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Updated: Mar 30, 2026

Large Scale Energy Efficient Sensor Network Routing Using a Quantum Processor Unit
Published on: September 8, 2023
Solving difficult problems creatively: a role for energy optimised deterministic/stochastic hybrid computing
Tim N Palmer1, Michael O'Shea2
1Department of Physics, University of Oxford Oxford, UK.
Abstract:
How is the brain configured for creativity? What is the computational substrate for 'eureka' moments of insight? Here we argue that creative thinking arises ultimately from a synergy between low-energy stochastic and energy-intensive deterministic processing, and is a by-product of a nervous system whose signal-processing capability per unit of available energy has become highly energy optimised. We suggest that the stochastic component has its origin in thermal (ultimately quantum decoherent) noise affecting the activity of neurons. Without this component, deterministic computational models of the brain are incomplete.
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