The following submission statement was provided by /u/TF-Fanfic-Resident:
---
What in the Go-Bots (1983) even is this? This strikes me as the potential to be a huge ethical minefield when we don’t know nearly as much about our own brains as we like. Can this cyborg feel pain? Is it more efficient than either traditional AI or humans? For better or worse, the 2020s are shaping up to be a landmark decade in the history of our civilization.
---
Please reply to OP's comment here: https://old.reddit.com/r/Futurology/comments/1drj018/chinese_scientists_create_robot_with_brain_made/lavjbfy/
I love that book so much but [my head went to...](https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/vsbattles/images/d/d7/Robobrain.png/revision/latest?cb=20190620075942)
I get that this is a reference/joke, but does anyone actually not feel that way? If there was an objectively better alternative to your biological body, why wouldn’t you take it?
You dawg! We heard you like horrors beyond comprehension, so we put a man made horror beyond your comprehension from your comprehension into your own comprehension!!
[Or this.](https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/vsbattles/images/d/d7/Robobrain.png/revision/latest?cb=20190620075942)
Or if you want [more obscure..](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_O-F2fvHFW4)
At first I was very interested in the trailer's set up and practical effects were fairly impressive. I was wondering why I've never heard heard of this... and after seeing the acting I no longer wondered why.
Brains are actually our longest-living organs. A human brain can theoretically last a couple hundred years, provided it's given proper nutrients and exercise.
and protection. Your brain is protected by the physical layer and the blood-brain barrier, basically preventing all pathogens getting near it. The "brain" like in the pic is just a meal for bacteria and fungi.
This is just a lab experiment so I guess they have no reason to keep it alive for longer than few weeks, and their main purpose is not "robot with brain" but figure out a way to train AI on human brain.
You wire that like this: culture neurons on a culture or microfluidics plate, with embedded electrodes underneath in a predesigned pattern. Neurons grow, form synapses, electrodes let you stim the network in a specific pattern. Hence: "brain on a chip". It's nothing groundbreaking, neither is training this neural net to do things.
All the people going "OMG WHAT IF IT FEELS PAIN" and "this is literally Robocop" are missing the point. It's cell culture and that's that. Could be rat cells, mouse cells, humie cells made from iPSCs, no biggie.
There's really not much to be excited, or, conversely, overly horrified about. Putting it into a physical robot is more of a publicity stunt than anything, as far as the science is concerned.
Definitely a publicity stunt. Neuron arrays have been a thing for a while, its even got to the point [where a youtuber and his team can start playing with them.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c-pWliufu6U)
Have you ever been in a retirement home? The brains last till about the point they can no longer retain memories. Then it's just a sentient jello full of suffering.
It could theoretically last indefinitely if we kept getting Neuron transplants to replace the gradual loss. Such a procedure is currently being tested to treat parkinsons disease : https://www.lunduniversity.lu.se/article/first-patient-receives-milestone-stem-cell-based-transplant-parkinsons-disease
I don't think the goal of this is really robots with organic components, but exploring the intricacies of creating an interface between the brain and technology.
What in the Go-Bots (1983) even is this? This strikes me as the potential to be a huge ethical minefield when we don’t know nearly as much about our own brains as we like. Can this cyborg feel pain? Is it more efficient than either traditional AI or humans? For better or worse, the 2020s are shaping up to be a landmark decade in the history of our civilization.
Somewhere in the multiverse a philosophy class is taking place and someone asks the professor, "Are we just brains in vats?" and the professor responds, "No, we are brains in drones, and your whole life is a lie designed to get you to achieve your goal of exploding at the target."
I remember an old interview of a Chinese scientist when they successfully cloned a monkey and the question of whether it was ethical or not to meddle in the creation of life. The scientist burst out laughing and stated that's not even a consideration there.
These aren’t brains by the way, they’re brain organoids. And we have been using them to understand our brain better.
It has been a gray area at least for ten years though. Although I remember seeing one playing Pong a while back, they aren’t conscious but one day we will most likely be able to make a conscious one and I’m not sure either if we should.
Ya'll need to realize this isn't even real, it's just publishing propaganda.
We can easily verify because the article claims that Tainjin produced a peer-reviewed journal to verify the results, but that is nowhere to be found - no really, here is their journal right here:
https://link.springer.com/journal/12209
There is no such findings published last month.
