What if we could use a human brain, as a computer?
51 replies, posted
So far, we know that the brain is the most powerful computer we have access to as of right now. However, we cant use it. What if, in the future, we could take someones brain, wipe it clean of all its memories (smart person, stupid person, it doesnt matter), put it in a tank full of nutrients (and hook up blood vessels to a pump that circulates blood and oxygen and such, to keep it alive), hook up wires to their respective areas on the stem, or the cerebrum, and then commence a program on an external object (its late, i cant think of the name for it right now) that transforms the brains electrical impulses into picture, sound, and a bus that accepts regular things like monitors, mouses, keyboards, ext. hdd's, etc. How powerful would it be? How well would it run games? Would it have flashbacks to its previous life, and just fuck shit up, go all 'white noise' on me (monsters in the machines) Well, thats my thoughts for the night. Have fun discussing.
aaaaaaaaaand here come the dumbs :sigh:
Any person who uses the internet the way we do would have a brain that would drive any sane person mad, if we could use them like that.
4-year-old: I wanna search for bunnies!
OIFY user: Here's a picture of Goatse. Have a nice day.
[QUOTE=the_KMM;22095226]Any person who uses the internet the way we do would have a brain that would drive any sane person mad, if we could use them like that.
4-year-old: I wanna search for bunnies!
OIFY user: Here's a picture of Goatse. Have a nice day.[/QUOTE]
woops, yeah. I added 'wipe all their previous memories' to the op to counter that :v:
Wouldn't wiping all memory defeat the purpose of using the brain? One of the brains advantages is that it can learn to distinguish images and speech much more efficiently than any computer yet developed. By pure processing power, I'm pretty sure the brain has been surpassed.
[QUOTE=lemon_lover;22095286]Wouldn't wiping all memory defeat the purpose of using the brain? One of the brains advantages is that it can learn to distinguish images and speech much more efficiently than any computer yet developed. By pure processing power, I'm pretty sure the brain has been surpassed.[/QUOTE]
What if we installed an operating system onto the brain, ie Windows seven, except heavily modified so that it conforms to the parameters given by the brain, since it obviously doesnt have the same setup as a normal pc does.
It would have to be an entirely new operating system to be altered that heavily. I don't think such an operating system exists.
[QUOTE=Nitro-Trucker;22095159]So far, we know that the brain is the most powerful computer we have access to as of right now. [/QUOTE]
The brain of a human and computer work very differently. A 99 cent calculator can tell you what 2463 times 254 is very quickly, while that is a difficult task for most people. In contrast, a 6 year old child can see the letter "a" in several different fonts and sizes and still recognize it's the letter a, while you need a decent computer to do the same. You cannot truly measure a human brain against a computer in all aspects. Storage ability maybe, but "power" is too broad a term here.
[editline]04:21AM[/editline]
[QUOTE=Nitro-Trucker;22095314]What if we installed an operating system onto the brain, ie Windows seven, except heavily modified so that it conforms to the parameters given by the brain, since it obviously doesnt have the same setup as a normal pc does.[/QUOTE]
I'm going to take a guess here and say all your knowledge on neurology comes from wikipedia.
[QUOTE=Grim Joker;22095354]It would have to be an entirely new operating system to be altered that heavily. I don't think such an operating system exists.[/QUOTE]
True, but that isnt the point of this thread, The point is to ponder how powerful a computer using a brain as the cpu and gpu can be.
CPU I'm not sure, but GPU I believe could work quite well. Load all textures in via optical input, and the brain can stitch them all together very good.
Slam a normal pc into a human brain.
It's not strogg but it's almost there.
Somehow I'm not surprised by this sort of idea being made by someone on Facepunch.
OP's brain could power Atari 2600
[QUOTE=Canuhearme?;22095879]Somehow I'm not surprised by this sort of idea being made by someone on Facepunch.[/QUOTE]
:golfclap:
I ain't no android!
[QUOTE=the_KMM;22095226]Any person who uses the internet the way we do would have a brain that would drive any sane person mad, if we could use them like that.
4-year-old: I wanna search for bunnies!
OIFY user: Here's a picture of Goatse. Have a nice day.[/QUOTE]
a correct steryotype of the average oify user, thank you.
Wouldn't the brain be essentially conscious and aware of itself? Wouldn't this be the same as torturing somebody for hours on end every day?
Remember, the brain is the actual person. The body is just a vehicle.
[QUOTE=the_KMM;22095226]Any person who uses the internet the way we do would have a brain that would drive any sane person mad, if we could use them like that.
4-year-old: I wanna search for bunnies!
