Philosophy & Psychology
Philosophy, Psychology, Neuroscience
A series of books present important topics in psychology, neuroscience and philosophy. These books form an integrated series, designed for students and the general reader who wants a salient, up to date review of the most important topics for humans studying themselves and others.
Topics from books byStephen Gislason
Existence
Consciousness
Who am I ?
Inside and Outside
Beliefs, Illusions, Delusions
Emotions and Feelings
Empathy and Compassion
Rules and Morality
Human Origins
In the Beginning
Karma
Meaning of Mind
Neuroscience
Intelligence
Innate Tendencies
Brain and Computing
Brain as Analogue Computer
Science Fiction & Future
Surviving Human Nature
Uncertainty
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Digital computers seperate data and procedures. The digital machine is more complex than an analogue computer, less reliable and consumes more space and energy than the analogue computer to accomplish the same task
A brain takes the analog approach and accomplishes sophisticated computations in real time, efficiently, usually without storing any data. There are no brain programs that resemble computer programs stored in a coded format since all the programming and all the data is built into neuronal networks.
Early studies of neurons focused on the on-off characteristic of action potentials and a misleading comparison has been made with the transistor switch in digital circuits. An action potential does not have the meaning of a 0 or 1 digital switch since there is no evidence at all of binary coding in the brain. The action potential or spike is an analog signal that interacts complexly with other signals arriving at the receiving neuron. Each neuron is a computer in its own right and may have the signal-processing value of hundreds or thousands of transistors in a digital computer. Neuronal computation only makes sense when the neuronal interconnections are revealed by careful microscopic and electrochemical study. Neurons are living cells and unlike transistors, they breathe, eat, excrete, expand and contract, send and receive chemical messages. They get sick and die if conditions are not right. Neurons also pulse they are spontaneously active; they can send messages whenever they feel like it. Neurons are not send-receive robots; they have their own ideas about what is going on. Neurons are tree-like with branch-like extensions from the cell body that connect to other neurons by synapses. Koch reported that neurons have numerous electrically active components in the incoming branches. These actively modify the effect of incoming messages. Computer simulations show that active elements probably multiply the influence of adjacent synapses. The timing and distribution of incoming spikes is important. Cells in monkeys' brains can adjust the intervals between spikes in increments as little as one hundredth of as second. Spikes propagate in the "forward" direction toward the synapses that relay outgoing messages and move back along the neuron's input branches toward the cell body. Synapses adapt to the incoming rate of spikes and are responsive to changes in electrical activity over a range of background levels.Neurons are often spontaneous signal emitters; their outputs are sometimes rhythmic or periodic pulses that inhibit, excite or tune downstream neurons. Neuronal oscillators may also keep time and regulate body hormonal levels with pulses of chemical secretions. Oscillators are common in analog electronic circuits and are often the basis of tuning circuits to incoming waveforms. The spontaneous activity of oscillators is the essence of consciousness and brain activity in general and anyone who thinks of neurons as receive and send robots will come to all the wrong conclusions about how the brain works.
Koch suggests that the brain should be viewed as a hybrid computer, one that employs both digital pulses (between neurons) and analog computations (within them). I do not share Kochs notion that there is any digital processing going on in the brain a spike is an analog signal, equivalent to waves in a frequency modulated radio transmission but much slower.
The prerequisite of digital computing is not the wave form (desk top computers use 1.5 to 5 volt rectangular waves or pulses) but the binary nodes that decide the meaning of inputs. You would have to find neurons wired up to make the logical decisions and, or, not-or, not-and; your would also find memory storage in binary code large arrays of transistor switches with a reader that can tell if each switch is on or offSee
The book, Existence and the Human Mind by Stephen Gislason was first published in 2004 and has evolved into several books published by Persona Digital. See 2010 Catalogue. eBooks and other digital documents are downloaded from Persona Digital and can be delivered to any destination on the planet. Persona Digital is located at Sechelt, British Columbia, Canada. In business since 1984. Online since 1995. Printed book orders are submitted to Alpha Online; physical shipments are limited to destinations in Canada and the USA.
The goal of 21st Century Philosophy is to pursue a wise and compassionate integration of human understanding beyond local beliefs, specific disciplines, polemics and sectarian disputes.