Introducing the brain: general (Introduction)

by David Turell , Saturday, February 26, 2022, 16:04 (791 days ago) @ dhw

DAVID: Same mistake. Our brain has very limited ability to produce new neurons. I think God made all prior hominin/homo brains in the same form.

dhw: It is not a mistake. It is a different theory from yours. The fact that we generally do not produce new neurons can be attributed to the fact that complexification has taken over from production of new cells. We don’t know why, though at least I’m sure you will agree that our brain could hardly go on expanding indefinitely without dire repercussions on the rest of our anatomy. Imagine an elephant-sized head being carried around on your body. The time had to come when expansion would cease. I have no doubt that prior hominin/homo brains would have complexified, and since we know that they expanded, it makes perfect sense that once their capacity for complexification had been reached, they needed new cells. That also applies to your own theory. Why else would your God have needed to give them additional cells? The only difference between us is that you insist they had the extra cells BEFORE they needed them, whereas I propose that the additions were made in response to new requirements. And you still haven’t explained why your God could not have given them the same autonomy for expansion as for complexification.

Answered many times. Our frontal cortex has a very different complex design involving specialized pyramidal neurons in five distinct layers, like nothing seen in apes/chimps. Requires a designing mind. Neurons carry our thoughts, but can't design new network arrangements. Complexification simply means the ability of existing neurons to make new dendritic connections in existing circuits as necessary.

DAVID: Seven ounce change objection of mine not answered.

dhw: See above. If our brains had gone on expanding indefinitely, we would have been walking around balancing an elephant head on our puny bodies. Expansion had to end at some time. Now please tell us your own explanation for the end of expansion in favour of complexification.

See above.

Neurons may make future plans

DAVID: I view this as an attempt to understand complexification.

dhw: I’ve had trouble understanding the article. Please could you explain to me what exactly neurons are believed to predict.

DAVID: Obviously handling future uses: [dhw: we don’t need the quotes]
It is in large part a theoretical prediction.

dhw: What is a theoretical prediction? Most predictions are “theoretical” since nobody KNOWS the future, though of course predictions based on established facts have every chance of coming true. (I predict that tomorrow will be Sunday, 27th February.) But I don’t understand WHAT is predicted by our neurons. It seems that you don’t either.

Exactly. It is proposed neurons understand the probability of future use. Nothing more. Helps explain how complexification happens.