Mike wrote: There is one other aspect of this that I like. It seems like when we think something, the thought presents as a kind of concrete, integrated totality in which we cannot easily break down to its constituen, usually disparate components (eg., an appearance, a memory, an imagination). A kind of brain-wide global integrated electromagnetic field seems like it harmonizes with a complete "idea." Whether or not this is actually what happens, I cannot say, but I find the hypothesis very intriguing. This is the binding problem.
Colin: It's great to hear a little bit of encouragement! The EM field, as a single object comprised of 2 physical fields (vector electric and vector magnetic) provides practical answers to a whole lot of previously difficult questions. It is the only thing that literally makes a brain a single, unified entity. It pervades the entire tissue out into the space beyond the scalp. In this unitary form it offers a way of explaining: Consciousness, its binding, its unity, its information content, learning, the formal complexity of the dynamics. All of it. The real problem is getting people to understand that to explore this potential is to (a) explore the actual EM field system, literally (by building it), in addition to (b) exploring abstract models of the EM fields and the signalling/function it creates. The new empirical option (a) is what the neuromimetic chip delivers. A fully populated science does both (a) and (b). The change to the science (adding (a)) is what the paper is intended to bring about. It is anomalously absent from the science and has been all along for the reasons explored in the paper that it is in everyone's interest to understand. It's the complete lack of replication (a) to date that the paper is revealing and correcting by introducing the neuromimetic chip as a way of replicating brain-mimetic EM fields. I am coming to the conclusion that this kind of encounter with a generationally/chronically malformed science is a far bigger cultural problem than I ever thought. I've read a lot of history of science and I know eras like this do happen from time to time. But when it happens to you .... the blank stare of the received view of a community invested in the past, and with the comfort and certainty of it now threatened .... this is a difficult thing to encounter and handle with sensitivity and patience. I confess I struggle with this aspect of it. I guess I just have to suck it up and soldier on! cheers colin ------------------------------------------ Artificial General Intelligence List: AGI Permalink: https://agi.topicbox.com/groups/agi/T2f2a092379e757d2-Mbed9d0c2728e5cc0d57d7a93 Delivery options: https://agi.topicbox.com/groups/agi/subscription
