Title: The brain as a pile of sand Post by: youhn on April 07, 2014, 07:34:26 PM Lots of fractals live in a rough area near the border between order and chaos. Apparently so does our brain. Needless to say it's geometry shows some fractal stuff, but now it seems the inner workings also are related.
(https://www.simonsfoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/sand-brain-1_james_o_brien.jpeg) Quote ... A complex system that hovers between “boring randomness and boring regularity” is surprisingly stable overall, said Olaf Sporns, a cognitive neuroscientist at Indiana University. “Boring is bad,” he said, at least for a critical system. In fact, “if you try to avoid ever sparking an avalanche, eventually when one does occur, it is likely to be really large,” said Raissa D’Souza, a complex systems scientist at the University of California, Davis, who simulated just such a generic system last year. “If you spark avalanches all the time, you’ve used up all the fuel, so to speak, and so there is no opportunity for large avalanches.” ... Source : https://www.simonsfoundation.org/quanta/20140403-a-fundamental-theory-to-model-the-mind/ (https://www.simonsfoundation.org/quanta/20140403-a-fundamental-theory-to-model-the-mind/) Title: Re: The brain as a pile of sand Post by: Tglad on April 08, 2014, 03:42:41 AM Yes I saw the same article and was thinking of posting it. Sounds like a dynamic fractal... small motions frequently, big motions less frequently according to simple power law... like avalanches on a pile of sand or incrementing a binary number. |