Synthetic Dreams: Artificial Intelligence And The Human Brain

Might it someday be possible to manufacture sentient machines? Can we provide humans with android bodies or upload their minds into artificial brains? What are the similarities between brains and computers? Should we fear machine intelligence?

To address these questions, we’ll start by reviewing the neuroscience that’s taking us closer to unraveling the mystery of consciousness. We’ll examine the architecture of computers compared with the mechanisms by which human brains retrieve, store and process information, and we’ll discuss the difference between intelligence and consciousness and the challenges involved in creating artificial brains.

Paul Bracken is a science educator, author and former Regional Coordinator for the Planetary Society. In the past he worked with Carl Sagan on the promotion of planetary exploration and the search for extraterrestrial intelligence.  Paul is the author of Gilgamesh in the 21st Century: A Personal Quest to Understand Mortality.  The book will be available for purchase when we go to dinner at nearby restaurant.