What does it mean to build a computer that works like the human brain?
We are trying to approximate the brain's essence within today's silicon technology. We're not looking to model the human brain anatomically, but to build a computer that mimics its abilities for sensation, perception, interaction and cognition while rivalling its low power consumption and compact size.
Current computers are very logical, sequential and quantitative. They are based on a 70-year-old architecture that separates memory from processing, and works in a step-by-step fashion, executing a series of pre-written "if X then do Y" equations. They are fast number crunchers and can process lots of data, but they really don't think. That's what we are trying to change.
At the heart of this is a new kind of chip. How does it work?
Conventional computers consume a lot of energy moving data to and from memory. But in the brain, memory ...
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