making of a computer that thinks like mammalian brain

An international team of researchers led by Indian scientist Dharmendra Modha, is planning to develop a computer that can learn from its own experience.

Dharmendra Modha of IBM plans to develop a computer that operates like a mammalian brain.

Scientists from University of Wisconsin-Madison, Columbia University and IBM will work on the "software" for the thinking computer, while nanotechnology and supercomputing experts from Cornell, Stanford and the University of California-Merced will create the "hardware".

They aim to build a machine that should be as small as a brain of a small mammal and use as little power as a 100-watt light bulb.

Their idea is to create a computer capable of sorting through multiple streams of changing data, to look for patterns and make logical decisions.

It all comes down to an understanding of what is necessary for teaching an artificial brain to reason and learn from experience.

University of Wisconsin-Madison research psychiatrist Giulio Tononi said that the ideal artificial brain would need to be plastic, meaning it is capable of changing as it learns from experience. The design will likely convey information using electrical impulses modelled on the spiking neurons found in mammal brains.

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