This research examines the structure and function of the human brain. The plan of the research will be to set forth varieties of research and opinion regarding how the brain works and then to discuss the hypothesis that the brain is a digital computer, with a view toward demonstrating that such a hypothesis cannot be sustained.
Beginning in the 1980s, electronics and computer-imaging technicians succeeded in developing technology that could produce a 3-D digitized image of the surface of the human brain. It had long been known that brain function entails organization of neurons and metabolism, which entails measurable electrochemical action (Hibbard & Others, 1987). For example, specific neurotransmitter receptor sites for dopamine were identified with the help of radiography (Altar & Others, 1985). Because radiography was implicated in cerebral behavior, it was inevitable that digital technology advances would be applied to the challenge of enhancing images. The principal projected usages of such technology were, of course, of a medical nature. The formation in 1993 of the Human Brain Project (HBP), which is ongoing, had as its principal objective the creation of a computer-generated brain map, or digital atlas:
For the atlas, functional and anatomical brain data from thousands of single subjects is being analyzed for similarities and variations, and the resulting statistical information is being used to create a probabilistic representation that extends to numerous subpopulations. The atlas could be queried, for instance, to find the location of a certain function within the brain (Mahoney, 1998, p. 81).
The brain electrical activity map (BEAM, 1998), or a computer-generated topographic map of the brain, could identify positively or negatively charged electric potentials, or brain waves, and evaluate abnormalities such as lesions or tumors. Of particular interest was the optical navigator technology, which combined 3D displa...