Does the brain run algorithms?
OA Version
Citation
Abstract
Computation, or information processing, can be defined as that which describes the changes which occur in the natural world. Typically an algorithm or equation, such as the ones used in neural modeling, are employed for such processing due to their ability to describe the behavior of a system according to certain dependent and independent conditions. Due to the recent increase in processing capacity of modern computers, neuroscientists and computer scientists have attempted to model large scale brain architectures that include entire populations of neurons, or in the case of a team of Swiss researchers, the entire human brain, in hopes of simulating the processes in the brain to a point that higher cognitive functions would arise from the models. While this is an exciting prospect, it is unclear whether running the “Brain Program”, would actually yield genuine cognitive processes, simply because the brain is not necessarily a digital computer, and its functions not necessarily computational. In this paper, I pose the question: Does the brain run algorithms? I will argue that this question stems from a deeper uncertainty of whether cognitive processes are computational, and explore the implications that this may have on our ability to model the mind with computers.