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human brain

At Mind Matters News: Human brain has many more language connections than chimp brain

Among the many differences between the human brain and other animal brains is the role of the arcuate fasciculus that connects lobes of the brain. If we are really 99 percent chimpanzee, as some claim, it doesn’t appear to be showing up in the brain. Read More ›

A search for the most complex thing in the universe?

At IAI.TV: "This synthesis of biology and cosmology required a shift away from reductionism and the belief that all systems can be understood by breaking them down into their constituent elements. Instead, the new way of thinking makes sense of complex systems and their evolution by considering the number of possible future states those systems could take." Read More ›

Does humanity depend on a “key genetic switch” that makes human brains grow larger than ape brains?

Some researchers believe that our diet led to a larger brain but they differ as to which food was the ultimate brain booster. Are we missing something here? Read More ›

Can we grow human brains in a dish?

Zeiger: These brain-like entities lack some very important neurological cell types that would make them truly “brains.” But many wonder whether we can make brains with human-like consciousness in a dish. Unfortunately, some conflate the mind with the brain and consciousness with brain activity, which creates confusion … Read More ›

Michael Egnor: Atheist neuroscientist gets the brain wrong

Atheist neuroscientist V.S. Ramachandran claims in a video at You Tube (Beyond Belief Conference, 2006) that brain hemispheres can have different opinions on the existence of God. Perhaps it is relevant, in assessing such a bizarre claim, that Dr. Ramachandran also makes a statement about brain surgery that is false. Read More ›

Michael Egnor: Neuroscientists can’t dismiss near death experiences

Egnor: It’s sobering to note that neuroscience has utterly failed to explain how the brain and mind relate. It is as if cosmology had failed to tell us anything meaningful about the universe; or medical science failed to tell us anything about health and disease; or geology failed to tell us anything about rocks. Read More ›

Michael Egnor:Why the human mind is the opposite of a computer

Egnor: Mental activity always has meaning—every thought is about something. Computation always lacks meaning in itself. A word processing program doesn’t care about the opinion that you’re expressing when you use it. Read More ›

The “connectome” means we may never “understand” the brain

In the sense of “There. That’s that.” It’s just too big. Machine learning might help but machines don’t explain their decisions very well. If the brain is immensely complex, it may elude complete understanding in detail. Deep Learning may survey it but that won’t convey understanding to us. We may need to look at more comprehensive ways of knowing Read More ›