The document discusses the Blue Brain Project, which aims to reverse engineer the human brain to create a computer simulation at the cellular level. It outlines motivations for the project, including preserving intelligence and understanding brain functions, and details the current state of research and the technologies involved. The document concludes with potential advantages and disadvantages of this technology, as well as future implications for humanity.

1. Hannah Masila
S13/20824/12
Forget Me Not…

2. Contents
• Motivation
• What is Blue Brain?
• Why do we need Blue Brain?
• How does the brain work?
• Brain simulation
• Current research work
• Hardware and Software Requirements
• Advantages
• Disadvantages
• Conclusion

3. Motivation
Scientific curiosity about
Consciousness and human mind
Building thinking machines
Integration of all neuroscientific
research
Treatment of
mental illness

4. Motivation

5. What is blue brain?
BLUE BRAIN - The name of the world’s first virtual brain.
The Blue Brain Technology is an attempt to reverse engineer the
human brain and recreate it at the cellular level inside a computer
simulation
The Blue Brain Project was founded in May 2005 by Henry
Markram at the EPFL in Switzerland.

6. What is Blue Brain?
• It can take decision.
• It can think.
• It can respond.
• It can keep things in memory.
It is a machine that can act as Human
brain

7. Why do we need Blue Brain?
To remember things without any effort, both long
term and short term
To upload the contents of the natural brain on to it
For preventing loss of volatile memory at the old
age.
To keep the intelligence, knowledge and skill of
any person forever

8. How does the brain work?
• This action of getting information from the surrounding
environment
• The receptor cells, through sensory neurons, send a message
straight to the brain
Sensory input
Integration
• It is the interpretation of things we have felt, tasted, and
touched with our sensory neurons into responses that the
body recognizes.

9. How does the brain work?
Motor output
• Once the brain has interpreted the stimulus, it sends a
message through motor neurons to effecter cells, muscle
or gland cells, which actually work to perform requests
and act upon our environment.

10. Brain simulation
• There are two ways in which we can get information from a
natural brain. These are invasive and noninvasive techniques.
• The most promising is the use of very small robots called
nanobots
• These nanobots will carefully scan the structure of our brain,
providing a complete readout of the connections between each
neuron.
• This information can then be entered into a computer and
continues to function as the natural brain

11. Brain simulation
• Scientist have already created artificial neurons with silicon
chips.
• It has also been tested that these neurons can receive the input
from the sensory cells.
• So, the electric impulses from the sensory cells can be received
through these artificial neurons and send to a super computer for
the interpretation.
Sensory input

12. Integration
• The interpretation of the electric impulses received by the
artificial neuron can be done by means of a set of register .
• The different values in these register will represent
different states of the brain.

13. Output
• Based on the states of the register the output signal can be
given to the artificial neurons in the body which will be
received by the effector cell.

14. Too many words? Lets do some watching!!!

15. In the video, the real Alois had been murdered that morning but
her brain had been simulated into a computer.
The computer had then been implanted into a robot which
resembled her.
She was constantly updating information on the simulator and
through this, they were able to capture the murderer of the real
Alois
Video explanation

16. Current research work
IBM, in partnership with scientists at Switzerland's Ecole
Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne's (EPFL) Brain and Mind
Institute are working on the Blue brain project.
They had developed first single cellular cell by
2005.
In November 2007, the project reported the end of the
first phase, delivering a data-driven process for creating,
validating, and researching the neocortical column.

17. Current research work
The first artificial cellular neocortical column of 10,000 cells
was built by 2008.
By July 2011 a cellular mesocircuit of 100 neocortical columns
with a million cells in total was built.
A cellular rat brain with 100 mesocircuits totaling a hundred
million cells was built by 2014.

18. Current research work
Finally a cellular human brain is predicted possible by 2023
equivalent to 1000 rat brains with a total of a hundred billion
cells
Scientists will begin simulating the brain's biological systems
and output the data as a working 3-dimensional model that
will recreate the high-speed electro-chemical interactions that
take place within the brain's interior.

19. Current research work
These include cognitive functions such as language, learning,
perception and memory in addition to brain malfunction such
as psychiatric disorders like depression and autism.
From there, the modeling will expand to other regions of the
brain and, if successful, shed light on the relationships
between genetic, molecular and cognitive functions of the
brain.

20. Hardware/Software Requirements
1. A Blue-Gene super computer running Michael
Hines's NEURON software.
2. Memory with a large storing capacity.
3. Processor with a high processing power.

21. Hardware/Software Requirements
4. A program to convert the electric impulses from the
brain to input signal, which is to be received by the
computer, and vice versa.
5. Very powerful nanobots to act as the interface between
the natural brain and the computer.

22. Advantages
1. Human Being can remember things without any effort.
2. Decision can be made without the presence of a person.
3. Even after the death of a person his intelligence can be
used.
4. The activity of different animals can be understood. That
means by interpretation of the electric impulses from the
brain of the animals, their thinking can be understood
easily.

23. Disadvantages
Further, there are many new dangers these technologies
will open. We will be susceptible to new forms of harm.
1. We will become very dependent on computer systems.
2. Social Threats may use this against society.
3. Computer viruses will become headache.
4. The real threat, however, is the fear of change that people
have when it comes to new technologies. That fear may
culminate in a large resistance. Clear evidence of this type of
fear is found today with respect to human cloning.

24. Conclusion
In conclusion, we will be able to transfer ourselves into
computers at some point.
Most arguments against this outcome are seemingly easy to
circumvent. They are either simple minded, or simply require
further time for technology to increase. The only serious
threats raised are also overcome as we note the combination of
biological and digital technologies.
While the road ahead is long, already researches have been
gaining great insights from their model.

25. Thank You..!