[Boltzmann]

Hum, since we are talking about parallel computing power. Shouldn't the humans then be able to do something like 100,000 (or more) mathmatical calculations at once or something like that? I know as far as visual and audio recognition humans are still way ahead of machines, or we are just slow at math?

Hmm, nope.
The reason is that we humans have very specialized neural hardware (wetware, as many cognitive scientists call it) to deal with systems like vision/hearing etc. These systems employ a large array of neurons, in a highly paralelized network in order to do their job.

Now we just don't have such an adptation for advanced math. We're not general-purpose computers. We're highly specialized survival machines (to use the term coined by biologist Richard Dawkins), and our software follows this specification.

Anyway, some people (mostly autists) are known to perform extreme feats of mathematical ability (like multiplying 8-digit numbers in their heads). Some neuroscientists believe that everybody has this ability, but it lays dormant (blocked by signals from the pre-frontal cortex) because belongs to "ancient" (I mean, evolutionarily ancient) parts of the brain.

You should check out this article in the Wired magazine: The Key to Genius

 

[bcrew1375]

So, that means we actually don't use all of our brain?

 

[Boltzmann]

So, that means we actually don't use all of our brain?

No, you go it wrong. We use all of our brains, but some people (like the autists in the article) use it differently. Nothing in your brain is unused - neurons left unused quickly decay - and evolution would quickly eliminate the useless parts.

 

[Radix865]

Well I think we will go to mars, I actually think we will go farther than mars I think we will ultimately go to another galaxy, or at least to another solar system...

 

[KanedA]

Well I think we will go to mars, I actually think we will go farther than mars I think we will ultimately go to another galaxy, or at least to another solar system...

Yeap it's just a matter of time, and If we won't nuke eachother first