Connectionists: how the brain works?

[Danko Nikolic]

Dear Brian,

   I agree. I think that practopoietic theory gives a general answer why 
it is so. Why general intelligence does not require a specific type of 
sensory information? The answer is that the mechanisms of generating 
intelligent adaptive behavior are the ones that have the control over 
how we use the sensory inputs--not the other way around.

   In other words, according to practopoiesis, biological systems are 
largely driven and controlled internally, rather then being driven by 
sensory inputs. This allows the internal systms to exhibit intelligence, 
language, etc. without specific sensory inputs.

   Of course, we need some inputs in order to learn about the world and 
develop the internal systems. But it does not matter which inputs as 
long as the ones that we have access too are informative enough about 
the environment.

Regards,

Danko


On 3/14/14 2:40 AM, Brian J Mingus wrote:
> Hi John,
>
> Theories of the brain will come in at multiple levels of abstraction. 
> A reasonable first pass is to take object recognition as a given. It's 
> clear that language and general intelligence doesn't require it. 
> Hellen Keller is a great example - deaf and blind, and with patience, 
> extremely intelligent. Visual and auditory object recognition simply 
> aren't required!
>
> Brian
>
>
>
>
> On Thu, Mar 13, 2014 at 6:38 PM, Juyang Weng <weng at cse.msu.edu 
> <mailto:weng at cse.msu.edu>> wrote:
>
>     Danko,
>
>     Good attempt.
>
>     Any theory about brain/mind must address the First Principle:  How
>     it learns visual invariance directly from natural cluttered
>     environments.
>     Your article does not seem to address the First Principle, does it?
>
>     -John
>
>
>     On 3/7/14 11:22 AM, Danko Nikolic wrote:
>
>         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
>
>
>     -- 
>     --
>     Juyang (John) Weng, Professor
>     Department of Computer Science and Engineering
>     MSU Cognitive Science Program and MSU Neuroscience Program
>     428 S Shaw Ln Rm 3115
>     Michigan State University
>     East Lansing, MI 48824 USA
>     Tel: 517-353-4388 <tel:517-353-4388>
>     Fax: 517-432-1061 <tel:517-432-1061>
>     Email: weng at cse.msu.edu <mailto:weng at cse.msu.edu>
>     URL: http://www.cse.msu.edu/~weng/ <http://www.cse.msu.edu/%7Eweng/>
>     ----------------------------------------------
>
>


-- 
Danko Nikolic, Ph.D.

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

Mail address 1:
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Max Planck Institut for Brain Research
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Mail address 2:
Frankfurt Institute for Advanced Studies
Wolfgang Goethe University
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----------------------------
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