Open worm, possibly the first AI

[fredreload]

This is the open worm project. It is similar to my idea of how the brain should be simulated. Our brain consists of neurons, and it is these neurons' firing that constitutes the consciousness and behavior. So how do you know this is the worm's neuron at work instead of just a random number generator. Well one thing they did is they run the worm's brain with a lego body, and surprisingly, when the body hits a wall, it retracts, similar to a worm's behavior. It is not likely for a random number generator to generate this behavior. There are probably many arguments saying this is not an AI, but I haven't thought of those, it is up to you to bring them up.

 

As gross as it seems, this is a starting point. Why do they start with this worm? Because it has the least number of neurons around 300 and last time I've heard it has about 7500 synapses. It is a number that is pretty reasonable for the current computer to handle. The webpage says it has a hardware simulation with the Amazon's Cloud Computing device, but I wasn't able to get any information from this, so if anyone has any information on it let me know.

 

Now what is the significance of having this application? Well, once we get the worm to work, we can start building and simulating animals with bigger neurons, and eventually a human. The idea is that we can transfer our consciousness into this virtual thing once we create an empty shell in the computer, but that is a huge leap from what we are doing currently. As well as being a speculation on my part.

 

Anyway I didn't run the worm program, I've only read of this site and know there are projects like this. Let me know what you think and if this can be considered an AI. Possibly you Strange, many thanks