• Gizmodo
  • bestmodo
  • lifehacker
  • kotaku
  • Profile logout login

#at

Gizmodo

Share Cancel
   
Upload an image | Add an image URL
×

logging in
  • FAQ. Include # before tag:
  • #tips,
  • #whitenoise,
  • #dealzmodo,
  • #broken,
  • etc.

New York, 7:08 AM
Fri Dec 18
69 posts in the last 24 hours

FR | IT | DE | SP | JP | AU | BR

Gizmodo Team

Tip your editors:

Editorial Director:
Brian Lam | | Twitter

Editor:
Jason Chen
| AIM | Twitter

Features Editor:
Wilson Rothman
| Twitter

Senior Contributing Editors:
Jesus Diaz
| AIM | Twitter
Mark Wilson, Reviews
| AIM | Twitter

Contributing Editors:
Matt Buchanan
| AIM | Twitter
Adam Frucci
| Twitter
Sean Fallon
| Twitter
Jack Loftus
| Twitter
John Herrman
| Twitter
Dan Nosowitz

Chris Mascari

Kat Hannaford
| Twitter
Rosa Golijan
| Twitter
Chris Jacob

Columnist:
Brendan I. Koerner

Interns:
Don Nguyen

Kyle VanHemert

Heroes and Friends

Comment Account Questions:

SUBSCRIBE TO Gizmodo RSS

New: Breaking news and daily top stories via email
9515 Subscribers
Gizmodo
  • posts about #at more →

    It Takes 147,456 PowerPC Processors To Out-Think a Single Stupid Cat Brain

    Rumor: "New Type of Camera" From Kodak in January?

    The Glorious, Hulking History of 3D Graphics
  • Your version of Internet Explorer is not supported. Please upgrade to the most recent version in order to view comments.
    Dsmvwl  Admin  Promote to frontpage Approve user Ban user ×
    Image of Purple Dave Purple Dave
    11/19/09

    In reply to It Takes 147,456 PowerPC Processors To Out-Think a Single Stupid Cat Brain
    We think dogs are smart because we can teach them to perform tricks to satisfy our whims. Cats think the same thing about people.

    Also, true story: I recently witnessed a dog, who freaks out at everything that walks past her house, being let out the front door for a quick run around the neighborhood. She immediately turned left and ran a couple houses away to relieve herself. Not thirty feet away in the other direction there was a thoroughly terrified rabbit that was obviously very glad that the dog went the other way. Now, that's not why I'm writing about this event. No, it's because when the dog came _back_, she _still_ failed to notice the rabbit, and ran straight back to the front door. Dogs are dumb.
     Reply
    Purple Dave was starred Purple Dave was unstarred
    Image of Bokusatsu_Tenshi Bokusatsu_Tenshi
    11/18/09

    In reply to It Takes 147,456 PowerPC Processors To Out-Think a Single Stupid Cat Brain

    I can has portable vershun?
     Reply
    Bokusatsu_Tenshi was starred Bokusatsu_Tenshi was unstarred
    Image of Nathan Obbards Nathan Obbards
    11/18/09

    In reply to It Takes 147,456 PowerPC Processors To Out-Think a Single Stupid Cat Brain
    This brings a whole new way of looking at Schrödinger's cat paradox. If we replicate the cat's brain and way of thinking, is it a cat or not? What dictates life and what dictates death?
     Reply
    Nathan Obbards was starred Nathan Obbards was unstarred
    Image of zlionsfan zlionsfan
    11/18/09

    @Nathan Obbards: I think it probably just means you couldn't use cybercat in the experiment; either that or instead of using acid or gunpowder, the system would have to cut power to cybercat or otherwise disable it to generate multiple states.
     Reply
    zlionsfan was starred zlionsfan was unstarred
    Image of johnnylineup johnnylineup
    11/18/09

    @zlionsfan: I think that acid is definitely needed to fully understand the cat paradox
     Reply
    Nathan Obbards promoted this comment johnnylineup was starred johnnylineup was unstarred
    Image of zlionsfan zlionsfan
    11/18/09

    @johnnylineup: lol ... I think on acid you could probably see a mixture of both states.
     Reply
    Nathan Obbards promoted this comment zlionsfan was starred zlionsfan was unstarred
    Image of anonymousryan anonymousryan
    11/18/09

