For decades neuroscientists have searched for the holy grail: *The neural code*.  But what if there is no such code?  What if the basic structure of the nervous system is little more than a Rube Goldberg machine assembled under natural selection? The implications for neuromorphic computing are profound…and surprising. This may not be a bad thing. In fact, apparently random structure in real neural networks may be just what provides them with their unique computational advantages.