Tony Crisp Interpretation:
The brain is not a computer, but it has the power to compute. The word “computare” is Latin, and comes from “putare,” to think. Neither is a computer anything like a human brain. But there are parallels. Christopher Evans, a psychologist, computer scientist, and world authority on microprocessors, said the brain and computers are both information handling devices—taking impulses that in themselves mean nothing, like sound waves, and processing them. It was also his theory that both computers and the waking brain function are taken “off line” to reprogram. Our behavior responses and information bases need bringing up-to-date with new experience and information received. In the case of the computer, “off line” means having modifications made to programs. In the human it means sleeping and dreaming— the dream being the powerful activity of review, sifting, and reprogramming. Furthermore, the brain and computer use “programs.” In humans, a program means a set of learned responses, values, or activities, such as walking or talking, but including more subtle activities such as judging social or business situations.