The robot with the brain of a worm

You know that idea about downloading brains onto computers? They've done it with the brain of a C. elegans. Read about it here.

I liked this comment: "Given its limited range of behaviors, it seems unlikely to be of practical value, but given more neurons this might change". It immediately summoned up in my mind (or should I say connectome?) an image of a demiurge at work on the plains of Africa not that long ago, seeking funding for one last experiment on those perpetually disappointing bipedal apes. "I know they're of no practical value now," he tells the inter-galactic fund-granting body, "but I just get a feeling that with a few more neurons and a little more hair, these monkeys will be good for something."