LAB Brain - file 01
The Super Processor for Floods of Information
Everyone recognizes our brain as our computer. In the Japanese language, we say “having a good head (頭が良い)” for excellent, intelligent. Our brain controls us as a united organ independent from our surroundings and others. Let's take a look at the specs of the human brain as a processor!
Our brain gathers information through sensory organs, perceiving the environment surrounding us. They pauselessly monitor on high alert for survival 24/7 as radars.
Sensory Information Input – How much data does the human brain receive per second?
First of All, before thinking about this, we have to distinguish between What information our nervous system collects and What information our conscious mind perceives.
Total Information Stream
According to sensory psychology and information theory, our brain receives:
of information in total.
Accordingly, our brain receives:
As you know, the current 4G internet typically delivers download speeds around 30–40 Mbps and upload speeds around 8–12 Mbps. Moreover, the theoretical speeds of 4G LTE-Advanced can reach up to 300 Mbps in optimal conditions.
In addition, the ongoing 5G internet technology boasts peak real-world speeds faster than 1 Gbps (= 1,000 Mbps), and allegedly, the theoretical maximum speeds can reach up to 20 Gbps (= 20,000 Mbps).
If our brain is an internet connection, 11 Mbps is clearly slower than current internet speeds. As a 4K HD (High Definition) photo, uncompressed, is around 10–20 MB, our brain can download as much as such a high-resolution photo every single second.
How much information do the 5 human sensory organs receive per second, respectively?
Our 5 senses are NOT created to sense equally. The vast majority of our sensory bandwidth is dedicated to our eyes. Our sensory organs constantly receive information from outside, respectively:
Sense of sight:
Up to 10,000,000 (10 million) bits per second (bps) = 10 Mbps.Sense of touch:
Up to 1,000,000 (1 million) bits per second (bps) = 1 Mbps.Sense of hearing:
Up to 100,000 bits per second (bps) = 100 kbps.Sense of smell:
Up to 100,000 bits per second (bps) = 100 kbps.
Sense of taste:
Up to 1,000 bits per second (bps) = 1 kbps.The Conscious Bottleneck of Sense
While our sensory organs are flooding our brain with 11,000,000 (11 million) bits per second = 11 Mbps ALL the time, our conscious mind is a very strictly selective gateway. According to studies in cognitive science and information theory, our brain can consciously perceive ONLY about 10–50 bits of sensory information per second (bps). It's actually ONLY less than 0.00045%, roughly less than 1 / 200,000 to 1 / 1,000,000, of the total sensory Information stream!
So our brain carefully selects the sheer strict priority of Which sensory information is important for survival NOW, or of Which is dangerous NOW and highly alert immediately, on conscious focus every second. The rest 199,999 of the 200,000th sensory information is handled by our subconscious.
Moreover, some recent research suggests that for more complex inner-brain tasks, like decision-making or contemplation, the bandwidth of perception can actually be far more infinitesimal, as low as ONLY 10 bits per second (bps).
The estimated conscious bit rates of perception by activity are:
● Reading (Maximum!):
Up to 50 bits per second (bps).● Speaking/Speech:
Up to 40 bits per second (bps).● Solving a Rubik’s Cube:
Up to 12 bits per second (bps).● Directed Thought/Decision-making:
Up to 10 bits per second (bps)!Consequently, we can say the deeper we dive into thought toward the inner brain, the more our perception of sense can be restricted.
Brain scientists call the ratio between sensory input (11 Mbps) and conscious output (10–50 bps) the Sifting Number. So our brain must work hard to sift through roughly every 1,000,000 (1 million) bits of sensory data, that's to say, a Big Data of sense, just to find out a significant, necessary ONLY 1 bit to show us. Imagine that we are finding out ONLY 1 pebble among 1,000,000 pebbles on a riverbank! That’s our sensitivity.
This is why you feel so exhausted under a stressful situation. Just in the middle of the stressful situation, our brain’s sifting mechanism is on high alert. Our brain MUST work incredibly hard to decide “what is safe, wholesome? and what is threatening, dangerous?” among those floods of 11 million bits.
As a result, we have left very little room of precious 50 bit bandwidth to feel happy, fun, pleasure, or enjoy anything you like. And then even if you can fortunately liberate yourself into a relaxed situation, the recovery of your tired brain can take significant time…
The Time Lag – We are living in a reality half a second late
There is a lag time between our sensory organs and the brain to crunch the Big Data. How long in the World does our brain take to compress and process the floods of sensory information (11 Mbps) into a perceivable, sensible size (50 bps)?
