X-Message-Number: 26856 From: Date: Sat, 20 Aug 2005 15:04:15 EDT Subject: Re: To Thomas Donaldson You said: 1. We cannot imitate a parallel machine with any smaller assemblage of processors which may try to imitate subsets of the processors of the parallel machine. The original processors in these subsets can genuinely act at the same time, not at different times no matter how small. Fundamentally, a parallel machine with N processors cannot be accurately simulated by any other machine with M < N processors. I disagree completly. A single processor can work out the same problems as a multiprocessor system. A multiprocessor is simply faster for the same technological level. I am surprised that a mathematician tell what you say, if you have any science reference on that I would be interested. 2. Our neurons grow new connections with one another as part of learning. Sometimes our brain even produces new neurons for the same purpose. Various people on Cryonet (and elsewhere) have proposed that new connections might be formed instead by light beams between "neurons" or other nonbiological means. If nothing else, such a method will involve a lot of complexity to actually implement --- at least as much as we have with brains. Growth of new connections looks much simpler if we have millions of neurons. Think about the Internet: it "grow" new connections continuously. If you think of each neuron as a microprocessor of a special kind, you have the answer. 3. Before we think about making our brains faster, it would be useful to think just what use we would make of such speed. The aim is to have fast chips to process many neurons, one after the other, not to have a faster brain, at least for now. Just some comments on the project of building a "human brain". I think the present objective is not to build a human brain, the first step would be to have a neuromorphic chip able to simulate any biological neuron or a small network. The next step would be an application such a speaking translator in real time, then would come a small mammal brain uploaded on a set of chips, the human project would be the next step. I hope to have a broad map of the neuromorphic chip at the end of the year, a first sample may be two years away. Yvan Bozzonetti. Content-Type: text/html; charset="US-ASCII" [ AUTOMATICALLY SKIPPING HTML ENCODING! ] Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=26856