ULTIMATE COMPUTING - Quantum Consciousness Studies

14 Toward Ultimate Computing
synaptic connections among laterally connected parallel neurons. Within the
cytoskeleton, laterally connecting filaments and microtubule associated proteins
(“MAPs”) could serve as logical arbiters.
Figure 1.5: Eight dimensional hypercube with 256 nodes, and 8 connections per
node. Computer generation by Conrad Schneiker.
Hewitt argues that parallel, open systems are “non-hierarchical” because input
and output are continuously processed throughout the system. Early views of
brain/mind organization assumed a hierarchical arrangement of processing units.
Sensory input was thought to be processed and relayed to higher and higher levels
of cognition until reaching a single “Grandfather neuron” or “Mind’s Eye” which
comprehended the input’s “essence.” Classical brain research by Lashley (1929,
1950) and others (Chapter 4) strongly suggest that memory and information are
distributed throughout the brain and that specific anatomical hierarchical
arrangements leading to “Grandfather neurons” do not exist. The “Mind’s Eye” is
not localized to a given site but is mobile over wide volumes of brain. Assuming
that humans actually do comprehend the essence of at least some things, who or
what is comprehending The site and nature of attention, “self,” consciousness or
the Mind’s Eye remains a philosophical issue and barrier to Mind/Tech merger.
Neuroanatomical structure and the distributed storage of brain information point
toward highly parallel, open brain/mind computing systems which may occur
both at the neural level, and within neurons in the cytoskeleton. The perception
component of consciousness, the “Mind’s Eye” may be a mobile hierarchy
determined by collective dynamics.