Big Brain Thinking

[Jared Moya]

Stanford neuroscientist Bill Newsome wants to implant an electrode in his brain to better understand human consciousness.

By Emily Singer

Scientists are learning volumes about the brain -- how it can make split-second decisions, how it learns from past mistakes, how it converts pulses of light into a complex visual scene. But, for some, deciphering the "language" of the electrical pulses that travel through our brains is only half the story. The second part, and one that is far more philosophical and complex, is how that brain activity translates into consciousness -- a person's self-awareness and perception of the world around them.

Bill Newsome, a neuroscientist at Stanford University in Palo Alto, CA, has spent the last twenty years studying how neurons encode information and how they use it to make decisions about the world. In the 1990s, he and collaborators were able to change the way a monkey responded to its environment by sending electric jolts to certain parts of its brain. The findings gave neuroscientists enormous insight into the inner workings of the brain.

But Newsome is obsessed with a lingering question: How does consciousness arise from brain function? He feels the best way to answer that question is by implanting an electrode into his own brain -- and seeing how the electric current changes his perception of the world.

Newsome would not be the first person with a brain implant. Epilepsy patients undergo electrical stimulation prior to brain surgery. A paralyzed man in New England has an experimental implant that translates his brain activity into movements of a robotic arm. And, perhaps most famously, Kevin Warwick, a cybernetics professor at the University of Reading, U.K., first implanted a chip into nerve fibers in his arm in 2002, then implanted a chip in his wife's arm, as part of his quest to become a cyborg.

It's not certain that Newsome will get approval for such a radical undertaking. But, if he does, his experiment won't be in the interest of curing a disease or become a human machine. He's hoping to do something broader: understand consciousness.

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[ruffy17]

Consciousness has been one of the biggest mysteries about the brain, but in order to understand how consciousness is arised we need to understand the brain first. We haven't reached that level yet but maybe we can through technology?

i wish i would be alive when that would happen, that every small detail about the brain would be fully known. And i don't think you can do that with brain implants. None of the neurons in our brain has consciousness, but when they are put together they make everything our brain is, and this is an emergent property. Its the same as water, molecules of water dont make the liquidity of it, or the surface tension of water, or the weird properties of water. All these are the emergent properties of it. But we understand everything about water so why not about consciousness?? We know brain causes consciousness right, so there must be a way for that to happen, it just remains for us to figure it out.

[Auggie2k]

Interesting reading. It's safe to say our brains are one of the most mysterious "computers" out there and understanding a brain... using a brain is a tough challenge. The problem is evoloution took millions of years to get to the point where we are now and its not an overnight thing. It will take time but its also near impossible because every brain is different and doing tests on humans... yeah, I think thats a little frowned upon LOL!

Imagine the lawsuits... or the offers... "yeah... uh... hi, can we electricute your brain please" :)

[thepuzzler]

The problem is evoloution took millions of years to get to the point where we are now and its not an overnight thing.

Don't tell that to Shawners, we were made in seven days God damnit! [/sarcasm]

In other news:

Supercomputer Simulates Half a Mouse Brain:

The BBC reports on a recent cortical simulation experiment run on one of the older IBM BlueGene/L supercomputer prototypes. The goal of the researchers is to create a complete, real-time simulation of a mouse brain. The current run simulated only half of a scaled down mouse brain consisting of 8000 neurons, each with 6300 synapses. Half of a real mouse brain has about eight million neurons, each with 8000 synapses.

The IBM BlueGene/L prototype used, probably the DD2, has a relatively modest 4096 processers with 256MB of memory each. The BlueGene/L computers run SUSE SLES 9 Linux and are among the fastest computers on Earth. While the DD2 comes in at only 11 TeraFLOPS, the production model BlueGene/L tops the list at 360 TeraFLOPS. The computer could run a simulation of this complexity with a resolution of 1ms and a neural firing rate of 1Hz, or about 1/10 of realtime. So one second of simulated mouse thoughts took 10 seconds to calculate.

The researchers claim to have seen "biologically consistent dynamical properties", including the spontaneous formation of neuron groups and the staggered, co-ordinated firing of synapses. A few more details can be found in the short project description document, Towards Real-Time, Mouse-Scale Cortical Simulations.

[levelquo]

Don't tell that to Shawners, we were made in seven days God damnit! [/sarcasm]

In other news:

Supercomputer Simulates Half a Mouse Brain:

The BBC reports on a recent cortical simulation experiment run on one of the older IBM BlueGene/L supercomputer prototypes. The goal of the researchers is to create a complete, real-time simulation of a mouse brain. The current run simulated only half of a scaled down mouse brain consisting of 8000 neurons, each with 6300 synapses. Half of a real mouse brain has about eight million neurons, each with 8000 synapses.

The IBM BlueGene/L prototype used, probably the DD2, has a relatively modest 4096 processers with 256MB of memory each. The BlueGene/L computers run SUSE SLES 9 Linux and are among the fastest computers on Earth. While the DD2 comes in at only 11 TeraFLOPS, the production model BlueGene/L tops the list at 360 TeraFLOPS. The computer could run a simulation of this complexity with a resolution of 1ms and a neural firing rate of 1Hz, or about 1/10 of realtime. So one second of simulated mouse thoughts took 10 seconds to calculate.

The researchers claim to have seen "biologically consistent dynamical properties", including the spontaneous formation of neuron groups and the staggered, co-ordinated firing of synapses. A few more details can be found in the short project description document, Towards Real-Time, Mouse-Scale Cortical Simulations.

as they say in the uk and such
your a cunt and a twat
good day biotch

[thepuzzler]

Well, those of use that have learnt to read and write beyond pre-school level would say, "You're a cunt", but whatever.

[levelquo]

Well, those of use that have learnt to read and write beyond pre-school level would say, "You're a cunt", but whatever.

shove your whatever in your mouth. *if your puzzled by this, your whatever is your cock*
thanks

[DigitalJunkie]

@levelquo

Watch your language, we're not on adult only forum!

[Mels_Smileys45]

@levelquo

Watch your language, we're not on adult only forum!

The fuck you say? And I was so god damned sure everyone here was a grown up! Fuck me sideways! Holy fuck! I just cant fucking believe this new information thats come to light! Mother fucker! Im fucking shocked about all this! Son of a bitch titty fucking christ!!!




Heehehehehe

[levelquo]

@levelquo

Watch your language, we're not on adult only forum!

well i fucking be dammed.
sorry u feel that way.
how old are you again?

[levelquo]

@levelquo

Watch your language, we're not on adult only forum!

i hope this satisfies your cravings
lol

on a side note lol @ mel hee hehee

[DigitalJunkie]

Damn, I wish they would censor the word "F*ck" again! I'm so used to it, I'm still using F*ck today. Maybe when I'm not sober, then I could spell the four letter word correctly like the rest of you.

[Mels_Smileys45]

I can spell fuck real good!