[ExI] 'The Other Brain'

[William Flynn Wallace]

Anders,

It appears from The Other Brain that glia, in fact, control neurons, and
often at distant points.  I could go on.

But I think that, according to the author, a sort of denial situation
exists, wherein those in the field tend to put all the emphasis on neurons
and actually deny the roles of glia, assigning them only support services.
If the book is correct it enormously complicates understanding the brain
and doing research on it because glia do not emit nice recordable
electrical impulses.

After reading this book, extremely clear, even to a person whose last info
in this field was in physio psych in 1965, I am convinced that glia are
more important and are the basis for our unconscious mind.

I highly recommend it to you.  I have not found anything like it.  The
science is detailed clearly, though of course I cannot refute it with my
background.  It seems about as far from making wild claims as possible.

Bill W

On Thu, Feb 26, 2015 at 2:45 AM, Anders Sandberg <anders at aleph.se> wrote:

> William Flynn Wallace <foozler83 at gmail.com> , 25/2/2015 7:20 PM:
>
> Has anyone read this book or one similar?
>
> It appears to show that neurons may not be the most important parts of our
> brain, and that little money goes into education/research on glia.
>
>
> The point is regularly made (especially by glial researchers, for some
> reason). In PubMed, 586,690 papers mention 'neuron' and just 89,083
> mentioning 'glia'.
>
> But there are good reasons for this: neurons react *fast* - in the
> millisecond range - while glia react over the span of many seconds, and in
> a fairly diffuse manner. Neurons are what is responsible for ongoing and
> specific perception and action. Sure, there are likely important things to
> be discovered in the glia: we have found some are acting as stem cells, and
> their modulation of the chemical environment is nontrivial.
>
>
>
> Anders Sandberg, Future of Humanity Institute Philosophy Faculty of Oxford
> University
>
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