Introducing the Human Brain Project (original) (raw)

Human Brain Project: A Program for the New Millennium

Neuroscience research is burgeoning, with approximate­ ly 60,000 researchers worldwide studying the structure and function of the nervous system in exquisite detail. Understanding the brain and all of its functions is truly one of the great challenges of the 2151 Century. Tech­ nological advances have provided this field with power­ ful methodologies ranging from molecular and genomic to functional brain activity imaging. The field of neuro­ science produces exciting new discoveries almost daily, with empirical data accumulating at an exponential pace. However, the integration of these data into principles of nervous system function and understanding of intact brain functions are proceeding at a slower pace. Neuro­ scientists have the opportunity to take advantage of the information technology (IT) revolution, which is now in its infancy, by developing the field of neuroinformatics. Neuroinformatics is interdisciplinary, combining research in neuroscience and information sciences to...

A world survey of artificial brain projects, Part I: Large-scale brain simulations

Neurocomputing, 2010

Driven by rapid ongoing advances in computer hardware, neuroscience and computer science, Artificial Brain research and development are blossoming. This article constitutes the first half of a two-part world survey of artificial brain projects: this part dealing with large-scale brain simulations, and the second part with biologically inspired cognitive architectures (BICAs). The large-scale brain simulations we consider in depth here include those by Markram, Modha, Boahen, Horwitz, Edelman, Izhikevich, and Just. As well as reviewing the particulars of these simulation projects, we position them in a broader perspective, comparing at the different underlying definitions of the concept of ''simulation,'' noting that in many ways the projects are modeling neurosystems at different levels as well as using different methodologies.

A Platform Technology For Brain Emulation Updated 9-05-2013

A computer is a great tool for statistical analysis, simulation and number crunching, but its usefulness is limited in Artificial Intelligence applications and in the simulation of biologically accurate neural networks. This is due to the sequential nature of these machines, whereby all data has to pass through a central processor in chunks of 16, 32 or 64 bits, depending on the width of the data bus. In contrast, the brain's network is massively parallel and processes the equivalent of millions of data bits simultaneously. Simulation of a sizable network of biologically accurate neurons requires the resources of a huge supercomputer consisting of tens of thousands of processors. Even so, attempts to emulate the entire human brain are far removed from their goal. The published results of IBM's efforts to emulate the brain on a Blue Gene Supercomputer shows that these machines run the emulation software at 1/640th of the brain's real speed and 1/10th of its capacity. There are also doubts about the accuracy of the neuron model (ref. "The cat is out of the bag") So called "Artificial Neural Networks (ANNs) have little to do with how the brain actually works. ANNs are based on a 1950's concept of a neuron. The learning time of Multi-layer ANNs with back propagation networks increases exponentially due to the method of learning, even when simplified training sets are applied i . The method of learning is limited to the information that can be passed over the narrow data bus. The CPU is a bottleneck and all data has to pass through it.

The Animat: New Frontiers in Whole Brain Modeling

IEEE Pulse, 2012

The researchers at Boston University (BU)'s Neuromorphics Laboratory, part of the National Science Foundation (NSF)-sponsored Center of Excellence for Learning in Education, Science, and Technology (CELEST), are working in collaboration with the engineers and scientists at Hewlett-Packard (HP) to implement neural models of intelligent processes for the next generation of dense, low-power, computer hardware that will use memristive technology to bring data closer to the processor where computation occurs. The HP and BU teams are jointly designing an optimal infrastructure, simulation, and software platform to build an artificial brain. The resulting Cog Ex Machina (Cog) software platform has been successfully used to implement a large-scale, multicomponent brain system that is able to simulate some key rat behavioral results in a virtual environment and has been applied to control robotic platforms as they learn to interact with their environment.

2023 Whole Brain Emulation Workshop

Foresight Institute, 2023

Foresight Institute Whole Brain Emulation Workshop Report -- To the best of our understanding, there has not been a significant or comprehensive evaluation of Whole Brain Emulation (WBE) since the 2008 publication of The Future of Humanity Institute’s Whole Brain Emulation Roadmap. Given the recent acceleration in AI development, we believe it’s timely to revisit WBE and its implications for AI Safety. WBE is a potential technology to generate software intelligence that is human-aligned simply by being based directly on human brains. Past discussions generally assumed a lengthy timeline for WBE, whereas AGI timelines had broad uncertainty. There have also been concerns that the neuroscience of WBE might boost AGI capability development without helping safety, although there was no consensus on this issue. Recently many people have updated their AGI timelines towards earlier development, raising safety concerns. This has led some people to consider whether WBE development could be significantly speedup, producing a differential technology development that might lessen the risk of unaligned AGI by the presence of aligned software intelligence

The Human Brain Project: Creating a European Research Infrastructure to Decode the Human Brain

Neuron, 2016

Decoding the human brain is perhaps the most fascinating scientific challenge in the 21st century. The Human Brain Project (HBP), a 10-year European Flagship, targets the reconstruction of the brain's multiscale organization. It uses productive loops of experiments, medical, data, data analytics, and simulation on all levels that will eventually bridge the scales. The HBP IT architecture is unique, utilizing cloud-based collaboration and development platforms with databases, workflow systems, petabyte storage, and supercomputers. The HBP is developing toward a European research infrastructure advancing brain research, medicine, and brain-inspired information technology.