Scientists creating computers with human-like brains

By Dick Pelletier

      

    Cognitive computing (computers that process information the same way a brain does) has been a dream for 50 years. Artificial intelligence, fuzzy logic, and neural networks have all experienced some success, but machines still cannot recognize pictures or understand language as well as humans can.

    Despite the many false starts however, forward-thinkers like National Institute of Standards and Technology's Dr. James Albus believe cognitive computing research is at the tipping point and he cites the following endeavors as evidence that a revolution is underway:

• The Blue Brain Project – In 2008, the Swiss government completed phase-one of its effort to reverse-engineer the human brain by successfully modeling a rat neocortical column.
• "Smart" cars – Automakers are investing heavily in cars with more computerized-safety features, and Department of Transportation officials believe tomorrow’s driverless vehicles will save more lives than airbags and seatbelts combined.
• Automated combat – Department of Defense planners predict that auto-fly drones and robots will soon replace most humans in battle.
• Neuron replacements – By 2020, implantable electronics developed at University of Southern California could replace lost brain cells, bringing an end to "senior moments."

    Now, in what could be the most ambitious computing project ever, neuroscientists, computer engineers and psychologists are creating an entirely new computing architecture that can simulate the brain's abilities for perception, interaction and cognition.

    IBM, in conjunction with five universities has formed a cognitive computing project to build a machine by 2020 or before that interprets data and reacts to information similar to the way humans react with each other and their environment.

    Josephine Cheng, vice president of IBM's Almaden Research Center said, "We believe that our cognitive computing initiative will help shape the future of computing in a significant way, bringing to bear new technologies that we haven’t even begun to imagine."

    Foresight Institute consultant John Burch sees cognitive computing working its way into our bodies. "By as early as the 2030s," he says, "we could be replacing our brain cells with non-biological nanotech materials that process thoughts faster, and are nearly indestructible."

    Cybernetics expert Christof Koch predicts cognitive computing will enable efficient brain-machine connections, which in the next decade, will mostly be used for research and neuroprosthetics, but the immense prospect for enhancing human minds will drive this technology forward and by mid-2020s, human-machine interfaces will become routine.

    Imagine a hard drive linked directly to your mind enabling you to "download" memory implants for skill enhancements. This would allow actions to be performed that have not been learned directly. You could master any subject, or learn a foreign language; without the need for study.

    Futurist Ray Kurzweil predicts this research and other expected advances in artificial intelligence will enable computers to become as smart as humans by 2030. Computer power will match the intelligence of human beings within the next 20 years, Kurzweil claimed at a recent meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

    As we move through the decades ahead, we see computers mimicking more of our human traits – and with direct brain-to-machine interfaces, we will gain more machine-like calculating abilities. This "magical future" will continue as the bond between humanity and machines grows ever closer.

This article appeared in various print publications and on-line blogs. Comments always welcome.