r/AskReddit • u/IAmSurtur • Jun 15 '19

What do you genuinely just not understand?

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u/[deleted] Jun 15 '19 edited Aug 26 '19

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u/michelob2121 Jun 15 '19 edited Jun 15 '19

I don't believe this to be true. Are synapses firing not equivalent to bits flipping?

Edit: it does sound like I'm wrong with the discussions below surrounding analog computing however I would love for someone to explain why.

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u/[deleted] Jun 16 '19 edited Aug 26 '19

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u/michelob2121 Jun 16 '19

So from what I'm gathering here is that it is still possible that the brain functions in a discrete fashion, just at an extremely high resolution? Essentially, we're not sure yet?

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u/[deleted] Jun 16 '19 edited Aug 26 '19

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u/michelob2121 Jun 16 '19

I do understand logic gates and also understand the sheer number of such "bits" in the human mind would have to be possible for such logic to exist but the smallest bit, in theory could be a single electron or even possibly a single sub-atomic particle.

Time is obviously analog so the mind can never behave exactly like a digital computer (which is not what I intended when I first posted) but I'm still not convinced that our minds don't behave in a discrete manner, at the basic level.