this post was submitted on 08 May 2024
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Here is something close to tge cutting edge. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VSG3_JvnCkU
What they are creating is a connectome. A list of all neurons and their connection.
They are down to 34nm slices.
I said 2nm because the smallest features are 5nm inside the gap between neurons called synapses.
Presumably, there are no features enconding information smaller than that in the brain.
But just the connectome might be enough to replicate a consciousness.
Very interesting! Maybe once we understand the structure, we can recreate what's behind the structure. Not sure if that's a good thing, but it certainly is intriguing.
I don't think we need to understand tge structure. Just create a fidel digital copy and run it according to electrochemical rules we have from physics and I believe a largely intact consciousness will emerge.
But wouldn't understanding the structure assist is rebuilding a mechanical version and, thus, recreating the consciousness into an artificial mechanism (such as a Terminator-esque android)?
It depends what you mean by "understand". If we have an intact digital connectome and we execute its circuitry in the right kind of simulator. A consciousness would ptobably emerge out of it. But I wouldn't call this "understanding". Trillion neurons and other structures are so complex and interwined, it strains the very idea of "understanding" how it works.
At least not without major aids to break it down into smaller easier to understand chunks.
That's fair. I do make a distinction between understanding how something works and why something works. Making it work the way you describe, to me at least, is understanding enough of how it works to be able to reproduce it, even if we don't yet understand why it works. Until we understand this science, it's magic.