Re: [FRIAM] Jack Cowan / Visual Hallucinations and structure of Visual Cortex (was Re: dystopian vision(s))

[Stephen Guerin]

Nick,

On Sat, Oct 22, 2022 at 8:32 PM  wrote:

> And always, always, remember that you are looking through the blood supply
> to your retina because it is mounted backwards.  There must be an enormous
> amount of error correction going on.
>

Language like that might well get you kicked out of the Neo-Gibsonian
Society!

https://monoskop.org/images/1/12/Gibson_James_J_1972_2002_A_Theory_of_Direct_Visual_Perception.pdf
"we do not see our retinal images. We see the environment"

The task for the perceiver is not to add structure to impoverished sensory
stimulation, but to detect the structure that already exists
(E. J. Gibson & Spelke, 1983).
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Re: [FRIAM] Jack Cowan / Visual Hallucinations and structure of Visual Cortex (was Re: dystopian vision(s))

[thompnickson2]

And always, always, remember that you are looking through the blood supply to 
your retina because it is mounted backwards.  There must be an enormous amount 
of error correction going on.  

 

Nick Thompson

 <mailto:thompnicks...@gmail.com> thompnicks...@gmail.com

 <https://wordpress.clarku.edu/nthompson/> 
https://wordpress.clarku.edu/nthompson/

 

From: Friam  On Behalf Of Merle Lefkoff
Sent: Friday, August 19, 2022 6:26 PM
To: The Friday Morning Applied Complexity Coffee Group 
Subject: Re: [FRIAM] Jack Cowan / Visual Hallucinations and structure of Visual 
Cortex (was Re: dystopian vision(s))

 

 

 

On Fri, Aug 19, 2022 at 5:23 PM Stephen Guerin mailto:stephen.gue...@simtable.com> > wrote:

Steve Smith writes:
>  There is surely research into how much/which psychoactives get involved in 
> modulating these processes.  

Jack (not George) Cowan gave a great lecture at BiosGroup in 2000 on this very 
topic: 

" What geometric visual hallucinations tell us about the visual cortex"
https://www.math.uh.edu/~dynamics/reprints/papers/nc.pdf

Abstract: Geometric visual hallucinations are seen by many observers after 
taking hallucinogens such as LSD, cannabis, mescaline or psilocybin, on viewing 
bright
flickering lights, on waking up or falling asleep, in “near death” experiences, 
and in many other syndromes. Kl¨uver organized the images into four groups
called “form constants”: (1) tunnels and funnels, (2) spirals, (3) lattices, 
including honeycombs and triangles, and (4) cobwebs. In general the images do
not move with the eyes. We interpret this to mean that they are generated
in the brain. Here we present a theory of their origin in visual cortex (area
V1), based on the assumption that the form of the retino–cortical map and the
architecture of V1 determine their geometry. We model V1 as the continuum
limit of a lattice of interconnected hypercolumns, each of which itself 
comprises
a number of interconnected iso-orientation columns. Based on anatomical 
evidence we assume that the lateral connectivity between hypercolumns exhibits
symmetries rendering it invariant under the action of the Euclidean group E(2),
composed of reflections and translations in the plane, and a (novel) shift–twist
action. Using this symmetry, we show that the various patterns of activity
that spontaneously emerge when V1’s spatially uniform resting state becomes
unstable, correspond to the form constants when transformed to the visual field
using the retino–cortical map. The results are sensitive to the detailed 
specification of the lateral connectivity and suggest that the cortical 
mechanisms
which generate geometric visual hallucinations are closely related to those used
to process edges, contours, textures and surfaces.



___
stephen.gue...@simtable.com <mailto:stephen.gue...@simtable.com> 

CEO, https://www.simtable.com <http://www.simtable.com/> 

1600 Lena St #D1, Santa Fe, NM 87505 
<https://www.google.com/maps/search/1600+Lena+St+%23D1,+Santa+Fe,+NM+87505+office:+(505?entry=gmail=g>
 

office: (505 
<https://www.google.com/maps/search/1600+Lena+St+%23D1,+Santa+Fe,+NM+87505+office:+(505?entry=gmail=g>
 )995-0206 mobile: (505)577-5828

 

 

On Fri, Aug 19, 2022 at 10:40 AM Steve Smith mailto:sasm...@swcp.com> > wrote:

And the retina is not a simple pixel-camera... even one with a non-uniform, 
non-rectangular distribution of photon-integrators...  there is plenty of 
processing going on between rods/cones and optic-nerve.   Do we suppose that 
*these* layers are significantly short-circuited by (some) psychadelics?

