anonymous
2008-05-09 09:59:38 UTC
Ever wonder in which state of technological advancement are we [Humans] in when it comes to simulated neural networks or in short a "digital" brain? It's been one of man's biggest interest ever since the age of computers and digital media distribution ushered in. The last we heard from any major advancement in the field of artificial intelligence was back in 1971 by Professor Lean Chua member of the Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences Department of the University of California Berkeley. Chua detailed and labeled the advancement a memristor (memory resistor). This wont be a rant just one of my enlightenments for the curious minds. Most of it are facts and some speculations and dreaming of my own. So why don't you take a seat right over there.
A recent technological breakthrough has occurred, It's still A.I. (Artificial Intelligence) in its infancy but remember for something as big and life changing as this you'd need to take baby steps to reach to the goal, This creation of the memristor will pave the way for scientists studying the simulated neural networks. Moving on, These memristors up until now were only written equations by Prof. Chua, He knew this 4th fundamental circuit element (think transistors, inductors, capacitors) existed but did not know how to set it in stone with their lack of tech. 37 years later one of four HP (Hewlett Packard, LOL yeah they actually do have labs and don't only make Aww- sum print3rz) Scientist made the discovery of the memristor, the most interesting characteristic of a memristor device is that it remembers the amount of charge that flows through it. I have a feeling that by now you're confused as **** with all these terms you care not to learn. So I will simplify it and then continue on to my thoughts on the matter.
What this discovery means is see right now most of our analog devices and computer memory run on DRAM which always forgets how much voltage it uses every time it is turned in, This is why everyone's computer takes so long to startup. Since the memory has to be told over and over again what amount of voltage it takes in, This causes post-startups. Now in the near future if these memristors are used (Remember what I said earlier of memristors knowing how much voltage was used when it was last used) on a mass scale ie: analog devices, computer memory, phones, anything. This means instant startup, It will be as if you just switched on a light bulb (maybe even faster).
Remember the anime Kôkaku kidôtai (Ghost in a Shell)? Which dealt with cyborgs and extremely sophisticated A.I.? or the movie I Robot with Will Smith? this is becoming more and more a reality than a fantasy with this new found tech. How so? You ask. Well because this means that using memristors and applying them to the field of simulating neural networks or digital brains, we can actually simulate the human nervous system and with that simulated you can finally have a functional brain with reactions, emotions, will to live. The memristors will give our technology such a boost with it's instant-on abilities that all of this wont be an impossible feat in our future. I understand I'm thinking way ahead for something that's still infant but then again we've always had that feeling that we would some day be so technologically advanced that some day we will co-exist with robots and cyborgs.
Before I finish I will go through one last run down and a bit more specifics so you can understand how this can all be possible one day. Well with memristors that doesn't only apply for computer memory as in the typical DDRAM we use to day, No Just like DDRam being used for Graphical Processing Units (Video cards) and Hard drives, The same will be possible when memristors are applied into these areas. Memristor powered hard drive in theory no wait time to access files or anything stored within it, Memristor powered Video cards would in theory means finally life-like graphics, Extremely sophisticated motion sensing (cyborg eyes anyone?! Lol one can dream), Memristor powered Access memory (Like the DDRAM) would mean instant access to programs, and by this time even our processors will be memristors powered. Before I have a geekgasm I'll end the dreaming there (Which could be possible one day), Hope you enjoyed this bit of fresh news other than advancements on the elections or war also cocks.
Ps: They've already been testing digital brain functions with animals and it's actually working, There's an article somewheres on the internets that covers about a group of scientist from a University successfully copying the way a rat's brain is structured since it's smaller to the humans and easier to work with for now. They simulated the rat brain and used it to man a small test plane, Which actually worked