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HOW BRAINS MAKE
Professor Walter J Freeman |
Summary
The erosion of Descartes' concept of the soul in the machine by
recent developments in neuroscience gives us the challenge of
understanding how we control our behaviour and make sense of the
world around us. Do our genes and environments determine all that
goes on in our brains, or do we create ourselves through what
we believe and how we behave?
Freeman charts the brain's mind, progressing from single nerve
cells to cooperative nerve cell assemblies to emergence of complex
brain patterns. Drawing on new developments in brain imaging and
theories of chaos and nonlinear dynamics, he shows how brains
create intentions and meanings.
In doing so he finds new ways to answer age-old philosophical
questions of self determination and individual responsibility.
He finds Descartes mistaken in his dictum, "I think, therefore
I am": his brain had already accomplished the fact and was
merely keeping his ego informed.
Freeman's novel synthesis of neuroscience and philosophy shows
that the power to choose is an essential and unalienable property
of brains, and that it is the foundation for the growth and flourishing
of individuals and societies.
London UK: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, Orion Press, 1999
Raise your arm. Now: which came first? The raising of your arm,
or the decision to raise it? Walter Freeman's admirably articulate
and very difficult little book on the biological foundations of
consciousness comes up with a surprising answer: action precedes
consciousness of action. Consciousness has better things to do
than involve itself with simple motor actions; rather, it establishes
the parameters within which action occurs by itself. We are not
divine homunculi, directing action independent of the physical
constraints of cause and effect. But neither are we ghosts in
the machine of the body, observing, and taking credit for, actions
which are in reality dictated by conditioned responses and blind
fate. Minds are like weather systems: at once evanescent and remarkably
robust. Freeman's grasp of philosophy is unprecedented among experimental
biologists, and he writes at the leading edge of that movement
that makes study of the mind the venue for the long-awaited reconciliation
of science and the humanities. This book would make a poor introduction
to the subject: it's too much part of the ongoing debate, and
readers would do better to tuck a few Dennetts, Calvins and Penroses
under their belts first. But this caveat takes nothing away from
Freeman's contribution or importance, and the book is a fine addition
to Steven Rose's "Maps of the Mind" series, which looks
to be the most diverse and rigorous science series for many years.
--Simon Ings
The text also charts our brain's mind, progressing from single
nerve cells to co-operative nerve cell assemblies to the emergence
of complex brain patterns. By drawing on recent developments in
brain imaging and theories of chaos and non-linear dynamics it
shows how brains create intention and meaning.
****REVIEW FROM amazon.co.uk****
Synopsis
This text reviews the history of the mind-brain problem and
demonstrates how the sciences of behavioural electrophysiology and
nonlinear dynamics - combined with the latest computer technology -
have made it possible for us to observe brains in action. It also provides
an answer to the question: "What happens to a stimulus after it enters the
brain?". The answer: "The stimulus triggers the construction of a percept
and is then washed away". It argues that all that we know is what our
brains construct for us by neurodynamics. Brains are not logical devices
that process information. They are dynamical systems that create meaning
through interactions with the environment and with each other.
An early reviewer comment:
4 out of 5 stars
It's a very important book for neuroscientists about perceptual processes
in the brain, and the role of chaos, but others will also enjoy reading it. A
quote:
"Having played its role in setting the initial conditions, the
sense-dependent activity is washed away, and the perceptual message that
is sent on into the forebrain is the construction, not the residue of a
filter or a computational algorithm. A requirement for this process of
"laundering" is for spatial coherence, which arises from cooperativity
over the cortical populations. This process of replacement of sensory
inputs by endogenous constructions in perception constitutes the basis of
epistemological solipsism in brains."
HOW BRAINS MAKE UP THEIR MINDS
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Copyright/Copyleft (c) 2003, Walter J. Freeman, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
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