Take the human heart. An isolated heart neuron simply sparks chaotically, without apparent intelligence. But when it is a part of the neuronal network in a living heart, it synchronizes with all the other neurons to create a steady heartbeat. A neurocomputer might work in a similar way. Of course, figuring out how to pose complex questions to neurons is a monumental programming challenge.
Neurons speak a terrifically complicated language.
And when neurons talk to each other, these electric words are transmitted across synapses, electrical connections that link neurons into a network. Each synaptic connection can have as many as 200,000 channels, and every channel carries information about a different aspect of cell life, a bit like the way your television simultaneously receives cable programming on different channels. Imagine trying to translate every word said by news anchors broadcasting entirely in Latin over 200,000 channels of cable television. Ironically, it's the advancing power of the modern digital computer that has made such problems solvable. Using the speed of microprocessors to crunch differential equations, Eve Marder, a neurobiologist at Brandeis University, has developed a computer program called the dynamic clamp that can translate neuron-speak in real time.