Comment Re:People who make movies should do some research (Score 2, Informative) 433
Here it is edited a little :-) oops
Imagine being able to wipe a few neurons and lose several months of complete memory. This is absurd , it is like suggesting that everytime I have beer that i lose several months of memory. Sure if i lose a VERY LARGE amount of neurons for binge drinking for several years then i will have significant memory loss, but this is on many levels including anterograde and retrograde amnesia.
Although the preiminent philosophers love to argue this topic into the ground it is the view of several that the brain should be considered like a giant recurrent network. There is a lot of theory behind this view but i will try to presnt some of it. First it is well known that there are several oscilatory waves travelling through segments of the brain. These waves travel around and around in endless loops and often themselves from part of larger waves. It is thought that the information encapsulated in these waves are how the brain works. Therefore a snapshot of memory at any timepoint would consist of an image of the entire recurrent wave at a particular timepoint.
Now it is also known that memory has something to do with strengthening neural connections. However depending on the neuron these have hundreds to thousands of connections with other neurons and memory is defined as to how the recurrent network traverses millions of links... Think that your memory is the state of the whole device rather than the device itself. Therefore we have that destroying individual neurons will reduce tiny parts of the memory in wierd ways, will perhaps reduce the resolution of the memory but not the memory itself. We would also wipe out large parts of memory that were there before htis time period. But technically it could be possible to recreate memories, and/or delete old memories.
I theorise that to do this one would need an accurate snapshot of the absolute relative strength of every synapse at a certian point of time. One would also need to have an accurate picture of the state of recurrent network at this point. One could theoretically change all the synapse strengths back to that which they were previously, and bootstrap the recurrent network to the required value.
Technical challanges .. reading state of synapses in the brain, reading recurrent networks at individual neuron level, "burning in" changes to synaptic network strength, and introducing a new recurrent network program to the brain - it is possible that this could be achieved by tegmental magnetic stimulation (TMS), a way of stimulating neurons with magnetic forces. We may already have a way to reset the recurrent networks in the brain ... electroconvulsive therapy (ECT). It is thought that ECT works by resting the brains recurrent patterns, requiring it to kinda bootstrap itself into a postition of working again. I read that another poster thought that ECT was barbaric, i know several people that have had ECT and they describe it as the most amazing experience ever. SEveral of them would recommend it to normal healthy people as a good "buzz"
Anyway had my rant for now, us Cognitive scientist types get touchy when people misrepresent how we think the brain works Cheers :-)
Imagine being able to wipe a few neurons and lose several months of complete memory. This is absurd , it is like suggesting that everytime I have beer that i lose several months of memory. Sure if i lose a VERY LARGE amount of neurons for binge drinking for several years then i will have significant memory loss, but this is on many levels including anterograde and retrograde amnesia.
Although the preiminent philosophers love to argue this topic into the ground it is the view of several that the brain should be considered like a giant recurrent network. There is a lot of theory behind this view but i will try to presnt some of it. First it is well known that there are several oscilatory waves travelling through segments of the brain. These waves travel around and around in endless loops and often themselves from part of larger waves. It is thought that the information encapsulated in these waves are how the brain works. Therefore a snapshot of memory at any timepoint would consist of an image of the entire recurrent wave at a particular timepoint.
Now it is also known that memory has something to do with strengthening neural connections. However depending on the neuron these have hundreds to thousands of connections with other neurons and memory is defined as to how the recurrent network traverses millions of links... Think that your memory is the state of the whole device rather than the device itself. Therefore we have that destroying individual neurons will reduce tiny parts of the memory in wierd ways, will perhaps reduce the resolution of the memory but not the memory itself. We would also wipe out large parts of memory that were there before htis time period. But technically it could be possible to recreate memories, and/or delete old memories.
I theorise that to do this one would need an accurate snapshot of the absolute relative strength of every synapse at a certian point of time. One would also need to have an accurate picture of the state of recurrent network at this point. One could theoretically change all the synapse strengths back to that which they were previously, and bootstrap the recurrent network to the required value.
Technical challanges
Anyway had my rant for now, us Cognitive scientist types get touchy when people misrepresent how we think the brain works Cheers
