Brain-inspired computing boosted by new concept of completeness

The next generation of high-performance, low-power computer systems might be inspired by the brain. However, as designers move away from conventional computer technology towards brain-inspired (neuromorphic) systems, they must also move away from the established formal hierarchy that underpins conventional machines -- that is, the abstract framework that broadly defines how software is processed by a digital computer and converted into operations that run on the machine's hardware. This hierarchy has helped enable the rapid growth in computer performance. Writing in Nature, Zhang et al.1 define a new hierarchy that formalizes the requirements of algorithms and their implementation on a range of neuromorphic systems, thereby laying the foundations for a structured approach to research in which algorithms and hardware for brain-inspired computers can be designed separately. The performance of conventional digital computers has improved over the past 50 years in accordance with Moore's law, which states that technical advances will enable integrated circuits (microchips) to double their resources approximately every 18–24 months.