The difference between a brain and a computer can be expressed in a single word, that is, complexity. The large mammalian
brain is the most complicated thing, for its size, known to us. The human brain weights 3 ponds, but in that 3 ponds are 10 billion neurons and a hundred billion smaller cells.// Even the most complicated computer man has yet built can't compare in intricacy
with the brain. Computer switches and components number in the thousands rather than in the billions. What's more, the computer switch is just an on-off device, whereas the brain cell is itself possessed of a tremendously complex inner structure.// It is frequently said that computers solve problems only because they are “programmed” to do so. They can only do what men have them do. One must remember that human beings also can only do what they are “programmed” to do. Our genes “program” us and our potentialities are limited by that “program”.// Our “program” is so much more enormously complex, though, that we might like to define “thinking” in terms of our creativity in literature, art, science and technology. In that sense, computers certainly can't think.//
大脑与电脑的差别可以用“复杂性”这三个字来表明。哺乳动物硕大的脑子就其体积而言是我们所知道的最为复杂的东西。人脑的重量为3磅，而这3磅却包含着100亿个神经元和1000亿个更小的细胞。//就复杂性而言，世界上已生产出的最为复杂的电脑也无法与大脑的复杂性相提并论。电脑的开关和元件充其量只要数千个，而不是数千亿个。此外，电脑开关只是亿个离合装置，而大脑细胞却有着极其复杂的内部结构。//我们经常听到人们说，电脑处理问题是因为电脑设有能让其处理问题的程序，它们只能按人的指令行事。我们应该知道，人类也设有程序。我们的基因给我们编写了程序，我们的所作所为无不受制于这个“程序”。//我们大脑的程序极其复杂，我们或许可以从人类的文学、艺术、科学和技术上的创造力这些角度给“思考”下定义。从这个意义上说，电脑肯定无法思考。//
