Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.1 exptools 1/6/84; site ihopa.UUCP Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!gamma!exodus!mhtsa!mh3bs!eagle!harpo!ihnp4!ihopa!dap From: dap@ihopa.UUCP Newsgroups: net.ai Subject: Re: parallel processing in the brain Message-ID: <153@ihopa.UUCP> Date: Mon, 6-Feb-84 22:58:33 EST Article-I.D.: ihopa.153 Posted: Mon Feb 6 22:58:33 1984 Date-Received: Thu, 9-Feb-84 13:24:08 EST References: <16416@sri-arpa.UUCP> Organization: AT&T Bell Labs, Naperville, IL Lines: 25 If you consider pattern recognition in humans when constrained to strictly sequential processing, I think we are MUCH slower than computers. In other words, how long do you think it would take a person to recognize a letter if he could only inquire as to the grayness levels in different pixels? Of course, he would not be allowed to "fill in" a grid and then recognize the letter on the grid. Only a strictly algorithmic process would be allowed. The difference here, as I see it, is that the human mind DOES work in parallel. If we were forced to think sequentially abour each pixel in out field of vision, we would become hopelessly bogged down. It seems to me that the most likely way to simulate such a process is to have a HUGE number of VERY dumb processors in a heirarchy of "meshes" such that some small number of processors in common localities in a low level mesh would report their findings to a single processor in the next higher level mesh. This processor would do some very quick, very simple calculations and pass its findings on the the next higher level mesh. At the top level, the accumulated information would serve to recognize the pattern. I'm really speaking off the top of my head since I'm no AI expert. Does anybody know if such a thing exists or am I way off? Darrell Plank BTL-IH ihopa!dap