Connectionists: Physics and Psychology (and the C-word)

[james bower]

An interesting point has been made off list with respect to the squid and the mammalian retina.  Given their remarkable structural similarity, maybe from a computational point of view, it is irrelevant which way the thing points.  

I think an argument can be made for that point of view if you are interested in building a physical device.  However, if your primary objective is to understand how the nervous system is ‘engineered’, then, clearly, as pointed out nicely by Barak, there are additional constraints that one needs to take into account.  

One big one likely, is that it costs biology to be inefficient - brains can’t simply burn fossil fuels.  Of course, probably a bad idea that we do to run our inefficient machines.  Another reason to pay attention to biology I would say.

Jim 

Dr. James M. Bower Ph.D.

Professor of Computational Neurobiology

Barshop Institute for Longevity and Aging Studies.

15355 Lambda Drive

University of Texas Health Science Center 

San Antonio, Texas  78245

 

Phone:  210 382 0553

Email: bower at uthscsa.edu

Web: http://www.bower-lab.org

twitter: superid101

linkedin: Jim Bower

 

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