The Computer and the Brain

A Half-Day Seminar

Gottfried Luderer

Arizona State University, USA

We present a collection of thoughts on the potential impact of brain research on the future evolution of computers. There could very well be a breakthrough ahead similar to the discovery of DNA with comparable impact on technology and society. We look at some recent results and efforts in brain research from the viewpoint of computer science. This is a highly speculative undertaking and not a thorough review of existing research. We are starting with a bottom-up approach, initially looking at the mechanisms used by single neurons to process and communicate signals.  Moving up the scale, we look at the nature of processes running in the brain. At the top level, we are interested in the problem of representing consciousness.

Some of the questions are: How would a circuit to model neurons look? Are there new programming paradigms to mimic brain activity in computers? How could one deal in computers with the amount of connectivity present in the brain? What is the nature of intelligence?  What role do emotions play in mental processes? How does the brain deal with the differences between data, information, and meaning – the so-called qualia problem? What human features can be represented in a robot? What is consciousness,  and could it be represented in circuitry? What are some expert predictions or speculations about future directions the computer technology might take?

We conclude with some philosophical   considerations like the mind/body problem culminating in the age-old question of the nature of the human soul.

Biography:
 

Dr. Gottfried W. R. Luderer was appointed Professor, ISS Chair of Telecommunication, at Arizona State University in the Fall of 1990. His current research program in networking includes work in the areas of control of ISDN/Broadband ISDN networks, mobile communication networks, and multimedia communication, which ranges from call processing for intelligent network services to network management.

Research emphasis is on advanced software technologies for development of telecommunication networks, as used in switches, for signaling and in network management, with a focus on object and component technology and formal definition techniques. Besides the academic involvement at the university, Dr. Luderer has been teaching short courses since 1992 on high-speed networks and telecommunication software architecture in various countries. From 1965 to 1989, Dr. Luderer was with AT&T Bell Labs, at last directing research on next generation switch architectures, based on fast packet switching technology on the hardware side and object-oriented design technology on the software side, resulting in some of the earliest demonstration networks for multimedia communication. Dr. Luderer holds Diplomingenieur (M.S) and Dr.-Ing. (Ph.D) degrees in Electrical Engineering from the Technical University of Braunschweig, Germany. He holds two patents. While at Bell Labs, he taught at Stevens Institute of Technology in Hoboken, NJ, and at Princeton University. He is member of ACM, IEEE, IEEE Computer and Communication Societies.