Some time ago quite a big innovation has been done. It is a “mini-brain” that can play pong. Just by itself. It is made of about 800 million living brain cells in a dish that analyzes neuron activity. Researchers from Cortical Labs have shared this video:
It shows how their “brain” works. What is impressive in this research is that it took about 90 minutes for AI to learn this task, and mini-brain it took about 5 minutes! But it should be said that AI, after learning, performed better.
The chief scientific officer said, “We often refer to them [brain cells] as living in the Matrix”. These words raise some questions like, will we witness a real-life matrix? Researchers used human pluripotent stem cells to conduct their research. While its duration, the mini-brain was learning how to play the game best and it implies that the brain could be conscious. Everyone uses many kinds of electronic devices that use AI. If this technology became more popular and instead, we used brains that are conscious, we could be witnesses of the matrix. In my opinion, this type of technology raises some important questions about the consciousness of these brains, and whether using them in a “matrix” is moral or not.
Sources:
https://mindmatters.ai/2021/12/are-the-brain-cells-in-a-dish-that-learned-pong-conscious/
https://www.ign.com/articles/pong-human-brain-cells-faster-learn-ai
It’s amazing what a human can do, very interesting