BRAIN THINKS WITH 10,000 CELLS

Grey River Argus, 14 November 1949, Page 8

BRAIN THINKS WITH 10,000 CELLS

BRISTOL. A 10,000-cell mechanical “brain” which can work out all the economic and social problems of nations and give accurate forecasts of the things to come was recently described by Doctor Grey Walter, of the Burden Neurological Institute, at a Rotary meeting here. He disclosed that the building of such an electronic brain had been discussed by British scientists and he understood preliminary consultations had begun. This mechanical “seer” would be capable of giving accurate forecasts of the effect of even the devaluation of the pound sterling in five years’ time, he predicted. Doctor Walter warned, however, that in the hands of an unscrupulous nation its power to foretell the future might be disastrous and lead to “self-destruction by a nation seeking world power.” Explaining the working of the “brain”, Doctor Walter sa*d it would be tested by feeding into it all the figures relating to food production, prices, church-going, economics, taxation and hundreds of other factors which govern ones lives. “All we have to do then is to keep on turning the handle for the mechanical brain to forecast the future,” hq said.