Of Brains and Computers

COMPUTER EVOLUTIONWhere do OUR computers come from?

1950s Mainframe

198o’s PC

1970s Minicomputers

1940s ENIAC

1800s Mechanical computer

1990’s Laptop

2000’s Smartphone

2010’s Wearable

1990s www

2000s compute centers

1970s Internet

2010s swarms

Computer Size Evolution

HUMAN BRAIN SIZE EVOLUTION

Different goals and metricsBrain mission: “survive, prosper, procreate” “Computers execute algorithms”

Different approaches

Different approaches

Both are at limits

Energy/Power THE Limiting Factor

Energy/Power THE Limiting Factor

THE OPPORTUNITY:CROSS-CONTAMINATION

CONVERGENCE

CONVERGENCE

7 nm CMOS425 mm2

> 37 Billion Transistors5-150 W> 100 TOPS

4-100 μm neurons1.3-1.5 dm3

~ 80 Billion Neurons100 Trillion Synapses20W Average> 10,000 TOPS (??)

CONVERGENCE

LESSONS FROM THE BRAIN

Caveat

“Compute with chemistry whenever possible”

“Send only information that is needed, and send it as slowly as possible”

Detected event

AC

ES

Rec

epto

r

1

2

3

4

5

Rec

epto

r

5

4

3

2

1

Volta

ge (m

v)

150

0

-150

A B CReceptor output Decoder output

500μs 500μs 500μs

Transmitted signal

Spatiotemporal structure Spatiotemporal

structure preserved

pulse signature

Decoder threshold

150mV

Time Time Time

|T| = 10

Somatosensory cortex

Nerve

Spatiotemporal spike patterns

SpatiotemporalACES signals

A

B

C

+

Artificial Intelligence

“To conserve space, time and energy, new information should be stored at the site where it is processed and from whence it can be recalled …”

“Complicate”(in engineering terms: Customize)

“Play the number game” or

“embrace randomness”

“Self-calibrate, adapt and heal”

Some musings

Thank you!