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"The main apparent goal of building the capacity to construct a larger-scale simulation of the human brain is radically premature," Peter Dayan. How could they

by kgarten 12y ago

"The main apparent goal of building the capacity to construct a larger-scale simulation of the human brain is radically premature," Peter Dayan. How could they even got funding for this?

tim333 12y ago
There are a number of arguments for funding the thing but from my point of view I like it because it's kind of cool - they've already done some neat stuff. €1.2bn over 724 EU citizens is 1.65/head or a bit less than the typical cup of coffee. For me the stuff they've done already is worth 55% of the 3 euro latte I'm just drinking. See http://vimeo.com/52664485 http://vimeo.com/52664485 . Compare with EU agricultural policy with costs about 200 euro per person per year. I'd say ditch subsidising the farmers and fund scientific progress instead.
- kgarten 12y ago
  Sorry from the movie I cannot see what's the point. Very slick design, nice documentary. Yet, 4 years into the project already and there no implications at all of the research ... There's not breakthrough there's nothing of impact. This is shocking ... he even got project money for the blue brain project (same goal) and did not deliver. Now he got the brain project (and won't deliver as well I guess). Markram is amazing in getting funding!!! I agree with you on the farmrs part :)
  - tim333 12y ago
    Actually I have to admit I hadn't at the time watched Blue Brain part 4. I just did and I can see your point. While I'm still a believer that computer simulation will be a major tool in understanding the brain I think there may be more progress from small teams like the google car guys, Kurzweil's lot at Google and the IBM Watson guys rather than something like the Human Brain Project which seems to be shaping into a big enterprise fixed in one direction rather than small groups trying hacking different approaches. In fact I don't think anyones managed a good simulation of Caenorhabditis elegans which could probably be attempted ok by a PhD student with a laptop. Although people are trying http://www.artificialbrains.com/openworm http://www.artificialbrains.com/openworm

by kgarten 12y ago

"The main apparent goal of building the capacity to construct a larger-scale simulation of the human brain is radically premature," Peter Dayan. How could they even got funding for this?

tim333 12y ago

There are a number of arguments for funding the thing but from my point of view I like it because it's kind of cool - they've already done some neat stuff. €1.2bn over 724 EU citizens is 1.65/head or a bit less than the typical cup of coffee. For me the stuff they've done already is worth 55% of the 3 euro latte I'm just drinking. See http://vimeo.com/52664485 http://vimeo.com/52664485 . Compare with EU agricultural policy with costs about 200 euro per person per year. I'd say ditch subsidising the farmers and fund scientific progress instead.

kgarten 12y ago
Sorry from the movie I cannot see what's the point. Very slick design, nice documentary. Yet, 4 years into the project already and there no implications at all of the research ... There's not breakthrough there's nothing of impact. This is shocking ... he even got project money for the blue brain project (same goal) and did not deliver. Now he got the brain project (and won't deliver as well I guess). Markram is amazing in getting funding!!! I agree with you on the farmrs part :)
- tim333 12y ago
  Actually I have to admit I hadn't at the time watched Blue Brain part 4. I just did and I can see your point. While I'm still a believer that computer simulation will be a major tool in understanding the brain I think there may be more progress from small teams like the google car guys, Kurzweil's lot at Google and the IBM Watson guys rather than something like the Human Brain Project which seems to be shaping into a big enterprise fixed in one direction rather than small groups trying hacking different approaches. In fact I don't think anyones managed a good simulation of Caenorhabditis elegans which could probably be attempted ok by a PhD student with a laptop. Although people are trying http://www.artificialbrains.com/openworm http://www.artificialbrains.com/openworm