further comments:
>>when we 'sleep', current info is cross-correlated with old info.
it's necessary to 'sleep' to do this because 'memory' is activation-dependent,
and the only way the nervous system can integrate new info with old info is to
construct the underpinning activation.
this is done via a 'special' 'state' of 'consciousness' simply because doing so
is extremely-very-much more-efficient than the alternative... bringing past
experiences, one by one, into 'waking consciousness', and seeing 'what-for re.
the new info.
it's all 'just' an elegant TD E/I-minimization 'strategy' that's engineered
into nervous systems.<<
do folks get-it?
'memory' is 'encoded' within physically-real microscopic trophic (growth)
modifications to the neural topology.
such 'encoding' is necessary because 'memory' happens when this or that neural
circuit's activation is converged upon via TD E/I-minimization. when such
convergence occurs, the neural circuitry that's activated includes all of the
ancillary activations which align 'affect', etc.
this's why all information-content 'addressing' is activation-dependent.
the nervous system's information-processing capacities are infinitely-variable.
this's wonderous in and of itself, but it also creates a rather formidable
problem that the nervous system must solve... how, given the infinite scope of
the nervous system's information-processing capacities, can things be 'encoded'
so that only the necessary circuitry is activated during the course of
behavior?
as i've discussed over the years, the answer is via blind TD E/I-minimization.
the thing is, though, TD E/I-minimization can only occur within an ongoing,
'momentary' activation 'state'.
so, if TD E/I-minimization's convergence upon minimal circuitry is to occur,
the circuitry that is to be converged upon, and which will, subsequently,
'encode' memory, must exist within a larger activation 'state' that will be
'whittled' (AoK, Ap5) down to the minimal activation 'state' that will 'encode'
'memory'.
hence, activation-dependence.
now, look at the same requirement for activation-dependence from the
perspective of the problem of integrating new information with old
information... within the context of this thread, what is necessary, given the
necessity of activation-dependence, in order to thoroughly cross-correlate,
say, the experience acquired during a single period of 'waking consciousness'
with the stuff of all the prior experience that one has, formerly, acquired?
given the necessity of activity-dependence, the task becomes one of activating
the entirety of one's experience, and, at every 'point' within such activation,
merging the activation pertaining to the experience of the 'waking
consciousness' period that is currently being integrated.
this is an extremely-very-enormous information-processing task. (it's one of
the things that readily discloses the veracity inherent in my prior use of the
'piles-of-stones' analogy in comparing existing machine
'information-processing' capacities with the infinitely-large
information-processing capacities nervous systems.)
it's the scope of this awesomely-huge information-processing problem that
selected for 'sleep consciousness' during the course of evolutionary
dynamics... organisms that hit upon a strategy in which their nervous systems
were, relatively-completely, given over to such comprehensive
cross-correlation, and integration, of new information, acquired via the
occurrence of neural activation 'states' during relatively-recent
'waking-consciousness' experience, with relatively-old information, acquired
via the occurrence of neural activation 'states' during relatively-former
'waking-consciousness' experience, gained avangage over organisms that did not
hit upon such an information-processing strategy. and organisms that acquired
the ability to 'sleep' better gained advantage over organisms that acquired the
ability to 'sleep' only less-well(which, BTW (for those who've 'explored' such
over the years), is why i do not hesitate to "pound on the walls of my 'cage'"
when 'neighbors' are behaving in ways that strongly-intrude upon my 'sleep
consciousness'... such constitutes physically-real assault upon one's body, in
ways that affect one's survival propensity as surely as does attack with the
use of knives and guns, even if the 'piercing' or the 'bullet is so slow'.) (my
use of 'relative', in the immediately-prior discussion (and always), reflects
that the reality occurs upon a continuum. this continuum is, itself,
constituted in relative TD E/I.)
'sleep consciousness' is 'just' this extraordinarily-efficient
information-processing strategy with which the Evolutionary Engineer has imbued
our nervous systems.
if folks check the 'sleep' literature, they'll find that everything's in-order.
pay attention to stuff like the verified 'time'-sequencing inherent. for
instance, when folks are awakened during 'REM sleep', over the course of a
night's 'sleeping consciousness', and asked to report their 'dream' content,
they report relatively-recent experiential correlations early in this
experimental set, and relatively-old experiential correlations later in this
experimental set.
this 'time'-sequencing has nothing to do with 'time'. it's correlated solely
with respect to relative TD E/I. it has the outward appearance of there being a
'time' correlation be-cause it's the case that relatively-'old' experience has
already been 'through this mill' relatively-many 'times' and, so, it's,
therefore, already relatively-well TD E/I-minimized.
so, you see?
just as i've been explaining, over the years, everything reduces to the one-way
flow of energy from order to disorder that is what's described by 2nd Thermo
(wdb2t).
'sleep consciousness' is 'just' an extraordinarily-powerful
information-processing strategy with which the Evolutionary Engineer has (in my
view, Lovingly) imbued our nervous systems, so that the propensity to 'climb'
the energy gradient that is wdb2t exists robustly within our beings.
Beautiful, eh?
[i'll offer an insight into my own being, here. folks who 'wonder' about the
way i 'prefer' to 'work in solitude' can understand, a bit, if they realize
that, having come to understand all of this stuff decades ago, i've been using
it to optimize my own information-processing dynamics 'with any eye on'
acquiring the capacity to present the same understanding to the Children... to
the Future... as a Gift.
it's the same way in the entirety of my being.
those who think that this 'preference' is an 'indication' that i exist as some
sort of 'recluse', who 'enjoys being alone', are totally mistaken. the
'solitude' is 'just' a necessity, and it always 'cuts' to the core of my being.
but, consider the alternatives... 'go to grad school', and spend the vast
majority of one's energy 'going around in circles', getting relatively-nowhere,
be-cause grad school is, in the main, 'only' a 'pastime' (see AoK), in which
folks do anything but do what needs to be done.
or just attend any conference, witnessing how presenters' best efforts are
drowned-out within the flood of 'socially'correct' nothingness into which such
events, typically, descend. of course there's a collective 'purpose' in all
such 'social' stuff... it assuages folks 'consciences' with respect to the fact
that they're blowing-off what they know must be accomplished. (see
'diminishing-returns decision, AoK, Ap7).
please don't think me 'too-hard'.
my words, shared here, have within them nothing but Loving-Encouragement. the
Future depends upon us doing our Science well. and i long for the day when such
becomes the heart of our collective endeavor.]
anyway, it's important to understand what's been discussed in this msg. if
anything needs further clarification, please msg with particulars, and i'll use
what you raise to flesh things out further.
May God Speed your Efforts,
K. P. Collins (ken)
