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--------------------------------- 2423 - BRAIN - how the Brain Works?
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- We have learned that the brain is doing its activity with 100,000,000,000 nerve cells. It is adding 1,000,000 neuronal connections ever second. Say again, every second. This translated to computer-eez is 100,000,000,000,000 instructions per second processing capacity. (10^14 , or 100 Terahertz, the average computer being 25 Gigahertz , 10^9, so the brain is 100,000 times faster in clock speed.)
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- However, it depends on the task, the computer can be faster at a particular task completion.. The adult brain contains 5*10^14 neuron connections, an electrical wiring highway with 500,000,000,000,000 intersections
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- These connections are transmitting electrical signals from higher levels to lower levels which represent the brain’s internal “predictions“. The electrical signals traveling in the opposite direction represent the inputs from the senses.
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- The brain appears to be a probability machine. With 500,000,000 years of evolution it has grown to constantly making predictions. Then it updates these predictions based on what the senses send back. In turn, the brain is constantly making decisions based on the uncertainties it encounters.
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- Knowledge is all in terms of probabilities. But, the probabilities constantly change with relevant new information. The brain is always inferring and optimizing with its experiences.
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- If you are listening to incoming information your brain is constantly predicting what it expects to hear. It is constantly revising its predictions based on the next information it receives. This process allows you to make sense out of distorted or partially obscured speech. The same process occurs in what you see.
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- Everything the brain does is trying to minimize prediction error. The brain alters its internal pathways and neural connections with experience. It is changing its internal connections to reduce prediction error.
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- What is left is learning or memory of the results. Another way to say this is the brain is always trying to minimize its “Free Energy”. Free Energy originates from thermodynamics and the study of statistical machines. Free Energy is defined as the total energy in a system minus the useless energy, or entropy, that is lost in the system. Machine learning occurs by treating the prediction error as Free Energy and then minimizing it.
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- If you glimpse an object in your peripheral vision your prediction error is big. To reduce the error your brain either changes its prediction, or, it calls on the senses to gather more data from the environment.
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- Mathematically, Free Energy is always bigger than surprise. Therefore, if you can minimize Free Energy you can avoid surprising encounters in your environment. No surprises.
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- Everything that can change in the brain will change to suppress prediction errors. Changes from the firing neurons, to wiring between them, to the movements of your eyes, to even the choices you make in daily life.
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- One adaptation effect is that neurons stop firing after prolonged exposure to a stimulus, like a rattling fan, or a talkative wife.
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- Sounds like we have learned a lot about the brain but we still understand the grand theory of the Universe and the Big Bang more deeply than we understand the grand theory of how the brain works.
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- These are some of the amazing discoveries so far. The brain is always playing the probabilities to keep error between predictions and feedback from the senses to a minimum.
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- The most incomprehensible thing about the Universe and the Brain is that we are here trying to comprehend it. The more I think about it I learn the less I know.
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- See Review 2199 that lists 8 more reviews about the brain.
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- July 24, 2019 1014
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--------------------- Wednesday, July 24, 2019 --------------------
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