IUBio

The Celebral Code - is it still reliable ?

Brian zhil at online.no
Fri Oct 12 15:32:32 EST 2001


Hi,
Today I finished "The Celebral Code" by William.Calvin.
It was an interesting read, but I have a question; is the theory still
reliable ?
(it evolves around this Darwin Machine).
The book in it self was lighthearted and fun, and it was (for me) an easy
read, although I had to stretch my mind a bit to see it from several angles.
But I think it doesn't just explains Hebb's cell-assembly, but also
consciousness, which I think is _the_ most important part of the book (for
me).
And I didn't even searched for an answer to the question of consciousness
either.
To Yin;
I was asked why the feedback to the Thalamus was much less extensive than
the strait-ahead neuro-gateway through the Thalamus.
Now, I think I know why.
There is no need for much feedback as the brain processes the incoming
sensory information (and long time memory - internally), just enough to
filter away whath the brain doesn't find particularily interesting.
BTW I don't think the Thalamus is the first filter either, but it might be
the first _combined area_-filter (an active filter).
And long term memory is NOT directly by itself connected to short term
memory, no - it (LTM) is established in another domain directly and
indirectly (through the Corpus Callosum, aka the Faux Fax of Calvin) were
the data will imprint itself onto an area.
The bigger the area, the greater is the chance that this particular memory
will survive.
When ideas compete (in our brains) for attention, they occupy hexagonal
areas (Hebb's cell-assembly), and the one with the greatest area usually
wins.
William called it his Darwin Machine, and all I can say is that I'm awed
over his intelligence.
But alas, I still have to study more - so I'm going to read "Memory - From
Mind to Molecules" by Larry R.Squire and Eric R.Kandel.
I think I'll have to spend some time on this one.

Brian





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