Blue Brain Project
To accelerate economic development, human beings use the collective creative intelligence of their brains to change the world. From Hong Kong’s International Finance Centre, Kuala Lumpur’s Petronas Twin Towers, Shanghai’s World Financial Centre, Taipei 101 to Dubai’s newly opened Burj Khalifa, these tallest buildings are the expression of prosperity and human intelligence. Though we know human brain potentials are boundless, scientist knows little about the complex structure of the brain. Years after years, they have endeavored in studying and exploring the mysterious and staggering human brain.
Four years ago, Karen Wilkinson-Wigham from the United Kingdom almost died from TB meningitis. By some miracle she survived the potentially fatal condition, but has then suffered from the resulting short-term memory loss which cannot be cured. She later married and gave birth to her son, George. As Karen cannot remember things from one minute to the next, she has to write down every detail about her son’s growth in a notebook so as to remember the progress like every good mum. Today, as so much about how brains work remains a mystery, there is still no cure for many brain diseases.
I learnt from the newspaper that Henry Markram, Professor at the Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, has been leading the Blue Brain Project funded by the Swiss government, research grants from the European Union and private donations. The project involves the use of a Blue Gene supercomputer to create a synthetic brain. The Professor believes the world's first artificial conscious and intelligent mind is expected to be completed by 2018.
If it is going to happen, the advanced humanoid robots appeared in A.I. Artificial Intelligence may become a reality in less than 10 years. Today, we have no idea about if a synthetic brain or its brain components can be comparable to human ones. And before its born, a synthetic brain will bring up ethical issues which will spur debate all over the world. The arrival of artificial intelligence means that scientists can reconstruct the organization of human brain functional networks at any time. The boundary line between humans and animals and the different between humans and machines will gradually vanish and leave a lot of questions for philosophers and ethics advocates.
For thousands of years, humans’ highly developed intelligence in the brain distinguishes humankind from other animals and gives meaning to the world we are in. The Blue Brain Project aims at bringing us closer to a better understanding of the human brain. If it can be properly and exclusively run for the benefits to human, such as giving insights into brain diseases and mental retardation like memory loss and Alzheimer's disease, it will give hope to many people.
Humans endeavored to turn the impossible into possible. I am moved by scientists’ endless striving for perfection. Scientists have passionately devoted themselves to the exploration of the nature and presented us scientific breakthroughs with their time and efforts. We do not necessarily become scientists, but we can still work hard in own roles for the betterment of mankind in the future.
To me, the beauty of life lies in love, nature and arts. After years of planning and development, I and my team have established K11 in Hong Kong, with the vision of Art ‧ People ‧ Nature, to be opened by the end of 2009. I wish to share with you the perfect blending of art appreciation, humanistic experience, nature enjoyment and shopping.