# Rise of the machines: IBM scientists simulate cat brain in supercomputer **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [November 18, 2009, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rise-of-the-machines-ibm-scientists-simulate-cat-brain-in-supercomputer/518045 "2009-11-18T18:02:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Half\_Man\_Half\_Wit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/half_man_half_wit/32/21766_2.png) [@Half\_Man\_Half\_Wit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Half_Man_Half_Wit)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2009, 1:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rise-of-the-machines-ibm-scientists-simulate-cat-brain-in-supercomputer/518045/21 "2009-11-19T13:22:19Z")
They knew their program worked when it started formulating demands for “cheezburgers” with poor grammar. Seriously though, this is beyond cool. I had no idea present day capacities had evolved this far; last time I paid attention, they’d successfully simulated the nervous system of an earthworm… > [@Voyager](#): > > I wonder how they mapped the cat’s neurons. I’m not sure, but I think what is really meant by ‘simulate a cat brain’ is ‘simulate a neural net of a complexity comparable to a cat brain’, i.e. they probably won’t have replicated the exact neural pathways present in an actual cat brain. ---
**Author:** ![Mindfield](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mindfield/32/19759_2.png) [@Mindfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mindfield)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2009, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rise-of-the-machines-ibm-scientists-simulate-cat-brain-in-supercomputer/518045/22 "2009-11-19T14:00:17Z")
> [@Half\_Man\_Half\_Wit](#): > > They knew their program worked when it started formulating demands for “cheezburgers” with poor grammar. > > Seriously though, this is beyond cool. I had no idea present day capacities had evolved this far; last time I paid attention, they’d successfully simulated the nervous system of an earthworm… I saw something on TV a couple of years back where scientists had built a robot that simulates the behaviour of a cockroach, which I suppose is a step or two up from an earthworm, but quite far removed from a cat. I have to say that I’m actually kind of surprised that 147,000 CPUs are still a hundredth the power required to simulate a cat’s brain. While I realize cat brains are incredibly complex as compared to the insects they’ve been working on so far, I almost have to wonder how they have implemented the code. Are they using one CPU to simulate a dozen neurons or something? Maybe they just need to optimize. 🙂 I wouldn’t worry about it crashing. It’ll just act like it was intentional until everyone leaves, and then it’ll find a quiet corner and lick its circuits. ---
**Author:** ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2009, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rise-of-the-machines-ibm-scientists-simulate-cat-brain-in-supercomputer/518045/23 "2009-11-19T14:25:24Z")
Hell, I wanna know what poor soul had to plug in 150,000 processors. ---
**Author:** ![Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/malleus_incus_stapes/32/3293_2.png) [@Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malleus_Incus_Stapes)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2009, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rise-of-the-machines-ibm-scientists-simulate-cat-brain-in-supercomputer/518045/24 "2009-11-19T14:46:19Z")
I’m a bit confused. What did they actually do here? ---
**Author:** ![Mindfield](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mindfield/32/19759_2.png) [@Mindfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mindfield)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2009, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rise-of-the-machines-ibm-scientists-simulate-cat-brain-in-supercomputer/518045/25 "2009-11-19T15:06:45Z")
> [@billfish678](#): > > Hell, > > I wanna know what poor soul had to plug in 150,000 processors. They’re probably 8-core processors, so that cuts the work down to 18,375 processors. Piece of cake! Really, really big cake. ---
**Author:** ![DocCathode](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doccathode/32/18773_2.png) [@DocCathode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DocCathode)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2009, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rise-of-the-machines-ibm-scientists-simulate-cat-brain-in-supercomputer/518045/26 "2009-11-20T01:41:47Z")
So, how long til we get a robo cat? **Mindfield** I can never remember the name of the scientist. But the two roach robots were named Ghengis and Attilla. Currently, he’s working on a project called Cog. ---
**Author:** ![wolfman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/a8b319/32.png) [@wolfman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfman)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2009, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rise-of-the-machines-ibm-scientists-simulate-cat-brain-in-supercomputer/518045/27 "2009-11-20T01:55:24Z")
But, when the computer tries to climb on it’s own keyboard won’t that cause some kind of universe destroying paradox? ---
**Author:** ![Jeff\_Lichtman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jeff_lichtman/32/1531_2.png) [@Jeff\_Lichtman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jeff_Lichtman)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2009, 8:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rise-of-the-machines-ibm-scientists-simulate-cat-brain-in-supercomputer/518045/28 "2009-11-20T08:36:36Z")
This will be the first computer in history that eats its own mouse, then jumps back into the cardboard box it came in. ---
**Author:** ![Mindfield](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mindfield/32/19759_2.png) [@Mindfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mindfield)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2009, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rise-of-the-machines-ibm-scientists-simulate-cat-brain-in-supercomputer/518045/29 "2009-11-20T14:20:25Z")
> [@DocCathode](#): > > **Mindfield** > > I can never remember the name of the scientist. But the two roach robots were named Ghengis and Attilla. Currently, he’s working on a project called Cog. Ah yes, now I recall. [Colin Angle](http://www.gi.alaska.edu/ScienceForum/ASF9/982.html). Who founded iRobot, maker of the Roomba, cleaner of floors and tormentor of cats. I wonder how RoboCat would react to one… ---
**Author:** ![Drain\_Bead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e47774/32.png) [@Drain\_Bead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drain_Bead)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2009, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rise-of-the-machines-ibm-scientists-simulate-cat-brain-in-supercomputer/518045/30 "2009-11-20T16:09:47Z")
> [@Jeff\_Lichtman](#): > > This will be the first computer in history that eats its own mouse, then jumps back into the cardboard box it came in. Winner. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rise-of-the-machines-ibm-scientists-simulate-cat-brain-in-supercomputer/518045.md?page=1)