17 Dec
1999
17 Dec
'99
7:54 p.m.
What I have heard is that the human brain can process between a dozen and
two dozen "transactions" per second. But ... (sputter, sputter) ... so a 286
computer is BLAZINGLY fast by comparison ... wait, doesn't the human brain
process vast amounts of info? The human body is an absolute marvel as a
chemical plant; all those levels have to require tremendous amounts of
monitoring and adjustment? I guess I am confused on the issue of scope
versus speed ... so a brain could be considered to be parallel on a massive
scale then, whereas is a computer is serial; brain: millions of things done
slowly, computer one thing done with blinding speed ... am I way off base or
onto something???
Ray Cook
PS Sorry, its post finals excessive thought disorder;
everything is fried but it wont shut down!!!
17 Dec
17 Dec
8:27 p.m.
What I have heard is that the human brain can process
between a dozen and
two dozen "transactions" per second. But ... (sputter, sputter) ... so a 286
computer is BLAZINGLY fast by comparison ... wait, doesn't the human brain
process vast amounts of info? The human body is an absolute marvel as a
chemical plant; all those levels have to require tremendous amounts of
monitoring and adjustment? I guess I am confused on the issue of scope
versus speed ... so a brain could be considered to be parallel on a massive
scale then, whereas is a computer is serial; brain: millions of things done
slowly, computer one thing done with blinding speed ... am I way off base or
onto something???
Generally speaking we don't consider the refresh of memory, regulation of
voltages, etc. when ranking the "power" of the computer, just the stuff it
can do that we want it to do. Breathing, heartbeat, etc. are all part of
our autonoumous nerveous system and we don't have to "think" to do those
things.
It isn't so much that our brains are massively parallel, as that some part
of our brain does pattern matching very effectively and in ways we haven't
quite been able to duplicate electronically.
Pinball is a good test of the brains throughput, especially when about 4
extra balls pop out. OVERLOAD and they start getting past the flippers
because we can't track that many reliably.
Anyway I am pretty sure that is a good number, one or two dozen "decisions"
per second.
18 Dec
18 Dec
1:36 p.m.
Upon the date 01:54 AM 12/18/99 -0500, SeaMasterZ(a)aol.com said something like:
What I have heard is that the human brain can process
between a dozen and
two dozen "transactions" per second. But ... (sputter, sputter) ... so a 286
computer is BLAZINGLY fast by comparison ... wait, doesn't the human brain
process vast amounts of info? The human body is an absolute marvel as a
chemical plant; all those levels have to require tremendous amounts of
monitoring and adjustment? I guess I am confused on the issue of scope
versus speed ... so a brain could be considered to be parallel on a massive
scale then, whereas is a computer is serial; brain: millions of things done
slowly, computer one thing done with blinding speed ... am I way off base or
onto something???
No Ray, you aren't. However, perhaps re-phrasing your last sentence may
make it a little clearer: ". . . .brain: millions of things done
slowly and in parallel, computer one thing done with blinding speed. Most
of the parallel processing is done by the unconscious brain (the
"co-processor-like" medula handles involuntary muscles: diaphragm, veinous
muscles, heart, etc. while subconscious thoughts, reflexes, sensory inputs,
etc. are handled by the "mainframe" cerebral cortex) while up to several
processes may be done consciously." That's an interesting study of
neuro-cybernetics which I hadn't gotten into yet. Maybe one of the other
folks here has.
Ray Cook
PS Sorry, its post finals excessive thought disorder;
everything is fried but it wont shut down!!!
I hear you! Although I'm not near what would be considered finals in my
college, I've got a heap of work to do towards my 4-year degree to be
finished by next summer. Last I had to study this hard was many years ago
(I'm 46 now and those danged braincells got rusty in a few spots!) But the
mental exercise does me *very* good :-) Good luck with the finals Ray.
Regards, Chris
-- --
Christian Fandt, Electronic/Electrical Historian
Jamestown, NY USA cfandt(a)netsync.net
Member of Antique Wireless Association
URL: http://www.antiquewireless.org/
8978
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cfandt＠netsync.net -
mikeford＠socal.rr.com -
SeaMasterZ＠aol.com