IBM wins Darpa cognitive-computing contract
Published: 20 Nov 2008 17:49 GMT
IBM and five university partners have been awarded a Darpa contract to work on a cognitive-computing project that will, essentially, attempt to simulate the brain's power and efficiency.
According to Dharmendra Modha, the manager of IBM's cognitive-computing initiative, the idea is for him and his team to try to re-create the brain's perception, cognitive, sensation, interaction and action abilities, while also simulating its efficient size and low-power consumption.
"The mind has an uncanny ability to integrate information from a variety of sensors, such as sight, hearing, touch [and] smell, and can create categories of time, space and interrelationships effortlessly," said Modha. "There are no computers that can even remotely approach the capabilities of the mind. The mind arises from the wetware of the brain."
But he and his team feel the time has arrived for computer scientists to at least begin to approach the brain's abilities. That's because, he said, of the convergence of three things.
ZDNet.co.uk blogs
AT&T: Dell to release smartphone
Dell is set to launch a smartphone, AT&T chief executive Ralph de la Vega has revealed at Mobile World Congress...
First, neuroscience has made incredible strides forward. Second, supercomputing technology has reached the ability to create massive simulations in real time. And third, nanotechnology has made it possible to imagine creating simulated synapses, the very element of the brain that enables it to work at speeds and efficiencies computer scientists have so far only dreamed of.
"Together, these three trends allow us to uncover the function, computation function of the brain," he said, "while rivalling its remarkably low-power consumption and its small size".
The IBM project, just the first phase in Darpa's long-term contract, is expected to last nine months.
Already, Modha said, scientists have managed to create computing tools that have rivalled the abilities of a rat's brain.
On the question of whether it is a good thing for science to try to re-create the brain's power, Modha said: "The questions are so technically challenging and it is so engaging at this point to begin to put the puzzle together, and the whole part is still not completely visible...I think it is premature to worry about 'what if'."
Credit: IBM wins Darpa cognitive-computing contract from CNET News
Did you find this article useful?
2 out of 2 people found this useful
Digg
Slashdot
Del.ici.ous
Stumble
Reddit
