Posted on 08/07/2014 11:40:20 AM PDT by Citizen Zed
“In 2011, we had a chip with one core,” Modha told me. “We have now scaled that to 4096 cores, while shrinking each core 15x by area and 100x by power.”
Each core of the chip is modeled on a simplified version of the brain’s neural architecture. The core contains 256 “neurons” (processors), 256 “axons” (memory) and 64,000 “synapses” (communications between neurons and axons). This structure is a radical departure from the von Neumann architecture that’s the basis of virtually every computer today (including the one you’re reading this on.)
It’s important to note, though, that the SynAPSE system won’t replace the computers of today – rather, they’re intended to supplement them. Modha likened them to co-processors used in high performance computers to help them crunch data faster. Or, in a more poetic turn as he continued talking to me, he called SynAPSE a “right-brained” computer compared to the “left-brained” architecture used in computers today.
“Current von Neumann machines are fast, symbolic, number-crunchers,” he said. “SynAPSE is slow, multi-sensory, and better at recognizing sensor data in real-time.”
(Excerpt) Read more at forbes.com ...
didn’t they have a Star-Trek on this once? Didn’t turn out so well in the end.
Where do you think nobama came from?
“Multitronic units one through four were... not entirely successful.”
SPOCK: Doctor Daystrom, you impressed human engrams on the M-5 circuits.
CHEKOV: Coming to new course, sir. Bearing on the Potemkin.
SULU: Phasers firing. A hit.
KIRK: Whose engrams?
DAYSTROM: Why, mine, of course.
MCCOY: Of course.
"Full phasers?! What the DEVIL is Kirk doing?!!"
Too much bling, Bob.
Poor Bob, he was such a one-dimensional throwaway character. I've always thought that Wesley should've been given one simple line to show that he wasn't an idiot:
"Jim! If the M-5 unit is out of control, you'll have to disable it quickly or we'll be forced to destroy the Enterprise!"
Hopefully there was such a line, lost to the cutting-room floor.
Apparently, in Star Fleet, when you became a Commodore, they cut out half of your brain. At least during the 2nd season. Seriously.
Wesley: A one dimensional character, as you say.
Stocker: “The man’s a chair-bound paper-pusher.”
Decker: just plain nuts.
There was an episode where a tyranny turned out to be run by a thinking computer
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