he difference between a brain and a computer can be expressed in a single word, that is, complexity. The large mammalian brain is the most complicated thing, for its size, known to us. The human brain weights 3 ponds, but in that 3 ponds are 10 billion neurons and a hundred billion smaller cells.// Even the most complicated computer man has yet built can't compare in intricacy with the brain. Computer switches and components number in the thousands rather than in the billions. What's more, the computer switch is just an on-off device, whereas the brain cell is itself possessed of a tremendously complex inner structure.// It is frequently said that computers solve problems only because they are “programmed” to do so. They can only do what men have them do. One must remember that human beings also can only do what they are “programmed” to do. Our genes “program” us and our potentialities are limited by that “program”.// Our “program” is so much more enormously complex, though, that we might like to define “thinking” in terms of our creativity in literature, art, science and technology. In that sense, computers certainly can't think.//

　　大腦與電腦的差別可以用“復雜性”這三個字來表明。哺乳動物碩大的腦子就其體積而言是我們所知道的最為復雜的東西。人腦的重量為3磅，而這3磅卻包含著100億個神經元和1000億個更小的細胞。//就復雜性而言，世界上已生產出的最為復雜的電腦也無法與大腦的復雜性相提并論。電腦的開關和元件充其量只要數(shù)千個，而不是數(shù)千億個。此外，電腦開關只是億個離合裝置，而大腦細胞卻有著極其復雜的內部結構。//我們經常聽到人們說，電腦處理問題是因為電腦設有能讓其處理問題的程序，它們只能按人的指令行事。我們應該知道，人類也設有程序。我們的基因給我們編寫了程序，我們的所作所為無不受制于這個“程序”。//我們大腦的程序極其復雜，我們或許可以從人類的文學、藝術、科學和技術上的創(chuàng)造力這些角度給“思考”下定義。從這個意義上說，電腦肯定無法思考。//