The Computing Power of the Human Brain

The brain is not a computer. The analogy is flawed. There are successful models in cognitive science which do not use 'information theory' as axiomatic.

I agree with Fresco. And I can make this example even simpler.

There are tasks that a computer does much better than a human brain. There are tasks that a human brain does much better.

My job is to make computers do a task that used to be done by humans (i.e. attach meaning to human speech). What I do is called "artificial intelligence".

Most people don't know that the way computers do this is nothing like your brain. Computers use statistical models to figure out which answer is most likely to be considered correct by humans. They "learn" by changing these statistical models to make better predictions. The software we use gets impressive results... but doesn't have any understanding of what the people using the system actually want.

Your brain doesn't do this at all. You ascribe understanding to each word you hear and build a mental image. You combine this with a factual and emotional understanding of what the person is saying and feeling.

Computers can be impressive in their mathematical models... and they often get answers that amaze us (this is combined by our emotional desire to want to be amazed).

But computers don't work at all like a human brain.

Yes...you re-iterate my own experience of AI some years ago.
Humans operate within a complex social context which sets up 'expectancies' which defy computer simulation - the computer having no 'social status'.
And beyond that we might consider the general philosophical issue of whether a biological lifeform could artificially fabricate the totality we call 'itself', (as opposed to biological reproduction).

One of the basic measures of computing power is the kiloflop. This is roughly the number of pairs of floating point numbers (i.e. numbers with a decimal point) that you can multiply in a second.

A computer in the 1980s (very weak now) could do about 80 kiloflops. That means that they could do 80,000 muliplications every second.

Here are a few example problems. If you want to compare your human brain to a fairly weak computer from 30 years ago, see how many thousands of these multiplication you can do in a second.

18345.4 * 2433123.334432
32409384.2 * 98723489.44599
76897222.11 * 22389743.33432

If you can't do more than 80,000 of these types of problems in a second, than the computing power of your brain doesn't come close to matching that of a computer.

The cheapest of today's cell phones are much more powerful than that. The human brain doesn't even come close.

It would take the most advanced computer in the world to maybe get this right. Kindergartners can already do it.


The human brain is the miracle all computers are compared to and strive to be.

The human body has at least three different clocks (that we know of)... two of them are in the brain... Clocks, are computers.

Circadian rhythms help determine our sleep patterns. The body's master clock, or SCN, controls the production of melatonin, a hormone that makes you sleepy. It receives information about incoming light from the optic nerves, which relay information from the eyes to the brain.

Your Brain Has 2 Clocks
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/your-brain-has-two-clocks/

The brain may also have atomic clocks which are probably the most quantized clocks known to science.

The brain has a CPU, it has memory and it has a vast circuitry that together function to create intelligence that no AI has ever been able to rival.

Consider, a canine's nose is a million times more sensitive than a human...

And, we cannot even build a computer nose that comes up to the level of human senses.

The human mind still remains a mystery and we may one day find that it has computing powers that are on the quantum level.

Anything with a clock is a "computer". Even a volume pan pot is a "computer". The human mind is the most elegant computer ever fashioned from any substrate.

The human gut alone has 100 trillion bacterial cells...

Inferiority is a human emotion that computers may never know.

You are making an invalid comparison.

Brains don't work like computers. Computers don't work like brains.

There are amazing things that computers can do that brains can't do. This includes multiplying numbers and searching databases. If I gave you a fingerprint from a criminal to compare with a stack of 500,000 ... something a computer can do in a few minutes...your brain would be unable to do this in days and you would likely get tired and make mistakes.

Of course there are thing that brains can do that computers can't.

There are things that fish can do that submarines can't too. For that matter there are things a sandwich can do that a blender can't.

One big difference between a computer and (some) human brains is that when a computer is fed evidence that contradicts earlier assumptions is doesn't dig its heels in, insist it's right and try to change the subject.

I know I can do infinitely many,
because as they taught me in business school there is no limit to human potential.

But seriously...i would have to admit to being more of a milliflop sorta guy than a kiloflop guy.

