'Edge of chaos' opens pathway to artificial intelligence discoveries

Some neuroscience theories suggest the human brain operates best'at the edge of chaos'. Now scientists have found that keeping a nanowire network at the edge of becoming chaotic is the best state for it to produce useful signals to solve problems. Scientists at the University of Sydney and Japan's National Institute for Material Science (NIMS) have discovered that an artificial network of nanowires can be tuned to respond in a brain-like way when electrically stimulated. The international team, led by Joel Hochstetter with Professor Zdenka Kuncic and Professor Tomonobu Nakayama, found that by keeping the network of nanowires in a brain-like state "at the edge of chaos," it performed tasks at an optimal level. This, they say, suggests the underlying nature of neural intelligence is physical, and their discovery opens an exciting avenue for the development of artificial intelligence.