Transcript slides
Computers - Using your Brains
Jim Austin
Professor of Neural Computation
Pentium III
So how complex is it ?
– 1012 neurons … 1,000,000,000,000
–1000 connections between neurons.
– One brain can hold ...
1,000,000,000,000,000
numbers!
What do 1012 neurons look like ?
• 1600 times Population of the world (6,100,000,000)
• 78,125 times the complexity of the Pentium III
• Equal to the number of stars in our galaxy
4 Meters
4 Meters
4 Meters
The good and the bad
What are computers good at ?
Adding up fast
Storing data - numbers and facts
Pushing data around
What are computers bad at ?
Being reliable
Finding information - knowledge
Doing very complex things recognizing images
Learning to do the job them selves!
Why are computers so restricted ?
ACE
Leo - for stock control
Colossus - for breaking codes
Pegusus - for scientific work
Neurons verses Gates
Input 1
Input 2
Output
NAND Gate
Boolean Logic - both inputs OK, output not OK
Gates - NAND
ALL inputs to be OK for output to be NOT OK
Input 1
Output
Input 2
=
==
Evolution ?
Should have picked a NAND gate for the
brain...
Neuron
Output = threshold (input A x weight A + input B x weight B)
A
+
Inputs
Output
B
“Weights”
Threshold logic - threshold 1 - one or more inputs OK output OK
Neuron
At least one OK for output to be OK
=
At least three OK’s for output to be OK
=
Weights
Can also alter connections/importance of inputs
using the weights on the inputs
1
0
1
1
0.5
1
1
+
3.5
Why did this difference develop ?
• “The analysis of the operation of a machine using two
indication elements and signals can be conveniently be
expressed in terms of a diagrammatic notation introduced,
in this context, by Von Neuman and extended by Turing.
This was adopted from a notation used by Pits and
McCulloch as a possible way of analyzing the operation of
the nervous system,…” Calculating Instruments &
Machines, D Hartree, 1950, Cambridge University Press.
• Probably dropped due to the development of the silicon
chip
– simpler to build Boolean logic gates rather than neuron
units.
Functional elements.
n
z
k inputs
1
2
z
z
Threshold n gate
k n
Excitation, “OR”
Excitation, “AND”
ICT Orion Computer
• Used ‘Neuron’ logic - 1962
Learning !
Learning at neuron level =
Adjustment of which inputs are important
Conventional computers have no implicit learning ability
Spot the difference
+
+
Threshold = 2
Happy
Hungry
+
+
Happy
Hungry
+
+
Happy
hungry
Can we build useful systems with neurons ?
Better tolerance to failure
Parallelism/use of threshold logic/distributed memory
Faster operation
Massive parallelism
Better access to uncertain information
Threshold logic/neurons
Where the inputs are uncertain
Threshold logic/neurons.
Where we want low power
Asynchronous systems
Adaptability
Use of weights and learning methods.
So what have we done with these ?
Cortex-1
28 Processor cards, each holding 128 hardware neurons.
Each with 1,000,000,000 weights.
16MHz.
PCI based card.
Complete Machine:
400,000,000 neuron evaluations per second
28,000 inputs
30 bits set on input
1,000,000 neurons.
Cortex-1 node
5,120,000,000 neuron weights, 640 neurons.
Recognising Addresses for the Post Office
Recognising trademarks
Text search engines
•
•
•
•
•
Tolerant to spelling errors.
Finds similar words to those supplied, for example chair, seat, bench.
Learns these similarities automatically from text.
Uses neural engine for document storage.
Estimated 400,000,000 documents searched per second.
Molecular Databases
• One of few systems that deal with the full 3D molecule
Query
Good matches
Bad Match
Thanks...
(It’s Brains from Thunderbirds !)
Aaron Turner
Mick Turner
Vicky Hodge
Julian Young
Anthony Moulds
Zyg Ulanowski
Ken Lees
Michael Weeks
Sujeewa Alwis
John Kennedy
David Lomas
and many others ….