Why It’s Good That Computers Don’t Work Like the Brain

A common prediction among technologists—and a common fear among the general population—is that computers and robots will come to mimic and even surpass people. No way. Computers and people work according to very different principles. One is discrete, obeying Boolean logic; and deterministic, yielding precise, repeatable results. The other is nondiscrete, following a complex, history-dependent mode of operation, yielding approximate, variable results. One is carefully designed according to well-determined goals and following systematic principles. The other evolves through a unique process that is affected by a wide range of variables, severely path dependent, fundamentally kludgy, difficult to predict, and difficult to emulate. The result—biological computation—is complex, parallel, multimodal (e.g., ionic, electrical, and chemical).