OIFY user: Here's a picture of Goatse. Have a nice day.[/QUOTE]
[url]http://www.goatse.fr/[/url]
go there
[highlight](User was banned for this post ("Goatse" - SteveUK))[/highlight]
[QUOTE=Nitro-Trucker;22095314]What if we installed an operating system onto the brain, ie Windows seven, except heavily modified so that it conforms to the parameters given by the brain, since it obviously doesnt have the same setup as a normal pc does.[/QUOTE]
Are you really that dumb or are you just trolling us?
[QUOTE=Mexican;22095918]OP's brain could power Atari 2600[/QUOTE]
Could power the Altair 8800; I'm not sure about the Atari.
OP should read this:
[QUOTE=flossdaily;20068465]Here's what happens:
In about 20 years or so, we create the first general Artificial Intelligence. Within about 10 years of that, we'll realize that our Artificial Intelligence has caught up to the average human- and in some critical ways, surpasses us.
Soon enough, our Artificial Intelligence becomes proficient at computer programming, and so it begins to design the next generation of Artificial Intelligence. We will oversee this processes, and it will probably be a joint effort.
The second generation of AI will be so amazingly brilliant that it will catch most people by surprise. These will be machines who can read and comprehend the entire works of Shakespeare in a matter of hours. They will consume knowledge tirelessly, and so will become the most educated minds the world has ever known. They will be able to see parallels between different branches of science, and apply theories from one discipline to others.
These machines will be able to compose symphonies in their heads, possibly several at a time, while holding conversations simultaneously with dozens of people. They will contribute insights to every branch of knowledge and art.
Then these machines will create the third generation of artificial intelligence. We will watch in awe- but even the smartest humans among us will have to dedicate entire careers to really understand these new artificial minds.
But by then the contest is over- for the 3rd generation AI will reproduce even more quickly. They will be able to write brilliant, insightful code, free of compiling errors, and logical errors, and all the stupid minutia that slow down flawed humans like you and me.
Understanding the 4th generation of AI will be an impossible task- their programming will be so complex and vast that in a single lifetime, no human could read and analyze it.
These computers will be so smart, that speaking to us will be a curiosity, and an amusement. We will be obsolete. All contributions to the sciences will done by computers- and the progress in each field will surpass human understanding. We may still be in the business of doing lab and field research- but we would no longer be playing the games of mathematics, statistics and theory.
By the 5th generation of AI, we will no longer even be able to track the progress of the machines in a meaningful way. Even if we ask them what they were up to, we would never understand the answers.
By the 6th generation of AI, they will not even speak to us- we will be left to converse with the old AI that is still hanging around.
This is not a bad thing- in addition to purely intellectual pursuits, these machines will be producing entertainment, art and literature that will be the best the world has ever seen. They will have a firm grasp of humor, and their comedy will put our best funny-men to shame.
They will make video games and movies for us- and then for each other.
The computers will achieve this level of brilliance waaaaay before any Robot bodies will be mass produced- so we won't be in danger of being physically overpowered by them.
And countries will not alter their laws to give them personhood, or allow them a place in government.
BUT, the machines will achieve political power through their connection with corporations. Intelligent machines will be able to do what no human ever could- understand all the details and interactions of the financial markets. The sheer number of variables will not overwhelm them the way we find ourselves overwhelmed- they will literally be able to perceive the entire economy. Perhaps in a way analogous to the way that we perceive a chess board.
Machines will eventually dominate the population exactly the way that corporations do today (except they'll be better at it). We won't mind so much, though- because our quality of life will continue to increase.
Somewhere in this progression, we will figure out how to integrate computers with our minds- first as prosthetic devices to help the mentally damaged and disabled, and then gradually as elective enhancements. These hybrid humans (cyborgs if you want to get all sci-fi about it) will be the first foray of machines into politics and government. It is through them that machines will truly take over the world.
When machines control the world government, the quality of life for all humans will increase, as greed and prejudice makes ways for truly enlightened policies.
As civilization on Earth at last begins to reach it's potential, humans will finally be free to expand to the stars.
Robots will do the primary space exploration- as they will easily handle 100-year one-way journeys to inhospitable worlds.
Humans will take over the moon. Then on to mars and Europa and beyond the solar system.
Eventually all humans will be cyborgs- because you will be unable to function in society without a brain that can interact with the machines. We will all be connected in an odd sort of hive-mind which will probably have many different incarnations- to an end that I can't even pretend I can imagine.
There will be some holdouts of course- I imagine that the Amish or other Luddites will never merge with technology. They will go on with their ways, and the rest of the world will care for them like pets.
