Neuromorphic computing: The machine of a new soul; Computers will help people to understand brains better. And understanding brains will help people to build better computers
August 2, 2013 Leave a comment
Neuromorphic computing: The machine of a new soul; Computers will help people to understand brains better. And understanding brains will help people to build better computers
Aug 3rd 2013 |From the print edition
ANALOGIES change. Once, it was fashionable to describe the brain as being like the hydraulic systems employed to create pleasing fountains for 17th-century aristocrats’ gardens. As technology moved on, first the telegraph network and then the telephone exchange became the metaphor of choice. Now it is the turn of the computer. But though the brain-as-computer is, indeed, only a metaphor, one group of scientists would like to stand that metaphor on its head. Instead of thinking of brains as being like computers, they wish to make computers more like brains. This way, they believe, humanity will end up not only with a better understanding of how the brain works, but also with better, smarter computers. Read more of this post