From: Eliezer S. Yudkowsky (sentience@pobox.com)
Date: Mon Nov 01 1999 - 20:33:28 MST
http://www.eurekalert.org/releases/onrm-nna110199.html
==
Noveau neurons are better than no neurons at all
An artificial neuron built by researchers at U.C. San Diego may be the
first step toward restoring brain function in patients suffering from
stroke, Alzheimer's and other neurological dysfunction. The
interdisciplinary team, led by Alan Selverston and Henry Abarbanel,
successfully integrated their electronic neuron within a group of 14
biological neurons from the California spiny lobster.
The neural network controls the rhythmic way food passes from the
stomach to the lobster's digestive system. By removing crucial
biological neurons from the natural circuit, the UCSD researchers
essentially created "lobster epilepsy" and then cured it. The Navy would
like to emulate biological systems for information processing and
control. One approach is to understand biological neural networks. "This
demonstration shows that we know enough about the biology of a simple
network so that we now can build models and hardware to take advantage
of their nonlinear properties," said ONR Program Manager Joel Davis.
The electronic neuron was built from $7.50 worth of circuit parts from
Radio Shack. The team said the key finding was in the mathematical
modeling that preceded the actual experiment. They discovered they only
needed to control three variables that affect a neuron's overall
function, rather than the hundreds of variables involved in the detailed
biological functioning of each cell. Their finding radically simplified
the mathematical algorithm used to construct the circuit. The team plans
to gradually replace each of the biological neurons in the network with
electronic ones. If the entire electronic network can function properly,
then technology will be a step closer to replacing diseased or damaged
neurons in human tissue.
==
Dear heavens above, they're doing a Moravec Transfer on the lobster.
--
sentience@pobox.com Eliezer S. Yudkowsky
http://pobox.com/~sentience/tmol-faq/meaningoflife.html
Running on BeOS Typing in Dvorak Programming with Patterns
Voting for Libertarians Heading for Singularity There Is A Better Way
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