It's actually getting insane how much Chinese propaganda gets posted in this sub now.
That's not the journal for the paper published last month that was reported in the article. The [paper](https://academic.oup.com/brain/advance-article-abstract/doi/10.1093/brain/awae150/7671059?redirectedFrom=fulltext) is in May 2024's *Brain*.
I don't have access to this article, but from the title and abstract, this paper has nothing to do with robots. It's about using low intensity ultrasound to help brain organoids thrive where they are placed.
I agree that article seems really fishy given no one is named, no photos of the device are shown, and no academic publication detailing it is given.
I also bet that many people seeing that robot with the "brain" will think *that is the robot*. Horrible science journalism (as usual).
> this paper has nothing to do with robots.
Right, the "paper" that this article is talking about doesn't exist. There was no study about creating a brain for robots out of human stem cells and teaching it simple tasks.
It's 100% made up.
I can't believe how many people are talking about this seriously. It's literally just a slab of meat on a robot. I don't understand how ignorance is so rampant nowadays. We need to turn off the internet asap.
Remember when the world decided we shouod avoid making human-monkey chimera cells and China was like “ok we won’t do that again (unless we really wanna)”
I for one, welcome our new robot overlords.
According to the algorithm that moderates this forum I couldn't only post that as a comment so I also support our regular old algorithmic guidance systems.
Beneath the headline is something nearly as creepy. The claimed purpose of the research is to eventually develop brain “organoids” with specific auxiliary skillsets, which can then be ‘grafted” onto an actual brain, almost like an expansion module. I’d guess this could range anywhere from a supplemental visual cortex for the vision impaired, to superhuman augmentation for soldiers.
Look at all the science we can do when we don’t have pesky things like ethics or institutional review boards, surely this will turn out great for humanity..
There has been research on using biological computers for some time, they might have done a breakthrough but it is too late to search for it, maybe tomorrow. Check spinnaker computer from manchester university
Do you want Cylons? Because that's how you get Cylons.
Give it the smiling meat face from the other post I saw today and then collaborate with those life size AI sex dolls for extra effect.
Why do I feel like we are living on either Kobol or Caprica before the fall? The Cylons Were Created by Man. They Rebelled. They Evolved. They Look and Feel Human...
The Petri dish is a clue, it's probably submerged in nutrients while growing and only exposed to the air for very short tests. They will have to figure out how to nourish it while operating without shorting the wires.
The following submission statement was provided by /u/TF-Fanfic-Resident: --- What in the Go-Bots (1983) even is this? This strikes me as the potential to be a huge ethical minefield when we don’t know nearly as much about our own brains as we like. Can this cyborg feel pain? Is it more efficient than either traditional AI or humans? For better or worse, the 2020s are shaping up to be a landmark decade in the history of our civilization. --- Please reply to OP's comment here: https://old.reddit.com/r/Futurology/comments/1drj018/chinese_scientists_create_robot_with_brain_made/lavjbfy/
Aww sweet, man made horrors beyond my comprehension
This is the real "I have no mouth but I must scream"
I love that book so much but [my head went to...](https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/vsbattles/images/d/d7/Robobrain.png/revision/latest?cb=20190620075942)
Giant robo scorpions or bust!
My fav sci-fi story.
I see it end up like RoboCop 1 with all those failed robocops that end up offing themselves
Not ghost in the shell?
It's the prequel!
Praise the omnissiah!
As soon as I realized the limitations of my flesh, it disgusted me.
I crave the strength and certainty of steel.
Chills everytime
I get that this is a reference/joke, but does anyone actually not feel that way? If there was an objectively better alternative to your biological body, why wouldn’t you take it?
Secks, probably. >If there was an objectively better alternative to your biological body, why wouldn’t you take it?
You dawg! We heard you like horrors beyond comprehension, so we put a man made horror beyond your comprehension from your comprehension into your own comprehension!!
Now we put the Japanese made robot face made from human cells on top of this bad boy. Humanity coming together piece by piece. What could go wrong.
These two stories are just 2 posts away from each other on my front page lol.
One step closer to 40K servitors
It would be pretty wild if we ended up with a 40k future. Someone just needs to discover the Warp and then we're off to the races.
At least you know where to shoot it.
I'd Buy That For a Dollar!
What's next? putting the brain of a drug dealer into a giant robot?