  
<https://www.embl.org/news/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/20210820_Hiroki_Asari_Vision_updated_1000px72dpi.jpg>
 

Retinal Processing Layers 
<https://www.embl.org/news/science/vision-unveiled-new-roles-for-the-retina-in-visual-processing/#:~:text=Located%20at%20the%20back%20of,colour%2C%20contrast%2C%20and%20motion.>
 

There is surely research into how much/which psychoactives get involved in 
modulating these processes.   

I tend to believe (with no specific references to offer) that the more 
interesting mediation/modulation DaveW gestures towards goes on further down 
the chain of processing.  Loosening up some of the (over?) model-fitting going 
on downstream from edge/contrast-enhanced perceptual info.   For example, I 
don't think that the military-industrial complex will have secret psychoactive 
drugs which replace night-vision goggles anytime soon. BUT I am more inclined 
to believe that cognition/perception - *sharpening*/*widening* pharmacology is 
already in use .   Cigarettes and Coffee were in WWII/Korea/Vietnam Rations as 
well as Bennies <https://allthatsinteresting.com/amphetamine-use-world-war-2> . 
 Good thing the Wermacht hadn't hit on PCP 
<https://drugabuse.com/drugs/hallucinogens/pcp/history-statistics/>  by then... 
  

Re: [FRIAM] Jack Cowan / Visual Hallucinations and structure of Visual Cortex (was Re: dystopian vision(s))

[Prof David West]

I am going ot the MAPS ( https://maps.org/event/psychedelic-science-2023/0 
Conference in Denver next summer and will report on the state of research in 
this area.

BTW—and not for purposes of extending discussion—those who I am channeling DO, 
in fact, advocate for embodied and macro-minds, not an isolated brain.

