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Obama’s Brain Initiative, Opportunities, and Resistance from the Status Quo

Obama’s Brain Initiative, Opportunities, and Resistance from the Status Quo. Juyang (John) Weng Computer Sci., Neurosci., Cognitive Sci. Michigan State University East Lansing, MI 49924 USA weng@msu.edu. Brain Initiatives. 4/2/2013 Obama announced his brain initiative

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Obama’s Brain Initiative, Opportunities, and Resistance from the Status Quo

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  1. Obama’s Brain Initiative,Opportunities, andResistance from the Status Quo Juyang (John) Weng Computer Sci., Neurosci., Cognitive Sci.Michigan State University East Lansing, MI 49924 USA weng@msu.edu

  2. Brain Initiatives • 4/2/2013 Obama announced his brain initiative • To get a dynamic picture of the brain • To better understand how we think, learn and remember • $100M/year plus $94M/year from private partners • EU has announced the Human Brain Project • China is preparing its own brain project

  3. What is Required for the BRAIN Project? • Foremost: address the group intelligence problem • It is not that humans do not have sufficient information about how the brain works • Enough information is out there in the vast literature • Individual humans are “blinded” by the lack of group intelligence in the human race

  4. Group • Group: Multiple agents that interact closely • Natural group: • A company, a nation, humans on the earth • Artificial group: • A group of developmental robots that use brain-like emergent representations • Mixed group: • With natural and artificial agents

  5. Group Development: Developed Countries • It is easier for a developed country (e.g., USA) to: • Form allies based on superficial friendliness • React in a short-sighted way • Disregard development as a science • It is also harder for a developed country (e.g., USA) to see a deeper causality:Group developmental program

  6. Group Development: Developing Countries • It is easier for a developing country to see: • Scientific knowledge • Advanced technology • Wealth • Weapons • It is harder for a developing country to see a deeper causality:Group developmental program

  7. The US President and BRAIN • Obama : • “This is a Nation of dreamers and risk-takers.” • “We do not just track the best scientists and entrepreneurs” • “We have not unlocked the mystery of 3 pounds of matter that sits between our ears” • “Better understand how we think, how we learn, and how we remember.” • “Presumably our life would be simpler here if it wouldexplain everything going on in Washington. (laughs)”

  8. The BRAIN Initiative’s Danger:More Data, More Local TheoriesLittle Global Theory

  9. A Mind is a Bag of Tricks? (Artificial) neural networks are analogical and scruffy. - Marvin Minsky

  10. The Brain is Not a Cascade of Areas! Felleman &Van Essen 1991

  11. Functions Experience Brain Pathways Cortex Circuits Neurons Genome Brain-Mind: A Grand Puzzle Multi-Scale nature

  12. Analogy: Power of Newton’s Theory • Newton used them to explain and investigate the motion of many physical objects and systems. • For example,Newton showed that these laws of motion, combined with his law of universal gravitation, explained Kepler's laws of planetary motion.

  13. Brain-Mind Institute:meant to serve youandto avoid the danger

  14. Brain-Mind Institute BMI 831 Cognitive Sciencefor Brain-Mind Research Instructor 2013:Juyang Weng

  15. The material is very rich and interesting …

  16. BMI 871 Introduction to ComputationalBrain-Mind Instructor 2013:Juyang Weng

  17. The Book Tells You … How aBrain-Mind Worksin Principle(and Experiments)

  18. The Book Shows … The Entire Developmental Algorithm is about2-Page Long

  19. How? For any FA there is a DN Marvin Minsky at MIT criticized ANNs FA: Finite Automaton DN: Developmental Network(Earlier called ED Network) Weng IJCNN 2010

  20. Resistance to Understanding the Brain • From government branches • From neuroscience • From cognitive science or psychology • From computer science • From electrical engineering • From mathematics

  21. From Government Branches • “If you do something small, I would fund it.” • “People do not like that you do everything (your work would tell how everything works in the brain schematically).” • Thus, only piece meal, incremental projects have been funded. • But, focused developmental brain modeling and simulation proposals have been wrongly accused “to do everything”.

  22. From Neuroscience • “I am only interested in brain areas A and B” • The brain is incorrectly considered as a homunculus body that consists of many “organs” • “Thus, each organ is sufficient to be focused on to find its roles.” • Thus, data rich, theory poor • However, our brain-scale theory predicts that there is no brain area whose role can be explained individually!

  23. From Cognitive Science • Traditionally, focused on subject behaviors • Traditionally, focused on a specific hypothesis • “How the brain works? Not my problem” • Incorrectly assumed that area A does x and y.

  24. From Computer Science • Misled early on by the Turing Test • Misled by Von Neumann computers • ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE should be predominantly "ARTIFICIAL" -- it need not compute by simulating the humanmind. • “If the R&N text is inadequate, then the new Weng book will be even more limiting”

  25. From Electrical Engineering • Mature theories for linear systems • Immature theories for nonlinear system • Lack of knowledge in artificial intelligence methods • But, the brain is a general-purpose nonlinear system that self-programs

  26. From Mathematics • Typically, mathematicians are satisfied with proving an open theorem • Importance? Well, let the future sort it out • But the brain is a mathematical problem! • The new brain math will solve many well-known practical math problems

  27. Great opportunitiesfor all of you!

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