What do you think was the first game the “mini-brains” living in petri dishes over in Melbourne, Australia ever played?
If you guessed Pong, you are correct. Mostly.
The Australia-based biological computing startup Cortical Labs have been working on a strange project involving human brain cells and at least one half of that classic 1972 video game. Why? Well, for science, of course!
The “game” is actually a one-sided variation of Pong. A million brain cells are rigged up to control a virtual paddle, bouncing a single block against a virtual wall (a bit closer to Breakout if you ask me, though I guess that’s beyond the point).
The brain cells are grown on microelectrode arrays that send signals to relay the ball’s location. The cells then signal back to control the paddle and hit the ball. The entire system has been dubbed “DishBrain.”
Apparently, DishBrain neurons aren’t quite as good at the game as AI, but they are faster learners. They’re able to settle into the gameplay in about 5 minutes, while an AI given a similar task takes 90 minutes (at least for now). Futurism points out that the brain cells aren’t so much controlling the paddle as they are becoming the paddle. As Cortical Labs Chief Scientific Officer Brett Kagan says, “We often refer to them as living in The Matrix. When they are in the game, they believe they are the paddle.”
But then, perhaps the real truth is that there is no paddle.