davew


On Fri, Aug 19, 2022, at 5:20 PM, Stephen Guerin wrote:
> Steve Smith writes:
> >  There is surely research into how much/which psychoactives get involved in 
> > modulating these processes.  
> 
> Jack (not George) Cowan gave a great lecture at BiosGroup in 2000 on this 
> very topic: 
> 
> " What geometric visual hallucinations tell us about the visual cortex"
> https://www.math.uh.edu/~dynamics/reprints/papers/nc.pdf
> 
> Abstract: Geometric visual hallucinations are seen by many observers after 
> taking hallucinogens such as LSD, cannabis, mescaline or psilocybin, on 
> viewing bright
> flickering lights, on waking up or falling asleep, in “near death” 
> experiences, 
> and in many other syndromes. Kl¨uver organized the images into four groups
> called “form constants”: (1) tunnels and funnels, (2) spirals, (3) lattices, 
> including honeycombs and triangles, and (4) cobwebs. In general the images do
> not move with the eyes. We interpret this to mean that they are generated
> in the brain. Here we present a theory of their origin in visual cortex (area
> V1), based on the assumption that the form of the retino–cortical map and the
> architecture of V1 determine their geometry. We model V1 as the continuum
> limit of a lattice of interconnected hypercolumns, each of which itself 
> comprises
> a number of interconnected iso-orientation columns. Based on anatomical 
> evidence we assume that the lateral connectivity between hypercolumns exhibits
> symmetries rendering it invariant under the action of the Euclidean group 
> E(2),
> composed of reflections and translations in the plane, and a (novel) 
> shift–twist
> action. Using this symmetry, we show that the various patterns of activity
> that spontaneously emerge when V1’s spatially uniform resting state becomes
> unstable, correspond to the form constants when transformed to the visual 
> field
> using the retino–cortical map. The results are sensitive to the detailed 
> specification of the lateral connectivity and suggest that the cortical 
> mechanisms
> which generate geometric visual hallucinations are closely related to those 
> used
> to process edges, contours, textures and surfaces.
> 
> ___
> stephen.gue...@simtable.com 
> CEO, https://www.simtable.com
> 1600 Lena St #D1, Santa Fe, NM 87505
> office: (505)995-0206 mobile: (505)577-5828
> 
> 
> 
> On Fri, Aug 19, 2022 at 10:40 AM Steve Smith  wrote:
>> And the retina is not a simple pixel-camera... even one with a non-uniform, 
>> non-rectangular distribution of photon-integrators...  there is plenty of 
>> processing going on between rods/cones and optic-nerve.   Do we suppose that 
>> *these* layers are significantly short-circuited by (some) psychadelics?
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> Retinal Processing Layers 
>> 
>> 
>> There is surely research into how much/which psychoactives get involved in 
>> modulating these processes.   
>> 
>> I tend to believe (with no specific references to offer) that the more 
>> interesting mediation/modulation DaveW gestures towards goes on further down 
>> the chain of processing.  Loosening up some of the (over?) model-fitting 
>> going on downstream from edge/contrast-enhanced perceptual info.   For 
>> example, I don't think that the military-industrial complex will have secret 
>> psychoactive drugs which replace night-vision goggles anytime soon. BUT I am 
>> more inclined to believe that cognition/perception - *sharpening*/*widening* 
>> pharmacology is already in use .   Cigarettes and Coffee were in 
>> WWII/Korea/Vietnam Rations as well as Bennies 
>> .  Good thing 
>> the Wermacht hadn't hit on PCP 
>>  by 
>> then...   already Jacked Ubermenchen on Hydrazine afterburners?
>> 
>> Are all our geriatric politicians on B12/Aderall cocktails?  Oh to see the 
>> pharmacological records for our most colorful politicians today!
>> 
>> 
>> 
>>> As is my habit, I refer to a Science Fiction Novel of relevance:  Hard 
>>> Wired  - Walter 
>>> Jon Williams.   On the one hand, this early cyberpunk novel is armatured 
>>> around advanced tech facilitated by earth-orbit near-zero-gravity, 
>>> near-perfect-vacuum, near-zero-regulation, and 
>>> near-zero-distribution-challenges (de-orbited 

Re: [FRIAM] Jack Cowan / Visual Hallucinations and structure of Visual Cortex (was Re: dystopian vision(s))

[Roger Critchlow]

No compliment so cleverly crafted that it cannot be twisted into an insult.

It seems like misinformation, whether our con-specifics are purposefully
lying to us or just being so badly informed that they're not even right
twice a day, is the actual human condition.  So the massive nervous system
parsing the inchoate chaos of raw sense data into curated sensations is the
easy part.  The real work begins when we start unpacking the messages from
the sensations and deciding what they say and whether they actually mean
what they say.  That includes doing higher order curation on the processed
sensations, too, because they can be liars too.

Noise on a communication channel is a piece of cake compared to the stream
of garbage we are processing.

-- rec --

On Fri, Aug 19, 2022 at 8:32 PM Stephen Guerin 
wrote:

