[Profpat]

Originally Posted by JAK

Having spent 30 years as a bit twirler doing boolean algebra and other bizarre quirks of programming (grep anyone?), I am about as entrenched with the amazing capabilities of the binary system as anyone could be.

However, I am also aware that the brain has one interesting difference to computer circuits. Neurons can be set to a variable level like a rheostat. Though the all-or-none law says that a neuron's axon either fires or not, the frequency of axonic transmission is variable. It can be faster like a machine gun, slower like an old flintlock rifle, or somewhere inbetween. Meanwhile, its neighbor, who is getting "shot", has a threshold which must be reached before it, too, starts firing.

Thus, all of the neurons, even though they are "on or off" are actually somewhere inbetween. And since blood is fed throughout the brain, the neurons are never completely off (zero - unless the cell is dead), and yet they may never reach their max firing rate (on) either.

The brain is a system that seems to live everywhere inbetween zero and one.

Life is not black and white but all of the many colors inbetween.

Thanks JAK;

It's nice to know our mind is more complex than simple binary numbers. ( Black is the absence of all colors and White is all colors. )