A model that replicates the functions of the human brain is feasible in 10 years according to neuroscientist Professor Henry Markram of the Brain Mind Institute in Switzerland.

“A brain model will sit on a massive supercomputer and serve as a kind of educational and diagnostic service to society,” he said. “As the industrial revolution in science progresses we will generate more data than anyone can track or any computer can store, so models that can absorb it are simply unavoidable.”