OpenWorm is going to be a digital organism in your browser | tabletomovil.com

"Stephen Larson wants to create the world’s first digital organism, and he starting simple with a worm. Yes, Larson has launched a Kickstarter crowdfunding campaign to raise money to create OpenWorm as part of an effort to accelerate our understanding of the human brain. If his team succeeds, he thinks that artificial intelligence will move forward and possibly even provide clues to brain diseases like Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s. Those who support the project will get a digital copy of the worm, dubbed WormSim, to put on their browser ... Back in 2011, Larson got the idea from watching Star Trek: The Next Generation, which featured Lt. Commander Data, an artificial intelligence officer. He thought that scientists would be able to create Data by starting out simple, with a worm. A bunch of other academics liked the idea, and they created an open science project.  So far, the project has raised $ 27,156 from 312 backers. It still has 19 days to go in a campaign aimed at raising $ 120,000. They’re raising the money for core engineering, administration, and educational outreach. They want to build a better, more accurate version of the worm.  While Larson is in San Diego, Calif., his team is spread across the world. The team includes John White, Matteo Cantarelli, Giovanni Idili, Sergey Khayrulin,  Andrey Palyanov, and Balasz Szigeti.

They are trying to create an interactive worm based on its real biology. They’re also creating the OpenWorm Academy to teach others about the tiny worm via an online course.  Backers will be able to modify the code for the worm as they wish in a quest to create an artificial sentient life. Once you get the 3D-animated WormSim, you can inspect the model and try to figure out what makes it tick. Each cell lights up and reveals its activity. You can click on parts like its muscles and interact with it in a 3D environment ..."