This TED talk was very informative and thought-provoking at the same time. In it, Kwabena teaches the differences between how the brain and computers process information, and what makes the brain so efficient since it uses much less energy than a computer. He compared the brain to a freeway, which is linear and more of a bottleneck of processes, while the brain is a network which is messy and redundant, which is why information can be processed much more efficiently, and I felt that this comparison was very effective in helping me to understand his concern for current computers. Since Kwabena wants to aim for supercomputers that are more like the brain, his description of the way computers work now helped solidify his point.
What I also found interesting was the silicon model of the optical nerve. While the output was hardly not exactly like what an actual human eye would see, the fundamental information was there, showing that one day, a computer replica of an optical nerve could be a possibility. This lead me to think about all the applications for this, with one of the most important being possibly giving sight to the blind. And to think about all the other applications of computer models of not just eyes but other body parts as well, and how they could possibly restore senses or fix paralysis.
All in all, I enjoyed this talk very much, especially as a computer science major. It reinforced the point that the applications of computers and technology are endless, and as they are becoming better and faster, more and more possibilities once considered fantasy are slowly becoming reality.
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