The simulations begun by Henry Markram and team on the Blue Brain Project in 2005 constitute the basis for the much more ambitious Human Brain Project, which is intended to capture the workings of the entire organ. Markram and colleagues will learn next year whether the project will be funded. Some of the simulations made by Blue Brain Project researchers give an inkling of what is to come. In this video from Blue Brain, the viewer moves from the level of a single brain cell up through the circuits of a cortical column.

The request for 1 billion Euros for the Human Brain Project has not escaped controversy. Some scientists have criticized the usefulness of a full brain simulation that can only be achieved at great cost. A recent book, Connectome, by noted neuroscientist Sebastian Seung included a critique of the Blue Brain Project, a consideration of whether this approach could come close enough in verisimilitude to the real thing to serve as a tool that provides new insights into neural operations. An excerpt is included here.

2 Comments

1. 1. wywong 08:49 AM 6/14/12

   If the obstacle to simulating an animal brain is just the computing power of the computer, then today we should be able to simulate the brains of smaller animals such as the zebrafish and insects. By doing this, we will be able to explain and predict animal behavior without doing further experiments. We will know why animals sleep and what animal consciousness is like...
   
   No! We haven't fully understood even the working of individual neurons and various neurotransmitters! We aren't sure what exactly glial cells do. Without knowing how to measure all the activities going on inside the brain, attempts to simulate the brain is like trying to reconstruct an elephant from the descriptions told by the 6 blind men.

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2. 2. dmoffittsmith 12:41 PM 6/28/12

   I share the skepticism of wywong. The tired notion that consciousness stems from complexity might be proven wrong by such an endeavor, but at what cost? Better to put these resources at work examining the creation and structure of proteins and other macro-molecular machines, and their interactions with each other. Therein lies a much more interesting puzzle, and much more promise for enlightenment.

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