Even though you believe you are experiencing the real-time World, you are actually living in the slightly delayed past. Our brain is hardworking 24/7, and needs time to process the 11-Mb Big Data of sense down into ONLY the tiny 50 bits to perceive as a sense.
Brain science says that our brain’s LIVE delay is actually approximately 300–500 milliseconds (0.3–0.5 seconds) to process sensory input into a conscious experience. Accordingly, we are living 0.3–0.5 seconds behind reality!
Light travels faster than sound, so our sense of sight and hearing have a time lag to perceive the same thing around us through our eyes and ears. A touch signal from your toes takes longer to reach the brain than a smell signal from your nose… In such and such ways, our brain waits for ALL the various speed data to arrive finally to sync them up.
Our brain MUST carefully select ONLY 50 bits of necessary and important sensory information out of the 11-Mb Big Data. Conversely speaking, the brain MUST discard the unnecessary rest of 10,999,950 bits. It’s NOT important to our current activities or survival, like the feeling of your socks or the hum of a distant refrigerator, etc.
But in other contexts, such unimportant data that was unnecessary and discarded will be, in turn, necessary depending on our activities or situations. Our brain MUST judge the importance and priority in contexts.
To make up for this 0.5 second lag, our brain MUST guess what will possibly happen to us next 0.5 second lest we bump into a disaster.
In a high-stress situation, our brain's processing time can feel heavier. When the brain is on high alert, it spends more energy on the Subconscious Sifting for the 11-Mb sensory data to look for danger extremely carefully.
This can lead to Cognitive Lag, where our 50-bit conscious mind feels sluggish or dull because the subconscious below the surface needs to hog nearly ALL the power.
In brain science, this time lag is called Neuronal Adequacy for consciousness. It’s natural if under chronic stress, your processing speed for senses feels a bit slower. Our internal power grid needs to recharge for recovery.
Human Brain vs. Machine – A Processing Spec Comparison!
We have already seen above that the human brain’s bandwidth to receive the floods of sensory data stream (11 Mbps) is significantly slower than current internet communications, such as 4G, 4G LTE.
But on the other hand, our brain is also a very hardworking processor to sift the sensory Big Data into our conscious perception. So, if looking at our brain as a sensory processor, how can it stack up against machines of current technology, like your smartphone or supercomputer?
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| Japan’s Supercomputer “Fugaku (富岳)” (RIKEN Center for Computational Science) |
1: Raw Data Throughput
Broadband access speeds of the DSL (Digital Subscriber Line) internet over existing copper telephone lines typically ranged from 384 kbps to over 100 Mbps. (but the actual performances were often decreased further by the provider.)
Standard Definition (SD) video streaming (typically 480p) requires a minimum dedicated bandwidth of 3–4 Mbps for stable, consistent playback.
A smartphone can hear and see raw digital data about 1,000 times faster than our biological senses.
Japan’s National Institute of Information and Communications Technology (NICT) achieved a record-breaking high-capacity optical transmission over 1,800 km in 2025, using a specialized 19-core optical fiber system!
To make sense,...
1 Pbps (Petabits per second)The supercomputer Fugaku boasts a surprisingly massive total memory bandwidth!
Note that this category can NOT simply be comparable to our brain's transmission bandwidth because this measure is about the memory bandwidth, which shows the internal throughput speed at which data moves between CPU (Fujitsu A64FX) and HBM2 (High Bandwidth Memory 2), but NOT about external communication bandwidth…
Nevertheless, let's compare here how big the number is, anyway!
First of ALL, the unit PB (Petabyte) is NOT the same as Pb (Petabit)! Byte and Bit are different units.
While a bit is the smallest unit of digital data, representing a single binary value of 0 or 1, a byte is used for file size or storage capacity, like a 500 GB (Gigabytes) hard drive. To convert bytes into bits, it's simple…
So the supercomputer Fugaku's internal throughput bandwidth is…
2: Operating System
In the 1970s, dial-up modem speeds typically operated at 300 bps (bits per second) (Bell 103A by AT&T), with higher-end, specialized units achieving 1,200 bps (Vadic VA3400, Bell 212A by AT&T) to 2,400 or 4,800 bps by the end of the 1970s.
An average single sentence in text consists of 47–100 characters. As the standard ASCII or UTF-8 encoding counts 1 character = 1 byte (= 8 bits), a single sentence on average takes up around 50–150 bytes (= 400–1,200 bits) in size.
