“A computer can play Go and even beat humans…But it will take a computer something like 100 kilowatts to do so while our brains do it for just 20 watts.”So the brain is 5,000 times more power efficient.
Our brains are way more efficient than that, multiples of that.
At least, according to the websites I found. The brain consumes about 400-500 calories per day. That works out to be about 1/3 of a single watt per day.
That’s not even a penny of power/day if we had to pay for what the brain uses.
ProtectOurFreedom: So the brain is 5,000 times more power efficient.
1. A laptop computer - typically consuming about 40 watts of power - loaded with the appropriate program can play chess better than any amateur player.
2. A laptop computer - typically consuming about 40 watts of power - can count the number of letters in the King James Bible, or the number of times that any given sequence of letters occurs, in a fraction of a second. A human being, tasked with the same job, would require days - over the course of which he would require thousands of times as much energy (calories).
So the question of "efficiency" is sensible only in realms in which Man and Machine perform roughly equally well. The realm in which Man is superior is shrinking.
Regards,