The Singularity is Near: When Humans Transcend Biology

by Ray Kurzweil

Functional simulation of the brain is sufficient to re-create human powers of pattern recognition, intellect, and emotional intelligence. On the other hand, if we want to “upload” a particular person’s personality (that is, capture all of his or her knowledge, skills, and personality, a concept I will explore in greater detail at the end of chapter 4), then we may need to simulate neural processes at the level of individual neurons and portions of neurons, such as the soma (cell body), axon (output connection), dendrites (trees of incoming connections), and synapses (regions connecting axons and dendrites). For this, we need to look at detailed models of individual neurons. The “fan out” (number of interneuronal connections) per neuron is estimated at 103. With an estimated 1011 neurons, that’s about 1014 connections. With a reset time of five milliseconds, that comes to about 1016 synaptic transactions per second.