IUBio

the neural net and artificial intelligence

Ray Scanlon rscanlon at wsg.net
Tue Nov 24 12:07:25 EST 1998


Jim Hunter wrote in message
<364CFF6A.29ACD8BB at REMOVE_TO_EMAIL.jhuapl.edu>...
>  The brain certainly does need training. I suppose you might
>  want to claim that your brain discovered geometry, DNA,
>  or computerized gene sequencing? Or even how to drive a car?
>
>  All observers need driving lessons before they are allowed
>  to drive their brains anywhere. (Particularly some "drifty"
>  scientists and mathematicians that I know).

You invoke an homunculus. The homunculus is the little man who sits in the
middle of your head, watching a TV screen, and punching buttons. Some, more
sophisticated, envision a mind (soul, self), that selects from the  data
proffered by the brain, manipulates  that data, comes to a conclusion, and
forwards the decision to the brain for execution.

Others, even more sophisticated, invoke a "society" to train the brain. I
ask you, "Who trains the rat's brain?"

We limit our investigation of the (rat, cat, man) brain to the material
world. Mind is not part of the material world. There can be no homunculus to
train the mind. The synapses of the neural net are altered by the signal
energy that flows through it, that is all. The signal energy originates in
the sensory neurons that transduce energy arriving from the exterior
universe.

It is natural for an academic to say that no agglomeration of neurons could
have the beautiful thoughts that flow through his mind. He is mistaken.

Ray
Those interested in how the brain works might look at
www.wsg.net/~rscanlon/brain.html






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