3. Molecular Structure of Brain Cannot Explain Intelligence

 

Intelligence is an attribute that is present in all life forms to different degrees, and not just in humans. Many animals like elephants[9] and chimpanzees[10] have been shown to have intelligence.  Even single celled organisms like amoebae have demonstrated conscious intelligence when gathering food, and avoiding predators. Therefore, intelligence is not something unique to the human  brain only.Let us focus on human intelligence now. Sometimes we find that a healthy person with a fully functional brain becomes mad. Conversely, we find many examples of persons sustaining  brain injury who still retain their intelligence. So intelligence cannot be closely tied with the physical structure of the brain.

 

Even within the brain, it is well known that a large fraction of the tissues, those belonging to the cerebellum, are dedicated to performing routine tasks, like breath, balance, sleep cycles, which do  not require any intelligence. How is it that a large part of the brain, having the same physical structure as the rest of the brain, does not possess intelligence?Different, physically separate areas  of the brain are associated with different sensory activities, like hearing, seeing and motion. For visual perception alone, different sets of neurons process information regarding color, motion, and  shape. Still we are able to form a unified perception of objects. This problem is referred to as the "binding problem." It supports the argument that physical structure of the brain itself is not  sufficient for conscious intelligence.Lastly, the interconnected network of neurons that form the brain can be modeled in computer science using artificial neural networks [11]. These neural  networks could be fabricated into silicon chips. A neural network can be made arbitrarily complicated by defining all kinds of interconnections between the artificial neurons. Then a simulation of  these networks should be able to evoke intelligence, just as the brain is claimed to do. After all, the only difference between the two is that the brain is made of organic neurons, whereas artificial  neural networks could be made out of silicon. In fact, these neural networks could just be simulated as algorithms on a computer. If the functioning of the brain can be reduced to computations,  then we must consider whether computations can evoke intelligence.