[aldo_14]

Rat Brain flies jet

[pyro-manic]

Oooh. Groovy. And yet very, very scary. I'll say two words:

Skynet

Matrix

This technology paves the way for that kind of thing. It's very cool, but could be exceptionally dangerous.

[Styxx]

Posted a few weeks ago...

[Clave]

Positronic Brain type thing?  The First Law of Robotics would have to be implemented...

[Sandwich]

Crikey just about sums it up. Wow.

[aldo_14]

Originally posted by Styxx
Posted a few weeks ago...

Really?  I knew it was a wee bit old, but didn't think it had been posted 'ere.  Oh well......

Originally posted by Clave
Positronic Brain type thing?  The First Law of Robotics would have to be implemented...

Wetware, really.

[kasperl]

This seems odd to be funded in the States. I'm not critisizing, to me, this research seems quite usefull and important, but it just suprises me.

[pyro-manic]

Well, they can use it to fly missiles, can't they? They'll pour money into it like nobody's business...

[aldo_14]

Just wait for the next generation of Predator drone spyplanes.... won't need expensive computers or comms control software, just a bunch of rat brain cells.

[Flipside]

Last I'd heard they'd made the network, but I wasn't aware they'd taught it to fly a jet fighter!

It'll probably see military use before civilian, but that's not uncommon with most major inventions in hoistory.

Hmmmm... not quite robotics yet, there is a Brain, as such, but no Mind, no awareness of it's own existence. I think as long as we stay in that bracket, this is neuro-electronics, i.e. making something designed by nature work along human rules.

Considering natures usual opinion of human rules, that in itself is quite an achievement

[Janos]

My Clan will own all you filthy Inner Sphere bastards.

[aldo_14]

Originally posted by Flipside
Last I'd heard they'd made the network, but I wasn't aware they'd taught it to fly a jet fighter!

It'll probably see military use before civilian, but that's not uncommon with most major inventions in hoistory.

Hmmmm... not quite robotics yet, there is a Brain, as such, but no Mind, no awareness of it's own existence. I think as long as we stay in that bracket, this is neuro-electronics, i.e. making something designed by nature work along human rules.

Considering natures usual opinion of human rules, that in itself is quite an achievement

It's basically a properly tuned perceptron network.

[Flipside]

I suppose from a certain point of view this is worrying. The breakthrough itself is pretty incredible, but the applications cause me problems.

Both the Vietnam and probably the Iraq war will end because of unacceptable losses of American lives. In many cases, it was just as well, after all, China was getting more and more short tempered with America's 'War on Communism' and that may veryt well have caused a big mess.

What happens if you take the factor of 'human lives' away from an army? It suddenly loses any impetus to stop fighting.

I think at mankinds current level of childishness and tantrum throwing, that would be a bad thing in the long run.

[kasperl]

That too.

And the whole "it isn't self-aware yet" line is icky. How do scientists measuer self-awareness? I don't mind if someone grows a heart, or a limb, or an eye, but a brain is a whole new ethical ballpark. Especially if you don't have very strict guidelines. And wether we're talking about a rat, a chimp or a human brain, if you are experimenting with creating brains that are self-aware, and/or feel pain, there is something that bugs me.

Stem Cell research is OK to me, since the cell line cannot be self aware. Same goes for most tissue engineering bits. But brain cells might need some extra ethical debates.

[aldo_14]

I think the first thing you have to do is ignore the origin of this; i.e. forget it's biological.  Think of the machine alone, and what that machine can do... is an artificial intelligence any different if its basis is organic and not mechanical?

[Flipside]

Well, even now the scientific community is still not sure whether 'Mind' is a combination of reactions within the brain itself, or whether it is something altogether seperate, as Descartes suggested.

I doubt 15,000 rat cells are going to make a bid for world dominance, but if they made one with 15 million brain cells, I'd start to be concerned.

[diamondgeezer]

If Dubya can do it, 15'000 rat brain cells can

[Flipside]

Well, 15,000 rat cells can't suddenly vanish when it's time to fly the plane

[aldo_14]

Whereas 1,500,000 would be out of there in a flash.....

[Grug]

Wow, certainly is a step towards a new form of technology.
But I always assumed we'd eventually have biological computers, because the current ones are already reaching their limits.

I do not believe creating a computer from brain cells requires an ethical debate. All they do is slow technology, for the wrong reasons. Just use common sense and it should be fine.
It could be a step to true AI however, which would be interesting.
More than likely, just imagine becoming truely immortal. Once your body dies, your brain is restored with similar technology. You now gian full use of your brain, and are forever forever preserved by artificial methods.

Total Annhiliation anybody...? Dune - Butlerian Jihad?

The scary part I find is the comment that it repairs itself if a neuron dies, it just grows a new one.
Surely that could lead to the growth of new cells etc. Your computer could literally age, and grow wiser. Spooky.