If...when we look inside the black box it is structured
differently from the way we now construct PCT models,
I think that will be an important contribution to PCT.
Unfortunately, neurology seems to still be taught in
terms of chasing around discrete neuron firings,
propagating through a nervous system awash in
neurotransmitters which apparently change their
causal status with each new finding. Going
into neuro means forgetting anything you ever
learned about studying processes in general
physiology, where control systems are relatively
standard fare. Perhaps this is another example of
the arrogance of the "mind" -- people's armchair
plan-and-execute psych theories have an uncanny
resemblance to the God-like determinism that
humans have always insisted upon to distinguish
themselves from apes, let alone bacteria.
If...when we look inside the black box it is structured
differently from the way we now construct PCT models,
I think that will be an important contribution to PCT.
Unfortunately, neurology [...]
I can only agree with what you say about neurological research, and I'm
sure you know lots more about it than I.
The black box I was referring to would be Marc's alternative model, also
implemented on a computer. I'm not talking about looking "under the hood"
of a living organism. We may never be able to do that while the organism is
actively controlling, observation interferes with what is observed etc.
That's why models.
Bruce Nevin (980812.1321 EDT)--
re: Chris Cherpas (980812.1000 PT)
I can only agree with what you say about neurological
research, and I'm sure you know lots more about it than
I.
Probably not. Besides the archaic physio psych courses
I took in school, I'm really commenting on what I've
recently seen in curriculum materials used in science
education, as well as what I've gleaned from going
to conferences with my wife, who's a psychiatrist.
I did some trivial neural net stuff (is this redundant?)
when I was working in "AI" back in Boston, and even planned
to go through Grossberg's NN program at BU (which, in
this context, I couldn't even comment on), but I doubt I was
motivated enough to do the homework; for better or worse,
I escaped to California where differential equations
would be regarded by many as simply another new age
alternative lifestyle to be acknowledged and honored.