The human brain has been described as the most complicated structure scientists have so far observed. And so, when describing how it works, often a metaphor is chosen which reflects this level of complexity. It seems that the operations of the human brain are likened to the most complicated thing the human race is capable of producing, or at least something complicated enough yet commonplace enough.
I read about ten years ago that over a hundred years ago, the brain was described to the layman as being like a intricate system of hydraulics. Later, this description was shelved in favour of a telephone switchboard. Getting closer, I suppose. At the time of that writing, a powerful supercomputer was the metaphor.
I remember thinking to myself that that was it, the end of the metaphor chain. I mean, short of someone designing a mechanised brain, a supercomputer was as close as we were ever going to get. I remembered thinking that when a few weeks ago, I heard a much better metaphor.
What is more complicated than a computer? Why, a network of computers, of course. I suggest that the human brain does not work like a computer, but rather like the internet.
The strongest distinction between a computer and the internet is in memory storage and retrieval. A computer stores data in a specific place, leaving it there for all eternity if need be, and pullin it out when requested. But the internet is different - Google "water" or "music" and it retrieves every vaguely relevant piece of memory in storage. Some will be useful memories, some will be just nonsense cluttering up the place.
Googling is a lot like how memory works, don't you think? I say "elephant" and you don't go to that specific neuron cluster holding the definition for the word, but rather you summon every cross linked piece of information, kind of sorted by relevance - if you had been talking about swimming, you might imagine elephants swimming.
This technique of memory retrieval is speculated by some to be a source of creativity, which is why we don't have flawless memory - this automatic creation of association between memories leads to new ideas.
The internet is both static and dynamic. The overall structure never really changes, and there are specific "lobes", if you will, that will be around for a long time. Places like Google and Wikipedia. Other parts are springing in and out of existance all the time. Data is passed between this points by many, many linkages.
So I submit that the internet is the closest metaphor for the human brain we have. People who want to call me a genius, form a queue to my left. People who want to tell me I'm wrong, queue to my right. And screw you.