Who am I? ... My name is Jules ... Originally from Boston, I moved to the Bay Area in 2000 on a whim. I like to pack my bags and explore the world every chance I get, but at the age of thirty-one, I call Berkeley home. I recently graduated from UC Berkeley with a degree in Religious Studies. My focus was Buddhism, Hinduism, Shamanism and contemporary Western expressions of spirituality. I think I would make a good anthropologist. But I would make a better Chinese Medicine doctor.
A bit more about me: I am interested in nutrition and food politics, and more than less eat a vegan diet. I believe in localism and supporting our community businesses. I heart crafting---anyone want to start a knitting group??? I am also teaching myself to sew and love the challenge of re-functioning everyday objects. I love my cat and my friends, and I ride my bicycle everywhere. I am dedicated to self-awareness, waking up from the dream, or the nightmare, as the case may be.
What about the development of "artifical brains"?.... In the article that we discussed in class, a group of neuroscientists make the claim that they have come 'one step closer to building an artificial human brain'---I find this claim problematic for a number of a reasons. First of all, this claim seems to be contingent upon what your definition of "brain" is; if these neuroscientists define the brain as a "super-fast computer," then yes, perhaps they have come one step closer to building an artificial human brain. However, definitions of "brain" can vary considerabley. What is my definition? Let's see. It is an organ of the body, it serves as the 'control center' of the body's many functions, it processes sensory information from the outside world, it the source of consciousness, the seat of self-awareness .... or is it? This is where things get problematic for me. I think with my brain ... but I also feel that I think with my heart. I feel that I think with my heart. In Chinese Medicine, everything is relative, inter-connected, nothing can be isolated nor statically exist. And this holds true, of course, for the systems of the human body. The physical body. The emotional body. If neuroscientists one day develop an "artificial human brain," then that is all that they have developed. An artificial brain. They have not re-invented the human experience.
Impressions on next week's topic .... Evolution refers specifically to genetic changes, not cultural changes; however, genetic changes do ultimately influence cultural changes in our world. From my reading, I do not get the impression that the inverse is ever regarded as true, meaning, 'biology' is always given primacy over 'culture', and never 'culture' over 'biology'. I think this would be interesting to argue (but may boil down to a logic equation in the end?---I have to give this more thought.). Other points of interest: Darwin's survival of the fittest does not mean the 'best' or the 'strongest', but rather 'suitable' or 'adaptable'. The universe is a web and all species are interconnected and interdependent ...evolution is not a random process---it is not about 'chance'---but rather, the universe is ordered. Even if it may seem like chaos.
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Jules, I find it interesting how you wrote that you can feel how you think with your heart. Personally, I think every part of out body can think...although I find me heart to be the seat of the deepest truth about who I am, the nature of my being, and the nature of everything around me.
ReplyDeleteSometimes, in the middle of a yoga asana, I think my leg is aligned and positioned correctly, but then my leg moves on its own into what is actually correct alignment...i knew, better than my head and brain, where it needed to be...
Often time thought seems to be defined as language in out minds, but there has to be subtler ways of thinking...the type of thinking my heart does, or how my leg knows where it needs to be...although my leg doesn't ramble to me, it thinks and aligns itself...although my heart isn't necessarily a follower of logic, it allows me to understand things I could never understand with my brain.
I also was thinking about how we think/feel with all of our being. On a personal level, I often check in with how my belly, heart and head is feeling...and they often have different things to say. As a bodyworker, I can tangibly feel that different tissues of the body harbor memories, thoughts and feelings...and think this likely goes down to the cellular structure of our bodies...
ReplyDeleteI also found the article on brains problematic and seriously disturbing. I feel that everything that we do and who we are starts and is interrelated to our personal brain. From my understanding of the brain we have the forebrain, midbrain, and hindbrain. Of course it breaks down more than that, but to save time and space I won’t go into the thalamus, brainstems etc… My point is we feed information to the brain from every part of the body, externally and internally through our brain. Although the brain can be described about how it works in general, our personal experinces with our brains make us unique.
ReplyDeleteYour point that they are making a super-computer not a brain is exactly what I feel is being done. I also believe it should come to an immidiate halt. Just because someone can do something, does not mean they should.
Thanks for your thoughts.