We always analogize the brain to the highest technology
   available. In the 1940s, it was telephone switchboards - which
   was a very complicated system. You can see bits of that left
   over in the 'neurons' used in neural networking with their
   simple weights: I like neural networking but they're based on a
   limiting analogy. This is also a limiting analogy. Useful, but
   we've all grown into a habit of making brain based on the
   computer whereas it's that the computer is based upon the brain.
   This distinction of order is critical - and it USED to be taught
   that way, but now we've fallen so in love with
   computing-as-everything, we've forgotten the analogy is going
   the wrong direction.