This white paper describes the general objectives and organization for foundational research in computer architecture derived from models of the dynamical organization of cortical and non-cortical bio-circuits in the central nervous system (CNS). Our principal General Objectives are: 1) to understand how this dynamical organization in brain structure can be viewed in a computational context; 2) to discover what implications dynamical organization holds for information processing; and 3) to develop a new class of computing devices organized and designed to take advantage of these findings. Within the framework of these General Objectives there are Discipline Objectives in support of these General Objectives. This research will be carried out by an interdisciplinary team composed of researchers drawn from the disciplines of microelectronics, computer engineering, computer science, neurobiology, and computational neuroscience. The discoveries and findings from this research are expected to make fundamental contributions to the art and science of computing technology as well as to our basic knowledge of brain organization and the biological substrates of intelligence. It is expected that the experimental and theoretical findings of this research will profoundly affect the future course of computer design and computer science, and will establish a new break-through paradigm leading to more truly intelligent and robust computing devices. It is not improbable that the foundations laid by this research will lead to an entirely new industry of biomimetic neurocomputer systems based on dynamic link architectures.
