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Human thought crawls at 10 bits per second, Caltech study finds (www.techspot.com)

submitted 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) by FlyingSquid@lemmy.world to c/technology@lemmy.world

152 comments fedilink hide all child comments

Thanks to @General_Effort@lemmy.world for the links!

Here’s a link to Caltech’s press release: https://www.caltech.edu/about/news/thinking-slowly-the-paradoxical-slowness-of-human-behavior

Here’s a link to the actual paper (paywall): https://www.cell.com/neuron/abstract/S0896-6273(24)00808-0

Here’s a link to a preprint: https://arxiv.org/abs/2408.10234

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[–] renegadespork@lemmy.jelliefrontier.net -2 points 1 day ago (2 children)

Bits are binary digits used for mechanical computers. Human brains are constantly changing chemical systems that don’t “process” binary bits of information so it makes no sense as a metric.

imagine someone tells you they measured the temperature of a distant star, and you say "that's stupid, you can't get a thermometer to a star and read the measurement, you'd die", just because you don't know how one could measure it.

It’s not about how you measure it, it’s about using a unit system that doesn’t apply. It’s more like trying to calculate how much star costs in USD.

[–] scratchee@feddit.uk 10 points 1 day ago

Bits are also a unit of information from information theory. In that context they are relevant for anything that processes information, regardless of methodology, you can convert analogue signals into bits just fine.

[–] FooBarrington@lemmy.world 7 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (1 children)

Maybe try looking into the topic instead of confidently repeating your wrong assertions? You're literally pulling a "my hand is not a number!" right now.

Just because you have a limited understanding of a unit, doesn't mean that unit is only applicable to what you know. Literally the star example I brought up.

[–] renegadespork@lemmy.jelliefrontier.net -1 points 17 hours ago (1 children)

I already did before I formed my conclusion. It’s clear you have not and are just looking for someone which whom to argue.

Goodbye.

[–] FooBarrington@lemmy.world 2 points 16 hours ago* (last edited 16 hours ago)

Ah, so you just choose to ignore information you don't already know? What a rational thing to do. You're not anti-intellectual at all.

Or are you seriously trying to gaslight everyone into believing Shannon entropy doesn't exist?