Is your Brain a computer?
29th June 2015
Is your Brain a computer?
Private & Confidential Copyright © Mr A Pépés
The simple answer as always is yes and no, depending on your definitions of both.
But the most correct answer is No your brain is not a computer in the conventional way of thinking.
A computer in the conventional way of thinking is that it is a process or processes of instructions in a form of a program or programs that are executed by this code in a logical sequence of events to give the outcome or output. It does not matter whether it is sequential or parallel computing the concept is the same. Most computers just run internal code or computations from keyboards or input devices directly, but some computers monitor variable external inputs and adjust their output accordingly. E.g. They may be controlling an external temperature device.
In effect conceptually the computer is either monitoring internal or external stimuli (internal code or external inputs and outputs), either individually or in groups.
The above may at first seem like it is a brain, but unless you have a simplistic view of what a brain is, then this is not what a brain is. A brain (and we are talking about higher functioning brains) is more than just a computer.
First of all it has minds (you can think of it as one mind) again depending on your definitions of mind, which basically means it can think, again the definition of think comes into play, which basically means it processes information. So up to now it is no different conceptually than a computer (even though the mind of the brain is more complex than the mind of the computer, it is the same conceptually).
The brain is more than this because it has consciousness (plus something else which I will elaborate later). I use consciousness to mean self awareness, so as to eliminate further confusion later.
Awareness just means that the mind or computer is aware of its input or output, it does not have to be self aware. So a computer is aware of the temperature outside through its sensor and acts accordingly. If the sensor was broken it would not be aware of the temperature because it received no input and would not normally know that the sensor was not working, therefore it would not be aware of the temperature. The unconscious part of the brain has minds (or mind) just like a computer (again more complex, but conceptually the same).
As previously stated the brain is more than these minds working unconsciously, there is the conscious mind which is self aware. Here again we must elaborate to avoid further confusion with definitions, self awareness in this sense means you are not only monitoring something but you are also aware that you are monitoring that thing, e.g. You not only see something, but you also notice that you see that thing. The first monitoring is unconscious like the computer but the second part is not normally like the computer (I.e. The computer does not know that it is not receiving input when the sensor is broken). It is possible that we can put in code to notify a computer that the sensor is not working, but this does not mean by its own that the computer is aware in the same fashion as the brain is aware. Partially it is conceptually the same, but there is still a difference (I will elaborate further later).
The second part of consciousness is self awareness where you not only monitor the temperature and know you are monitoring the temperature but also you are aware you are doing both through your own identity of self, which is different to someone else doing something similar. [I explained a possible mechanism in my ebook 'A Second Pocket Volume of the Universe']. (I may also write another Tea Break Book to explain this mechanism).
No computer does this, therefore your brain is not just a computer.
The brain also has another property that a computer does not have, and that is that it has emotions. Again to avoid confusion with definitions - Emotions are not just normal code as found in a computer, so the amigthala (amigdala) of your brain that mainly controls emotions has a different kind of mind unlike normal computers.
You have to analyse and look at the function of the emotions in terms of evolution and the proper functioning of the brain. (Explained in my ebooks). But basically it has the function of keeping the brain and the individual alive when the mind (the computational part) can not function or does not have the time to function. In short it is not computing (calculating) like the normal computer.
To explain a little further.
What happens to a computer when it can not calculate something, or its logic (program) is in error for some unknown input?
In short it either goes into an infinite loop and freezes or it just shuts down and crashes.
This is exactly what a computer mind would also do if it was just based on its Logic circuits only.
We simply reboot a computer or add extra code to correct the problem, but a real life brain or individual can not do this (it can, but under special circumstances, not relevant to this part of the problem).
So the function of emotions is to circumvent these type of problems in real life. I.e. It keeps the individual alive not using normal logic and avoiding system crashes. E.g. You see a lion in the distance you start to use your logical mind to solve the problem of not being killed, if you succeed, no emotions need to come into play, but in reality they start to work in the background, you are a little worried, scared a little you may not succeed. If on the other hand it has crept up on you and you don't have the time to calculate a strategy logically, your emotions take over and you either freeze or you fight/run (whatever worked for you in the past). If it worked in the past I.e. you survived, your emotions will assume it will work again, your emotions do not compute the most likely survival tactic because the circumstances are slightly different. After the event (assuming it was not deadly) your logical mind will calculate: - may be you should have done something different or better. (I am sure most of you will have experienced something like this and said to yourself something similar to 'why did I do that, I should have done ...... Obviously I was not thinking straight, I am not going to do that again'. Then to find yourself in a similar situation at a later date, and ended up doing the same thing again! You may end up thinking you are an idiot or have no self control, but there is another process at work here (another Tea Break Book in the future to explain this further).
