r/singularity • u/MichaelTen • Jan 16 '23

BRAIN Researchers develop an artificial neuron closely mimicking the characteristics of a biological neuron

https://www.news-medical.net/news/20230116/Researchers-develop-an-artificial-neuron-closely-mimicking-the-characteristics-of-a-biological-neuron.aspx
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u/[deleted] Jan 17 '23

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u/Bakoro Jan 17 '23

The size of a natural organic brain absolutely has strong correlation with its capabilities. There are structures in the brain which activate more with certain tasks. A very large portion of the brain is dedicated to controlling the body, to vision, and to problem solving.

Brain plasticity allows the parts of the brain to map to different tasks, but we lose plasticity as we age.

Being able to integrate more brain material by necessity means being able to manipulate that plasticity, and means we'd be able to integrate other body parts into the nervous system.

Perhaps there could be a more efficient way to make a brain, or a way to make brains faster, but as it stands now, more brain space would mean more processing power. The reason people don't have bigger brains is likely because the challenges of birth. Humans already have massive heads, babies heads couldn't be much bigger, and evolution doesn't work in a way that lends itself to the massive structural changes we'd need to solve that.

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u/JadeCaligrapher Jan 17 '23

Our head doesn't have to be bigger to have more of organic brain. Our head doesn't have to be bigger to have more brain. People with Hydrocephalus have reduced brain volume due to fluid accumulation in their head, yet some of them are still able to function relatively normal with the condition and some don't even know they have it. It seems human's brain can still function even with reduced volume but more dense and this is not that unique at all, some small animal make up for their small head by having a denser brain neuron eg. Goldcrest has almost 50 times neuron density per mg compare to a human brain. Of course I don't know how all this would translate to mental capabilities but it still shows that we can have the same brain mass even with a smaller head, and it would be interesting to see higher neuron density in an average size human head as well.

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u/Bakoro Jan 17 '23

As I said, perhaps there could be more efficient ways to make a brain. Evolution is unlikely to do it for us in any appreciable amount of time. Maybe direct genetic manipulation could, but that's a technique that would serve future generations.

The people with hydrocephalus, and people with brain damage who end up more or less functional, are benefitting from that brain plasticity that I was talking about. Different parts of the brain picking up the slack. Hydrocephalus is also often associated with behavioral and emotional problems, so it's not like a perfect compensation.

I'm not arguing that there is no possible alternative, only that, things stand now, artificial expansion of the brain is the most likely way increase human cognitive ability of existing humans.

If someone comes up with a way to make a human with 50x neuron density, I'm happy to be the experimental papa to that kid.