Supercomputer Project Will Spend $1.6 Billion, Attempt To Simulate Human Brain
A $1.6 billion supercomputer will soon be constructed by a group of international researchers. The build will be part of the Human Brain Project and will be constructed over the next ten years.
The project hopes to simulate the human brain with the help of scientists from various disciplines. Scientists hope to map more than one hundred billion neuronal connections that create our emotions, thoughts, and even our very consciousness.
According to project notes, scientists will use a scaled-up multi-layered simulation running on a massive supercomputer.
The Human Brain Project will consist of more than 200 individual researchers from 80 different organizations around the world.
The project because of its scale is already being called “Cern for the brain.”
HBP is a project from the European Commission, and it will be based in Lausanne, Switzerland.
The project will focus on building new platforms for “neuromorphic computing” and “neurorobotics,” which in turn will allow for new computing systems to be built. Eventually researchers could use the collected data to build robots based on the architecture of the human brain.
Each part of the human brain will be constructed piece by piece, and, when it is completed, scientists will bring all of the parts together to create a virtual human brain.
In a statement regarding the project, Swedish Nobel Laureate Torsten Wiesel said:
“The support of the HBP is a critical step taken by the EC to make possible major advances in our understanding of how the brain works. HBP will be a driving force to develop new and still more powerful computers to handle the massive accumulation of new information about the brain, while the neuroscientists are ready to use these new tools in their laboratories.”
Even if the human brain can not be constructed to perfection, researchers are hopeful that their discovery will lead to new advances in Alzheimer’s Disease, Parkinson’s Disease, and other neurological disorders.