In summary your brain is not just a computer on many levels (obviously I have not brought into play the Existence of a possible 'soul', which would be a level even higher still, but is not required to answer this simple question here).
1st November 2016
Private & Confidential Copyright © Mr A Pépés
To add to my previous comments it may be interesting to note that schizophrenic people can have two minds where one mind does not know the existence of the other. This can also be observed where the brain has been severed between the two hemispheres. One hemisphere has no consciousness of the other hemisphere and visa versa. I have mentioned this before somewhere, it maybe that neither have consciousness but just act as computers that are aware only of their individual inputs and outputs or there are two consciousnesses.
3rd May 2017
Private & Confidential Copyright © Mr A Pépés
What is consciousness?
I explain this elsewhere, but I would like to add that a computer will never become conscious with the existing mindset of Artificial Intelligence (AI) machines we have at present.
Why do I say this?
The reason is that consciousness is not just intelligence, so more of the same (AI) will never become conscious. It is not a matter of complexity either, so mixing more of the same to make it more complex will also never become conscious. It will appear conscious because it will become very clever, but it will not be conscious. Effectively you are using the wrong ingredients to find consciousness.
To understand what I mean imagine you are trying to make a "pancake" and you have only some of the ingredients. Let us say water, flour, a little oil to fry, some heat. (let us say you think flour is the main ingredient AI). So you mix a little water and flour and make a little of what looks like a little pancake. Too small and doesn't taste like a pancake, so you make more of the same so the size is right, but still doesn't taste like a pancake. You can mix different proportions of water and flour and use different amounts of heat, but you will never make a "pancake". The simple reason is that you are not using the correct ingredients. When you find that you need an 'egg' to make it, then you can make a "pancake", add a pinch of salt and it's great tasting too.
Once you know the ingredients you will also realise that you can make very small pancakes that taste great, you just use smaller amounts in the correct ratios. I.e. you don't need a whole egg either!
So when you use the correct ingredients to create consciousness you will also realise you don't need a lot of AI either. In other words you don't have to be very intelligent to be conscious either.
It becomes easy to see animals that don't look conscious because you erroneously see that they appear to be doing things automatically and maybe not intelligently, so you assume they are not conscious, but some animals are conscious, even though they are not very intelligent. You are using the wrong criteria or ingredients.
20th July 2019
Private & Confidential Copyright © Mr A Pépés
I've been meaning to write an other Tea Break Book on consciousness. but think it appropriate that I add a little section here.
To have consciousness you have to have and understand temporal time.
Temporal time is explained further in another Tea a break Book, but essentially it is not like clock time that physicists use, which they break down into instances of time or events. Temporal time is a duration, (a group of events in time if you prefer). This temporal time has a minimum duration of at least 1/25 second. So when you are talking about consciousness and its mechanism it makes no sense to talk about instances in time like you do in physics, because consciousness does not and can not exist at an instance, it needs a duration to exist, I.e. temporal time.
The conceptual mechanism of consciousness I explain in my Book, but in effect it is a sequence of short term memories compared in sequence over time, the number of instances of these events during this time is proportional to the emotions of those events, so the greater the emotion the greater the number of events that are created. This is how we perceive time differently because of the number of events during our conscious experience changes, so time may feel faster or slower because there are more or less events to compare over the same external time period.
12th November 2019
Private & Confidential Copyright © Mr A Pépés
I thought I would add a little section here about the fact that every thing is an emergent property, above the level of the 'APE's (quantum real spaces), including our normal dimensions. So consciousness is also an emergent property when at this higher level it comes into being.
So the idea of "panconsciousness" where everything has a bit of consciousness as if it is some sort of ethereal energy and contained in everything is totally wrong.
You can have levels of consciousness but they do not exist below a certain level of complexity.
So an atom has no consciousness nor does a stone.
The idea is based on not knowing what consciousness is.
It is like saying everything has a bit of a car in it, by looking at a car and saying all the bits that create it has a bit of a car in it. So the atoms that create the car have the essence of a car in the atoms, this is not knowing what a car really is. The atoms of the 'car' do not consist of bits of 'car'! The car consists of bits of 'atoms', not the other way around. The 'car' is an emergent property that is created by its parts, which are created by their component parts, which are created by the atoms.
It is a one way increase in complexity, not a build up of an amount of something.
A build up of something would relate to something like water being wet. An atom of water is not wet, but put enough atoms of water together and the property of wetness emerges. Consciousness is more complex than this and although emergent it does not exist below a certain complexity.
