On Sat, 17 Mar 2001 CurtAdams@aol.com wrote:
> When you study a brain, you discern it is composed of vast numbers of quarks
> (about 2 x 10^27). Figuring the results of the brain requires following all
> those
> dang quarks, each of which is described by quantum chromodynamic equations
> we can't solve and passable simulation of each requires a supercomputer.
> We knew the brain was complicated, but 10^27 supercomputers?! That's
> what I mean by increasing complexity with more careful analysis.
Curt, I'm sorry but this just isn't so. I believe it has been concretely
proven in a paper in Science in the last year that thermal noise roundly
trumps any "quantum" effects in the brain (disproving Penrose's microtubule
consciousness speculations). [Someone will hopefully provide a link here...]
As I've discussed you can perfect "reality conforming" simulations using
only electromagnetic bonding theories. Current simulations range in the
million-to-billion atom range (a large distance from a kg of matter, but
Moore's law still has a way to run). It is entirely unnecessary to
go to the quantum level. *ONLY* in those cases where people are conducting
experiments designed to go to the quantum level (at least 5 orders of
magnitude more sensitive) does the simulation have to go to that level.
At any point in time, there may only be a dozen or so such experiments
being conducted on the planet -- it doesn't remotely tax the computational
requirements of the overall simulation.
When you wake up tomorrow, go over to the wall in your bedroom and pound
on it. Up until the point where your fist hits the wall it could be
no more than several hundred atoms in thickness. And as soon as you
leave your bedroom it can be 0 atoms in thickness. And this doesn't
even take into account the fact that the sim can make you believe
it goes from a few hundreds of atoms to billions instantaneously when
in fact it doesn't do that at all -- the variable containing the perceived
strength of the wall simply gets multiplied by 10^10 as soon as
you think that you should hit the wall with your fist to ascertain
its thickness.
Robert
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b30 : Mon May 28 2001 - 09:59:41 MDT