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If you have the technology to simulate a brain, it seems pretty trivial to simulate a body, environment, and associated sensory inputs as well.
by ahelwer 9y ago
If you have the technology to simulate a brain, it seems pretty trivial to simulate a body, environment, and associated sensory inputs as well.
- fixermark 9y agoI'm reminded of the 'hybrot' experiments where rat brain cells in a nutrient solution are allowed to wire up their own neural network on top of electrodes that send and receive data wirelessly from a robot body [https://www.technologyreview.com/s/401756/rat-brained-robot/ https://www.technologyreview.com/s/401756/rat-brained-robot/] The question of doing something similar with a strata running a human brain doesn't seem impossible, just extremely technologically daunting when one considers the sheer number of connections into and out of the physical brain.
- SomeNeuroGuy 9y agoThe number of connections is high, but the bandwidth is surprisingly low. Modern edge routers could do it a couple times over.
- notahacker 9y agoEven if the technology to emulate a particular brain based on a preserved copy could exist, it seems to be asking a lot for the engineers to also emulate the specific nervous system that brain has grown to work with without a copy of it...
- SomeNeuroGuy 9y agoEh, you can guess for a lot of it, and you at least have a map of where all the inputs actually GO. If it synapses in the olfactory bulb, probably don't hook up your simulated eyeball and all that. Brain plasticity can cover some wiring sins - cochlear implants are pretty awful for connecting where they should go, but it's good enough to get some degree of hearing going. Get enough and the simulated patient can help you out telling you if you've got it right or not.