What is the structure of a brain within an ANS? Part 2

Now that we have an embedded system, means the body hardware, which consists of sensors, actors and internal organs, we will have to connect this body to the brain, means the FPGA board, where we will then develop the corresponding ANS software. For this purpose, we have to know more about the brain itself. As a brain is always dependent on the given body structure, this implies that different skills have to be implemented, according to the species related to this body structure.

As an example, let us take the locomotion skills of 3 species, a fish, a mammal and a bird, they all can set their body in motion. However, each of them will use with different body parts, which will then be used by the brain, to execute the movement of the body. A fish needs to swim, so the body has fish fins, while the mammal has legs and the bird also has wings. The brain needs to coordinate the adjacent muscles, in order to perform the required movement(s).

But hey, the movement is different, as the surrounding environment, therefore each brain will have different structures for this purpose. Furthermore, at birth, some can move immediately, like the fish, but the mammal and the bird need to learn first their skills. This means, that not only the movement itself is different, but also different stages of complexity are required. Therefore the brain has to have different regions, which can be seen, when analyzing the analog(real) brain.

We humans even have a very complex brain region for body coordination, called cerebellum. It is used so extensively, that this brain region is a separate brain. And you know something else? In the first 3 years of our existence, this is the location, where we "store" all our physical abilities as specific workflows as timing of muscle coordination. Some few skills we learn later on, like the body coordination for a certain sport, playing a musical instrument or driving a car.

Let us see, what is the structure of a human brain, in terms of neurons. A human brain has about 86 billion neurons on average, for all regions. Did you know that the cerebellum has 69 billions of neurons, so 80 %? And our "superior" neocortex has "only" 16 billions neurons, so roughly 20%? But this complex neocortex region is shared with other "simple" functions, like perception and representation of "simple elements" for each sensor. But then again, the sensor processing is also dependent on the higher brain functions, which on their side require time, in order to learn, what we perceive with this sensor.

So, here we have it, the brain consists of different regions, each with a dedicated size, structure and complexity. Each region performs only a specific task, simple or complex, which depends on the corresponding body, means species.

So, speaking in layman terms, a brain consists of 4 main aress: First area is a sensor driver, which connects and converts the input sensor signals into neuronal information, which is afterwards processed accordingly. This processing depends also on the required complexity, both sensor and brain alike.

The second big area is the logic processing, which is triggered by the sensor driver. In this area, the information is processed, means analyzed and stored. As a result, there is new information generated, which will be send to the corresponding muscles, to enable an appropriate body reaction.

The third big area of a brain is used to act, means the body reaction. For this purpose, the brain receives from the processing area the corresponding information and converts this into muscle signals, which afterwards will be the body reaction. As a result, the body, means the embedded system, will do something in the real world.

The fourth big brain area is the one, which is responsible for the internal organs. These organs, like stomach, heart, liver, etc. are also connected to the brain. They send the "needs" of the body to the processing area, which will respond to it. The stomach "says it is hungry" , so the logic processing sends the body to look for food.

But, a body has more than only one sensor, it has many sensors, of different types. Each sensor has a corresponding process area, same as each limb and each organ has one. Furthermore, each processing area, can have different levels of complexity, which depends on the body structure, as sensors, actors and internal organs, and skills.

So, now we need to establish, which and how many sensors need to be connected and how. As the BNS has always only one type of interface, the ANS should also use only one. In our case, the decision to use only Ethernet would be inevitable, as it has great benefits: it is the Internet standard and it is bidirectional, means it can receive and send information simultaneously.

When building different body structures with different sensors and actors, then such a "universal" interface has many benefits, also for the future. Why? Because the connectivity is always the same, we do not need to create new ones. Moreover, the Ethernet interface can also be used to connect many ANS together. Really? Yes.

The connectivity between many and different ANS, each of them specialized to one or more goals, would be the first step to an AGN, Artificial General Intelligence, which could one day surpass every known BNS by far, means every human, by gathering all the information and knowledge in a more or less distributed system of ANS, each with its own body.

This would then be the equivalent of a human organization, like a company with its employees. TO WHAT MEANINGFUL PURPOSE? Well, I can think of many, but let us just start with one, where humans perform poorly and where it is dangerous to live. I mean the one and only goal: SPACE EXPLORATION.

Such an AGI would be quite expensive, therefore its usage on Earth would not make sense, neither economically nor socially. Who wants to loose their job to a robot? No one. Besides this, humans are "cheaper" when compared to an AI robot. But, who may want to use robots instead of humans to do the hard and dirty work in space?

Well, everybody, because training of astronauts is very expensive and the work in space is exhaustive. Besides this, the communication between Earth and the outpost in space takes too much time, so completely autonomous AI is indeed needed to do the job, without any human intervention. ?Not to forget the long-term goals and their effects to humanity.

AI robots do not need all the supplemental human necessities, like gravity, air, water, food, housing, resting times, family, healthcare, social environment, compatibility between individuals, etc. And they are radiation hardened, while needing only an energy source, which implies rockets and space bases could use nuclear power, which surpasses by far the chemical energy used today, let alone solar or other conventional power sources.

What about the self-learning mechanism within an ANS? This is the topic for next time.