# Neither Artificial Nor Intelligent — Artificial Insights | Envisioning Source: https://www.envisioning.com/newsletter/132-neither-artificial-nor-intelligent --- ![](/_next/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fsubstackcdn.com%2Fimage%2Ffetch%2Ff_auto%2Cq_auto%3Agood%2Cfl_progressive%3Asteep%2Fhttps%253A%252F%252Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%252Fpublic%252Fimages%252Fdcd1d507-cd32-4440-8a98-9cf87ba1871b_1536x1024.png&w=3840&q=75) [Back to newsletter](/newsletter) # Neither Artificial Nor Intelligent Issue 132 · March 9, 2026 0 # Issue 132: Neither Artificial Nor Intelligent _Courtesy comes with a price tag._ A company called [Eon Systems](https://eon.systems/) just demonstrated what appears to be the first whole-brain emulation that produces multiple behaviors. They took a complete computational model of a fruit fly brain – 125,000 neurons, 50 million synaptic connections, [mapped from electron microscopy data](https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-024-07763-9) – wired it into a physics-simulated body in [MuJoCo](https://mujoco.org/), and watched it move. Not an animation. Not reinforcement learning mimicking biology. A copy of a biological brain, running in simulation, driving a body through naturalistic behaviors. Their next target is a mouse brain (70 million neurons), and eventually a human one. Separately, [Cortical Labs](https://x.com/aakashgupta/status/2030357045460050032) is going in the opposite direction. Instead of copying biology into silicon, they are growing 200,000 human neurons on a chip and letting them compute directly. Their cells taught themselves to play a simplified implementation of DOOM in a week – down from 18 months for Pong on older hardware. Each unit costs $35,000, a full rack draws under 1,000 watts, and they are already shipping hardware and selling access through what they call Wetware-as-a-Service. The investor list includes In-Q-Tel, the CIA venture arm. Two directions, same destination. One team copies a biological brain into a machine. The other grows biological neurons and puts them to work. Both are proving that intelligence is not about the substrate – it is about the wiring. If Eon can scale from a fly to a mouse to a human connectome, and Cortical Labs can scale from DOOM to real-world tasks, the distinction between artificial and biological intelligence stops being a category and starts being a spectrum. We are not there yet. But for the first time, both sides of that spectrum are moving toward each other. MZ * * * We at [Envisioning](http://www.envisioning.com) have been working on technical approaches for performing research across multiple AIs. Instead of trusting the output of a single frontier models, we have developed different ways of combining and comparing generative responses in order to create higher quality research. If this is something you are interested in, [join us for a demo of our Signals platform](https://luma.com/3k9d0erv) on March 31. Speaking of generative research, I am bringing our tools and methodologies to the [World Beautiful Business Forum](https://worldbeautifulbusinessforum.com) in Athens in May together with our friends at [C3Labs](https://www.c3labs.org). Let me know if you are around! Five main-stage acts inspired by Greek drama, more than 100 speakers, facilitators, and performers across more than 80 concurrent sessions, organized into 10 immersive program tracks and 1 powerful community. They offer distinct paths toward a life-centered economy, developed in collaboration with guest curators and partners. * * * ### Video Links **![YouTube video thumbnail](https://img.youtube.com/vi/xc97F2CFBOY/hqdefault.jpg)Play on YouTube** **[Watch on YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xc97F2CFBOY)** Ezra Klein digs into the escalating tension between the US military establishment and Anthropic - a company that simultaneously took a Pentagon contract and drew hard lines about what its models can be used for. The interview maps a collision course between national security demands and AI safety principles that neither side can easily win. **![YouTube video thumbnail](https://img.youtube.com/vi/_Ux13UEqIYo/hqdefault.jpg)Play on YouTube** **[Watch on YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Ux13UEqIYo)** ColdFusion breaks down OpenAI expanding relationship with the US military - how a company that once refused defense contracts ended up there, what the deal actually covers, and why it matters for the broader AI industry. **![YouTube video thumbnail](https://img.youtube.com/vi/aYqUguinynI/hqdefault.jpg)Play on YouTube** **[Watch on YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aYqUguinynI)** Ben Pascut argues for reframing the AI-and-jobs conversation around what humans uniquely contribute to economic value - not just what jobs survive but what a human-centered economy actually looks like when machine labor becomes abundant. **![YouTube video thumbnail](https://img.youtube.com/vi/6Q-EzLpmnJc/hqdefault.jpg)Play on YouTube** **[Watch on YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Q-EzLpmnJc)** An investigation into vibe coding and real-time conflict tracking. * * * If Artificial Insights makes sense to you, please help us out by: - [Subscribing](http://newsletter.envisioning.io) to the weekly newsletter on Substack. - [Joining](https://chat.whatsapp.com/FOirxUglTn6Fx7XD2iUm4L) our WhatsApp group. - [Following](https://www.linkedin.com/newsletters/7074081702280597504/) the weekly newsletter on LinkedIn. - Sharing the newsletter on your socials. Artificial Insights is written by Michell Zappa, CEO and founder of Envisioning, a technology research institute. * * * ## More from Artificial Insights --- ![Mar 16, 2026 · Issue 133](https://res.cloudinary.com/envisioning/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto:best/v1773756677/newsletter/issue/133-babysitting-the-agents/cover/cover.png) Mar 16, 2026 · Issue 133 Babysitting the Agents [/newsletter/133-babysitting-the-agents](/newsletter/133-babysitting-the-agents) 0 ![Mar 2, 2026 · Issue 131](https://res.cloudinary.com/envisioning/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto:best/v1772564227/hyuah0ql0mdsleuxxy45.webp) Mar 2, 2026 · Issue 131 Prompt it into existence [/newsletter/131-prompt-it-into-existence](/newsletter/131-prompt-it-into-existence) 0 --- [View all issues](/newsletter) * * * ## Comments Post commentComments are reviewed before appearing. ## Newsletter Follow us for weekly foresight in your inbox. Sign up