Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!samsung!rex!wuarchive!udel!princeton!phoenix!eliot From: eliot@phoenix.Princeton.EDU (Eliot Handelman) Newsgroups: comp.ai Subject: Re: How much info can the brain hold? Message-ID: <4393@idunno.Princeton.EDU> Date: 30 Nov 90 02:10:20 GMT References: <11941@hubcap.clemson.edu> Sender: news@idunno.Princeton.EDU Organization: P. University, New J. Lines: 18 In article <11941@hubcap.clemson.edu> svissag@hubcap.clemson.edu (Steve L Vissage II) writes: ;I've heard estimates of how many neurons the human brain contains, somewhere ;in the trillions, I believe. Has there ever been a reliable estimate of ;how much information, in bits or other computer-relevant units, can be ;contained in that structure? ; ;I ask because, if we don't know exactly HOW we store information (we still ;don't know, do we?) can we estimate how much? Yes. You can store some trillion things but no more. If you exceed the number of neurons, then things will start "falling out." This causes first baldness, then senility. This is why very intelligent men are usually bald. They have replaced their hair with weightier bits of information. Well, gotta go -- my UFO's waiting. --beep beep