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Out of curiosity...
https://w.yarrthepirate.com/phpbb3/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=5140		 Page 1 of 1
Author:  Rahsten [ Thu May 26, 2005 8:53 am ]
Post subject:  Out of curiosity...
...what do you think is the average Human brain's storage capacity in bytes? Do you think it is measured in giga, tera, peta or even exabytes? or, Do you think it can't be measured in these terms? Explain your reasons for coming to any conclusion.

I personally have no clue (maybe I'm just a kilobyte mind :wink: ) but thought it would be interesting to read what others think about this. If I had to guess I would say our minds are limited and may probably cap out somewhere above gigabytes of memory. This subject came to mind when my wife and I were arguing about wether or not our computer(or other computers in the world) has(have) a more powerful 'mind' than us. The arguement ended with her claiming that an AppleIIe that isn't plugged in has a more powerful mind than me.

Anyways, our arguement spanned beyond just debating our computer's memory in comparison to ours, as I hope this thread will.

So, let's discuss, debate and open 'our' minds to their full potential. :?
Author:  Matti [ Thu May 26, 2005 8:59 am ]
Post subject: 
Any answer to this question should be taken with several grains of salt. Digital computers and brains don't work the same way. For one thing, every memory location in a computer is created equal. You can move stuff from one location to another without losing any information. In the brain, on the other hand, certain cells specialize in certain jobs. While there is considerable plasticity (the ability to change what some part of the brain does, enabling the brain to recover from injury), there's nothing like the uniformity seen in a computer. Secondly, processing and memory are completely separated in a computer; not so in the brain. Finally, data in computers is digital, and not really susceptible to "noise". In the brain, there are continuous voltages.

With those caveats, let's look at numbers. The brain contains 10^11 neurons -- in other words, 100 giganeurons. Each one has synapses connecting it to up to 1000 other neurons. Many researchers believe that memories are stored as patterns of synapse strengths. If we suppose that the strength of each synapse can take on any of 256 values, then each synapse corresponds to a byte of memory. This gives a total of (very roughly) 100 terabytes for the brain.

For more info, see the book "Mind and Brain: Readings from Scientific
American".
Author:  Matti [ Thu May 26, 2005 9:01 am ]
Post subject: 
I forgot to add that 1 byte = 2^8 bits = 256 bits with each bit corresponding to one value for the strength of the synapse. Just in case you didn't already assume that. lol
Author:  Mikey [ Thu May 26, 2005 11:08 am ]
Post subject: 
I forgot where i heard this. Its somewhere between 13 to 30 tetrabytes
Author:  Iolanthe [ Thu May 26, 2005 11:40 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Out of curiosity...
Rahsten wrote:
The arguement ended with her claiming that an AppleIIe that isn't plugged in has a more powerful mind than me.

LOL.
Author:  pyromancer [ Thu May 26, 2005 1:25 pm ]
Post subject: 
i would have to say that our minds have just about unlimited storage. because older people can remember totaly worthless stuff from their childhood. Also people can remeber other retard stuff that doesnt help them in anyway in their life...

thats just my 2 cents ^^
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