Juan Benet Proposes Metric Prefixes for Intelligence: Humans Are 1 Brain, Humanity ~8 GigaBrains
juanbenet · x · 2026-09-20
Protocol Labs founder Juan Benet responded to usgraphics's ITU-style intelligence tier proposal (VHI, UHI, EHI...) with a simpler scheme using metric prefixes, anchoring average human intelligence at 1 Brain and scaling by rough neural connectivity:
- NanoBrain: C. elegans
- MicroBrain: fruit fly — 2015-era AIs
- MilliBrain: mouse — 2020-era AIs
- Brain: human — 2026 AIs
- KiloBrain: 2030 AIs
- Up through Mega/Giga/Tera/Peta/Exa/Zetta/YottaBrain; humanity sums to 8 GigaBrains, and a Kardashev II Dyson-swarm brain would be a YottaBrain
He caveats that same-scale brains can be smarter or dumber (it's a rough average), intelligence doesn't add linearly (the sums are just reference points), and hardware efficiency gains should be weighed against the Landauer limit. A playful but notable entry in the ongoing AI-community debate over how to name intelligence tiers.
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