Month: October 2004

Excerpts:

Somewhere in Florida, 25,000 disembodied rat neurons are thinking about flying an F-22.

These neurons are growing on top of a multi-electrode array and form a living “brain” that’s hooked up to a flight simulator on a desktop computer. When information on the simulated aircraft’s horizontal and vertical movements are fed into the brain by stimulating the electrodes, the neurons fire away in patterns that are then used to control its “body” — the simulated aircraft.

Currently the brain has learned enough to be able to control the pitch and roll of the simulated F-22 fighter jet in weather conditions ranging from blue skies to hurricane-force winds. Initially the aircraft drifted, because the brain hadn’t figured out how to control its “body,” but over time the neurons learned to stabilize the aircraft to a straight, level flight.

“Right now the process it’s learning is very simplistic,” said DeMarse. “It’s basically making a decision about whether to move the stick to the left or to the right or forwards and backwards and it learns how much to push the stick depending upon how badly the aircraft is flying.”

The bigger goal is to figure out how neurons talk to each other. MRI scans, for example, show millions of neurons firing together. At that resolution, it is impossible to see what’s happening between individual neurons. While scientists can study neural activities from groups of cells in a dish, they can’t watch them learn and grow as they would within a living body unless the neurons have some kind of body to interact with.

By taking these cells and giving them back a “body,” the researchers hope to uncover how the neurons communicate with each other and eventually translate that knowledge to develop novel computing architecture.

GET THE STORY FROM WIRED.

MORE FROM THE UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA.

And this just in from UNIVERSE TODAY:

In related news, EarthForce defense contractors announced project aimed at creating a powerful “shadow” warship using a human being as its central processing unit.

“We’re very excited about the new shadow ship,” said Gen. Wink Tinkley of EarthForce. “Using a human being as the CPU means a lot more computing than a simulated rat brain has. The only problem we’ve found is that telepaths can interfere with the human’s neural connection with the ship.”

EarthForce contractors also announced the creation of an even more ambitious program which will allow a detachable human as a ship’s CPU. When perfect, this pilot program will allow humans who pilot such ships–known as “pilots”–to live normal lives by being extracted from their ships at the end of missions.

Excerpts:

Somewhere in Florida, 25,000 disembodied rat neurons are thinking about flying an F-22.

These neurons are growing on top of a multi-electrode array and form a living “brain” that’s hooked up to a flight simulator on a desktop computer. When information on the simulated aircraft’s horizontal and vertical movements are fed into the brain by stimulating the electrodes, the neurons fire away in patterns that are then used to control its “body” — the simulated aircraft.

Currently the brain has learned enough to be able to control the pitch and roll of the simulated F-22 fighter jet in weather conditions ranging from blue skies to hurricane-force winds. Initially the aircraft drifted, because the brain hadn’t figured out how to control its “body,” but over time the neurons learned to stabilize the aircraft to a straight, level flight.

“Right now the process it’s learning is very simplistic,” said DeMarse. “It’s basically making a decision about whether to move the stick to the left or to the right or forwards and backwards and it learns how much to push the stick depending upon how badly the aircraft is flying.”

The bigger goal is to figure out how neurons talk to each other. MRI scans, for example, show millions of neurons firing together. At that resolution, it is impossible to see what’s happening between individual neurons. While scientists can study neural activities from groups of cells in a dish, they can’t watch them learn and grow as they would within a living body unless the neurons have some kind of body to interact with.

By taking these cells and giving them back a “body,” the researchers hope to uncover how the neurons communicate with each other and eventually translate that knowledge to develop novel computing architecture.

GET THE STORY FROM WIRED.

MORE FROM THE UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA.

And this just in from UNIVERSE TODAY:

In related news, EarthForce defense contractors announced project aimed at creating a powerful “shadow” warship using a human being as its central processing unit.

“We’re very excited about the new shadow ship,” said Gen. Wink Tinkley of EarthForce. “Using a human being as the CPU means a lot more computing than a simulated rat brain has. The only problem we’ve found is that telepaths can interfere with the human’s neural connection with the ship.”

EarthForce contractors also announced the creation of an even more ambitious program which will allow a detachable human as a ship’s CPU. When perfect, this pilot program will allow humans who pilot such ships–known as “pilots”–to live normal lives by being extracted from their ships at the end of missions.

Say same technique will allow making human zombies.

YOU’RE NEXT!!!

GET THE STORY.

Regarding our recent discussion of deafness and mentalese, a reader writes:

But what about deaf people who don’t know sign language? I recently read an article that claimed a surprising number of deaf people don’t know sign language, or at least don’t know it very well, especially deaf children who grow up with parents who have normal hearing. So how do they think? Or what about deaf people in remote areas who never encounter sign language? They are obviously thinking somehow but what form do the thoughts take?

If a person were totally deprived of language–both spoken, gestural, and anything else one might propose–then the person would have no option but to think in pure mentalese.

That being said, it isn’t clear to me how common completely language-less people are. I question whether they even exist. The language instinct is so strong in humans that the accounts I have read indicate that even deaf people not exposed to a formal sign languages come up with informal signs.

Recently I was reading an account of a deaf man from Mexico who was never exposed to formal signing. This gentleman not only was able to get across the border with the United States, he was able to survive in the Los Angeles area. When he was discovered, he did not know any established language, including sign languages. An effort was made to teach him a sign language, and soon he “made the breakthrough.” Afterwards, he not only was able to describe his prior experience, he also was able to lead those working with him to other non-signing deaf individuals, who were more common than had been known.

These individuals had a network amongst themselves that had previously escaped notice. Despite their lack of conventional language, they had found ways to communicate with each other and often entertained each others with elaborate pantomimes describing their experiences.

This suggests that the language instinct in humans is so strong that even in the absence of exposure to a formal language, they will come up with an informal one.

This suggests that even these individuals may not think in pure mentalese but might have an accompanying “translation” of their thoughts into the informal gestural methods of communication they invent.

It would be fascinating to have better data on this, however.

There’s going to be a total eclipse of the moon tonight, and North America has the best seat in the house for it.

You may be able to catch the eclipse on FOX, as it will occur during the World Series game that FOX is broadcasting.

For full viewing instructions, including when totality will occur in your timezone, as well as background on what a lunar eclipse is, etc., GO HERE.

For those in the continental US, totality (which lasts less than 5 min.) will occur at 7:18 Pacific, 8:18 Mountain, 9:18 Central, and 10:18 Eastern.

Enjoy!

P.S. Unlike an eclipse of the sun, you can look directly at an eclipse of the moon!