'Human brain' supercomputer with 1 million processors switched on for first time

submitted by magnora7 from (manchester.ac.uk)

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[–]s8cyprks 3 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 0 fun4 insightful - 1 fun -  (5 children)

I like that they are switching this human brain supercomputer to learn about Parkinson's! I'm pretty sure that someday they will be able to use this same supercomputer to learn about other incurable diseases like Cancer and, if the scientists find a way, to use this to transfer our consciousness!

[–]magnora7[S] 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

Yeah definitely, that's a very cool long-term goal. I hope their research goals work out.

[–]s8cyprks 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Yeah. I mean, I don't know how they're gonna pull it off, but if they find a way not just to understand how Parkinson's disease works and affects people, but also to combat them, then it's not impossible to use this supercomputer on other incurable diseases, too, right?

[–]fred_red_beans 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (2 children)

While a hypothesis that is widely assumed in scientific circles, there is no evidence that consciousness arises in the brain.

Quantum Physicist: Consciousness Arises Outside of the Brain

While this 'Human Brain' computer may be great for simulation of how the brain functions, I think containing consciousness is beyond it's capabilities.

[–]s8cyprks 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Interesting. So if consciousness doesn't arise in the brain, then where does it come from when the person is still conscious after his heart stopped beating? Doesn't it come from the brain, because that's the only thing that still functions when our heart stopped beating when we die? If this is the case then surely this supercomputer can also be used to learn more about how our consciousness works.

[–]DrStrangelove 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

This is consistent with a new theory of consciousness being advocated by physicist Sir Roger Penrose and Dr. Stuart Hameroff. Penrose and Hameroff suggest that consciousness is something applied to the brain, not generated by it.

Came to the comments to mention Hammeroff. He's an anesthesiologist who thinks consciousness arises out of the quantum states of microtubules within the neuron. Basically, the brain is more a quantum antenna than a computer. Really fascinating stuff, and interesting that it comes from a guy who's an expert in turning consciousness off (and hopefully back on again).

[–][deleted] 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Wild stuff. The architecture of this thing sounds pretty novel:

Three of the principle axioms of parallel machine design - memory coherence, synchronicity and determinism - have been discarded in the design without, surprisingly, compromising the ability to perform meaningful computations.

http://apt.cs.manchester.ac.uk/projects/SpiNNaker/architecture/

If this can do 1 billion neurons, then I guess we're 1/16th of the way to full human simulation. Or 1% there, that's cool too.