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From: mwd@cray.com (Mark Dalton)
Subject: Re: Thought Question
Message-ID: <1995Jan17.174819.14582@walter.cray.com>
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Date: 17 Jan 95 17:48:19 CST
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Mark Dalton (mwd@cray.com) wrote:

:There is importance in understanding the neurophysioanatomy and neurochemistry
:but just because it is ONE factor does not make it true.
:opiates also inhibit nerve growth hormones releasing factors, releasing factor,
:but  the opiates absense does not 'cause' the release of that the first
:factor or the second.  And neither does the releasing factor for the NGF-RF
:cause the release of NGF-RF it is ONLY one factor.  (There are feed backs
:from multiple levels, and many other factors, for ref's you should be able
:to look it up in most endocrinology books.


Oops (^8.  Let me correct that.  This is for Somatocrinin Regulation:

		Opiate receptor is affected by: B-endorphine, morphine,
					        naxalone, etc. etc.
This can be blocked   |
 by resperine         |
                      |
		     \/
		   (release)
	           Dopamine
  Fusarate            |
     or               |  
 others can inhibit   |
                     \/
		  Norepineferine(which can affect the alpha and beta receptors)
	                        (or can be converted to epinepherine to do
                                 the same or both).
     Then you have alpha and beta receptor blocking or others that could
     substitute.
Then you have the alpha receptor cause the release of somatocrinin release
that can cause the release of somatotropin in the pitutitary.
But this can be blocked by the beta receptor.  Also the number of somatatropin
receptors is increased by the amoutn of glucocorticoids.

Now you can get into the feed mechanisms at every level.

Yes, this is a mechanistic model, and misses MANY points and is VERY simplified
even from what I wrote down in my undergrad paper.  (it looses it without
the graphics (^8 ).

Now the point (^8.  Yes you can reduce it down to a point where it looks
mechanistic, but then you loose the system.  If you build a being just on
putting these parts together it still would not function, it needs all that
is associated with the individual to be the same.

For feelings or minds, you need even more, each feeling, concept, idea,
word, voice inflection, etc. carry meaning, and are associated, and affect
the general essence of who *I* am.  And that is part of self-awareness or
consciousness.

	If you look at a flies nerve system it is quite complex, and they
have a brain.  But are they self-aware? or do they just function on mechanical
decisions, or chemotaxis?

Just ideas?

Mark
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Mark Dalton       CH3-S-CH2 H                      H      O       H
Cray Research,Inc.      |   |                      |       \      |
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mwd@cray.com                |       |  ||   ||     |       //     |
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URL = http://lenti.med.umn.edu/~mwd/mwd.html
