4 ms·

Yeah, modern CPUs already have hundreds of millions of logic gates and can do calculations much faster than the human brain, yet we need an ridiculous amount of

Yeah, modern CPUs already have hundreds of millions of logic gates and can do calculations much faster than the human brain, yet we need an ridiculous amount of code hours to display some stuff in a screen in a way that barely works. My 100% baseless opinion is that animal brains are fundamentally different from computers, although they might share some characteristics (like, we can do maths right?).

throwaway316943 5y ago
I think much of our understanding of brains is biased by beginning with studying neurons before fully understanding how single cells are able to make complex decisions. Single celled organisms can do incredible things and understanding how they do that using molecular machinery is probably the key to understanding how large networks of them can produce macro scale behaviour by communicating with each other.
- bckr 5y ago
  Great point. There is ongoing research into whether memory is necessarily a network effect or if single neurons can hold memories. It's looking like they can. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-019-51331-5 https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-019-51331-5
- foobiekr 5y ago
  There are some very sophisticated behaviors displayed by single/low-cell-count micro-organisms. It is something I find very challenging to put into the accepted framework of how cognition works. I think there are some are order-of-magnitude issues that we are missing, probably due to the technology we have available.
Ralfp 5y ago
> My 100% baseless opinion is that animal brains are fundamentally different from computers You are correct in that opinion. I’m not or specialist in the field, but FWIW key difference between neural circuit vs processor is that former is specialised and analog while latter is programmable and digital. Your brain is not running any software, instead its hardwired to process series of electric signals („trains”). Neurons can be used to model logic gates, but nature uses different approach where there are „dumb” neurons that just transmit signals and then there are „functional” neurons that emit signal only if certain conditions have been met, be it right frequency of electric signals in „electric train”, current chemical state of neuron or number of received signals from other neurons at given time.
- PaulDavisThe1st 5y ago
  > Your brain is not running any software, instead its hardwired to process series of electric signals At some levels, you could trivially describe a CPU this way too. I would be wary of any level of confidence about "what brains do".
rmah 5y ago
Your baseless opinion is 100% correct. Biological brains are not Turing machines and do not have a Harvard or even a Von Neumann architecture. If I understand it correctly, biological brains are essentially associative memory machines where memory and computation are intertwined into one physical structural system. In short: To think is to remember. And to remember is to think.

throwaway316943 5y ago

I think much of our understanding of brains is biased by beginning with studying neurons before fully understanding how single cells are able to make complex decisions. Single celled organisms can do incredible things and understanding how they do that using molecular machinery is probably the key to understanding how large networks of them can produce macro scale behaviour by communicating with each other.

bckr 5y ago
Great point. There is ongoing research into whether memory is necessarily a network effect or if single neurons can hold memories. It's looking like they can. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-019-51331-5 https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-019-51331-5
foobiekr 5y ago
There are some very sophisticated behaviors displayed by single/low-cell-count micro-organisms. It is something I find very challenging to put into the accepted framework of how cognition works. I think there are some are order-of-magnitude issues that we are missing, probably due to the technology we have available.

Ralfp 5y ago

> My 100% baseless opinion is that animal brains are fundamentally different from computers You are correct in that opinion. I’m not or specialist in the field, but FWIW key difference between neural circuit vs processor is that former is specialised and analog while latter is programmable and digital. Your brain is not running any software, instead its hardwired to process series of electric signals („trains”). Neurons can be used to model logic gates, but nature uses different approach where there are „dumb” neurons that just transmit signals and then there are „functional” neurons that emit signal only if certain conditions have been met, be it right frequency of electric signals in „electric train”, current chemical state of neuron or number of received signals from other neurons at given time.

PaulDavisThe1st 5y ago
> Your brain is not running any software, instead its hardwired to process series of electric signals At some levels, you could trivially describe a CPU this way too. I would be wary of any level of confidence about "what brains do".

rmah 5y ago

Your baseless opinion is 100% correct. Biological brains are not Turing machines and do not have a Harvard or even a Von Neumann architecture. If I understand it correctly, biological brains are essentially associative memory machines where memory and computation are intertwined into one physical structural system. In short: To think is to remember. And to remember is to think.