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Computer-based "deep neural network" as good as primates at visual object recognition
Deep neural networks have studied millions of images and some can now recognize the objects in all of these images in a similar manner and speed to primates (Image: MIT)
Computers aren't best suited to visual object recognition. Our brains are hardwired to quickly see and match patterns in everything, with great leaps of intuition, while the processing center of a computer is more akin to a very powerful calculator. But that hasn't stopped neuroscientists and computer scientists from trying over the past 40 years to design computer networks that mimic our visual skills. Recent advances in computing power and deep learning algorithms have accelerated that process to the point where a group of MIT neuroscientists has found a network design that compares favorably to the brain of our primate cousins.
This is important beyond the needs of automated digital information processing like Google's image search. Computer-based neural networks that work like the human brain will further our understanding of how the brain works, and any attempts to create them will test that understanding. Essentially, the fact that these networks work to a level comparable to primates suggests that neuroscientists now have a solid grasp of how object recognition works in the brain.
To see how current networks hold up, the MIT scientists started by testing primates. They implanted arrays of electrodes in the inferior temporal (IT) cortex and area V4 (a part of the visual system that feeds into the IT cortex) of the primates' brains. This allowed them to see how neurons related to object recognition responded when the animals looked at various objects in 1,960 images. (The viewing time per image was a mere 100 milliseconds, which is long enough for humans to recognize an object.)
They then compared these results with those of the latest deep neural networks. These networks produce arrays of numbers when fed an image – different numbers for different images. If it groups similar objects into similar clusters in this number matrix representation, it's deemed accurate.
"Through each of these computational transformations, through each of these layers of networks, certain objects or images get closer together, while others get further apart," explains lead author Charles Cadieu.
The best network, developed by researchers at New York University, classified objects as well as the macaque (a medium-sized Old World monkey) brain.
That's the good news. The bad is that they don't know why. Neural networks are learning from massive datasets containing millions or billions of images, churning through the information with help from the high-performance graphical processing units that power the latest video games. But nobody knows quite what is going on in there as the networks refine their own algorithms.
Now that we know the latest deep neural networks perform comparably to primates at object recognition, though, Cadieu suggests other scientists will put more effort into picking apart the process to understand how computer systems that begin with nothing more than a learning algorithm arrive at this level.
The MIT researchers now plan to develop deep neural networks that mimic other visual processing systems, such as motion tracking and recognizing three-dimensional forms.
A paper describing the research was published in the journal PLoS Computational Biology.
Source: MIT
Source: http://www.gizmag.com/deep-neural-networks-primates-visual-object-recognition-rival/35301/
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Founded by Russian entrepreneur Dmitry Itskov in February 2011 with the participation of leading Russian specialists in the field of neural interfaces, robotics, artificial organs and systems.
The main goals of the 2045 Initiative: the creation and realization of a new strategy for the development of humanity which meets global civilization challenges; the creation of optimale conditions promoting the spiritual enlightenment of humanity; and the realization of a new futuristic reality based on 5 principles: high spirituality, high culture, high ethics, high science and high technologies.
The main science mega-project of the 2045 Initiative aims to create technologies enabling the transfer of a individual’s personality to a more advanced non-biological carrier, and extending life, including to the point of immortality. We devote particular attention to enabling the fullest possible dialogue between the world’s major spiritual traditions, science and society.
A large-scale transformation of humanity, comparable to some of the major spiritual and sci-tech revolutions in history, will require a new strategy. We believe this to be necessary to overcome existing crises, which threaten our planetary habitat and the continued existence of humanity as a species. With the 2045 Initiative, we hope to realize a new strategy for humanity's development, and in so doing, create a more productive, fulfilling, and satisfying future.
The "2045" team is working towards creating an international research center where leading scientists will be engaged in research and development in the fields of anthropomorphic robotics, living systems modeling and brain and consciousness modeling with the goal of transferring one’s individual consciousness to an artificial carrier and achieving cybernetic immortality.
An annual congress "The Global Future 2045" is organized by the Initiative to give platform for discussing mankind's evolutionary strategy based on technologies of cybernetic immortality as well as the possible impact of such technologies on global society, politics and economies of the future.
Future prospects of "2045" Initiative for society
2015-2020
The emergence and widespread use of affordable android "avatars" controlled by a "brain-computer" interface. Coupled with related technologies “avatars’ will give people a number of new features: ability to work in dangerous environments, perform rescue operations, travel in extreme situations etc.
Avatar components will be used in medicine for the rehabilitation of fully or partially disabled patients giving them prosthetic limbs or recover lost senses.
2020-2025
Creation of an autonomous life-support system for the human brain linked to a robot, ‘avatar’, will save people whose body is completely worn out or irreversibly damaged. Any patient with an intact brain will be able to return to a fully functioning bodily life. Such technologies will greatly enlarge the possibility of hybrid bio-electronic devices, thus creating a new IT revolution and will make all kinds of superimpositions of electronic and biological systems possible.
2030-2035
Creation of a computer model of the brain and human consciousness with the subsequent development of means to transfer individual consciousness onto an artificial carrier. This development will profoundly change the world, it will not only give everyone the possibility of cybernetic immortality but will also create a friendly artificial intelligence, expand human capabilities and provide opportunities for ordinary people to restore or modify their own brain multiple times. The final result at this stage can be a real revolution in the understanding of human nature that will completely change the human and technical prospects for humanity.
2045
This is the time when substance-independent minds will receive new bodies with capacities far exceeding those of ordinary humans. A new era for humanity will arrive! Changes will occur in all spheres of human activity – energy generation, transportation, politics, medicine, psychology, sciences, and so on.
Today it is hard to imagine a future when bodies consisting of nanorobots will become affordable and capable of taking any form. It is also hard to imagine body holograms featuring controlled matter. One thing is clear however: humanity, for the first time in its history, will make a fully managed evolutionary transition and eventually become a new species. Moreover, prerequisites for a large-scale expansion into outer space will be created as well.
Key elements of the project in the future
• International social movement
• social network immortal.me
• charitable foundation "Global Future 2045" (Foundation 2045)
• scientific research centre "Immortality"
• business incubator
• University of "Immortality"
• annual award for contribution to the realization of the project of "Immortality”.
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