The?Brain?and?the?Computer?
Some?recent?developments?in?the?computer?industry?make?scientists?predict?that?the?gap?between?human?beings?and?machines?will?be?closed?about?the?year?20000.
To?understand?the?significance?of?this?prediction?let?us?compare?the?human?brain?with?existing?computers.?The?brain?consumes?electrical?energy?at?the?rate?of?25?watts?and?occupies?a?volume?of?one?tenth?of?a?cubic?foot.?The?brain?houses?between?10?billion?and?100?billion?items?of?information.?Every?brain?cell?is?directly?connected?to?many?other?cells.?As?a?result,?the?cells?in?which?information?is?stored?can?communicate?with?thousands?of?other?cells.
However,?the?computer?consumes?1000,000?watts?of?electrical?power?and?occupies?hundreds?of?cubic?feet?of?space.?Its?million?items?of?immediately?accessible?information.?In?contrast,?the?computer?memory?is?like?a?cell?of?pigeonholes,?with?no?thinking?capacity?and?no?connections?elsewhere.
In?a?word,?the?electronic?brains?are?hopelessly?inadequate?in?comparison?with?the?human?brains.
