Lifeboat Foundation

Researchers from Japan and the Michigan Technological University have succeeded in building a molecular computer that, more than any previous project of its kind, can replicate the inner mechanisms of the human brain, repairing itself and mimicking the massive parallelism that allows our brains to process information like no silicon-based computer can.

A relatively new technology, molecular electronics is an interdisciplinary pursuit that may very well prove the long-term solution to validate Moore’s law well into the next century. A molecular computer is made of organic molecules instead of silicon. Chips built this way are not only potentially much smaller but also, because of the way they can be networked, able to do things that no other traditional computer, regardless of its speed, can do.

“Modern computers are quite fast, capable of executing trillions of instructions a second, but they can’t match the intelligent performance of our brain,” Michigan Tech physicist Ranjit Pati commented. “Our neurons only fire about a thousand times per second. But I can see you, recognize you, talk with you, and hear someone walking by in the hallway almost instantaneously, a Herculean task for even the fastest computer.”

Computational properties of neuronal networks have been applied to computing systems using simplified models comprising repeated connected nodes. Here the authors create layered assemblies of genetically encoded devices that perform non-binary logic computation and signal processing using combinatorial promoters and feedback regulation.

Electrophysical processes are used to create third-order nanoscale circuit elements, and these are used to realize a transistorless network that can perform Boolean operations and find solutions to a computationally hard graph-partitioning problem.

Molecular materials for computing progress intensively but the performance and reliability still lag behind. Here the authors assess the current state of computing with molecular-based materials and describe two issues as the basis of a new computing technology: continued exploration of molecular electronic properties and process development for on-chip integration.

Our ability to understand the mind and its relation to the body is highly dependent on the way we define consciousness and the lens through which we study it. We argue that looking at conscious experience from an information-theory perspective can help obtain a unified and parsimonious account of the mind. Today’s dominant models consider consciousness to be a specialized function of the brain characterized by a discrete neural event. Against this background, we consider subjective experience through information theory, presenting consciousness as the propagation of information from the past to the future. We examine through this perspective major characteristics of consciousness. We demonstrate that without any additional assumptions, temporal continuity in perception can explain the emergence of volition, subjectivity, higher order thoughts, and body boundaries. Finally, we discuss the broader implications for the mind-body question and the appeal of embodied cognition.

Keywords: body boundaries; consciousness; information theory; neural correlates of consciousness (NCC); perception; self; volition.

Copyright © 2022 Revach and Salti.

The Allen Institute for Immunology has released its first Human Immune Health Atlas, a comprehensive single-cell reference dataset that offers unprecedented insight into the landscape of healthy human immune cells from childhood through adulthood.

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Continue reading “Hyzon’s Fuel Cell Trucks Challenge The Diesel Norm” »

In the early days the internet was a free, egalitarian space for anyone to surf. Now, commercial interests rule – but users do still have some control.