Alt-BEAM Archive
Message #10857
To: beam@sgiblab.sgi.com
From: Mike Kulesza [mailto:mikekulesza@hotmail.com]
Date: Fri, 25 Feb 2000 12:48:04 -0600
Subject: Re: IC Chip Trouble
>In the master-slave setup it says to use 74hct240e.
>I was woundering if I could change that to a 74LS245N or a 74LS244N?
>Any help is thanked
use the 74HCT240 or 74HC240. Dont worry about the last character, the "e",
its the manufacturer's business. But if it says to use 74XX240, don't use
the 245 or 244 or anything else, theyre different chips! The last 3 numbers
are the type of chip, and the letters in the middle are the version OF that
chip type.
______________________________________________________
10858 Fri, 25 Feb 2000 12:22:51 -0700 [alt-beam] Re: BEAM: Tendency toward miniaturization beam@sgiblab.sgi.com robertm@idcomm.com (Robert Morris) At 07:46 AM 2/25/00 -0600, Terry Newton wrote:
>I've heard of that... even studied it and came to the conclusion that
>FPGA's draw too much power :) But a neural net does not make a brain,
>it's just a net - processes inputs into outputs. No matter how many
>millions you pack together it is what it is and no more. Just bigger.
>And the bigger they are, the longer it takes them to learn.
True, I agree with you there, I could probably heat my apartment with that
device.
And I agree that using digital logic for large neural nets will only
produce more digital logic,
not a living brain. But if you reduce the size and power requirements and
use analog circuits
for the neurons, the possibility for life is much higher.
I believe that analog circuitry(at least partially) and a robot body is a
requirement for a
machine to "become" alive or have a consciousness. This is because a
digital computer sitting
on a desk cannot gain any experience or be influenced by the constantly
changing analog reality
that we live in.
This is why I have been interested in BEAM, while not perfect, Nv/Nu
circuits can be affected
by the outside environment to a certain extent. What is needed is for
someone to develop
a VLSI chip containing large quantities of Nv/Nu circuits in which the RC
time constants
can be electronically adjusted and the interconnection between them can be
changed and
re changed to any configuration desired. Then I believe using a number of
these chips, it
may be possible to see some very lifelike qualities emerging.
To understand a little why I believe a-life is possible, here is a thought
experiment:
If we were to take an electronic circuit that acted exactly like a
biological neuron
(scientists have done this), scale this down to the size and power
requirements of
the real thing and begin to replace the neurons in the human brain with them,
when would we cease to become a living conscious entity?
Would it be after the first one, 50%, 99%,!00% ?
And I guess here is my main point, how would we be able to tell the difference?
Robert Morris
P.S. The quantum experiment I talked about is real, I'll see if I can
find the article if you
would like.
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