Author: jlolds

Native Angeleno, professor of Neuroscience and Public Policy at George Mason University

The Carr debate morphs: the internet does not equal a brain

Charles Arthur of the Guardian evolves the debate. It’s now about the complexity of the net versus the complexity of the brain (which of course is not a scientific debate unless you are talking about the brain of a simple animal like Aplysia californica).

Money quote on the idea the hyperlinks are like synapses:

This is simply rubbish. A hyperlink is nothing like a synapse, except that both describe a connection between two points… a synapse is a responsive, organic mechanism that has been tuned by hundreds of millions of years of evolution to react more strongly to some inputs rather than others. Throw in something between 1 and 10 quadrillion (1 quadrillion = 10^16) synapses in a human brain, and you have an organism that somehow becomes conscious, and yet can also function unconsciously, which uses chemicals for its transmission systems (across the synaptic gap, which is key to how synapses can vary in behaviour).

I’m with Arthur here.

Jim

Vacation

After our regular Dean’s and Director’s meeting today I’m headed to the second day of a very stimulating conference on “biologically inspired innovation” that’s being held over at IDA and then am off to my nephew Nate’s wedding in Cambridge Massachusetts. Nate is a doctoral student in Ann Arbor along with his bride-to-be, Seneca. He is a Harvard and Teach-for-America alumnus–I’m pretty proud of him.

After the wedding, We’ll head back to Virginia and ten days vacation at our Wintergreen house in the Blue Ridge. I’ll be blogging.

Jim

Great Ape Trust–Flood News

Our sister research institution, The Great Ape Trust, has been greatly affected by the recent catastrophic floods in Iowa. I’ve offered assistance, where that is possible, and urge readers of this blog to help where they can also.

Jim

Tim Russert RIP

This blog is never politically partisan, but it’s impossible living in Washington, not to take notice of the giant who has just passed from the 4th estate, Tim Russert, host of NBC’s Meet The Press. He will be missed sorely.

Jim

Collegiality in science

One of the most important things in science is to maintain collegiality in the face of a certain tendency among some to view their research as proprietary. This notion of one’s science as one’s “intellectual property” goes against my own grain–it’s at variance with the way my parents practiced neuroscience in their own laboratory at Caltech while I was growing up. So perhaps it’s just my own lack of familiarity with a modern fact-of-life. Perhaps. But it strikes me as very problematic to collaborate and especially exchange ideas with others when one’s body language is a metaphor for a non-disclosure agreement.

Reaching out across disciplines is especially important at an institute for advanced study like Krasnow is. Such exchanges are the crucial catalyst for scientific discovery. And the fuel for such exchanges is collegiality. Without it, one may be successful perhaps to a degree, but one loses the wonderful scientific give-and-take from colleagues who may shy away.

My two cents…

Jim

Thank you Nadine!

Thanks Nadine for introducing yourself. We’re really looking forward to your joining Molecular Neuroscience here at the Institute and especially taking the time to write a bit about yourself to this blog’s loyal readers.

Dr. Kabbani’s arrival at the Institute for Advanced Study will mark the continuation of our growth trajectory across the mind-sciences.
Jim