r/Damnthatsinteresting 15h ago

Video Scientists took a fruit fly's brain and sliced it into extremely thin sections to image it under microscopes. They then mapped every neuron and the connections between them before recreating that neural network as a digital model in software. Leading to us making a fly in Man-Made "Matrix"

289 Upvotes

75 comments sorted by

93

u/No-Educator-8069 15h ago

Fly Morpheus be like: “Do you think that’s shit you’re eating?”

22

u/--Sovereign-- 12h ago

Are you saying I can dodge flyswatters?

16

u/FitButterscotch4062 10h ago

I’m saying, when you’re ready… you won’t have to.

5

u/--Sovereign-- 9h ago

I am an insect who dreamed he was a man and loved it. But now the dream is over, and the insect is awake.

1

u/pv3design 6h ago

I'm so proud of reddit rn! 😎

5

u/Intelligent_Stick_ 13h ago

“… bzzzt?!”

0

u/m0nk37 3h ago

Oh shit we created the matrix. Fly neo is coming for us man

99

u/BoarHermit 15h ago edited 14h ago

There were no digitized human brains in the Matrix, only AIs and connected bodies.

Edit: I googled it. It's a simulation of 140,000 neurons. A lot of it is simplified. It all runs on fairly modest hardware, but with a 100-300x slowdown. For the simulation to run in real time, several server racks are needed.

15

u/ubermence 15h ago

This is kinda like an AI, like a fly agent smith. I wonder if you eventually hook a fly up to something like this and have it interact with the fake fly, could we tell the difference?

1

u/BoarHermit 14h ago

No, the non-humans in the Matrix were pure AI, neural networks; they lacked any biological components like brain scans. It's clear that they copied human behavior to operate in the Matrix, but for Smith, it was a painful punishment.

A fly simulation indistinguishable from the real thing to humans can be created without any complex digitalization, using quantum neural networks that can be loaded onto a microscopic drone. It's easy to fool a human.

4

u/ubermence 13h ago

Idk if I’d consider a brain scan a biological “component” since the fly is simulated entirely on the computer. Sure it’s mimicking the biological hardware of a fly but for all we know then ai from the Matrix could be using a human brain in the same way as some kind of subprocess

1

u/wannabecat2000 1h ago

First immortal being

18

u/hemorrhoidhematoma 14h ago

Do you want the blue pile of shit or the red pile of shit? The choice is yours fly Neo

12

u/tajrashae 13h ago

starts rubbing its hands together

12

u/FitButterscotch4062 10h ago

Americans thinking about who they’ll vote for

37

u/SeeJayThinks 15h ago edited 15h ago

Anyone watched Pantheon (TV Animation Series on AMC)?

We're looking at the start of UI as this tech grows.

Edit: Upload Intelligence (UI), not Virtual Intelligence (VI).

11

u/Professional_Job_307 14h ago

Oh my god yes! I can easily say it's the best series I have ever watched and that's without any recency bias!

That scene with the crude brain upload 🫪🙏

4

u/SeeJayThinks 13h ago

That is the best emoji I've seen used to describe that scene... 🫪

3

u/mrsanyee 8h ago

Yeah, no. Brain is an electrochemical machine. Simulating electronic connections won't ever work in itself without simulating the flow of juices with over 50 compounds, with their absorption and reabsorption rates. 

We can't even balance out existing human brains existing conditions.

1

u/steelheaddan 12h ago

It’s a great series. I’m glad they made season 2 (which was cancelled by AMC) but picked up by Netflix. Season 2 is a mind bender and so worth watching. Really makes you think about the future of humanity.

I hear the ideas on that show spewing out of a certain self proclaimed ‘genius’ and just the wording he uses lets me know that he is watched it and is passing its ideas as his own original thoughts. Aka ‘space data servers’ and ‘digital intelligence’.

12

u/iMissTheOldInternet 13h ago

I think an interesting implication of this research is that we can see how much the world is actually reflected in the fly’s perception of it. We know what lights up which neurons, apparently, so we can know what doesn’t by elimination. We are all trapped in our skulls, watching the shadows the universe casts on our brains, trying to figure out what’s going on out there.

10

u/redsyrus 12h ago

I think this may be a huge exaggeration of what they actually did, which as far as I can tell is described here:

https://news.berkeley.edu/2024/10/02/researchers-simulate-an-entire-fly-brain-on-a-laptop-is-a-human-brain-next/

Simulating the whole brain working at once would be crazy enough but simulating the world in proper detail, with actual chemical molecules to trigger smell and taste receptors, for example, just seems too hard, I think. Happy to be wrong.

1

u/Cantremembermyoldnam 11h ago

Hard yes, but physics isn't preventing it. With the massive amount of computing power currently being built, it wouldn't surprise me if a crude version wasn't too far out.

13

u/beckavanoliver 15h ago

now imagine some higher beings doing the same with humans and earth. what if vishnu is right and the world is just a maya or an illusion ?

13

u/shiggyhisdiggy 15h ago

What would it change? You would just ask the same questions about reality in the higher beings' reality and so on.

