One Step Closer to the Singularity

The latest issue of Seed magazine has an amazing article about Deep Blue, an attempt to use a supercomputer to virtually simulate the neural synapses of a small part of a mouse brain. The money quote is on page 6, but the entire article is worth a read.

After assembling a three-dimensional model of 10,000 virtual neurons, the scientists began feeding the simulation electrical impulses, which were designed to replicate the currents constantly rippling through a real rat brain... Clusters of connected neurons began to fire in close synchrony: the cells were wiring themselves together.

"This all happened on its own," Markram says. "It was entirely spontaneous." For the Blue Brain team, it was a thrilling breakthrough. After years of hard work, they were finally able to watch their make-believe brain develop, synapse by synapse. The microchips were turning themselves into a mind.