A 'Frankenrobot' with a biological brain

Meet Gordon, probably the world's first robot controlled exclusively
by living brain tissue.

Stitched together from cultured rat neurons, Gordon's primitive grey
matter was designed at the University of Reading by scientists who
unveiled the neuron-powered machine on Wednesday.

Their groundbreaking experiments explore the vanishing boundary
between natural and artificial intelligence, and could shed light on
the fundamental building blocks of memory and learning, one of the
lead researchers told AFP.

"The purpose is to figure out how memories are actually stored in a
biological brain," said Kevin Warwick, a professor at the University
of Reading and one of the robot's principle architects.

Observing how the nerve cells cohere into a network as they fire off
electrical impulses, he said, may also help scientists combat
neurodegenerative diseases that attack the brain such as Alzheimer's
and Parkinson's.

"If we can understand some of the basics of what is going on in our
little model brain, it could have enormous medical spinoffs," he said.

Immortalist wrote:

Oh crap,
The creation of the Dalak race has begun.
:)

On Aug 14, 7:59 am, Immortalist yahoo.com> wrote:

Vanishing? vanishing??????????

If it's vanishing, why do they still have to figure out anything?

Understanding the basics is not quite the same message as the
vanishing boundary between artificial and natural intelligence.

On Aug 14, 1:59 am, Immortalist yahoo.com> wrote:

<...>

That's very creepy, if it's real

On Thu, 14 Aug 2008 14:23:23 -0700, Edward Green wrote:

Yup. This will have the religious nut cases up in arms for certain. How
much will a replacement laborer cost? Can we stop importing them from
Mexico?

--
"I know no safe depository of the ultimate powers
of society but the people themselves; and
if we think them not enlightened enough to
exercise their control with a wholesome
discretion, the remedy is not to take it from
them, but to inform their discretion by
education." - Thomas Jefferson
http://GreaterVoice.org/extend

On Aug 14, 12:59 am, Immortalist yahoo.com> wrote:

On Aug 14, 7:37 am, "Spaceman"
wrote:

On Aug 14, 7:56 am, Errol gmail.com> wrote:

On Aug 14, 4:36 pm, The Trucker verizon.net> wrote:

On Aug 14, 4:43 pm, Jerry Kraus yahoo.com> wrote: