““Simulated cat Brain” of IBM/DARPA called a “hoax” by scientist
Posted: 24 November 2009 02:31 AM   [ Ignore ]
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Last year, the Pentagon’s premiere research arm gave IBM nearly $5 million to make electronics that mimic the “function, size and power consumption” of a cat’s brain. Last week, IBM’s lead researcher on the project, Dharmendra Modha, announced that he had made major progress toward that goal, simulating on a supercomputer the number of neurons and synapses inside a feline mind. Now, a leading neuroscientist is blasting the whole project as a “scam” and a “hoax.”


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Posted: 24 November 2009 05:49 AM   [ Ignore ]   [ # 1 ]
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You know, I’d been thinking that it wasn’t all it seemed. I was figuring that they had just modelled a cat brain at a high level of detail, and the press had simply got it into their head that meant it was thinking at that level..

Given that our best computers can *barely* emulate a fly’s brain, on a good day, I’d be damn surprised when they emulate something with a backbone.

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1: Extraordinary claims require extraordinary proof. If it does what it says, you should have no problem with this.
2: What proof will you accept that you are wrong? You ask us to change our mind, but we cannot change yours?
3: If a conspiracy theory stopped at one claim, they might be believable. However, in the search for ‘truth’, conspiracies will expand their claims to encompass many other claims.

What part of ‘meow’ don’t you understand?

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Posted: 24 November 2009 08:09 AM   [ Ignore ]   [ # 2 ]
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I can’t wait for the version of the IBM laptop with the “Cat’s Brain Intel Processor”. It will go chasing after birds while you read your emails and a session on the spread sheet will have it wetting your desk.

I’ll stick to Macs thank you very much.

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I’m not some ordinary moron.
I’m an Oxy-Moron!

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Posted: 24 November 2009 08:47 AM   [ Ignore ]   [ # 3 ]
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Peter - 24 November 2009 08:09 AM

I can’t wait for the version of the IBM laptop with the “Cat’s Brain Intel Processor”. It will go chasing after birds while you read your emails and a session on the spread sheet will have it wetting your desk.

I’ll stick to Macs thank you very much.

I was just about to say: “sounds like you describe Microsoft software there…”  tongue wink

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The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man - George Bernard Shaw
The power of accurate observation is commonly called cynicism by those who have not got it - George Bernard Shaw

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Posted: 24 November 2009 04:17 PM   [ Ignore ]   [ # 4 ]
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After reading the article it almost sounds like a couple of kids arguing over whose fort is bigger.

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