the brain - too complex to understand

[DrPizza]

Didn't someone prove at some point that to understand the brain would take something more complicated than the brain - a system cannot understand itself using that system alone?

Help, please...

 

[DrPizza]

I'm cross posting this in highly technical as well. Hopefully someone remembers what I'm talking about. It may have had something to do with Godel's work, but I'm not sure.

 

[Hayabusa Rider]

The thought is that if the brain was simple enough to understand, we would be too stupid to understand it.


It has to do with Gödel's Theorem. The brain is an organized system, and we are our brains. In order to fully understand it, we would have to be at a "higher" level than our mind to understand it, which is clearly impossible. We may understand much of it, but there will always be things we cannot know.

 

[DrPizza]

Whew! I thought it had something to do with Godel's theorem. 🙂
Leave it to the mathematicians to tell the psychology/psychiatry majors that they'll never be able to achieve their goal.

 

[Spencer278]

Well clearly a single brain will be unable to understand how it's self works. A more complex system would included a brain and piece of paper studying another brain. I don't see why people couldn't understand the human brain.

 

[Orsorum]

Godel indeed. 🙂 Good call, Winston.

 

[DrPizza]

Originally posted by: Orsorum
Godel indeed. 🙂 Good call, Winston.

Hey! Look at the 2nd post in this - unedited... I thought it was Godel! I just wanted some reassurance 🙂