----- Original Message ----- From: Ben Goertzel To: agi@v2.listbox.com Sent: Sunday, August 10, 2008 8:00 AM Subject: Re: [agi] The Necessity of Embodiment
... the best approaches are 1) wait till the brain scientists scan the brain well enough that, by combining appropriate neurocognitive theory w/ brain scan results, we can figure out how the brain works ... then emulate it in hardware ********************************************************* Ben This has already been achieved through basic neuroanatomy, where the cytoarchitectonic subdivisions of both the thalamus and the neocortex are topographically defined in terms of the variables of phylogenetic age and input specificity. The cortical and thalamic parcellations of Brodmann, von Economo and Hassler are each quantitatively correlated to a specific Cartesian coordinate value designating discrete levels for both evolutionary age and input basic parameters. This dual parameter grid does for neuroscience what the periodic table did for chemistry... more at http://www.forebrain.org As far as "embidiment" -- the brain apparently "secretes" its own VR reality, as imperfectly experienced in dreams, and more precisely in waking consc.The human brain is essentially a self-assembling (in utero) wet-ware biocomputer/ motivational analyzer that ensures the survival of the organism in harmony with the environment. The mind, which is the domain of study for psychology, represents the outward manifestation of the software processes that mediate consciousness, emotion, and communication. This mirrors the technological platform encountered for Artificial Intelligence, although the hardware is silicon-based and digital (rather than analogue), and advances typically target only an imitation of the symbolic attributes of language, rather than the entire spectrum of human consciousness (that required billions of years of evolution to perfect). In summary, then, through the aid of the new "periodic table" for the human forebrain (employing the basic exteroceptive, interoceptive, and proprioceptive input categories), an intimately detailed pattern correspondence can be established with the instinctual principles of behavioral psychology. Here, the forebrain expands upon the stimulus/response (sensory/motor) reflex arcs implicit in the neuraxial spinal cord, with the intermediary neurons mediating the interoceptive sensations correlating to the emotions. Indeed, the nervous system never replaces basic circuitry, only modifies it, such as evident in the vast expansion of the forebrain based upon the visual and olfactory senses. This expansion of the forebrain, in turn, serves as the elementary foundation for the higher cognitive disciplines within psychology. Therefore, by applying the behavioral principles on an evolutionary scale from lower animals clear on up to humans, it is possible to achieve such a synthesis of behavioral psychology with its corresponding "hard science" referent in the field of neuroanatomy. Please advise if this might be of value to OCP ... John E LaMuth ------------------------------------------- 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=108809214-a0d121 Powered by Listbox: http://www.listbox.com
