English

The hardware is the software

Emerging Technologies 2024-12-12 v1 Neural and Evolutionary Computing Neurons and Cognition

Abstract

Human brains and bodies are not hardware running software: the hardware is the software. We reason that because the microscopic physics of artificial-intelligence hardware and of human biological "hardware" is distinct, neuromorphic engineers need to be cautious (and yet also creative) in how we take inspiration from biological intelligence. We should focus primarily on principles and design ideas that respect -- and embrace -- the underlying hardware physics of non-biological intelligent systems, rather than abstracting it away. We see a major role for neuroscience in neuromorphic computing as identifying the physics-agnostic principles of biological intelligence -- that is the principles of biological intelligence that can be gainfully adapted and applied to any physical hardware.

Cite

@article{arxiv.2310.18335,
  title  = {The hardware is the software},
  author = {Jeremie Laydevant and Logan G. Wright and Tianyu Wang and Peter L. McMahon},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2310.18335},
  year   = {2024}
}
R2 v1 2026-06-28T13:04:06.805Z