Throughout history, humans have attempted to create tools to improve their lives. They use the materials and knowledge available to them to fashion these tools. Like any organism, humans face challenges when living within an ecosystem. One of the earliest challenges was obtaining food. Humans used hunting to satisfy their need for sustenance. They hunted animals using projectiles to subdue them. Initially, they would pick up stones and throw them at animals in order to injure or immobilize them. They used muscle to achieve this feat. To make this process easier, they invented slingshots, leveraging the elasticity of leather and plant material to throw stones faster and more accurately. They were able to solve the same problem with a different type of solution. We used animals as a means to transport things, but it was a cumbersome and often slow process. When we wanted to go faster, we didn't create faster animals by synthesizing muscle. We used materials that we could control like steel to build structures with wheels. We utilized energy from steam or combustion engines to turn these wheels. These tools were not plagued by fatigue or disease. Similar to when we wanted to fly like birds, we didn't make machines that flapped their wings. Instead, we used Bernoulli's principle to generate lift in airplanes. We solved the problem of movement and flight but we did it differently than nature.
In a parallel universe, you may not be able to hear it, but he could be listening to Kitty Perry's "Roar.”
Solving a problem in a different way implies a solution with different constraints. Planes are able to travel faster than birds; some supersonic planes, like the Concorde, were able to travel as fast as Mach 2.02 (2,179 kilometers per hour). The fastest bird, the Peregrine Falcon, can fly at 386 kilometers per hour. The steel in an airplane can better withstand air resistance than bird skin, allowing them to go faster. Cars can travel longer distances at faster speeds than products of nature, such as the cheetah, the fastest land animal, which can only sustain a top speed of 113 kilometers per hour for only a few hundred meters. These products of nature solve problems in their environment in vastly different ways from how machines created by humans solve them. It is logical for a computer to solve a given problem in a different manner than a human being would.
How can a circuit board compare to a network of neurons developed over millions of years of evolution, and vice versa.
Computers were invented to solve complex math problems and automate tasks that were previously done by hand. They achieve this by using principles of thinking that are different from those used by humans. If I ask you to read these numbers: 9 81 29 98 73 53 15 88 54 71 18 77 39 2 43 47 30 72 98 56, and then look away and repeat them back in reverse order, would you be able to do it? Maybe you are a memory champ maybe you are not, but its extremely difficult for most people. This is more of the case with larger numbers like 50,000. However, a computer has no problem with this task. Previously, humans would perform similar tasks, such as adding 1000 numbers, by hand. This process took a lot of time and was prone to errors. In contrast, computers can solve the same problem in a matter of milliseconds and never make mistakes (this can be done in Python; imagine doing it in C++).
Evolution has made us adept at pattern recognition, which was necessary for our survival. I can't imagine that storing 30,000 numbers or making 1,000 operations per second-ranked high on that list. The human brain thinks and operates differently than a computer, with limitations in certain areas and strengths in others. Similarly, a computer has its own limitations and strengths. In the next module, we will see how computers represent information, like numbers and characters, differently than human beings.
The main points from the first paragraph.
- Initial problems
- Since the "dawn of mankind," humans have faced countless challenges. One of our earliest challenges was obtaining food. Initially, humans relied on muscle power as they used stones to injure or immobilize animals. With the confidence bestowed by our frontal lobes, we sought to create tools to improve our lives. To improve food procurement, we invented slingshots, utilizing the elasticity of leather to throw stones more effectively. We did this by using available materials and our understanding of them.
- Same problem, different solution.
- The slingshots solved the problem but they did so in a different way. These tools only had one role and were specifically designed for hunting.
- Our ambitions didn’t stop there. We continued to improve our lives. We started using animals like horses as a means to transport things. We saw other animals go faster we called them cheetahs (cheat codes of nature). We didn't like that, so we wanted to go faster. However, we didn't understand muscle power as well as we understood steam and steel.
- So we built trains of steel which ran on wheel instead of running on limbs, and later cars that used combustion. These machines were not versatile enough feed them selves but they could easily surpass a cheetah in a drag race.
- When wanted to fly like birds, we didn't make machines that flapped their wings. Instead, we used Bernoulli's principle to generate lift in airplanes. We solved the problems of survival way differently than the solutions that were bestowed to us by nature.
Second paragraph
- Solving the same problem with different methods and materials means different limitations.
- Planes are able to travel way faster than birds; some supersonic planes, are able to travel as fast as Mach 3.2 (2,455 mph or 3,950 km/h). The fastest bird, the Peregrine Falcon, can fly at 386 kilometers per hour. The steel in an airplane can better withstand air resistance than bird’s skin, allowing them to go faster.
- Cars can travel longer distances at faster speeds than products of nature, such as the cheetah, which can only sustain a top speed of 113 km/h (70 mph ) for only a few hundred meters. A car doesn’t have the muscles that get tired.
- Natural products solve problems in a way that's very different from human-made machines.
- So, it makes sense that a computer which is a machine made to solve logical problems would solve a problem differently than a person would. We made a computer to solve logical problems, they surpass humans in that with out a doubt and they do it really well a cheetah or a human might getting tired and fatigued. Computers don’t get tired solving problems, and can go way faster than humans for basic calculation.
- Computers use Electricity to store memory and do logical operations, you can increase the memory and the CPU to store large amounts of data and do large operations.
How computer solve problems differently
- If I ask you to read these numbers: 9 81 29 98 73 53 15 88 54 71 18 77 39 2 43 47 30 72 98 56, and then look away and repeat them back in reverse order, would you be able to do it? Maybe you are a memory champ maybe you are not, but it’s extremely difficult for anyone with out training. This is impossible with larger numbers like 50,000.
- However, a computer does that with out a sweat, literally.
- Previously, humans would perform similar tasks by hand, such as adding 1000 numbers in a financial report or managing store inventory. This process took a lot of time and was prone to errors. In contrast, computers can solve the same problem in a matter of milliseconds and never make mistakes.
So that comes back to my title are we smarter than a computer. Depends on the problems space.
- Evolution has made us adept at pattern recognition, which was necessary for our survival. We do that way well than computers. We take in multiple inputs from our senses to build intuitions, estimations and creativity. We can look in the distance and recognize our friend with his distinct walk or shrikish sound and we immediately know it is Frankie Jr. Or when we see through our friend face that she is sad because they have been doing too much leetcode.
- Computers follow logic and precision in their execution. This makes them very one dimensional and bad at estimation.
- When I talk about computers here, I am referring to traditional computers that process instructions sequentially, not artificial neural networks that attempt to replicate human brain functions with statistical estimations.
But what artificial neural networks like chat GPT and Dalle. In the next section we will talk about the difference between traditional computers and artificial neuronal nets and what the limits of these neural nets might be.
Depends on the problems space.
- Computers are not well for
- Ethical and Moral Decision-Making.
- decides to kill all humans to save resources
- Creating original pieces of art. Some questions
- Can a computer start an art movement?
But what about chat GPT and Dalle. They are artificial neural networks. That work similarly to human brains. In the next article we will talk about the difference between traditional computers and artificial neuronal nets and what the limits of these neural nets might be.
How can a circuit board in a computer compare to a network of neurons developed over millions of years of evolution, and vice versa.
To do