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Re:Whole human brain mapped in 3D by ton2lavega on Friday June 21, 2013 @08:08AM (#5917608)
Depends. First, a biological network is not just connections of neurons, it's weighted connections of neurons. And even saying that is a huge approximation.

It's not just about mapping the topology of the brain, just having a neural network of 1e10 vertices and 1e12 links will not give you an artificial intelligence. It's just not that simple. The connectome paradigm is not sufficient. It is hip because of computer scientists using artificial neuron networks to achieve awesome stuff. But that doesn't mean that the complexity of the human brain only resides in the number of neurons and interactions. It's not guaranteed that we are getting closer of the goal just by adding billions of neurons and connections.

I find this wannabe holistic approach a bit confusing as it is horizontal whereas I am convinced that what we need is a vertical approach : up from graph topology down to an accurate biophysical understanding of synapses and information transmission, all across multiple scales, from the angström up to microns.

That's the key : multiscale modeling, not single-huge-scale modeling.

Re:Whole human brain mapped in 3D by webXL on Friday June 21, 2013 @09:17AM (#5917859)
I totally agree. The brain is drastically more complex than a CPU, which could be reverse engineered in such a fashion. That's because we have a solid understanding of what happens when electrons flow through a series of specialized circuits, and we can control (and model) the input and output of each one. We cannot yet control or predict that flow with a human neuron, I don't think. At least this map doesn't get us closer in that regard, as much as I want it to.