differences and similarities between a computer and the human brain?

Question

I was listening to a lecture about the brain and consciousness the other day, and the professor brought up the "binding problem". She explained how multiple pathways in the brain form consciousness or something that it is happening to "me", and also seems as a unitary experience. For example, there are nuclei in your brain that process visiual information, some other area does does auditory, and somatosensory and so on, but there is no single place(and neuroscientists have looked) in the brain that makes ALL this information come together yet we dont experience the world as all these bits of information, but in a unitary way. What makes it all come together? i wanted to ask people who know about computers, in what way the processes all get put together to form whats on your screen? is this the processor? and i also want to ask what would the computer be like if there wasnt any integration going on?

Answer 1

Your perception of how a computer functions is a little off.

In a real sense, there is NO place where information is 'put together'. If you could slow down the processing of the computer enough, information on your computer screen is presented essentially one pixel at a time. The only reason why you do not notice this is that the 'time' involved is so small that it can change all the pixels on your screen many times per second.

The same can be said for almost anything your computer does. One thing at a time, just very fast. Even computers with multiple CPUs and distributed processing don't essentially change this dynamic - they just compartmentalize it a bit.

The human brain, on the other hand, has a tendancy to operate all at once and very much on completely different processes. Though any particular neuron can really only have one kind of output at a time, even that one signal can mean a dozen different things to a dozen different receptors. Some changes in frequency and intensity likewise present the possibility of combining multiple signals into one output, complexifying the situation even further.

If you want to compare the brain to a computer, you would do better to compare it to an OPTICAL computer - a kind you're not likely to have much familiarity with. Components in these tend to operate a lot more like neurons in our brains do.

It also bears mention that any computer might theoretically simulate all the operations of a human brain by simulating the interactions of the gross physical substance of which it is comprised. Even if an electronic computer operates itself in no way like a human brain, it is capable of tracking and simulating the operation of physical laws, and thus anything that exists in the physical universe. Unless there is some metaphysical component of intelligence that is not subject to physical law, ANY computer can do anything a human brain can with the correct programming... just probably much, MUCH slower at this point.

Answer 2

Well... How would the knowledge of how a human brain and a computer fit together to make something worth having? Use your imagination. The brain processes and stores things, the same way a computer does. Whose to say we couldn't, eventually, find a way to alter ourselves in a positive manner? Someone who has a brain disorder, or has experienced traumatic brain trauma, or things of that nature, are the ones who could benefit the most. Why did people invent medicine!? To help humanity. The same reasons are capable, with this kind of science... The similarities between our bodies, and how machines & computers work together, are astonishing. Artificial limbs have been created, amongst many other amazing scientifical feats. With understanding the brain more, we could eventually be able to route all traffic of signals headed to an artificial limb, to create a new metal leg for these people, that responds to their brain activity. There are literally hundreds of thousands of things that we could benefit from. We don't know a lot of things about the brain, and are, I'm assuming, eager to learn more. These kinds of things take money, time, experiments, and research to get into a mainstream of occurence. Look at Lasik eye surgery, for example. The similarity of what a laser does, to what makes an eye better, and voila, you've got corrective eye surgery that's permanent. It is now mainstream, and has hundreds, if not thouasands, of success stories. Brain application is just one of many other types of science. Hope that sheds some light on it...

Answer 3

Well for starters most computers run using a single processor chip you could think of a neuron in the brain as the equivalent and we have billions. Some of the better computers now have two processors doubling there power but it is still limited. Computers use a logic loops to sort through info in a linear way. Humans sort of look and take it all in at once more like analogs or holograms. Through neuron mapping where they record which neurons fire when we’re thinking which thought, and then stimulating these same neurons to fire when we want to imprint a thought we might some day be able to do learning like in the matrix. Or just a thought recorder might be nice too, or even to share thoughts.

Most computers use a linear logic path, but they are starting build chaos programs and evolutionary programs that function in a more human and less machine like way.

Answer 4

There are huge differences between brain physiology and computer processing. The differences are so great that I'm not even sure it's helpful to talk about the similarities. In my opinion, computers cannot function on any level near the brain's performance for one specific reason: The brain uses both electrical and chemical signals; whereas computers use only electrical data. The fact that the brain has a second level of coding information (ie, chemical) gives the brain much more diversity and breadth in its processing power. Until computers become much more sophisticated, the analogy between the human brain and a computer is weak at best and entirely misleading at worst.

Answer 5

There are plety of :
diff: - the computer was made by humans , the brain not.....
about the computer we know exactly what each part fuction , what is the potential , but about the brain , we rather think we know alot , but it seems , that the unknown things about our fascinating brain are more then known things . and about the potetntial .... what we can tell .
also the cost , com. cost money ... but the brain is just wonderful gift thus we should gratitude .
sim.: doing actions .
About the Q about the computer , I can't help you . same with brain .

But the thing I can tell you , that the brain we have is something spacial :-).

trying to think why you posted the Q here in phi. - so here is a philosophical statement :
our brain have creat the computer , thus why - all you can find in the computer , you would have in our brain . but there are functions the brain can do , but com. cant

If you wonder , saying how come ? - the com. can make 100000 calculation in one seconds , and our brain just can't do this .
here is the A : our brain can do it , and actually have done it , by creating the com.

Answer 6

I'm not a computer programmer, but i do know that everything a computer does breaks down to a simple system of 1's and 0's. For a computer, no matter how complex the task, there will always be a rational true/false sequence that will explain the outcome of any action.

The human brain is different in that there are a number of anomalies that one cannot explain. The main being Love. How can you make heads or tales of the mind of a person in love? It's simply another wonderful mystery of the universe.

Answer 7

Similarity is that both work difference is one thinks and other follows.