Morph your mind with Morphological at
apepes.com
Is your Brain a computer?
Private & Confidential Copyright © Mr A Pépés
The simple answer as always is yes and no, depending on your definitions of both.
But the most correct answer is No your brain is not a computer in the conventional way of thinking.
A computer in the conventional way of thinking is that it is a process or processes of instructions in a form of a program or programs that are executed by this code in a logical sequence of events to give the outcome or output. It does not matter whether it is sequential or parallel computing the concept is the same. Most computers just run internal code or computations from keyboards or input devices directly, but some computers monitor variable external inputs and adjust their output accordingly. E.g. They may be controlling an external temperature device.
In effect conceptually the computer is either monitoring internal or external stimuli (internal code or external inputs and outputs), either individually or in groups.
The above may at first seem like it is a brain, but unless you have a simplistic view of what a brain is, then this is not what a brain is. A brain (and we are talking about higher functioning brains) is more than just a computer.
First of all it has minds (you can think of it as one mind) again depending on your definitions of mind, which basically means it can think, again the definition of think comes into play, which basically means it processes information. So up to now it is no different conceptually than a computer (even though the mind of the brain is more complex than the mind of the computer, it is the same conceptually).
The brain is more than this because it has consciousness (plus something else which I will elaborate later). I use consciousness to mean self awareness, so as to eliminate further confusion later.
Awareness just means that the mind or computer is aware of its input or output, it does not have to be self aware. So a computer is aware of the temperature outside through its sensor and acts accordingly. If the sensor was broken it would not be aware of the temperature because it received no input and would not normally know that the sensor was not working, therefore it would not be aware of the temperature. The unconscious part of the brain has minds (or mind) just like a computer (again more complex, but conceptually the same).
As previously stated the brain is more than these minds working unconsciously, there is the conscious mind which is self aware. Here again we must elaborate to avoid further confusion with definitions, self awareness in this sense means you are not only monitoring something but you are also aware that you are monitoring that thing, e.g. You not only see something, but you also notice that you see that thing. The first monitoring is unconscious like the computer but the second part is not normally like the computer (I.e. The computer does not know that it is not receiving input when the sensor is broken). It is possible that we can put in code to notify a computer that the sensor is not working, but this does not mean by its own that the computer is aware in the same fashion as the brain is aware. Partially it is conceptually the same, but there is still a difference (I will elaborate further later).
The second part of consciousness is self awareness where you not only monitor the temperature and know you are monitoring the temperature but also you are aware you are doing both through your own identity of self, which is different to someone else doing something similar. [I explained a possible mechanism in my ebook 'A Second Pocket Volume of the Universe']. (I may also write another Tea Break Book to explain this mechanism).
No computer does this, therefore your brain is not just a computer.
The brain also has another property that a computer does not have, and that is that it has emotions. Again to avoid confusion with definitions - Emotions are not just normal code as found in a computer, so the amigthala (amigdala) of your brain that mainly controls emotions has a different kind of mind unlike normal computers.
You have to analyse and look at the function of the emotions in terms of evolution and the proper functioning of the brain. (Explained in my ebooks). But basically it has the function of keeping the brain and the individual alive when the mind (the computational part) can not function or does not have the time to function. In short it is not computing (calculating) like the normal computer.
To explain a little further.
What happens to a computer when it can not calculate something, or its logic (program) is in error for some unknown input?
In short it either goes into an infinite loop and freezes or it just shuts down and crashes.
This is exactly what a computer mind would also do if it was just based on its Logic circuits only.
We simply reboot a computer or add extra code to correct the problem, but a real life brain or individual can not do this (it can, but under special circumstances, not relevant to this part of the problem).
So the function of emotions is to circumvent these type of problems in real life. I.e. It keeps the individual alive not using normal logic and avoiding system crashes. E.g. You see a lion in the distance you start to use your logical mind to solve the problem of not being killed, if you succeed, no emotions need to come into play, but in reality they start to work in the background, you are a little worried, scared a little you may not succeed. If on the other hand it has crept up on you and you don't have the time to calculate a strategy logically, your emotions take over and you either freeze or you fight/run (whatever worked for you in the past). If it worked in the past I.e. you survived, your emotions will assume it will work again, your emotions do not compute the most likely survival tactic because the circumstances are slightly different. After the event (assuming it was not deadly) your logical mind will calculate: - may be you should have done something different or better. (I am sure most of you will have experienced something like this and said to yourself something similar to 'why did I do that, I should have done ...... Obviously I was not thinking straight, I am not going to do that again'. Then to find yourself in a similar situation at a later date, and ended up doing the same thing again! You may end up thinking you are an idiot or have no self control, but there is another process at work here (another Tea Break Book in the future to explain this further).
