A lot, at least if we were to replicate it with our current technology:
According to Kwabena Boahen, a computer scientist at Stanford University, a robot with a processor as smart as the human brain would require at least 10 megawatts to operate. That’s the amount of energy produced by a small hydroelectric plant. But a small group of computer scientists may have hit on a new neural supercomputer that could someday emulate the human brain’s low energy requirements of just 20 watts–barely enough to run a dim light bulb….
[The new idea] trades the extreme precision of digital transistors for the brain’s chaos of many neurons firing, with misfires 30 percent to 90 percent of the time. Yet the brain works with this messy system by relying on crowds of neurons to shout over the noise of misfires and competing signals.
That willingness to give up precision for chaos could lead to a new era of creative computing that simulates the unpredictable patterns of brain activity. It could also represent a far more energy-efficient era — the Neurogrid fits in a briefcase and runs on what amounts to a few D batteries, or less than a watt. Rather than transistors, it uses capacitors that get the same voltage of neurons.
Let me be the first to welcome our new neurogrid overlords.
(For a fuller writeup on this, see this discovery article.)
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15 Comments
“A dim bulb” sounds about right for a lot of people…
My brain takes a lot of power to operate. It’s all those old vacuum tubes. Now, transistors would’ve been a lot more energy efficient.
Pretty sure there’s a hamster on a wheel powering mine.
I saw this on Nova or Scientific American, can’t recall which. The frightening thing is that it actually emulates the way our brain works with all the random and spurious neurons firing off in error. No wonder we have unmitigated bullshit like religion in this world. I think perhaps some people’s brains are more error-prone than others.
This sounds great for some things, like AI. Really cool idea. And it’s interesting how they’re using capacitors for the high voltage requirements.
Of course, we’ve known for a long time that the brain is great for some things, like pattern-forming, and terrible at other things, like data storage. And it seems like those things the brain is best at our computers are worst at. Maybe with new tech like this we will be able to catch up in these other, more difficult areas of computing.
I see cyborgs in our future.
And I say “our” future, because clearly we will be kept around as pets by our new cyborg overlords. We’re cute enough.
I’m going to add “housebroken” to my resume right now.
Mine now reads “Performs tricks and will argue vehemently on any suject for tidbits”.
Interesting, but well kind of disturbing. One of the big fears about artificial intelligence has always been that they rebel and or get their own ideas/agendas about what they should be doing. If they are generally logical and not prone to mistakes other than the old standby garbage in,garbage out..it would seem that such systems would be better served,as would mankind by a system NOT prone to the same issues biological systems are prone to exhibit, most forms of insanity seem to be from miswired brains,missing connections,and misfiring neurons, granted not all but enough insanity is attributable to such things. Therefore designing an artificial brain built on the same model of biological mistake prone type as our brains would be asking for trouble mankind DOES not need, we do enough damage to ourselves already.
And what do we do if this neurogrid finds religion?
We threaten to not replace the batteries.
hopefully we are it’s god, since we did create it.
Reminds me of the critters in the locker in the train station – Men In Black
I think perhaps some people’s brains are more error-prone than others.
That may explain, also, why we’re wired so differently. Or why giving the same set of circumstances we can act in so many different ways, or make mistakes when we most need to get it right.
This gives me even more reasons to be tolerant with my own and others’ mistakes. As for religion, here is another reason to reject the cookie-cutter approach to behaviour required by religions.
If they cyborgs find religion than the few of us thats left will have a hell of time aboard battlestar galactica.
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[...] via Daniel Florien comes this fascinating account of the human brain and the energy required to run it: According to [...]