Given how neurons just carry impulses around like wires, with only an input and an output, how can these signals amount to conscious thought without some form of logic gates like in computers?
It appears to be a result greater than the sum of its parts. How can this be?
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I mean, we don’t really know how the brain processes logic like that. However, you could *definitely* use neuron-like structures to build logic gates. Neurons are wires and synapses are, effectively, switches. You have all you need to build a logical circuit.
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“Greater than the sum of its parts” appears a lot in scientific inquiry. In this case, it’s what we call an emergent property.
Neurons are complicated little things, so there are a few ways a signal can change from one cell to the next. A neurochemical might block or activate a particular receptor. A weak signal might die because the axon lacks certain features for insulating the signal. One signal might block another. Little things like that. Our brains aren’t binary.
Neurons can actually simulate logic gates.
Neuron basically behaves like this (simplified):
`output = exp{ sum(weight_k * input_k) }, if (output>max_output) then (output = 0 for T ms)`
You can make NOT as `exp(-1*input_1)`. You can make AND by picking weights in such a way, that `exp(w)` is a small number, but exp`(2*w)` is big. (And you can use second neuron to make them even more distinct). With AND and NOT you can make NAND, and from NAND – everything else.
Sorry, but neurons can have one or multiple inputs (see dendrites) and one or multiple outputs (see axon), far more than any logic gate.
It’s important to recognize the a neuron has internal state, created by the levels of neurotransmitter chemicals inside them. When a neuron receives a signal, that signal alters the levels of the neurotransmitters inside it, which can cause it alter the signals it is sending out. This allows for the creation of complex behaviours without logic gates as the system has built in feedback loops with adjust behaviours based on previous inputs.
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