Future of Humanity Institute

En uppfinnare inom kemin eller fysiken är alltid en Prometheus. Det finns ingen uppfinning, från elden till flygkonsten, som inte har anklagats för att vara en skymf mot en eller annan gud. Men om varje kemisk eller fysikalisk uppfinning är en hädelse, är varje biologisk uppfinning en perversion. Det finns knappast en enda som, när den först uppmärksammades av en iakttagare från en nation som inte tidigare hört talas om dess existens, inte av denne betraktats som opassande eller onaturlig.

“See” is a software framework for simulation of biologically detailed and artificial neural networks and systems. It includes an general purpose scripting language, based on Scheme, which also can be used interactively, while the basic framework is written in C++. Models can be built on the Scheme level from “simulation objects”, each representing a population of neurons, a projection, etc. The simulator provides a flexible and efficient protocol for data transfer between such objects.

Vi har valt att studera effekterna av ett medelstort meteoritnedslag i ett tätbefolkat område. Diskussioner om meteoritfaror handlar ofta om långdistans-och globala effekter av större meteoriter snarare än den direkta förödelsen orsakad av ett plötsligt nedslag av en medelstor meteorit (Lewis 1999, Paine 2000). Sannolikheten för sådana nedslag är större och förvarnings-och åtgärdsmöjligheterna betydligt mindre. Dessutom blir det möjligt att närmare studera hur samhället reagerar på katastrofen genom mer detaljerade effekter.

Abstract The work presented in this thesis deals with neural network models of human memory based on the Bayesian Confidence Propagation Neural Network (BCPNN). The focus is to explore how a model derived from a statistical framework can link more abstract top-down cognitive models with biologically plausible cortex models.

Abstract. The ISO/DIS 26262 standard on functional safety for road vehicles has a wide implication on the need for information exchange among partners in the automotive domain. As most development today is distributed among several companies and departments, it is important that all information exchange is precise enough to enable the OEM to take full responsibility of the entire functional safety.

Abstract Differences in cognitive aging rates among mammals suggest that the pace of brain aging is genetically determined. In this work, we investigate the possibility that brain aging is an extension of brain development. It is possible that a subset of developmental mechanisms are extreme cases of antagonistic pleiotropy in that they are necessary for reaching adulthood and yet later cause age-related diseases.

Abstract Cognitive enhancement takes many and diverse forms. Various methods of cognitive enhancement have implications for the near future. At the same time, these technologies raise a range of ethical issues. For example, they interact with notions of authenticity, the good life, and the role of medicine in our lives. Present and anticipated methods for cognitive enhancement also create challenges for public policy and regulation.

Anthropogenic climate change is arguably one of the biggest problems that confront us today. There is ample evidence that climate change is likely to affect adversely many aspects of life for all people around the world, and that existing solutions such as geoengineering might be too risky and ordinary behavioural and market solutions might not be sufficient to mitigate climate change.

Abstract Large-scale, coherent, but highly transient networks of neurons,'neuronal assemblies', operate over a sub-second time frame. Such assemblies of brain cells need not necessarily respect well-defined anatomical compartmentalisation, but represent an intermediate level of brain organisation between identified brain regions and individual neurons dependent on the activity status of the synaptic connections and axonal projections.

Abstract This paper reviews the evolutionary history and biology of love and marriage. It examines the current and imminent possibilities of biological manipulation of lust, attraction and attachment, so called neuroenhancement of love. We examine the arguments for and against these biological interventions to influence love. We argue that biological interventions offer an important adjunct to psychosocial interventions, especially given the biological limitations inherent in human love.

Cognitive enhancement aims at amplifying or extending the abilities of the mind through internal or external hardware or software. Up until recently only internal software in the form of trained efficient mental algorithms and the general enhancing effects of paperbased information management was available. As cognitive neuroscience has advanced the range of potential internal enhancement treatments have increased 3, as well as the availability and power of external hardware/software support.

Abstract The dynamics and storage capacity of a Bayesian Confidence Propagation Neural Network (BCPNN) with hypercolumns is studied. Hypercolumns is a concept derived from the local connectivity seen between neurons in cortex. The BCPNN has recurrent connections and it is used as an autoassociative memory. A parallel implementation of the BCPNN is used to run simulations of large BCPNN.

Abstract A continuously learning system needs to gradually forget old information in order to avoid catastrophic forgetting. This can be achieved by allowing new information to overwrite old, a so-called palimpsest memory. This paper describes an incremental learning rule based on the Bayesian con dence propagation network that has palimpsest properties when applied to a Hop eld-like neural network.

Capacity limited memory systems need to gradually forget old information in order to avoid catastrophic forgetting where all stored information is lost. This can be achieved by allowing new information to overwrite old, as in the so-called palimpsest memory. This paper describes a new such learning rule employed in an attractor neural network. The network does not exhibit catastrophic forgetting, has a capacity dependent on the learning time constant and exhibits recency effects in retrieval.

The strength of a memory trace is modulated by a variety of factors such as arousal, attention, context, type of processing during encoding, salience and novelty of the experience. Some of these factors can be modeled as a variable plasticity level in the memory system, controlled by arousal or relevance-estimating systems. We demonstrate that a Bayesian confidence propagation neural network with learning time constant modulated in this way exhibits enhanced recall of an item tagged as salient.

Medicine is a deeply technological endeavor, both using and driving the development of the latest science and engineering. As more and more people grow older and seek to take charge over their own health, technology advances faster and the core principles of life are being understood, medical technology is advancing at an ever faster rate.

Summary During the last few decades we have seen a convergence among ideas and hypotheses regarding functional principles underlying human memory. Hebb's now more than fifty years old conjecture concerning synaptic plasticity and cell assemblies, formalized mathematically as attractor neural networks, has remained among the most viable and productive theoretical frameworks. It suggests plausible explanations for Gestalt aspects of active memory like perceptual completion, reconstruction and rivalry.

Abstract Human beings are a marvel of evolved complexity. Such systems can be difficult to enhance. When we manipulate complex evolved systems which are poorly understood, our interventions often fail or backfire. It can appear as if there is a “wisdom of nature” which we ignore at our peril. Sometimes the belief in nature's wisdom–and corresponding doubts about the prudence of tampering with nature, especially human nature–manifest as diffusely moral objections against enhancement.

Abstract The central question of development is: how does structure emerge from a structureless state without an external organizing force? The answer seems to be that self-organizing processes are able to produce complex structures from simple initial states. In biological systems a major factor appears to be diffusion of chemical factors guiding growth or differentiation. The interaction between different diffusible factors can create pattern forming instabilities giving rise to differentiation of initially homogeneous tissue.

Recent models of the oculomotor delayed response task have been based on the assumption that working memory is stored as a persistent activity state (a'bump'state). The delay activity is maintained by a finely tuned synaptic weight matrix producing a line attractor. Here we present an alternative hypothesis, that fast Hebbian synaptic plasticity is the mechanism underlying working memory.