7 - The human brain
The human brain has, at least, 86 billion neurons. In the past 200 years, we made locomotives, TV, computers, planes, satellites, vaccines, atomic bombs, MRI, bulldozers, dams, viaducts, and much more. This is an accomplishment. We can be proud of it, until we compare it with our body that completes about 500 trillion faultless copies of hemoglobin, a protein having 10000 atoms in 574 amino acids. Imagine what we could do with a brain as sophisticated as our body!
QUESTION6.com
We,The People, are not happy
Here is a simple question:
“If Marie’s daughter has a son, what is the relationship
between Marie and the father of this son?”
No mathematics. This is a simple question about family relationships! There should not be any problem! We can find the answer (mother-in-law), but it takes time.
Here is another test of the human brain:
-Take a series of coins and put them in alignment and number them 1, 2, 3, 4… all heads up.
-Flip the coins 2, 4, 6… and all the multiples of 2.
-Flip the coins 3, 6, 9, 12… and all the multiples of 3.
What are the coins that are still head up?
No need for complicated calculations. Some simple reasoning should do.
We made computers. That’s an achievement. Could that be used as a proof of superior thinking?
Maybe not! Computers are made of the association of millions of simple ideas coming from millions of different people. That does not mean that the human brain improved the day we started making computers. It only shows that we needed many people to put together many simple ideas.
Computers are following the general direction of human evolution. We started by making tools to go hunting. Those tools were simple objects. The next step was to make machines. That requires ideas using objects. With computers, we keep moving from the material world to the non-physical world. With A.I. we are taking one more step in the same direction. Humans are distancing themselves from the material world. What could be our next step? The development of our feelings?
Where does human thinking come from?
Before we pretend to dominate the universe with our brain, we should keep in mind that modern humans are 98.8 % genetically similar to chimpanzees, 75% genetically similar to chickens and 60% genetically similar to banana trees. Click here for details.
To make an evaluation of our thinking, we compare it with the thinking of other animals. That’s cheating. We should compare the development of our brain with the development of our own body. We have a good reason to avoid this comparison. I could endanger the opinion we have of ourselves. It would be detrimental to our ego -)
Let’s assume that a certain amount of thinking was created by the Big Bang. This is a limited genetic patrimony to be shared among humans. If this is the case, we should become dumber and dumber as the world population increases. Nobody would believe that! You would be the public enemy Nb1.
Another possibility is that the thinking on Earth increases with the human population. That would imply that we can create thinking out of nothing. Let’s not be too demanding. A compromise between those two extremes would be that human thinking results from a complex process that is way above our heads.
Mathematics could help. It is a way to avoid reasoning. At the end of mathematical reasoning, there is a formula. If you know the formula, you don’t need the reasoning. To get the surface of a rectangle, you only have to remember that it is a multiplication. Nobody will ask you why. We use Mathematics to avoid reasoning. Of course, somebody had to find the formula. We could say that he was a normal human being and the rest of us are simple minded. We preferred to call him a genius and put his name in the dictionary. This is our way to avoid bruising our ego.
Fortunately, there is more to mathematics than avoiding reasoning. It is a way to detach our mind from the material world. After we learn counting, we can count anything. We start by counting our fingers and counting the number of people in the room, the stars in the sky and even particles so small that our eyes cannot see them. Mathematics is a way to escape the prison of the physical body. Mathematics increases the part of nature that we can handle.
The slime mold:
A little walk in the forest would give us a lot to think about. We would see dead trees covered with some wad of yellow gooey. It is slime molds. It can solve problems faster than humans with powerful computers.
The slime molds could say:
The human way to solve a problem is to think about it. They pile up ideas upon ideas. They end up needing the most powerful computers to tackle a problem that a slime mold can solve very easily without even thinking about it.
There could be a better way to solve problems
than using human thinking.
Could the scientists find out, someday, that some virus can do even better?
The Fibonacci numbers:
This is an introduction to creation. The Fibonacci numbers are 0, 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8,13, 21, 34, 55, 89….
You start with 0 and 1 and keep adding the last two numbers to get the next one. 2+3 = 5 and 21+34=55. What is interesting is that you find Fibonacci numbers all over the creation. You can find them in sunflowers.
How can we explain the discrepancy between our mind and our body?
One explanation could come from our history. When an animal sees danger, it knows what its reaction should be. Birds fly away - Zebras run - Fish swim. When humans perceive danger, they hesitate between different reactions. Should they hide? Run away? Call for help? Throw stones? Climb a tree? Man introduces thinking between being aware of the danger and his reaction. That takes time! A fraction of a second can make the difference between survival and becoming a meal. The more you think, the lower your chances of survival. Removing the best thinkers for millions of years before they even have a chance to reproduce lowers the IQ of the general population. Those who survived are the dumb ones.
The Homo sapiens survived so many years
because of their limited thinking
Is human thinking reliable?
The robots that we are going to make will come from human thinking. We may amplify something good. We may also amplify something really bad. How can we be sure that we don’t need Mother Nature’s approval anymore?
Thinking should not be left alone. It should be associated with feelings. The atomic bomb is an example of what can happen when thinking is turned loose. Human thinking was developed in the material world. It was guided by the laws of nature. As we distance ourselves from the material world, we have to replace the laws of physics with feelings from the soul. Robots should be able to sense life, consciousness and freedom. They should be able to fall in love. AI should be associated with notions of good and bad. That will not be easy. Without them, AI could become an embarrassment like the atomic bomb.
The scientists are the first ones to say that human thinking is not dependable. They want everything to be confirmed by experiments. They demand Mother Nature's approval. They say that we should look at the facts and apply our thinking to the facts. Why should we associate the reliable facts with unreliable thinking that is going to mess up everything? Does that make sense? We are developing A.I. to improve human thinking. Is that reasonable?
There are many ways to use a brain.
Science starts with analysis. It is only the beginning. It is a point of entry for human thinking. It is good to break a problem into small pieces, hoping that smaller pieces will have smaller problems. After we solve the small problems, we can put the pieces back together. This is treating Mother Nature like a machine. You take it apart and find out which part needs to be replaced.
Another way to use our brain is to synthesize rather than analyze. After noticing something special in Nature we should look for something similar elsewhere. Is there a general idea implemented in many ways, right under their nose? This is how we discovered the fractals. It took us many years, but we finally did it.
Some birds can fly for 10 months without landing.
PS: About flipping the coins. There are two ways a coin can remain head up……