Hundreds of thousands of brain cells in a dish are being taught to play Pong by responding to pulses of electricity – and can improve their performance more quickly than an AI can
Look on the bright side, maybe the Chinese government will eventually be able to use this kind of technology to alleviate human suffering and do better urban planning or something.
Wouldn't even need to do that if this is something that can be done by just growing some brain cells, which seems to be the case. Though I guess imagine the power of a whole one if one could figure out how to make use of all the neurons and structures etc. Damn, ok, yeah, stick my brain at the start of a train, hell yeah :traingang:
theres no practical use for this tech outside of increased computation capacity, which we already have plenty of for realistic purposes
edit: unless you plan to do rationalist-style infinite people computer simulation heaven, but idk how practical that is with organic brains given they have a cap for computational capacity
Oh I mean it's impossible to know what the potential use or ramifications of this are, given a pop sci article about fucking Pong.
Wouldn't take this too seriously.
also if it doesn't require rare earth metals it's inherently more sustainable if you don't need large computers to run it, which would have long term benefits.
And multiple different kinds of brain cells arranged in a specific way, and a container, and a nervous system it's not capable of operating or living without.
Cells can't think. Neither can collections of cells in petri dishes. This (the content of this article) really doesn't seem like anything worth worrying about - it's just sensationalist pop-science nonsense.
Corollary to the idea of this being a living, thinking being with rights would be that a fetus is also a living, thinking being with rights - much more so. I think basically everyone here agrees that that isn't the case.
Brain cells detached from a body aren't conscious beings though... Neither is a brain, obviously. There's nothing sapient about this. Just a few comrades shitposting about a better world in the face of manmade horrors beyond our comprehension. Chill a bit, climate collapse makes this all a bit of a moot point anyway.
It's a gestalt composed of myriad human sensory inputs, long term growth and development, human sociality, etc. I think you're kind of having the ole stem cell response about this brain cell thing. Consciousness is processed through the brain, but consciousness alone isn't even particularly interesting. Unless you're :im-vegan: then you accept a lot of the enslavement of consciousness in daily life. I think your issue is the idea of enslaving sapience for computing power, and on those terms I'd agree with you. But again, that's a very far cry from anything anyone here has been talking about.
Anyone with a job is also being enslaved for their computational powers by evil capitalists. That's just literally using your brain at all for anything related to work.
Sapience should not be used as a ruler for morality
Sure, but I hope you can see that this isn't something everyone agrees on, or even is specific enough to have a debate about without having some broader moral framework. And even then, again, it's not even clear if we're discussing conscious human minds. I really don't think we are.
Yeah, a sane society would absolutely be considering this a lot more than just the fever dreams of whatever neoliberal scientists and lizard people capitalists think sounds cool.
Look on the bright side, maybe the Chinese government will eventually be able to use this kind of technology to alleviate human suffering and do better urban planning or something.
Honestly, donating my brain to the urbanism meatbot sounds pretty dope
Wouldn't even need to do that if this is something that can be done by just growing some brain cells, which seems to be the case. Though I guess imagine the power of a whole one if one could figure out how to make use of all the neurons and structures etc. Damn, ok, yeah, stick my brain at the start of a train, hell yeah :traingang:
what the fuck is wrong with yall
theres no practical use for this tech outside of increased computation capacity, which we already have plenty of for realistic purposes
edit: unless you plan to do rationalist-style infinite people computer simulation heaven, but idk how practical that is with organic brains given they have a cap for computational capacity
Oh I mean it's impossible to know what the potential use or ramifications of this are, given a pop sci article about fucking Pong.
Wouldn't take this too seriously.
also if it doesn't require rare earth metals it's inherently more sustainable if you don't need large computers to run it, which would have long term benefits.
if enslaving conscious beings is required for "sustainable" computing then fuck computing no cap
This is a collection of brain cells, it's not a conscious being.
??? my brain is a collection of brain cells. Am I not conscious?
Your brain is much more than a bunch of cells in a dish.
not really, it's just a big dish with a specific pattern
And multiple different kinds of brain cells arranged in a specific way, and a container, and a nervous system it's not capable of operating or living without.
Cells can't think. Neither can collections of cells in petri dishes. This (the content of this article) really doesn't seem like anything worth worrying about - it's just sensationalist pop-science nonsense.
Corollary to the idea of this being a living, thinking being with rights would be that a fetus is also a living, thinking being with rights - much more so. I think basically everyone here agrees that that isn't the case.
Brain cells detached from a body aren't conscious beings though... Neither is a brain, obviously. There's nothing sapient about this. Just a few comrades shitposting about a better world in the face of manmade horrors beyond our comprehension. Chill a bit, climate collapse makes this all a bit of a moot point anyway.
where do you think consciousness is, then
It's a gestalt composed of myriad human sensory inputs, long term growth and development, human sociality, etc. I think you're kind of having the ole stem cell response about this brain cell thing. Consciousness is processed through the brain, but consciousness alone isn't even particularly interesting. Unless you're :im-vegan: then you accept a lot of the enslavement of consciousness in daily life. I think your issue is the idea of enslaving sapience for computing power, and on those terms I'd agree with you. But again, that's a very far cry from anything anyone here has been talking about.
Anyone with a job is also being enslaved for their computational powers by evil capitalists. That's just literally using your brain at all for anything related to work.
I am :im-vegan: though
We absolutely should not "accept the enslavement of consciousness in daily life". Fuck that
Sapience should not be used as a ruler for morality
Sure, but I hope you can see that this isn't something everyone agrees on, or even is specific enough to have a debate about without having some broader moral framework. And even then, again, it's not even clear if we're discussing conscious human minds. I really don't think we are.
I think the ambiguity is enough to make it something that would be banned in a sane society until we learn more
abortion isn't as ambiguous, for instance, so that's fine
Yeah, a sane society would absolutely be considering this a lot more than just the fever dreams of whatever neoliberal scientists and lizard people capitalists think sounds cool.
The consciousness is stored in the balls
sounds like the weird longtermism shit, no thanks