5 ms·

> The human brain operates at a measly 30 Hz. Still the human brain outperforms almost every computer. It has been calculated that the human brain has a proces

> The human brain operates at a measly 30 Hz. Still the human brain outperforms almost every computer. It has been calculated that the human brain has a processing power of 6 peta flops. That is six million billion calculations per second. Which compares favorably to the worlds fastest super computer This caught my eye. It seems entirely too simplistic to claim the brain has a "hz" value/directly compare to traditional computing, doing some research, but anyone more knowledgeable on this?

stingraycharles 6y ago
It is too simplistic, heck, even for CPUs the executions are often in parallel, out of order, whatnot, depending on the type of task that needs to be performed. The same is the case with the human brain. I’d say that they probably took the simplest task possible and see how fast the human brain could do that and ended up with 30Hz. Seems like a very silly thing to me.
- socialdemocrat 6y ago
  No it is based on this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neuroscience_of_rhythm https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neuroscience_of_rhythm The human brain obviously works in parallel but that doesn't mean that it doesn't have something akin to a clock frequency. There is a limit to how quickly signals can propagate through the brain.
greyface- 6y ago
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gamma_wave https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gamma_wave
socialdemocrat 6y ago
It links to an article and wikipedia article which explains it: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neuroscience_of_rhythm https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neuroscience_of_rhythm https://patrickjuli.us/2016/04/06/what-is-the-processing-power-of-the-human-brain/ https://patrickjuli.us/2016/04/06/what-is-the-processing-pow... It is based on the fastest neurologic rhythms in the human brain.
im3w1l 6y ago
Well you could assign an approximate Hz for the brain by looking at how fast a single neuron can fire, around 500Hz [0]. But this is wrong in two ways. While one neuron is "reloading", another could fire, as they operate out of synch. But also, one pulse from one neuron doesn't really convey that much information. It takes more than that to send a message. You could also look at brainwaves or say flicker fusion thresholds, which gives a value in the double digits. [0] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5067378/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5067378/
- agumonkey 6y ago
  Also it seems that neurotransmission is not discrete/binary but more complex (normally distributed stateful thingy?)
  - im3w1l 6y ago
    An action potential is a discrete thing that either happens or doesn't happen. This is the dominant mode of neurotransmission. But yeah I do believe there are some other possibilities too, but they are less important.
    - agumonkey 6y ago
      But isn't the firing function a lot of per neuron state variables ?

stingraycharles 6y ago

It is too simplistic, heck, even for CPUs the executions are often in parallel, out of order, whatnot, depending on the type of task that needs to be performed. The same is the case with the human brain. I’d say that they probably took the simplest task possible and see how fast the human brain could do that and ended up with 30Hz. Seems like a very silly thing to me.

socialdemocrat 6y ago
No it is based on this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neuroscience_of_rhythm https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neuroscience_of_rhythm The human brain obviously works in parallel but that doesn't mean that it doesn't have something akin to a clock frequency. There is a limit to how quickly signals can propagate through the brain.

greyface- 6y ago

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gamma_wave https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gamma_wave

socialdemocrat 6y ago

It links to an article and wikipedia article which explains it: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neuroscience_of_rhythm https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neuroscience_of_rhythm https://patrickjuli.us/2016/04/06/what-is-the-processing-power-of-the-human-brain/ https://patrickjuli.us/2016/04/06/what-is-the-processing-pow... It is based on the fastest neurologic rhythms in the human brain.

im3w1l 6y ago

Well you could assign an approximate Hz for the brain by looking at how fast a single neuron can fire, around 500Hz [0]. But this is wrong in two ways. While one neuron is "reloading", another could fire, as they operate out of synch. But also, one pulse from one neuron doesn't really convey that much information. It takes more than that to send a message. You could also look at brainwaves or say flicker fusion thresholds, which gives a value in the double digits. [0] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5067378/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5067378/

agumonkey 6y ago
Also it seems that neurotransmission is not discrete/binary but more complex (normally distributed stateful thingy?)
- im3w1l 6y ago
  An action potential is a discrete thing that either happens or doesn't happen. This is the dominant mode of neurotransmission. But yeah I do believe there are some other possibilities too, but they are less important.
  - agumonkey 6y ago
    But isn't the firing function a lot of per neuron state variables ?