Tuesday, February 2, 2010

Re: [Yasmin_discussions] simulation

Avi, Thanks for sharing the link to this recent TedTalk by Henry
Markram, its a must see for
all!!!
I love how at the end he speculates how "The Universe evolved a brain to see itself.."

I do question the concept of mental disorder as disease as Henry describes. For me, as I
am interested in psychosis, and am thinking about it as a 'glitch' in a possible universe as a
quantum computer simulation (a thought that could easily be considered as psychotic), I wonder how, what is described as disease,
actually has an important function within brain evolution? Mutations
are crucial to change, right? I am curious to see weather mutations would arise within these brain simulations unexpectedly and if it might become apparent what their function is. Spontaneous psychosis in the simulations, perhaps the very ingredient for creativity, change, allowing for the possibility of having choices to make decisions about.... Although mental disorders can vary from extremely pleasant to extremely unpleasant in the experience, instead of trying to irradiate it, treat the disease, why not try to better understand the meaning of it. And here I mean go further than Foucaults idea of madness taking the place of Leprosy. The suffering often comes more from not being understood, not being able to communicate than from the actual experience. It's incredible to think about the numbers: 3 in 100 experience psychosis at some point in their lives....but now I am trailing off the topic of simulation.

j.


________________________________
From: Avi Rosen <avi@siglab.technion.ac.il>
To: YASMIN DISCUSSIONS <yasmin_discussions@estia.media.uoa.gr>
Sent: Mon, February 1, 2010 8:38:40 AM
Subject: Re: [Yasmin_discussions] simulation

Tnx Roger,
It's interesting to compare between the simulation of star evolving, and the image of rose in 'brain in a supercomputer'
http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/henry_markram_supercomputing_the_brain_s_secrets.html
Is it an algorithms running on electrical nets?
" On April 27, 1992, the sculptor Ezra Orion directed the performance "SUPER CATHEDRAL I", http://www.orbit.zkm.de/?q=node/108 aiming laser beams perpendicularly and simultaneously around the world up to the sky and the infinity of the universe. This action is the final detachment of sculpture from the physicality that had governed it from prehistory, towards immense energy fields at the speed of light. The laser beams left the Solar System in five hours; today they are 18 light years from Earth. The laser beams join the cathedral of radio waves broadcast from Earth, and their height is around 90 light years. Orion proposed a continuation of this project, to be called "SUPER CATHEDRAL 4″ aiming for a unique interstellar cosmic arrangement. According to the laws of Riemann's non-Euclidian geometry, eventually the laser beam will execute a Moebius-strip-like loop in space, and return to its origin: the artist's body and consciousness. The
transmitted galactic laser beam loop creates compression of space and time while uniting between space-time, subject (artist), and object (art)."

Avi.

-----Original Message-----
From: yasmin_discussions-bounces@estia.media.uoa.gr [mailto:yasmin_discussions-bounces@estia.media.uoa.gr] On Behalf Of roger malina
Sent: א 31 ינואר 2010 23:40
To: YASMIN DISCUSSIONS
Subject: [Yasmin_discussions] simulation

yasminers

in astronomy the two most succesful simulations are those
of the evolution of a star from birth in the gas between the stars
to its death after exhausting its nuclear fuel=there are numerous
stellar evolution simulations available on line ( google stellar evolution
simulation)=pretty amazing =just click and watch

and the other is evolution of structure in the universe

here for instance is how a star evolves in temperature and brightness
calculated from a stellar evolution model= this star had the mass of the sun
and ends as a white dwarf

http://rainman.astro.illinois.edu/ddr/stellar/cgi-bin/output/movie0416531.mpg

this kind of simulation takes into account all the nuclear physics we know
and the physics of radiation transfer and opacity. amazingly succesful fit.
(but a gigantic unresolved mystery)

here is a simulation of evolution of structure in the universe
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uY24JAUsy5s
we have a really coherent description of the evolution of structure of
the universe (except for the fact that 97% of the content is dark matter
and dark energy, both of an unknown nature)

in both of these cases the simulations have status as 'tested hypotheses"

in both cases the simulation is presented as visual output-=in one
case a dynamic graph and the other a video

the fact that simulations have to be converted to visual output
(or sonified) introduces very strange biases in how the simulation
is displayed and interpreted-we tend to over emphasise structure even if its
a very small effect to guide the eye

the scientific method itself is changing, as simulations acquire
the status of explanations

roger
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