Connectionists: how the brain works?

[Danko Nikolic]

I believe that the readers of Connectionists list my be interested in 
the manuscript available on arXiv (1402.5332) proposing the principles 
by which adaptive systems create intelligent behavior. It is a 
theoretical paper that has been recently submitted to a journal, and the 
editors agreed to post it on arXiv.

A nice context for this manuscript is, I think, the recent discussion on 
Connectionists list on "how the brain works?", -- including the 
comparison to how the radio works, arguments that neuroscience has not 
reached the maturity of 19th century physics, that the development 
should be an essential component, etc.

I assess that anyone who enjoyed following that discussion, like I did, 
would be interested also in what the proposed theory has to say.

The theory addresses those problems by placing the question of brain 
workings one level more abstract than it is usually discussed: It 
proposes a general set of properties that adaptive systems need to have 
to exhibit intelligent behavior (nevertheless, concrete examples are 
given from biology and technology). Finally, the theory proposes what 
is, in principle, missing in the current approaches in order to account 
for the higher, biological-like levels of adaptive behavior.

For those who are interested, I recommend using the link on my website:

http://www.danko-nikolic.com/practopoiesis/

because there I provided, in addition, a simplified introduction into 
some of the main conclusions derived from the theory.

I would very much like to know what people think. Comments will be 
appreciated.

With warm greetings from Germany,

Danko Nikolic

-- 
Danko Nikolic, Ph.D.

Web:
http://www.danko-nikolic.com

Mail address 1:
Department of Neurophysiology
Max Planck Institut for Brain Research
Deutschordenstr. 46
60528 Frankfurt am Main
GERMANY

Mail address 2:
Frankfurt Institute for Advanced Studies
Wolfgang Goethe University
Ruth-Moufang-Str. 1
60433 Frankfurt am Main
GERMANY

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danko.nikolic at gmail.com
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