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02/23/2004:
Supercomputers and the human brain...


Every time a blackout occurs, I always realize how weak computers are.

Back when I was still working for my old employer, whenever one occurs we would do something 'progressive-for-the-company'... something like playing basketball or table tennis perhaps.

The rest of the other offices prefer to nap.

Of course we could choose the nap way of doing progressive things, but since one of our senior database programmers snores like a wild boar who hasn't slept for two decades after chasing Alicia-looking deers and such, our choices are limited.

But returning to the topic of supercomputers... even if we have seen much of these for the past few months, like the one NASA has, or the one IBM is going to build for the military, or the Earth Simulator Center supercomputer in Japan, and there's this Open Supercomputer codenamed Beowulf... these are still far from my envisioned 'supercomputer'.

For one, I think a supercomputer should not be dependent on electricity... or batteries.

A supercomputer should be able to sustain itself.

Which makes the brain a better supercomputer than those other so-called supercomputers. It is unplugged and it needs no batteries to function. We even lug it around everywhere we go without a thought, imagine attempting to carry those supercomputers around with us.

Of course it needs food, protein, porn and whatever but still... it works.

Humans really have to work on powering it up instead of being dependent on calculators, computers and phones. I'd still believe that if man hasn't discovered the cellphone or even phones in general, we could have furthered our mental telephatic powers by now.

Having said that, I am looking forward for this book. As Boingboing.net calls it... 'Brain Hack: Overclock your Amygdala'.

Mine needs a hibernation period for now.