[nesfa-reading-group] Worm consciousness into Legos.

[Wes Brodsky]

Since so many of the books we have read have to do with placing a person's
mind in another body; or in a machine; this is of interest:

https://www.statnews.com/2018/08/13/connectome-neurology-mapping-cognition/


(Click X in upper right of solicitation, if it appears, to remove it. The
URL could come disjointed; if so reassemble it; it should end with
-cognition/) 

Some interesting quotes:

"Pushing the connectome to its most extreme, enthusiasts imagine a future in
which people could achieve a form of immortality by uploading their memories
into robots."  

"Perhaps the strangest demonstration of the connectome's potential occurred
in 2015, when a group of biologists and computer scientists downloaded the
C. elegans connectome into a Lego robot. In the blocky machine, composed of
gray, beige, and red pieces, mechanical equivalents stood in for parts of
the worm's anatomy. Instead of nose neurons, the robot had a forward-facing
sonar sensor. In place of neurons controlling muscles, motors controlled two
wheels on the sides of the robot. Guided by just an abridged version of worm
consciousness, the robot behaved like its biological counterpart. When
researchers pressed the anterior and posterior touch sensors, the robot
moved forward and backward. When the worm occasionally hit a wall, it
paused, reversed its wheels with a raspy mechanical whir, and tried a
different direction"