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Article 2346 of comp.ai.philosophy:
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>From: dg1v+@andrew.cmu.edu (David Greene)
Newsgroups: comp.ai.philosophy
Subject: Fwd: Scientists Produce Electronic Device To Mimic Brain
Message-ID: <gdIlwmi00VqH00dBVi@andrew.cmu.edu>
Date: 21 Dec 91 11:02:10 GMT
Organization: Doctoral student, Industrial Administration, Carnegie Mellon, Pittsburgh, PA
Lines: 64

With regards to scaling up slug brains I thought this view from the
popular press (from Dow-Jones news without permission) might be of
interest -- or more likely the report, which appears in the current
issue of Nature.

-David

---------- Forwarded message begins here ----------

Subject: Scientists Produce Electronic Device To Mimic Brain
Date: Thu, 19 Dec 1991 17:58:29 -0500 (EST)
  

  LONDON -- A British neuroscientist and a U.S. computer scientist said
they have collaborated to produce a tiny electronic device that mimics
the behavior of a human brain cell.  

  They said the development may make it easier to develop an understanding
of how the brain works, and could ultimately lead to electronic systems
with some of the same capabilities as a biological nervous system.  

  Until now, attempts to model brain activity have centered on complex
software programs that, in essence, create imaginary networks of brain
cells based on the latest theory of how these cells work. These attempts
have met with some success: A major software effort at International
Business Machines Corp., for example, last year surprised even its inventors
by spontaneously producing the computerized equivalent of "brain waves."
 

  But such progress, which has been slow, eats up huge amounts of computer
time. In the IBM experiment, several hours on a high-powered mainframe
computer were required to simulate a few seconds of activity in a small
section of a guinea pig's brain. By contrast, a hardware-based approach
might allow faster development of knowledge, since large numbers of electronic
devices can be hooked together so that they operate in "real time." 


  In their report, which appears in today's edition of Nature, a weekly
U.K. science magazine, the two scientists stressed that their device
is radically different from existing electronic components used in "neural-net-
work" computers, which are often cited as producing brainlike results
such as pattern recognition. Such electronic components are always switched
either on or off, generating a staccato computer language of ones and
zeros.  

  The new device, on the other hand, speaks the same variable language
as human nerve cells, sending electrical signals that can fade or grow
stronger. Measured with the same testing methods used to monitor human
nerve cells, the device's response was "essentially the same," reported
the scientists, Rodney Douglas of Oxford University and Misha Mahowald
of the California Institute of Technology.  

  It isn't yet clear that such behavior would be more useful in modelling
brain structure than the on-off world of conventional computer components
-- or even than slow software-based approaches. At Nestor Inc., a neural-netwo-
rk company based in Providence, R.I., co-founder Leon Cooper says the
work of Drs. Douglas and Mahowald sounds very interesting, but that other
hardware and software approaches are becoming mature, and he feels they
might bear fruit earlier.  

  Nonetheless, in a commentary that also appears in today's Nature, computer
scientist Andreas Andreou of Johns Hopkins University says the new "silicon
neuron" could emerge as "the technology of choice for modelling the nervous
system."


