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Brain vs Computer: The Challenge of the Century is Now Launched
Second Edition
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World Scientific
1111995577__99778899881111222255000000__TTPP..iinndddd 22 2233//1100//2200 1111::3388 AAMM
Published by
World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd.
5 Toh Tuck Link, Singapore 596224
USA office: 27 Warren Street, Suite 401-402, Hackensack, NJ 07601
UK office: 57 Shelton Street, Covent Garden, London WC2H 9HE
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Fillard, J. P., author.
Title: Brain vs computer : the challenge of the century is now launched / Jean-Pierre Fillard.
Description: Second edition. | Singapore ; Hackensack, NJ : World Scientific
Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., [2021]
Identifiers: LCCN 2020034550 | ISBN 9789811225000 (hardcover) |
ISBN 9789811226267 (paperback) | ISBN 9789811225017 (ebook) |
ISBN 9789811225024 (ebook other)
Subjects: LCSH: Neuromorphics. | Artificial intelligence. |
Human-computer interaction. | Cognitive science.
Classification: LCC TA164.4 .F55 2021 | DDC 006.3/82--dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020034550
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
Copyright © 2021 by World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd.
All rights reserved. This book, or parts thereof, may not be reproduced in any form or by any means,
electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or any information storage and retrieval
system now known or to be invented, without written permission from the publisher.
For photocopying of material in this volume, please pay a copying fee through the Copyright Clearance
Center, Inc., 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923, USA. In this case permission to photocopy
is not required from the publisher.
For any available supplementary material, please visit
https://www.worldscientific.com/worldscibooks/10.1142/11957#t=suppl
Typeset by Stallion Press
Email: [email protected]
Printed in Singapore
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“6x9” b4049 Brain vs Computer: The Challenge of the Century is Now Launched
“There is a flaw in that plan!” squeaked Scronkfinkel
— Nick Bostrom
Superintelligence
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b2530 International Strategic Relations and China’s National Security: World at the Crossroads
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“6x9” b4049 Brain vs Computer: The Challenge of the Century is Now Launched
Prologue
Why a second edition? There are two possible answers: as follow-up to a
bestselling first edition, and that many things have changed in the
meantime.
So, some words would be required to introduce this second edition.
Keeping up with the news of our times is a very fitting and challenging
task necessitating an update. This is the aim of this second edition which
is a fully revised 2020 version of Brain vs Computer: The Challenge of
the Century published in 2016.
When WSPC approached me to write a second edition, I jumped onto
the Internet to discover the latest developments in the domain of Artificial
Intelligence (AI) and was stunned by the evolution of the field in so short
a while.
Thanks to John Seabrook,1 I discovered that AI was ready to “perco-
late” through our minds with “Smart Compose”, a feature introduced by
Google in 2018, promptly followed by a “supercharged version”: GPT-2.2
As Greg Brockman cautiously puts it: “These machines haven’t been
taught to ‘love humanity’”!
What, then, is this all about? Today when you enter a text in a com-
puter, the machine will try to understand what you intend to write and
1 “The next word: Where will predictive text take us?”, John Seabrook, New Yorker,
October 14, 2019. Available at: https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2019/10/14/can-a-
machine-learn-to-write-for-the-new-yorker#
2 The release of that software was delayed, it seems, because it was considered “too good
at writing”!
vii
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b4049 Brain vs Computer: The Challenge of the Century is Now Launched “6x9”
viii Brain vs Computer: The Challenge of the Century is Now Launched
make corresponding speculations to the point that it supersedes the writer
to complete his text with its own version.
This is the first example of a clear attempt of a machine to fully com-
pete with a human brain and replace it over time.
So I am afraid that, in a near future, such a super-intelligent computer
could propose to WSPC a third version of my book and become the cel-
ebrated author!
JP Fillard
Author’s Note: Before sending the manuscript to the editor I would like
to add a new comment about the recent pandemic ravaging the whole
planet. This tiny virus reminds us that Nature has not been tamed and it
is always there to impose some humility in our triumphant walk towards
“progress”.
We are taken back to the Middle Ages when there were no remedies to
the various plagues. All our accumulated knowledge, all our intelligence
(artificial or not), all our instrumentation are (at the moment) of no use to
get a viable solution to this biological scourge. Our sophisticated micro-
scopes send us pretty images of the culprit but no way to get rid of it!
Some transhumanists would propose to mutate us into better perform-
ing electronic android copies and that would be able to protect us from
biological threats … but, alas, computer viruses will still be there!
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“6x9” b4049 Brain vs Computer: The Challenge of the Century is Now Launched
Contents
Prologue vii
Preface xvii
Introduction xix
Part 1 About Our Brain: How Does It Work? 1
Chapter 1 The Biological Hardware (Hardmeat) 5
What About the Brain? 5
Gray Matter 7
White Substance 8
Copying the Wiring 10
The Basic Cell: The Neuron 12
The Constitution 12
Biochemical Activation of the Neuron 15
Redundancy, Troubles, and Repairs 16
Biological, Biochemical, and Electrical Logic 17
Transplants 19
Methods of Analysis 19
Direct Investigations 20
EEG and related devices 20
X-ray-related methods 24
Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) 24
Positron Emission Tomography (PET) 25
Magnetoencephalography (MEG) 26
ix
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