I was reading this article the other day written by a Dr/researcher, Dr Seth Grant, and he was explaining the brain in terms of computers and networks, so I thought id share.
The human brain is considered the most complex biological entity known to man;
- It is built from 100 billion nerve cells (neurons)
- Each one of the these nerve cells is connected to perhaps 1000 other nerve cells
- These connections are called Synapses
Where is the IT stuff?
- Well, each Synapses can be considered as a computer! Which processes and stores information
- So we can think of the brain as we do the internet – an enormous network of computers
- And it may surprise you to know that one human brain has a million more times the connections than the entire WWW
- Its this enormous computational power that generates the numerous behaviours we use every day!
The article by Dr Seth Grant goes on to talk about human behaviour and how animal and human behaviour isn’t dis-similar. And if we were to have a greater understanding of how humans or animals think we could get a blueprint of how the brain works. This in turn would give us a great understanding of thought and may help diagnose / treat mental disorders and other brain diseases.
To find out more about Dr Grant click here. Please note this blog post was paraphrased from an article written by Dr Seth Grant (SAM, Autumn 2009, USYD)
