The Brain as Computer: Bad at Math, Good at Everything Else
The brain is actually really good at math - the best example I&#x27;ve heard of this (I think from the book &#x27;Blink&#x27;) is catching a flyball - in an instant someone is able to calculate the trajectory, wind speed, spin and coordinate with it&#x27;s own body to run at the right speed to be in the right place when it lands. Now of course that takes experience but it&#x27;s not just pattern matching since training allows people to adapt to new and unseen conditions. But anytime you have a &#x27;gut&#x27; feeling, it&#x27;s usually because of some behind the scenes calculations.<p>Translating maths into a mess of symbols and deconstructing it consciously is of course a laborious process - but AFAIK no computer is good at that either.<p>My own personal metaphor is the conscious mind as programmer and the unconscious mind as computer. If I correctly program my unconscious mind I can spontaneously realize the right answer far faster than I can understand why.