Scientists Plan Artificial Brain to Model Humans
Scientists Will Use Simulated Neurons to Understand Mental Illness
Aug 2, 2009
For ages, philosophers, doctors and scientists have studied the human brain in hopes of learning even the smallest detail that can lead to profound differences on quality of life in humans. The truth is that the human brain is the most complex and sophisticated thing known to mankind. With a complicated network that includes millions of neurons connected in various ways, the human brain has a seemingly infinite amount of connection possibilities that can be attributed to the distinctiveness of an individual.
Humans are not completely ignorant about the functioning of the brain. For example, split brain procedures and modern medicine have provided valuable insight into the workings of the brain and what regions are generally responsible for particular functions. However, there are still many mysteries that have yet to be revealed. For example, there is still no clear distinction between brain activity and consciousness. Likewise, there are many mental illnesses that have yet to be understood, and the details about how information is stored is still a matter of scientific inquiry.
The Blue Brain Project and Neuron Simulation
According to Jonathan Fildes at the BBC, the Blue Brain project at Switzerland's EPFL (École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne) was launched in 2005 and aims to reverse engineer the mammalian brain from laboratory data. Most specifically, the project will study the neocortex, which is the latest addition to mammalian brains from an evolutionary perspective. "It's a new brain," explained Markram, the Blue Brain Project director. "The mammals needed it because they had to cope with parenthood, social interactions complex cognitive functions."It was so successful an evolution from mouse to man it expanded about a thousand fold in terms of the numbers of units to produce this almost frightening organ." The result is a software model that can replicate the effects and actions of approximately 10,000 simulated neurons.
Markram explains that although each neuron is unique, there are patterns that reoccur in subject after subject indicating similar characteristics. "Even though your brain may be smaller, bigger, may have different morphologies of neurons – we do actually share the same fabric," he said. "And we think this is species specific, which could explain why we can't communicate across species.
Practical Applications of a Simulated Mind
To make the model simulation work, the team integrates their algorithms into a supercomputer that uses one processor per neuron to create a simulation of the human neural network based on reverse engineering the human brain. Those 10,000 neurons are simulated using an IBM Blue Gene machine which contains 10,000 processors.
Simulations have already begun to increase understanding as the artificial brain is given a picture which excites the system and causes it to react and form a representation of the input. By measuring distinctions and patterns, the team believes that there is potential to give insights into diseases of the brain. Markram claims that over two billion people on the planet are affected by some mental disorder. His team is already making progress in understanding how the brain works. With continued experimentation and the complexity of adding more stimuli to the system, Markam believes that his work can be helpful in forming new treatments for mental disorders, understanding emotions and perhaps creating the first artificial consciousness.
Source
Fildes, Jonathan. "Artificial brain '10 years away'", BBC NEWS, 22 July 2009. Web. 25 July 2009.
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