tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7936193586750164972.post5108328313957580791..comments2023-10-30T08:46:08.574-07:00Comments on Wandering Primate: Complexity, connectivity, and rising consciousnessDr Ghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06123935923298499046noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7936193586750164972.post-34332395846146457422008-02-25T08:30:00.000-07:002008-02-25T08:30:00.000-07:00I agree that the human brain seems incredibly plia...I agree that the human brain seems incredibly pliable ("plastic") and it sometimes takes a lot to alter capacities- but not always (depending on what area is impacted).<BR/>Though maybe not how it really happens, Lileys analogy offers some insight to how information is processed and shifted through different parts of the brain. Given the right conditions one can see how a small push can create a general shift (ie; subconscious to conscious). The brain seems to work more as a redundant (albiet finite) system of interacting modules (Not sure how far to take the holographic anology though)and that slippery notion of "consciousness" seems to be a result of these actions. <BR/> <BR/>(BTW, Liley later seems to imply that chaos theory may suggest some kind of larger consciousness- I don't think thats the case at all- you need connectivity, complexity and time all bundled. So far no evidence beyond the machinations of brains -for example- that can produce the "tightness" needed to allow for the dynamics that might produce "consciousness")Dr Ghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06123935923298499046noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7936193586750164972.post-80970163245325322312008-02-24T08:58:00.000-07:002008-02-24T08:58:00.000-07:00Dear wandering primate,"As David Liley2 notes “Hen...Dear wandering primate,<BR/><I>"As David Liley2 notes “Hence, in the brain, it is possible that a single firing of one neuron (among billions) at a critical moment, could cause a shift in the entire system, producing a brain state (and behavior) that seems entirely unpredictable"</I><BR/>I do not agree with that. It is an inherent characteristic of how our brain works that each and every information item is sort of holographically stored in a region of the brain. One single neuron cannot cause the whole brain to behave erratically. There are a lot of people living with minor brain damage ("only" hundreds or thousends of brain cells destroyed) without any apparent impact on their brain capacities.<BR/>It is like in modern datamining algorithms : A lot of rules are used and their outcomes are averaged. This give very stable results, even with some aberrations in the incoming data.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com