Christof Koch - How Do Brains Function?

Everything we know, everything we think, comes from our brain. How do brains manage this remarkable feat? What principles do brains use? Do all brains work similarly? How to account for differences among species and among individuals? Are brains our window to reality, seeing what truly exists? Or are we bound by brains, mental slaves of the meat in our heads?



Christof Koch is an American neuroscientist best known for his work on the neural bases of consciousness.


Closer to Truth, hosted by Robert Lawrence Kuhn and directed by Peter Getzels, presents the world’s greatest thinkers exploring humanity’s deepest questions. Discover fundamental issues of existence. Engage new and diverse ways of thinking. Appreciate intense debates. Share your own opinions. Seek your own answers.

[alphatrion]

Harrison Ford must've been inspired by Jeff Goldblum here. His method acting is top notch.

[stellarwind]

Harrison Ford has aged remarkably well

[hollywooda]

This guy is the answer to the question.
What would a person look and sound like if they had the face of Indiana Jones, the hair of Boris Johnson and spoke like The Terminator on helium.

[turnerthemanc]

I can hear a record from my childhood and I can feel where I was at that age. Everlasting Love by love afair, 1968. I was 5. I still get butterflies in my stomach when I hear it because I am at the gates of jnr shcool, crying because my mum dropped me off and I was scared. Must have been on the radio at the time.(there are hundreds of them)
What use is that brain response and its still stored somewhere 55 years later.

[UFOCurrents]

Am I the only one seeing Harrison Ford with a bowl cut? 😄

[charlie-kmet]

Why can’t he just admit what he doesn’t know?

[knioutom]

MEMORY IS LIKE A HOLOGRAM ???

[chrisavanti]

Fascinating! But is that Harrison Ford with a hair piece?

[TheTroofSayer]

Great to see neuroscientist Christof Koch weighing in on this important topic. A couple of things caught my attention. In previous posts to CTT, I've compared the neuroplastic brain, as a colony of neurons, to a humanplastic city, as a colony of people - in both brains and cities, divisions of labor provide the basis for self-organisation into functional specialisations.

At 1:18 Koch says "... and ultimately we think memories are stored in one way or another, shorter or longer, in the strength of those synaptic connections among the neurons." Synapses are the junctions across which neurons communicate with one another. Synapses are to neurons what vocal-cords, eyes, ears and hands are to humans; they provide the basis for engagement with other members within the colony. On this point, Koch's interpretation is inconsistent with my brain-city metaphor.

In the brain-city metaphor, a person's memories are manifestations of the habits, associations and motivations playing out at the neural level, in much the same way that cultural memories - the traditions and values that define a culture - are manifestations of the habits, associations and motivations of people living their daily lives, playing out at the cultural (city) level. This is the basis of agency theory, in the field of semiotics, and is integral to top-down causation. For more on habituation and association in neurons, refer to E. Kandel's research on Aplysia (sea slug), as well as A.H. Klopf's book "The Hedonistic Neuron". [Koch discusses other forms of memory as well, such as muscle memory (3:05), which relates directly to the mind-body problem]

Regarding the many different forms of memory. Again, this relates to agency theory as a fundamental principle, with the division of labour among the neurons responding to top-down causation (autopoiesis, self-organisation).

7:41 - neural networks - refer to A.H. Klopf's "The Hedonistic Neuron" that provided the original inspiration for the associative learning algorithms in neural net architectures.

8:36 - "... somehow the brain has to combine all the disparate information into one unitary experience percept." This the binding problem, to which I suggest a solution in DNA entanglement. DNA entanglement provides for neurons what telecommunications provides for people in a city - namely, immediate access to collective information, which is integral to notions of unity, selfhood and identity.

9:30 - Robert introduces meaning at the neural level. Again, A.H. Klopf's "The Hedonistic Neuron" - the role of meaning is implied in the title! Neurons "love" what they do. They get a buzz out of making simple associations, in much the same way that people get a buzz out of solving problems and getting closer to truth :)

FOOTNOTE: It is important to realize that neural wiring is ALL experiential (top-down causation) and begins in the womb. I write about this, if someone from CTT wants more information. The medulla oblongata, for example, is not an expression of any kind of DNA blueprint (I do wish that this emphasis on bottom-up causation would die, have a stake driven through its heart). The medulla oblongata unfolds as the first neurons engage with the first heartbeats.

A SOLUTION TO THE MIND-BODY PROBLEM?

If all brains function according to the exact same principles relating to agency theory, then what is it that distinguishes the different kinds of brains across different kinds of animals? What is it that distinguishes a human's neuronal clump from a dog's or a bird's? It's the body that makes the difference. Bodies wire neuroplastic, DNA-entangled brains. This is because the body is the vehicle that apprehends experiences and meaning. What's it like to be a bat? Or a fish? What's it like to be our opposite sex? Look not at the brain, but at the body that wires it.

[jamesruscheinski]

is there a way to measure how many neuron signals are in a memory?

[paulrilke]

This autumn, Harrison Ford is...PAVEL NEDVED. Selected theatres only.

[kalewintermute]

Nice to see Jürgen Klinsmann found a second career after football.

[remy]

How do brains function??? It’s 2022. Look around. They mostly just don’t.
🍻

[jean-pierredevent]

About color qualia: a funny game is to pick a random color (ex blue) and then say "there is much blue in the environment" and indeed suddenly, there is blue everywhere as one looks around. Pink is hard though ;-)

[Mudita]

Sir hope you know the main controller of brain is spinal chord, which controls autonomous system of human body, no one can control this autonomous system but here a method to activate this autonomous system, a man which never control it's movement but an another system control this, like yogic movements, or pranayam and aasaan,
Search guru siyag automatic yoga, hope you get your answer 🙏😊

[NachtmahrNebenan]

When I watch this (quite interesting) interview my brain says all the time *"why does Johnny Lyndon have a German accent?"*
(Sorry if that was inappropriate but I couldn't help it… 😅)

[andrevigneault]

Few years ago I paste 3 articles about those chromosome that I call memory chromosome, and those chromosome that have in memory those first instant of your espèce. Its on some where in those blog science. Some who have time To waste should look at. JESUS

[inelhuayocan_aci]

Holy crap, I thought you had Jurgen Klinnsman on the show. Whew!

[aminomar]

They have misunderstanding, and misinterpretation, unfortunately it is not possible to go into details because of the thief apes!

[jamesruscheinski]

can one neuron signal have information for a memory, or are many neuron signals needed for a memory?