# Synapses Are Units of Neural Computation by Terrence J. Sejnowski > “Two neurons can communicate with each other at a synapse, which is the computational unit in the brain.” > **— Terrence J. Sejnowski**, *2011 Edge Annual Question, response passage* ## Sources and Context - **Direct publication and locator:** [Powers of 10 — Terrence J. Sejnowski](https://www.edge.org/response-detail/10298) — 2011 Annual Question response, contiguous sentence(s) within the representative extract. - **Exact original excerpt:** “Two neurons can communicate with each other at a synapse, which is the computational unit in the brain. The typical cortical synapse is less than a micron in diameter (10[-6] meter), near the resolution limit of the light microscope. If the economy of the world is a stretch for us to contemplate, thinking about all the synapses in your head is mind boggling. If I had a dollar for every synapse in your brain I could support the current economy of the world for 10 years. Cortical neurons on average fire once a second, which implies a bandwidth of around 10[15] bits per second, greater than the total bandwidth of the internet backbone.” - **Context and editing:** The poster takes the opening complete sentence from Sejnowski’s synapse-scale example; the later numbers and economy analogy remain in the exact original extract. No editorial words were inserted. - **Local Edge archive:** [[research/Edge 2011 Full Quotation Curation|Edge 2011 Full Quotation Curation]], response EDGE2011-107. ## Related Articles and Collections - **Collection:** [[collections/Edge|Edge]] - **Collection:** [[collections/Neurotech|Neurotech]] - **Article:** [[articles/The Greatest Transformation in Human History|The Greatest Transformation in Human History]] - **Wiki map:** [[wiki/Synapse|Synapse]] ## Related Topics - [[wiki/Synapse|Synapse]] ## Share on Social Media ``` “Two neurons can communicate with each other at a synapse, which is the computational unit in the brain.” — Terrence J. Sejnowski, 2011 Edge Annual Question, response passage https://bryantmcgill.com/simple-reminders-terrence-sejnowski-synapses-units-neural-computation ```