[snikolov]

Numenta's most recent algorithms are actually very strongly neurobiological. If you have looked at earlier work, you should check out the most recent white paper from a couple of months ago, which detail more than year of recent efforts in that direction.

http://www.numenta.com/htm-overview/education/HTM_CorticalLe...

There is also a recent talk by Jeff Hawkins from a few months ago on the same subject.

http://www.archive.org/details/Redwood_Center_2010_12_02_vs2...

You are correct that neural networks had almost nothing to do with brains. Numenta's new cortical learning algorithms, on the other hand, are very closely modeled on the structure and function of the neocortex.