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From: victor@cs.vu.nl (Victor Allis)
Subject: RNA and mental processes
Message-ID: <D0HzyA.K4y@cs.vu.nl>
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Organization: Fac. Wiskunde & Informatica, VU, Amsterdam
Date: Thu, 8 Dec 1994 15:20:33 GMT
Lines: 44

I post this for a friend. Please reply to him at the address listed
below, and not to me.

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My name is Jeroen Cabbolet and I study Informatics at the University of
Technology in Delft, Holland. I'm trying to get a better understanding in
the working of the brain at a neurophysiologic level. I have thought up a
theory (that I can use to build a thinking robot) and I want to know if
it is (or could be) a valid one. Hold on tight, 'cause here it comes:

DNA in the human has many functions connected to its mental processing
task. It uses mRNA to make small copies of the DNA. Which part of the DNA
is copied, depends on the part of the brain the nerve-cell is located.
The triplets of mRNA function as a filter or a inductor; that is it
decreases or increases the secretion of its synaptic vesicles to other
cells. In the vesicles are substances such as neurotransmitters and other
peptides.

The neurotransmitters are used to induce a narrowing or broadening of
someones concentration. This should be inpreted in a very broad sense;
concentration is a mental activity that energizes a particular part of
the brain. The peptides can be passed on to other nerve cells. The
peptides encode stimuli-information. If I close my eyes and think of a
corvet, I can actually see a red corvette in my imagination. The
peptides' working depends also on the location of the active peptides in
the brain. One peptide can encode the feeling of "redness" in the visual
cortex, and the same peptide could be used to encode "the sound of a key
on a keyboard" in another area of the brain.

DNA ensures that the right peptide is made, provided that enough stimuli
and the right neurotransmitters are active. The body has no choice in the
selection of these peptides or even the activity of neurotransmitter; it
happens because of the link among all the nerve cells.

I greatly simplifies the story. Could it be that in essence I'm
correct ? The essence is that there exist a level in which stimuli
information is stored.I think it is done with certain peptides that
encode some basic stimuli of our senses. It is very impossible to recall
something in your imagination if it is not stored. And you cannot store
information with only the location of the firing nerve-cell.

Please mail me on the following address:
J.G.T.Cabbolet@dutiws.twi.tudelft.nl
