Cognitive computing promises safer, more enjoyable future

By Dick Pelletier

     Cognitive computing (computers that process information the same way a brain does) has been a dream for 50 years. Artificial intelligence, fuzzy logic, and neural networks have all experienced some success, but machines still cannot recognize pictures or understand language as well as humans can.

     Despite the many false starts however, forward-thinkers like National Institute of Standards and Technology’s Dr. James Albus believe cognitive computing research is at the tipping point, similar to where nuclear physics was in 1905. Albus cites the following projects as evidence that a revolution is underway:

• Modeling the brain: researchers at Blue Brain Project, an IBM and Swiss government collaboration which aims to build a replica of a neocortical column by 2008, and the whole brain within a decade, can already identify single neuron firings. This research will help repair damaged brains today, and in the future could allow robots to mimic human thinking.

• “Smart” cars: automakers are investing heavily in cars with more computerized-safety features, and Department of Transportation officials believe tomorrow’s driverless vehicles that can think and feel human-like will save more lives than airbags and seatbelts combined.

• Automating War: Department of Defense planners predict that by 2015, auto-fly drones and other computer-driven systems will remove most soldiers from battlefield dangers.

• Replacing aging neurons: implantable biomimetic electronics developed at University of Southern California could replace neurons that become lost as people age, bringing an end to “senior moments.”

     Foresight Institute consultant John Burch sees cognitive computing working its way into our bodies. “By as early as the 2030s,” he says, “we could be replacing our brain cells with non-biological nanotech materials that process thoughts faster, and are nearly indestructible.”

     “The new brain would include an exact copy of our personality,” Burch explains, “but it would run millions of times faster and would greatly increase our memory. In addition, this futuristic brain would allow us to change thought speeds; we could jump from 100 milliseconds, the response time for biological cells, to 50 nanoseconds, 20-million times faster.”

     Burch describes how we might switch to the new brain: a daily pill would supply the body with nanomaterials and instructions for nanobots to format new neurons and position them next to existing biological cells to be replaced. These changes would be unnoticeable in our mind, but within six months, we would be enjoying the benefits of the new brain.

     Cybernetics expert Christof Koch predicts cognitive computing will enable efficient brain-machine connections, which in the next decade, will be used mostly for research and neuroprosthetics; but the immense prospect for enhancing human minds will drive this technology forward and by mid-2020s, human-machine interface will become routine.

     Imagine a hard drive linked directly to your mind enabling you to “download” memory implants for skill enhancements. This would allow actions to be performed that have not been learned directly. You could master any subject, or learn a foreign language – without studying.

     As we trek into the coming decades, we see machines becoming more like us, and by adopting their computing power, we will become more like them. Where will this take us? The answer may lie in what promises to be a most “magical future.”

This article appeared in various print publications and on-line blogs. Comments always welcome.