The Brain – exactly how does it store and ‘replay’ music

We can all recall music in our heads, and sing along to it – so we can be fairly sure that we are remembering the music rather than just imagining that we are.  And, in turn we are able to re-create the sound with much of its complexity.

Consider what music is fundamentally – sine waves of varying amplitude and frequency, some of these are complex – but we know that (mathematically) these complex sine waves can be broken down into simple sine waves (Fourier analysis).  Digitise music (sample it) and you may turn it into yes’es and no’es. 

Consider the Brain – neurons store information in the form of proteins, this we think is basically a type of (massively parallel) digital system where thresholds are reached to ‘make something happen’.  Long-term memory is laid down as a change in the structure of the proteins that make up the neurons.

So, simple question (difficult answer?), how does the brain turn sine waves into neuron memory?  And, in what form is this memory stored?  And, how does it re-create the sounds? Maybe this seemingly simple question will shine a light on to exactly what is going on in the brain.

Prime Numbers – The Alien Connection

The ‘fundamental theorem of arithmetic’ (FTA) started way back with Euclidian theories.  It is such a fundamental property that any advanced sentient life form would know about it and indeed need to use it to create an understanding of the universe as we think of it.  Pondering on this, it seems quite impossible to conjure up any other possible way of considering the basis of the universe of numbers.  Perhaps it is just a mental trick played upon us by nature that we cannot conceive of any other possible way of representing ‘things’ except by these numbers – which inevitably lead us to number theory, of which the Primes are the supreme entities.

Even more amazing (unsettling?) is the simple fact underlying the ‘normal’ numbers (ie not Prime numbers), are ALL made from just ONE set of Prime numbers.  This somehow seems perverse.  How can such a simple law of the universe be so mind-bogglingly simplistic, (as it predicts many of the ways that matter and physics can work)? And yet, still we have no way of predicting where the largest Prime numbers are.

So, if you want to impress (an invading?) Alien sentient species that man does in-fact have some sentient ability also (as it may not be obvious given our inability to control our own world), then just write down the first primes (1,2,3,5,7,11,15,17,19,23,29,31,37….) and this can be accomplished without any knowledge of their language, culture or technology. Just make up the numbers as simple marks on a piece of paper, (whether you choose dots or scratches or some other notation it matters not) – it will be understood as the basis for the whole universe, and, as such, this knowledge would be understood to require a certain level of sentience… at least its worth a try.

Another step for mankind – DNA site identification

Recently, unheralded, we made a major leap towards the future.  Once Crick & Watson discovered the nature of DNA it was only a matter of time before we started unravelling natures code for all life as we know it. Much more recently we also discovered a way of changing nature’s code that allows easily and quick changes to the genes that encode proteins.

Until this invention, we were unable to make changes to the genes of ourselves (and any other organism) unless we spent many years developing techniques to access specifically each gene we wished to change or disable.  So, while we could identify genes and their associated proteins, we could not easily adapt them or indeed experiment to find out how important they are individually or in combination.

The tool we invented we have borrowed from nature.  The repair and protection system built into our cells that act on our DNA has the ability to seek out specific genes and cut them out.  We have taken this tool from a bacterium cell and created a new tool that works using RNA to link on to any chosen gene sequence.

This is a strange achievement for mankind.  Not only have we understood (some) of the mechanisms for our own creation, we have re-engineered them to allow us to change natures own invention – and to do this at will to any of the building blocks of our own persons (and intelligence?).

This completes the circle of nature’s inventiveness.  Three and a half billion years it has taken nature to provide a complex being, one that can now understand and re-create nature’s own undertakings.  It seems clear where this path takes us – we may soon be re-developing all of nature’s undertakings.  Who knows where this may lead?  We are no longer dependent upon natures (unthinking) development, we can if we choose, take ourselves and other organisms in a quite different direction to that of natural selection.

Sentience – quantum ripples in space/time?

Sentience, somehow we know it’s special.  We have tried to fathom the nature of sentience, yet, however we try to imagine how a physical system creates a thinking imaginative entity, we have so far failed.

Information theory suggests that the universe is made up of just information.  The theory states that Information, like energy, can never be destroyed, it simply changes form.  Quantum effects like the instantaneous creation and dissolution of particles within a total vacuum are neutral within this information flow.   Mathematics shows that quantum states (as found within many cubit quantum entanglements), require a universe of almost infinite size, we do not understand this mathematical outcome.

Perhaps nature has found a way of taping this unknown quantity.  The brain may be using quantum effects to create the astounding feat of sentience.   If so, this quantum effect may be using other dimensions that remain unknown.  These may be affected by our thoughts, these quantum fluctuations could continue across space / time / multi-universes et al.  Perhaps then our sentient thoughts create an information flow within these dimensions for the rest of eternity, spreading out to eventually encompass the whole of the known and unknown universe(s).

Capitalist Confusion

Why is everyone confused between the natural processes of competition and personal endeavour leading towards personal results and a runaway capitalist system that leads eventually to massive inequality and then a likely breakdown in the structure of the whole society?

We know that people need a framework and some work best within a competitive environment, that’s how nature organised us, (see the Human Contradiction).  But to organise the whole planet on who wins takes all mentality is ‘nuts’.

As we move further towards a global economy and the use of global resources becomes paramount, this winner takes all attitude must lead to continued conflict and hugely unequal societies.  Why not takes a step back, lets see what we have already achieved and look at the future for the whole planet.  This makes much more sense today than it did 100 or so years ago, when it would have been impossible to convince people that world resources were indeed finite and our future success would be dependant on that fact.

Mathematical Universe

Maths denotes what may be possible, and so it is.
What we ‘see’ in the universe must follow the maths, and so it does.
The reality is what we understand at any point about mathematics.
Mathematics may be infinite, so may be the universe.
We find mathematical theories and thus we find the reality of the universe, forever told.
Which came first?  The maths or the universe?
Perhaps they are one and the same, forever unfolding as we uncover the mathematics.

The End Of the MultiVerse

Ok, so the thought experiment tells us that there must be an infinite number of universes if quantum experiments are to be explained. These universes being infinite, hold every possible outcome.  This means that they hold versions of us (and everything else), in every possible state, in some we live like kings in others we live a terrible life with an even worse death, plus everything in between, or so the theory goes.
 
Now, using the same logic, CST has mused that within this infinite universality, there will be many very, very clever sentient species, (biological, machine, plus other types not yet conceived).   Some of these will have worked out exactly what the MultiVerse is all about and exactly how it all works and thus control it.  If just one of these clever sentients decide to destroy the whole MultiVerse, (and this must happen due to the infinities), then OUR universe also cannot exist – ergo there is NO MultiVerse.