[From John Anderson (960115.0950)]
I think the diagram in my last post (960115.0600) was too wide and got
garbled, so I'm reposting the contents of that post with a smaller, more
intelligible diagram:
Shannon Williams (960110.lunch time) --
Martin Taylor 960108 13:30--
The only place where I can see a real contrast is in your rejection of
the notion of a control hierarchyNo, I reject e=r-p as a formula that describes structures which are
in the brain. In other words, I think that a group of neurons direct the
path and intensity of inputs that flow through them, but I do not think
that this 'directing' is described by the formula e = r - p. I think it is
described by the formula o = f(i). But, we can look at the cummulative
results of the input/output pairings, and describe this result as 'e=r-p'.
I agree with part of what Shannon says, namely that the output of a group of
neurons is seldom if ever described by e = r - p. But that's no reason to
"reject e=r-p as a formula that describes structures which are in the brain".
A group of neurons could in effect be just a _segment_ of a neural current,
one link in a chain of I/O mappings transferring a signal from one control
function to another:
fA(iA) fB(iB) r
iA =iB =iC fC(iC) |
input O O O \|/ output
i ->{function}-> O ---> O ---> O ->...->{comparator}-->{function}-> o
/|\ O O O e |
> A B C |
> >----------- p ------------| |
> >
------------------------------ g(o) <-------------------------------
/|\
>
h(d)
In the process of transferring the perceptual signal p from the input function
to the comparator, the output of neuronal group A provides input to group B,
group B to group C, and so on, according to Shannon's formula o = f(i). The
groups of neurons form part of a larger control system. This is what I would
look for in the brain.
ยทยทยท
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On another subject, does anybody know if the digest function is working for
CSGNET now?
John