The Computer and the Brain Author:John von Neumann The Computer and the Brain, the last work of John von Neumann, one of the greatest mathematicians of this century, comprises material prepared for the Silliman Lectures but not presented because of the author's death in 1957. Renowned for his work at the Electronic Computer Project at The Institute for Advanced Study, he had long been intereste... more »d in analogies between computing machines and the living human brain. Here he is concerned with understanding the nervous system from the mathematician's point of view: the first part discusses the principles underlying the design of modern analog and digital computing machines; the second part compares the functioning of the human brain with the operation of a computer, bringing out the "areas of similarity and dissimilarity between these two kinds of automata." He concludes that the brain operates in part digitally, in part analogically, but uses the peculiar statistical language unlike that employed in the operation of man-made computers.« less