The World’s Fastest Super Computers

Your brain stores everything that makes you you—all of your learning, memories, and whole life. You can shape yourself into any type of person you want to imagine–musician, writer, sportsperson, dancer, builder, scientist. 

Over the next few posts, I want to share some of the wonders of our brains. And make no mistake, the human brain is the most beautiful invention. Ever.

So, make yourself comfortable and prepare to be amazed. Let’s see how a human brain stacks up against a computer.

Here’s a computer you might know–an XBOX. The model made in 2020 allowed you to play games that needed lots of speed. Car racing games, like the real thing, need lots of speed. Computer speed is measured in FLOPS (floating point instructions per second.) Don’t worry too much about the bit in brackets. Just know that the XBOX can process 12 teraFLOPS. That is a number this big:

12 000 000 000 000 instructions

EVERY SECOND

So, your car racing game can process fast. Think how quickly the screen changes as you whizz past in your racing car. 

Now–the world’s fastest supercomputer in 2020 was clocked at 415 000 teraFLOPS. That’s almost 35 thousand XBOXes.

You’re dying to know how fast your brain is, right? 

The human brain’s speed … drum roll, please …

One Million teraFLOPS

Here’s one million written as a numeral:

1 000 000

Now add 12 more zeroes

The human brain can work faster than two of the world’s fastest super computers.