Connectionists: How the brain works

[Gary Cottrell]

I think everyone is a tad over-reacting - read the RFP below from NIH. It does include theory as a major component…

The purpose of this FOA is to provide resources for integrated development of experimental, analytic and theoretical capabilities for large-scale analysis of neural systems and circuits.  We seek applications for exploratory studies that use new and emerging methods for large scale recording and manipulation of neural circuits across multiple brain regions.  Applications should propose to elucidate the contributions of dynamic circuit activity to a specific behavioral or neural system.  Studies should incorporate rich information on cell-types, on circuit functionality and connectivity, and should be performed in conjunction with sophisticated analysis of ethologically relevant behaviors.  Applications should propose teams of investigators that seek to cross boundaries of interdisciplinary collaboration by bridging fields and linking theory and data analysis to experimental design.  Exploratory studies supported by this FOA are intended to develop experimental capabilities and theoretical frameworks in preparation for a future competition for large scale awards.

On Jan 28, 2014, at 10:03 AM, Avi Peled <neuroanalysis at gmail.com> wrote:

> 
> Ivan I agree - and even more, neuroscientific application to psychiatry is even more at its infancy - but unfortunately patients are suffering immensely and cannot wait - the attached paper tries to tackle the problem of neuroscientific psychiatry - comments are welcome 
> 
> Abraham
> 
> 
> On Tue, Jan 28, 2014 at 10:51 AM, Ivan Raikov <ivan.g.raikov at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> My summary of the history of physics was quite wrong: the idea of infinitesimals and their application has been around since the time of Archimedes:
> 
> http://www.idsia.ch/~juergen/archimedes.html 
> 
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Infinitesimal
> 
> The moral is, it takes a while for fundamental ideas in science to promulgate :-)
> 
> On Mon, Jan 27, 2014 at 3:38 PM, Ivan Raikov <ivan.g.raikov at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> Speaking of radio and electromagnetic waves, it is perhaps the case that neuroscience has not yet reached the maturity of 19th century physics: while the discovery of electromagnetism is attributed to great  experimentalists such as Ampere and Faraday, and its mathematical model is attributed to one of the greatest modelers in physics, Maxwell, none of it happened in isolation. There was a lot of duplicated experimental work and simultaneous independent discoveries in that time period, and Maxwell's equations were readily accepted and quickly refined by a number of physicists after he first postulated them. So in a sense physics had a consensus community model of electromagnetism already in the first half of the 19th century. Neuroscience is perhaps more akin to physics in the  17th century, when Newton's infinitesimal calculus was rejected and even mocked by the scientific establishment on the continent, and many years would pass until calculus was understood and widely accepted. So a unifying theory of neuroscience may not come until a lot of independent and reproducible experimentation brings it about. 
> 
>   -Ivan
> 
> 
> 
> On Mon, Jan 27, 2014 at 1:39 PM, Thomas Trappenberg <tt at cs.dal.ca> wrote:
> Some of our discussion seems to be about 'How the brain works'. I am of course not smart enough to answer this question. So let me try another system.
> 
> How does a radio work? I guess it uses an antenna to sense an electromagnetic wave that is then  amplified so that an electromagnet can drive a membrane to produce an airwave that can be sensed by our ear. Hope this captures some essential aspects.
> 
> Now that you know, can you repair it when it doesn't work?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> -- 
> Abraham Peled M.D.   - Psychiatry
> Chair of Dept' SM,  Mental Health Center  
> Clinical Assistant Professor 'Technion' Israel Institute of Technology
> Book author of ‘Optimizers 2050’ and ‘NeuroAnalysis’ 
> Email: neuroanalysis at gmail.com 
> Web: http://neuroanalysis.org.il/ 
> Web www.shaar-menashe.org 
> Phone: +972522844050
> Fax: +97246334869
> 
> CONFIDENTIALITY NOTICE: Information contained in this message and any attachments is intended only for the addressee(s). If you believe that you have received this message in error, please notify the sender immediately by return electronic mail, and please delete it without further review, disclosure, or copying.
> <Globalopathies YMEHY7358.pdf>

[I am in Dijon, France on sabbatical this year. To call me, Skype works best (gwcottrell), or dial +33 788319271]

Gary Cottrell 858-534-6640 FAX: 858-534-7029

My schedule is here: http://tinyurl.com/b7gxpwo

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Things may come to those who wait, but only the things left by those who hustle. -- Abraham Lincoln

"Of course, none of this will be easy. If it was, we would already know everything there was about how the brain works, and presumably my life would be simpler here. It could explain all kinds of things that go on in Washington." -Barack Obama

"Probably once or twice a week we are sitting at dinner and Richard says, 'The cortex is hopeless,' and I say, 'That's why I work on the worm.'" Dr. Bargmann said.

"A grapefruit is a lemon that saw an opportunity and took advantage of it." - note written on a door in Amsterdam on Lijnbaansgracht.

"Physical reality is great, but it has a lousy search function." -Matt Tong

"Only connect!" -E.M. Forster

"You always have to believe that tomorrow you might write the matlab program that solves everything - otherwise you never will." -Geoff Hinton

"There is nothing objective about objective functions" - Jay McClelland

"I am awaiting the day when people remember the fact that discovery does not work by deciding what you want and then discovering it."
-David Mermin

Email: gary at ucsd.edu
Home page: http://www-cse.ucsd.edu/~gary/

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