# \[Parody\] The iPhone turns out to have evolved naturally **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [July 23, 2017, 1:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/parody-the-iphone-turns-out-to-have-evolved-naturally/791937 "2017-07-23T13:26:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2019, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/parody-the-iphone-turns-out-to-have-evolved-naturally/791937/41 "2019-01-01T21:19:12Z")
> [@ZonexandScout](#): > > On the other hand, two bunnies can easily make a third bunny. Two bunnies can’t make an iPhone. In fact, there are probably no two humans who can make an iPhone. So, it depends on what we mean by “complex.” My point, of course, was that an animal contains within itself the blueprints not only for all the “hardware” components that make up its own body, but also the instructions for self-assembly (development), as well as “software” (instinctual behavior) that will allow it to produce other individuals (obtaining food for growth, mating behavior). Just because it is highly automatic doesn’t mean it is simple. The reason the iPhone is hard to make is because it’s _not complex enough_; it’s incapable of self-assembly. ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2019, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/parody-the-iphone-turns-out-to-have-evolved-naturally/791937/42 "2019-01-01T23:32:10Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > And let me know when an iPhone spontaneously makes a copy of itself with equivalent capabilities. Samuel Butler covered this objection: machines need humans as part of their reproductive cycle just like certain plants use insects for pollination. ---
**Author:** ![Penfeather](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/penfeather/32/384_2.png) [@Penfeather](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Penfeather)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2019, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/parody-the-iphone-turns-out-to-have-evolved-naturally/791937/43 "2019-01-02T00:58:43Z")
> [@ZonexandScout](#): > > With all respect, I don’t consider an animal to be more complex than an iPhone. I’ve never really understood why most other people believe it to be the case. Build an iPhone out of jelly and string, and show it to the class on Monday. ---
**Author:** ![septimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/septimus/32/410_2.png) [@septimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/septimus)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2019, 1:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/parody-the-iphone-turns-out-to-have-evolved-naturally/791937/44 "2019-08-28T13:23:57Z")
> [@](#): > > Estimates vary pretty widely, but a median estimate for the processing performance of the human brain is 10^16 FLOPS. I think some of the high estimates are of how much conventional computer power it would take to simulate human brain — _not the same thing._ As a quick back-of-envelope, consider that the brain has about 200 trillion synapses, each triggered an average of 15 times per second, say. That’s 3 quadrillion multiplications per second. But precision is low, redundancy high, reliability doubtful, and most of the power will sit unused for any given task. Round it to 10^12 FLOPs as a very crude guesstimate, though the differences may be too great for comparison to be meaningful. (OTOH, there are over 10^18 tubulin-dimers in the brain, so that guesstimate would be low if, as Penrose [and others speculate [pdf]](https://arxiv.org/ftp/arxiv/papers/1505/1505.00774.pdf), the microtubules do significant processing.) > [@](#): > > Really? It takes me a few seconds to perform even a single floating point operation. To make this an apples-to-apples comparison, the computer would have to view each digit, run it through an OCR subroutine, access an associative memory for the 10x10 multiplication table, and so on. And do all this while most of its compute power is spent on maintaining posture and vigilance. (Some of this is bypassed in idiot savants who multiply orders of magnitude faster than ordinary humans.) ---
**Author:** ![Machine\_Elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2019, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/parody-the-iphone-turns-out-to-have-evolved-naturally/791937/45 "2019-08-28T13:39:14Z")
> [@cochrane](#): > > On the bottom of the home page it says, “The Babylon Bee is Your Trusted Source For Christian News Satire.”, so yes, it is like the Onion. It will not be like The Onion until and unless they start publishing articles like this: [Local Lutheran Minister Loves To Fuck His Wife](https://local.theonion.com/local-lutheran-minister-loves-to-fuck-his-wife-1819564552) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/parody-the-iphone-turns-out-to-have-evolved-naturally/791937.md?page=2)