I've read enough Kurzweil by now to never place a limit on the curiosity, ingenuity and persistence of humans. Here is a lecture by Henry Markram talking about the IBM Blue Brain project wherein he describes the remarkable mapping and simulation of the brain that they've been able to achieve recently with the power of supercomputers.
This is the direct result of Moore's law and the inexpensiveness of powerful computers brought to bear upon unimaginably complex problems such as unraveling the workings of the brain.
What they have been able to do comes down to this. These researchers now have the ability to model tens of thousands simulated neurons at a click of a button where it used to take months to model a neuron by manual process.
So what you say, it is still just a model.
They are using an iterative model. Comparing how the simulated neurons behave as compared to actual behavior of neurons. And then refining the model to become more accurate.
This is a long lecture with a LOT of information within it.
Bottom line as far as I can glean:
- There has been lots of progress on understanding how the brain works.
- The power of computers will revolutionize how fast this research moves forward (in much the same way mapping the genome went)
- Researchers such as Dr. Markram. are far closer to understanding how the brains wiring works than I had thought.
Hat Tip: Direct Neural Interface