ram, rom, and sleep

[mr d]

hello

 

thinking more and more that the computer is beginning to mimic the structure of the human brain. at first computers used a single processor for handling all processing aspects. now however multi processors are used, with different ones handling sound and video, much as the brain uses diferent areas to handle different functions.

to that end i believe that sleep might serve for humans what a ram sort does for computers. it apears the brain has a limited amount of ram (random acess memory), shuffling information in and out of rom (read only memory) as needed.

however at some point the mind can not hold or process the information shuffling amoungst the forms of memory. and a shutdown is needed to sort out and prioritize what's in the ram portion of memory.

perhaps this is part of the purpose sleep serves. a system shutdown is call, minimizing functions allowing more processing power to be diverted to sorting out and clearing the ram portion of memory.

such a system could help explain some neurologic disorders, as malfuntions of memory routing.

 

strange thoughts

 

mr d

[ecoli]

yeah, that's pretty much true. Check out Ray Kurzweil's theories of singularity (not black hole related) http://www.kurzweilai.net His idea, is that in 20 or so years, computers will work similiar enough to the human brain so that we are able to upload the human conciousness onto a computer. After that, things get pretty crazy.

[bascule]

yeah, that's pretty much true. Check out Ray Kurzweil's theories of singularity (not black hole related) www.kurzweilai.net[/url'] His idea, is that in 20 or so years, computers will work similiar enough to the human brain so that we are able to upload the human conciousness onto a computer. After that, things get pretty crazy.

 

You don't even need that, you just need a direct neural interface; a way to move bits and pieces of phenomenological data in and out of the brain.

 

Re OP, you're describing the function of the hippocampus (short term memory) which does appear to be "cleared" during sleep, however how much this relates to the process of dreaming is still a matter of intense research. This is a common idea that several people have stumbled upon, but like anything with common sense appeal the reality is much more complex.

 

Also, ROM is inherently unwritable (it must be "programmed" after which point it merely stores data permanently)

[sunspot]

Another way to explain sleep is connected to lowering the potential of the brain. During waking hours our consciousness, sensory organs, and body causes neurons to fires. This implies the average membrane potential of the neurons are lowering. During sleep the brain attempts to increase the potential back to steady state. With the days memories stored within branching and synapses, the restoration of potential will require a slight alternation of the wiring into lower potential configurations. The result are dreams and a forward integration of memory. The next day the wiring is better optimized and the brain/neuron potential restored for another cycle of interactive/learning.