Human Brain And Computer

I tend to agree that anything human intelligence can achieve must eventually also be achievable by digital computers since it is possible to design computers that follow rules when processing information and hence there is some unitary sense in which the brain and the computer function similarly. Human being follows rules when they think. This leads to the notion that the mind is a digital computer. Freud a British neuroscientist compared the brain to hydraulic and electromagnetic system.

According to Steven Pinker, ‘’the claim is not that the brain is like commercially available computers; rather, the claim is that brains and computers embody intelligence for similar reasons’’ shows similarity in performance of activities in the two. Some parents have come to the conclusion that the minds of their children can be taught in ways almost similar to programming a digital computer; this belief has serious effects in education strategies. These effects result from extending the mind as a digital computer to cover learning. If you want to improve the computer capacity you either load a program or you upgrade its memory. This will apply to all computers of the same type. Due to the belief that minds are digital computers, we tend to believe that literacy is an easily identifiable thing that students either have or do not have. We determine whether or not they have it by running a standardized test and if they do not have it, we simply give it to them through teaching. We also believe that imparting literacy ‘programs’ is similar for all students and once we determine the proper method it will work universally to all students.

The insistence on this idea has reinforced three educational ideas;

• Since one virus checker can diagnose an unlimited number of digital computers using a simple objective test, we believe that standardized tests are effective measures of achievement to all students.
• Also since a word processor can be successfully installed with or without a spreadsheet program, we tend to believe that composition can be successfully bracketed off from the other disciplines
• Thirdly, since identical copies of a CD-ROM can load the same data on any type of PC, we believe that a single educational strategy can reach students of all cultural background.

The Human brain is made up of millions and millions of neurons. Neurons are cells which process and transmit information. A machine is made out of unconscious materials. Artificial neurons can be designed from these materials to function in the same way like an ordinary neuron would and woven together just like a human brain to create an artificial brain. Thinking is believed to be the collective effect of the presence or absence of connections between different neurons. The numerous neurons and their interconnections results in the ability to think. However, human beings have also created computers which can process information faster than the human brain. The human brain is slower than the computer in every level though computers cannot reach the same performance the brain can.

In conclusion, thinking is defined as an exclusive function limited to human beings and animals. A machine can only do what is referred to as thinking like behavior but it cannot understand. The ability to think and understand involves more than the brain and it is a mysterious behavior which cannot be implemented into a machine.

References

Baranauskas, C. IFIP Committee (2007). Human Computer Interaction. Springer Press

Kurzweil, R (2005). When Humans Transcend Biology. Viking Publishers

Sears, A. Jacko, J. (2008). The Human-Computer Interaction Handbook. CRS Publishers.

Hartson, R. Hix, D. (1992). Advances in Human-Computer Interaction. Intellect Books.