Functionally Diagram Human Brains using Ganged Confocal Scanning UV Fluorescence Microscopes with 3-D Substage Micromanipulator and Cryostat Microtome

摘要

This is a proposal to construct practical automated neurological diagramming machines. This is a new class of devices that will be able to functionally diagram complex biological systems, eventually including human brains. Development of these devices should quickly lead to a greatly improved understanding of human cognition sufficient to assure the success of ongoing AI/AGI development efforts, and provide key information needed to develop treatments for various neurological conditions. These microscopes will look into bulk tissue, focusing UV spots and recovering scattered UV and visible-light fluorescence from the same side, but along different light paths. This will work to a depth of ～10μ, even on living tissue. Computed tomography and image processing will transform the information from observed construction into a wiring diagram, including component values. In a whole-brain diagramming version, brains can then be diagrammed by analyzing their surface ～10μ, then microtoming away ～4μ of the surface to analyze deeper in, and continuing this process one slice at a time until the entire brain has been diagrammed.