Your Body Runs on Just 80.6W Across 37 Trillion Cells, Argues 'Natural Intelligence' Talk
vinodg · x · 2026-10-11
In slides from a recent talk titled "Intelligence is Everywhere," samim points out that a single human cell consumes roughly a trillionth of a watt, so the body's 37 trillion cells together draw only 80.6W — making natural intelligence arguably the most energy-efficient 'computer' known, operating near fundamental physical limits.
It's a popular-science framing rather than a rigorous measurement, but the contrast with megawatt-scale AI datacenters makes it a striking hook for discussions on the energy gap between biological and artificial intelligence.
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