> Jack Cowan hung around the office for a week after his lecture. We had a
> ping pong table in the break area at Bios and hebecame my partner. We beat
> all double challengers at the office for that full week (cc  said
> challengers: Rich Harris, Keith Hunter, Brian Birk, Mohammed) :-) Stu later
> let me know Jack was on the Scottish Olympic Table Tennis Team in his
> youth). Stu was in a theoretical-biology group at the University of
> Chicago, run by Jack Cowan, that included people like Arthur Winfree, Leon
> Glass, and others.
>
> Also, as I was searching for Jack's article referenced below,  I came
> across Jack's actual quote of Stu:
> https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB902095959816268500
>
> Dr. Kauffman, now 58 years old, faces huge hurdles cashing in on his
> patent. But the controversial scientist considers it "a vindication." Like
> other theorists in biology, he hasn't earned the kind of acclaim that
> experimentalists get. He studied philosophy at Dartmouth College, Hanover,
> N.H., and, after medical school, turned to fruit-fly genetics. But he never
> excelled at experimentation, colleagues say. What he did brilliantly was
> articulate an endless stream of abstract ideas.
>
>
> *"He has the highest mouth-to-brain ratio of any one person I've ever met,
> but with a very high denominator," *says Jack Cowan, a University of
> Chicago professor of applied mathematics and theoretical biology, who was
> Dr. Kauffman's first boss. "If he had the math skills as well as the verbal
> ones, he would be amazing."
>
> I always only heard the first half of the quote by cynics like Horgan
> recounting it into an insult:
> http://www2.econ.iastate.edu/tesfatsi/hogan.complexperplex.htm
>
> What Liddle does not say is that even some scientists associated with the
> institute are beginning to fret over the gap between such rhetoric and
> reality. Take Jack D. Cowan, a mathematical biologist from the University
> of Chicago who helped to found the institute and remains on its board.
> Cowan is no scientific prude; he has explored the neurochemical processes
> underlying the baroque visual patterns evoked by LSD. *But some Santa Fe
> theorists exhibit too high a "mouth-to-brain ratio" for his taste*.
> "There has been tremendous hype," he grumbles.
>
>
> -S
> ___
> stephen.gue...@simtable.com 
> CEO, https://www.simtable.com 
> 1600 Lena St #D1, Santa Fe, NM 87505
> office: (505)995-0206 mobile: (505)577-5828
>
>
> On Fri, Aug 19, 2022 at 6:20 PM Stephen Guerin <
> stephen.gue...@simtable.com> wrote:
>
>> Steve Smith writes:
>> >  There is surely research into how much/which psychoactives get
>> involved in modulating these processes.
>>
>> Jack (not George) Cowan gave a great lecture at BiosGroup in 2000 on this
>> very topic:
>>
>> " What geometric visual hallucinations tell us about the visual cortex"
>> https://www.math.uh.edu/~dynamics/reprints/papers/nc.pdf
>>
>> Abstract: Geometric visual hallucinations are seen by many observers
>> after taking hallucinogens such as LSD, cannabis, mescaline or psilocybin,
>> on viewing bright
>> flickering lights, on waking up or falling asleep, in “near death”
>> experiences,
>> and in many other syndromes. Kl¨uver organized the images into four groups
>> called “form constants”: (1) tunnels and funnels, (2) spirals, (3)
>> lattices, including honeycombs and triangles, and (4) cobwebs. In general
>> the images do
>> not move with the eyes. We interpret this to mean that they are generated
>> in the brain. Here we present a theory of their origin in visual cortex
>> (area
>> V1), based on the assumption that the form of the retino–cortical map and
>> the
>> architecture of V1 determine their geometry. We model V1 as the continuum
>> limit of a lattice of interconnected hypercolumns, each of which itself
>> comprises
>> a number of interconnected iso-orientation columns. Based on anatomical
>> evidence we assume that the lateral connectivity between hypercolumns
>> exhibits
>> symmetries rendering it invariant under the action of the Euclidean group
>> E(2),
>> composed of 

Re: [FRIAM] Jack Cowan / Visual Hallucinations and structure of Visual Cortex (was Re: dystopian vision(s))

[Stephen Guerin]

Jack Cowan hung around the office for a week after his lecture. We had a
ping pong table in the break area at Bios and hebecame my partner. We beat
all double challengers at the office for that full week (cc  said
challengers: Rich Harris, Keith Hunter, Brian Birk, Mohammed) :-) Stu later
let me know Jack was on the Scottish Olympic Table Tennis Team in his
youth). Stu was in a theoretical-biology group at the University of
Chicago, run by Jack Cowan, that included people like Arthur Winfree, Leon
Glass, and others.

Also, as I was searching for Jack's article referenced below,  I came
across Jack's actual quote of Stu:
https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB902095959816268500

Dr. Kauffman, now 58 years old, faces huge hurdles cashing in on his
patent. But the controversial scientist considers it "a vindication." Like
other theorists in biology, he hasn't earned the kind of acclaim that
experimentalists get. He studied philosophy at Dartmouth College, Hanover,
N.H., and, after medical school, turned to fruit-fly genetics. But he never
excelled at experimentation, colleagues say. What he did brilliantly was
articulate an endless stream of abstract ideas.


