Connectionists: how the brain works?

[Danko Nikolic]

Dear John,

   I apologize for a slow reply.

   It is true that the article does not discuss visual invariance 
explicitly. However, practopoietic theory, as it is a general theory of 
adaptive organization and intelligent behavior must, of course, have 
something to say about perceptual invariance.

   In practopoietic theory, perceptual invariance should be treated 
equally to any other aspect of intelligent behavior. Perceptual 
invariance is a form of intelligence in action, much like any other 
intelligence in action (catching a pray). Thus, perceptual invariance 
should rely on the same mechanisms as for example, a solution to a 
mathematical problem.

   The key mechanism here is anapoiesis of a T_3 system, which is a 
process for knowledge reconstruction (introduced in the second part of 
the manuscript). Anapoiesis has the  inherent capability to create new 
knowledge, and this enables the system to recognize invariantly an 
object, even in novel situations/perspectives, never encountered before.

  In other words, object recognition is a logical abduction much like 
any other logical abduction. There is no first a stage of perceiving (at 
e.g., one level) and then a stage of thinking (at another level): 
Instead, perceiving is thinking. Thiking is perceiving. The two rely on 
the same mechanisms and principles.

  In conclusion, it follows from practopoietic theory that the classical 
division into perception-first-thinking-next is not entirely accurate 
and, if we want to understand how the brain works as a whole, we have to 
actually give up this division. This means also that the mechanisms of 
perceptual invariance do not belong to some sort of a first stage of a 
processing pipeline, the result then being passed onto the next stage. 
Rather, the two occur at the same level of system organization and 
cannot be pulled apart.

  In other words, to perceive invariantly, you already have to be quite 
intelligent.

With best regards,

Danko


On 3/14/14 1:38 AM, Juyang Weng 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
>>
>


-- 
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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