Artificial Intelligence vs Human Intelligence: 7 differences

It may be that most of us find it difficult to understand how machines work. However, next to our brain a artificial intelligence system it looks like a six piece puzzle.

Perhaps that is why we believe that to understand our way of thinking, perceiving and feeling it is useful to create an analogy between our system nervous and an intelligent machine: perhaps, we thought, this second could be used as a simplified model of what happens in our heads. We even believe that with the sophistication of new technologies we will be able to create forms of artificial intelligence that work in a similar way to us, simply by quantitatively improving the capacity of our systems computer scientists.

Artificial intelligence vs human intelligence: why is our brain not a computer?

That day seems to be not near yet. There are many differences that separate us from electronic brains, and it is not a question of superficial questions, but of structure. This is a list with the main differences between the artificial intelligence systems own computers and the functioning of our brain.

1. Its architecture is different

A machine equipped with artificial intelligence has a series of data input and output ports that we can easily identify. This does not occur in our brain: each substructure of its globality can be both a receiver of data and a transmitter of information. It is also not known in which direction the information travels, since endless branches and loops are a constant in the world of neurons.

2. Its operation is different

In any artificial intelligence structure, the channel through which the data travels can be differentiated (hardware) and the information itself. In a brain, on the other hand, the distinction between information and the material medium through which it travels does not exist. The data that is transmitted are themselves material changes that determine the force of attraction that exists between neurons. If neuron A is more connected with neuron B than with C, the information is one, while if A happens to be more connected with C, the information is another.

3. The data that the brain works with cannot be stored

One consequence of not distinguishing between channel and information is that there are no large data deposits in our head either.. That is why we never remember something in the same way, there are always small variations. In fact, it has been proven that even people with a highly developed autobiographical memory may have false memories.

4. The importance of context

Our organic brains adapt like a glove to every situation, despite the fact that each of the situations we live in is unique. What's more: faced with unpredictable contexts, different people are capable of reacting in the same way. This is something that we do not find in artificial intelligence systems, in which different stimuli lead to the same result only if those stimuli are previously determined: if A, then C; if B, then C. Human beings, with all our flaws, are made to live in a chaotic context. Our brain is capable of interpreting all stimuli, even if they appear unexpectedly and are totally new.

5. Artificial Intelligence needs regularity

Artificial intelligence systems need to be set up in a very specific way to be able to execute orders and get information from one place to another in the right way. Brains, on the other hand, are unique in each one of us.

Next to the network of approximately 100,000,000,000 neurons that support our thought, the fingerprints that serve to identify us in some contexts seem to be all the same. Also, our brain is constantly changing, even while we sleep. The great virtue of our brain is that it can function well at all times despite being subject to constant unpredictable alterations: hence it has been defined as the most complex system that exists.

6. Its origin is different

Any artificial intelligence system has been built by one or more intentional agents: scientists, programmers, etc. Our brains, however, have been carved out by evolution. That means that, while artificial intelligence is built on certain ways of encoding information following patterns and logical operations, our brain has to cope with a set of nerve cells that do things typical of nerve cells (worth the redundancy). If a machine works from instructions, the functioning of our brain is based on the game of interactions that occur between neurons.

7. We are more emotional than rational beings

This may be a hasty statement (how do you measure the rational and the irrational, after all?) But nonetheless, Yes it can be said that logical and systematic thinking is reduced only to certain situations and moments of our day to day. While machines equipped with artificial intelligence can only work from arguments and premises, in our case it is normal to skip this step.

Take notice, for example, of everything you are doing now. Does the posture in which you have sat respond to rational criteria, such as the need to keep your back in a position that does not damage it? Or at some point have you decided that above your health the priority is to avoid the effort of keeping your back upright? What's more: have you ever asked yourself this issue? The truth is that, although rational thinking and logic have appeared recently in our evolutionary history, our brain has remained more or less the same for 200,000 years.