Downloading Consciousness: Connectomics and Computer Science
4:30-5:30 p.m.
Thursday, Oct. 29, 2015
Porter 100

How are circuits constructed to give rise to cognition? Have we nearly passed the Turing test? Neuroscientists are making great strides in investigating motifs for cellular and synaptic connectivity in the brain, with the hope that they might be able to reconstruct "thought" by understanding the component parts. Conversely, computer scientists are using different strategies to create better and better interfaces for devices to interact with us in a way that is indistinguishable from another human.  

A panel including David Touretzky, research professor of computer science, Wayne Wu, associate director of the Center for the Neural Basis of Cognition and adjunct faculty member in the department of philosophy, and Sandra Kuhlman, assistant professor of biological sciences, and moderated by Alison Barth, professor of biological sciences and interim director of BrainHub, will discuss these top-down and bottom-up approaches to replicate cognition: where are we now, what is likely in the near future, and what remains science fiction.

http://www.cmu.edu/research/brain/about/stories/Connectome-and-Comp-Sci-...