Special report: Sparsity looks to make AI infrastructure more efficient, AI increasingly useful in the software stack, quantum and classical hardware evolves

René Descartes, in the mid-17th century, was the first to connect thought with the engineering of his day – in his case living systems were mechanical automata with plumbing or hydraulics to move ideas and actions.

Now, brains are too often thought of by neuroscientists as little computers with a processing capacity and a hard drive.

The internet, however, is a better metaphor for the brain, according to the book, An Internet in Your Head, by Daniel Graham. Both are…