So, one day, Tom, Clyde, Kim, and I were sitting around solving world problems. One of us said something like, “I wish my brain was like my hard drive in my computer.” I could remember everything in it, discuss the subject I was looking for, elaborate on it not forgetting one detail about the topic, and find it faster than I can now. Then we went on to discuss other things we could do with a hard drive brain. Like if there was something I did not need, or want, to remember any longer I could just delete that file. When it got full and slowed down, I could get rid of the useless old stuff like old phone numbers and addresses, forget about how I used to use a dimmer switch in the footwell of my car (which sadly may be forever gone).
There are some similarities and differences between the two devices. Yes, I know a brain is not a device but go with me on this one.
Some scientists believe they both have a finite storage capacity, although the brain’s capacity is vastly larger than current hard drives. Data corruption or anomalies can occur in both systems, leading to errors, malfunctions, or incorrect information. Deletion or forgetting of stored information is possible in both cases. They both have the ability to call up facts quickly, but at different speeds.
Some differences to think about are that the brain stores memories in a distributed, totally dependent, and dynamic way across neural networks, while hard drives use fixed physical locations and cables. The brain can continuously modify and reorganize stored memories, whereas data on hard drives is more static. Anomalies in brain development, such as cortical malformations, can lead to cognitive dysfunction and disorders, which is not the case for hard drives. The brain has mechanisms for separating and organizing discrete memories based on temporal boundaries, a process not found in hard drives. Deletion of memories in the brain is a gradual process of forgetting, unless injured or an illness occurs, while data deletion on hard drives is immediate and abrupt. Something that computer brains cannot do yet is it relates memories to each other, allowing connections between them, which hard drives cannot do. Moreover, our brains have connected eyes, ears, noses, sense of touch, intuition, etc. that can bring about our memories…not a hard drive.
There is an interesting article titled, “Forgetfulness-7 types of normal memory problems” you may want to check out. It was done by Harvard University and can be found here, ghtech.site/7types. It made me feel better as I have some portion of all of them. It provides valuable information that helped me understand some memory issues better and feel reassured that I may be just like everyone else with age.
Well, OK, back to one of the first thoughts I had. Could my brain be running out of space? Maybe I will lose the ability to remember new things and people. I mean, I already cannot remember peoples’ names within 30 seconds of meeting them. And why was I able at one time, in my earlier years, to work some pretty complex math problems in my head. Do not be impressed, I taught math for a period of time and had numerous useless formulas up there. However, now if I go to bed at 10:35pm and I wake up at 7:15am, I sometimes have to count on my fingers to figure out how long I slept.
According to some other reports I reviewed, the brain may be finite. There are only so many neurons, atoms, cells, and other gray matter available for our brain. But then again, your brain is also very clever and nimble at eliminating things that are less meaningful to us. That would seem to show that there is no likelihood you could ever totally run out of space as you age. A computer hard drive will run out of space, unless you take care of removing unneeded files…which we do not usually do.
If we get a devastating brain disease we cannot reboot, reconfigure, or replace it with another as we easily do with computers, but I think I will stick with mine as it is. After researching this information, I have a headache and need to take a nap. Maybe when I wake up my brain will be fresher and sharper. Hey, where did I leave my glasses…oh, yeah, on my head?
