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Krasnow Institute > Monday Seminars > Abstracts Why the Brain Is Not a Computer James Trefil The notion that the brain is a computer and the mind an algorithm running on that computer is characterized as the "Strong AI" position. Something like it is widely accepted by the general public (although not, I am happy to say, by the computer science community at GMU). Like many scientific facts that "everyone knows" to be true, this one is false. In this talk, I will present two kinds of arguments to back up this claim. The first will depend on a detailed comparison between the brain and modern computers. The conclusion will be that the brain is no more like a computer than it is like a bicycle, and that had computer scientists known in the 1950s what we now know about the brain, the metaphor would never have been suggested. A more subtle version of the question asks whether a computer can perform all the functions the brain does, even if it performs them in a different way. I will discuss the Lucas-Penrose argument, which holds that it is possible to find one brain function that cannot be carried out by a computer-- the recognition of the truth or falsity of a Go"del statement. I time permits, I will outline and critique Penrose's conjecture on how the brain works at the quantum level and why we need new science to understand it.
The Krasnow Institute for Advanced Study |
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