Biological Computing: More Than a Reaction

There is something about the language we use around technology that can make extraordinary things sound remarkably ordinary.

Inputs, outputs, feedback loops and adaptive behaviour are familiar computing concepts. We have spent decades designing systems that respond to changing conditions, and more recently become accustomed to artificial intelligence being trained through reward and reinforcement.

Replace the software with cultured human neurons, however, and some of those familiar descriptions start to feel slightly different.

Not because we know the neurons are experiencing anything.

Because we don’t.

Teaching Neurons to Play

One of the most interesting aspects of biological computing is not simply that neurons can be connected to a computer. It is that their behaviour can change in response to the environment created around them.

Cortical Labs demonstrated this with its earlier DishBrain research, where cultured neurons were connected through electrodes to a simplified version of ‘Pong’.

The neurons were obviously not watching a screen. Information about the position of the ball was translated into patterns of electrical stimulation delivered through the electrodes. Electrical activity…