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How is the computational power of a human brain comparing to a turing machine?

Submitted by: @import:stackexchange-cs··
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Problem

This seems related to these questions at a glance:

What are some problems which are easily solved by human brain but which would take more time computers?

What would show a human mind is/is not reducible to a Turing machine?

But not quite, I am not asking about "time", but power. Also, I am not interested in the turing test. That said, my question can also be expressed as two parts:

  • Is there a language, which cannot be recognized by any turing machine, that can be recognized by a human?



  • Is there a language, which cannot be decided by any turing machine, that can be decided by a human?



And vice versa. The "language" I am talking about is the "mathematical" language, not only a "human" or "programming" language:

$$L \subseteq \Sigma^*$$

Since this is a question about computational power, I would make the following assumptions:

  • Human do not make mistakes


(here I mean mistakes like copying the wrong character or computing arithmetics incorrectly, typical human errors)

  • There is no space limit (turing machine gets infinite tape, you get infinite medium to write)



  • There are no time constraints



  • However, the recognition/decision must be achieved within finite time.



  • And of course, in finite space



Please give an example if you have an answer. Remember, this is a theoretical question, so practical issues are not in concern.

EDIT 1

OK, as someone pointed out, I will add the following assumptions.

Human is probably not easy to define in precise mathematical words, so let's just assume "you".

About a human recognizing a string in a language, I am talking about performing the same task the turing machine is "programmed" to do. Say, given a string, whether you (a human) can recognize it when it conforms to a set of rules, or decide whether it conforms to a set of rules or not. I am not sure if I can make the point clear enough...

EDIT 2

OK, to clarify, this is a question about model of computation, so yes, like André Souza Lemos mensioned, I am talki

Solution

Given that Alan Turing devised the Turing Machine model of computation by abstracting what humans actually do when they compute by hand, I think one would be very hard-pressed to prove that a Turing Machine is more powerful than a human.

[note: by 'human' I assume a person augmented by a writing implement and an unbounded supply of scratch paper (which corresponds to the tape of course). Without that I believe a human is actually a (dynamically self-reconfigurable) finite-state machine with an extraordinarily large number of states]

Context

StackExchange Computer Science Q#42311, answer score: 7

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