The fact that we can model some aspects of biological functioning on computers is no more significant than modelling some aspects of atomic structure on the solar system. Analogy is merely one form of what we use for 'explanation' (in order to direct our observations). All modelz have their limitations...the solar system one lasted a mere dozen years or so, until superceded by probability considerations, although it is still taught to high school students to ease them into the topic.

I am sure you have many years of experience building computers for yourself and others to know what they do when they are fed the wrong information...

Computers will stop working even when fed the right information when they contain flaws in their programming.

As for the human body, when it is fed the wrong information it often manifests itself in a variety of illnesses and/or cancer.

Then there are some people who are like parasites who simply seek attention by nitpicking anything anyone else says without offering any real substance to positively progress the dialogue and discussion. Rather than progress they simply derail the discussion off into insignificant tangents thus the subject of the discussion flies right over their head.

Know anyone like that Izzy?

The fact the the human body and computers are comprised of the same exact chemistry that has formed the universe is not a mere analogy.

They are inexplicably linked in a myriad of ways.

One prime example is that, human evolution could never have taken place if it were not for the cycles of the moon.

The two sides of the brain are probably a result of day and night cycles, gravity and magnetism.

Computers (and the internet) are the brainchild of our evolutionary journey, a direct extension of our own intellect.

No. Not the same 'chemistry'. IF (big if) biology can be reduced to chemistry then recent studies (e.g. Pross et al) have shown that it would be in the form of 'systems chemistry' involving a DKS principle which opposes aspects of the second law of thermodynamics. Unlike machine systems, biological systems operate in a 'far from equilibrium' state.
In any case, reductionism per se is merely that type of speculative modelling arising from mankind's love of 'science' following the Renaissance. And nobody has a clue about modelling all what we call 'thinking', for whatever that is, it must be transcendent of the 'logic' it sometimes employs, and the 'physics' and 'chemistry' it has invented !

No I don't. I've known plenty of control freaks who can't accept being wrong about anything.

They're self centred narcissists who become incredibly rude and nasty whenever their authority is challenged.

They have no sense of humour whatsoever, they're totally incapable of laughing at themselves or even telling a joke.

They're people who live in a world of absolutes, of black and white, good and evil. If you don't agree with them you're against them, and instead of being able to talk honestly and openly about something they employ underhand tactics by smearing anyone who'll stand up to them.

Invariably they end up just like those they claim to oppose, like you and Donald Trump.

Your aims and values may be very different, but your inability to deal with criticism, your intellect, and the way you attack other people are exactly the same.

I have known people who like to "think evil of others" and lump them in with those they don't like because it makes them them seem self-important when they are really too full of themselves. Low self-esteem and all...

Do I come into your threads and pick apart everything you say purely out of hate, derail the conversation and turn everything ugly on a habitual basis? No... I could though.

Apparently I don't have issues like you. I have nothing I am trying to prove beyond the conversation at hand. Do I have an agenda? Doesn't anyone? But my agenda is not trailing after you to pick apart everything you say. You want to imagine evil and try and fit me into your black and white little box.

First, according to you, I am a repressive latent homosexual whose religion has kept him in the closet. ...and when that ploy doesn't work you imagine up another scenario.. I am now, like Trump, according to your think evil of others strategy. I have 3000 Hillary voters following me on Facebook... Don't you think one of them might have said something about that? I have over 200 thousand political posts I have shared with them... They should know my, erm, black and white tendencies (as you refer to them) quite well by now. Thought not a single one has accused me of what you are implying...

This thread is about the wonderful power of the human mind.

Something you seem to be lacking on many counts.

Along with a brilliant mind comes scruples and decorum... get some.

Izzy is officially back on my ignore list.

Another self absorbed rant.

You came out with your own pet theory, based on your own notions and little else.

Fresco, a scientist who actually knows something about this subject, says you're wrong and why you're wrong. A reasonable person would accept that, after we can't all be experts on everything, some people know more about things than we do.

You didn't act at all reasonably, you dug your heels in and refused to accept that anyone could know more about this than you. And when I pointed out what you were doing you became nasty and started name calling.

That's what narcissists do.

Instead of putting me on ignore you could try learning from this.

Fresco is nothing like Izzy. I just thought I should point to that out.

I appreciated that Fresco can denate and inform without belittling or attacking