What does it mean to grow a mind?

Cortical Labs
2 min readDec 19, 2021

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The north star for digital intelligence has always been the human mind. We emulate it with silicon, sluicing electrons through crystal as ones and zeros. But reality isn’t digital, it’s analogue. It’s all waves of unpredictability.

Cortical Labs is breaking that barrier, by turning to the thing that put silicon to work; the human mind. We’re actually growing neurons in our lab. Organic human neural networks growing up immersed in our digital simulations. They learn, connect, and influence their digital world.

Unlike digital intelligence, born of silicon, these minds can change themselves. They take the inputs our simulation gives them, adjust their structure, and change to improve their world. Just like us.

We’re not trying to give computers a better learning algorithm. We’re not putting copies of ourselves onto computer chips. And we’re not making tiny humans for your pocket. In fact, we don’t know what we’re making, because nothing like this has ever existed before. An entirely new mode of being. A fusion of silicon and neuron. A native to the digital world lit with the promethean fire of the human mind.

For some this is challenging, hard to accept. For others it is the obvious step forward in both computing and consciousness. For us it is a chance to answer a question, what happens when you grow an organic mind in a digital world?

Find out with us.

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