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The brain is more like SIMD than multicore processing, but I think a better analogy is a FPGA; it can do heterogenous instructions, but switching from one task
by a1369209993 7y ago
The brain is more like SIMD than multicore processing, but I think a better analogy is a FPGA; it can do heterogenous instructions, but switching from one task to another is a crushingly expensive stop-the-world affair.
- perl4ever 7y agoPossibly people assume that they are conscious of all the tasks that their brain does? Can they walk and chew gum?
- EamonnMR 7y agoYou are conscious of most things your brain does. Background tasks like walking and chewing gum tend to be very rote and decision light. Try and write while listening to someone speak, fold a paper airplane while navigating a new city, or program while watching a film.
- spiralx 7y agoWriting, listening, watching a film and navigating a new place all require attention as they're novel activities. But I could easily make a shit paper aeroplane while navigating, and I've coded through pure muscle memory plenty of times. Almost any activity can be internalised.
- AstralStorm 7y agoI'd call it more similar to a computer system with multiple specialized processors working in parallel and limited buffers between them. Parallel system, really, not multithreaded.
- EamonnMR 7y agoAll mostly stuck on a single bus and constantly blocking.