[ExI] Simulating the brain

[Stuart LaForge]

Stathis Papaionnou wrote:

>Angular displacement of the body will have an effect on neurones, perhaps
>by stretching the cell membrane and hence altering the excitability
>threshold and the propagation of the action potential. An accurate model of
>the brain should therefore take this parameter into account. However, at
>some level of resolution the effect will be swamped by noise. So it would
>be wasted effort to model angular displacement to 10 decimal places when -
>again in order to be accurate - you would have to throw away 5 decimal
>places due to the thermal noise inherent in a biological system at body
>temperature.

Yes, thermal noise would cause the underlying wavefunction to decohere
into one definite state but not until *after* the continuous probability
function had preselected those possible states, finite or countably
infinite, and assigned various probability masses to them.

The moment that you admit that some mental states are more probable than
others, you open the door to allow infinity to influence your mind. You
can't have a normal distribution without infinity. Furthermore as a
psychiatrist, where would you draw the line between normal behaviors (the
observable correlates of mental states) and exceptional ones? One standard
deviation, two? 6 sigma?

> >Human understanding of irrational numbers does not depend on writing out
> an
> >infinite non-repeating decimal.
>
> Yes. We have the mental capacity to mathematically manipulate infinity and
> discern bona fide truths about infinity without resorting to infinite
> numbers of decimals or infinite memory. On the other hand, I don't think a
> computer has any concept of infinity distinguishable from a stack overflow
> error.


>A dog doesn't have much concept of infinity, but its brain is not that that
>dissimilar to yours and mine. If we push the point, I don't think any human
>can "really" grasp infinity and irrational numbers, even if if they can
>manipulate and utilise them as concepts, in the way a computer algebra
>system such as Wolfram Alpha can.

Can dog a be conditioned to salivate at a sound of any arbitray frequency
of sound within its range of perception including a bell or silent
whistle? If so, the dog's mind is recognizing a specific frequency out of
an uncountably infinite range of possible frequencies. So it is processing
infinity even if it is not doing it abstractly or even delibrately.

Stuart LaForge