system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
If it takes so many processors to simulate one second of human neural activity, why are processors so much more accurate and faster than brains?

I read an article recently (if anyone could provide a link, that would be appreciated) that said that it took lots of processors (I forget the number, but it was a lot) and about 40 minutes to recreate one second of the brain working. What I don't understand is how I can perform long calculations, perform thousands of instructions to keep a game running, and run an entire operating system on my computer, when it takes me seconds to do two digit addition or memorize a phone number. Processors seem so fast and accurate, so why does it take so many to simulate the much slower and sloppier human thought?
gpt
Processors are very good, extremely accurate and very fast - but only at certain types of problem.

A processor can very easily solve any problem that can be expressed using an algorithm - a series of steps that can be followed, one at a time, to tell it how to solve the problem.

The difficulty is that our brains don't work this way. There is no algorithm that we know of which can accurately simulate what the brain does or how it does it. Our brains, although nowhere near as good as computer processors at solving logical or mathematical problems that can be written as an algorithm, have very complex internal workings that are very good at solving problems that *can't* be written as algorithms.

**ELI5 analogy:** think of brains and processors as types of car. They look very different, but appear - at first glance - to do similar jobs.

Think of the brain as an off-roader. And the computer processor as a racing car.

The racing car (processor) can get around a race track (solve mathematical problems) extremely quickly. The off-roader (brain) can get around the race track (solve the same problems) too - but it will take a bit longer.

Once you're off-road, though (thinking about more complex problems) the off-roader (brain) is king. The racing car (processor) probably can't get around the course (solve the problem) at all - and if it can, it will have to be done very slowly and very carefully.