X-Message-Number: 25172
From: 
Date: Sun, 28 Nov 2004 00:00:01 EST
Subject: Re: FPGA

From Thomas Donaldson:

> Even if FPGAs can be arbitrarily reprogramed, they still don't
> make it. You see, our brain is reprogramming itself, which 
> includes such things as neurons growing new connections and
> eliminating others.

Even simpler CPLD are so complex that you can't program them directly. You 
define broadly what you want and then a software make the programming for you. 
Yes, this is not internal to the CPLD or FPGA, it is done on a computer-like 
system. A brain on FPGA would have to include such a computer to manage the 
program making, that is, the brain evolution.

About references, a basic one on the subject is : "Circuits logiques 

programmables" by Alexandre NKETSA, sorry it is in french. You could see too the
data 
books from chip makers, for example AMD.

I agree that a brain simulation system must work, for the outside world, as a 
brain. It is designed for that in the first place. Now, would it work 99.999 
percent as a biological brain or 100 percent as such, nor you or me can tell. 
We have to build and test such a system to see. Now if you think a biological 
brain would be better, ok but how did you build it? How to produce a copy of a 
given brain? The difference is here: We can buy FPGA and programming 
computers, we can't buy a brain copier.

I'll give a look at the books you suggest. Thanks for the references.

Yvan Bozzonetti.


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