a biocomputer created with human brain cells opens the way to powerful machines that consume much less energy

Reality meets the craziest science fiction scenarios. The combination of microprocessors and human brain cells was made to drive a computer at a university in the United States. This is apparently very effective, especially in complex operations such as voice recognition, machine learning or the prediction of nonlinear equations.

A new generation of powerful machines

These operations are typically the kind of calculation that today requires very high computing power, that is to say data centers that consume gigawatts of electricity and tons of water. The human brain has the capacity to carry out even more complex operations while consuming very little energy. So by mixing the two, that is to say by combining brain cells with computer chips, we open the way to a new generation of machines: even more efficient and much less demanding biocomputers. This is what researchers at Indiana University in Bloomington in the United States have developed. This approach is called Brainoware and the details have just been published in the journal Nature Electronics.

Human brain cells come from stem cells, “totipotent” cells that can transform into any cell in the human body. There, in this case, the researchers made them transform into brain cells. So it has nothing to do with a “mini-brain”. Unlike the Matrix, there is no risk of a consciousness realizing that it is locked on a computer motherboard, reduced to serving as our slave. But it still raises ethical questions, because we are using human tissue in a machine.

Varying performance depending on the intelligence of the donor?

Worse, the quality of the brain cells could affect the performance of the machine. This means that we might not have the same results depending on whether the cells come from a genius or an average person, which raises questions reminiscent of eugenics.

This is an area where you will have to be very careful and ask yourself the right questions. Mixing human biology and electronics creates cyborgs.