    @Nathan Obbards: I don't think you understands Schrödinger's cat paradox. It has to do with quantum mechanics. If I recall correctly, it has to do with some physicists believing that energy/matter exists in two states simultaneously, as a wave and a particle, until it is observed at which point it becomes one or the other. The paradox for Schrödinger is that if you apply this system to a cat in a box with 50% chance of being alive and 50% chance of being dead then the cat is both alive and dead until you look in the box at which point it is one or the other. The cat is just a means, it could as easily be a light bulb or anything with multiple states like water.
     Reply
    Nathan Obbards promoted this comment anonymousryan was starred anonymousryan was unstarred
    Image of Nathan Obbards Nathan Obbards
    11/18/09

    @anonymousryan: Twas a mere joke. I guess it whooshed.
     Reply
    Nathan Obbards was starred Nathan Obbards was unstarred
    Image of anonymousryan anonymousryan
    11/18/09

    @Nathan Obbards: Sorry, I'm a philosophy nerd and take my thought experiments too seriously.
     Reply
    anonymousryan was starred anonymousryan was unstarred
    Image of bustedchain bustedchain
    11/18/09

    @Nathan Obbards: I think it would simplify the paradox if the cat-in-a-box were Virtual in nature... If you wanted to ensure the state of the cat-in-a-box you'd simply unplug the cord and wait a couple seconds. It would be dead every time.
     Reply
    Nathan Obbards promoted this comment bustedchain was starred bustedchain was unstarred
    Image of Nathan Obbards Nathan Obbards
    11/18/09

    @bustedchain: But does the cat really die? If you plug it back in, the cat may be alive still/again.
     Reply
    Nathan Obbards was starred Nathan Obbards was unstarred
    Image of bustedchain bustedchain
    11/18/09

    @Nathan Obbards: Edit: You bring up a very good question, but I still think the virtual cat would not be the same one that lost power.

    Chances are a cat would come back alive if the system could handle a hard powerdown like that, but it would not be the same virtual cat that was there before because this new cat would have, at the very least, experienced a unique bootup that it had not experienced before, so arguably it is a different virtual cat that exists. Beyond that, chances are the cat lost everything it had in ram at the time of the power loss unless it was using that new-fangled ram that retains its last state. Of course if the developers include that technology they may have foiled my theory here.
     Reply
    Edited by bustedchain at 11/18/09 4:02 PM bustedchain was starred bustedchain was unstarred
    Image of Hiphopopotamus Hiphopopotamus
    11/18/09

    In reply to It Takes 147,456 PowerPC Processors To Out-Think a Single Stupid Cat Brain
    I dunno about this... Tamagotchi seems to have nailed it with only 1/147456th of that.
     Reply
    Hiphopopotamus was starred Hiphopopotamus was unstarred
    Image of MarcusMaximus MarcusMaximus
    11/18/09

    In reply to It Takes 147,456 PowerPC Processors To Out-Think a Single Stupid Cat Brain

    "This is not just possible, it's inevitable,"

    So, does Modha look like this?
     Reply
    nutbastard promoted this comment MarcusMaximus was starred MarcusMaximus was unstarred
    Image of Killjoy Killjoy
    11/18/09

    In reply to It Takes 147,456 PowerPC Processors To Out-Think a Single Stupid Cat Brain
    They'll know it's working properly when the interface loses responsiveness, starts ignoring them, yawns hugely at something invisible in the corner, and wanders away.
     Reply
    nutbastard promoted this comment Killjoy was starred Killjoy was unstarred
    Image of ripfire ripfire
    11/18/09

    In reply to It Takes 147,456 PowerPC Processors To Out-Think a Single Stupid Cat Brain
    So how do you program it? lolcode?
     Reply
    ripfire was starred ripfire was unstarred
    Image of J_Frank_Parnell J_Frank_Parnell
    11/18/09

    @ripfire: I can has bitz?
     Reply
    ripfire promoted this comment J_Frank_Parnell was starred J_Frank_Parnell was unstarred
    Image of ripfire ripfire
    11/18/09

    @J_Frank_Parnell:

    HAI
    CAN HAS STDIO?
    VISIBLE "HAI WORLD!"
    KTHXBYE
     Reply
    ripfire was starred ripfire was unstarred
    Image of Kaiser-Machead Kaiser-Machead
    11/18/09

    In reply to It Takes 147,456 PowerPC Processors To Out-Think a Single Stupid Cat Brain
    If being unfriendly were any kind of mimickry of intelligence, Chihuahuas should look like friggin' geniuses, but they're dumber than a sack of chalupas.

