
Henry Markram's model of a brain is built one neuron at a time.
Once you start building a brain in a box you get two things: admission into the Mad Scientists’ Club, and a chance to speak at TED. Henry Markram is the director of the Blue Brain Project, a collaboration between European scientists and IBM that aims to construct a life-like simulation of a brain using a supercomputer. Earlier this year Markram spoke at TED Global discussing how most of human perception is based on decision making within the brain. BBP hopes it will only take another decade to create a fully functioning computer model of a human mind, and Markram will guide you through some of the most important concepts behind the simulated brain today. Check out the TED Global 2009 video after the break.
This is neither the first Blue Brain Project story, nor even the first video of Markram that we’ve discussed here at Singularity Hub. What keeps us coming back to the topic? The amazing possibilities created by the BBP research and the uncertainty as to whether it will ever succeed. While not aimed at creating an artificial intelligence, a fully functioning simulated brain would be hard to define as anything else. Even ignoring the AI applications, BBP could help neuroscientists learn what causes certain mental illnesses, or how to repair trauma to the brain, or how to improve the way the brain processes information. Right now, BBP is exploring different theories on how the mind works. Yet it’s still much too early to tell if Markram will ever be able to exploit those theories to create a full fledged simulation.










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