Brain complexity: simulation study (Introduction)

by David Turell , Thursday, December 17, 2015, 15:22 (3264 days ago) @ David Turell

The Blue Brain ten-year-old study hasn't gotten very far:-https://aeon.co/opinions/why-trying-to-simulate-the-human-brain-is-a-waste-of-energy?utm_source=Aeon+Newsletter&utm_campaign=ce5c4c6f13-Daily_newsletter_Thursday_17th_December_12_17_2015&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_411a82e59d-ce5c4c6f13-68942561-"The philosopher John Searle has been dining out for years on a good line about simulation. People think, he says, that if they simulate the mind on a computer it'll be conscious; but you know what? When they run a computer simulation of a rain storm, nobody gets wet.-"That hasn't stopped people trying to simulate the brain. The most ambitious simulation attempt of all must be the Blue Brain Project in Switzerland, whose recent effort got a generally warm reception. ‘Complex Living Brain Simulation Replicates Sensory Rat Behaviour' said The Guardian in October (so much more interesting than those simple dead?brain simulations). Fair enough; a computational simulation of even a tiny piece of rat cortex seems a notable success - but are we any nearer to getting wet?-***
"We're talking about an organ that is, by general agreement, the most complex object in the cosmos. The sponsors of simulation projects might have thought they were merely buying something of modest scope, like a second Human Genome Project (after all, that's what people like Markram told them); in fact, the challenge they were taking on was both incomparably larger and far less well-defined. -***-"Ultimately, we need to reproduce the things that make the brain work; but to spot those, we need to understand how it works or at least have a theory the simulation can test. Alas, we don't. Simulations might have been slow about delivering, but they actually represent impatience: the view that instead of waiting until we understand the brain, we should get on and build something now. -***-"Equally, a brain simulation cannot just secrete a generic kind of neural activity as if it were a sort of electric gland. Rat cortex has to control rat muscle; if the virtual rat collapses with uncontrollable trembling or paralysis, it's no good saying the simulation is a success because the simulated patterns of neuron activation have a statistical resemblance to normal ones. This requirement - that the simulation should actually work - seems insufficiently recognised by the simulators; perhaps that's why they're such optimists.-"It has now been announced, following the new paper, that Blue Brain has been awarded at least a further three years of funding. Perhaps it would have been just too embarrassing to pull the plug after 10 years. At any rate, that particular project is not about to fold. It could well plod on to serve up more unappetising crumbs of digital cortex for years or decades to come. These simulations look like a waste of money, but the real danger is that they quietly embed unspoken assumptions about the brain and draw talent and resources away from the original thinking and research that we really need. Instead of trying to simulate the human brain we should be using it. "-Comment: Too much fund money wasted. Romansh should note, fMRIs don't tell you much.