06-27-2013, 04:57 AM
(06-26-2013, 02:25 PM)JohnnyYesterday Wrote: At the energy dissipation rate of 10^-27 joules per logic operation, times 10^27 operations per second, gets you a total power consumption of 1 joule-per-second, or 1 watt. 1 watt! That's 1/20th of what our meat brains run on to achieve a paltry 10^18 operations per second.
10^27 divided by 10^18=1,000,000,000. So a cubic centimeter of helical logic-based computronium is 1 x 10^9 times faster, while simultaneously being 20 times more energy efficient, than an average human brain, which has a volume of 1000+ cm^3.
That's not counting the refrigeration requirement, of course, but with vacuum flask insulation and futuristic refrigeration technology, I'd conservatively guess a few tens of watts could take care of that in baseline-shirtsleeve-environments. Of course in deep space at 30 Kelvin, or so, little more than passive radiator panels would be required.
Be very cautious about estimates for the human brain's capabilities in terms of computer science nomenclature. Not enough is understood about how the brain works to make a reasonable assertion at this time (and I am aware that you can find all sorts of estimates everywhere based on anything from action potential rates to extrapolated neural circuitry in the eye)