DARPA enlists IBM to build computer brain as smart as a cat
By Donald Melanson 
posted Nov 21st 2008 3:44PM
posted Nov 21st 2008 3:44PM
Researchers have long been trying to model actual brains in order to build a better computer "brain," and it looks like IBM is now getting a helping hand from none other than DARPA in its attempt to create one that it hopes will one day have the intelligence level of a cat. To that somewhat unnerving end, DARPA is pouring $4.9 million into a project that'll include five universities and scientists of all stripes, who will work together to create an artificial brain that behaves like a real one right down to the neuron level. As the BBC reports, the researchers are describing this latest initiative as a "180 degree shift in perspective" from previous efforts, as they're now seeking an algorithm first and problems second, as opposed to starting with an objective and devising an algorithm to achieve it. As for DARPA's ultimate goal, well, that's still a bit of a mystery, though let's just say we won't be surprised if future robots start to become very easily distracted.
[Via Daily Tech, image courtesy Mack J, Truth and Beauty Bombs]
[Via Daily Tech, image courtesy Mack J, Truth and Beauty Bombs]
Catbert could kick Garfield's ass.
That face is not yours, is it?
Dude! Just because I probably got lots of plastic surgery does NOT mean my career comeback isn't ripe!
It's just hard... So not like I would have imagined you, have I tried.
pavlindrom
I read your comment several times and I still can't understand it.
wow the Dilbert haters and Garfield fanboys are rioting today, huh.
@Brad: It's okay, me neither
DARPA wants to make killer lolcats.
Great. So when you point at something in front of the computer it's just going to stare at your finger.
Wow. Garfield sucks.
http://lasagnacat.com/
It's all about Pearls Before Swine.
http://comics.com/pearls_before_swine/
even better http://www.youtube.com/lasagnacat
Yeah that's what I was thinking! Not only did they pick the stupidest comic strip to go along with the story, the picked a pristine example of why that comic strip is so completely lame!
Kyle, thank you for opening my eyes to this wonderful Internet Treasure.
even even better: http://garfieldminusgarfield.net
The first thing it will ask is: "I CAN HAZ CHEEZBURGER?"
-sorry, had to do it.
No, you didn't.
You knew you didn't have to do it.
You're not sorry.
You enlist the guys who turned down DOS? and made OS/2?
Rofl
OS/2 was actually quite nice in a lot of regards.
Yes the company that makes $90 Billion a year
Actually IBM ironically put Microsoft in charge of making OS/2. Even more ironic is the fact that when the two companies went their separate ways, Microsoft took the then in development OS/2 3.0 and turned it into Windows NT.
Well IBM DID in fact make some very very stupid and weird decisions over the time of their existence, there's no doubt about that.
But they are so damn good at other times that it doesn't affect them at all.
So DARPA is considering cats smart now? Even if they finish this, the curious thing would probably get pwed by a virus in minutes. I get virus, why you get camera?
dude sometimes my cat just flips out and goes ape crazy, i dont want that noise
Maybe that's not a good idea.... cats are paranoid and will do whatever it takes to protect itself.
Meow, Meow, mew, mew, purr...... dave
A cat may be stupid, but considering that there are no "real" AIs in existence, it is a big jump.
(When I mean "real" AI, it's not one of those "fake" AIs. "Fake" AIs are in games, and they are nothing more than scripted events. "Real" AI thinks for itself.)
You mean Strong AI (Self-aware), which we can never build because we don't know the definition of self-aware, we can't test it.
Weak AI (AI that you find in games),
PussyPC.
your mom
@ Crooked Style
:'( Unfinished insults make me sad.
So we're going to have computers that run into brick walls at high speeds for no reason other than they're completely demented? And yes, my cat did stuff like this. She was a great source of comedy up until she took off somewhere.
It should be pretty sweet when this is coupled with a robotic body of some sort; it may lead to a lot of people reconsidering the meaning of life.
You definitely don't speak for me when you say that.
I for one welcome our new feline robot overlords.
always a classic, G...
"A project that'll include five universities and scientists of all STRIPES,"
HA!
What can this be good for, other than making robots that can ultimately replace us? jesus christ how can these guys pour so much money in something that can only lead to bad news for the human race... isn't Cancer still not 'cured'? how is this allowed?
So it will sleep 18-22 hours a day, be vindictive and sabotage any task you are doing (like how cats always have to lay on whatever paper/book you are reading)...
Great, now I can expect my PC to take a crap in my houseplants!
Ican haz comutr smartz!
AI lolcats anyone?
I guess I'll have to get used to serving digital tuna to an approximation of a brutal feline overlord.
I hope they can teach the thing to use a litter box otherwise it will be messy in the computer room.
http://img528.imageshack.us/img528/797/1209799744389jf6.png
Engadget you totally let me down. Now don't get me wrong, I like Garfield, but Where's the pic of the Toonsinator from SNL?
So... DARPA wants a pretty dumb computer then, eh? Why dont they just get that global warming hoax/liar, Al Gore, to develop it? He invented the internet and now global warming too. Seems like he could create something else for society while he's at it...
could static electricity impulses be used to position strings of carbon-nanotubes in order to build a bubble-mesh of semiconducting potential? i think my nephew put something in the end of my cigarette...
Perhaps an automated Toonces the Driving Cat for the DARPA grand challenge? ;-)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-rdLOrOLJiA
DARPA want to emulate a cat because they think it's the Purrrrrfect choice.
The Cray Cat.
Hmmm. So there was a:
Cray Amoeba
Cray Snail
Cray Roach
Cray Birdbrain
...that we haven't seen in public because no self respecting Cray engineer would agree to be seen at their public launches? Of course they agreed to publicize the Cray Cat. That code name is entirely cool.
DARPA will create a computer capable of knowing in advance where you are going to step when you get out of bed in the middle of the night, and vomiting there.
the battlefield applications are intriguing.
So if it's as smart as a cat and you program it into a robot cat, what does that make it?
I'm not sure "cat level intellect" is what we should be aspiring to.
What exactly would a spec for such a machine look like?
1. Sleep 23 hours a day
2. Meow for food
3. Sit on human lap for remainder of time
Sounds a lot like my existing laptop to me:-)
"You stay down by day, but at night you can move around. The H-K's use infra-red so you still have to watch out. But they're not too bright."
So the computer would calculate on whatever the hell IT felt like calculating on. "Yeah you'll get your answer when I feel like giving you the answer. Now give me some food and pet me!"
We need furry computercases pronto.