Positronic neural net

[Myasishchev]

Is "positronic" a trade-name turned generic, like kleenex or coke--I understand that it was used in an Asimov publication of some antiquity--or does the operating principle of Soong-type androids really rely on antimatter positrons?

If the latter, why use positrons (what advantage does a particle with identical physical properties, save charge, to an electron bring), and how (might safety be an issue, is Data's brain a low-yield photon torpedo)?

I presume the former. After all, the human brain uses electrons and seems to manifest some semblance of consciousness.

 

[Timo]

There's no onscreen reference to the presence of positrons in Data's brain, so it could be a "trade name" thing, yes.

If not, then the use of positrons might be temporary, just as in positron emission tomography (PET) where antimatter is only very briefly formed in nuclear reactions, and immediately annihilates to produce gamma bursts that are then used to localize the annihilation, thus the nuclear reaction, thus the nucleus, thus the body chemicals that the nucleus is attached to.

Brief bursts of energy might be useful in computation - but OTOH, one might do computing by storing positive in addition to negative charges in quantum wells, thus providing either three states instead of two, or then two states that are better told apart than zero and minus one.

Timo Saloniemi