IBM simulates cat's brain, humans are next
By Vlad Savov 
posted November 18th 2009 11:11AM
posted November 18th 2009 11:11AM
Almost exactly a year ago we noted DARPA pouring nearly $5 million into an IBM project to develop a computer capable of emulating the brain of a living creature. Having already modeled half of a mouse's brain, the researchers were at that time heading toward the more ambitious territory of feline intelligence, and today we can report on how far that cash injection and extra twelve months have gotten us. The first big announcement is that they have indeed succeeded in producing a computer simulation on par, in terms of complexity and scale, with a cat's brain. The second, perhaps more important, is that "jaw-dropping" progress has been made in the sophistication and detail level of human brain mapping. The reverse engineering of the brain is hoped to bring about new ways for building computers that mimic natural brain structures, an endeavor collectively termed as "cognitive computing." Read link will reveal more, and you can make your own cyborg jokes in the comments below.
It should have read, IBM creates computer that can meaw
"My CPU is a neural net processor; a learning computer..."
The only quote I can think of anytime I read an article like this.
Cat in the shell.
In my head I'm hearing the opening theme to GitS: Innocence with all the old-fashioned Shinto Japanese words replaced with "Meow".
It would be great if they can train it to ask outside instead of needing a litter box.
Great now i have to get a scratching post for a PC!?
Does it respond well to catnip?
Will it hunt its own mouse?
=|
Here come the Cylons!
Sure sounds like a "meta cognitive processor" to me!!!
"This has all happened before and will happen again..."
Fail
One of the most important elements of this research is the power needed for computations. The power required for a processor to compute as much as the human brain is unimaginable.
I can vaguely hear the intro music to "Ghost in the Shell." Oh wait, that's just me playing an MP3 inside my head :)
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I cannot wait for the day that we successfully create a stable, fully functional and commercially available, brain-computer interface (BCI). This is certainly a giant step in the right direction. This is really, really awesome! :D
So they've created a simulation that bitches every 15 seconds until it intakes sustenance twice a day into its batteries, then scans itself for bugs and shuts off for 10 hours. It's like a crappy netbook.
Like this is anything new?!
Cats have always been robots, why do they always shit themselves when someone flicks water at them.
Hypersensitive?
I think not.
Flick water on a cat successfully, it explodes.
Just what we needed, VMWare for a cat.
So we can soon go build our own Major Kusanagi ? That would be awesome.
If Google gets their hands on this then Skynet will be born. It's the end of the world as we know it
In other news, IBM sets a new world standard in energy savings with it's new sleep mode
So when they program these things into computers, our computers will become as grumpy, tempermential and annoying as cats. I can see it now waking up in the morning with my cat programmed Romba in my face.
Can't wait for the future like the movie " Ghost in the Machine" when you can transfer you mind to a cyborg body.... very cool
Dr. Frederick Frankenstein: [to Igor] Now that brain that you modeled for me. Was it... Hans Delbruck's?
Igor: No.
Dr. Frederick Frankenstein: Ah! Very good. Would you mind telling me... whose brain I DID put in?
Igor: Then you won't be angry?
Dr. Frederick Frankenstein: I will NOT be angry.
Igor: Abby Someone.
Dr. Frederick Frankenstein: Abby Someone.... Abby who?
Igor: Abby Normal.
Dr. Frederick Frankenstein: Abby.... Normal?
Igor: I'm almost sure that was the name.
Dr. Frederick Frankenstein: Are you saying that I put an abnormal brain into a seven and a half foot long, fifty-four inch wide MAINFRAME!!!!?
[grabs Igor and starts throttling him]
Dr. Frederick Frankenstein: Is that what you're telling me!!!?!?!
Red Planet? Anyone?
The first catbot they make is gonna learn karate and go ape-scat on all of us...
But without the red camera filter.
Does this mean kitties will be born with pci-e slots in their heads? That is being felinetastic.
Cool, a computer that can lick itself and sleep 80% of the day.
Simulating a brain is only going bring limited insight unless you simulate a body and virtual world to go along with it, or a robotic body for the real world. Otherwise, even if they produce a perfect simulation of the feline brain, it would be as if the brain is suspended in a jar of fluid, with no realistic sensory information coming in or useful commands going out to make the brain work the way it's supposed to. Of course, they're well aware of this, but it's another big challenge that needs to be addresses, and it's almost as difficult to do well.
do you think that they implemented algorithms similar to lolcats.com?
i r a toco
i is nootrishis and tasty
I'll start building Zion
All hail CatNet!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GkMvKeX7erI
When IBM actually creates a positronic brain, we are officially living in the future.
Obviously Engadget does not know the definition of Cyborg.
When will the Butlerian Jihad come?
So with a neural network as complex as a cat's brain, now they need to figure out how to capture the state of a brain and load that into the simulator so it actually does something. Which I think is a lot more difficult than having the hadware to run it on.
SAME DAY AS CATPAINT! COINCIDENCE? I THINK NOT!!
when i went went to disney world there was this exhibit thing where you make your own flash game. at the introduction it says "when you think computers you probably think ibm" wrong!!!