There aren’t any obvious analogies between the functioning of quantum computers and the human brain. Some hypothetical models of quantum mind have proposed mechanisms for maintaining quantum coherence in the brain, but they have not been shown to operate.

In computers it’s called “RAM”, but the mechanism is conceptually similar to what scientists call a “working memory” in the brain of humans and primates: when we interact with the environment our senses gather information that a temporary memory system keeps fresh and readily accessible for a few minutes, so that the …

Our miraculous brains operate on the next order higher. Although it is impossible to precisely calculate, it is postulated that the human brain operates at 1 exaFLOP, which is equivalent to a billion billion calculations per second.

1,000 petaflops

That comes out to 1/10th of a floating-point operation per second. And so, whereas modern computers easily do 10^6 or more FLOPS, the human brain does something like 10^(-1) or 10^(-2).

one thousand trillion

Supercomputer

But brains do a lot of things that computers cannot. Our brains feel emotions, worry about the future, enjoy music and a good joke, taste the flavor of an apple, are self-aware, and fall in and out of love.

Neurons and the processes they support – including consciousness – are the same thing. In a computer, software and hardware are separate; however, our brains and our minds consist of what can best be described as wetware, in which what is happening and where it is happening are completely intertwined.

If the computer can fool the interrogator, then it has passed the Turing Test. Humanists cite three reasons for claiming that it will not be possible to develop a computer capable of thinking like a human. The first is the human capacity for intuition.