Not sure where, but I believe I read an article by some bigwig claiming that
the _mind_ is much more complex than we ever believed because it is a quantum
computer. ie: all the neurons are _entangled_ (as electrons are entangled in
a quantum computer to create qubits). Thus the mind is capable of incredible
things because it has unbelievably parallel computation capabilities.
Interesting, no?
Also, these pilots seem to be forgetting that a thought is not just a single
neuron firing, but thousands/millions. The brain is just like a parallel
computer, which is only partially limited by the speed of communication
amongst its nodes (neurons). A thought (or program) executes (exists) in all
of the nodes (neurons) at once, and not on any specific one. So, trying to
come up with a 'speed of thought' is pretty useless. All that matters is the
external point of view - what actions the person takes based on his thoughts,
and how fast they occur. And, as pointed out, they are on the order of
milliseconds.
Perhaps you can compare our senses to peripherals in computers - we are
limited by how fast data flows from our senses to our brain, just as
computers are limited by how fast data flows from its memory/nic/harddisk to
its cpu. So in the end, the speed of thought is dictated partly by its cpu
(brain), but is completely limited to the speed of its peripherals (senses).
Our brains cannot act if they don't have the information, can they?