Singapore's Biological Data Center Explained
All right. Singapore just launched a data center
powered by
living human brain cells. And before you ask whose brain cells
they're putting in the computer, the situation gets weirder.
They don't take them from somebody's brain.
This all can get started with blood from a living person, meaning
theoretically, they could put you in the data center.
I'm Giga Chan, and I'm gonna show you how this works
because Singapore now has
twenty biological computers that use real human neurons as
part of the computing system. Let's be clear.
When I said powered by, I didn't mean the neurons generate
electricity. The neurons actually process
information. So where do they get them?
Reportedly, the neurons are from blood cells that
were reprogrammed into stem
cells. And Cortical Labs, the company that makes these computers, has already
shown how personal that can get. The company's CEO says he already gave
about
ten milliliters of his blood so that the neurons could, you might have
guessed it, play with Doom. Yep, that same old video
game. You could really say that founder put his blood, sweat,
and tears into his
work. Let me tell you how all this works.
Scientists can take cells from blood and reprogram them into what is
called induced pluripotent stem cells.
That basically means resetting an adult cell to a state where it can become
multiple different cells again. Then they use chemical signals to guide
those
reset cells into becoming actual human neurons.
And no, those neurons don't contain the donor's
memories or personality, but they
do contain genetic information from the donor.
Now take at least two hundred thousand of those neurons and grow them directly
across a silicon chip covered in microscopic electrodes.
The neurons grow, connect with each other, and form a living neural
network. And this is where it becomes a computer.
The electrodes send patterns of electrical signals into the neurons.
The neurons respond by firing, and the electrodes record that response.
And yeah, software translates it back into digital
information. So information goes in as electricity,
living human neurons process it, and then information comes back out.
And since these are living cells, the computer has to actually feed
them and keep them alive. For decades, AI has
tried to make silicon imitate biological human neurons.
This time, we might be skipping the imitation.
And if you wanna know more, look up CL-one.
End of transcript · 405 words