Category Archives: Consciousness
18 Mar Monkeys with Typewriters at the Threshold
Monkeys and Machines What’s wrong with the random Hamlet? When is the last time you’ve seen monkeys with typewriters? First of all, we must ask if there is anything that is perfectly random. If there is, and it is not influenced by any physical law, then the asymptotic theory of random probability is valid, and […]
13 Mar Probability and Expectations
The sun is pretty likely to rise tomorrow – you can have confidence in that, but it is sometimes said that “there is no guarantee.” Scheduling meetings tomorrow based on the sunrise assumption is a safe bet, but there may be any number of other things that interfere with the meeting. Life is filled with […]
10 Mar The Context of Knowledge
What Is Knowledge? Just like the beautifully structured organization of all things in the physical universe, there is a hierarchy or taxonomy of knowledge. The levels and organization of the hierarchy, as I see them, are shown in the illustration below. Being fascinated by the concept of context, I have decided that, in this model, “context” includes […]
12 Feb Conscious Phenomena
Conscious Phenomena For the past few posts, I have been exploring consciousness. Extra-sensory perception is a part, or an extension of consciousness. Are you sometimes psychic? Some people have truly remarkable extra-sensory capabilities while others do not. I read a short story by Ursula K. Le Guin, though I can’t for the life of me remember the […]
11 Feb Introspection as Empirical Science
Heightened awareness – inner vision – focus. I have looked to psychology, neuroscience and philosophy for clues about how to get computers to pay attention to all the right cues so they can engage in meaningful dialog with me. Much of what I encounter in the literature mixes experimental results with empirical observations. And many paths lead […]
11 Feb Conscious Sensibility
Watergate Revisited More than one President of the United States has been asked this question: “What happened, and how soon did you know about it?” Many cognitive psychologists perform experiments in which they ask subjects (people) the same question, seeking to mark the boundaries between conscious and unconscious phenomena. I recently spoke of mindfulness. Wakefulness may be a […]
07 Feb Mindfulness
Imagine being able to flip a switch and get quantitative and qualitative improvements to your intelligence. Mindfulness, in the form of directing your attention or focus can induce changes in the structure and function of the brain. When I was in school, I learned that taking notes helped me not only focus better on what I […]
14 Jan Visual Input Processing
The visual cortex in the human brain is arguably the pattern after which most artificial neural networks were modeled: the flow of signals is directional through layers 1, 2 then 3; and large numbers of the cells are touched by the flow of action potentials through the system. The variations in the cells, however, contrasts with the artificial […]
03 Jan Synapses and Neurotransmitters
Synapse Structure Electrical impulses are transmitted between neurons either electrically or chemically, with chemical synapses being the most numerous by far. The synapse is where electrical transduction between neurons occurs, facilitating perception, thought and action. The gap between a synapse and its target is called the synaptic cleft (tagged in the center right of the illustration and […]
19 Mar Neural Networks – Section 3 Intro
It’s all in your head My posts on Brains and Neurons show us there is a sense of structure and order in the brain. By looking at the brain’s areas, we see how each plays a special role in processing the information necessary to support human cognition and other activities. We’ve looked at neurons and learned that each type has its own components, […]