Jonathan Birch

Yeah, I talk in the book about the open worm project, which I think is still going.

Yeah, I talk in the book about the open worm project, which I think is still going.

Yeah, where the aim was to emulate the nervous system of C. elegans in computer software, see if you can put the emulation in charge of a robot, see if it behaves like C. elegans. I suppose we've learned something from this, which is how difficult the task is.

Yeah, where the aim was to emulate the nervous system of C. elegans in computer software, see if you can put the emulation in charge of a robot, see if it behaves like C. elegans. I suppose we've learned something from this, which is how difficult the task is.

There's a lot of stuff going on at the within neuron level in C. elegans that even knowing the entire connectome does not tell you very much about. So even that is a very, very hard challenge.

There's a lot of stuff going on at the within neuron level in C. elegans that even knowing the entire connectome does not tell you very much about. So even that is a very, very hard challenge.

But to me, it's a good way into this topic of artificial sentience because you can easily entertain in imagination the idea that this project had succeeded very quickly and then moved on to open Drosophila, open mouse. Once you have open mouse, I think you have a sentience candidate. If you've completely recreated in computer software everything the brain of a mouse does...

But to me, it's a good way into this topic of artificial sentience because you can easily entertain in imagination the idea that this project had succeeded very quickly and then moved on to open Drosophila, open mouse. Once you have open mouse, I think you have a sentience candidate. If you've completely recreated in computer software everything the brain of a mouse does...

Yeah, that's right. There's a lot we don't know from the connectome. One thing you can't read off from the connectome is the weights of the connections, which is hugely important, or how those weights are changed by learning. But also, even if you had all of that, what happens within the neurons is also important.

Yeah, that's right. There's a lot we don't know from the connectome. One thing you can't read off from the connectome is the weights of the connections, which is hugely important, or how those weights are changed by learning. But also, even if you had all of that, what happens within the neurons is also important.

There are within-neuron computations that are really crucial to steering behavior, for example. And so you wouldn't expect to get the steering behavior in a emulation unless you'd actually emulated the individual compartments within the neurons and how they're arranged in space.

There are within-neuron computations that are really crucial to steering behavior, for example. And so you wouldn't expect to get the steering behavior in a emulation unless you'd actually emulated the individual compartments within the neurons and how they're arranged in space.

Well, I think they've been, they've been trying. Yeah. Um, I'd be in favor of this sort of work receiving more funding than it does. Cause it's to me that there's risks, there's risks of creating artificial sentience candidates, but there's huge opportunities as well, because you've got the potential to create a system that could replace a lot of animal research.

Well, I think they've been, they've been trying. Yeah. Um, I'd be in favor of this sort of work receiving more funding than it does. Cause it's to me that there's risks, there's risks of creating artificial sentience candidates, but there's huge opportunities as well, because you've got the potential to create a system that could replace a lot of animal research.

Cause you could be doing research on the, the emulation where you can actually intervene at a really precise level, without injuring or hurting. And you could be doing that instead of lesioning living animals. So I'd like to see much more of this, and I think it's been largely funding limited, I think, so far.

Cause you could be doing research on the, the emulation where you can actually intervene at a really precise level, without injuring or hurting. And you could be doing that instead of lesioning living animals. So I'd like to see much more of this, and I think it's been largely funding limited, I think, so far.

Well, the octopus has about 500 million neurons, so I don't know how that translates into synaptic connections. A lot. It's going to be quite a lot, yeah. Crabs' brains are much, much smaller, and it varies a great deal by species, but not dissimilar to insects in terms of the number of neurons. With bees, you have about a million neurons, Drosophila, about 100,000. Okay.

Well, the octopus has about 500 million neurons, so I don't know how that translates into synaptic connections. A lot. It's going to be quite a lot, yeah. Crabs' brains are much, much smaller, and it varies a great deal by species, but not dissimilar to insects in terms of the number of neurons. With bees, you have about a million neurons, Drosophila, about 100,000. Okay.

Yeah, yeah, indeed, yeah.

Yeah, yeah, indeed, yeah.