Engadget Joins Steemit & Researchers Upload The "Brain" Of A Worm To A Computer And Teach It New Tricks!

So, today I have two news stories from the world of technology and the first one is actually really good news for the growth of Steemit! Let's begin:

1# Engadget Is On Steemit

In case you haven't heard, a big name, Engadget joined our ranks yesterday and even uploaded their very first video on D.tube! 

Engadget is one of the biggest and oldest technology blogs and if they decide to actively promote Steemit from their website and social pages I think they can bring tons of people from a demographic (geeks!) that can really, really benefit Steemit! They already made a tweet about their coming to our platform so if you got a twitter account make sure to fav and retweet:  https://twitter.com/i/web/status/960960810704044033

I believe this is the third big name (to my knowledge) to join Steemit in the last month. If you missed them, the other two are @theneedledrop (1.2 m subscribers on youtube) and @tjkirk (1m subs on youtube). Go check them out and give some love if you like what you see!

Out of the three, @tjkirk is definitely my favorite. I follow him since his beginnings on youtube and he is also actively promoting Steemit & D.tube and even makes exclusive content for us. So, even if you hate him I think it's a good idea to show him some support just for the new people he is bringing to us :)

I think 2018 is gonna be the year when many major celebs and brand names join Steemit, which in turn will bring us a step closer to mass-adoption! Ok, ok, I got sidetracked a bit. So, TL;DR, Engadget, one of the biggest technology blogs, just joined us. Check' em out at @engadgetnews

2# Researchers Upload The "Brain" Of A Worm To A Computer And Teach It New Tricks!

The second story of today is a really cool scientific breakthrough announced yesterday by researchers at the Vienna University of Technology. 

According to their press release, they have managed to take a small worm species, analyze its neural network in its entirety and upload it to a computer! Essentially, they have created a digital copy of the worm!

The worm that was analyzed is Caenorhabditis elegans,  a very small and simple nematode, about 1 mm in length.  This little guy has only 300 neurons but still manages to explore its environment, eat bacteria, react to external stimuli and do other stuff nematodes do. To give you an idea of how simple their neural system is, the human brain has over 100 billion (that is 100,000,000,000) neurons!

Caenorhabditis elegans (credit)

According to the researchers who achieved this feat, this is the first time an organism's neural system has been analysed. I really don't understand the science behind all this, but I find really exciting how they can upload a digital copy of the worm on a computer and see how it reacts to external digital stimuli, much like the real worm would do:

When this simple reflex-network is recreated on a computer, then the simulated worm reacts in exactly the same way to a virtual stimulation -- not because anybody programmed it to do so, but because this kind of behaviour is hard-wired in its neural network. 

They have even taught their new digital pet to perform a trick. To balance a pole at the tip of its tail, and all this without writing a single line of code:

 "The result is a controller, which can solve a standard technology problem -- stabilizing a pole, balanced on its tip. But no human being has written even one line of code for this controller, it just emerged by training a biological nerve system.," says Radu Grosu. .

In real life, the worm reacts to touch. The same neural circuits can perform tasks in the computer. (credit)

As I said, I really don't understand much about the science of how neurons are converted into zeroes & ones and then uploaded into a computer so please click here if you want to learn more about this breakthrough.

It makes me wonder though. I guess, if it's possible for a simple worm to be digitized theoretically it's just a matter of time until we can do the same to a human. Would that digital human have a consciousness like we do? Would it actually be aware of its digital surroundings or just appear like it does? Maybe we think we are conscious but actually aren't? Maybe we are in a digital world too or something? 

Ahhhhhh fuck it, it's getting too deep. I'll grab a beer and watch some netflix before I get crazy.