5 ms·

Cartographers have mapped Scotland. [random scribe muses that] The whole world could be next.

pepve 2y ago
Did a rough calculation, it would be more like Edinburgh. There's easily a century between the earliest accurate map of Edinburgh and the earliest accurate map of the world. And even at present, the accuracy of maps of Edinburgh is much greater than the accuracy of maps of the world. So yeah, the whole world could be next. But the person you're replying to has a point when they say significant improvements are needed.
- xandrius 2y ago
  We did map a handful of brains yet, the more we do the better we will get at it. I don't understand all this rushing and skepticism when such amazing science is being done. It's not like some AI company marking claims to sell a product, it's some researchers trying to accomplish something. Yes, they should (and probably will) do it better but that's not the goal here. If 3 million manual edits are still doable then it's ok. And when the manual step is not feasible, a jump in the tech will be required.
- AdieuToLogic 2y ago
  > Did a rough calculation, it would be more like Edinburgh. To put a fine point on the difference in scale: Edinburgh[0]: 264 square km Earth[1]: 510,000,000 square km 0 - https://www.britannica.com/place/Edinburgh-Scotland https://www.britannica.com/place/Edinburgh-Scotland 1 - https://www.universetoday.com/25756/surface-area-of-the-earth/ https://www.universetoday.com/25756/surface-area-of-the-eart...
1-6 2y ago
This reminds me of the coastline paradox. I wonder if it applies to mapping an organism’s brain. For example, one can say they know the length of Scotland’s coastline but as the resolution increases, so does the coastline’s length. It’s infinite.
- jcfrei 2y ago
  The resolution increases but the information doesn't. Apply some compression algorithm on the higher resolution coastline and you will find that you can reduce size massively. Same with LLMs and same with mapping the brain probably.
  - perforator 2y ago
    Why would the information not increase? If your unit is, say, 10 meters, you would only be able to see a straight line instead of curve.

Did a rough calculation, it would be more like Edinburgh. There's easily a century between the earliest accurate map of Edinburgh and the earliest accurate map of the world. And even at present, the accuracy of maps of Edinburgh is much greater than the accuracy of maps of the world. So yeah, the whole world could be next. But the person you're replying to has a point when they say significant improvements are needed.

xandrius 2y ago
We did map a handful of brains yet, the more we do the better we will get at it. I don't understand all this rushing and skepticism when such amazing science is being done. It's not like some AI company marking claims to sell a product, it's some researchers trying to accomplish something. Yes, they should (and probably will) do it better but that's not the goal here. If 3 million manual edits are still doable then it's ok. And when the manual step is not feasible, a jump in the tech will be required.
AdieuToLogic 2y ago
> Did a rough calculation, it would be more like Edinburgh. To put a fine point on the difference in scale: Edinburgh[0]: 264 square km Earth[1]: 510,000,000 square km 0 - https://www.britannica.com/place/Edinburgh-Scotland https://www.britannica.com/place/Edinburgh-Scotland 1 - https://www.universetoday.com/25756/surface-area-of-the-earth/ https://www.universetoday.com/25756/surface-area-of-the-eart...

1-6 2y ago

This reminds me of the coastline paradox. I wonder if it applies to mapping an organism’s brain. For example, one can say they know the length of Scotland’s coastline but as the resolution increases, so does the coastline’s length. It’s infinite.

jcfrei 2y ago
The resolution increases but the information doesn't. Apply some compression algorithm on the higher resolution coastline and you will find that you can reduce size massively. Same with LLMs and same with mapping the brain probably.
- perforator 2y ago
  Why would the information not increase? If your unit is, say, 10 meters, you would only be able to see a straight line instead of curve.