Energy, Information, and the Work of the Brain
Energy, Information, and the Work of the Brain
This chapter addresses the link between energy and information in living systems. It analyzes the costs of moving information through biological systems and the energetic and evolutionary implications of these costs. It demonstrates that the quantities of energy used for neural processing are enough to limit processing power, by developing energy budgets for mammalian cerebral cortex. It also discusses the quantities of energy required and their impacts on a brain’s ability to process information. This chapter shows that brains must consume energy to function and that these requirements are sufficiently demanding to limit performance and determine design. It suggests that nervous systems use information to direct energy into work, and they use energy to direct information.
Keywords: energy, process information, living systems, neural processing, mammalian cerebral cortex, nervous systems, work
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