Follow-up to old post about man-made horror: man-made horror has been commercialized and is also live-streamed. (Brain organoid computing)
Follow-up to old post about man-made horror: man-made horror has been commercialized and is also live-streamed. (Brain organoid computing)
Swiss tech startup FinalSpark is now selling access to biocomputers that combine up to four tiny lab-grown human brains with silicon chips.
The lab is available to researchers 24/7, uses real human neurons and uses the Python programming language, creating a “dream bridge between biology and data scientists,” according to Jordan.
After accessing the provided login/password, researchers gain the ability to remotely send electrical signals to neurons and receive their responses. It is then the responsibility of researchers to devise optimal algorithms for controlling the behavior of the organoids.
Users can mimic memory function by using periodic electrical stimulation to reinforce synapses through repetition, thus making desired pathways stronger.
Researchers do this by training the organoids through a reward system. The organoids are rewarded with dopamine, the neurotransmitter responsible for pleasure (and addiction).
Meanwhile, as “punishment,” the organoids are exposed to chaotic stimuli, such as irregular electrical activity.
A live view of the biochips working in real-time can be found at www.finalspark.com/live.
Still think it's kinda neat, but with clearly disturbing implications.
A bit unrelated but once there was an experiment to engineer pigs with some human organs for transplants and they shut it down because they couldn't guarantee a pig wouldn't develop a human brain.
Oh no, I hope they don't develop fingers and find a stash of assault rifles i forgot nearby
Other people: this isn't like a brain in a jar
Me, built different: i disagree
I don't find brain organoids to be disturbing or all that interesting. Organoids are not very different from classical cell culture. And organoids of human neurons are not very different from organoids of mouse neurons.
This is not anything like a human brain living in a dish.
Please share this worldly knowledge you have on what signals in a brain translate into thoughts, memories, pleasure, and discomfort, because you should publish that immediately! Nobody else in the world knows what these things are, whether they exist in organoids, mouse neurons, insect brains, etc. if you have that data don't keep it secret!
Plus, these seem to be made from interneurons from skin cells. Basically, neurons who transmit signals along the nervous system. I'd be more concerned if they used Pyramidal cells which play more of a role in learning, cognition, and memory.
While interesting, you wouldn't say that keeping some tissue from the arm alive to be a "horror" on par with a brain in a jar.