I wonder if folks know that Pribram invoked "holograms" only
metaphorically?
See, for instance, _The Metaphorical Brain_, by Michael Arbib. I don't
have immediate access to the copyright date or ISBN, but I read it in
1975. The Author was one of my Professors. (He used to pile all his old
refs outside his office door. Getting by "on a wing and a prayer" and
not having $ for a lot of photocopying, I'd rummage through his this
pile of papers... the Bag-Man of Science.)
At any rate, today has been the "Perfect" Metaphor for things since I
came back online 12Oct98.
It's a bit-Hard to see folks, all lined-up like an army, "moving away
from" Truth laid at their feet.
What will folks tell their Children after the dust's settled? K. P.
Collins
kkollins at pop3.concentric.net wrote:
>> Hi, Dag, I see, in the stuff of your post, that Pribram was, essentially
> correct (even though he didn't state things in terms of the neural
> topology).
>> My Master's Thesis at Springfield College, which was left incompleted
> when I "Died" (1976-7 academic year), was a holographic memory
> hypothesis. The inspiration for it, as I noted years ago in another
> online "place", was in what I'd read of Pribram's work, and, of course,
> the work of Gabor (1940) in Physics.
>> All of this was brought to fruition in 1979, after reading an artical,
> _Thinking About the Brain_, by F. R. C. Crock, in the Sept., 1979 issue
> of _Scientific American_. _Why: Human Behavior_ was written and
> distributed in the summer of 1980. With some significant modifications
> (mainly with respect to hippocampal function (going from
> "memory-storage" to intermediate-"level" supersystem configuration), and
> from the minimization of the "Energy Consumption of Mentation" to TD
> E/I-minimization, _Why: Human Behavior_ was the "Automation of
> Knowing..." doc (AoK, 1986).
>> If I read Pribram's _Languages of the Brain_, such is noted in the
> archives I've Judiciously Maintained and distributed (I can't check now.
> To remove "rationale" for the break-ins that I was experiencing, I moved
> everything off-site (at considerable expense in terms of the hassles
> inherent... imagine a Scientist who cannot even keep his notebooks on
> hand... there was a benefit, however... I had to just stuff everything
> in-there, and carry it all in-memory, and, brains being brains, mine
> just sorted it all out... I'm reminded of the old saying, "God works in
> funny ways" :-)
>> Cheers, Dag, ken collins
>>dag.stenberg at helsinki.nospam.fi wrote:
> >
> > Thiele Everett <m9233 at abc.se> wrote:
> > > "In the holographic state -- in the zone of frequencies -- maybe four
> > > thousand years ago is tomorrow"
> >
> > My _guess_: the holographic transformation can be achieved with Fouirer
> > analysis, which eliminates the time scale.
> >
> > > and, perhaps from the same text:
> > > "Don't think I understand all this either"
> > > He [K.H.Pribram] uses terms like: "the holographic state/condition" ?
> > > "the frequency area/zone/region" ?
> > > and possibly: "the holographic paradigm"
> >
> > In Pribram, K.H. "Languages of the Brain", Prentice-Hall, 1971, chapter
> > 8 is dedicated to holograms. The hologram theory has a prominent place
> > in the book.
> >
> > On p. 152:
> > "The essence of the holographic concept is that Images are reconstructed
> > when representations in the form of distributed information systems are
> > appropriately engaged. These representations operate as filters or
> > screens. In fact, as we have noted, one derivative of the holographic
> > process comes from a consideration of optical filtering mechanisms.
> > Holography in this frame of reference is conceived as an instantaneous
> > analogue cross-correlation performed by matched filters. In the brain
> > correlation can take place at various levels. In more peripheral
> > stations correlation occurs between successive configurations produced
> > by receptor excitation : the residuals left by adaptation through
> > decrementing form a buffer memory register to be updated by current
> > input. At more central stations correlation entails a more complex
> > interaction : at any moment illput is correlated not only with the
> > configuration of excitation existing at any locus, but also with
> > patterns arriving from other statiolls. An example of this sort of
> > complexity is shown in the experilllental results described in Chapter 7
> > where the configuration of potelltial changes in the visual cortex was
> > determined not only by the visual cues observed by a monkey, but also by
> > the contingencies of reillforcement and the "intention" to make one or
> > another response."
> >
> > In chapter 19, on p. 370:
> > "My hypothesis is that all thinking bas, in addition to sign and symbol
> > manipulation, a holographic component. Holographic representations are
> > excellent associative mechanisms; they powerfully and instantaneously
> > perform cross-correlations. These are the very properties that have been
> > attributed to thought in the problem solving process the difficulty bas
> > been to make explicit the neural mechanism involved. Both this
> > difficulty and the ubiquitous use by the brain of holographic
> > transformations stem from another attribute :
> > holograms are composed by transformations which, when they are simply
> > repeated, essentially reconstruct the original from which the
> > holographic representation was composed. Holograms are the "catalysts of
> > thought." Though they remain unchanged, they enter into and facilitate
> > the thought process.
> > According to this view, thought is a search through the distributed
> > holographic memory for resolution of uncertainty, i.e., for acquisition
> > of relevant information. This formulation is inadequate, however, unless
> > the term relevan t infe)rmation includes appropriate configurations as
> > well as items or bits in the information-theoretic sense. More often
> > than not, when problems generate thought' contextual and configurational
> > matchings are sought' not just specific items of information. These
> > matchings, 1 believe, can occur best while the coding operation is in
> > its holographic mode. Perhaps the power of thought in problem solving
> > resides in the repeated return to the configurational form of
> > representation that serves a rehearsal function and allows the
> > occurrence of additional distributions in memory. Some of these
> > distributions will, because of correlations with brain states different
> > from the initial one, become imbedded in new representations. They thus
> > become available, when properly triggered, as new possibilities in
> > problem solving."
> >
> > Not that this makes much sense to me, nor might it help you very much.
> > At least it is better to look for Pribram than Pribam if you are
> > searching for references in libraries.
> >
> > Dag Stenberg