Unassuming astrocytes, thought to merely be helper brain cells, are more than meets the eye.
Jose Antonio Lanz
The hypothesis leverages emerging evidence that astrocytes play active roles in information processing, unlike their previously assumed housekeeping functions. It also outlines a biological basis for transformers, which can surpass traditional neural networks in faciliating tasks like generating coherent text.
The proposed biological transformers could provide new insights into human cognition if validated experimentally. However, significant gaps remain between humans and data-hungry transformer models. While transformers require massive training datasets, human brains transform experience into language organically on a modest energy budget.
Although links between neuroscience and artificial intelligence offer insight, comprehending the sheer complexity of our minds remains an immense challenge. Biological connections represent but one piece of the puzzle—unlocking the intricacies of human intelligence necessitates sustained effort across disciplines. How neural biology accomplishes near magic continues to be science's deepest mystery.
