"Often, when scientists resist the idea of the brain as a computer, they have a particular target in mind, which you might call the serial, stored-program machine."
— Marcus, Gary (b. 1970)
Author
Date
June 27, 2015
Metaphor
"Often, when scientists resist the idea of the brain as a computer, they have a particular target in mind, which you might call the serial, stored-program machine."
Metaphor in Context
Often, when scientists resist the idea of the brain as a computer, they have a particular target in mind, which you might call the serial, stored-program machine. Here, a program (or "app") is loaded into a computer's memory, and an algorithm, or recipe, is executed step by step. (Calculate this, then calculate that, then compare what you found in the first step with what you found in the second, etc.) But humans don't download apps to their brains, the critics note, and the brain's nerve cells are too slow and variable to be a good match for the transistors and logic gates that we use in modern computers.
Categories
Provenance
Reading
Citation
Gary Marcus, "Face It, Your Brain Is a Computer," The New York Times (June 27, 2015). <Link to NYTimes.com>
Date of Entry
07/06/2015
