Safe optimization

[Eric S. Raymond]

In article <745 at vsi.uucp>, friedl at vsi.UUCP (Stephen J. Friedl) writes:
>In article <408 at proxftl.UUCP> bill at proxftl.UUCP (T. William Wells) writes:
>> ... computers are discrete devices, the brain is (or at least might
>> be) a continuous device.
>
>In article <5368 at sdcrdcf.UUCP>, markb at sdcrdcf.UUCP (Mark Biggar) writes:
>> I think that it is easy to demonstrate that the brain IS a discrete
>> device.  Nerve impulses are transmitted across the synaptic gaps
>> using certain neuro-transmitter molecules.  Since a fraction of a molecule
>> is nonsence, the brain is a discrete device.  Given that electric changes
>> and even energy are quantized, I am willing to take the position that
>> all realizable material devices are discrete.  There are no such things
>> as continuous devices (at least in this universe).
>
>            My friend, who is an EE and uses analog a lot, says "If
>you're good, everything is analog, but if you're *real* good,
>everything is digital".

I'd like to agree with you (markb at sdcrdcf), but your argument isn't anywhere
near sharp enough. There are huge numbers of continuous quantities that may be
involved in the microlevel of informatoin representation in the brain.
Consider all the parameters involved in protein shape. And the brain's 
magnetic flux is known to carry high-level information about its state
(experiments using SQUID magnetography had demonstrated crude but dramatic
thought-reading by nachine as far back as 1984; the stuff's probably all
classified by now). Can you show that these things are also quantized?

I have redirected followups to sci.philosophy.tech.
-- 
      Eric S. Raymond                     (the mad mastermind of TMN-Netnews)
      UUCP: ..!{uunet,att,rutgers!vu-vlsi}!snark!eric   Smail: eric at snark.UUCP
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