Ask Yahoo!
Ask Home - Yahoo! - Help

 Ask Yahoo!
Friday June 23, 2006 Previous | Next
Dear Yahoo!:
How does the human brain measure up to a computer?
Brian
New Holland, Ohio
Dear Brian:
At the risk of ticking off computers everywhere, we believe the human brain could hold more data than any hard drive currently available. Here's why...

Although it's tempting to think of computers as infallible and able to do more in a millisecond than we can do in a day, that's a bit of a misconception. Human beings take a lot of their cognitive abilities for granted. For example, according to a study from MIT, simulating basic actions in robots, like talking, laughing, and walking, requires an amazing amount of memory and processing power.

On the other hand, maybe that's not a fair comparison. After all, in many ways, hard drives are superior to the human brain. As this page from the University of Washington points out, when it comes to multitasking, computers have near limitless potential. As for people, even the smartest of us sometimes have a hard time patting our stomachs and rubbing our heads at the same time.

 
Related Links
·What is spyware? How can I detect spyware on my computer?
·Which one of the five senses is the strongest or most well developed?
More Questions About
·Computers & Internet
·Human Body
·Yahoo! Answers - Computers & Internet
·Yahoo! Answers - Skin & Body
Get Ask Your Way
·Most Popular
·Yahoo! Toolbar
· View RSS Feed  add to My Yahoo!
Email this page -    Save to del.icio.us    Save to My Web    Digg This

Copyright © 2006 Yahoo! Inc. All rights reserved. Privacy Policy - Terms of Service - Copyright/IP Policy

All information available through or in connection with Ask Yahoo! is informational only and provided "as is" without warranties, representations, or guarantees of any kind. Yahoo! disclaims any and all implied warranties respecting Ask Yahoo!. Use of Ask Yahoo! is entirely at your own risk and is not a substitute for conducting your own research.