientists have been able to run a "cortical simulator" which emulated HALF a mouse brain". Oh well...
sounds to me like claiming, in the sixties, that a brain was succesfuly simulated with a telephone centralbut brains are not phone centralsheck brains are no computers
somasynthApr 28, 2007
If you're replicating an existing system, the arrangement of that system is the software within itself. It's not necessary to understand how one neuron relates to the next to run their simulation. If you want to extend that system or create your own arbitrary system, then yes, but in the case of simulating a mouse or human brain, it's the equivalent of installing an operating system from a disk, you don't have to know how it works to use it.
zunipusApr 28, 2007
Delving into how brains work and simulating them realistically is going to be some of the most frightening and fascinating work in science. I'm not so sure we are going to want to hold up a mirror to see what really makes us think, seeing our fallibilities laid out in synaptic diagrams. Will we even be able to comprehend the complexity? Will we be able to simulate the effects of hormones and other chemicals on brain processes? If we could speak to our subconscious, what would we say? What would it say back? This is the realm of dreams, goodness and evil, of mental conception and interpretation, of sanity and madness, wonderful and scary.One thing I foresee coming out of these studies is a new appreciation of the incredible processes of evolution. We developed from something similar to a bacteria, whose mental processes were all chemical reactions, to incomprehensibly complicated multi-cellular organisms with the ability to attain the concept of spirit if not spirit itself.Tread carefully in the realm of the human mind.
omaryakApr 29, 2007
Sorry to link to subscription-only articles, but they seem particularly relevant here:<a class="user" href="http://www.newscientist.com/channel/fundamentals/quantum-world/mg19425991.400-impossible-things-for-breakfast-at-the-logic-caf%E9.html">http://www.newscientist.com/channel/fundamentals/quantum-world/mg19425991.400-impossible-things-for-breakfast-at-the-logic-caf%E9.html</a><a class="user" href="http://www.newscientist.com/channel/fundamentals/quantum-world/mg19325971.500-outside-of-time-the-quantum-gravity-computer.html">http://www.newscientist.com/channel/fundamentals/quantum-world/mg19325971.500-outside-of-time-the-quantum-gravity-computer.html</a>Scientists are working on a new kind of logic to describe the nature of quantum states (first article), which in my opinion will become more important as we delve into quantum computing. In this world there is more than just true or false, and the classical boolean operators are thrown out the window. Perhaps because of this altered state of logic, some scientists believe that the human brain itself is a quantum computer (second article). The possibilities are intriguing, and they have consequences for our perception of reality as well.
aussiescribeApr 29, 2007
> US researchers have simulated half a VIRTUAL mouse brainNo they haven't! They've simulated half a REAL brain.Sheesh. Journalism today! :-(Tim NorthPerth, Western Australia
whovianApr 29, 2007
A-nan-tha-na-ray-a-nan
smek2Apr 29, 2007
Gotta love headlines: MOUSE BRAIN SIMULATED ON COMPUTER, right beneath it reads "Scientists have been able to run a "cortical simulator" which emulated HALF a mouse brain". Oh well...
bodhidharmazenApr 29, 2007
sounds to me like claiming, in the sixties, that a brain was succesfuly simulated with a telephone centralbut brains are not phone centralsheck brains are no computers
istealthApr 29, 2007
Pretty cool stuff, really shows how fast our technology is developing!
viskApr 30, 2007
I'm pretty sure this isn't the world's first computer mouse...
sundaybrunchJun 25, 2008
why in the world would I do that?