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1.3.3 Is the Brain a Computer? Parallel Processing In the Brain
At birth, your brain came equipped with numerous pre-wired adaptations—precisely the opposite of a “blank slate” (more on this a bit later). Your brain processes in parallel, like a modern multi-core computer, but with orders of magnitude more sophistication. As an example of the inborn modular nature of the brain, consider the brain circuitry for modelling objects visually. It exists in the brains of all people at birth—even people born blind. That is, some people blind from birth can accurately draw objects in proper 3-D visual perspective, a skill they could not possibly learn from the surrounding culture. For example, a Turkish artist named Esref Armagan, who has been blind since birth, can paint realistic compositions of things he has never seen, with accurate three-point perspective and scale size.
On the brain's modular design, here's Pinker again:
The word ‘module’ brings to mind detachable snap-in components, and that is misleading. Mental modules are not likely to be visible to the naked eye as circumscribed territories on the surface of the brain, like the flank steak and rump roast on the supermarket cow display. A mental module probably looks more like roadkill, sprawling messily over the bulges and crevasses of the brain. Or it may be broken into regions that are interconnected by fibers that make the regions act as a unit...the metaphor of the mental module is a bit clumsy; a better one is Noam Chomsky’s ‘mental organ.’