Ask HN: Should the CPU be compared to the mitochondrion instead of the brain?

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13746348

by l3robot • 9 years ago

1 3 9 years ago

news.ycombinator.com

The CPU is often compared to the brain. This analogy have caused lots of misconceptions. Could the mitochondrion be a better analogy?

gus_massa2• 9 years ago

No way.

The main function of the mitochondria is to transform ADP to ATP. A good analogy is that ADP is an uncharged battery and ATP is a charged battery, so the mitochondria are the rechargers.

The ATP can be used in other parts of the cell to make something useful, like moving or building a molecule. To use it, the ATP is split and it produces ADP. So they are like a battery.

The function of mitochondria is totally unrelated to the function of CPU and brain.

l3robot• 9 years ago

You are absolutely right, I wanted to say the ribosome was. I confused both. My bad.

gus_massa2• 9 years ago

Ribosomes! Not a bad idea.

Anyway, I think that ribosomes have a very restrictive type of "calculation", you can compare them with a Jackard Loom https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacquard_loom or a Pianola https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Player_piano . Perhaps an old programmable calculator.

Currently the CPU have a lot more of computational abilities.

Ask HN: Should the CPU be compared to the mitochondrion instead of the brain?

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