4 ms·
Neuromorphic computing
- datameta 1y agoI could be mistaken with this nitpick but isn't there a unit mismatch in "...just 20 watts—the same amount of electricity that powers two LED lightbulbs for 24 hours..."?
- rcoveson 1y agoJust 20 watts, the same amount of electricity that powers 2 LED lightbulbs for 24 hours, one nanosecond, or twelve-thousand years.
- deleted 1y ago[deleted]
- DavidVoid 1y agoThere is indeed; Watts aren't energy, and it's a common enough mistake that Technology Connections made a pretty good 52 minute video about it the other month [1]. [1]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OOK5xkFijPc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OOK5xkFijPc
- quantum_state 1y agoSurprising that the article was not reviewed enough to ensure accurate use of basic physics concepts .. from LANL!!!
- ge96 1y agoJust searched against HN, seems this term is at least 8 years old
- lukeinator42 1y agoThe term neuromorphic? It was coined in 1990: https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/abstract/document/58356 https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/abstract/document/58356
- newfocogi 1y agoOnce again, I am quite surprised by the sudden uptick of AI content on HN coming out of LANL. Does anyone know if its just getting posted to HN and staying on the first page suddenly, or is this a change in strategy for the lab? Even so, I don't see the other NatLabs showing up like this.
- CamperBob2 1y agoI imagine the mood at the national labs right now is pretty panicky. They will be looking to get involved with more real-world applications than they traditionally have been, and will also want to appear more engaged with trendy technologies.
- gyrovagueGeist 1y agoI am not sure why HN has mostly LANL posts. Otherwise though it is a combination of things. Machine learning applications for NATSec & fundamental research have become more important (see FASST, proposed last year), the current political environment makes AI funding and applications more secure and easier to chase, and some of this is work that has already been going on but getting greater publicity for both of those reasons.
- ivattano 1y agoThe primary pool of money for DOE labs is through a program called "Frontiers in Artificial Intelligence for Science, Security and Technology (FASST)," replacing the Exascale Computing Project. Compared to other labs, LANL historically does not have many dedicated ML/AI groups but they have recently spun up an entire branch to help secure as much of that FASST money as possible.
- fintler 1y agoProbably because they're hosting an exascale-class cluster with a bazillion GH200s. Also, they launched a new "National Security AI Office".
- geeunits 1y agoI've been building a 'neuromorphic' kernel/bare metal OS that operates on mac hardware using APL primitives as its core layer. Time is considered another 'position' and the kernel itself is vector oriented using 4d addressing with a 32x32x32 'neural substrate'. I am so ready and eager for a paradigm shift of hardware & software. I think in the future 'software' will disappear for most people, and they'll simply ask and receive.
- JimmyBuckets 1y agoI'd love to read more about this. Do you have a blog?
- kokanee 1y agoPhilosophical thought: if the aim of this field is to create an artificial human brain, then it would be fair to say that the more advanced the field becomes, the less difference there is between the artificial brain and a real brain. This begs two questions: 1) Is the ultimate form of this technology ethically distinguishable from a slave? 2) Is there an ethical difference between bioengineering an actual human brain for computing purposes, versus constructing a digital version that is functionally identical?
- russdill 1y agoDisagree. It would be like saying the more advanced transportation becomes, then more like a horse it will be.
- deleted 1y ago[deleted]
- thechao 1y agoShining-brass 25 ton, coal-powered, steam-driven autohorse! 8 legs! Tireless! Breathes fire!
- ge96 1y ago3) can we use a dead person's brain, hook up wires to it and oxygen, why not
- thinkingtoilet 1y agoI am certain this answer will change as generations pass. The current generations, us, will say that there is a difference. Once a generation of kids grow up with AI assistants/friends/partners/etc... they will have a different view. They will demand rights and protections for their AI.
- energy123 1y agoWe should start by disambiguating intelligence and qualia. The field is trying to create intelligence, and kind of assuming that qualia won't be created alongside it.
- Footpost 1y agoNeuromorphic computation has been hyped up for ~ 20 year by now. So far it has dramatically underperformed, at least vis-a-vis the hype. The article does not distinguish between training and inference. Google Edge TPUs https://coral.ai/products/ https://coral.ai/products/ each one is capable of performing 4 trillion operations per second (4 TOPS), using 2 watts of power—that's 2 TOPS per watt. So inference is already cheaper than the 20 watts the paper attributes to the brain. To be sure, LLM training is expensive, but so is raising a child for 20 years. Unlike the child, LLMs can share weights, and amortise the energy cost of training. Another core problem with neuromorphic computation is that we currently have no meaningful idea how the brain produces intelligence, so it seems to be a bit premature to claim we can copy this mechanism. Here is what the Nvidia Chief Scientist B. Dally (and one of the main developers of modern GPU architectures) says about the subject: "I keep getting those calls from those people who claim they are doing neuromorphic computing and they claim there is something magical about it because it's the way that the brain works ... but it's truly more like building an airplane by putting feathers on it and flapping with the wings!" From "Hardware for Deep Learning" HotChips 2023 keynote. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rsxCZAE8QNA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rsxCZAE8QNA This is at 21:28. The whole talk is brilliant and worth watching.
- stefanv 1y agoAnd still no mention of Numenta… I’ve always felt it’s an underrated company, built on an even more underrated theory of intelligence
- esafak 1y agoI want them to succeed but it's been two decades already. Maybe they should have started with a less challenging problem to grow the company?
- meindnoch 1y agoThey will be right on time when the first Mill CPU arrives!
- kadushka 1y agoThey pivoted to regular deep learning when Jeff stepped away from the company several years ago. It does not appear they're doing much of brain modeling these days. Last publication was 3 years ago.
- random3 1y agomemristors are back