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September 12, 2026

How to give a fly brain a job

If you're here because you commented on my video, welcome. Here's the guide I promised.

Want to make a fly brain play a virtual violin? Choose the cuts in a video? Control a little game?

The way to start is to give it one small decision—and build from there.

You'll use an existing fly-brain simulation as your starting point, then ask an AI coding assistant to connect its activity to something you can see or hear.

First, what are you actually downloading?

Scientists have mapped the connections between neurons in a fruit fly's brain. That wiring diagram is called a connectome. The public FlyWire dataset includes roughly 140,000 neurons. Explore FlyWire.

Developers can use that wiring in a simulation, adding mathematical rules for how neurons respond and send signals.

Then comes the creative part: translating the simulation's activity into actions.

(This post continues for paid subscribers on Substack.)