X-Message-Number: 27327
From: "Brent Thomas" <>
Subject: to the mouse ... and beyond
Date: Fri, 4 Nov 2005 11:37:45 -0500

As Thomas pointed out 2.64 million atoms is small potatoes in the context of
things...but as a measure of what is possible today, and what will become
possible exponentially soon thereafter it is a great indicator of
mind-boggling levels of complexity soon to follow. I thought this particular
example was interesting because it was an example of a researcher performing
a 'bottom up' atomic level simulation...and if you can simulate that with
enough precision you can effectively simulate functionally anything in the
world (including a brain) without having to understand it beyond the
'snap-shot-in-time' capability of an atomic level scan. 

I do think it will take us much more effort to understand and optimize the
workings of a full brain simulation beyond the atomic level because that
implies we actually understand what we are doing not just performing a copy
(and understanding is always harder than imitation).

However the real point I wanted to make was about how neat this particular
example is as an indication of what some particular researcher was able to
accomplish with today's technology (6x larger than any previous simulation)
and to plant the seeds of thought in the archives and our reader's minds as
to what may someday become possible.

If you share an interest in this (and as readers of THIS list you probably
do and are probably already familiar with the concepts) you might find this
interesting
http://72.14.207.104/search?q=cache:y0ZZUXxdF0YJ:www.pivot.net/~jpierce/star
ing_into_the_singularity.htm+moravec+transfer&hl=en

Particularly the references to moravec transfers. 

Just my $.02

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