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Scope and Resolution in Neural Prosthetics and Special Concerns for the Emulation of a Whole Brain

Scope and Resolution in Neural Prosthetics and Special Concerns for the Emulation of a Whole Brain. Randal A. Koene Center for Memory and Brain randalk@minduploading.org. Terasem Workshop 2006. Acknowledgements. Michael Hasselmo & Jaap van Pelt Henry Markram & Melina Gosselin

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Scope and Resolution in Neural Prosthetics and Special Concerns for the Emulation of a Whole Brain

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  1. Scope and Resolution in Neural Prosthetics and Special Concerns for the Emulation of a Whole Brain Randal A. Koene Center for Memory and Brain randalk@minduploading.org Terasem Workshop 2006

  2. Acknowledgements Michael Hasselmo & Jaap van Pelt Henry Markram & Melina Gosselin Martine Rothblatt & The Terasem Movement Santiago Ramón y Cajal (1852-1934, 1906 Nobel Laureate) “To know the brain...is equivalent to ascertaining the material course of thought and will, to discovering the intimate history of life in its perpetual duel with external forces.”

  3. In the Following 20 Minutes... • Relationships: neural prostheses, whole brain emulation, mind uploading • Central in neuroscience • General vs. subject specific • Neural prostheses  whole brain emulation (added concerns) • Resolution • Scope

  4. RELATIONSHIPS • Neural prosthetics, whole brain emulation and mind uploading • Objectives of increasing complexity

  5. Neural Prosthetics • Sensory example: cochlear implants 1790 Volta, 1950s, Djourno & Eyries, 1961 House 100,000 cochlear implants controversy: congenital deafness • Sensory example: retinal prostheses 1980s Rizzo & Wyatt

  6. Neural Prosthetics cont’d. • Deep brain stimulating electrodes 1987 Benabid & Pollak • Prosthetics of brain regions e.g. prosthetic hippocampus (Berger)

  7. Neural Prosthetics - brain regions Replace whole-circuit dynamics of CA3 (human trials by 2010) • Implementation of neural prosthetics: • hardware (medical) • software (research)

  8. Whole Brain Emulation Complete in different substrate

  9. Whole Brain Emulation cont’d. The Blue Brain Project (Henry Markram, Switzerland) Emulation vs. Simulation

  10. Whole Brain Emulation/Simulation • Emulation: EQUAL individual original • Simulation: Constrained similar effects

  11. Mind Uploading Transition of information expressing functions and experience of a specific human brain(*) to whole brain emulation in another substrate. Arthur C. Clarke's The City and the Stars (1956)

  12. CENTRAL IN NEUROSCIENCE • Relationships: neural prostheses, whole brain emulation, mind uploading • Central in neuroscience • General vs. subject specific • Neural prostheses  whole brain emulation (added concerns) • Resolution • Scope

  13. A goal of neuroscience • Identical premise: science  neuroscience  whole brain emulation • “Study of nature (&brain) is useful. It is possible to understand its workings (models of reality).” scientific understanding  applied science Isaac Newton Voyager I

  14. Predictable Applied Neuroscience (David Chalmers "Minds, Machines and Mathematics”, 1995) • A.I  human intelligence • General acceleration of increases in intelligent capabilities • Result: • changed human perspective • changed social standing / persistence of homo sapiens

  15. Science & Whole Brain Emulation Leonardo Da Vinci’s robot (1495) • Predictable since the scientific revolution • Distinctive about whole brain emulation? Focus: Initialize evolving intelligence with human minds. (Will that matter in 1000 years?) • Finding utility in science equally qualifies whole brain emulation von Kempelen's hoax: The Turk (1769)

  16. GENERAL vs. SUBJECT SPECIFIC • Relationships: neural prostheses, whole brain emulation, mind uploading • Central in neuroscience • General vs. subject specific • Neural prostheses  whole brain emulation (added concerns) • Resolution • Scope

  17. General vs. Subject Specific (Jacques Callot) • General function prosthetics: • cochlear implant (some tuning) • retinal prosthetic • “standard length” peg leg • Subject specific prosthetics: • a dental implant • a personalized wig • a modern prosthetic leg (Egypt 3500BC) Osseointegration of titanium, Brånemark (Sweden, 1952)

  18. Subject Specific Neural Prostheses • Prosthetic corpus collosum and motor cortex of a musician • Prosthetic substrate for the neocortical memory representations of your grandchildren Schlaug (1997) Eric Kandel (Nobel Laureate 2000) "The Molecular Biology of Memory Storage: A Dialogue Between Genes and Synapses"

