2012: The connectome, WBE and AGI

Abstract

In order to grasp the entire complexity of the human nervous system, one needs to understand its physical substrate. Down to which level should a whole brain emulation keep all the structural details of the brain in order to achieve all of the functions of the biological brain? While a computer program could easily be emulated in order to achieve the same specified function, the human brain is a special case because of its enormously complex functions. For this reason, causal relations between brain structure and function are currently being made in neuroscience. Neuroscientific research is in this sense supporting WBE and therefore AGI, by providing important data, models and simulations of brain functions. The goals of this paper are to review the challenges for gathering and assembling connectome data and to provide directions for overcoming these challenges. Finally, the implications for AGI will be discussed. © 2012 Springer-Verlag.