Neural computing: the metaphorical, cultural roots of brain models

Abstract

Models of the brain offer a paradigmatic example of the interaction between science and culture, in history. The brain is currently seen as a machine, more specifically as a computational device. The attempt to model brain on machines has a long tradition in Western culture stemming from the mechanistic culture of the seventeenth century. While brain operations can be viewed as computational in nature, both the design and the properties of the brain deviate radically from those of man-made computers. This might be why brains, unlike computers, are capable of moral and esthetic judgment and of experiencing joy and sorrow, friendship and love and other human values.