A youtuber has grown a rat brain that is learning to play Doom
If that sentence didn’t blow your mind, you might want to check your soul at the door. I know that sounds pretty sci-fi, and it is, but it’s also pretty real. This experiment is going to expand your mind.
The youtuber, known as The Thought Emporium, has taken the popular game Doom and trained lab-grown rat neurons to play it. The experiment uses affordable cortical rat neurons that have been trained to perform actions in the game.
“The cortex is the brain’s command center and the most advanced part of the brain,” the video explains. “We’re going to take a cluster of cortical rat neurons and train them to play Doom.”
The neurons are associated with an electrode array with 46 electrodes that can be triggered based on audio stimuli. The Thought Emporium uses Doom sound files as a reward system, giving the neurons a pleasant tone every time they make a kill in the game and receiving an unpleasant tone every time they get killed.
The video goes on to explain the process of growing the neurons, from the first drop of growth media to the time where the neurons form clusters over time. There are several stages of growth for the neurons, and some of the neuron clusters form blob-like clumps that are too large for the experiment’s purposes.
“This is exactly what we want,” The Thought Emporium says. “Every time the neurons make a kill in the game, we give them a nice tone, but when they die, we give them a nasty tone.”
The Thought Emporium plans to store and encourage the growth of the neurons, as well as create organoids from their self-organization. They also intend to grow the neurons from skin cells instead of buying them for cost purposes.
The video, while fascinating, doesn’t really showcase clips of Doom being manipulated by the neurons, instead choosing to focus more on the process rather than the gameplay. Future uploads are promised to provide a more thorough exploration of the Doom playing.
From the first moment I saw this, I had to share it, because it’s just so damn cool. It also brings up questions about consciousness and the wonder of achieving it through neural networks. The popular phrase “can it run Doom” takes on a new meaning with this experiment.
The Thought Emporium’s twitter bio describes them as a “real mad scientist,” and I’m not sure I can argue with that. This experiment is definitely unique and something I’m looking forward to seeing more of in the future.
Check out the full video below.
