GoKawiil
Tech News
FutureBit, maker of the Apollo ASIC miners, released HashFly, a browser-based proof of concept that simulates part of a fruit fly's neural connectome—recently mapped and shared by Google—to process simplified Bitcoin-style hashing tasks. The demo uses simulated photoreceptor and PPL101 neurons to check double-SHA-256 targets, with adjustable difficulty levels far below real Bitcoin mining complexity.
A Reddit user known as ActualAerie1011 says they used Google's simulated fruit fly connectome to play the card game Balatro, reportedly achieving a roughly 20% win rate on the easiest difficulty with the default deck. The approach reportedly paired a custom seed-finding algorithm with reinforcement-style feedback, rewarding the model for good outcomes and penalizing poor ones. No code or technical documentation has been shared publicly, leading some commenters to question the claim's validity.
A Reddit user known as ActualAerie1011 says they used a custom trainer algorithm alongside Google's recently released fruit fly connectome to play the card game Balatro on its easiest settings. The setup pits the simulated brain against an algorithm that hunts for favorable game seeds, comparing outcomes and reinforcing the brain's decisions through repeated trials. The creator reports a current 20% success rate and says training is ongoing, though no code or detailed methodology has been shared publicly.
Software engineer Alex Wormuth built a simulated fruit fly brain using Google and HHMI Janelia's newly released connectome data, then wired it to control Doom frame by frame. Each frame generates thousands of brightness and color inputs that feed into the simulated brain's 25.6 million connections, translating neural activity into in-game controls, including a pain response modeled on real dopamine receptors.
A Coinbase engineer created 'Stonkfly,' an open-source simulation of a male fruit fly's brain and eyes containing 166,700 neurons and 25.6 million synaptic connections, and set it loose reading candlestick charts to buy, sell or hold cryptocurrencies. The virtual fly perceives price charts as raw pixel data through simulated photoreceptors, acts roughly every 500 milliseconds, and receives a dopamine-like reward signal for profitable trades and an aversive signal for losses, with trading fees also counted as losses.
Following Google's release of a detailed 3D map of a male fruit fly's brain and nervous system, developers quickly began using the digital neural model to control video games. Engineers mapped sensory inputs from Doom, Beat Saber, and Super Mario 64 to the fly's simulated neurons, using dopamine-linked reinforcement signals to shape its in-game behavior. A separate female fly brain model from Princeton's Flywire project was similarly repurposed to play Minecraft.
Google Research and HHMI Janelia released MaleCNS v1.0, a dataset mapping over 166,000 neurons from a male fruit fly's brain and nervous system, built by converting millions of 2D images into 3D neural reconstructions. Developers quickly began using the model outside its intended scientific purpose, wiring its simulated neurons to control games like Doom and Super Mario 64, where sensory input from game frames drives neural activity that translates into player actions.
Scientists completed a full map of a male fruit fly's nervous system, detailing its neurons and connections. Programmers have since used this neural map to build simulations that let a virtual version of the fly's brain attempt to play games like Doom and Super Mario 64.
Google Research, working with HHMI Janelia Research Campus, published the first complete map of an adult male fruit fly's brain and central nervous system, called MaleCNS v1.0. The AI-assisted project stitched together millions of 2D images into a 3D model reconstructing more than 166,000 neurons. Within days, software engineers used the connectome data to train a simulated version of the fly's neural circuitry to play Doom and Super Mario 64.