The Brain in the Machine: Biological Computers, Darwinian Will, and the Mystery of Consciousness | 535

Scientists have figured out how to grow living human brain cells, hook them up to computers, and make them play video games. Because apparently artificial intelligence wasn't terrifying enough, so we gave computers actual human brain cells and introduced them to Doom. What could possibly go wrong?

Meet the bizarre world of biological computing, where scientists are teaching neurons to play Pong, growing miniature human brains, and building computers that need food and life support. Finally, a computer that can literally die from neglect. Take that, Windows!

But things get even weirder with Darwinian Will, the possibility that brain cells can exhibit goal-directed behavior without consciousness. Could these biological computers eventually become self-aware? And if your computer develops feelings, is unplugging it murder or just a really complicated IT support ticket?

Living computers, human brain cells playing Doom, and the terrifying possibility of consciousness in a petri dish. All that and more this week on Hysteria 51!

Sources

Biological computers, DishBrain, and Doom

• DishBrain: In Vitro Neurons Learn and Exhibit Sentience When Embodied in a Simulated Game-World | Neuron (2022)
• Cortical Labs: CL1 Biological Computer | Official Website
• Cortical Labs: Cortical Cloud | Official Website
• Human Brain Cells Playing Doom | Smithsonian Magazine (2026)
• The Neurons Playing Doom Are Actually Testing a Theory of Intelligence | R&D World (2026)
• Doom Neuron: Sean Cole's Original Project Code | GitHub
• This Melbourne Data Centre Runs on Human Brain Cells | Australian Computer Society (2026)

Darwinian will, learning, and consciousness

• The Free-Energy Principle: A Unified Brain Theory? | Karl Friston, Nature Reviews Neuroscience (2010)
• Playing Brains: The Ethical Challenges Posed by Silicon Sentience and Hybrid Intelligence in DishBrain | Science and Engineering Ethics (2023)

Brain organoids, medicine, and ethics

• Open and Remotely Accessible Neuroplatform for Research in Wetware Computing | FinalSpark, Frontiers in Artificial Intelligence (2024)
• Organoid Intelligence: The New Frontier in Biocomputing and Intelligence-in-a-Dish | Frontiers in Science (2023)
• Brain Organoids for Disease Modeling, Toxicity Testing and Drug Evaluation | PubMed
• The Emerging Field of Human Neural Organoids, Transplants, and Chimeras: Science, Ethics, and Governance | National Academies (2021)
• The Legacy of Henrietta Lacks | Johns Hopkins Medicine

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