After some time off to focus on teaching at UCL, in the last couple of years I’ve been starting to write about neuromorphic engineering (and other topics related to intelligent machines) again. This started at the beginning of 2018 when I wrote a case study on photonics in neuromorphic systems for my book on reporting on emerging technologies. Last year I wrote a feature for Nature Electronics‘ delayed special issue on neuromorphic computing (now scheduled to come out this summer) and this year I’ve started writing for EETimes again. I commissioned a special project on the subject for them and have also started writing a regular column on Brains and Machines.
My passion for this subject is greater than ever, and I am working on a book on this subject. More as the work develops.
I’m in the process of trying to write a book with Ralph Etienne-Cummings of Johns Hopkins University on neuromorphic engineering. Just at the point where I was supposed to be travelling to lots of conferences for research, Covid-19 happened. Papers are great, but getting the context for work directly from scientists and engineers is always a good way of getting started, so I looked for material to watch online (to create my own virtual conference).
This book was recommended by a colleague who is both a biologist and a neuromorphic engineer, and I was hoping to get from it some insights on how to build a brain. If I hadn’t come to it with this expectation, I think I would have enjoyed it more… because that’s not what it is. It’s the story of how a science writer switched back to being a scientist and and was able to bring a fresh eye to an old subject. Her new perspective, plus years of work and dedication, have led us to a much better understanding of who we are and why.
I attended the 3rd International Workshop on Optical SuperComputing in Bertinoro, Italy, back in November. I don’t get out so much these days, so I was pretty shocked when a total of 10 people showed up (or was it 11, you’d think I’d remember!) It’s a shame, because there is some interesting stuff going on in this field…
Christof Koch and I see eye to eye on a few things. For one, we’re both Mac-heads. (Although I have no Apple logos anywhere on mybody). For another, he used to be a 
So I finally got around to watching