IN DEPTH: Your brain could power your computer

Mankind has officially come full circle.Companies have begun producing machines using human parts — the boundaries between man and technology becoming blurred. Ok, that's a bit dramatic — but a new technology, biocomputing, which uses cerebral (brain) tissue, also known as organoids, to power computing chips — may sound just a bit too science fiction-like for some readers to handle. But calm your worries, dear reader, they didn't actually collect brain tissue from human donors!They are grown by scientists from human skin and blood cells that are collected from donors.Feel any better yet?.This generous donor tissue, converted into cerebral tissue, is then made into a computer chip.How is this done — black magic?No, silly, it is but the miracle of science!Inside current silicon computers and their silicon chips, electric signals are traveling along metal wires linking different components together.As two researchers from the University of Melbourne explain, a similar concept happens inside biocomputing chips. .Brains communicate through neurons, sending electrical signals through synapses (the junctions between nerve cells).The silicon and biocomputing chips share their ability to send electrical signals. Like silicon chips, organoids made in labs contain neurons, which interact like wires connecting different components with electricity.They can also grow, change their shape, replicate, or die in response to the demands of the system.Cortical Labs (CL) is one of the companies producing these bio-chips, known as Dishbrains, grown on silicon chips..These biochips are also known as wetware, due to the combination of software and living biological components which are, well, wet — resembling a water-based substance. CL has gone beyond the ideas of biocomputing and has successfully manufactured a computer powered by human tissue.It's called the CL1, launched back in 2025, which contains neurons growing across a silicon chip, deploying code directly to the neurons.CL calls the neurons in the chip "self programming," explaining neurons are sent information about their environment through a created simulated world, the Biological Intelligence Operating System (biOS). .As the neurons react to this information, their electrical impulses affect the simulated world. However, there is one downside: the neurons can only be kept alive for six months, a defect not seen in our present computers, as well as its innovative price of $35,000.Still, they claim the product is meant to allow researchers to test how real neurons process information.In action, it has accomplished a notable task: playing video games — something that many humans accomplish without sweat, and so do current machines (but impressive nonetheless). .The game in question is Doom, a combat game.The CL1 was capable of playing the game once the researchers converted the Doom gameplay into the biological world of neuronal electrical signals, taking 18 months to do the programming.Video feed from the game had to be mapped into patterns of electrical stimulation, a neurocomputing system, called the Cortical Cloud. The result? The cells aren't completely Doom-ed, they play like a beginner. "While there's still a lot of work left to do on this, the exciting thing is we've solved the interface problem," stated researcher Sean Cole.."We have a way to interact with these cells in real time and train them and shape their behaviour to do things even like Doom."Some of the appeal of using human cerebral tissue to power computers may also stem from its (still) untapped potential.The human brain processes massive amounts of data with miniscule energy expenditure. The human brain with a trillion of neural connections, is capable of making 15 quintillion operations per second.Something like that is only replicable in huge supercomputers, which need 500 megawatts per hour to store the amount of data contained in a human brain in modern storage centers.For reference, the human brain only uses about 20 watts of energy, the same amount it takes to power a lightbulb..The brain and its neurons it seems, have lots of potential.But now we must face the music, and consider some of the obstacles that might come along with biocomputers.First, scalability: human donors are necessary, though, there is no need for donor brains.The skin and blood cells are needed and supplies becomes a bigger issue the more biocomputer become more common.Will donors donate their cells for free, or will they get compensated?.Another, better question is: Who would donate their cells for free — at least, consensually?These are issues already seen, like in the case of Henrietta Lacks, a woman whose cells were used in medical and commercial research without her consent or knowledge.In fact, her cells are still used in big-buck pharmacological companies to develop COVID vaccines.The Lacks family has still not received any compensation.."Fully informed donor consent is of paramount importance. Any donor should have the opportunity to reach an agreement for compensation as part of this process and their bodily autonomy respected without coercion," stated Chief scientific officer Brett Kagan.Another issue is the biocomputer lifespan, which is short.The CL1 lasts 6 months, and the according to The AI News, many only last an estimated 100 days.Although human neurons survive for decades, organoids require regular replacement, maintaining systems like microfluidic incubators which provide nutrients, regulating temperature, and preventing contamination — all very precise environmental controls that are difficult to scale. .Also, researchers face challenges when preserving the learned patterns when transitioning to new organoids — since the knowledge transfer mechanism between biological computers remains underdeveloped. As for what to do if the biocomputer does somehow get scaled and because maybe even a common household item, Dr. Kelly Anderson, a philosophy professor from Duquesne University who explored the ethics of the neuron-mirco chip, says policies surrounding it should be given some thought.She says many ethicists point that the technology should be regulated is correct, just in case, "Ideally, we will have some measures in place before DishBrain becomes VatBrain and then just Brain."