3 ms·
If you poke at a real brain, it’s almost fractally complex. Single ion channels can have surprisingly complicated behaviors that depend on their current state
by mattkrause 8y ago
If you poke at a real brain, it’s almost fractally complex.
Single ion channels can have surprisingly complicated behaviors that depend on their current state and past history. Individual neurons contain tons of these channels, and can do a lot of powerful computation on their own. Of course, there are 86 billion neurons and combinatorically more connections between them. That’s just the neurons too; God only knows what the glia cells, which outnumber them 10:1, are doing but they’re a lot less passive than many have thought.
On top of this, there’s a whole separate but overlaid network of neuromodulators (hormones, nitric oxide, etc). Electric fields produced by some neurons may even influence the activity of others.
None of this is static, either. Things change on timescales ranging from milliseconds to years, and in response to all sorts of external stimuli.
The brain is bonkers.
- est31 8y agoThe coolest part about this is probably how little energy it needs. It's about 20 Watts. Current node sizes are already smaller than axon diameters. If it weren't for power, we could probably scale up manufacturing processes of current semiconductor technology to build giant room sized chips but we simply wouldn't be able to cool those things. Instead we are forced to wrap a ton of metal around them and plastic and air and provide extensive cooling.
- FartyMcFarter 8y agoIs it true that a big part of this efficiency is due to using analog signals and not digital? I recall reading that, but it's far from my area of expertise. Digital has many advantages: a digital Einstein could be replicated perfectly, not so for an analog Einstein.
- wuliwong 8y agoWell said. This is my line of thinking when comparing current AI to the human brain.