More Neural Connections than Atoms in the Universe?
by The Last Man » Thu Nov 19, 2009 1:55 pm
Ive heard from several different sources that the human brain has, to quote from one of them, ". . .over 110 billion nerve cells capable of (10^2,733,000) interconnections, a number higher than the total of all the atoms in the universe."
Put another way I remember seeing it, something like 100 billion nerve cells, each with the potential to connect to up to 100,000 other cells, but on average connects to about 10,000. I guess, doing the math, it seems to make sense that the number of connections is just HUGE - but more than the number of atoms in the entire universe? Are you kidding? Do we realise how big the universe is? How many atoms there are even in a single star, a single GALAXY? And how many millions of galaxies there are. . . ?
Can this possibly be true? Does anyone out there have any info on this, whether its accurate or not. . . it seems to completely defy logic.
Put another way I remember seeing it, something like 100 billion nerve cells, each with the potential to connect to up to 100,000 other cells, but on average connects to about 10,000. I guess, doing the math, it seems to make sense that the number of connections is just HUGE - but more than the number of atoms in the entire universe? Are you kidding? Do we realise how big the universe is? How many atoms there are even in a single star, a single GALAXY? And how many millions of galaxies there are. . . ?
Can this possibly be true? Does anyone out there have any info on this, whether its accurate or not. . . it seems to completely defy logic.
It is not the strengths, but the durations of great sentiments that make great men. -Nietzsche
Genius never desires what does not exist. -Kierkegaard
The first and last thing required of genius is the love of truth. -Goethe
The ideal genius, who has all men within him, has also all their preferences and all their dislikes. There is in him not only the universality of men, but of all nature. He is the man to whom all things tell their secrets, to whom most happens, and whom least escapes. He understands most things, and those most deeply, because he has the greatest number of things to contrast and compare them with. The genius is he who is conscious of most, and of that most acutely. -Weininger
I don't roll on shabbos. -Walter
Genius never desires what does not exist. -Kierkegaard
The first and last thing required of genius is the love of truth. -Goethe
The ideal genius, who has all men within him, has also all their preferences and all their dislikes. There is in him not only the universality of men, but of all nature. He is the man to whom all things tell their secrets, to whom most happens, and whom least escapes. He understands most things, and those most deeply, because he has the greatest number of things to contrast and compare them with. The genius is he who is conscious of most, and of that most acutely. -Weininger
I don't roll on shabbos. -Walter
Theres more POTENTIAL connections (synapses) and thats true.
http://www.madsci.org/posts/archives/ja ... .Ns.r.html
If thats staggering imagine all the neurons developed in an entire life, the sum of all these possible connections would be MUCH MORE VAST if we considering neurons dying and being born. Instead of total neurons for one glimpse of time. Staggering.
"The brain is a naturally constructed computational system whose function is to solve adaptive information-
processing problems (such as face recognition, threat interpretation, language acquisition, or navigation). Over
evolutionary time, its circuits were cumulatively added because they "reasoned" or "processed information" in a
way that enhanced the adaptive regulation of behavior and physiology. " - leda cosmides, john tooby.
processing problems (such as face recognition, threat interpretation, language acquisition, or navigation). Over
evolutionary time, its circuits were cumulatively added because they "reasoned" or "processed information" in a
way that enhanced the adaptive regulation of behavior and physiology. " - leda cosmides, john tooby.
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