goble at kigateway.eastend.com.au (David Goble) writes:
>>From: ak057 at chebucto.ns.ca (Shane Markle)
>>Subject: Brain Capacity?
>>Date: 10 Mar 1997 03:08:42 GMT
>>>>>>I recently heard of a calculation of the general amount of information
>>stored in a human brain, represented in bits, and need to know what that
>>capacity is. If anyone has the figures, would they please email them to
>>me at aa642 at torfree.net? It's needed to settle an argument/discussion.
>>Thank you in advance.
>>>Hi Shane;
> Here is a Exerise question and its answer (Structured Computer
>Organization 3rd, Prentice Hall Internation editions, Andrew s.
>Tanenbaum)
>Chapter 2. Exreise 5. page 73
>Q5. Estimate the maxium storage capacity of the human brain using
>the following assumptions. All memory is coded as DNA molecules. A DNA
>molecule is a linear sequence of the four basic nucleotides: A, C, G,
>and T. From the average weight of a nucleotide, roughly 10^-20 grams
>and an average brain weight of 1500 grams, deduce the bit capacity of
>the brain for this encoding form. Note: This calculation is only an
>upper limit, because the brain contains many more cells that perform
>functions other than memory.
>A5. (Total weight of brain / Total weight of nucleotide) * No. of Bits
> 1500 / 10^-20 ) * 4
> 1.5e+023 * 4
> = 6.e+023
Come on, just because somebody wrote this as an exercise for their
textbook doesn't mean that the "theory" on which it's based is true.
I don't know how much evidence there is against memory being coded in
neuron's DNA, but there is a huge amount of evidence that memory is
coded in synaptic strengths. Geez...
Kevin
-----------------------------------------------------------
Kevin Spencer
Cognitive Psychophysiology Laboratory and Beckman Institute
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
kspencer at p300.cpl.uiuc.edu
-----------------------------------------------------------
