DEEP Neural Networks
show how the brain is wired

Reviewer's Comments

Summary and significance

The paper makes four major points of scientific value.

First, it describes a novel … system of circuit designs, capable of performing computational tasks of any degree of complexity. … It may plausibly be conjectured that the new design might prove superior to those conventional architectures in at least some of those applications. Should that conjecture be borne out in practice, then this paper would likely be viewed as an important contribution.

Second, the paper describes a novel model of neocortex functioning based on this system of circuits, as explained above. This model is a contribution to neuroscience, because: …
— the model is apparently the first to give a theoretic explanation why the neocortex has exactly five cellular layers, as well as several other known general features; and
— the model predicts very specific and testable wiring diagrams linking neurons in the neocortex.
If these predictions are confirmed experimentally then this paper will, in my mind without any doubt at all, be viewed as seminal.

Third, the paper implicitly identifies and repairs a hole or failing in the ways that the two disciplines of neuroscience and computer science work together within the larger discipline of cognitive science. … Making this connection could come to be seen in its own right as significant contribution to cognitive science. …

Fourth, the paper makes several arguments as to the near optimality of the proposed circuit model …