  19. WHOLE BRAIN EMULATION • Relationships: neural prostheses, whole brain emulation, mind uploading • Central in neuroscience • General vs. subject specific • Neural prostheses  whole brain emulation (added concerns) • Resolution • Scope

  20. Brain Emulation in Health Care • Massive neural prostheses, emulation of the brain • microtome sectioning, microscopy, reconstruction • infusion with nanoscale machines (nanobots) Lindquist & Weaver NeuronStudio (Mt.Sinai Sch.Med.) (image by Tim Fonseca)

  21. Preservation of Personal Identity • Address the subjective experience: How whole is the prosthetic? • Personal identity and self-awareness may include a range of: • personal characteristics e.g. faculties, behavior • sensations e.g. physical & mental continuity John Locke (1632-1704)

  22. Can we tell if P.I. is preserved? • Invertebrate and animal brain emulation may test technologies • cannot provide full feedback about the subjective experience • can humans? • Ethical issue: Is it truly imperative to safe-guard the subjective experience? Connectivity matrix of 280 C.Elegans neurons (Chen et al.)

  23. Emulation in Health Care • Memory: • synaptic, organic • distributed in all affected loci • especially throughout the body • How much is enough?  SCOPE

  24. Customized Medical Procedure • Precision in prosthetics: • fine motor control in prosthetic hands • visual resolution in retinal prostheses • reproducing characteristics of behavior • avoiding item/process specific amnesia • retaining clarity, a strong embodiment of personal identity (no general amnesia at high resolution) • How much detail can be perceived?  RESOLUTION

  25. Health Care vs. Exploration • Exploratory: Specific personal identity need not be the goal of such brain emulation • Explorations of intelligence, psychology and humanity • Another set of ethical issues

  26. In the Following 20 Minutes... • Relationships: neural prostheses, whole brain emulation, mind uploading • Central in neuroscience • General vs. subject specific • Neural prostheses  whole brain emulation (added concerns) • Resolution • Scope

  27. RESOLUTION: Expected function • Implementation of brain functions depends on biophysical mechanisms e.g. synapse position, fiber delay, synapse type, receptive field size • Yet - an implemented function does not depend on individual elements, rather on group activity • self-correcting, redundant, homeostatic • stable functional relationships use detailed elements of physiological function

  28. RESOLUTION: Hypotheses • Supposition 1: Group effects are relevant group effects occur within an acceptable range of response variance caused by the sum of differences between the responses of detailed elements at different occasions • Supposition 2: Changes in element detail that maintain the expected group effect within the acceptable range are inconsequential

  29. RESOLUTION: Group effects • In biology, the theoretical complexity increases as the number of components is increased • Need to know established group effects • Decode effects during patient analysis • Replicate active components i.e. capture unknown effects through rigorous and faithful emulation

  30. RESOLUTION: Trade-off • Trade-off of decode / replicate choice at every level of: • modeling • prosthetics • E.g. can you replace biological neurons with any other substrate as long as you maintain I/O relationships? What about replicating effects of: • temperature • oxygen • nutrient levels (chemical influences)

  31. Choice and Possibility • We may consider a set of function responses desirable (healthy) • Ethical issue: Selection may lead to differences between prosthetic and original mind of patient • procedure better than no procedure • development of procedure considers precision of replication and preferences

  32. In the Following 20 Minutes... • Relationships: neural prostheses, whole brain emulation, mind uploading • Central in neuroscience • General vs. subject specific • Neural prostheses  whole brain emulation (added concerns) • Resolution • Scope

  33. SCOPE: Perception • Required & desired scope: • nervous system parts to emulate (lesser issue) • quality of interface with environment (greater issue) • Similar scale of technical hurdles: • emulate brain with/without spinal column • include/exclude peripheral nervous system • Significant: Quality of interaction

  34. SCOPE: P.I. and continuity • Is personal identity illusory? • Continuity: Does it matter if one is dead, then alive again after a delay?

  35. SCOPE: Emergent P.I. • If personal identity is an emergent phenomenon of the mind, does that mean • destructive upload of mind is O.K.? • discontinuous upload of mind is O.K.? • many copies of simultaneously living whole brain emulation are O.K.? • Is there an objective or societal significance to those questions? • Is it simply a matter of personal choices?

  36. Thank You "The brain is a world consisting of a number of unexplored continents and great stretches of unknown territory.” - Santiago Ramón y Cajal http://minduploading.org

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