Scientists got lab-grown human brain cells to play 'Pong'

https://www.engadget.com/brain-cells-pong-rats-182835843.html

by MrWiffles • 4 years ago

9 3 4 years ago

lioeters• 4 years ago

Scientists from a biotech startup called Cortical Labs say it's the first demonstrated example of a so-called "mini-brain" being taught to carry out goal-directed tasks.
"It is able to take in information from an external source, process it and then respond to it in real time," Dr. Brett Kagan, lead author of a paper on the research that was published in Neuron.

In vitro neurons learn and exhibit sentience when embodied in a simulated game-world - https://www.cell.com/neuron/fulltext/S0896-6273(22)00806-6

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The researchers, who believe the culture is too primitive to be conscious..

I wonder at what point do we draw the line, if any, to say organoids cultured from human brain cells over a certain size and capability is unethical to keep in a dish?

They say these neurons "exhibit sentience" in the paper's title, but at the same time believe they're "too primitive to be conscious". How advanced does it need to grow to have experience and interiority, to have feelings and thoughts? And how would we know if it's simply "mechanical" processes with no sentience or consciousness?

I don't lean one way or the other, just curious about the ethical considerations. In a way, it might be similar to experimenting with slime moulds or plants, that it's acceptable because their consciousness is primitive or non-existent, as far as we can tell.

NIL8• 4 years ago

That's a very interesting line of thought!

cout• 4 years ago

According to https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_animals_by_number_of... 800000 neurons is the same order of magnitude as a cockroach or honey bee but less but less than the simplest mammals. I'm guessing this is partly the reason the researchers believe it's not conscious.

It's also roughly the same number of neurons as a human fetus somewhere in weeks 10-13 (I can't find a good reference for this). Week 10 is around when you'd see a heartbeat for the first time so this is pretty early in fetal development. But many more neurons and we're quickly getting into an ethical quagmire.

Scientists got lab-grown human brain cells to play 'Pong'

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