*"He has the highest mouth-to-brain ratio of any one person I've ever met,
but with a very high denominator," *says Jack Cowan, a University of
Chicago professor of applied mathematics and theoretical biology, who was
Dr. Kauffman's first boss. "If he had the math skills as well as the verbal
ones, he would be amazing."

I always only heard the first half of the quote by cynics like Horgan
recounting it into an insult:
http://www2.econ.iastate.edu/tesfatsi/hogan.complexperplex.htm

What Liddle does not say is that even some scientists associated with the
institute are beginning to fret over the gap between such rhetoric and
reality. Take Jack D. Cowan, a mathematical biologist from the University
of Chicago who helped to found the institute and remains on its board.
Cowan is no scientific prude; he has explored the neurochemical processes
underlying the baroque visual patterns evoked by LSD. *But some Santa Fe
theorists exhibit too high a "mouth-to-brain ratio" for his taste*. "There
has been tremendous hype," he grumbles.


-S
___
stephen.gue...@simtable.com 
CEO, https://www.simtable.com 
1600 Lena St #D1, Santa Fe, NM 87505
office: (505)995-0206 mobile: (505)577-5828


On Fri, Aug 19, 2022 at 6:20 PM Stephen Guerin 
wrote:

> Steve Smith writes:
> >  There is surely research into how much/which psychoactives get involved
> in modulating these processes.
>
> Jack (not George) Cowan gave a great lecture at BiosGroup in 2000 on this
> very topic:
>
> " What geometric visual hallucinations tell us about the visual cortex"
> https://www.math.uh.edu/~dynamics/reprints/papers/nc.pdf
>
> Abstract: Geometric visual hallucinations are seen by many observers after
> taking hallucinogens such as LSD, cannabis, mescaline or psilocybin, on
> viewing bright
> flickering lights, on waking up or falling asleep, in “near death”
> experiences,
> and in many other syndromes. Kl¨uver organized the images into four groups
> called “form constants”: (1) tunnels and funnels, (2) spirals, (3)
> lattices, including honeycombs and triangles, and (4) cobwebs. In general
> the images do
> not move with the eyes. We interpret this to mean that they are generated
> in the brain. Here we present a theory of their origin in visual cortex
> (area
> V1), based on the assumption that the form of the retino–cortical map and
> the
> architecture of V1 determine their geometry. We model V1 as the continuum
> limit of a lattice of interconnected hypercolumns, each of which itself
> comprises
> a number of interconnected iso-orientation columns. Based on anatomical
> evidence we assume that the lateral connectivity between hypercolumns
> exhibits
> symmetries rendering it invariant under the action of the Euclidean group
> E(2),
> composed of reflections and translations in the plane, and a (novel)
> shift–twist
> action. Using this symmetry, we show that the various patterns of activity
> that spontaneously emerge when V1’s spatially uniform resting state becomes
> unstable, correspond to the form constants when transformed to the visual
> field
> using the retino–cortical map. The results are sensitive to the detailed
> specification of the lateral connectivity and suggest that the cortical
> mechanisms
> which generate geometric visual hallucinations are closely related to
> those used
> to process edges, contours, textures and surfaces.
>
> ___
> stephen.gue...@simtable.com 
> CEO, https://www.simtable.com 
> 1600 Lena St #D1, Santa Fe, NM 87505
> office: (505)995-0206 mobile: (505)577-5828
>
>
> On Fri, Aug 19, 2022 at 10:40 AM Steve Smith  wrote:
>
>> And the retina is not a simple pixel-camera... even one 

Re: [FRIAM] Jack Cowan / Visual Hallucinations and structure of Visual Cortex (was Re: dystopian vision(s))

[Merle Lefkoff]

On Fri, Aug 19, 2022 at 5:23 PM Stephen Guerin 
wrote:

