[Data]

IBM has developed a microprocessor which it claims comes closer than ever to replicating the human brain.

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[Art]

Very cool!
We ought to have walking, talking, thinking androids before you know it!!

I knew some good would come out of Watson!

[Bragi]

I don't think this has anything remotely to do with watson. Pretty cool though.

[Art]

Jan,

Look closely at the icon...it's winking...indicating that I was attempting to make a small joke which
involved bringing in IBM's Watson (the AI demonstrated on TV's Jeopardy).

Now IBM has an intelligent chip / microprocessor...just trying to connect the dots.

While it has nothing to do with the Watson program / computer, my statement was in jest.
(I really thought you knew me by now)...hmmm....

[Duskrider]

Watched old star trek movie this week on tv where Data gets a humor chip.
He found everythng funny.   he laughed at everything in the life and death situation the space ship was in. 
Captain and I both wanted to smack him couple times.
Sandee ever did that, I know what I'd do.   

[victorshulist]

LMAO .. .   "Mr. Tricorder"

[Exebeche]

IBM has developed a microprocessor which it claims comes closer than ever to replicating the human brain.

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Interesting experiment.
I wonder however if it really makes sense to produce this synaptic wiring as a physically real thing.
All wiring and unwiring and turning the volume up and down can 100% be simulated by virtual neural networks.
It looks like someone said 'come on, it doesn't hurt to at least try it. Who knows what the output will be'.
In fact they say that embodyment experiments show good results for some reason.
The reason is certainly worth thinking about it.
My guess would be, as soon as we know the reason we can start virtualizing embodiment.

[Art]

Yes but such physical applications would likely have great use in the field of robotics or perhaps the construction of androids or such.

[TheGeek]

I think the physical applications of this would likely be more along the lines of controlling sattelites or sampling data patterns. Essentially carrying out mundane functions where a knowledge of previous tasks and data are important.

I would also shy away from calling this an intelligent chip. As has been said already this process is possible in software. I would argue that it may be able to crunch data and learn patterns, but it's unlikely to have a natural understanding of the data.

I can see the reason for application though. For instance it's hardware may be more easily adapted to differing inputs than a similar software entity. Making it a more viable in an industrial setting than rather expensive custom software. Also once a fabrication technique is finalised it can be mass produced quickly.

My one query though is size. And with so many cores operating, cooling is likely to be a bitch.

Geek