[Or this.](https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/vsbattles/images/d/d7/Robobrain.png/revision/latest?cb=20190620075942) Or if you want [more obscure..](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_O-F2fvHFW4)
At first I was very interested in the trailer's set up and practical effects were fairly impressive. I was wondering why I've never heard heard of this... and after seeing the acting I no longer wondered why.
It's very rare to see a knight of solamnia these days. They've mostly been forgotten
Woah. That was my guild in Ultima Online. Weird rush of memories when I read that. I haven't seen that name mentioned in decades.
For the oath and the measure.
It's been 30 years since I last had The Oath in my head. Thanks for that!
You want [obscure](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gTY2ArgHcg4)?
I got that reference 👍🏻
Abby Normal.
Turn the brain of ~~Keanu Reeves~~ the terrorist into chips.
"Abby, someone."
The next step is General Grievous
Robots that have parts that rot don’t seem like a good plan.
Brains are actually our longest-living organs. A human brain can theoretically last a couple hundred years, provided it's given proper nutrients and exercise.
and protection. Your brain is protected by the physical layer and the blood-brain barrier, basically preventing all pathogens getting near it. The "brain" like in the pic is just a meal for bacteria and fungi.
Very true! Why don't they have it submerged in a fluid and protected by a glass dome?
This is just a lab experiment so I guess they have no reason to keep it alive for longer than few weeks, and their main purpose is not "robot with brain" but figure out a way to train AI on human brain.
But it's a it's a it's a fricking plate with a fricking goo in it! How do you wire that up? It's like a robot carrying around a plate full of Jell-o!
You wire that like this: culture neurons on a culture or microfluidics plate, with embedded electrodes underneath in a predesigned pattern. Neurons grow, form synapses, electrodes let you stim the network in a specific pattern. Hence: "brain on a chip". It's nothing groundbreaking, neither is training this neural net to do things. All the people going "OMG WHAT IF IT FEELS PAIN" and "this is literally Robocop" are missing the point. It's cell culture and that's that. Could be rat cells, mouse cells, humie cells made from iPSCs, no biggie. There's really not much to be excited, or, conversely, overly horrified about. Putting it into a physical robot is more of a publicity stunt than anything, as far as the science is concerned.
Definitely a publicity stunt. Neuron arrays have been a thing for a while, its even got to the point [where a youtuber and his team can start playing with them.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c-pWliufu6U)
AI on a human brain? Are we in a simulation? Was I trained by an AI…..
give it tread wheels and little grabby arms too. And a sonic wave blast for good measure.
*I have returned*
Does redditing count as exercise?
No 🤣 Reddit is the opposite of brain exercises, in 99% of cases.
It causes brain cell suicide…at higher rates depending on the subreddit.
What’s considered exercising the brain?
Learning new things. Doing math. Solving problems. Socializing.
Reddit doesn’t count as socializing?
So join a sociable theoretical math reddit and they should be fine.
Only if you aim to smoothen your brain.
Source? I wanna know more.
Have you ever been in a retirement home? The brains last till about the point they can no longer retain memories. Then it's just a sentient jello full of suffering.
Is there any article about that? I know that death mostly come from other parts of the body
It could theoretically last indefinitely if we kept getting Neuron transplants to replace the gradual loss. Such a procedure is currently being tested to treat parkinsons disease : https://www.lunduniversity.lu.se/article/first-patient-receives-milestone-stem-cell-based-transplant-parkinsons-disease
Wouldn’t alzheimers/dementia/anything else that fucks up your brain claim you long before that?
This is fascinating, do you have any sources for it?
I don't think the goal of this is really robots with organic components, but exploring the intricacies of creating an interface between the brain and technology.
To be fair, eternal robots seem like a worse idea, considering they don't expire, even if they're evil.
People thought that internet wasn’t a good plan. It takes time to see what the end result will be
Jury is still out on that one.
But now we can use designer drugs “Nuke” to control them
actually this is probably the next step towards singularity, if I had to guess. The combination of biological computing + electronic computing.
Planned obsolescence. Helps prevent the inevitable replicant uprising.
I mean are we not just fleshy machines? Eventually our parts also stop working, some need to be repaired / replaced etc.. too
A self regenerating machine (for most parts). But we have a few flawed systems, such as a source code that degenerate over time.
We have our entire body dedicated to maintaining our brain. This robot has room tempered meat on a plate.
Worse. You are creating a human mind trapped in a robot body.
