The Packet Switching Brain

The computer metaphor has served brain science well as a tool for comprehending neural systems. Nevertheless, we propose here that this metaphor be replaced or supplemented by a new metaphor, the "Internet metaphor," to reflect dramatic new network theoretic understandings of brain structure and function. We offer a "weak" form and a "strong" form of this metaphor: The former suggests that structures and processes unique to Internet-like architectures (e.g., domains and protocols) can profitably guide our thinking about brains, whereas the latter suggests that one particular feature of the Internet-packet switching-may be instantiated in the structure of certain brain networks, particularly mammalian neocortex.