The Empty Brain

I'm relatively unsympathetic to the author.

I'm not a mechanical device, but my arm is a lever. Period.

I'm not a steam engine, but thermodynamics applies. Very much so.

My impressions from reading this last time is that the author misunderstands the kinds of models that physics produces, their power and generality.

So: yes,the brain is not just a computer, but it can be fruitfully modeled as one.

(In the same way it is not an engine, but is can be modelled as one: it consumes fuel, performs work, etc.)

AND THESE MODELS CAN MAKE AUTHORITATIVE STATEMENTS ABOUT THE BRAIN WHEN USED CORRECTLY.

I really enjoyed the writing style of this article. The art of story telling has a huge impact on being able to communicate information.

> 86 billion neurons and their 100 trillion interconnections, not just the varying strengths with which they are connected, and not just the states of more than 1,000 proteins that exist at each connection point

It's quite amazing how much information the brain could seemingly represent, and there is probably some sort of "compression" and reorganization that keeps only important pieces of information and discards the rest, which could explain the memory version of the 1 dollar bill being only what that person's brain found important to remember

2006 Previously on HN: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11729499