DARPA's IBM-Led Neural Network Project Seeks To Imitate Brain

An anonymous reader writes "According to an article in the BBC, IBM will lead an ambitious DARPA-funded project in 'cognitive computing.' According to Dharmendra Modha, the lead scientist on the project, '[t]he key idea of cognitive computing is to engineer mind-like intelligent machines by reverse engineering the structure, dynamics, function and behaviour of the brain.' The article continues, 'IBM will join five US universities in an ambitious effort to integrate what is known from real biological systems with the results of supercomputer simulations of neurons. The team will then aim to produce for the first time an electronic system that behaves as the simulations do. The longer-term goal is to create a system with the level of complexity of a cat's brain.'"

It's already being done.

[babymac]

This sounds identical to the Blue Brain project [seedmagazine.com]. This article is a great intro to the project and I hope some competition will help the race wrap up sooner!

I know you're joking but...

[MozeeToby]

Yeah, Asimov did about 60 years ago.

Re:I know you're joking but...

[camperdave]

I forget exactly which book (Robots and Empire I think), but there is one where R. Daneel Olivaw formulates the Zeroth Law of Robotics: "A robot may not harm humanity, or, by inaction, allow humanity to come to harm". In a sense stating that the purpose of robots is to keep humanity happy and healthy.