Gigahertz range of the human mind....

[Rilescat]

Good Morning all,

Has anyone seen any information in relation to what the computational power of the human brain is in comparison to today's processors? I have seen that some of the newest processors are now pushing a number of transistors that is nearly equal to the cells in the human brain (proportionately). Does that even matter? Wouldn't the synapse be a better comparison against a processor?

Anyway. Just interested.

Be good!

 

[Evadman]

4-5 years ago ( so my memory is hazy ) I seem to remember 30 ghz.

 

[bjc112]

I thought the human brain functioned at like 900mhz?

 

[Evadman]

Originally posted by: bjc112
I thought the human brain functioned at like 900mhz?

But it is massivly parallel.

 

[Rilescat]

Originally posted by: Evadman

Originally posted by: bjc112
I thought the human brain functioned at like 900mhz?

But it is massivly parallel.

Yes, actually, I would suppose that "architecture" would be a whole lot more important than raw speed. Anyone have any thoughts on that?

Where did you arrive at the 900mhz number?

 

[CTho9305]

IIRC, nerve impulses travel about 20 ft/second, so assuming the brain is 6 inches across and it is a synchronous system, you get a lighting-quick 40Hz computer .

 

[Agent004]

Originally posted by: CTho9305
IIRC, nerve impulses travel about 20 ft/second, so assuming the brain is 6 inches across and it is a synchronous system, you get a lighting-quick 40Hz computer .

I always thought nerve impluses were nothing more than eletrical impluses, so it would be very much faster than a 40Hz pc

 

[Evadman]

Originally posted by: CTho9305
IIRC, nerve impulses travel about 20 ft/second, so assuming the brain is 6 inches across and it is a synchronous system, you get a lighting-quick 40Hz computer .

That can't be right. from my eyes to the part of the prain responsable for "seeing" is about 8 inches. then I have to process what I see. Then i have to decide to act on it. Then my brain has to send that info to my legs. then my leg muscles must ocntract. then my car goes faster

That would be about 1.5 seconds reaction time. Ow.

 

[CTho9305]

Originally posted by: Evadman

Originally posted by: CTho9305
IIRC, nerve impulses travel about 20 ft/second, so assuming the brain is 6 inches across and it is a synchronous system, you get a lighting-quick 40Hz computer .

That can't be right. from my eyes to the part of the prain responsable for "seeing" is about 8 inches. then I have to process what I see. Then i have to decide to act on it. Then my brain has to send that info to my legs. then my leg muscles must ocntract. then my car goes faster

That would be about 1.5 seconds reaction time. Ow.

the highest number I found in a quick google search was 30 meters per second. other numbers varied from 3m/sec to 14m/sec. I guess different nerve cells are faster/slower than others.
edit: a few more sites claim up to 30m/sec, with one site claiming up to 100 for myelin-covered axons.

 

[Evadman]

30m/s is more like it. that would give a value closer to the .4-.75 sec typical reaction time.

 

[heliomphalodon]

My personal idol John von Neumann treated this question in some detail many years ago in his classic book "The Computer and the Brain". As other posters have noted here, the "clock rate" of the brain is on the order of 50Hz and its consciousness-producing processing power derives from its high degree of interconnectedness and parallelism.

An interesting, accessible book by a great genius -- check it out!

 

[clip78]

The brain is rather slow speed-wise, but there are up to 100 billion neurons with each neuron having an average of 15,000 synapses to other neurons. Our consciousness and intellectual ability arise out of this parallelism.

 

[McCarthy]

So would this be like trying to determing the "CPU speed" of a distributed computing group?

 

[breaka504]

Originally posted by: CTho9305

Originally posted by: Evadman

Originally posted by: CTho9305
IIRC, nerve impulses travel about 20 ft/second, so assuming the brain is 6 inches across and it is a synchronous system, you get a lighting-quick 40Hz computer .

That can't be right. from my eyes to the part of the prain responsable for "seeing" is about 8 inches. then I have to process what I see. Then i have to decide to act on it. Then my brain has to send that info to my legs. then my leg muscles must ocntract. then my car goes faster

That would be about 1.5 seconds reaction time. Ow.

the highest number I found in a quick google search was 30 meters per second. other numbers varied from 3m/sec to 14m/sec. I guess different nerve cells are faster/slower than others.
edit: a few more sites claim up to 30m/sec, with one site claiming up to 100 for myelin-covered axons.

If i remembered correctly... the nervous system runs at around 200mph or around 97 mph... if that is correct... the brain should also run somewhere near that speed....i dont know how to calculate it to ghz... but i would estimate that the brain runs some where near 75ghz or so...
* 97mph == 97 meters per second