The Fractal Nature of Consciousness and Intuition by Torsten Asselmeyer-Maluga

Dear Torsten,

I once thought about cognition being derived from closed loops. The reason for is since we are aware of many things, even if unconsciously, I think we are at least in very a neurotic and compulsive state of mind towards any kind of information. And, indeed, the circuitry of our brain is made of small loops, when information is kept stored, and large loops, which pass through the Thalamus several times, being redistributed to several other parts of the brains. So, it is basically a mechanism cortex-thalamus-cortex-thalamus. The cerebellum here may also include cerebellum, for extremely repetitive and fast processing.

Interestingly,thought not related to what led me to think about the latter, In fact, one the earliest types of computer memory a similar idea:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delay_line_memory

Correction: So, it is basically a mechanism cortex-thalamus-cortex-thalamus. The cerebellum here may also include cerebellum, for extremely repetitive and fast processing.

The correct is

So, it is basically a mechanism cortex-thalamus-cortex-thalamus. The "brain" here may also include cerebellum, for extremely repetitive and fast processing.

Torsten,

Great essay! I discuss very much the same thing in my essay which is in line with MERA or tensor networks. There is a sort of analogue between quantum cosmology, or quantum bits in cosmology and general information networks. The universe is a network of causal sets. There is I think a switch between blue and green in the pictorial representation of contractible and noncontractible loops.

Cheers LC

This post was from me, but for some reason I was logged out. I boosted your score a bit!

LC

Dear Torsten,

I enjoyed reading your essay. I like how you applied the theory developed by Morgan and Shalen for 3-manifolds to neural networks and feedback loops, to explain learning and intuition. The essay was clear, self-contained, and well written. I think this approach may make interesting applications to the study of the processes taking place in the consciousness.

Best wishes,

Cristi Stoica

The Tablet of the Metalaw

Dear Torsten,

You deal with important issues; in particular, "The interaction between neurons given by the feedback loops controls the behavior of the neurons in the loop. In philosophy, one calls this behavior top-down causation: Top-down causation refers to the effects on components of organized systems that cannot be fully analyzed in terms of component-level behavior but instead requires reference to the higher-level system itself. This model serves as a simple example of this principle."

This is indeed a good example, which I appreciate. The concept is dealt with in more general contexts in my recent book How Can Physics Underlie the Mind?.

Regards

George Ellis

I will try to respond tomorrow. I got the flu a few weeks ago and now I have bronchitis that is sort of dragging me down. I do have a question concerning the Uhlenbeck, Freed, Donaldson type of result, but I will have to wait until tomorrow if I am better.

Cheers LC

Hi Torsten

Since I am not conversant with hyperbolic geometry and quantum physics, I cannot pretend to have understood all the fine details present in your modeling of the neural network, but I certainly found it to be intriguing, since my own essay was attempting a different type of modeling, that of the social system. What I found most interesting about your model was that the top-down flow of neural activity is more predictive of conscious awareness than the bottom-up flow of activity. You go on to state in the conclusion, "Top down causation refers to the effects on components of organized systems that cannot be fully analyzed in terms of component-level behavior but instead requires reference to the higher-level system itself".

Speaking purely from what I would expect to be the case for intelligent systems, (without much knowledge of the brain as an organ), I would expect such top down causation to be present if a system is to be considered as intelligent. And although I have not thought about it in precisely those terms in my essay, I think you might be able to recognize this top down behavior in it as well. I think you have written a great essay and I rate it accordingly.

Warm Regards, Willy

Hello Torsten..

I wanted to thank you for the comments left on my essay page, and to let you know I have begun to read and enjoy your essay. There is a lot to digest! I like the way you introduce the need for top-down interactions, to provide a faithful model of perception. I think both the universe and our awareness of it are participatory, even though much is automatic. I think learning about the non-automatic part is the key to understanding perception. Playing with ideas gives more insight than memorizing.

I appreciate the link to your paper with a no-go result for an n-qubit Spin-2 Hamiltonian simulation. This could be relevant to the matter of quantum computing via a BEC/BH event horizon analogy, I imagine. I apologize for the delay responding. I submerged myself to finish my first ever essay for the Gravity Research Foundation contest, but that is now sent in. Back to you soon, with more on your essay.

All the Best,

Jonathan

Torsten,

Remember you from the last contest.

I wonder if topology could shed light to the 1.8 billion light-years across supervoid, seemingly an anomaly scientists have discovered, something I reference in my essay.

Neural network models are a quite intriguing addition to neural studies. I would think that a qualitative approach for the brain is especially effective considering the multitudinous neural pathways of the brain.

Mindless rules will generate mind! Clever.

Hope you get a chance to comment on mine.

Jim Hoover

This is excellent work Torsten!

I have a quibble, that in human brain learning studies it was found that the naive view holding that similarities of structure between table result in similar memory encoding is untrue, but it was found that memory images were grouped by function instead. So there are several places a coffee cup appears represented in the brain, depending on whether it is empty or full, clean or dirty, and so on. It's usage determines how it is stored. So we might find table and couch represented in the same brain areas.

But this is in keeping with your observation of the importance of top-down influences, because to a living being in the real world objects are meant to be used or to have uses - which affects how we conceive of it. The old Chinese proverb is that the value of an urn is the space it contains. But this is an object fashioned by humans because it can fulfill a particular purpose. It is interesting though, that this purpose orientation is a driver of neurological specialization.

It was worth taking the time needed to digest the Maths, so I could get a better perspective of your intended meaning. But more digestion is required; you have given me a lot of food for thought, between your essay and comments, so I'll likely have some questions or a few comments of my own. An excellent read overall, and I hope you do well in the contest.

All the Best,

Jonathan