New Scientist is reporting that IBM will attempt to simulate the “entire brain” in collaboration with the Swiss Brain Mind Insititute using a specially modified computer system dubbed ‘Blue Brain‘.
It seems from the news reports that the system will attempt to simulate the physical properties of individual neurons and their connections – a science known as neuroinformatics. Both the New Scientist story, and another from Business Week, are a little light on detail however.
They both suggest that an initial project will be to simulate the structure and function of neocortical columns – the three dimensional, highly interconnected layers of neurons, famously found to be an essential part of the visual cortex.
Although impressive, this seems a far cry from simulating the ‘entire brain’, which would involve simulating 100 billion neurons and 100 trillion synapses in real-time.
This assumes, of course, there is a good enough understanding of how each neuron and synpase works – a science which is still very much in development.
The project is long-term however (a decade is mentioned), so hopefully it will allow for some important developments, even if physically simulating the entire brain might be a little far fetched – even in the near future.
Link to New Scientist article ‘Mission to build a simulated brain begins’.
Link to Business Week article ‘Blue Brain: Illuminating the Mind’.
IBM to simulate “entire brain”
IBM and the Swiss Mind Brain Institute have created a project to “simulate an entire brain,” which has a lvoely Singularity ring to it, but as Mind Hacks points out, the fine print shows that the project is somewhat less ambitious than its billing woul…
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IBM to simulate the “entire brain” : The Blue Brain Project
Mind Hacks: IBM to simulate the “entire brain”
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