Machines Versus Human Brains – Who Wins?
Suzana Herculano-Houzel is a Brazilian neuroscientist who spends her time making “brain soup”, dissolving the brains of different animals so she can work out how many cells they contain in total.
In her new book, The Human Advantage, Herculano-Houzel (pictured) explains how human brains have far more neurons than other species, outstripping even elephants and blue whales, whose grey matter weigh much more than ours.
Groundbreaking Research
This groundbreaking research reveals that the human brain has 86 billion neurons, an astonishing number, comparable to the number of stars in our galaxy. Even more incredibly, the human brain has more processing power than any supercomputer but uses less energy than a 30W light bulb.
It’s easy to lose sight of the brain’s astounding capabilities at a time when computers are getting ever more advanced, and breakthroughs in artificial intelligence are happening all the time.
Recently, Uber announced a new AI division to develop cutting-edge technologies such as self-driving cars. Given there are 1.5 million Uber drivers, autonomous vehicles could have a big impact on jobs.
And Amazon unveiled a futuristic physical store with no checkouts or cashiers. Inside, customers are tracked by sensors and automatically billed for whatever they pick up. Technology like this may lead to fewer people being employed in shops, and the British Retail Consortium estimates that a third of retail jobs could disappear by 2025.
This may sound depressing, but although there will be tough days ahead, it’s not all doom and gloom. Technology will undoubtedly affect the work we do, but I’m convinced that humanity has a bright future, on account of the miraculous lump of grey matter inside our heads.
You see, our brains aren’t just powerful, they’re prodigiously malleable too. Unlike computers, human brains can rewire themselves in response to the world around us, enabling us to learn and develop valuable new skills and abilities.
We see a wonderful demonstration of this plasticity whenever we’re in a London cab. As you know, cabbies spend years memorising the capital’s 25,000 streets, an amazing feat that actually leads to physical changes in the posterior hippocampus, the part of the brain associated with navigation.
This is a sign of our brain’s staggering adaptability, and explains why London cabbies are so good at getting us from A to B.
According to Professor Eleanor Maguire, who has studied the brains of black-cab drivers: “The human brain remains ‘plastic’ even in adult life, allowing it to adapt when we learn new tasks.”
Chess grandmaster Garry Kasparov would no doubt agree. Back in 1997, when he was famously beaten by a computer, he wasn’t downcast. Instead he saw a positive way forward, provided people are given the opportunity to learn new skills. As he memorably put it: “We humans might not be able to change our hardware but we can definitely upgrade our software.”
In other words, we have the potential to re-skill for the jobs of the future, as long as the Government invests heavily in education and training, and ensures that no one is left behind.
Thanks to the 86 billion neurons inside our skulls, all of us have what it takes to win the race against the machine.