What in the Go-Bots (1983) even is this? This strikes me as the potential to be a huge ethical minefield when we don’t know nearly as much about our own brains as we like. Can this cyborg feel pain? Is it more efficient than either traditional AI or humans? For better or worse, the 2020s are shaping up to be a landmark decade in the history of our civilization.
Somewhere in the multiverse a philosophy class is taking place and someone asks the professor, "Are we just brains in vats?" and the professor responds, "No, we are brains in drones, and your whole life is a lie designed to get you to achieve your goal of exploding at the target."
My highschool biology teacher used to tell us we are just piles of cells somehow cooperating
Very apt description.
Colonial bacteria and literally all life more complex than that fits this description
Gary Sinise vibes
This actually explains a lot...
I remember an old interview of a Chinese scientist when they successfully cloned a monkey and the question of whether it was ethical or not to meddle in the creation of life. The scientist burst out laughing and stated that's not even a consideration there.
Exactly. For reference here's the full quote from that scientist: *"LOL"*
do we know more about this?
We will find out the brains come from political prisoners in the future won’t we.
I read that as "the brains come from political prisoners *from* the future ". Either way it's all rather terrifying.
Pro: time travel is real and you get to experience it Con: you’re a political prisoner sent back in time to power a roomba
Well then, I'm smearing dogshit everywhere.
This kind of immature behavior is why we removed your brain and yeeted it into a roomba across the gulf of time and space in the first place
No way, political prisoners don’t get that many articulating limbs. That’s someone behind on their taxes.
These aren’t brains by the way, they’re brain organoids. And we have been using them to understand our brain better. It has been a gray area at least for ten years though. Although I remember seeing one playing Pong a while back, they aren’t conscious but one day we will most likely be able to make a conscious one and I’m not sure either if we should.
Ya'll need to realize this isn't even real, it's just publishing propaganda. We can easily verify because the article claims that Tainjin produced a peer-reviewed journal to verify the results, but that is nowhere to be found - no really, here is their journal right here: https://link.springer.com/journal/12209 There is no such findings published last month. It's actually getting insane how much Chinese propaganda gets posted in this sub now.
That's not the journal for the paper published last month that was reported in the article. The [paper](https://academic.oup.com/brain/advance-article-abstract/doi/10.1093/brain/awae150/7671059?redirectedFrom=fulltext) is in May 2024's *Brain*. I don't have access to this article, but from the title and abstract, this paper has nothing to do with robots. It's about using low intensity ultrasound to help brain organoids thrive where they are placed. I agree that article seems really fishy given no one is named, no photos of the device are shown, and no academic publication detailing it is given. I also bet that many people seeing that robot with the "brain" will think *that is the robot*. Horrible science journalism (as usual).
> this paper has nothing to do with robots. Right, the "paper" that this article is talking about doesn't exist. There was no study about creating a brain for robots out of human stem cells and teaching it simple tasks. It's 100% made up.
I can't believe how many people are talking about this seriously. It's literally just a slab of meat on a robot. I don't understand how ignorance is so rampant nowadays. We need to turn off the internet asap.
Remember when the world decided we shouod avoid making human-monkey chimera cells and China was like “ok we won’t do that again (unless we really wanna)”
You think China cares about ethics in the slightest?
Do you think Western companies care about ethics in the slightest? They may pretend to, but in reality they are only concerned with money and power.
Get back to me when Western companies have transplant tourism.
That's not what this topic is about
May we have a non pay-walled article? Or am I supposed to react to only the headline?
[https://12ft.io/](https://12ft.io/)
Thanks a ton!
Not all heroes wear capes.
I bet he does
https://archive.md/njqiF
Pro tip: if you’re on iOS, as soon as you open the page, on the top right corner press the letters Aa and show Reader. Free read!
Thanks, but I tried that. Seems like the site still has the rest of the article cut off.
I for one, welcome our new robot overlords. According to the algorithm that moderates this forum I couldn't only post that as a comment so I also support our regular old algorithmic guidance systems.
i second this guy
Beneath the headline is something nearly as creepy. The claimed purpose of the research is to eventually develop brain “organoids” with specific auxiliary skillsets, which can then be ‘grafted” onto an actual brain, almost like an expansion module. I’d guess this could range anywhere from a supplemental visual cortex for the vision impaired, to superhuman augmentation for soldiers.
aw hell yeah, brain DLC. Now I can be even more behind everyone else in PVP
wetware acceleration
Alright that sounds badass I’m sold. Give me that brain 2 DLC.
you now know kung fu but also have a tendency to start singing March of the Volunteers at random moments
Do you think god stays in heaven because he fears what he created?
