Billion core brains

Professor Karlheinz Meier of the University of Heidelburg explained at the recent International Electronics Forum organised by Future Horizons: "Computers are fast and reliable but they need software and are fault sensitive. The brain is slow and unreliable but it is fault tolerant and energy efficient. It also has the advantage of being able to work software out for itself. "Eventually designs based on the brain are likely to be very attractive for future technologies because they can use unreliable elements," Meier adds. Meier sees a further split in the Human Brain Project between Europe and US in terms of focus. The US he sees as being more focused on understanding the neuroscience, with the simulations used to help drive medical research as much as computing. "Ours is more directed at computing architectures. It has a large neuroscience component," he says, "but it is about designing new computer architectures.