From: Brad Wyble <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >The jury is very much out Phillip. Eliezer goes too far in saying it's a >myth perpetuated by computer scientists. They use the simplest >representations they know to exist in their models for purposes of >parsimony. It's hard to fault them for being rigorous in this respect.
Uploading is not the same as using ANNs to emulate the brain, it has more to do with computational neuroscience and realistic modeling. >But neurons are surely far more complex than this. The majority of >computation may well occur within the nonlinear bursting dynamics of >dendrites. Nonlinear dendritic integration can be accurately captured by the comparmental model which divides dendrites into small sections with ion channels and other internal reaction mechanisms. This is the most accurate level of modeling. It may be possible to simplify this model with machine learning techniques and without significant loss in accuracy. >Just as an example, a new type of neuron has recently been discovered that >can hold a steady state of firing in isolation, apply current, rate >increases and remains stable at a new threshold. It's dynamically >settable, which blows away all standard Integrate & Fire models. I don't know the exact mechanisms that give rise to that type of neurons, but the comparmental model should be able to cover this. What is needed is a large-scale database of neuronal characteristics (automation). >We're just scratching the surface of an enormous iceberg. If you're >trying to build some useful index of brain power based on number of >neurons (or even synapses), give up and wait 30 years at least. Intra-cellular signal processing is the most problematic area, which requires proteomics to fully understand. I don't know... YKY ____________________________________________________________ Find what you are looking for with the Lycos Yellow Pages http://r.lycos.com/r/yp_emailfooter/http://yellowpages.lycos.com/default.asp?SRC=lycos10 ------- To unsubscribe, change your address, or temporarily deactivate your subscription, please go to http://v2.listbox.com/member/[EMAIL PROTECTED]
