The Difficulty of Modelling Artificial Brains

Abstract

By far the most successful version of information technology is exhibited by the brain. Animal and human nervous systems are flexible in dealing with the unexpected. They adapt, learn, evolve and integrate well into social networks, have an innate tendency to organise, are energy-efficient and massively parallel, and above all they act in total autonomy. In all these respects, nervous systems surpass technology, which no doubt should profit from this example. Unfortunately our knowledge of structure and function of the nervous system, though extensive, is far from being sufficient to serve as a direct manual for reconstruction. Nevertheless, our accumulated knowledge gives us boundary conditions that may already now be distinct enough to guide functional re-engineering in promising ways. From experience, the neurosciences will profit in return, for the attempt of a technical emulation is a very exact test to separate the sound ideas of brain function from the faulty ones.