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A comment on Ask HN: Should the CPU be compared to the mitochondrion instead of the brain?.

Re:Ask HN: Should the CPU be compared to the mitochondrion i... by gus_massa on Monday February 27, 2017 @01:43PM (#13746642)
No way.

The main function of the mitochondria is to transform ADP to ATP. A good analogy is that ADP is an uncharged battery and ATP is a charged battery, so the mitochondria are the rechargers.

The ATP can be used in other parts of the cell to make something useful, like moving or building a molecule. To use it, the ATP is split and it produces ADP. So they are like a battery.

The function of mitochondria is totally unrelated to the function of CPU and brain.

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Ask HN: Should the CPU be compared to the mitochondrion i... by l3robot on Monday February 27, 2017 @04:37PM (#13748415)
You are absolutely right, I wanted to say the ribosome was. I confused both. My bad.
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Ask HN: Should the CPU be compared to the mitochondrion i... by gus_massa on Monday February 27, 2017 @07:29PM (#13750033)
Ribosomes! Not a bad idea.

Anyway, I think that ribosomes have a very restrictive type of "calculation", you can compare them with a Jackard Loom https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacquard_loom or a Pianola https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Player_piano . Perhaps an old programmable calculator.

Currently the CPU have a lot more of computational abilities.

[ Parent | on HN ]