IBM to produce chips modeled around the human brain

IBM, a leading company in the computer industry, has announced that they, along with four universities and the Defence Advanced Research Projects Agency, have created a basic design of an experimental computer chip that emulates the way the brain processes information.

I doubt we will be seeing some Terminators anytime soon, although IBM’s “cognitive computing” could well one day simulate and emulate the brain’s ability to sense, perceive, interact and recognize, which is basically what humans can do better than machine.

We know that computers are better than human when it comes to playing Jeopardy, but as far as human qualities go, Watson isn’t the best.

“This is the seed for a new generation of computers, using a combination of supercomputing, neuroscience, and nanotechnology,” Dharmendra Modha, the principal investigator of the project, said in an interview with VentureBeat. ”The computers we have today are more like calculators. We want to make something like the brain. It is a sharp departure from the past.”

Indeed, such a creation could have so much use, although even if Hollywood usually makes better movies than documentaries, we’ve all seen at least once what a thinking computer can do, so I hope they have a fail safe if they plan on making a Skynet…

Source and more information