Mike, et al, When you look at the actual experiments upon which what we think we know is based, the information is SO thin that it is hard to come to any other rational conclusion. I could describe some of these, where for example a group of people spent a year putting electrodes into every one of the neurons in a lobster's stomatogastric ganglion so that they could electrically quiet all but two of them. This so that they could plot the synaptic response curve between those two cells. Why did it take a year? Because the neurons would die before they could make a recording. It took a year or trying and failing before blind luck finally worked in their favor.
OK, so what does a synaptic response curve look like in our brain? Is it linear like many people presume? NO ONE KNOWS. Everything written on this subject is pure speculation. I see only one possibly viable way through this problem. It will take two parallel research efforts: 1. One effort is purely theoretical, where the optimal solutions to various processing problems is first exhibited, then the best solutions that can be achieved in a cellular architecture are exhibited, then potentially identifiable features are documented to guide wet-science efforts to confirm/deny these theories. 2. The other effort is a wet science effort armed with a scanning UV fluorescence microscope (or something better if something better comes along) that is charged with both confirming/denying identifiable details predicted by various theories, and with producing physical diagrams of brains to guide theoretical efforts. At present, there is not one dollar of funding for either of these efforts, so I expect to stay at the 2 micron point for the foreseeable future. Steve Richfield ================ On 7/8/08, Mike Tintner <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > Tom Wolfe: Jose Delgado, [Jr] and also a neuroscientist, was interviewed > recently and he said, "The human brain is complex beyond anybody's > imagining, let alone comprehension." He said, "We are not a few miles down a > long road; we are a few inches down the long road." Then he said, "All the > rest is literature." > > Michael Gazzaniga:If Jose Delgado says we're 2 inches down the road to > this long journey, I would say it's more like 2 microns. > > > http://www.seedmagazine.com/news/2008/07/tom_wolfe_michael_gazzaniga.php?page=all&p=y > ------------------------------ > *agi* | Archives <http://www.listbox.com/member/archive/303/=now> > <http://www.listbox.com/member/archive/rss/303/> | > Modify<http://www.listbox.com/member/?&;>Your Subscription > <http://www.listbox.com/> > ------------------------------------------- agi Archives: https://www.listbox.com/member/archive/303/=now RSS Feed: https://www.listbox.com/member/archive/rss/303/ Modify Your Subscription: https://www.listbox.com/member/?member_id=8660244&id_secret=106510220-47b225 Powered by Listbox: http://www.listbox.com
