If you know me much at all, you’ll know I have a small hobby centred around artificial intelligence. Fact or fiction, anything containing traces of AI tends to peak my interest, so obviously when a leading scientist in the field, Henry Markram made this announcement I was most interested.
Henry Markram, the director of the AI Blue Brain Project, has already simulated many parts of lower life-form brains, such as rat. He announced at this year’s TED Global conference that “It is not impossible to build a human brain and we can do it in 10 years,” and comically added that “… if we do succeed, we will send a hologram to TED to talk.”
One of the primary uses of this artificial brain, it is stated, will be research into and the hope for cures of various mental illnesses. This is an admirable goal indeed and shows how projects that initially seem set in motion initially for research purposes, can be directed to a humanitarian cause. This is fantastic is my opinion, but it was certainly not the first thing that crossed my mind regarding the idea of the creation of a functional human.
If you are like myself, and believe that we (as humans) are the sum of our parts, you most likely do not believe in a ‘soul’ or spiritual presence that defines us as who we are. In which case, you believe our personality, memories, our will and those things often referred to as being part of a ‘soul’ are all in fact, stored within our human brains. All our actions, decisions and motivations as a species have therefore been dedicated by the neural impulses within our brains, ignoring overriding environment factors. Assuming this is indeed the case, if we were to create a fully functional human brain (be it artificial), then what would we actually be creating?
If you believe what was just assumed, we would be creating an ‘entity’ capable of actions, decisions and motivations and would have a personality, memories and will. In which case, could it be deemed to have a ‘soul’ if such things are to be believed in? It would, regardless of spiritual meaning, have all the attributes we commonly refer as being part of a ‘soul’. What does this mean? If fully functional, the brain would be conscious, be capable of thought, decisions and learning right from wrong. Would this give the ‘entity’ rights?
I expect the arguments that this ‘entity’ is only artificial, but then again, many humans who have electronic or mechanical implants are, in part, artificial. It could also be said that the ‘entity’ is merely a computer. The counter-argument in this case is obviously that so are we. We may be biological in nature, but the human brain is merely that; a biological computer, even using electronic impulses sent from neuron to synapse to neuron, causing all of our own personal processing and data storage in the form of thoughts and memories.
Please, feel free to give your opinions. What do you think of the idea of an artificial brain? Should it be seen a life form, of sorts? Or do you simply not believe that the creation of an artificial human brain will be possible within the next 10 years, or indeed ever?
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[...] previously discussed how Henry Markram claimed to be able to build an artificial brain within 10 years time, so I thought it would be apt to show footage of a lecture he gave at TED regarding this [...]