[dkfellows]

FWIW, this is based on SpiNNaker, which is a system with a million CPU cores and a custom low-power multicast network backplane. It's possible to do simpler neural models with much less power than we do (and some of our competitors do just that) but it's not at all clear that those simple models are actually sufficiently biologically relevant to produce enough of the phenomena that we care about. Having a system flexible enough to support a dynamic research agenda is vital, but does increase the energy cost per neuron and per synapse.