Here's the rationale for the Blue Brain Project and Human Brain Project (and I guess for this, but I'm not familiar with this work):
We understand a lot about how the brain works at the low-level (neuroscience, molecular biology, epigenetics, etc.), and a lot about how it works at the high-level (psychology, cognitive science, social sciences, etc.). But there's a big void in between where we know precious little, and don't really have the research methods to investigate well.
So the purpose of these projects is to bridge the gap using simulation. The hypothesis is that if you simulate the low-level parts in exquisite detail, the high-level phenomena should appear as emergent properties. If there's any difference, the hypothesis continues, then that implies that your knowledge of the low-level parts is incomplete.
The Blue Brain Project has had success in this matter; here's one off the top of my head: a couple years ago when they wired up the first neocortical column (a cylinder of brain tissue about 0.5mm x 2mm containing something like 10k neurons that acts as a unit in the mammalian neocortex), they simulated it over several seconds of real-time. They found that it showed a pulsing behaviour that bears a striking resemblance (in frequency and shape) to alpha waves visible on an old-fashioned EEG. Is it a coincidence? Possibly, but it's also very tantalizing.
Here's the rationale for the Blue Brain Project and Human Brain Project (and I guess for this, but I'm not familiar with this work):
We understand a lot about how the brain works at the low-level (neuroscience, molecular biology, epigenetics, etc.), and a lot about how it works at the high-level (psychology, cognitive science, social sciences, etc.). But there's a big void in between where we know precious little, and don't really have the research methods to investigate well.
So the purpose of these projects is to bridge the gap using simulation. The hypothesis is that if you simulate the low-level parts in exquisite detail, the high-level phenomena should appear as emergent properties. If there's any difference, the hypothesis continues, then that implies that your knowledge of the low-level parts is incomplete.
The Blue Brain Project has had success in this matter; here's one off the top of my head: a couple years ago when they wired up the first neocortical column (a cylinder of brain tissue about 0.5mm x 2mm containing something like 10k neurons that acts as a unit in the mammalian neocortex), they simulated it over several seconds of real-time. They found that it showed a pulsing behaviour that bears a striking resemblance (in frequency and shape) to alpha waves visible on an old-fashioned EEG. Is it a coincidence? Possibly, but it's also very tantalizing.