The Difference Between a Brain and a Computer

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The Difference Between a Brain and a Computer


人脑与电脑的区别


The difference between a brain and a computer can be expressed in a single word: complexity.
人脑与电脑的区别可以用一个词来形容，那就是：复杂。

The large mammalian brain is the most complicated thing, for its size, known to us. The human brain weights three pounds, but in that three pounds are ten billion neurons and a hundred billion smaller cells. These many billions of cells are interconnected in a vastly complicated network that we can’t begin to unravel as yet.
如我们所知，大型哺乳动物的脑组织，从体积上来说，是最为复杂的器官。人脑的重量是三英镑，然而，正是如此区区的三英镑，却有着一百亿个神经细胞以及一千亿个更微小的细胞。如此成百成千亿的细胞在一个复杂无比的系统内牵连着，迄今，我们都还无法解开其中的奥秘。

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 structure.
即便人类所发明的迄今最为复杂的电脑都无法与人脑的复杂性相比。电脑的转换器和原件只是数以千计，而非数以亿计。更有甚者，电脑的转换器只是一个开关装置，但是，对照来说，人脑细胞其自身就拥有着一个复杂无比的组织结构。

Can a computer think? That depends on what you mean by “think”. If solving a mathematical problem is “thinking”, then a computer can “think” and do so much faster than a man. Of course, most mathematical problems can be solved quite mechanically by repeating certain straight forward processes over and over again. Even the simple computers of today can be geared for that.
电脑能够思考吗？这得要看你所说的“思考”是指什么。如果解答一道数学难题就是“思考”，那么一台电脑是能够“思考”的，并且还能够比人类更快。当然，大多数的数学问题可以十分机械地通过一遍又一遍地重复一定的直线性流程来完成，这一点，连今天那些普通电脑也可以做到。

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 the instant the fertilized ovum is formed, and our potentialities are limited by that “program”.
人们常常认为电脑之所以能够解决问题是因为他们被“程序化”了，他们只能听从人命。但是，我们最好记住，人类本身也只能按照“程序化”来行事。在受精卵形成的刹那，基因就已经给我们设定了“程序”，我们的潜能从此就受控于这个“程序”。

Our “program” is so much more enormously complex, though, that we might like to define “thinking” in terms of the creativity that goes into writing a great play or composing a great symphony, in conceiving a brilliant scientific theory or a profound ethical judgment. In that sense, computers certainly can’t think and neither can most humans.
尽管我们的“程序”拥有更为巨大的复杂性，我们也许仍然喜欢用创造力来界定“思考”的含义 ，这里提及的创造力，是指用于创作一部伟大的戏剧或谱写一部伟大的交响乐，以及构思一个天才的科学理论或一个影响深远的伦理观念的创造力。从这个意义上来说，电脑当然不能够思考，人类中的大多数也同样不能。

Surely, though, if a computer can be made complex enough, it can be as creative as we. If it could be made as complex as a human brain, it could be the equivalent of a human brain and do whatever a human brain can do.
尽管这样，可以确切地说，如果一台电脑制作得足够复杂，它的创造性就可以与人类相匹配；如果它可以制作得同人脑一般复杂，那么它就可能等同于人脑，并且能够完成人脑所能够完成的一切。

To suppose anything else is to suppose that there is more to the human brain than the matter that composes it. The brain is made up of cells in a certain arrangement and the cells are made up of atoms and molecules in certain arrangements. If anything else is there, no signs of it have ever been detected. To duplicate the material complexity of the brain is therefore to duplicate everything about it.
假设电脑还有什么高超的本领的话，就相当于假设人脑除了构成它的物质之外还有什么别的东西。人脑是由细胞按照一定的组合而成，而细胞又是由原子和分子按照一定的组合而成，如果还有什么的话，那么迄今还没有发现蛛丝马迹。要复制人脑在物质上的复杂性就等同于复制人脑中的每一件构成。

But how long will it take to build a computer complex enough to duplicate the human brain? Perhaps not as long as some think. Long before we approach a computer as complex as our brain, we will perhaps build a computer that is at least complex enough to design another computer more complex than itself. This more complex computer could design one still more complex and so on and so on and so on.
但是，仿制人脑构造出具有同等复杂性的电脑还要花费多久呢？也许这并非象有些人想像的那么快。在我们达到电脑与人脑同样复杂之前的相当长时间内，我们也许将要造出那么一台电脑，这样的一台电脑必须足以复杂到能够设计出另一台比它更为复杂的电脑，而这台更为复杂的电脑又能够设计出另一台更为复杂的电脑，如此层层推进，不一而足。

In other words, once we pass a certain critical point, the computers take over and there is “complexity explosion”. In a very short time thereafter, computers may exist that not only duplicate the human brain, but surpass it.
换句话说，一旦我们超越了某个临界点，电脑就会取代我们，并且就会有一个“复杂性的爆炸”。自此，在一个很短的时间内，电脑的存在也许不仅仅是能够复制人脑，并且还会超越人脑。

Then what? Well, mankind is not doing a very good job of running the earth right now. Maybe, when the time comes, we ought to step gracefully aside and hand over the job to someone who can do it better. And if we don’t step aside, perhaps Supercomputer will simply move in and push us aside.
那么，即将会发生什么呢？是的，人类在当下并没有珍惜在地球上的生存。也许，当那一天到来，我们就得要体面的让贤。如果我们不让位，也许超级电脑就会向我们走来，将我们拽开。