Some Kind of Wonderful: Trying to get a 10MW computer to run like the brain for 20W
Here's another in a long line of good ideas:
According to Kwabena Boahen, a computer scientist at Stanford University, a robot with a processor as smart as the human brain would require at least 10 megawatts to operate. That's the amount of energy produced by a small hydroelectric plant. But a small group of computer scientists may have hit on a new neural supercomputer that could someday emulate the human brain's low energy requirements of just 20 watts—barely enough to run a dim light bulb.
...the Neurogrid computer could completely overhaul the traditional approach to computers. It trades the extreme precision of digital transistors for the brain's chaos of many neurons firing, with misfires 30 percent to 90 percent of the time. Yet the brain works with this messy system by relying on crowds of neurons to shout over the noise of misfires and competing signals.
I feel better now knowing that its just a "messy system by relying on crowds of neurons to shout over the noise of misfires and competing signals"
and not just me. :o)
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Hmmm. Could it be that organic "messy system" is what allows for creativity in the human brain? Would that allow for new solutions, ie. "creativity" among computers, then?
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S. Jill -- greetings! I for one am, like Casey, feeling a little bit better, hearing the brain so described. In my case, however, I think the noise and misfires are just a shade louder than normal. Then again, in addition to being notoriously internally occupied and forgetful, I have occasionally been described as creative.
I wouldn't necessarily wish my state of mind on the worst Windows computer, but, yes; I tend to agree with you -- new creativity will probably emerge, as computers learn to think fuzzily.
Thanks for the link to your site, too!
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