22 Dec 10, 03:39PM
I don't know whether the human brain is up to the task of rendering an imagined universe in it's entirety, but if you assume what you see around you when you are awake is entirely unreal (a waking dream if you will), then the brain does a pretty good job. This also causing me to consider how the brain processes dreams, and observe that it performs things such as the rendering of lighting very admirably (at least in my dreams) without any (presumably) data input from the eyes, which are typically closed. So not only does the brain have to process the data, it has to generate it too!
One plus side for the human brain and rendering virtual worlds is that you only have to render what is technically perceivable in the immediate environment. It's almost like comparing how 3D worlds are rendered in computer games. So if you're in a building with no windows, you don't have to render what is outside of the building. If there is a window, and a tree outside then you have to render that outside scene, but you don't have to render the tree, four blocks away that you can't see.
One thing that the brain does better than any computer currently can is perform approximate calculations, extremely rapidly. Take the physics calculations needed to catch a ball for example and recognize that a computer could probably calculate those precisely to rediculous floating point precision, but that is completely unecessary. Simple, approximate calculations are all that are needed to be able to catch the ball. Sometimes we get it wrong (and drop the ball), most times we don't.
I personally can observe this approximation in action, in my dreams. Often, objects will be hazy, an approximation of what they should be, unless I being to look at them in detail in which case they will become much clearer. When/if my brain gets better at approximation then objects in general become clearer (and more often than not I will catch the ball as opposed to dropping it). Approximation is useful.
Another thing in the human brain's favor is that it is organic. It's been a while since I've read up on it but I'm under the impression that organic computers (biocomputers) are significant order-of-magnitude faster than conventional electronic microprocessor computers.
I'm not suggesting that the human brain is superior to computers (for certain things), but perhaps we underestimate the enormity of the complexity and capability of these organic computers we have in our heads. We understand comparitively zero about the human brain.
Fascinating topic. :)
One plus side for the human brain and rendering virtual worlds is that you only have to render what is technically perceivable in the immediate environment. It's almost like comparing how 3D worlds are rendered in computer games. So if you're in a building with no windows, you don't have to render what is outside of the building. If there is a window, and a tree outside then you have to render that outside scene, but you don't have to render the tree, four blocks away that you can't see.
One thing that the brain does better than any computer currently can is perform approximate calculations, extremely rapidly. Take the physics calculations needed to catch a ball for example and recognize that a computer could probably calculate those precisely to rediculous floating point precision, but that is completely unecessary. Simple, approximate calculations are all that are needed to be able to catch the ball. Sometimes we get it wrong (and drop the ball), most times we don't.
I personally can observe this approximation in action, in my dreams. Often, objects will be hazy, an approximation of what they should be, unless I being to look at them in detail in which case they will become much clearer. When/if my brain gets better at approximation then objects in general become clearer (and more often than not I will catch the ball as opposed to dropping it). Approximation is useful.
Another thing in the human brain's favor is that it is organic. It's been a while since I've read up on it but I'm under the impression that organic computers (biocomputers) are significant order-of-magnitude faster than conventional electronic microprocessor computers.
I'm not suggesting that the human brain is superior to computers (for certain things), but perhaps we underestimate the enormity of the complexity and capability of these organic computers we have in our heads. We understand comparitively zero about the human brain.
Fascinating topic. :)