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From: eecjr@zeus.bris.ac.uk (NR. Wright)
Subject: Re: Are we just Neurons in the World Brain?
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Date: Tue, 14 Nov 1995 13:45:04 GMT
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Bill Wines (wmwines@umich.edu) wrote:
: Are we just Neurons in the World Brain?

: Turn the question around and ask if the "behavior" of neurons is not
: highly similar to the behavior of free human agents.

: We still have this reductionist view of neuronal activity because it's
: easier to conceptualize in some mechanical fashion.  The transmission of
: neural impusles is seen as essentially binary (on/off) and additive, and
: the complexity of the network and the "noise" creates a situation that is
: not predictable in practice, but must be, we assume, fully deterministic
: in theory.  We still believe that if we had the assistance of some
: Supercomputer from Valhalla we could somehow derive a formula that would
: account for Everything.

By turning the question around you have *turned it* into a reductionist 
argument. In its original form I was trying to argue that humanity may be
more than a collection of individuals and that human mental activity as
a whole may be more individual human thoughts. 


: The ultimate reductionist scheme must descend to the level of the pesky
: subatomic realm, where, of course, the deterministic viewpoint breaks
: down. 

However we could start from the subatomic realm and work upwards.



: You sound like you could use a cold bath.

To make me think more conventionally?  No thanks.