> Steve Smith writes:
> >  There is surely research into how much/which psychoactives get involved
> in modulating these processes.
>
> Jack (not George) Cowan gave a great lecture at BiosGroup in 2000 on this
> very topic:
>
> " What geometric visual hallucinations tell us about the visual cortex"
> https://www.math.uh.edu/~dynamics/reprints/papers/nc.pdf
>
> Abstract: Geometric visual hallucinations are seen by many observers after
> taking hallucinogens such as LSD, cannabis, mescaline or psilocybin, on
> viewing bright
> flickering lights, on waking up or falling asleep, in “near death”
> experiences,
> and in many other syndromes. Kl¨uver organized the images into four groups
> called “form constants”: (1) tunnels and funnels, (2) spirals, (3)
> lattices, including honeycombs and triangles, and (4) cobwebs. In general
> the images do
> not move with the eyes. We interpret this to mean that they are generated
> in the brain. Here we present a theory of their origin in visual cortex
> (area
> V1), based on the assumption that the form of the retino–cortical map and
> the
> architecture of V1 determine their geometry. We model V1 as the continuum
> limit of a lattice of interconnected hypercolumns, each of which itself
> comprises
> a number of interconnected iso-orientation columns. Based on anatomical
> evidence we assume that the lateral connectivity between hypercolumns
> exhibits
> symmetries rendering it invariant under the action of the Euclidean group
> E(2),
> composed of reflections and translations in the plane, and a (novel)
> shift–twist
> action. Using this symmetry, we show that the various patterns of activity
> that spontaneously emerge when V1’s spatially uniform resting state becomes
> unstable, correspond to the form constants when transformed to the visual
> field
> using the retino–cortical map. The results are sensitive to the detailed
> specification of the lateral connectivity and suggest that the cortical
> mechanisms
> which generate geometric visual hallucinations are closely related to
> those used
> to process edges, contours, textures and surfaces.
>
> ___
> stephen.gue...@simtable.com 
> CEO, https://www.simtable.com 
> 1600 Lena St #D1, Santa Fe, NM 87505
> 
> office: (505
> 
> )995-0206 mobile: (505)577-5828
>
>
> On Fri, Aug 19, 2022 at 10:40 AM Steve Smith  wrote:
>
>> And the retina is not a simple pixel-camera... even one with a
>> non-uniform, non-rectangular distribution of photon-integrators...  there
>> is plenty of processing going on between rods/cones and optic-nerve.   Do
>> we suppose that *these* layers are significantly short-circuited by (some)
>> psychadelics?
>>
>>
>> Retinal Processing Layers
>> 
>>
>> There is surely research into how much/which psychoactives get involved
>> in modulating these processes.
>>
>> I tend to believe (with no specific references to offer) that the more
>> interesting mediation/modulation DaveW gestures towards goes on further
>> down the chain of processing.  Loosening up some of the (over?)
>> model-fitting going on downstream from edge/contrast-enhanced perceptual
>> info.   For example, I don't think that the military-industrial complex
>> will have secret psychoactive drugs which replace night-vision goggles
>> anytime soon. BUT I am more inclined to believe that cognition/perception -
>> *sharpening*/*widening* pharmacology is already in use .   Cigarettes and
>> Coffee were in WWII/Korea/Vietnam Rations as well as Bennies
>> .  Good
>> thing the Wermacht hadn't hit on PCP
>>  by
>> then...   already Jacked Ubermenchen on Hydrazine afterburners?
>>
>> Are all our geriatric politicians on B12/Aderall cocktails?  Oh to see
>> the pharmacological records for our most colorful politicians today!
>>
>> 
>>
>> As is my habit, I refer to a Science Fiction Novel of relevance:  Hard
>> Wired  - Walter
>> Jon Williams.   On the one hand, this early cyberpunk novel is armatured
>> around advanced tech facilitated by earth-orbit near-zero-gravity,
>> near-perfect-vacuum, near-zero-regulation, and
>> near-zero-distribution-challenges (de-orbited bundles) supporting a
>> florescence of pharmaceutical  research/development/production/use.   On
>> the other hand, the protaganist (as I remember him) was wonderfully
>> oldSkool,