Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!sun-barr!apple!julius.cs.uiuc.edu!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!swrinde!ucsd!ucbvax!bloom-beacon!mit-eddie!uw-beaver!ubc-cs!fornax!miron From: miron@fornax.UUCP (Miron Cuperman) Newsgroups: comp.ai Subject: Re: simulating brains Message-ID: <1292@fornax.UUCP> Date: 22 Sep 90 23:07:41 GMT References: <1990Sep21.113002.2876@csc.anu.oz.au> Organization: School of Computing Science, SFU, Burnaby, B.C. Canada Lines: 23 What is a sufficient condition for a simulation of a brain to be good enough? The noise induced by the finite precision of the simulation must be on the order of magnitude of normal noise we experience. If that is so, the simulation is adequate. There is no a-priori reason to assume we cannot build a simulation with the same amount of noise as in nature. Chaos does not influence the possibility of simulation in any way. The brain may be sensitive to some perturbances. Since the simulation will posses the same amount of noise, it will cause the same amount of perturbances. Brains MUST be equivalent to finite state machines. Any precision beyond the energy of natural noise has no influence. Conclusion: Brains are finite state machines with noise. Therefore there is no a-priori reason why they cannot be simulated. -- By me: Miron Cuperman "Do not go gentle into that good night, Rage, rage against the dying of the light" - Dylan Thomas, 1933