Greg Detre
Saturday, September 30, 2000
He�s attempting a conceptual description of (the human) mind�s workings. He is analysing the workings of a mature brain (as opposed to the evolution of mind at the species-level, or the development from childhood of an individual�s mind). Brain is a three-dimensional arrangement of flows of information. Each flow of information is along one of the dimensions of the mind. These dimensions of mind are rigidly straight or orthogonal (90�) whenever they do change direction.
He draws 2 distinctions, logically differentiated enough for an informational loop: the sensory/motor channels flow in parallel but opposite directions in time; the cosmos fills the tabula rasa of the mind, which tries to internalise its environment (�Who can say which is the agent� - the� cosmos organizing� minds, or� mind organizing the cosmos?�).
Mind itself is functionally cordoned off from the sensorium and motor areas because only within mind can the information flow sideways, i.e. associate, whereas the 5+ sensory channels are separate from each other.
There�s a funny bit about short vs long-term memory sharing the same physical location but differing in their future accessibility??? There�s more about the sensory-specific channels being comprised of nodes strung together in fibres. New sensations travel to the end of the fibres before being added. There seems to be no attempt to maintain biological plausibility at all any more. The only deviation from rigid straightness of information is the orthogonal communication with other channels, through digital �concrete associative tags� which are kept in chronological lockstep with each other. Each sensory memory channel serves three purposes: transmission, recording and comparison. Any (macroscopic???) information which can be transmitted can be recorded.
Motor memory channels are the complements of sensory channels � rather than recording external experiences, they record memory slices of internal, dynamic activation of themselves.
Together, the sensory and motor areas make up the first level, known as the �sentient grid�. This level can manage simple stimulus response.
1. can we draw a distinction between sensory and motor?
yes, so long as we keep a fuzzy no-man�s land in between where there is no cross-over, which Mentifex here terms �mind�, i.e. anywhere where the flows of information mingle