3 ms·

But I read somewhere that the brain is able to adjust heart beats and breathing at a very fine frequency and and keeping it in sync requires good latency and al

But I read somewhere that the brain is able to adjust heart beats and breathing at a very fine frequency and and keeping it in sync requires good latency and all this is done without concurrency locks. So does brain have massively parallel architecture where key things have their own core?

inciampati 7y ago
In biology every single protein (or other biochemical entity) can be thought of as it's own core. It's parallel in an amazing and beautiful way. Or the most boring way possible. It just depends on if you are a computer scientist or biologist how you would see it.
- bdamm 7y ago
  There are to this day computer science researchers having conniptions about the impossibility of massively parallel lock-free architectures based on eventual consistency. Yet literally all they must do is open their eyes and see the truth!
  - jplayer01 7y ago
    It helps that our brains and bodies are analog. It doesn't matter if a particular variable is changed by different factors at the same time. The total magnitude of all the changes is far more important. Thus, lock-free.
    - farazbabar 7y ago
      Kind of like CRDT (conflict free replicated data types for the biologists amongst us).
- whatshisface 7y ago
  Protiens? Every particle in every atom is solving exponential-time problems constantly, in parallel. That's the quantum chemistry perspective. :)
  - shoo 7y ago
    physical reality seems fairly good at optimising for local energy-minimal solutions another stupid perspective: think of how many clever algorithms and how much computational hardware would be necessary to simulate a small rock from a QM level up. now, what if there was a bespoke piece of super-custom application-specific technology that could efficiently simulate that small rock? there is: it's the rock itself.
    - carrozo 7y ago
      I’m too stoned for this.
      - yellowapple 7y ago
        Yeah, it's really rocking my brain. More (or perhaps less) seriously, this train of thought has some pretty bizarre and mind-hurty implications for the whole "we're living in a simulation" hypothesis.
        whatshisface 7y ago
        We're living in a simulation designed by aliens who are very vindictive about proving that their computers are better than ours.
johnday 7y ago
The short answer is yes. I assume you've noticed yourself walking and talking from time to time; or standing up while looking around.
jplayer01 7y ago
The brain has different parts and many layers that largely work independently in a functional programming kind of way.
- sjy 7y ago
  The human brain is about as far from functional programming as you can get. Everything is global, referentially opaque, and full of side effects.
azernik 7y ago
Yup! Some interesting demonstrations of this are in split-brain experiments - see https://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/split.html https://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/split.html However, when it comes to peripherals like heart and lung, the distribution goes beyond just the brain - the heart, for example, has a built-in pacemaker called the sino-atrial node [1], which produces a periodic signal with high precision; the brain just sends it signals to control the period of its oscillations. Similarly, a number of reflexes which involve responses to physical danger (withdrawal from burns, knee-tapping) aren't actually handled by the brain; the spinal cord sends the reflex commands as soon as the sensory information hits it, to avoid the round trip all the way to the brain. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sinoatrial_node https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sinoatrial_node
- heavenlyblue 7y ago
  >> withdrawal from burns Not sure that’s that true though (I’ve heard about thus before). I can definitely consciously burn myself. On the other hand I can’t stop myself from moving my foot when it’s tapped.
  - mauvehaus 7y ago
    >> Not sure that’s that true though (I’ve heard about thus before). I can definitely consciously burn myself. That sounds like consciously overriding the reflex[0] withdrawal though, as opposed to accidentally touching something hot, and withdrawing reflexively. Adding anecdata: I've definitely touched something hot and withdrawn my finger/hand/whatever quickly enough to avoid getting burned when I by all rights should have. You know, something hot enough that anything but incidental contact would result in a burn. [0] Reflex is probably not the right word. I can't consciously override the kneecap/kick reflex, for instance.
    - perl4ever 7y ago
      Last time I was tested for the kneecap reflex, nothing happened. The doctor told me to take my hands and hook the fingers of one around the other and pull them against each other, and then the reflex appeared. I don't know what that has to do with consciousness, since I didn't decide to suppress anything.

inciampati 7y ago

In biology every single protein (or other biochemical entity) can be thought of as it's own core. It's parallel in an amazing and beautiful way. Or the most boring way possible. It just depends on if you are a computer scientist or biologist how you would see it.

bdamm 7y ago
There are to this day computer science researchers having conniptions about the impossibility of massively parallel lock-free architectures based on eventual consistency. Yet literally all they must do is open their eyes and see the truth!
- jplayer01 7y ago
  It helps that our brains and bodies are analog. It doesn't matter if a particular variable is changed by different factors at the same time. The total magnitude of all the changes is far more important. Thus, lock-free.
  - farazbabar 7y ago
    Kind of like CRDT (conflict free replicated data types for the biologists amongst us).
whatshisface 7y ago
Protiens? Every particle in every atom is solving exponential-time problems constantly, in parallel. That's the quantum chemistry perspective. :)
- shoo 7y ago
  physical reality seems fairly good at optimising for local energy-minimal solutions another stupid perspective: think of how many clever algorithms and how much computational hardware would be necessary to simulate a small rock from a QM level up. now, what if there was a bespoke piece of super-custom application-specific technology that could efficiently simulate that small rock? there is: it's the rock itself.
  - carrozo 7y ago
    I’m too stoned for this.
    - yellowapple 7y ago
      Yeah, it's really rocking my brain. More (or perhaps less) seriously, this train of thought has some pretty bizarre and mind-hurty implications for the whole "we're living in a simulation" hypothesis.
      - whatshisface 7y ago
        We're living in a simulation designed by aliens who are very vindictive about proving that their computers are better than ours.

johnday 7y ago

The short answer is yes. I assume you've noticed yourself walking and talking from time to time; or standing up while looking around.

jplayer01 7y ago

The brain has different parts and many layers that largely work independently in a functional programming kind of way.

sjy 7y ago
The human brain is about as far from functional programming as you can get. Everything is global, referentially opaque, and full of side effects.

azernik 7y ago

Yup! Some interesting demonstrations of this are in split-brain experiments - see https://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/split.html https://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/split.html However, when it comes to peripherals like heart and lung, the distribution goes beyond just the brain - the heart, for example, has a built-in pacemaker called the sino-atrial node [1], which produces a periodic signal with high precision; the brain just sends it signals to control the period of its oscillations. Similarly, a number of reflexes which involve responses to physical danger (withdrawal from burns, knee-tapping) aren't actually handled by the brain; the spinal cord sends the reflex commands as soon as the sensory information hits it, to avoid the round trip all the way to the brain. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sinoatrial_node https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sinoatrial_node

heavenlyblue 7y ago
>> withdrawal from burns Not sure that’s that true though (I’ve heard about thus before). I can definitely consciously burn myself. On the other hand I can’t stop myself from moving my foot when it’s tapped.
- mauvehaus 7y ago
  >> Not sure that’s that true though (I’ve heard about thus before). I can definitely consciously burn myself. That sounds like consciously overriding the reflex[0] withdrawal though, as opposed to accidentally touching something hot, and withdrawing reflexively. Adding anecdata: I've definitely touched something hot and withdrawn my finger/hand/whatever quickly enough to avoid getting burned when I by all rights should have. You know, something hot enough that anything but incidental contact would result in a burn. [0] Reflex is probably not the right word. I can't consciously override the kneecap/kick reflex, for instance.
  - perl4ever 7y ago
    Last time I was tested for the kneecap reflex, nothing happened. The doctor told me to take my hands and hook the fingers of one around the other and pull them against each other, and then the reflex appeared. I don't know what that has to do with consciousness, since I didn't decide to suppress anything.