jdah4

Some others on thread have suggested the number of brain connections is being confused with the of potential brain states. I agree. I think those who say number of potential connections in brain is greater than number of atoms in universe are correct. Asumming any neuron can connect with any other in the brain (even though we know they probably cannot)) produces one grandaddy of a whopping huge number. A giant factorial or combinatorial product that does make the numbers of atoms in universe look puny. The point I want to open for discussion/expansion is that the comparison of the number of potential brain states to number of atoms is kind of like comparing apples to oranges. It uses potential combinations versus actual number of atoms that exist. To make comparisons apples to apples I think we should be comparing potential atomic states to potential brain states. So if we assume any unit (atom or neuron as case may be) can connect to any other then the numbers and conclusions seemed to get turned on their heads. The number or potential states in the universe dwarfs the number of potential connections in the brain. Potential brain connections is dwarfed by a factor X which at minimum is (atoms in universe) ---------------- = X (neurons in brain) But X is way way too small because the number of combinations increases geometrically (I think?) as number of units (atoms or neurons) increases. I am gonna guess that the estimated number of potential atom states in universe is greater than the number of estimated brain states (even assuming every neuron can connect with every other which we do not believe to be the case) by a factor bigger than (1 Quadrillion times the number of atoms in the universe). I think this approach, comparing brain states to atom states is a fair one. Astrophysics talks about the possibilities for harnessing energy using exotic structures like worm holes and drives to transport material in space (and time?) across huge astronomical distances. So in theory any atom can be 'connected' with any other in the universe, just like any neuron in the brain can be connected with any other.

I think they are referring to potential number of connections in the brain. If so, then the potential number of connections would dwarf the number of atoms in the universe. The idea is that each neuron can send a message to every other one in the brain. Whether this is true or not, who knows. I guess in principle it is. It is an nearly impossibly huge factorial, maybe 10 to the 30th, factorial. That makes the number of atoms in the universe (maybe 10 to the 80) very small in comparison. It is not that the neurons are connected rather they have the potential to be. I think that is what they mean. Might help if someone could post on possibility that each can talk to every other. If they can, then the human brain would be the most complicated thing we can come up with. Sure we can think of things larger than the brain but the brain is most complicated in sense of a thing that has reason to be thought of as together.