INTRODUCTION
This book is a Programmer‟s Guide to the Mind. In it, we will attempt
to do two things: We will try to explain how the mind works, and we will
also show how a person can make it operate more effectively. If we
compare the task of developing the mind to that of taking a journey, then
this volume could be described as a combination road map and tourist
guide.
While there are many similarities between a
brain and an electronic computer, there are also
several factors which make the human
„computer‟ unique: First of all, it is rather large.
The electronic chips which are contained in the
computers of the 1990s are constructed from flat
little squares of silicon, no bigger than postage
stamps. In contrast, the human thinking
apparatus is a three pound, three-dimensional,
solid chunk of neurons and interconnections.
The average human brain contains about one hundred billion neurons and
around one hundred trillion connections. Compare this to today‟s computer
chip with its total of about ten million transistors, and you can understand
why, at present, we have about sufficient technology to simulate the brain
of a slug.
Unlike computers which are made from
silicon, the human mind is not just a
conglomeration of mathematical
calculations and dry logic. Rather, it feels
as well as thinks, it has a personal interest
in its surroundings, it makes friends—and
enemies, and it has both a self and a self-
image. All of these factors will be included in our analysis of human
thought.
Those of you who work with computers have discovered that computer
manuals generally fall into one of three categories: User‟s guides,
Reference manuals, and Programmer‟s guides. A User‟s guide is for the
person who says, “I do not want to know how this gadget works, just tell
me how to use it.” I suggest that bookstores are full of User‟s guides for
the mind, each containing a few nuggets of wisdom aimed at helping us to
use our minds more effectively. This book is not a User’s guide.
What you will be reading is also not a Reference Manual. These are
deep, heavy tomes full of specialized words which plunge into the depths
of the machine, never to return to the surface of normal speech and
everyday life. They deal with theoretical questions such as interrupt levels,
capacitive loading and assembly language. These volumes seem to forget