    No doubt God is not going to be happy with mankind coming closer and closer to mimicing animal brains.

    Oh dear. I guess I'll be sending this slices of bread, just like I did the LHC. Gabriel, make it so.

    Mmmmm verry good sir
     Reply
    Edited by Kaiser-Machead at 11/18/09 12:26 PM Kaiser-Machead was starred Kaiser-Machead was unstarred
    Image of MarcusMaximus MarcusMaximus
    11/18/09

    @Kaiser-Machead: When did Gabriel become an old British butler?
     Reply
    Nathan Obbards promoted this comment MarcusMaximus was starred MarcusMaximus was unstarred
    Image of Nathan Obbards Nathan Obbards
    11/18/09

    @MarcusMaximus: The same time Jean Luc Picard became God.
     Reply
    Nathan Obbards was starred Nathan Obbards was unstarred
    Image of brianhatch brianhatch
    11/18/09

    In reply to It Takes 147,456 PowerPC Processors To Out-Think a Single Stupid Cat Brain
    So even if you can successfully simulate the physical elements of the brain, does that mean that you can expect it to behave the same as a real brain? Do we even know enough about how the brain works to build a complete simulation? Does such a simulation imply that we have created a computer that can think on its own?
     Reply
    skierpage promoted this comment brianhatch was starred brianhatch was unstarred
    Image of skierpage skierpage
    11/19/09

    @brianhatch: If you read the original article:
    'The simulation that Modha will unveil today is just a starting point. It lacks the neural patterning that develops as real brains mature. Neuroscientists believe that this complexity can only evolve through "embodied learning"—stumbling around in a physical body, in which every action has instant consequences that are experienced through senses such as touch and sight.'

    So the answers to your questions are deferred until they figure out embodied learning. The article is a little vague on whether their brain can simulate this neural rewiring.

    The 750MB of ACGT... DNA codes stored in a paltry 25,000 genes (that are 90% in common with lesser creatures) obviously cannot specify the 100 trillion connections in our neurons. Yet that music CD's worth of instructions reliably develops a talking thinking human with innate behaviors after 5 years of waddling around in the real world. The next frontier is figuring out how that takes place.
     Reply
    skierpage was starred skierpage was unstarred
    Image of PurpleMonkeyDishwasher: PurpleMonkeyDishwasher:
    11/18/09

    In reply to It Takes 147,456 PowerPC Processors To Out-Think a Single Stupid Cat Brain
    If they figure out quantum computing from the previous post, I'm assuming it will be way before 2019 to get the human brain modeled.
     Reply
    ripfire promoted this comment PurpleMonkeyDishwasher: was starred PurpleMonkeyDishwasher: was unstarred
    Image of ripfire ripfire
    11/18/09

    @PurpleMonkeyDishwasher: Or they could just consult Kwabena Boahen how to do it in less than a kilowatt.

    [gizmodo.com]
     Reply
    ripfire was starred ripfire was unstarred
    Image of RedEyeNinja RedEyeNinja
    11/18/09

    In reply to It Takes 147,456 PowerPC Processors To Out-Think a Single Stupid Cat Brain
    it takes a lot of computing power to lay around and lick yourself all day long.
     Reply
    John Herrman promoted this comment RedEyeNinja was starred RedEyeNinja was unstarred
    Image of zeroprime zeroprime
    11/18/09

    In reply to It Takes 147,456 PowerPC Processors To Out-Think a Single Stupid Cat Brain
    All that space, energy and processing power, for what? So the computer can simulate sleep 22 hours out of the day. I can simulate a cat just fine by powering down my netbook and leaving it a sunny windowsill all day, plus my way is a heck of a lot cheaper.
     Reply
    Nathan Obbards promoted this comment zeroprime was starred zeroprime was unstarred
    Image of OMG! Ponies! OMG! Ponies!
    11/18/09

