EBP: The Ersatz Brain Project

This project is an attempt to design a computer suitable for the efficient execution of software that displays human-like cognitive abilities. Examples of such software applications include natural language understanding, text processing, conceptually based internet search, natural human-computer interfaces, cognitively based data mining, sensor fusion, and image understanding. The architecture is based on mammalian neocortex. Although we do not think that it is possible to instantiate a true cortical model, we feel that a model that borrows key elements from cortical design is a critical starting point computing systems with the power, flexibility, and subtlety of the actual brain. In Phase 1 of the Ersatz Brain Project (EBP ) we expanded our original conception to include a computationally richer representational architecture than the originally proposed two-dimensional locally connected lattice. Additionally, through simulations, we have discovered how powerful learning rules can be easily incorporated into the EBP.