Is The Brain A Computer?

People often describe the brain as a computer. Just as neurons are hardware and the mind is software. However, this analogy is wrong. Computers are made up of static parts but the brain continually reboots as we age and learn. Computers store information in files that are properly accessed, but the brain does not literally store information. 

Your memory is a constant pattern of rotating electrical and chemical shocks, and the same memory can fold differently at different times. The brain also does important things that modern computers cannot. With thousands of images, a computer can be taught to recognize a dandelion as a plant with green leaves and yellow petals. But if you look at dandelions, you can see that they fall into different categories depending on the situation. The dandelion in the garden is a weed, but it is a lovely flower in your child's bouque and dandelion in salads is also food.

In other words, your brain easily classifies things by function, not just appearance. Some scientists believe that this unusual ability of the brain, known as the formation of temporal categories, may underlie how the brain works. Unlike a computer, a brain is not a collection of parts in an empty container. The brain resides in the body - a complex network of systems that includes more than 600 flexible muscles, internal organs, the heart, which pumps 7,500 liters of blood daily, as well as dozens of hormones and other chemicals.

The most important role of the brain is to regulate the body's systems so that they can survive and develop. This is probably the main reason for brain development. For hundreds of millions of years, animal bodies have been complicated by dozens of balancing systems that require control of blood flow,water regulation and salt and sugar level regulation.

Control of the brain over the body is the basis of mental activity. Every thought you have, every concept you think about, every emotion you have experienced, everything you have ever seen, heard, smelled, tasted, or touched contains information about your physical condition. If we want a computer that thinks, feels, sees, and behaves the way we do, it must regulate the body or its body with a complex set of systems that must be maintained in order to keep working. Today's computers don't work that way, but perhaps some engineers can design something big enough to provide this important material. "The brain as a computer" is still a metaphor.