basicly, we can do things like matrix operations and differntial equations using specialized hardware that performs computation over analog signals rather than buidlign discrete systems. the end result is that we dont' need anywhere near the level of compute to do the job as its done using an analog of the physical process.

here's two youtube videos that explain is much better than I could. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IgF3OX8nT0w&ab_channel=Verit... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GVsUOuSjvcg&ab_channel=Verit...

suffice to say, your average house fly exhibits behavior that absolutely dominates our best drones and with a fraction of the circuitry.