X-Message-Number: 25981 From: "Basie" <> Subject: Each neuron is a computer in its own right Date: Mon, 4 Apr 2005 23:29:36 -0400 Apparently each neuron is not just a chip in a computer but a computer per se. Imagine a billion desktop computers stacked together. Those people that expect to be uploaded will have to remain frozen for a very long time. Basie "The action potential or spike is an analog signal that interacts complexly with other signals arriving at the receiving neuron. Each neuron is a computer in its own right and may have the signal-processing value of hundreds or thousands of transistors in a digital computer. Neuronal computation only makes sense when the neuronal interconnections are revealed by careful microscopic and electrochemical study. Neurons are living cells and unlike transistors, they breathe, eat, excrete, expand and contract, send and receive chemical messages. They get sick and die if conditions are not right. Neurons also pulse - they are spontaneously active; they can send messages whenever they feel like it. Neurons are not send-receive robots; they have their own ideas about what is going on." http://www.nutramed.com/philosophy/analog_computer.htm Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=25981