Supporting the complex requirements of a Supporting the complex requirements of a long-term project for whole brain emulationlong-term project for whole brain emulation

Dr. Randal A. KoeneDr. Randal A. KoeneCarboncopies.orgCarboncopies.org

MTA2014

OVERVIEW

Brief Basics + Rationale for WBE

Success of Long-Term Project with Complex Requirements

Proposed Method & Example from Experience

A Piece-Wise, Sustainable Path to WBE

BASICS: TERMINOLOGY

http://koene.carboncopies.org

Objective: SIMSubstrate-Independent Mind

Feasible method: WBEWhole Brain Emulation

Bio to WBE transfer:“mind uploading”

BASICS: PURPOSE

In Search of Everything

Personal limitations

To Understand Everything

To Create Anything

Enhance & Expand Capabilities: Need ACCESS

Brain Interfaces & ultimately SIM give maximum access & maximum flexibility

BASICS: ADAPTABILITY FOR OUR SPECIES

Suitable for this environment, this little niche in time and space

Bigger picture perspective: Many challenges we are not at all suited for

Changes are coming, we may even be causing them!

Species Survival & Species Thriving require excellence in adaptabilityResponsibility to prepare our species while we can

BASICS: REVERSE ENGINEERING A MIND

Small Brain Prostheses show it IS POSSIBLE: Cochlea, Retina & HIPPOCAMPUS

Hippocampus: Episodic Memory

Biomimetic chip replaces function

Works in rats (many experiments), works in monkeys

3 years to human trials!

Berger et al, USC

BASICS: SYSTEM IDENTIFICATION

Unknown Sysem (bio / chip) = black box with I/O

Know your goal, discover relevant signals(chip example: 1s & 0s)

Berger hippocampus: assume “spike” times are relevant: evidence in sensory, motor & synaptic change

Learn transfer function for input spike patterns to output spike patterns

NOT the same as a 'simulation'that abstracts function

BASICS: WBE IS MANY CONNECTED PROSTHESES

Whole Brain roadmap: Break black box with 100B neurons into many connected sub-systems as feasible or smaller than Berger's

Connections tell us how sub-systems can interact

Characterize function within each sub-system

Emulate dynamic function representations

Test & Iteratively improve

Structure: ConnectomeProof-of-concept 2012

Function: each neuron?Current Aim!

Emulation: modelplatform

Application &Validation

MISSION: LONG TERM & MANY REQUIREMENTS

Tech. requirements to iterate towards on 4 pillars

Actual R&D activitiy based on short-term interests

Trends may not lead to goals without a special effort

What may happen if other trends dominate, e.g. AI?

MISSION: CARBONCOPIES.ORG

Maintain a roadmap:Know goals in terms of requirements+ actual activity / trends

Top-Down needsBottom-Up feasibility

Encourage meeting requirements and filling gaps by emphasizing / starting specific activities

Big-picture vigilance: apply where most needed

METHOD: EXAMPLE, 2013 FOCUS

High-resolution functional data acquisition 'every neuron'

Boyden (MIT) to Silicon Valley 2012: Molecular Ticker Tape & Brain Activity Map (BAM)

Carmena (UC Berkley) interestin WBE, connect with Boyden: joined BAM, ultrasound + wireless probe at micron scales

PoBAM group: 'every neuron at 1ms' – BRAIN Initiative

METHOD: EXAMPLE, PROTOTYPES EMERGING

'Neural Dust', 126um – 20um, 5um tail, ultrasound power & communication

Animal trials in June 2014!

MIT/Harvard: similar, with infrared 'RFID-like' system

Kording: bio-vector 'pulled' nanowire array

Cross-disciplinary 'hybrid' solutions toward a BrainNet

METHOD: EXAMPLE, BMI STRATEGY

Long-term operational interfaces to very large number of neurons without harm to the brain

Hi-Res BMI: In-Brain-LoopUse data otherwise inaccessible (sort memory)Deliver data otherwise impossible to generate (parameter fitting, super object recognition, etc.)

Needs to understand brain circuit protocol (see Berger)

SUSTAINABLE: PIECE-WISE TO WBE

Interfaces – Prostheses – WBE more feasible than 'clean-room' path

Pieces, e.g. retina, hippocampus & small whole brains (drosophila 2018?)

Sustainably to WBE – if a body attends to big-picture, iteratively deciding nudges

SUSTAINABLE: INCENTIVES FOR 'ARCHITECTING'

Architecting: e.g. PoBAM & Carboncopies.org

Personal experience of fragile support for cross-disciplinary big-picture(shared problem...)

Grant funding encourages specialized silosInvestment encourages short-term focus

Long-term success probability linked to robustness

Effort along multiple possible solutions+Sharing for hybrid solutions

SUSTAINABLE: ROBUST MISSION DESIGN

No single points of failure:

● Technology● Labs & People● Resources for the work

Technology & Labs & People well structured

Frailty of resources continues to hamper predictable architecting (like carboncopies.org)

Robustness: A 2014 goal.

SUMMARIZING

SIM: Improve ourselves while we improve our machines

Trends & exponential curves don't automatically lead to goals

WBE monitored and nurtured: WBE is now lab-acceptedConnectome proof-of-conceptPoBAM – functional access5 years to fruitfly WBE project?

Robustness: Structural improvements needed!

WBE Coffee Table Book