“More evolved” brains, not “better muscles”
Tag: human brain
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.”
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?
Claim (sort of) that carb-heavy diet fueled Neanderthal brain growth
Okay, so nuts did it. The thing is, fat, meat, and starch have all been blamed for the big human brain. When do we get round to spices and salt? They’ve been unjustly neglected.
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 …
How can humans be prewired to recognize words? Yet, say researchers, we are…
Contrary to what psychologists had supposed, the ability to seek meaning is built in, not taught.
Jumping genes regulate the human brain’s development
Note: “these virus-like entities that have been remodeling our ancestral genome since the dawn of times,” says Didier Trono.” Right. We are told that many of the French have no use for lumpen-Darwinism. One can see why not.
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.
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.
Michael Egnor: Can loved ones in a coma hear us?
Modern brain imaging studies show that very often they can. And, with help from new technology, they can answer us too. Neurosurgeon Michael Egnor explains.
Michael Egnor: If your brain were cut in half, would you still be one person?
Roger Sperry’s Nobel Prize-winning split-brain research convinced him that the mind and free will are real.
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.
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
Michael Egnor: Why the mind cannot just emerge from the brain
Egnor: Thoughts have emotional states; matter doesn’t have emotional states, just matter. So it’s not clear that you can get an emergent property when there is no connection whatsoever between that property and the thing it supposedly emerges from.
The scientific revolution depended in part on disproven theories
Many true tales of science are not the subjects of lectern oratory. Here’s one: brain localization. How did the idea develop? Originally via phrenology.