● PC’s Processor (CPU):Common PC’s CPU performance is fundamentally measured by a combination of Hz (Hertz; Clock Speed / Frequency), IPC (Instructions Per Cycle), and other derived metrics like IPS (Instructions Per Second).
The Hz (Hertz/Clock Speed) measures the frequency of oscillations in physics in general. In CPU performance, usually measured in GHz (Gigahertz), it shows How many clock cycles the processor completes in a second. Most common CPUs range between 2.5 GHz and 5 GHz. While 2.5 GHz to 3.5 GHz is fairly suitable for everyday use, a CPU over 4.0 GHz is designed for high-performance professional tasks.
The IPC (Instructions Per Cycle) measures the average number of tasks or instructions a CPU can execute in a single clock cycle.
The simple formula for CPU performance is:
A Core indicates the CPU’s multi-tasking ability, which means How many sets of tasks or instructions can be done at the same time. And as we have seen, Hz (usually, in GHz) shows How fast the CPU works. The IPC (Instructions Per Cycle) shows How much work is done per clock cycle.
And…
IPS(Instructions Per Second) measures the total workload handled in a second.
Here we can see How our brain is unique, although very slow…
Your PC treats ALL bits as equal with the high-speed processor. But our brain is an efficient Information Filter. It ignores 99.9999% of the World so that the rest of 0.0001% (1 millionth), 50 bits, we actually perceive are exactly the essential information that we require to survive!
3: Energy Efficiency
Our brain's power consumption is nearly equal to the power of a single dim LED lightbulb.
On the other hand, the human brain uses approximately 20–25% of our body's total daily energy intake. It's about 400–500 food calories (kcal) per day for an average adult. Most of the energy form is glucose (C6H12O6). Despite our brain making up only about 2% of body weight, it is a highly energy gluttony that eats up 25% of our calories!
Around 75% of our brain's energy consumption is used to power neuronal communication (information processing). And the rest 25% is used for cellular maintenance.
Approximately 30–40 MW (Megawatts)
= 30,000,000–40,000,000 (30–40 million) W (Watts).The supercomputer Fugaku operates with a power consumption of approximately 30–40 MW (Megawatts).
30–40 MW (Megawatts) can supply roughly 12,000 to over 40,000 households. A common rule of thumb assumes 1 MW (Megawatt) = 1,000,000 (1 million) W (Watt) serves roughly around 500–1,000 homes. But the number varies depending on location, season, climate, and especially, time of day, either the peak loads or the steady state.
This matches the power consumption of 100,000 households! It's enough to light up an entire city.
As we have examined, our brain is NOT a supercomputer built for speed. Rather, our brain is an excellent, optimal survival processor built for efficiency. We ONLY have the 50-bit selection of conscious power at any moment, enough to survive.
Comparing our brain's 11 Mbps to a smartphone's Gbps, we can clearly see we are low-bandwidth, but elaborately high-efficiency beings.
So we can efficiently spend the 50 bits directing to the smell of flowers, the taste of juicy fruits, the mellow sound of classical guitar, the fantastic pale glow of the Moon, or the warmth of the Sun and the coldness of water rather than to ultra-high-speed work. It's the pleasure of human Life!
Further reading (sponsored by Amazon):
● Michael S. Gazzaniga (2009). Human: The Science Behind What Makes Your Brain Unique. 466 pages. HarperCollins.
“Human: The Science Behind What Makes Your Brain Unique”
(sponsored by Amazon)
What happened along the evolutionary trail that made humans so unique? In “Human: The Science Behind What Makes Your Brain Unique,” with his accessible style, Michael Gazzaniga pinpoints the change that made us thinking, sentient humans different from our predecessors. In “Human: The Science Behind What Makes Your Brain Unique,” he explores what makes human brains special, the importance of language and art in defining the human condition, the nature of human consciousness, and even artificial intelligence!
Table of Contents
Prologue
Part 1: The Basics of Human Life
1 Are Human Brains Unique?2 Would a Chimp Make a Good Date?
Part 2: Navigating the Social World
3 Big Brains and Expanding Social Relationships4 The Moral Compass Within5 I Feel Your Pain
Part 3: The Glory of Being Human
6 What’s Up with the Arts?7 We All Act like Dualists: The Converter Function8 Is Anybody There?
Part 4: Beyond Current Constraints
9 Who Needs Flesh?
AfterwordNotesSearchable TermsAbout the Author
● Norman Doidge (2007). The Brain That Changes Itself: Stories of Personal Triumph from the Frontiers of Brain Science. 428 pages. Penguin Life.
