Joshua Blue is a project under development by
IBM
International Business Machines Corporation (using the trademark IBM), nicknamed Big Blue, is an American Multinational corporation, multinational technology company headquartered in Armonk, New York, and present in over 175 countries. It is ...
that focuses on advancing the artificial intelligence field by designing and programming computers to emulate human mental functions.
Goals
According to researchers at IBM's
Thomas J. Watson Research Center
The Thomas J. Watson Research Center is the headquarters for IBM Research. Its main laboratory is in Yorktown Heights, New York, 38 miles (61 km) north of New York City. It also operates facilities in Cambridge, Massachusetts and Albany, ...
, the main goal of Joshua Blue is "to achieve cognitive flexibility that approaches human functioning".
[Alvarado, et al]
"Project Joshua Blue: Design Considerations for Evolving an Emotional Mind in a Simulated Environment"
Retrieved on 2011-1-19. In short, IBM is aiming to design Joshua Blue to 'think like a human', mainly in terms of emotional thought.
How it will work
A model of Joshua Blue's learning pattern has been created. Similar to how young children learn human traits through interacting with their surroundings, Joshua Blue will acquire knowledge through external stimuli present in its environment.
[Terasem Movement Foundation]
"Computer Technology Research"
Retrieved on 2011-1-19 IBM believes that if computers evolve to learn in this way and then comprehend and analyze the knowledge gained using reason, computers could begin to possess a "mind", of sorts, capable of demonstrating complex social behaviors similar to those of humans.
Thus far, IBM has revealed that Joshua Blue will be a computer with a network of wires and input nodes that function as a computer nervous system. This nervous system will be used by Joshua Blue to perceive affect or personal emotional feelings.{{citation needed, date=June 2024 Not only will this network of input nodes help Joshua Blue discover things physically, but it will also allow Joshua Blue to interpret the significance of events. The input nodes, or proprioceptors
Proprioception ( ) is the sense of self-movement, force, and body position.
Proprioception is mediated by proprioceptors, a type of sensory receptor, located within muscles, tendons, and joints. Most animals possess multiple subtypes of propri ...
, will enable Joshua Blue to be aware of things that happen around itself, as well as recognize and attach meaning to the emotional effect produced by interacting with an object in a certain way.[ In addition, Joshua Blue's proprioceptors will function as pain and pleasure sensors, allowing Joshua Blue to employ a similar "reward and punishment" system that humans use to form behaviors.
]
See also
* Blue Brain Project
The Blue Brain Project was a Swiss brain research initiative that aimed to create a digital reconstruction of the mouse brain. The project was founded in May 2005 by the Brain Mind Institute of ''École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne'' (EPFL ...
* Simulated reality
A simulated reality is an approximation of reality created in a simulation, usually in a set of circumstances in which something is engineered to appear real when it is not.
Most concepts invoking a simulated reality relate to some form of compu ...
References
AI software
IBM