Organoids – not quantum computers – could be the next big thing in computing, if researchers from Australia are to be believed.
A new type of computer based on biology is what researchers from John Hopkins University and Dr. Brett Kagan, head scientist at Cortical Laboratories in Melbourne, hope to spawn.
Organoid intelligence
Their next goal is a 200x improvement (10 million neurons), which the authors claim is the minimal requirement for organoid intelligence, but that would still be a long way from human brains (80 billion neurons or 8000x more). Now, it is likely that numerous smaller so-called organoids may be joined together to imitate a bigger (mega?) brain, just like with supercomputers and their thousands of GPUs and CPUs.
Although silicon-based supercomputers may eventually approach the raw performance of the typical human brain (about one Exaflop), they might also require the output of a small nuclear power plant to do so. The study, which was published in Frontiers in Science(opens in new tab), also emphasized how the human brain is a superior biological computer due to its superiority in terms of storage capacity and extensive neuronal meshing.
No, not the Matrix again
Over the past ten years, interest in using organoids to treat diseases has increased, but relatively few teams have considered using them as the basic components of the computers of the future.
The utilization of brain-related cells in biocomputing was described by the group using the name organoid intelligence (rather than brainoid intelligence). Even if Catalog’s DNA computer and Elon Musk’s Neuralink are very distinct from each other and from brain-computer interface research, the work of these Australian scientists nonetheless highlights the enormous gap between silicon-based computing and anything that Mother Nature has created.
“This emerging discipline of biocomputing promises enormous improvements in computing speed, processing capacity, data efficiency, and storage capabilities — all with fewer energy consumption,” Dr. Kagan noted.
“This collaboration’s openness and spirit of cooperation are its most fascinating features, in my opinion. Bringing these many professionals together is essential for success optimization as well as serving as a crucial hub for industry cooperation.
The emergence of organoids has raised some ethical questions about their application. There seems to be a general consensus among the experts CNN spoke to(opens in new tab) on artificial intelligence and consciousness as it relates to organoids that brain organoid systems may eventually demonstrate the notion of sentience, consciousness, and the kind of general intelligence typically associated with humans.
One of the people who participated in the interview said, “This burgeoning field must adopt a vigorous approach to resolving the ethical and moral challenges that come with this type of technological breakthrough and must do it before the technology crashes into the moral abyss.
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