Introducing the brain: general (Introduction)

by David Turell , Monday, March 21, 2022, 14:58 (760 days ago) @ dhw

Memory formation

DAVID: […] Complexification works because neurons contain in their DNA God's instructions of how to respond to new uses.

dhw: So when you say the kidneys and complexification work without God, you actually mean they follow God’s instructions. For instance, when illiterate women learn to read, God has provided an instruction about which neurons are to form what new connection in response to the demands of reading. Theoretically, there will be a limitless number of new uses, and so your God has issued a theoretically limitless number of instructions. Won’t you just allow for the possibility that instead of such a list, he has endowed the cells with the intelligence to work out their own connections, i.e. to work autonomously?

They work autonomously following he guide lines God gave them in their DNA

DAVID: Neurons cannot make new neurons except in the hippocampus by God's design. You don't follow the facts we have.

dhw: If your God designed a means whereby neurons can make new neurons in the hippocampus, why do you think the same mechanism could not have existed in the days when neurons in other areas also needed to do the same because existing neurons could not complexify sufficiently to deal with new requirements?

Your usual hopeful theory. I base my thoughts on the evidence in our current brain which evolved from previous similar brains

dhw: You have posted two wonderful articles that show how the brain cells adapt to conditions of blindness and deafness. A few highly relevant quotes:

"By day two, the scans showed that the volunteers’ brains were already starting to change. By day five, touch was stimulating the brain’s visual cortex," Higgins described.

"The brain was learning to rely more on touch than sight."

"This is further evidence that the brain's overarching function is to interpret reality, and it will rapidly reorganize itself to accomplish this goal no matter where the external information comes from, whether sight, sound, or touch."

"Goldreich told Higgins that when the regions of the brain that process visual and auditory stimuli go unused, they can gradually be co-opted to process tactile stimuli, hence boosting a person's touch 'resolution'

DAVID: the brain can make amazing accommodations following God's DNA instructions.

dhw: Once more you have your God issuing instructions for every single new requirement in the history of the brain! And so once again, I suggest to you that a far more likely method would be for your God to have given brain cells the autonomous intelligence to make these amazing accommodations themselves. I’m sure Ockham would have approved!

Occam would agree to one simple step by acknowledging God's work in instructing the neurons in how to adapt. Occam was a priest!