

Darpa’s Simulated Cat Brain Project a ‘Scam’: Top Scientist - ilitirit
http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2009/11/darpas-simulated-cat-brain-project-a-scam-top-neuroscientist/

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hvs
If this is true that it is simply an Artificial Neural Network, then it really
is a scam. I was under the assumption that it was part of the IBM Blue Brain
project, but it is obviously not. For some real ground-breaking research, take
a look at Blue Brain: <http://bluebrain.epfl.ch/>

~~~
a-priori
(Disclaimer: I work for the Blue Brain Project. What I say is my own opinion.)

It's not just an ANN like you may have learned in school. They refer to their
model as "single-compartment phenomenological spiking neurons, learning
synapses with spike-timing dependent plasticity, and axonal delays" in their
_The cat is out of the bag_ article.

In simpler language, it's a spike-based model (when someone says "artificial
neural network" they usually mean a rate-based model) where they adjust
synaptic weights based on the correlations of spikes (Google: spike-timing
dependent plasticity), and add a transmission delay before a spike arrives at
the post-synaptic cell.

It sounds very much like the model described in _Hebbian learning and spiking
neurons_ (Gerstner et al., 1999).

This is a more sophisticated model than most neural network models, but it's
still very much abstracted from biology. For starters, it doesn't sound like
they model a diversity of neuron structures, nor even ion channels or
dendrites.

This is where this "Blue Matter" project differs from the Blue Brain Project,
which is attempting to model the biology is as fine detail as the science (and
the computing hardware!) allows.

EDIT (forgot to get to the point):

Is it a scam? That's open to interpretation, but I agree with Dr. Markram that
they are making fantastic claims and glossing over the fact that they are
_not_ modelling anything resembling a cat's brain except in neuron count.

~~~
bioweek
You work for the Blue Brain project? That's amazing. Do you have a blog or
anything where I can find out more? Can you tell us more about what it's like?
I think it's one of the most fascinating projects going on right now.

~~~
a-priori
I'm just finishing up an internship with the project, and I don't keep a blog.
Sorry :)

That said, it's a very cool project with a great group of smart people. I'm
very optimistic about its future.

~~~
BlakeEM
I follow AI quite a lot and I'm curious if there is much talk about the future
of memristor and brain emulation within the project seeing as a hardware
variable analog would seem the ideal medium for such things. I know when this
technology came out AI was what first came to mind.

Working for the Blue Brain Project would be my dream job as a
programmer/engineer. I'm curious how you came about your internship? I'm
desperately looking for a challenge and this type is research would definably
be my first choice.

~~~
bioweek
That would be my dream job too. One obstacle is that it's in some foreign
country, Switzerland I think?

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aristus
"I think the proper response here is: mee-yow!"

No, the proper journalistic response is to _investigate the facts_ and find
out what is really going on.

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socratees
This is awkward. I hope someone investigates this thoroughly.

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bradfordw
Looks like the source code to this already leaked:

1 PRINT "Meow"

2 GOTO 1

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gvb
Cats are easy, Darpa should aspire to simulate a dog's brain.

[http://images.google.com/images?start=0&q=far+side+what+...](http://images.google.com/images?start=0&q=far+side+what+cats+hear&btnG=Search+images)

Edit: OK, cheap humor is not rewarded on HN. Here's one for the downvoters:
<http://images.google.com/images?q=beyond+the+far+side>

