I watch the ripples change their size
But never leave the stream
Of warm impermanence
And so the days float through my eyes
But still the days seem the same
And these children that you spit on
As they try to change their worlds
Are immune to your consultations
They're quite aware of what they're goin' through

Sunday, October 10, 2010

Sunday in what seems to be a routine

First, what wasn't routine. Spent way too many hours looking for 100% cotton scrubs. I can find some, like Comfort Scrubs (but for the 3x/4x/5x sizes I need, they require an extra 2-3 weeks to make them), or at All Heart (but those are only denim, and they don't have the pant sizes in stock), or if I just want tops and can find a pattern we like (this is for me and Bette), Scrubs Gallery or Lydias Uniforms (but they don't have all cotton pants). Also, as a part of these sites, their shipping can be difficult (although Scrub Gallery has the best options offering free shipping for just $29 in orders).

But then I spent most of the day studying. Tomorrow's test is the first one on the neural system (CNS and PNS gross anatomy and function). I've rewritten the notes, and done a few other things. Tonight will be another review, after dinner.

And the more I read and learn about the brain, the more I realize that a true AI/Singularity (in SF) is a pipe dream (at least with our current technology). Why is the brain compared to a computer? Because the computer is the most complicated thing we have at the moment, not because of any real functional similarity. I can make analogies between them, but it isn't the same. Understand, the brain was once called a switchboard, steam engine, etc, because they were the most complex thing we had at the time. It's also my belief that any AI will really be an emergent/accidental property of some system (akin to Skynet) than an intentional construct of humans. To give an analogy, if you want to think of the brain as a computer and the neural pathways as the transistors in the CPU of a computer, well there are some comparisons. However, a better analogy would be to compare the neurons (of which there are billions) to registers in the CPU, or actually little coprocessors of their own. To say the brain is a massively paralleled system is to only scratch the surface. The level of the brain puts even our largest constructed parallel system (including the distributed networks) to shame.

Also, as a side note, you may have heard that we only use 10% of our brain. Seems kind of miniscule, right? Except that we can only use 10% of our brains because that is the amount of neurons compared to neuroglia (cells that do other things than process or transfer information). You can only use 10%. That's the whole processing power you have available.

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