Blue Brain: Sentience in a Supercomputer
I was blown away by this article in seed magazine about scientists who have already accurately simulated a neocortical column of the brain (which contains 10,000 neurons and about 30 million synaptic connections between them). “The column has been built and it runs,” Markram says. “Now we just have to scale it up.”
It will happen - computers will “simulate” consciousness. It will be self-aware. It really is only a matter of time. It just seems inevitable to me. Why?
Because the trend is obvious. Look at the exponential increase in technology. Compare its rate to the rate of progress of a century ago. It’s speeding up. Not only that - but it makes logical sense. When you build technology upon technology and knowledge from knowledge it only makes sense that it will build exponentially. Also, I’ve seen this pattern before with other things. Like chess. I remember all of the skeptics and it progressed in a similar way. The technology improved. There were signs it was going to happen - the same signs as you can read in this article. Finally - it makes sense that it would be possible. I see no logical reason why consciousness can’t be simulated (i.e. there is no magic involved).
And further, I feel it and I trust my intuition. In the pattern-recognizing part of my brain - the same part that helps me to trade. This is a trend and I’m betting that it will continue. This chart is shooting up - it’s a strong chart. An alpha stock. Volume is pouring in and it’s about to break out.
Nobody knew what would happen when the supercomputer began simulating thousands of brain cells at the same time. “We were all emotionally prepared for failure,” Markram says. “But I wasn’t so prepared for what actually happened.”


