Getting started with Nengo
In a nutshell, Nengo builds brains, not mental representations, as in classical machine learning and deep learning.
Nengo stands for Neural Engineering Object. It has both scripting capability with Nengo and a graphical capacity with Nengo GUI. We will be using NEF, which is Nengo's Neural Engineering Framework (NEF).
Nengo was created by the Centre for Theoretical Neuroscience at the University of Waterloo (Ontario, Canada). Chris Eliasmith has played an important role in this project.
We have explored many ways to approach cognitive modeling in the previous chapters. Nengo uses an NEF to implement an SPA.
A semantic pointer is a neural representation in a biological system that carries structures that will lead to higher-level cognitive representations.
The term pointer refers to pointers as we know in C++, for example, because they can access data they do not contain.
The term semantic refers to the fact...