    In reply to It Takes 147,456 PowerPC Processors To Out-Think a Single Stupid Cat Brain

    We're in ur mainframe, crunchin ur numberz
     Reply
    OMG! Ponies! was starred OMG! Ponies! was unstarred
    Image of Ishbar Ishbar
    11/18/09

    @OMG! Ponies!: First lolcat to make me laugh, ever.
     Reply
    OMG! Ponies! promoted this comment Ishbar was starred Ishbar was unstarred
    Image of RayKinStL RayKinStL
    11/18/09

    @OMG! Ponies!: I lol'ed
     Reply
    OMG! Ponies! promoted this comment RayKinStL was starred RayKinStL was unstarred
    Image of OMG! Ponies! OMG! Ponies!
    11/18/09


    @Ishbar: I can has flowding maff coprosesser? KTHXBAI
     Reply
    OMG! Ponies! was starred OMG! Ponies! was unstarred
    Image of OMG! Ponies! OMG! Ponies!
    11/18/09


    @RayKinStL: I'm bettur then a Mac Quadra an i'm not evun tryin
     Reply
    OMG! Ponies! was starred OMG! Ponies! was unstarred
    Image of Bokusatsu_Tenshi Bokusatsu_Tenshi
    11/18/09

    @OMG! Ponies!: I can has simulated braiz?
     Reply
    Bokusatsu_Tenshi was starred Bokusatsu_Tenshi was unstarred
    Image of Wheema Wheema
    11/18/09

    In reply to It Takes 147,456 PowerPC Processors To Out-Think a Single Stupid Cat Brain
    I really suspect they did a Cat's brain as if they did a Dog's it would be difficult to tell if it was working, just stuck in a cycle of "tell me what to do, tell me what to do" permanently. At least the Cat's would have some variation even if some of the time it would be going "f*ck off, I'm sleeping"
     Reply
    Canoehead promoted this comment Wheema was starred Wheema was unstarred
    Image of Canoehead Canoehead
    11/18/09

    @Wheema: Actually, their respective thought processes have already been decoded:

    [www.lisashea.com]
     Reply
    Canoehead was starred Canoehead was unstarred
    Image of Wheema Wheema
    11/18/09

    @Canoehead: ahh yes PROOF that cats are more intelligent.
    Ta!
     Reply
    Wheema was starred Wheema was unstarred
    Image of PurpleMonkeyDishwasher: PurpleMonkeyDishwasher:
    11/18/09

    In reply to It Takes 147,456 PowerPC Processors To Out-Think a Single Stupid Cat Brain
    So what this has proven is that there is enough computing power to replicate the number of brain neurons and synapses of a cat. What else can it do? I'm assuming it doesn't have the ability to learn or anything? I guess what I'm asking is, what have they accomplished with this. It doesn't sound like they've created an autonomous entity that can learn etc. All they've done is prove that they have a lot of computing power.
     Reply
    skierpage promoted this comment PurpleMonkeyDishwasher: was starred PurpleMonkeyDishwasher: was unstarred
    Image of skierpage skierpage
    11/19/09

    @PurpleMonkeyDishwasher:: RTFA is fundamental!
     Reply
    skierpage was starred skierpage was unstarred
    Earlier discussions Other discussions Show all discussions Show featured discussions only Start a new discussion

Login

Enter your username and password.

Please enter a username.
Please enter your password.
logging in
Login via Facebook | Sign Up | Forgot Password?

Reset Password

Please enter your email address to have your password reset.

Please enter your email address.
Please enter a valid email address.
requesting password reset

Register

Registering will give you a user profile and the ability to add other users as friends. To become a commenter, however, you need to audition.

Want to know more? Consult the Comment FAQ and legal terms.

Please enter a username.
Please enter a password.
Please confirm your password.
Passwords are not identical.
Please enter a valid email address.
registration sent, waiting for reply

Submit Your Comment

You don't need to login to comment. Just enter your email address below.

See how your address will be displayed in the Comment FAQ.

Please enter a valid email address.
Please enter a valid email address.
logging in

Login with your Facebook or Gizmodo account.

Sign up here.



  • Archives
  • About
  • Advertising
  • Legal
  • Help
  • Report a Bug
  • FAQ
Original material is licensed under a Creative Commons License permitting non-commercial sharing with attribution.