Guys I'm trying to make a program that simulates a neuron which behaves like the Physarum polycephalum so it will be able to develop intelligence. I'm making it totally in the D programming language. I will need help from biology nerds. If you want to participate you can contact me:
1- on my GitHub: https://github.com/MuriloMir
or
2- via e-mail: murilomiranda92@hotmail.com
or
3- via the Dlang facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/662119670846705/
or
4- on my twitter: https://twitter.com/MuriloMN0

On Thursday, 23 May 2019 at 23:17:08 UTC, Murilo wrote:
> Guys I'm trying to make a program that simulates a neuron which behaves like the Physarum polycephalum so it will be able to develop intelligence. I'm making it totally in the D programming language. I will need help from biology nerds. If you want to participate you can contact me:
> 1- on my GitHub: https://github.com/MuriloMir
> or
> 2- via e-mail: murilomiranda92@hotmail.com
> or
> 3- via the Dlang facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/662119670846705/
> or
> 4- on my twitter: https://twitter.com/MuriloMN0

It doesn't matter how you model a neuron. Whatever sigmoid function you use will end up converging to the same result. All neurons function in the same way, and that is as a switch. This is why you can use all kinds of stuff for switches and it work.

It seems that as long as they mimic a step function then it will work.

I'd suggest you design your algorithms around using a generic neuron and then you can play around with specific implementations.

On Fri, 2019-05-24 at 00:10 +0000, Alex via Digitalmars-d-announce wrote:
> On Thursday, 23 May 2019 at 23:17:08 UTC, Murilo wrote:
> > Guys I'm trying to make a program that simulates a neuron which behaves like the Physarum polycephalum so it will be able to develop intelligence. I'm making it totally in the D programming language. I will need help from biology nerds. If you want to participate you can contact me:

I am not an expert in this, but would a neuron (from whatever beastie) ever behave like a slime mould?

> > 1- on my GitHub: https://github.com/MuriloMir
> > or
> > 2- via e-mail: murilomiranda92@hotmail.com
> > or
> > 3- via the Dlang facebook group:
> > https://www.facebook.com/groups/662119670846705/
> > or
> > 4- on my twitter: https://twitter.com/MuriloMN0
> 
> It doesn't matter how you model a neuron. Whatever sigmoid function you use will end up converging to the same result. All neurons function in the same way, and that is as a switch. This is why you can use all kinds of stuff for switches and it work.

Is a sigmoid function sufficient? The era of treating a neuron as purely a single dimensional (electrical) state has, I believe, long past. Neurons do trigger, but they also have a biochemical aspect as well as an electrical one. I am not up to date with modelling neurons, and neither am I an expert in neurochemistry, and whilst investigating a network of sigmoid function triggers is still valid as a fun thing to do, I am not sure it can now be seen as a model of a collection of neurons.

A model that started up in the mid to late 1970s but didn't take off then, but I believe is being picked up again recently, is to treat a network of neurons embedded in a biochemical system as a set of fields. The background was relativistic quantum field theory, but I suspect the technique as applied to networks of neurons has evolved away from that background. But maybe this is still not a mainstream approach?

Does anyone have any connection with people working on Blue Brain. Over decade ago they were modelling the neocortex and neurons with apparently good success.

> It seems that as long as they mimic a step function then it will work.
> 
> I'd suggest you design your algorithms around using a generic neuron and then you can play around with specific implementations.


-- 
Russel.
===========================================
Dr Russel Winder      t: +44 20 7585 2200
41 Buckmaster Road    m: +44 7770 465 077
London SW11 1EN, UK   w: www.russel.org.uk

On Friday, 24 May 2019 at 08:46:06 UTC, Russel Winder wrote:
> I am not an expert in this, but would a neuron (from whatever beastie) ever behave like a slime mould?
> Is a sigmoid function sufficient? The era of treating a neuron as purely a single dimensional (electrical) state has, I believe, long past. Neurons do trigger, but they also have a biochemical aspect as well as an electrical one. I am not up to date with modelling neurons, and neither am I an expert in neurochemistry, and whilst investigating a network of sigmoid function triggers is still valid as a fun thing to do, I am not sure it can now be seen as a model of a collection of neurons.
> A model that started up in the mid to late 1970s but didn't take off then, but I believe is being picked up again recently, is to treat a network of neurons embedded in a biochemical system as a set of fields. The background was relativistic quantum field theory, but I suspect the technique as applied to networks of neurons has evolved away from that background. But maybe this is still not a mainstream approach?
> Does anyone have any connection with people working on Blue Brain. Over decade ago they were modelling the neocortex and neurons with apparently good success.

I found your reply very knowledgeable and very intelligent. I will take a look later at the blue brain project. The reason I compared a neuron with the slime mold is because it grows dentrites to form synapses and therefore it creates intelligence.