In some ways, a single cell is more like an entire artificial neural network.
Real neurons have some amazing properties that individual neurons in ANNs do not. It's still unclear how we can exploit those properties to improve AI.
I would agree, but I don't think they're that much more interesting than the neurons of many "biologically plausible"-type neuronal nets, which allow for inhibition/exhibition, etc, but are obviously still limited in variation between individuals.
Where I think the really interesting parts missing are those in real neural circuits do, especially since the connections are more heterogenous, and the dynamics are much more fluid and time-dependent, whereas typical at-scale computer neurons obviously operate at fixed time steps, and don't exactly have bursters etc.
I wrote a very large scale distributed simulations for real neurons (straight from imaging datasets) when I was working in a TMS lab, and a longtime side project I always wanted to get going was some kind of pipeline for spitting out neuromechanical/cable-theoretic RTL tailored to specific morphologies and networking them according to their connectomes. I don't even think I would see any performance improvements, it just feels fun.
I think the timing aspect is especially interesting here. We tend to focus on making individual artificial neurons more sophisticated, but a lot of the interesting behavior might come from how the whole circuit evolves over time
Absolutely! Just look at the gastric mill circuits that have been studied for decades. Single-digit neuron counts and still has incredibly complex functionality.
yes, but I think they are egregiously wasteful of resources if your goal is to recapitulate the behavior of real neurons. Instead you can probably build a far simpler model that produces all the behaviors you want without directly simulating a neuron.
A single cell is a living and breathing (respirating) ecosystem.
DNA, the molecule and associated enzymes, is a computer in and of itself. Every dimension - from its hydration to dimensional folding - is a computational manifold.
The cell itself is a system of distributed supercomputers, a machine assembly factory, a dizzying highway and information network, and a universe. Replete with defenses, power factories, intricate and robust signal processing, and self destruct mechanisms.
Cells are amazing. Even mitochondria are amazing, BUT let's not get carried away with the sci-fi nonsense. You're projecting computer science on to biology because "we're all programmers here" and to the HN crowd (myself included) we like to see the world through comp-sci metaphors. But that's just hyperbolic and inaccurate.
No. They were observed in the 1800s, but the structure and mechanism were not elucidated until around 1970 https://www.nature.com/articles/245380a0 It was a big surprise to see elements that greatly resembled existing motors (stator, rotor, etc) and in fact was one of the things that inspired the concept of intelligent design (even though, we believe instead that it evolved spontaneously)
The problem with saying that God created life is that it doesn't actually explain anything because then you have to explain where a vastly more complex God came from. If the universe or life requires an explanation, adding an eternal God doesn't simplify the problem so we might as well cut out the middleman and view the physical world itself as the eternal starting point.
God (any god) is a comforting mythology to help explain the things in life that are hard to come to terms with, but it's a mythology, it's no different to believing in Harry Potter, or Dionysus.
Bringing the concept of God into a biology discussion is sort of embarrassing. "Intelligent design" is for the unimaginative mind. We must always be open to being wrong, evolution fits what we know now, but I'm sure in a century we'll have a better understanding and it'll be a more complete understanding, but what it won't need is a divine eternal.
The world's not flat, there is no god. Can we get back to science now.
Have you seen Attack on titan. Watching that whole show, half the time you dont know why something is happening, except that it is cool. But once you know the whole story, you can piece things together no problem.
While biology has inspired many inventions, the electric motor is not one of them. Electric motors were invented in the mid 19th century, before cells were known to be anything more than simple blobs of protoplasm, barely distinguishable under a microscope. It wasn't until high powered microscopes were invented that biologists had any clue to the previously unthinkable complexity of cellular life.
It would be mistake to assume that something which appears to be a single cell is a separate from its environment. Space connects all things and if Space happens to be awareness / consciousness then intelligence would be everywhere affecting all things.
Real neurons have some amazing properties that individual neurons in ANNs do not. It's still unclear how we can exploit those properties to improve AI.
Where I think the really interesting parts missing are those in real neural circuits do, especially since the connections are more heterogenous, and the dynamics are much more fluid and time-dependent, whereas typical at-scale computer neurons obviously operate at fixed time steps, and don't exactly have bursters etc.
I wrote a very large scale distributed simulations for real neurons (straight from imaging datasets) when I was working in a TMS lab, and a longtime side project I always wanted to get going was some kind of pipeline for spitting out neuromechanical/cable-theoretic RTL tailored to specific morphologies and networking them according to their connectomes. I don't even think I would see any performance improvements, it just feels fun.
I totally see the CheY as an intermediary layer that learned how the changes in attractant must affect mechanical activation.
DNA, the molecule and associated enzymes, is a computer in and of itself. Every dimension - from its hydration to dimensional folding - is a computational manifold.
The cell itself is a system of distributed supercomputers, a machine assembly factory, a dizzying highway and information network, and a universe. Replete with defenses, power factories, intricate and robust signal processing, and self destruct mechanisms.
The baffling intelligence of a single cell: The story of E. coli chemotaxis - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39777229 - March 2024 (213 comments)
Bringing the concept of God into a biology discussion is sort of embarrassing. "Intelligent design" is for the unimaginative mind. We must always be open to being wrong, evolution fits what we know now, but I'm sure in a century we'll have a better understanding and it'll be a more complete understanding, but what it won't need is a divine eternal.
The world's not flat, there is no god. Can we get back to science now.
The name for this kind of random connection of disparate things, implying meaning, without providing any, should be "'if' abuse".