Caladan
Agnostic Pantheist
Article found at: Human Brain Could Be Replicated In 10 Years, Researcher Predicts
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Human Brain Could Be Replicated In 10 Years, Researcher Predicts
- Thread starter Caladan
- Start date
You're falling into the same line of thinking folks years back had regarding space travel, and heart transplants, and so much more.
3.14
Well-Known Member
well space travel is just physics
heart transplants are just about keeping the patient alive and him not rejecting the hart
building a human brain reqeures a good understanding of how the brain functions (wich they don't have )
then they need a good way to "build it " wich there isn't yet (a computer model will require massive amounts of data and power)
then there's the fact how are they going to start the brain up,install conciousness 101?
heart transplants are just about keeping the patient alive and him not rejecting the hart
building a human brain reqeures a good understanding of how the brain functions (wich they don't have )
then they need a good way to "build it " wich there isn't yet (a computer model will require massive amounts of data and power)
then there's the fact how are they going to start the brain up,install conciousness 101?
sandandfoam
Veteran Member
Good point.
I don't believe this is going to happen in 10 years. There's not even a satisfactory theory of consciousness and someone is going to model it? I don't think so.
Storm
ThrUU the Looking Glass
I'm with you.
Yes, but you don't need to replicate consciousness in order to replicate the Republican brain. You just need to have it channel Sarah Palin.
sandandfoam
Veteran Member
:biglaugh: No frubals when I need them.
They already did that. Great for indoor soccer. Like a football - only more dense
Aquitaine
Well-Known Member
I can't see it happening, I think there's far too much that we don't know about the brain as it is, not only that, but if it were "successfull" it would create a very intense moral dilemna that I don't think our species is capable of, nor responsible enough to face.
But that's just my two 'ickle pennies.
But that's just my two 'ickle pennies.
MSizer
MSizer
Well, that's an interesting point, but bioethics has developed over the last 2-3 decades simply because we now have dilemmas we didn't have in the past, and machine morality is on our doorstep now, so daunting or not, it may be on its way whether we like it or not. In reference to the OP though, I sure find it surprising to hear someone suggest it could be built within 10 years given the great voids in our understanding of how it functions. The claim really doesn't seem to be inline with anything else I've heard before (though I don't know what he knows, so I won't say "never").
Storm
ThrUU the Looking Glass
Yeah, considering the air of delighted bafflement around everything I've heard of neuroscience, I find the claim rather.... dubious.
Aquitaine
Well-Known Member
As advanced as our technology goes though, do you really think a Human could create a successfull Human brain? I can't see it being possible, I guess it would be like a car creating a successfull engine all by itself.
But, bad metapors aside, what I mean is how could we possibly replicate something that we cannot simply understand? Or will Humans ever be able to "understand" the Human brain?
Such thoughts are often neglected in my mind deliberately, because I couldn't ever bear the thought of the many implications and dilemas such a creation would bring, it would totally repture the foundations of our outlook on life - I think
MSizer
MSizer
As advanced as our technology goes though, do you really think a Human could create a successfull Human brain? I can't see it being possible, I guess it would be like a car creating a successfull engine all by itself.
But, bad metapors aside, what I mean is how could we possibly replicate something that we cannot simply understand? Or will Humans ever be able to "understand" the Human brain?
Such thoughts are often neglected in my mind deliberately, because I couldn't ever bear the thought of the many implications and dilemas such a creation would bring, it would totally repture the foundations of our outlook on life - I think
Well, most people certainly agree that we know very little about the brain, but I wouldn't be so quick to assume it's impossible to recreate it. Seriously, if you had told someone a hundred years ago that we could take a heart from a pig and put it into a human they would have laughed in your face. Secondly, I believe many people need their conciousness raised with respect to the potential of technology. At Manchester U they've assembled a group of inert chems which when combined begin to replicate on their own and even evolve. I'm convinced that many people wouldn't have believed that was possible if it hadn't been done. Again though, I fully acknowledge that a working human brain would seem like a very distant goal indeed, and it seems highly unlikely to me that 10 years is even a reasonable timeline at all.
sandandfoam
Veteran Member
Didn't Popper say something along the lines of - if the human brain was simple enough to understand we'd be too dumb to get it?
Aquitaine
Well-Known Member
I guess then I'd say it's possible, but not probable.
But the idea of one being made in 10 years?
ROFLCOPTORZ!
Aquitaine
Well-Known Member
Something along the lines of that.
The problem is though, is that we're relying on our brains to design the brain. If we're not totally 100% using our own brains to design the brain, then how can we make an accurate "successfull" Human brain?
methylatedghosts
Can't brain. Has dumb.
I can see *some* potential
What a brain needs to grow into.. well - what I have here, powering my body and making these letters appear on the screen for you, is not only output - but input as well.
If they can set up a bunch of stem cells, add the correct inputs, then yeah, maybe, just maybe, they could make something that resembles a functioning part of the brain. Each cell in the brain is linked with many others, with areas involved with smell also being involved with memory, areas of movement also involved with balance, areas of speech also involved with auditory reception.
The brain is a highly complex organ, and while I doubt a fully functioning brain could be possible (i.e. one that they could plop into your head and you still function - arguments about whether it's "you" or not, aside), I can imagine that small portions might be able to be replicated to the extent where they could even replace damaged tissues. Could a brain-blind person be able to see again? Could a brain-deaf person be able to hear? I feel that this potential is there at least, and that it's well worth putting alot of money into.
Besides: Cloning?
Translation:
"90m Euros for a laboratory in the Netherlands for research into cloning, and what have we seen? Nothing! What have they been busy with all this time?"
What a brain needs to grow into.. well - what I have here, powering my body and making these letters appear on the screen for you, is not only output - but input as well.
If they can set up a bunch of stem cells, add the correct inputs, then yeah, maybe, just maybe, they could make something that resembles a functioning part of the brain. Each cell in the brain is linked with many others, with areas involved with smell also being involved with memory, areas of movement also involved with balance, areas of speech also involved with auditory reception.
The brain is a highly complex organ, and while I doubt a fully functioning brain could be possible (i.e. one that they could plop into your head and you still function - arguments about whether it's "you" or not, aside), I can imagine that small portions might be able to be replicated to the extent where they could even replace damaged tissues. Could a brain-blind person be able to see again? Could a brain-deaf person be able to hear? I feel that this potential is there at least, and that it's well worth putting alot of money into.
Besides: Cloning?
Translation:
"90m Euros for a laboratory in the Netherlands for research into cloning, and what have we seen? Nothing! What have they been busy with all this time?"