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The Yin-Yang of the animal brain. - kandrathe - 03-02-2018 ... including humans. I study many things, but one consistent passion I have is in a better understanding of our brains. My quest in this regard was at first vocational, as I create computerized simulations of complex animal behaviors. This led me to delve into AI for awhile, where I pretty early on decided Minsky was way off track. Mostly, I doubted we had the computing power back then in the 80's to accurately emulate in digital circuitry what neurons do in analog ( chemically as well ). At that time I felt progress would be made if we built a more analog replacement for a transistor. As I understand them, a neuron has upper and lower stimulation thresholds, so that they might not respond if the get to much, or too little attention. Also, they can then act too amplify, or dampen the signal. Anyway, in neural computing/networking, there are many ideas and subsequent models. But, Moore's law has done the magic of providing the micron level circuitry capabilities. Real AI is likely to happen in my lifetime ( next 20 years). We've known for quite some time that one can think of the human brain as a coordinated group of interacting functions(e.g. Minsky's Society of Mind), and that in (too) simple terms, bilaterally we associate the left side of the brain with tasks that have to do with logic, and the right side performs tasks that have do with creativity and the arts. This absolute left/right is a bit of a mythology as we know its more distributed. Also, Recent research in neuroscience has discovered that our brains are grandly organized to simultaneously search for prey, and be wary of predators. In psychological translation to moderns humans I view it as the bold side grasps, while the wary side searches. Or, in other words, the rational, manager attempts to bring order, and the wary, creative, chaotic, paranoid side presents everything to which we should be afraid. One possible explanation of our brain size is simply lions, or their ancient ancestors. The theory, as is being explored in looking at predator prey relationships, is that predatory pressure rewards the better thinking prey with survival. Our ancient ancestors, having left the protection of trees, were most likely heavily hunted. www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov Wrote:Developmental Changes in the Corpus Callosum from Infancy to Early Adulthood: A Structural Magnetic Resonance Imaging Study You always hear of people claiming, "I've always been ... " Rather than focus on being good at say more rationality (logic) or more creativity, I believe as we mature we should endeavor to seek a balance between the two. So, one might clearly see that the ability to rationalize fear relates to the size of the Corpus Callosum, which connects the two hemispheres. Which is why when young I was sure that noise under my bed was a boogie man, but as an old man I no longer even have nightmares. At my old age of 57, I know how to be safe, so there is nothing left to fear. And, I do truly believe each of us can excel at both rational tasks, as well as creative ones. Iain McGilchrist, also on www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov Wrote:Reciprocal organization of the cerebral hemispheres Next on my reading list is THE MASTER AND HIS EMISSARY also by Iain McGilchrist |