Intrinsic Limitations of the Human Mind

Authors and Affiliations

  • Atanu Chatterjee Indian Astrobiology Research Centre

About this article

Download PDF

Abstract

“Can machines think?” this was a question proposed by Alan Turing about half a century ago. The significance of that single question gave birth to the extremely interesting field of Artificial Intelligence. The computational resources have since grown and I believe are growing exponentially. Our understanding of the nature and its mechanisms has increased vastly. All branches of science that were earlier thought to be separate entities and self – contained in their own domains are merging incessantly. However, everything that exists in this universe is constrained to certain inherent limitations. These limitations are based on the fundamental constants which are governing the cosmos. Based on these limitations, Seth Lloyd attempted to formulate the finite limitation of computational processes. The human brain is a complex, adaptive and a self-organizing system. Intelligence is an emergent property of this complex networked structure but, this intelligence comes at cost of gradual dissipation of information (entropy generation). Thus, the human brain is a dissipative system, an entropy producing machine like, a computer that constantly generates entropy through the cognitive processes occurring within its intricately fractalized networked structure. The intrinsic limitation to our thought processes, the computing power of our mind is thus investigated in this paper.

References

[1] Moore, G.E., “Cramming more components onto integrated circuits”, Electronics Magazine, Volume 38 (8), (1965).

[2] Lloyd, Seth, “Ultimate physical limits to computation”, Nature 406, (2000), pp. 1047 - 1054.

[3] Nag, P.K., Engineering Thermodynamics, Tata McGraw Hill Publications, New Delhi (2008).

[4] Vidal Clément, “The Future of Scientific Simulations: from Artificial Life to Artificial Cosmogenesis”, In Death and Anti-death, Thirty Years After Kurt Gödel, Ria University Press (2008).

[5] Anandan, S.S. and Ramalingam V., “Thermal Management of Electronics: a review of literature”, Thermal Science, Volume 12 (2), (2008).

View more references (22)

[6] Hawking, S.W., “Black holes and thermodynamics”, Physical Review D, Volume 13 (2), (1976).

[7] Thomson, W., “On the universal tendency in nature to the dissipation of mechanical energy”, Proceedings of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, Volume 1 (59), (1852).

[8] Shannon, C., “A mathematical theory of communication”, Bell System Technical Journal, Volume 28 (4), (1948).

[9] http://www.2ndlaw.oxy.edu/, retrieved on 23rd June, 2012.

[10] Prigogine, I., Introduction to the Thermodynamics of Irreversible Processes, Wiley, (1961).

[11] Bar-Yam, Y., Dynamics of Complex Systems, Addison Wesley, USA, (1997).

[12] Bejan, A., Advanced Engineering Thermodynamics, John Wiley, USA, (1998).

[13] Bejan, A., Design in Nature, Random House Inc., UK, (2012).

[14] Chatterjee, A. B., “Certain Interesting Properties of Action and its Application Towards Achieving Greater Organization in Complex Systems”, Complexity Digest, Volume 23 (11), (2011).

[15] Chatterjee, A. B., “Principle of Least Action and Theory of Cyclic Evolution”, Complexity Digest, Volume 23 (11), (2011).

[16] Chatterjee, A. B., “Game – theoretic formulation of complex systems”, Sixth International Conference on Game Theory and Management, (2012), (accepted).

[17] Chatterjee, A. B., “Emergence of structures and forms in complex adaptive systems in nature”, Sixth International Conference on Relating Design in Nature with Engineering and Science, (2012), (accepted).

[18] Georgiev, G. and Georgiev, I., “The Least Action and the Metric of an Organized system”, Open Systems and Information Dynamics, Volume 9(4), (2002).

[19] Chow et al, “Nonlinear pedagogy: Learning design for self-organizing neurobiological systems”, New Ideas in Psychology, Volume 29, (2011), pp. 189 – 200.

[20] Chaisson, E. J., Order, Form and Complexity, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, (1998).

[21] Chatterjee, A. B., “Interactions of Self-organizing Systems in Nature”, Cogprints, (2012).

[22] Descartes, R., “Meditations on First Philosophy”, (1641). The Philosophical Writings of René Descartes, Cambridge University Press, (1984).

[23] http://www.plato.stanford.edu/, retrieved on 26th June, (2012).

[24] McCulloch W. and Pitts W., “A Logical Calculus of Ideas Immanent in Nervous Activities”, Bulletin of Mathematical Biophysics, Volume 5 (4), (1943).

[25] Baranger, M., “Chaos, Complexity and Entropy: A physics talk for non-physicist”, New England Complex System Institute (NECSI), Massachusetts, USA, (2001).

[26] Georgiev, G., “A quantitative measure, mechanism and attractor for self- organization in networked complex systems”, Sixth International Workshop on Self-Organizing Systems, (2012), (accepted).

[27] Akkerhuis, op Jagers Gerard, The Operator Hierarchy, Alterra Scientific Publications, The Netherlands, (2010).


How to Cite

Chatterjee, A. (2012). Intrinsic Limitations of the Human Mind. International Journal of Basic and Applied Sciences, 1(4), 578-583. https://doi.org/10.14419/ijbas.v1i4.418