[FRIAM] computational limits — supersized mind

[Pieter Steenekamp]

I'm deeply fascinated by the computational limits of biological life and
how these compare to the processing power of machines. A separate and
equally compelling question is whether machines can ever possess what we
might call "real" intelligence—by which I mean not merely the ability to
process information or mimic human behavior, but the capacity for
understanding, self-awareness, and genuine agency.

In my view, we are rapidly approaching a point where machines will be able
to convincingly simulate real intelligence in everyday
interactions—effectively passing a modernized version of the Turing test.
They will appear intelligent to most people in most contexts. Yet despite
their impressive performance in specialized domains—such as surpassing
humans in solving the protein folding problem—I believe the current AI
paradigm lacks the conceptual foundations needed for true general
intelligence. Today's models excel at pattern recognition and statistical
inference, but they still fall short of the flexible reasoning and deep
understanding that define human cognition.

Unless a breakthrough in AI architecture occurs, I don't believe the
current framework will take us all the way to real intelligence.

On Sun, 4 May 2025 at 18:59, Marcus Daniels <marcus at snoutfarm.com> wrote:

> There are already electrostatic interactions in organic chemistry that
> could
> trigger conformational changes or polarization changes that operate on
> femtosecond or picosecond timescales.   The photons would soon be absorbed
> anyway, so it isn't like it is a mechanism for distributed computation like
> carefully controlled entanglement of a quantum computer.
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Friam <friam-bounces at redfish.com> On Behalf Of Prof David West
> Sent: Sunday, May 4, 2025 9:37 AM
> To: friam at redfish.com
> Subject: [FRIAM] computational limits - supersized mind
>
> oft accepted limit of the human brain computational limit - 10^16th
> computations per second.
>
> Interesting article challenging that limit, and a lot more.
>
> https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1077836
>
> davew
>
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