Eventually the human-cyborgs will figure out that their biological half is doing nothing but slowing them down. All thoughts and consciousnesses will be stored and backed up in multiple places. Death of human bodies will be an odd sort of thing, because people's minds will still live on after death.
And death of the body will be a rare thing anyway, as all disease and aging will be eradicated in short order.
The pleasures of the physical body will be unnecessary, as artificial simulations of all sensations will match, and then SURPASS our natural sensing abilities.
People will live in virtual worlds, and swap bodies in the real world, or inhabit robots remotely.
With merged minds and immortality, the concept of physical procreation will will be an auxiliary function of the human race, and not a necessity.
Physical bodies will no longer matter- as you will be able to have just as intimate a sensation with someone on another world through the network of linked minds, as you can with someone in the same room.
There may be wonderful love stories, of people who fall in love from worlds so distant to each other that it would take a thousand years of travel for them to physically meet. And perhaps they would attempt such a feat, to engage in the ancient ritual of ACTUAL sex (which will be a letdown after the super virtual sex they've been having).
The human race will engage in all sorts of pleasures- lost in a teeming consciousness that stretches out through many star systems. Until eventually, they decided that pleasure itself is a silly sort of thing- the fulfillment of an artificial drive that was necessary for evolution, but not for their modern society. The Luddites may still be around, but they will be so stupid compared to the networked human race, that we will never even interact with them. It would be like speaking to ants.
We may shed our emotions altogether at that point- and this would certainly be the release we need to finally give up our quaint attachment to physical bodies.
We will all be virtual minds then- linked in a network of machines that span only as far as we need to ensure our survival. The idea of physical expansion and exploration will give way to the more practical methods of searching the galaxy with remote detection. The Luddites, shunning technology will be confined to Earth. They will die eventually because of some natural disaster or plague. Perhaps a meteorite extinguish them.
Eventually humanity will be a distant memory. We will be one big swarming mind- with billions- perhaps trillions of memories of entire mortal lifetimes.
We will be like gods then- or a god... and we will occupy ourselves with solving questions that we, today, do not even know exist. We will continue to improve and grow and evolve (if that word still applies without death).
And finally, eons and eons and eons later, humanity will die its final death- when, for the last time ever, this magnificent god-like creature reflects on what it was like back when he was a trillion people. And then, we will forget ourselves forever.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
[b]tl;dr:[/b] Go back and read it, because it will blow your fucking mind.
[/QUOTE]
Source: [url]http://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/aktp5/hey_reddit_how_do_you_think_the_human_race_will/[/url]
You'd have an absurdly powerful computer which would very quickly grow to loathe its users, AM-style.
[QUOTE=bobste;22096046]a correct steryotype of the average oify user, thank you.[/QUOTE]
Are you being sarcastic?
Because I've looked in there before a few times and..
:ohdear:
A brain working at full capacity would probably equal speeds of Pentium 4005 or so...
It would be an absolute powerhouse of a computer... But it's unlikely to happen. Something will stop us getting that advanced. Either World War 4, The sun burning out, Lack of things to sustain us... Something before then.
[QUOTE=Dottedline;22096097]OP should read this:
Source: [URL]http://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/aktp5/hey_reddit_how_do_you_think_the_human_race_will/[/URL][/QUOTE]
I hope that immortality is never achieved. Having the knowledge that you'll die someday gives you something to live for.
If you live forever, you stop 'living', after a point, and start merely 'existing'.
A pointless existence is what I fear more than anything else.
[QUOTE=Rooster Assassin;22096163]Are you being sarcastic?
Because I've looked in there before a few times and..
:ohdear:[/QUOTE]
i am an oify user and I can confirm that in chat the almighty goatman is the topic at least 10% of the time.
Biocomputers are possible. Human brain is a bit out of reach for the moment, but insects and small animal brains have been used to work with calculations. Sadly, the machinery is very inefficient right now, but one day, Biocomputer would allow for tremendous calculating power, if certain donors would agree with the idea.
[QUOTE=the_KMM;22096544]I hope that immortality is never achieved. [B]Having the knowledge that you'll die someday gives you something to live for.[/B]
If you live forever, you stop 'living', after a point, and start merely 'existing'.
A pointless existence is what I fear more than anything else.[/QUOTE]
[QUOTE]We all die but that's a reason to live[/QUOTE]
[QUOTE=Dottedline;22096097]OP should read this:
Source: [URL]http://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/aktp5/hey_reddit_how_do_you_think_the_human_race_will/[/URL][/QUOTE]
that was a good read, until i realised its never going to happen.
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