Human beings have been interested in studying the anatomy of the brain since the beginning of modern civilization. In fact, the first written record of research exploring the brain dates back to the ancient Egyptians. It was however the Greeks that determined that the brain and not the heart controls the body's senses and movements. Unfortunately, most of the development in the study of the brain was halted due to the cultural ban on dissection. It was not until the 17th century wherein neuroanatomy or the study of the organization of the brain and the nervous system became a formal science.
In the past 400 years following the formalization of the neuroanatomy, scientists and researchers have made leaps and bounds of discoveries about the human brain. Recently, scientists from Carnegie Mellon have announced their intention to endeavour on research that would further advance the field of not only neuroanatomy but also artificial intelligence.
Just this week, the Carnegie Mellon Computer Science Department confirmed that they would be investing $12 million to reverse engineer the brain. The study aims to unravel "rules" that govern brain activity in order to produce AI robots capable of mimicking human brain processes.
Professor Tai Sing Lee, the scientist at the helm of the project, has since explained details about his upcoming research. According to Lee, most of the data used in modern AI comes from the 1950s. He also explains that the algorithm used in AI research is not an accurate representation of how the brain works.
"The algorithms are based on the feed-first architecture: one layer of neurons on top of another, mapping input to output. [However] when information feeds forward, there's also lot of information coming back" explained Tai Sing Lee.
Lee has also gushed about the immensity of the undertaking. According to him, the research is much like the Apollo project.
"You have to trust in the mathematics, computation, and engineering that we can do it. Whether we will land on the moon is uncertain."
