While the computer chips in our smartphones (say, iPhones or Android phones) are increasingly capable of processing a large amount of information, their most valuable asset is their low power consumption. Steve Furber is a computer engineer who plans on combining 50,000 of the chips, however, to create an “artificial brain” that simulates one billion [...]
Posts under ‘Supercomputers’
Teaser for “Bluebrain – Year One” documentary
If you’re interested in learning more about what goes on behind-the-scenes at the Blue Brain Project, an effort to reverse-engineer the mammalian brain, this short documentary is a good start. It features interviews with project leader Henry Markram explaining more about the project and shows how his team is going about its important work. This [...]
GeekDad asks: “When do the machines take over?”
Curtis Silver, better known as Wired’s “GeekDad,” looks at our current level of technological progress, where we’re set to go in the near future, and can’t help but ask when humanity is going to face Judgment Day (well, almost). While that computer was built for a particular function and with the best intentions in mind, [...]
Henry Markram: We will develop simulated brain by 2018
The Daily Mail features a very in-depth feature story about the work of Henry Markram and the Blue Brain Project, an effort to “reverse-engineer the mammalian brain, in order to understand brain function and dysfunction through detailed simulations.” Markram and team, who have already been able to simulate the workings of “about 10,000 neurons,” firmly [...]
IBM researchers to create virtual world for supercomputer to explore
Today researchers at IBM’s Almaden research center unveiled the “biggest artificial brain ever,” which is described as being as large as a cat’s brain. The hardware is impressive, consisting of 147,456 CPUs, but what is even more compelling is how the team plans to “teach” the computer – by creating a virtual world in which [...]
Quad core? Pssh. Get ready for 100 MILLION CORES
In news that’s sure to make your fancy new quad-core rig seem pathetic in comparison, Computerworld claims that in fewer than ten years, supercomputers will boast a whopping 100 million cores as they break the exaflop barrier. To reach this milestone, however, engineers will face a few challenges, in addition to cramming 100 million cores [...]
New supercomputer more energy efficient through “brain-like” design
If conventional processors were used to create an artificial intelligence, the resulting supercomputer would consume massive amounts of electricity – up to 20 megawatts, which would require a small hydroelectric plant to power it. The human brain, on the other hand, only consumes about 20 watts of electricity to operate. Creating more energy efficient computers [...]
Psychology Today skeptic takes on the singularity
Massimo Pigliucci of Psychology Today’s Rationally Speaking blog is “In Pursuit of Positive Skepticism” – and after sitting in on a presentation by philosopher David Chalmers regarding the singularity, he came away especially skeptical of the concept. In his blog post, “David Chalmers and the Singularity that will probably not come,” Pigliucci not only takes [...]
Henry Markram on the Blue Brain Project
Video is now available of Henry Markram’s presentation at TED, in which he talks about The Blue Brain Project’s efforts to build a supercomputer that will attempt to “reverse engineer the mammalian brain.” The project has made impressive progress to date, showing a proof of concept by modeling half a rodent brain, and the team [...]