So you want to simulate a cat brain

Sparky__H said:
Without the genetic pre-programming and sensory inputs it's just blank brain piece without a body, task or purpose.

It's a bad title really is should read "Simulation of similar size to cats brain". Looks like they are just bumping up the number of simulated neurons and synapses compared to the last test.
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yep - its interesting, but in no way does this resemble a real brain.
 
Tefal said:
i think it's just cat level/number of neurons simulated, not an actual cat's mind.
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Except that's worthless without knowing how the neurons are connected or how they work together.

I could buy millions of bricks and stick them in a heap and say I'd built the Empire State Building, but I don't think anyone would be impressed.
 
willhub said:
How many computers and TB's of ram would you need to simulate a human brain? :p If it where possible.

Does this "cat brain" think it's a real cat?
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In the article it says they have done a rat brain in 2007 and 1% of a humans brain?

So I'm guessing 99 more of those IBM super computers. :P
 
aardvark said:
yep - its interesting, but in no way does this resemble a real brain.
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It's interesting that generics does play a fundamental part of brain development.

The genetics defines the structure, the folds and through those folds govern the paths that are available for the neurons to 'explore' by growing towards chemical attractors.

So they may place those neurons in the right areas but it's missing the wealth of sensory input and the parental feedback.
 
Hutchy said:
In the article it says they have done a rat brain in 2007 and 1% of a humans brain?

So I'm guessing 99 more of those IBM super computers. :P
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I'd imagine the law of diminishing returns would come into play with this.

There's also the point that was made that this approximation of the brain is more like lumping together everything into a brain like simulation but not necessarily simulating what makes a brain a brain.

Quite an achievement.

Still, I find myself feeling sorry for the virtual "cat" - if you create an animal-brain-based system that's capable of learning from experience, feeling basic emotions, etc., then shouldn't it have the same rights as a flesh-and-blood pet?

If so, then wouldn't leaving that virtual creature shut up inside the computer with no body, no sensors, and no way to interact with the outside world constitute a form of animal cruelty?

At least it's "thinking" slower than an organic cat's brain. Still, even if 100 days as a disembodied neural network only feels like one day of sensory deprivation, I doubt it's a pleasant experience.

I wonder if the ASPCA will start standing up for the rights of virtual critters....
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Made me laugh
 
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Interesting but i want to know what sense data they send to it for stimulation, otherwise i can't see it doing much, also do they provide noise to the neurons because im pretty sure that plays a role in random thought and free will, i remember some scientists recently were able to take images from a cats brain and view them on a screen but the quality was poor and there was a lot of noise, we can see a lot of visual noise in the dark as that's the most high detail perception we have, it's amazing brains work so well as they seem to be very noisy computers, probably due them being organic and warm?
 
Quite an achievement.

Still, I find myself feeling sorry for the virtual "cat" - if you create an animal-brain-based system that's capable of learning from experience, feeling basic emotions, etc., then shouldn't it have the same rights as a flesh-and-blood pet?

If so, then wouldn't leaving that virtual creature shut up inside the computer with no body, no sensors, and no way to interact with the outside world constitute a form of animal cruelty?

At least it's "thinking" slower than an organic cat's brain. Still, even if 100 days as a disembodied neural network only feels like one day of sensory deprivation, I doubt it's a pleasant experience.

I wonder if the ASPCA will start standing up for the rights of virtual critters....
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I hope not! I've lost count of the number of times I forgot to feed my tamagotchi and it died of hunger!
 
The simulated cat brain still runs about 100 times slower than the real thing.
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Still, pretty impressive. Wonder if it yielded anything interesting? Attic space tendencies? Watching the geeks masturbate etc?

The computer has 147,456 processors (most modern PCs have just one or two processors) and 144 terabytes of main memory — 100,000 times as much as your computer has.
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Very confident statement. 1.44Gb RAM....common configuration apparently :)
 
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So, if you put a supercomputer into a box with a lethal powersurge connected to a nuclear decay timing device and close the lid, is it still working or not and does lifting the lid cancel the premise that it is, in fact both alive and dead at the same time?

Or would it just curl up and go to sleep until it feels hungry?
My brain hurts.
 
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Done on a fraction of the spec
 
So this new 4th largest PC will spend three quarters of its day sleeping, bullying tiny PCs around at night, meowing at windows at inconvenient times and pestering you when you're busy... Sounds awesome!
 
I give it 50 years before they're able to create a human brain simulation, another 50 or so before it's small enough to fit in robots or battledroids/ whatever, another 5 then before the robots take over the world completely :D
 
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