WIKIMEDIA, WYGLIFAfter hundreds of neuroscientists signed an open letter criticizing the governance and goals of the European Commission’s (EC) Human Brain Project (HBP), leaders of the initiative have met with the letter’s organizers to address some of the concerns, according to Nature. Citing an unnamed and “cautious source,” Nature said that HBP officials met with some of the researchers who signed the letter last Thursday (July 10) to engage in “the beginnings of discussions of some of the issues.”
The July 7 letter, which has now garnered more than 650 signatures, complained of a lack of transparency in how the HBP is being managed, an overly ambitious and misplaced goal of building a computer simulation of the human brain, and a lack of funding for conventional cognitive research that deals with high-level brain functions such as thought, consciousness, and behavior. Signatories of the letter, key European neuroscientists among them, threaten not to apply for any of the HBP €1.2 billion ($1.6 billion) in research funding.
As signatures began accumulating on the letter last week, HBP leadership and the EC first downplayed the concerns, with EC officials saying in a statement to Nature on Thursday that it was “too early to draw conclusions on the ...
