BLUE BRAIN

Technical seminaron

Submitted by:PATRALI MAJUMDER

[1DT12EE024]

Submitted to:Dept. of EEE

[Dayananda Sagar Academy of

Technology and Management]

24.02.2016

INTRODUCTION

“BLUE BRAIN”- The name of the world’s first virtual brain. That means a machine that can function as human brain.

Main aim: to upload human brain into machine.

WHAT IS BLUE BRAIN

BLUE BRAIN is actually an IBM project. It would be the worlds first “virtual brain”, a

supporting evidence & milestone for the singularity of an individual.

IBM, in partnership with scientists at Switzerland’s Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne’s (EPFL) Brain and Mind Institute will begin simulating the brain’s biological systems and output the data as a working 3-dimensional model.

WHAT IS A VIRTUAL BRAIN? A machine that can function as brain and that will

recreate the high-speed electro-chemical interactions that take place within the brain’s interior.

It can take decisions.

It can think.

It can respond.

It can keep things in memory.

WHY DO WE NEED A VIRTUAL BRAIN?

To upload contents of the natural brain into it .

To keep the intelligence , knowledge and skill of any person for ever .

To remember things without effort .

As a back up source of storage of information directly from the mind.

THE HUMAN BRAIN

The human brain is made up of a billion neurons.

Each neuron forms about 1,000 connections with other neurons, amounting to more than a trillion connections. 

The brain’s memory storage capacity is closer to around 2.5 petabytes (or a million gigabytes).

HOW IS IT POSSIBLE?

The uploading is possible by the use of small robots known as the nanobots.

These robots are small enough to travel through out our circulatory system.

Traveling into the spine and brain, they will be able to monitor the activity and structure of our central nervous system.

HOW IS IT POSSIBLE?

Nanobots will carefully scan the structure of our brain, providing a complete readout of the connections between each neuron.

They will be able to provide an interface with computer that is as close as our mind can be while we still reside in our biological form .

BRAIN SIMULATION

NATURAL BRAIN INPUT: Through the natural

neurons. INTERPRETATION: By

different states of the neurons in the brain.

OUTPUT: Through the natural neurons.

PROCESSING: Through arithmetic and logical calculations in neural nodes.

VIRTUAL BRAIN Through the silicon chip in

the nanobots. By a set of bits in the set of

registers . Through Secondary

memory registers. Through arithmetic and

logical calculation and artificial intelligence .

BLUE BRAIN PROJECT OBJECTIVES

First comprehensive attempt to reverse-engineer the mammalian brain.

To build a complete theoretical framework that can orchestrate the reconstruction of the brain of mammals and man from the genetic to the computer models for simulation, visualization and automatic knowledge .

The project will search for insights into how human beings think and remember.

The knowledge could lead to new breed of supercomputers.

HARDWARE AND SOFTWARE REQUIRMENT

A Super computer.Processor with a very high processing power.Micro circuitA program to convert the electric impulses from the

brain to input signal, which is to be received by the computer and vice versa.

Very powerful Nanobots to act as the interface between the natural brain and the computer.

THE BLUE GENE

Built using system-on-a-chip technology in which all functions of a node (except for main memory) are integrated onto a single application- specific integrated circuit (ASIC).

This ASIC includes 2 PowerPC 440 cores running at 700 MHz. Associated with each core is a 64-bit “double” floating point unit (FPU) that can operate in single instruction, multiple data (SIMD) mode.

The blue gene has an operating speed of petaFLOPS with minimum power consumption.

This super computer can be used in “co- processor” mode or “virtual node” mode.

BLUE GENE

The "Blue Brain" supercomputer in Lausanne, Switzerland.

THE MICROCIRCUIT

The micro circuit is the circuit that is required to simulate the working of the neurons and store the information.

They are to be fit inside the nanobots. Neurons receive inputs from thousands of other neurons

which require tens of thousands of compartments to accurately represent them. There is therefore a minimal size of a microcircuit and a minimal complexity of a neuron’s morphology that can fully sustain a neuron.

A massive increase in computational power is required to make this quantum leap - an increase that is provided by IBM’s Blue Gene supercomputer.

Once the microcircuit is built, all the 8192 processors of the Blue Gene are put into service, in a massively parallel computation solving the complex mathematical equations that govern the electrical activity in each neuron .

The Blue Brain team is working to streamline the computation so that the circuit can function in real time .

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BLUE BRAIN MODEL VISUALISATION

A visual representation of a mammalian neocortical column.

The representation shows the part of the brain which has been modeled using a supercomputer.

The visualization is part of IBM's Blue Gene supercomputer project.

The "Blue Brain" & Human Consciousness

"Blue Brain" offer a better understanding of human consciousness.

It’s an actual ‘computer brain’ that may eventually have the ability to think for itself.

When it was first fed electrical impulses, strange patterns began to appear with lightning-like flashes produced by ‘cells’ that the scientists recognized from living human and animal processes. "It happened entirely on its own," hence proving the involuntary functioning of the brain.

CURRENT RESEARCH

Researchers at Microsoft’s Media Presence Lab are developing a “virtual brain,” a PC-based database that holds a record of an individual’s complete life experience. Called MyLifeBits, the project aims to make this database of human memories searchable in the manner of a conventional search engine. 

According to the new scientist Magazine report Rodrigo Laje and Gabriel Mindlin of the University of Buenos Aires in Argentina have devised a computer model of a region of the brain called the RA nucleus which controls muscles in the lungs and vocal folds.

ADVANTAGES OF BLUE BRAIN

Blue brain is an approach to store and utilize human intelligence and information present in the mind even after human demise.

Business analysis, attending conferences, reporting, etc. are very significant functions that an intelligent machine can do consistently.

 It can be used as an interface between human and animal minds. The BBP has become successful in rat and some other animals which is a sign of success.

 It a good remedy towards human disability like a deaf can get the information via direct nerve stimulation.

A Novel Tool for Drug Discovery for Brain Disorders . A Foundation for Molecular Modeling of Brain Functions.

DISADVANTAGES OF BLUE BRAIN

We become dependent upon the computers.

Others may use technical knowledge against us.

Computer viruses will pose an increasingly critical threat.

A very costly procedure of regaining the memory back.

FUTURE PERSPECTIVE

It is essential to guide reductionist research into the deeper facets of brain structure and function.

Detailed models will probably become the final form of databases that are used to organize all knowledge of the brain and allow hypothesis testing, rapid diagnoses of brain malfunction, as well as development of treatments for neurological disorders.

It will allow paths for potential brain transplant which is unachieved yet.

CONCLUSION

In conclusion, we will be able to transfer ourselves into computers at some point.

Blue Brain will allow us to challenge the foundations of our understanding of intelligence and generate new theories of consciousness.

A model of the entire brain at the cellular level will probably take the next decade.

Reference

www.google.com www.wikipedia.com www.studymania.org www.bluebrainproject/epfl.ch www.research.ibm.com/bluegene

Thank you