Brain organoids, clumps of human brain cells grown in a dish, can be hooked up to an electronic chip and carry out simple computational tasks, a new study shows.
Feng Guo and his team at Indiana University Bloomington generated a brain organoid from stem cells, attached it to a computer chip, and connected their setup, known as Brainoware, to an AI tool. They found that this hybrid system could process, learn, and remember information. It was even able to carry out some rudimentary speech recognition. The work, published today in Nature Electronics, could one day lead to new kinds of bio-computers that are more efficient than conventional computers.
Scientists have been trying to build computers based on advanced biological systems for decades. Guo says that such computers could overcome some challenges of silicon-based computers, such as bottlenecks in data processing.
Conventional computers are much better than brains in dealing with numbers, but human brains are better at processing complex information while using relatively little energy. “This is a first demonstration of using brain organoids [for computing],” says Guo. “It’s exciting to see the possibilities of organoids for biocomputing in the future.”
Am I wrong to find this horrifying?
I mean probably not but like I would be disappointed if we didn’t try all the sci fi novels stuff and see what happens you know
At least it won’t be boring
Btw I am still waiting for biohackers to CRISPR themselves glowing skin in their garage, what happened to that stuff??
So, there’s several ways to look at it…
Do you think that a human is just a mind?
Because the answer is that a human is a full composite being…
The idea, though, of a completely disembodied human brain that is fully conscious is really terrible. But for the time being, we are dealing with something that is not quite fully a human brain.
I am not sure what that means… but yeah, there’s a horror element to this, for sure.