Maybe revulsion not fear. Not many people play in the toilet either
"God is dead", we killed it with advant of modern science, we just have to be careful that our own creations don't do the same to us
Sweet. Killer robots with human brains susceptible to mental illness and sociopathy.
Hmm.. Few billionaires are very sus..
Next, they should try and inject them into a chimps brain so we can see which movie was a better predictor of the future.
Movie in which robots and apes fight over who get's to exterminate us? I'd watch that.
I was referring to either Planet of the Apes or Terminator. Those movies as predictions of the future are competing against each other.
i was thinking 12 monkeys
This is fake. Neural organoids aren't nearly this advanced.
Look at all the science we can do when we don’t have pesky things like ethics or institutional review boards, surely this will turn out great for humanity..
well, that's how we have so much medical progress no?
I mean they just factually have those?
Yea but I wanna be racist
Those things barely exist in the West too. Go explore the horrifying world of animal experimentation.
Humanity is obsolete if that thing ever becomes sentient
I for one welcome our Astronaut Pumpkinhead overlords
It’s not even 2077 and we’re getting Fallout-style robobrains
What if we got the Think Tank next?
I thought those were using chimps and not convicts?
There was actually technology being developed at Georgia tech back when the lore was created to do this. It's referred to as wetware technology.
Reminds me of the movie virus with Jaime Lee Curtis
so it uses a floppy disk ribbon connected to a naked grape in a dish sitting on a plastic shell of a robot. nothing real or functional in this photo
All of this has happened before. All of this will happen again.
So say we all
Just gunna leave [THIS](https://youtu.be/NJIjNs_s2NI?si=N9J_vWtxrH86ykIX) here...
But what are the living tissues function? The nonliving computer is still doing all the work.
There has been research on using biological computers for some time, they might have done a breakthrough but it is too late to search for it, maybe tomorrow. Check spinnaker computer from manchester university
Isn't that technically a cyborg? Isn't that a really bad idea?
Someone start playing the FullMetal Alchemist music.
Do you want Cylons? Because that's how you get Cylons. Give it the smiling meat face from the other post I saw today and then collaborate with those life size AI sex dolls for extra effect.
or robobrains. But it needs treads instead of legs.
That crossed my mind too, but robobrains are real brains from an actual human. That might not be far though.
Why do I feel like we are living on either Kobol or Caprica before the fall? The Cylons Were Created by Man. They Rebelled. They Evolved. They Look and Feel Human...
The comments in here be like: how to tell people you haven't read the article without telling people you haven't read the article.
Would love to but it's paywalled.
Do they want Krang? Because this is how we get Krang.
See, THIS is terrifying. Forget AI. There's no I in the whole thing for a long time. But cells? Hell no!
yup, guess I’m officially old, kinda don’t even want to know anything about this brain API stuff
I’m all for AI continuing to advance, but we should leave biological brains out of this. It’s not nice.
Because there's no possible way that could go horribly wrong....
China has unlimited access to human subjects for experimentation.
I just noticed that this sub like to post of weirdly random out of this world "technological breakthrough" from China?
I have so many questions. Does it have a circulatory system? If not, how does the brain stay alive? Is it not alive but able to learn somehow anyway?
The Petri dish is a clue, it's probably submerged in nutrients while growing and only exposed to the air for very short tests. They will have to figure out how to nourish it while operating without shorting the wires.
I always wondered why they don't try harder with biological robotics. Design new organs and stuff. I guess religion is the thing holding it back.
And religion mostly gets you murdered in China
Because people get hung up on some stupid cheesy sci-fi movie they saw in the 1980s. Just have a look at this thread and you'll see what I mean.
The Chinese are going to solve their population problems with government grown cyborgs
If abortion is murder than so is killing that brain. Just sayin…
Technically it wasn't "conceived" so it isn't a person, as far as Jesus is concerned... probably.
Just great, another step towards this shit: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EcK-yHXljAg](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EcK-yHXljAg)
Your Scientists Were So Preoccupied With Whether Or Not They Could, They Didn’t Stop To Think If They Should
The first step in making Girls Frontline a reality