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| Whats the clock speed/flops per second of our brains? |
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| helius:
--- Quote from: hans on February 12, 2021, 10:30:05 am ---Okay; let me rephrase. All the things we create are associations. The things we find are mappings of how nature works with our associations, eventually converging to axioms of math that are universally true. We expect to have the same math axioms as the aliens that we find (or they find us). But the way we write numbers, use the radix-10 convention, ASCII, etc. will likely be completely different. --- End quote --- Indeed. Babylonians used base 60 (convenient for fractions as it has many divisors). Even cultures with the same radix and numerals can use different conventions for numbers (which are conceptualized with different mental associations). Indians use the lakh and crore which look strange to other people. And then there are the French: --- Quote ---However, I think that we humans only deal with implementation-facing details in our head. Most of us will not computationally use the axioms of math in our head. That's what I meant by that most of us do computations by associations. We have learned mostly created implementation details; most of us stay within a radix-10 number system (a domain) in daily life. But who knows; maybe a radix-12 or radix-8 system would have worked way better? But does that make an individual more intelligent if it can do radix-8 computations in real-time? I doubt it, however, I do not have any argument to back it up. --- End quote --- Radix 12 is perhaps more useful for finger-counting since it can count up to 144 fairly easily (some other systems can count higher but are more cumbersome). There are two ways to look at this: does having certain mental tools enable you think with greater power? That seems to be true: a familiarity with logic and statistics, for example, does enable an individual to parse complex facts with more speed and accuracy. After all, that is the value of education. On the other hand, if we are speaking of "native intellectual ability" or "congenital intelligence" then such cultural resources would not be allowed, but that is not a very useful concept anyway. Nobody cares that the wolf-child was born with a perfect brain if she cannot understand any complex ideas. Genetics explains the greater abilities of some individuals but the whole civilization is a precondition for their achievements. Education is more than raw associations, though. Really what we use are layers of rules (that are associations) but that have the ability to check one another and produce self-consistent pictures. That's why KLIPS is defined as "logical inferences" and not just "table lookups". Computers can calculate with associations, too: see the IBM 1620, which had no arithmetic unit. It depended on table lookups to add or multiply. |
| BitsnBytes:
--- Quote ---If our brains were computers what would the clock speed be? --- End quote --- I think the time taken by nerve signals would be the quantitative representation of brain speed. Regards |
| -jeffB:
--- Quote from: helius on February 12, 2021, 11:47:49 pm ---Radix 12 is perhaps more useful for finger-counting since it can count up to 144 fairly easily --- End quote --- Could... could you post a picture of your hands? Just want to compare something. ;) |
| MK14:
--- Quote from: -jeffB on February 13, 2021, 03:23:49 pm ---Could... could you post a picture of your hands? Just want to compare something. ;) --- End quote --- Have a careful look at your hand, just the fingers, ignore the thumb. Notice each third of a finger, has a small line divider and joint. Count them up, how many have you got ? 4 fingers x 3 sub-sections = 12 ? |
| DrG:
--- Quote from: MK14 on February 13, 2021, 03:30:48 pm --- --- Quote from: -jeffB on February 13, 2021, 03:23:49 pm ---Could... could you post a picture of your hands? Just want to compare something. ;) --- End quote --- Have a careful look at your hand, just the fingers, ignore the thumb. Notice each third of a finger, has a small line divider and joint. Count them up, how many have you got ? 4 fingers x 3 sub-sections = 12 ? /-/ --- End quote --- *dayam* I be countin me bones all wrong! This is why I prefer finger binary https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Finger_binary Don't be offended, yes there is that "method" you mentioned as well as many others https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Finger-counting#Asia When not using finger binary, I also use whole body counting - only a portion shown here :-DD |
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