4 ms·

Your brain is decentralized though. Your eyes, nose, mouth, skin, muscles, sexual and digestive organs, all not just dumb peripherals.

Retric 6y ago
Distributed doesn’t mean decentralized. Every cell of your body is separate, but they all depend on your circulatory system etc.
- tremon 6y ago
  The brain isn't centralized; there is no ultimate authority to arbitrate which loci get control over which stream of consciousness at which time. Every locus operates independently on every connected loci's outputs. Even worse, the interconnects between loci are not centrally managed either, and can strengthen or fade away over time.
  - Retric 6y ago
    That’s like arguing a CPU isn’t centralized because no transistor has ultimate authority. The brain is centralized in each person.
    - tremon 6y ago
      Huh? The control unit definitely has ultimate authority over the rest of the computing units in a processor core.
      - Retric 6y ago
        And part of the brain controls sleep cycles. However, picking a single neuron or transistor and saying it has ultimate authority doesn’t really work because the origination occurs at a higher level.
- didericis 6y ago
  This is surfacing the somewhat fuzzy terminology here. You could argue bitcoin is centralized by that same logic because it depends of the internet. The immune system and the ways in which the body distinguishes “good” and “bad” stuff, based on my super limited understanding, seems like it’s based on peer information and a sort of voting rather than relying on a central definitive source of information about what’s bad so as to avoid catastrophic failure that would result from corruption of that definitive source. Given how insanely complex the body is and how many problems its solving I think you could find different systems and pieces that were decentralized, centralized, distributed, etc.
  - cachvico 6y ago
    > You could argue bitcoin is centralized by that same logic because it depends of the internet. https://www.wired.com/story/cypherpunks-bitcoin-ham-radio/ https://www.wired.com/story/cypherpunks-bitcoin-ham-radio/

Retric 6y ago

Distributed doesn’t mean decentralized. Every cell of your body is separate, but they all depend on your circulatory system etc.

tremon 6y ago
The brain isn't centralized; there is no ultimate authority to arbitrate which loci get control over which stream of consciousness at which time. Every locus operates independently on every connected loci's outputs. Even worse, the interconnects between loci are not centrally managed either, and can strengthen or fade away over time.
- Retric 6y ago
  That’s like arguing a CPU isn’t centralized because no transistor has ultimate authority. The brain is centralized in each person.
  - tremon 6y ago
    Huh? The control unit definitely has ultimate authority over the rest of the computing units in a processor core.
    - Retric 6y ago
      And part of the brain controls sleep cycles. However, picking a single neuron or transistor and saying it has ultimate authority doesn’t really work because the origination occurs at a higher level.
didericis 6y ago
This is surfacing the somewhat fuzzy terminology here. You could argue bitcoin is centralized by that same logic because it depends of the internet. The immune system and the ways in which the body distinguishes “good” and “bad” stuff, based on my super limited understanding, seems like it’s based on peer information and a sort of voting rather than relying on a central definitive source of information about what’s bad so as to avoid catastrophic failure that would result from corruption of that definitive source. Given how insanely complex the body is and how many problems its solving I think you could find different systems and pieces that were decentralized, centralized, distributed, etc.
- cachvico 6y ago
  > You could argue bitcoin is centralized by that same logic because it depends of the internet. https://www.wired.com/story/cypherpunks-bitcoin-ham-radio/ https://www.wired.com/story/cypherpunks-bitcoin-ham-radio/