Intrinsitivity

Op-Ed Contributor – The Rise of the Machines – NYTimes.com

As the current financial crisis spreads (like a computer virus) on the earth’s nervous system (the Internet), it’s worth asking if we have somehow managed to colossally outsmart ourselves using computers.

This is your grid on brains

Through this research, Venayagamoorthy and his colleagues hope to develop what he calls BIANNs, or biologically inspired artificial neural networks. Based on the brain’s adaptability, these networks could control not only power systems, but also other complex systems, such as traffic-control systems or global financial networks.

The Georgia Tech researchers, led by Potter, have developed living neural networks that can control simple robots, but this will be the first time anyone has attempted to tap the brain power to control more complex systems.