“The Brain That Changes Itself: Stories of Personal Triumph from the Frontiers of Brain Science”
“The Brain That Changes Itself: Stories of Personal Triumph from the Frontiers of Brain Science” tells about an astonishing new science called neuroplasticity, overthrowing the centuries-old notion that the human brain is immutable, and proving that it is, in fact, possible to change your brain! Using marvelous stories to probe mysteries of the body, emotion, love, sex, culture, and education, Dr. Norman Doidge has written an immensely moving, inspiring book, “The Brain That Changes Itself: Stories of Personal Triumph from the Frontiers of Brain Science,” that will permanently alter the way we look at our brains, human nature, and human potential!
Table of Contents
Note to the ReaderPreface
1 A Woman Perpetually Falling…2 Building Herself a Better Brain3 Redesigning the Brain4 Acquiring Tastes and Loves5 Midnight Resurrections6 Brain Lock Unlocked7 Pain8 Imagination9 Turning Our Ghosts into Ancestors10 Rejuvenation11 More than the Sum of Her Parts
Appendix 1: The Culturally Modified BrainAppendix 2: Plasticity and the Idea of Progress
Notes and ReferencesIndex
● Lisa Feldman Barrett (2017). How Emotions Are Made: The Secret Life of the Brain—How We Create Emotions Through Brain, Body, and Culture. 449 pages. Mariner Books.
“How Emotions Are Made: The Secret Life of the Brain—How We Create Emotions Through Brain, Body, and Culture”
(sponsored by Amazon)
The science of emotion is in the midst of a revolution on par with the discovery of relativity in physics and natural selection in biology. In “How Emotions Are Made: The Secret Life of the Brain—How We Create Emotions Through Brain, Body, and Culture,” Lisa Feldman Barrett shows we construct each instance of emotion through a unique interplay of brain, body, and culture! A lucid report from the cutting edge of emotion science, “How Emotions Are Made: The Secret Life of the Brain—How We Create Emotions Through Brain, Body, and Culture” reveals the profound real-world consequences of this breakthrough for everything from neuroscience and medicine to the legal system and even national security, laying bare the immense implications of our latest and most intimate scientific revolution!
Table of Contents
Introduction: the Two-Thousand-Year-Old AssumptionThe Search for Emotion’s “Fingerprints”Emotions Are ConstructedThe Myth of Universal EmotionsThe Origin of FeelingConcepts, Goals, and WordsHow the Brain Makes EmotionsEmotions as Social RealityA New View of Human NatureMastering Your EmotionsEmotion and IllnessEmotion and the LawIs a Growling Dog Angry?From Brain to Mind: The New Frontier
Appendix AAppendix BAppendix CAppendix DBibliographyNotesIllustration CreditsIndex
Sample Chapter from “Seven and a Half Lessons about the Brain”About the AuthorFootnotes
“Human: The Science Behind What Makes Your Brain Unique”
(sponsored by Amazon)
“The Brain That Changes Itself: Stories of Personal Triumph from the Frontiers of Brain Science”
“The Brain That Changes Itself: Stories of Personal Triumph from the Frontiers of Brain Science” tells about an astonishing new science called neuroplasticity, overthrowing the centuries-old notion that the human brain is immutable, and proving that it is, in fact, possible to change your brain! Using marvelous stories to probe mysteries of the body, emotion, love, sex, culture, and education, Dr. Norman Doidge has written an immensely moving, inspiring book, “The Brain That Changes Itself: Stories of Personal Triumph from the Frontiers of Brain Science,” that will permanently alter the way we look at our brains, human nature, and human potential!
“How Emotions Are Made: The Secret Life of the Brain—How We Create Emotions Through Brain, Body, and Culture”
(sponsored by Amazon)
The science of emotion is in the midst of a revolution on par with the discovery of relativity in physics and natural selection in biology. In “How Emotions Are Made: The Secret Life of the Brain—How We Create Emotions Through Brain, Body, and Culture,” Lisa Feldman Barrett shows we construct each instance of emotion through a unique interplay of brain, body, and culture! A lucid report from the cutting edge of emotion science, “How Emotions Are Made: The Secret Life of the Brain—How We Create Emotions Through Brain, Body, and Culture” reveals the profound real-world consequences of this breakthrough for everything from neuroscience and medicine to the legal system and even national security, laying bare the immense implications of our latest and most intimate scientific revolution!
