Fully Automatic Neuron Tracing

Tamas Freund, a friend from Budapest, wrote me a letter in 1981 in which he said, “Joe, you should build the ultimate neuron-tracing system. In the afternoon, an anatomist will put his microscope slide in it and go to a local pub and drink a beer. The next morning when he returns to the lab, the neuron will be reconstructed, the analysis will be done, and the paper will be written. This would be the perfect neuron-tracing system.” I answered Tamas’ letter with “Thank you for your insight and we’ll get right on it.” Well, we’ve been getting right on it since 1974, and we’re nowhere near it.