5 ms·

> But once you get to a certain number of routes, like 20 or so, there's very rapid growth, followed by saturation. This will also happen with chips. To some ex

• Retric 18y ago
  Not at the same time. Edit: The brain uses most links but you use a tiny fraction of your overall memories at any one time.
  • pygy 18y ago
    That's not the point. It's the massive amount of neurons and (finely tuned) synapses that allows human intelligence, and the vast amount of possible mental "states". Functional organization is of course of prime importance, but AFAIK, it's the sheer cortical surfaces that allow us to be smarter than apes (who are able to use symbolic (sign) language, teach it to their offspring, use tools, and recognize themselves in the mirror, all feats that were once thought to be proper to the human species). We might have reached a local maximum , though(related to the neurotransmission speed?). Neanderthals had a bigger brain, but were seemingly dumber and less culturally advanced than contemporaneous Homo Sapiens.