eli5: Why is the human brain so bad at math and memory when compared to computers that are far less powerful?
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Because computers do that one thing. They use most resources for that calculation. Your brain however needs a lot of resources just to keep you breathing, your heart beating, your muscles tense enough to actually keep you alive, stay on alert for any danger, process smells, process visual impressions and so on. So while far more powerful it also has to do a lot more than a computer simultaneously and it prioritizes. Staying alive is more important than calculating math
Computers are designed specifically to do math. That’s all they do. Everything else they can mimic is built on some very basic mathematical underpinning. It’s math all the way down.
Your brain developed to do much different tasks. Recognize images. Coordinate motion. Detect trace chemicals in the air. It’s really good at a whole lot of things that computers still kinda suck at, and fundamentally different on a structural level.
That said, it is pretty good at certain kinds of math. You can instantly calculate the trajectory of a flying object and adjust your speed and path to catch it.
The human brain evolved to use it’s finite computational power in the best possible way to ensure its survival. If doing math operations on large numbers was as evolutionary favorable as quickly decoding threats from audio and visual input, then the human brain would likely be much better at math. It’s also hard to compare memory between computers and humans. Storing huge amounts of binary is very difficult for a human, but it may be easier in some ways from a data storage perspective than storing the sights, smells, sounds, feelings, and thoughts contained in the various memories you’ve accumulated over your life
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