In summary your brain is not just a computer on many levels (obviously I have not brought into play the Existence of a possible 'soul', which would be a level even higher still, but is not required to answer this simple question here).
1st November 2016
Private & Confidential Copyright © Mr A Pépés
To add to my previous comments it may be interesting to note that schizophrenic people can have two minds where one mind does not know the existence of the other. This can also be observed where the brain has been severed between the two hemispheres. One hemisphere has no consciousness of the other hemisphere and visa versa. I have mentioned this before somewhere, it maybe that neither have consciousness but just act as computers that are aware only of their individual inputs and outputs or there are two consciousnesses.
3rd May 2017
Private & Confidential Copyright © Mr A Pépés
What is consciousness?
I explain this elsewhere, but I would like to add that a computer will never become conscious with the existing mindset of Artificial Intelligence (AI) machines we have at present.
Why do I say this?
The reason is that consciousness is not just intelligence, so more of the same (AI) will never become conscious. It is not a matter of complexity either, so mixing more of the same to make it more complex will also never become conscious. It will appear conscious because it will become very clever, but it will not be conscious. Effectively you are using the wrong ingredients to find consciousness.
To understand what I mean imagine you are trying to make a "pancake" and you have only some of the ingredients. Let us say water, flour, a little oil to fry, some heat. (let us say you think flour is the main ingredient AI). So you mix a little water and flour and make a little of what looks like a little pancake. Too small and doesn't taste like a pancake, so you make more of the same so the size is right, but still doesn't taste like a pancake. You can mix different proportions of water and flour and use different amounts of heat, but you will never make a "pancake". The simple reason is that you are not using the correct ingredients. When you find that you need an 'egg' to make it, then you can make a "pancake", add a pinch of salt and it's great tasting too.
Once you know the ingredients you will also realise that you can make very small pancakes that taste great, you just use smaller amounts in the correct ratios. I.e. you don't need a whole egg either!
So when you use the correct ingredients to create consciousness you will also realise you don't need a lot of AI either. In other words you don't have to be very intelligent to be conscious either.
It becomes easy to see animals that don't look conscious because you erroneously see that they appear to be doing things automatically and maybe not intelligently, so you assume they are not conscious, but some animals are conscious, even though they are not very intelligent. You are using the wrong criteria or ingredients.
20th July 2019
Private & Confidential Copyright © Mr A Pépés
I've been meaning to write an other Tea Break Book on consciousness. but think it appropriate that I add a little section here.
To have consciousness you have to have and understand temporal time.
Temporal time is explained further in another Tea a break Book, but essentially it is not like clock time that physicists use, which they break down into instances of time or events. Temporal time is a duration, (a group of events in time if you prefer). This temporal time has a minimum duration of at least 1/25 second. So when you are talking about consciousness and its mechanism it makes no sense to talk about instances in time like you do in physics, because consciousness does not and can not exist at an instance, it needs a duration to exist, I.e. temporal time.
The conceptual mechanism of consciousness I explain in my Book, but in effect it is a sequence of short term memories compared in sequence over time, the number of instances of these events during this time is proportional to the emotions of those events, so the greater the emotion the greater the number of events that are created. This is how we perceive time differently because of the number of events during our conscious experience changes, so time may feel faster or slower because there are more or less events to compare over the same external time period.
12th November 2019
Private & Confidential Copyright © Mr A Pépés
I thought I would add a little section here about the fact that every thing is an emergent property, above the level of the 'APE's (quantum real spaces), including our normal dimensions. So consciousness is also an emergent property when at this higher level it comes into being.
So the idea of "panconsciousness" where everything has a bit of consciousness as if it is some sort of ethereal energy and contained in everything is totally wrong.
You can have levels of consciousness but they do not exist below a certain level of complexity.
So an atom has no consciousness nor does a stone.
The idea is based on not knowing what consciousness is.
It is like saying everything has a bit of a car in it, by looking at a car and saying all the bits that create it has a bit of a car in it. So the atoms that create the car have the essence of a car in the atoms, this is not knowing what a car really is. The atoms of the 'car' do not consist of bits of 'car'! The car consists of bits of 'atoms', not the other way around. The 'car' is an emergent property that is created by its parts, which are created by their component parts, which are created by the atoms.
It is a one way increase in complexity, not a build up of an amount of something.
A build up of something would relate to something like water being wet. An atom of water is not wet, but put enough atoms of water together and the property of wetness emerges. Consciousness is more complex than this and although emergent it does not exist below a certain complexity.
Morph your mind with Morphological at
apepes.com
