One of the (many and conflicting) theories about AI is that we need to make computers that work more like an organic brain if we want to build machines that really think. Jeff Hawkins, founder of Palm Computing, has written an article about Hierarchical Temporal Memory (HTM), which is “a platform for simulating neocortical activity” that he’s releasing freely for research purposes. Meanwhile, Warren Ellis draws our attention to a different deployment of technology called ‘speckled computing’ – spraying tiny match-head sized processors all over patients for medical diagnosis. Insert your own punchline here.