SCI/TECH: Brain downloads 'possible by 2050'

Another late thought on this subject (amongst many) is we must remember that the human body contains two brains, not one. We have another fully functional brain around our stomaches.

Check out the link below for more info on this:
www.ananova.com...

Yet another link:
www.mindpowernews.com...

[edit on 27-5-2005 by Astronomer68]

[edit on 27-5-2005 by Astronomer68]

Going back to my first reply.

Even if one could take all those snapsnots I mentioned, all they would have would be a recording of brain activity which would be no more capable of thought than a tape recorder or hard disk drive. No, if one wants to download a human brain and have the capability of that brain include creative thought, then one (as of now) would have to literally replicate (clone) the brain cells involved so that they too could change their chemical mix. Even then, without stimuli of some sort (such as our senses), it is doubtful those cells would ever change whatever thoughts were ongoing at the time of the "download".

well since most humans use only a couple of percents of their brains, all you need to do is wire a couple of PS3s together and youre good to go

Very fascinating, and I thank you, Astronomer, but I will suggest that "copying" or "downloading" a human's brain is downloading apples onto an OrangePod.

Wait, Apple makes iPo... nevermind. I'll just, uh, stick with my preceeding post.

Zip

Originally posted by nukunuku
well since most humans use only a couple of percents of their brains, all you need to do is wire a couple of PS3s together and youre good to go

Actually, that's somewhat of a myth. We only have 10 per cent or so of our neurons firing at once. If we were to fire 100 per cent of them, we would be deep in the throes of an epileptic seizure at that time.

Zip

EDIT misspelling.

[edit on 27-5-2005 by Zipdot]

Never going to happen. We have been running EEG’s since the 1950’s and we still cannot “read” the brain waves other then to check their speed and amplitude, and check for certain known structures such as those seen in sleep staging and seizure activity. Everyone neuron’s form in a unique pattern, so when neuron number 1,555,555 firing on subject A might relate to them thinking of the last time they ate apple pie, but on subject number 2 could fire when they think of the last time they road a roller coaster.

Never Say Never Again

Never is a long, long time.

Will brain "downloads" ever happen? I don't know, but the mechanisms being vaguely bandied around in this article seem highly improbable.

Actually, there aren't enough details presented to assess. The narrative jumps around like a weasel on crack, offering speculation from an "expert" mixed with gee-whiz references to computing power, and with nothing of actual relevance to work with.

Does that mean it can't be done? Nope. Absolutely not.

Disproving a possibility is a tricky business, fraught with peril.

This PS3 business definitely sounds like a Sony-inspired bit of corporate propaganda to me, and I suspect that is somehow what underlies the story.

Sony and British Telecom? Hmmm.

And a PS3 has 1% of the processing power of the human brain? I call bullpuckey.

Unless someone is holding out on us, no one truly knows what the human brain is capable of, because no one truly understands it yet.

That may change, but 100 PS3's hooked together isn't going to cut it. As Zipdot has aptly pointed out, the human brain is not a binary device, nor is it purely electrical in nature.

The number and variety of chemical processes which occur in the human brain are themselves staggering -- and by no means fully understood by anyone.

The subtleties of the human brain are still being studied, and interesting things will come of it. But these studies are at the tip-of-iceberg stage.

I suspect we will be able to translate some types of conscious thoughts using monitoring equipment at some point in the not-too-distant future, for example, but it won't be done with PS3's.



Edit: Blah.

[edit on 5/27/2005 by Majic]

Originally posted by AgentSmith

I think Pearson's theory is just plain stupid. He's basing his statements on the technology of the damn Playstation 3?

The human brain will never be "downloaded" or copied in the way that this article is reporting. It is impossible. This guy's an idiot.

Oh your an expert are you? Then maybe you should send a copy of your CV off and replace him as his years of experience obviously mean nothing.
If people had gone round and stuck by retarded statements like 'it's impossible' then we would all be living in caves still.
As the Playstation 3 is going to be one of the most powerful in-home devices available very soon, with 2 terraflops of power, it makes a good example.
If it is 35 times more powerful than the PS2 and it will have 1% of the power of the human brain, then in theory the PS4 will have 35% of the power of the human brain and the PS5 will have 1225% of the power, so in theory it will actually be over 10x faster. Gaming consoles appear to be on the forefront of computer technology and at a relatively low price, so they are an ideal example and somthing that everyone can relate with.
That, of course, would be if it closely followed the current trend.

The most difficult thing to overcome that I can forsee is some form of non invasive (or at least not damaging) bio interface that is also capable of transferring data and at a high enough speed.

Also the fact that experiemtns have been carried out using living matter in conjunction with standard silicon based electronics, I think that the difference between a chemical coimputer and an electrical computer is not as great as people might think. At least it is becoming less and less so.

[edit on 26-5-2005 by AgentSmith]

It gets interesting now because the power of consoles goes in a parabolic form and not in a linear form as you state. this also means that there is an end to how fast CPU's can become.

in addition even if you manage to make a CPU as smart as a human it would still not be enough to emulate the human brain.