Researchers from the University of California and Purdue University believe they have taken a huge step towards the creation of the first quantum brain. A kind of neuromorphic computing capable of emulating the behavior of neural networks that are present in the human brain.
Until now, the creation of a quantum brain had only been part of science fiction as well as the desire of the most staunch researchers of quantum devices. Why? For the plain and simple reason that there were not adequate materials to support such technology. Like our own brain, neuromorphic computing not only requires artificial intelligence and self-learning neural networks. It also needs materials that are capable of storing and processing a large amount of information under efficient energy conditions. In other words, not only does software occupy an important place in device development, but hardware is equally important and can sometimes become a real problem.
However, a few months ago, a group of researchers from the Netherlands announced the creation of an intelligent material that could support the long-awaited quantum brain. Using cobalt atoms in black phosphorous and manipulated by scanning tunnel microscopy, they obtained atomic-scale machine learning hardware. The perfect material to develop a quantum brain.
Pursuing neuromorphic computing
The previous invention has now been joined by the contributions of Alex Frañó and his team of quantum materials investigators from the University of San Diego California and Purdue University. They have simulated the basis for new types of artificial intelligence computing devices that emulate brain functions. They did this by combining supercomputing materials with specialized oxides. With this, they successfully demonstrated the spine of circuit networks and devices that reflect the neuronal connectivity, along with the synapses in bio-based neural networks.
“Neuromorphic computing is inspired by the emerging processes of millions of neurons, axons, and dendrites that are connected throughout our body in an extremely complex nervous system,” explains Frañó. Thus came the idea of creating devices that could be controlled at the nanoscale with helium and hydrogen, which emulates the way neurons form synapses in the human brain.
“It will have the ability to learn and adapt”
Once they’d succeeded in simulating the operation of these looping devices, they raised the stakes. Their goal is to increase the connection capacity between these devices until they “create a very large and complex network, which will have the ability to learn and adapt.” That is, they hope to take an important step that will lead them to the creation of the first quantum brain.
The human brain is like a Pandora box that not even the most skilled neuroscientists have been able to fully decipher. To think of building a device that emulates its functions and that also has hardware similar to the human central nervous system is something hard to believe. If achieved, then humanity would be playing God and, most likely, more inventions of this style would emerge that would eventually surpass humanity’s sense. For now, scientists are content to mimic the most basic functions of nature’s most skilled and complex organ, the human brain.
Text and photos courtesy of Ecoosfera
Translated by Gaby Flores
