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Can Human Neurons Really Play Doom? The Science Behind Wetware (EP. 33)

Can Human Neurons Really Play Doom? The Science Behind Wetware (EP. 33)

From First Principles vor 7 Monaten

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1:13:03

Hosted by Lester Nare and Krishna Choudhary, this episode is a deep
dive into one of the strangest science stories of the year: a dish
of human neurons allegedly learning to play Doom. We go back to the
original 2022 DishBrain paper out of Cortical Labs, unpack how
biological neurons can be read and written with multi-electrode
arrays, and then compare the peer-reviewed Pong result to the much
newer Doom claim. The result is a story that is both genuinely
impressive and, in places, probably overhyped. Summary Wetware
engineering — replacing artificial neurons with real biological
neurons plus electronics, and why some people think this could
become a new computing paradigm. How DishBrain worked — human
stem-cell-derived cortical neurons grown on a multi-electrode
array, trained through sensory encoding and a “minimize surprise”
feedback loop. Where the Doom story gets messy — the newer system
appears to include a reinforcement-learning layer in the loop,
raising the key question: are the neurons actually doing the
learning? The big idea underneath the hype — even if Doom is
overstated, the broader platform is still a remarkable step toward
programmable biocomputing. Support the showDonate:
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