New $1.6B supercomputer project will attempt to simulate the human brain

Re:New $1.6B supercomputer project will attempt to simulate ... by JoeAltmaier on Sunday February 03, 2013 @10:21PM (#5162264)

I get it, its interesting to understand our intelligence. But model a human brain? Why? Its pretty cheap to make them (and fun). They don't work all that well in the end - they're all bound up with food and sex and fear.

Why not be even a little ambitious, and make something an order smarter? The human brain size is arbitrarily bound by the female pelvis size. Presumable the artifical one won't have that limit.

And separate it from concerns of survival, paranoia, love etc. Maybe it could think straight, solve a few problems for us.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:New $1.6B supercomputer project will attempt to simulate ... by adrianhoward on Monday February 04, 2013 @05:13AM (#5163356)

Because we still don't understand the human brain in many, many, many ways. Building a model of it and comparing that model to reality is going to help us better understand the human brain. That, in turn, will likely help us understand things like dementia, mental illness, affects of drugs, etc.

That's one reason.

There are others ;-)

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:New $1.6B supercomputer project will attempt to simulate ... by JoeAltmaier on Monday February 04, 2013 @08:21AM (#5163919)

Its really, really complicated too. Much of it is incidental to our evolutionary path. Simulating that is like, well, simulating all the cruft stuck to a piece of toast once you dropped it on the floor? Figure out anything at all about a human brain, like thinking for instance, you can skip the cruft and still have a monumental achievement.

In fact, the temptation to do that will be enormous. That's why the whole project seems fishy to me. Obviously simulating a subset is easier than the whole; any subset is pretty much a huge win; why are they talking about simulating it all? Sounds pie-in-the-sky.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:New $1.6B supercomputer project will attempt to simulate ... by daniel-cussen on Monday February 04, 2013 @01:49AM (#5162840)

The size of the brain is also bound by the huge amount of calories it consumes, and by how delicate it is. 5 minutes without oxygen? Boom, the organ you spent 20 years grooming is gone. Have the munchies? With your brain burning up to 30% of your calories, it may be the culprit.

[ Parent | on HN ]