Miguel Nicolelis and Ronald Cicurel: The Singularity Isn’t Near and the Brain Can’t Be Simulated

The idea that man is a machine is an old one. And since the brain is a physical part of that machine it is often presumed that it can necessarily be simulated on a digital computer. But very little scientific scrutiny has been given on that presumption. The Relativistic Brain is a new book by Miguel Nicolelis and Ronald Cicurel where they address precisely that question: Can a digital machine simulate the human brain? the Relativistic BrainIn their book, Nicolelis and Cicurel provide a variety of neurophysiological, evolutionary, mathematical and computational arguments to conclude that “the brain is relativistic and cannot be simulated by a Turing Machine.” And so I thought that we had all the best ingredients for a fantastic Singularity 1on1 podcast episode. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did for I only managed to ask about half of my questions and plan to do a follow up as soon as I can. During our 90 min conversation with Miguel Nicolelis and Ronald Cicurel we cover a variety of interesting topics such as: their interesting backgrounds in neuroscience and mathematics, brain-machine-interface [BMI] and the Blue Brain Project; neuroplasticity and Miguel’s Walk Again Project; the first Brain-to-Brain communication; the Relativistic Brain Theory [RBT] and why it cannot be simulated on a Turing Machine; the distinction between mechanism and organism; computable vs non-computable [Gödelian] information; their 23 scientific predictions as a way to falsify RBT; computationalism, Plato’s Cave and the mathematical arguments against simulating the brain; Stephen Jay Gould’s “tape of evolution argument”; the collapse of the Human Brain Project; The Penrose-Hameroff Quantum Theory of Consciousness… Watch the full video here: https://www.singularityweblog.com/miguel-nicolelis-and-ronald-cicurel/