X-Message-Number: 30204 From: Date: Sun, 23 Dec 2007 13:29:34 -0500 Subject: Emulating Brain Computing towards the Singularity --_----------=_119843457416380 Content-Disposition: inline R.E. asserts that an animal is "not programmed in the way that a computer is. The computer is language-based and digital, which is very different." And he appears to conclude based on this assertion, that therefore no computer can be programmed with a true intelligence surpassing that of humans. He of course does not admit "feeling" either. My response earlier was along the lines that I see no reason to believe a computer could not be programmed in the same manner that human/animal brains are. Today I see the following news article of interest. It discusses advances in discovering how brains do compute. When computer scientists learn how to emulate this, we will have the beginning of what could easily lead to a Singularity in that field, and a powerful AI that could be friendly, but just as easily could be hostile or merely uncaring, the latter two options meaning the end of human existence. That is the possible threat we must have safeguards in place to prevent in case it arises, and again I am not saying it definitely will, but no one can say it definitely won't. With what little we know today, the chances are about 50-50. Anyone with the common sense to plan and protect against such eventualities, must deem it prudent to do so in this case. Those persons and organizations promoting the advent of the Singularity with a "just let it develop and we'll see what happens" attitude, are recklessly endangering the entire human race. Here is the article: BBC NEWS Single brain cell's power shown There could be enough computing ability in just one brain cell to allow humans and animals to feel, a study suggests. The brain has 100 billion neurons but scientists had thought they needed to join forces in larger networks to produce thoughts and sensations. The Dutch and German study, published in Nature, found that stimulating just one rat neuron could deliver the sensation of touch. One UK expert said this was the first time this had been measured in mammals. The complexity of the human brain and how it stores countless thoughts, sensations and memories are still not fully understood. Researchers believe connections between individual neurons, forming networks of at least a thousand, are the key to some of its processing power. However, in some creatures with simpler nervous systems, such as flies, a single neuron can play a more significant role. The latest research suggests this may also be true in "higher" animals. The team, from the Humboldt University in Germany and the Erasmus Medical Center in the Netherlands, stimulated single neurons in rats and found this was enough to trigger a behavioural response when their whiskers were touched. A second research project from the US suggests the computational ability of the brain cell could be even more complex, with different synapses - the many junctions between neurons and other nerve cells - able to act independently from those found elsewhere on the same cell. This could mean that, within a single neuron, different synapses could be storing or processing completely different bits of information. Computing power Dr Douglas Armstrong, the deputy director of the Edinburgh Centre for Bioinformatics, said the research did not mean all neurons had an individual role to play but that, in some instances, they might be capable of working alone with measurable results. He said: "The generally accepted model was that networks or arrays make decisions and that the influence of a single neuron is smaller - but this work and other recent studies support a more important role for the individual neuron. "These studies drive down the level at which relevant computation is happening in the brain." Story from BBC NEWS: http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/health/7151920.stm Published: 2007/12/22 00:02:38 GMT BBC MMVII -- Want an e-mail address like mine? Get a free e-mail account today at www.mail.com! --_----------=_119843457416380 Content-Disposition: inline Content-Type: text/html; charset="iso-8859-1" [ AUTOMATICALLY SKIPPING HTML ENCODING! ] Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=30204