"If the heart is a biological pump, and the nose is a biological filter, the brain is a biological computer, a machine for processing information in lawful, systematic ways."
— Marcus, Gary (b. 1970)
Author
Date
June 27, 2015
Metaphor
"If the heart is a biological pump, and the nose is a biological filter, the brain is a biological computer, a machine for processing information in lawful, systematic ways."
Metaphor in Context
If neurons are akin to computer hardware, and behaviors are akin to the actions that a computer performs, computation is likely to be the glue that binds the two.
There is much that we don't know about brains. But we do know that they aren't magical. They are just exceptionally complex arrangements of matter. Airplanes may not fly like birds, but they are subject to the same forces of lift and drag. Likewise, there is no reason to think that brains are exempt from the laws of computation. If the heart is a biological pump, and the nose is a biological filter, the brain is a biological computer, a machine for processing information in lawful, systematic ways.
The sooner we can figure out what kind of computer the brain is, the better.
There is much that we don't know about brains. But we do know that they aren't magical. They are just exceptionally complex arrangements of matter. Airplanes may not fly like birds, but they are subject to the same forces of lift and drag. Likewise, there is no reason to think that brains are exempt from the laws of computation. If the heart is a biological pump, and the nose is a biological filter, the brain is a biological computer, a machine for processing information in lawful, systematic ways.
The sooner we can figure out what kind of computer the brain is, the better.
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
