eli5: Just how powerful is the Human brain, especially compared to a computer?
In: Biology
It’s very difficult to compare the two, because they operate in very different ways.
A computer operates very linearly- executing calculations in ones and zeroes using electric impulses. Performance is generally measured by how fast it can do those calculations and how many it can do at a time. It can perform extremely complex calculations the human brain might struggle to do.
Functionally, ths brain is infinitely more complex, an organic computer that processes unimaginable quantities of data in parallel fashion, mostly autonomously. Rather than ones and zeroes, its works in the language of neurotransmitters and synaptic connections- the latter of which there are more of in your brain than there are stars in the universe.
One could argue the brain is more powerful than any computer (thus far) and they’d be right- as long as you define “powerful” correctly.
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