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This has been a topic that I have considered before and thought about it more from this discussion about the brain as a battery. As Professor Grobstein had thrown out, what about the concept of the brain as a computer. I was searching the internet and came across a website(http://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/bvc.html) that is meant for little kids and discusses the similarities and differences between a machine and the brain. I think we are forgetting that metaphors do not mean that two things that are being compared are necessarily the same. Also it is important to remember as many have mentioned above that in order to understand the battery metaphor we would have to redefine what a battery is.

Going over the similarities between the machine and a computer made me realize that the battery metaphor if explained simply can also apply. For example the brain uses chemical signals to transmit information—which can be related to the electrical signals used through the wires in a computer.

Another similarity is that both a computer and the brain transmit information. A computer is binary as it uses switches or commands that are either on or off. Looking at the brain, the neurons are either on or off by either firing an action potential or not firing an action potential. The difference is that neurons are more than binary, as the “excitability” of a neuron is always changing as the neuron is constantly getting information from other cells through synaptic contacts. Also as pointed out in previous weeks that information or inputs across a synapse does not always result in an action potential (output).