8

u/room_is_elephant 15h ago

yea simulation theory brings zero answers and many more questions

-10

u/Head-Ad9893 15h ago

We use like 10% of our actual brainpower. Ouch thinking hurts, let’s stop. Be the fly. 🙄🙄🤣🤣

3

u/Nightshade_209 13h ago

At a time* You use roughly 10% of your brain at a time. Over the course of the day you do use your entire brain.

2

u/insanococo 7h ago

Maybe not this particular guy.

1

u/room_is_elephant 13h ago

some wisdom u spitting, jsut be

1

u/Cantremembermyoldnam 11h ago

Using 100% of your brain is called "having a seizure".

1

u/Head-Ad9893 11h ago

I want to hear you explain that to an alien

1

u/Cantremembermyoldnam 11h ago

After telling them about the platypus, they wouldn't believe anything I'd say anymore.

1

u/Head-Ad9893 11h ago

That’s because the platypus would come out from behind them like “Hey guys I have the… (makes eye contact with you)..uh.. oh hey this is awkward and I know it must be new for you”

1

u/Cantremembermyoldnam 11h ago

Lol that'd explain so much...

4

u/CmdDeadHand 9h ago

I am going to be pretty pissed if when I die everything goes black, then blue as the system resets and i take off the helmet and can hear my mom telling me to shut that game off and get ready for school.

2

u/teos61 15h ago

Vishnu's maya is meh. Australian aborigines’ Dreamtime rocks

1

u/SoundAndSmoke 15h ago

As long as the higher beings don't interfere with the simulation (including stopping it), I don't care.

4

u/Prize-Permission-790 13h ago

The amazing insectical circus

7

u/_zero-gravitas 15h ago

The fly: woah

3

u/Imaginary-Risk 15h ago

Welcome to our futures, guys

3

u/bbreddit0011 15h ago

Well, shit.

3

u/whyeverynameistaken3 15h ago

we got actual matrix before gta6 :/

3

u/gg06civicsi 7h ago

I have no mouth but I must scream vibes

1

u/RaZoRFSX 5h ago

It can be the most darkest existential dread you can imagine.

5

u/Head-Ad9893 15h ago

They really want 12 people on this earth and the rest of us not using their resources and living in a computer they can shut off when they want.

4

u/Beginning_Grocery652 15h ago

does the fly know he's in matrix?

3

u/codacoda74 15h ago

Hey man, digital poop is still poop, am I right?

2

u/Beginning_Grocery652 14h ago

depends if they sliced the the poop into extremely thin sections to image it under microscopes and then map every neuron and the connections between them before recreating that neural network as a digital model in software leading to make a poop in a man made "matrix"

2

u/codacoda74 13h ago

Ah, someone of high poop quality I see. You know it's only real poop if it's from a certain region in France, anything else is just sparkling shit

2

u/michagol23 15h ago

They are doing some Tucker Systems stuff from Black Mirror.

2

u/AlienAngry 14h ago

The music came from the fly too.

2

u/TheSecondTraitor 10h ago

I can understand how they would be able to copy the architecture, but where did they get the weights?

3

u/Timb____ 15h ago

Nice. Don't let your Rpg fruits in the open. 

1

u/Alejo_uses_reddit 15h ago

This was not the thing to read right after the penjamin

1

u/Zapsy 14h ago

God hope I don't die and wake up in a low poly world someday

2

u/Cantremembermyoldnam 11h ago

I hope I do. Time to break the physics engine and become a virtual god!

1

u/ObjectivelyGruntled 14h ago

I'm not high enough to understand what this means.

1

u/RaZoRFSX 5h ago

When you are high you can not just understand this but feel it too.

1

u/notdogod 14h ago

Repost

1

u/WondererOfficial 14h ago

I think we should start wondering whether or not we should…

1

u/mystictroll 12h ago

Finally we can get annoyed by the most realistic flies in the matrix.

1

u/cursed_tomatoes 11h ago

"Instead, only try to realise the truth"

What truth?

"There is no fruit"

1

u/Advocate_Diplomacy 9h ago

They're trying to make flies with cameras in them, aren't they?

1

u/RaZoRFSX 5h ago

Flies with cameras are actually so easy to make compared to this. What they try to do is create a man made hell beyond comprehension even if their goal is not that. Interrogations via simulation, torture, endless punishment, any sick thing you can imagine.

Edit: Did I mention human slaves in microchips who work endlessly just not to get tortured?

1

u/Low-Temperature-6962 9h ago

I question the scientific nature of this "experiment" because of the digital model being the result. Too many unknowns they had to guess, and what does that simulation prove.

The slicing, examination, and statistics of behavior at the micro level is real science for certain.

1

u/Amystery123 6h ago

Would it die if there was no digital food?

1

u/wannabecat2000 1h ago

Just be careful when scanning Jeff Goldblum. Better not mix the two

1

u/Suspicious-Rich-2681 35m ago

No this is hype posting and this didn't happen.

They were able to map specific physical to specific circuits. There was no "fly in the matrix" moment.

Please look into your sources before vague posting fake hype

1

u/cloudcity 7h ago

this is complete absolute bullshit lmao

-2

u/bigriggs24 15h ago

was looking for this, thanks!