Written by Hou Anshan (Department of Science Popularization, Chinese Association of Forensic Medicine) illustrated by Luo Mei.
The brain is like a key to understanding human behavior. From early phrenological studies to today's brain imaging techniques;From being small as an embryo to developing a complex brain world, brain science can be described as all-encompassing. After thousands of years of observation and practice, scientists have discovered that this organ composed of fat and protein is one of the most complex and delicate systems in the universe. Medical scientists and biologists are fascinated by the complex structure of the brain and the amazing functions of the brain, and the exploration of brain science has always been intrigued, although extremely difficult.
How is Einstein's brain different from that of a normal human?
Compared with other tissues and organs of the human body, the biggest difficulty in the study of brain morphological structure is that the various functional regions (nerve centers) of the brain are integrated and connected to each other, and there is no clear and recognizable anatomical boundary between them. So far, people can only roughly locate the corresponding centers of several functional areas of the brain, such as motor (limb movement) and sensation (sight, hearing, taste, smell, touch, heat, cold, pain, itching). As for the study of the relationship between the structure and function of the brain, it is still in a blank state.
Nowadays, when people describe a genius, they inevitably resort to "IQ". IQ measurement has also become a common indicator for evaluating human brain function. When pathologists were looking at Einstein's brain, at the cellular level, they didn't find any morphological differences between Einstein's brain tissue and the brain tissue of ordinary people. Similarly, in the histological and biochemical analysis of the brains of patients with mental illness, people have not been able to find out the differences from normal people. Scientists agree that there must be some form of difference, but it has not yet been found.
When the human brain empowers the computer.
Over the past century or so, a major advance in brain science research has been to understand the fundamentals of the transmission and processing of neural information in neural networks. In recent years, with the addition of new technologies in molecular biology and physiology, people's research methods for the human brain in the fields of anthropology, biology, medicine, biomimicry, artificial intelligence and other fields have been greatly improved, and the human brain and computers have entered a new stage of interconnection between the human brain and computers, mutual research and exploration, imitation and reference.
Computers are developed by the human brain, so there are many similarities between computers and the human brain. 60% of the formed components of the human brain are fat, which provides support and protection for brain cells. The basic units of consciousness and thinking function are the tens of billions of nerve cells in brain tissue. The basic unit of computer computing function is the billions of transistors on integrated circuits (on chips).
The significant difference between the performance of the human brain and a computer is that people can assemble an unlimited number of chips into a supercomputer, but they cannot implant more nerve cells into the human brain tissue. But one can give a task to thousands of people, and that's what makes up a supercomputer.
The connection between human brain cells is nerve fibers, and the connection between computer transistors is conductive wires.
But the human brain and the computer have one thing in common, that is, the medium of signal transmission in nerve fibers and conductive circuits is electrons. Therefore, people can use potential sensors to depict the physiological potential changes of multiple organs in the human body with an oscilloscope, and then carry out diagnostic analysis according to the physiological and pathological characteristics of related organs. People can also emit X-rays, magnetic field lines, ultrasound, infrared, etc., which have the ability to penetrate, and extract the subtle change signals that pass through the different density tissues of the human body. Then use the powerful logic operation power of the computer to synthesize two-dimensional images. Such as cranial X-ray digital imaging (DR), computed tomography angiography (CT CTA), magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and other examination images. Its clarity is close to or even exceeds the level of direct observation by the naked eye, which solves the problem that non-invasive observation of living samples cannot be carried out. As a tool for human mental work, the computer has greatly extended and expanded the scope of human intellectual activities, and the computer has penetrated into all aspects of human social life, playing a huge role in promoting social production and progress.
The human brain is only 10% developed
The scientific research results of the human brain on computers have also accelerated the research of artificial intelligence with computers as the carrier. People use algorithmic Xi, supervision Xi and other training methods to make computers initially have the ability to perceive, analyze and judge the external environment such as shape, sound, temperature, position, and movement, as well as the ability to respond to human language, movements, and text commands.
If you compare the human brain to modern computers, both are endowed with great reserve capacity as soon as they are born. The average person's brain uses about 10%, and a high-end mobile phone, most people can develop and use only 20% of the functions. In other words, both the computer and the human brain still retain many functions as a backup or compensatory ability, which needs to be developed and utilized.
From a genetic point of view, IQ is indeed directly related to genetic inheritance. It is equivalent to the mobile phone given to the child by parents, some are 128g, some are 256g, and the latter is twice as large as the former on the surface. However, the function needs to be supported by software (equivalent to the learning Xi and training of the human brain), and without enough software and data import with excellent performance, the computer with a large storage capacity is just an accumulation of metal, silicon wafers and plastics. In the same way, without hard Xi learning and training, no matter how smart a person is, he is just a pile of bones and flesh.
The complexity of the brain has given humans intelligence, and the brain has become the "ultimate frontier" that scientists around the world strive to reach.
Written by: Hou Anshan.
Illustration: Luo Mei.
*The content represents the author's views only.
It does not represent the position of the Institute of Physics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
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*:Knowledge is power.
Edit: serendipity