Re: whale brains

H. M. Hubey (hubey@pegasus.montclair.edu)
14 Nov 1995 00:54:27 -0500

n8010095@cc.wwu.edu (Phillip Bigelow) writes:

> So, are you claiming that because the human brain is bigger in certain
>ways compared to ape brains, that that implies greater "complexity"? Is

Each neuron may be connected to up to 10,000 others. IF each neuron
can be in one of two states {0,1}, and then N neurons can have
2^N states. Since our memories and problems solving abilities are
all encoded in these neurons, the more the merrier.

You should never forget about the highly stylized facts of
life (which we call evidence or data) and which theories
(or models) try to "explain". That means we are at the
top of the heap, with all due regards to bacteria, plants,
dogs, cats and all the other wonderful animals of nature.

Have you ever looked into how ANN's work??

I saw a van driving around in Pittsburgh (CMU) which had a
TV camera as input and a computer running an ANN. I think
the ANN only had hundreds of neurons. Can you match this
kind of performance with other AI programs? Have you ever
tried to write pgms that try to do "smart" things?

How do you go from hundreds, to millions, billions??

EVen the brain of a slug has 500,000 neurons. We can't even
find anything simpler to study virtually.

> Mark, you think like a classical Linnaean systematicist...not at all like

I don't give a flying fart about Linneaus. YOu use it because that's
a part of your mental model of the universe. It doesn't even
figure in mine except as some name who tried to make a tree and
filled it up with Latin names.

>along a lot of 18th century bio-centric egotism when you make claims about
>humans being at the "top" (where-ever the "top" is) of the evolutionary

This is your view of the universe. There's a saying "If the only
tool you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail."

>tree. From a biological point-of-view, there is no evidence to support such
>a claim....unless you start citing passages out of the book of
>Genesis...

There you go again.

I must admit these creationists must give you guys the fits.
Why is it so difficult to silence them? Do you see them
fighting Quantum Mechanics and claiming that there are
no electromagnetic fields? NO? Why not?

-- 





				Regards, Mark

				http://www.smns.montclair.edu/~hubey