IBM starts work on computer to rival the human brain

London Times ^ | November 19, 2002 | Mark Henderson

[Asmodeus]

THE first supercomputers to approach and even surpass the processing power of the human brain are to be built by IBM, under a £184 million contract announced by the US Government yesterday.

ASCI Purple and Blue Gene/L will be the fastest and most powerful machines built, with a combined capacity equal to the 500 best of today’s computers.

ASCI Purple, which will be built first and used to simulate nuclear tests, will be able to complete 100 thousand billion calculations per second — a speed known as 100 teraflops that some scientists say is comparable to the human brain.

Blue Gene/L, which has a broader range of functions and will be used by US Department of Energy’s three main laboratories, will be more powerful still, with a maximum speed of 360 teraflops.

The computers, which will be built by 2004, will lack the consciousness, intellect and capacity for thought of a brain, but will be equivalent in calculating speed and power. They have memories of at least two petabytes — equal to a billion books. Mike Nelson, IBM’s director of internet technology and strategy, said: “It is hard to quantify the power of a brain, but when you look at the raw processing power of these machines, you’re looking at figures in the same ballpark.”

The computers will not have artificial intelligence, and scientists remain many years away from building one that matches even the abilities of a simple mouse brain.

ASCI Purple will be built using 12,544 IBM Power5 microprocessors, the same chips that are used in Apple PCs and Nintendo games systems. It will have autonomic software, allowing it to monitor itself for hardware breakdowns or lack of capacity. Blue Gene/L will be able to map stars in three dimensions, analyse earthquakes, and help in oil exploration.

[Dog Gone]

The computers will not have artificial intelligence, and scientists remain many years away from building one that matches even the abilities of a simple mouse brain.

I dunno. I'd put my Dell up against Barbra Streisand right now.

[yonif]

awsome, in the technological sense.

[goodnesswins]

ROFL....I thought similar thoughts....i.e. WHOSE brain?

[SamAdams76]

In many ways, computers have already far exceeded the human brain. For example, my computer calculated my mortgage amortization schedule in about a thousandth of a second. Try doing that with a pen and paper!

[yonif]

"the computers, which will be built by 2004, will lack the consciousness, intellect and capacity for thought of a brain"

Sounds like the Democratic Presidential Candidates of 2004 or it also sounds like a democratic propaganda drive element where one of their candidates will claim to have invented the supercomputer in the first place, *wink* *wink*

[SamAdams76]

I dunno. I'd put my Dell up against Barbra Streisand right now.

You'd have to remove the motherboard to make it a fair fight.

[Ethan Clive Osgoode]

scientists remain many years away from building one that matches even the abilities of a simple mouse brain.

And yet the headline says it will rival the human brain.

[WaveThatFlag]

I understand now, Dr. Chandra. Thank you for telling me the truth.

[Blood of Tyrants]

I'd put my watch up aginst Streisand.

[Blood of Tyrants]

Can you say "Skynet"?

[yonif]

They must be talking about the liberal brain

[BuddhaBoy]

Yeah, but can it play Doom III?

[Illbay]

I have a laptop that rivals the brains of a good many people that I meet each day.

[governsleastgovernsbest]

I'd put my Gameboy up against her!

[AmericaUnited]

I'd put my Intel 4004 up against BS.

[OrioleFan]

I'd put my Dell up against Barbra Streisand right now.

No fair! Her brain is only running ar 4.77 MHz, she only has 4K of memory, and her disks are floppy.

[B-Chan]

Interesting project, misleading title. The author here implies that this computer will somehow "rival" the human brain in terms of processing speed. The fact is that the human brain has never been demonstrated to have a processing speed, or to perform "processing" (in the sense of an integrated circuit) at all. Since no one has demonstrated that the human brain is a computer, saying that a computer "rivals" the brain is comparing apples and oranges.

Thanks for posting this, though. The materialist/empiricist religion wheezes on, unaware that its last days are approaching. Watching them try to build a mechanical mind without the slightest idea of what Mind actually is ought to be great fun.

[Ethan Clive Osgoode]

Thanks for posting this, though.

It's a good illustration of how misleading and useless "science reporting" is. We have "computer to rival the human brain" and scientists remain many years away from building one that matches a mouse brain in the same article. Doesn't anyone edit the London Times?

[webber]

I don't know why scientists waste precious time inventing such things. Since "evilution" was able to make "man" in a few billion years, there must be millions of these kinds of computors already in existence somewhere in the world. All we have to do is look for them. Man can't be the only intelligent thing on Earth. I'm sure there is a race of birds, reptiles, rocks, amphibians, flowers, vegetables, fruits, and fish that are as intelligent as us. We just haven't found them yet. Can man be so arrogant as think that we are the only intelligent, reasoning creature on the face of the planet? They are limiting evolution's >"creativity"....don'tcha think?