ULTIMATE COMPUTING - Quantum Consciousness Studies

168 Models of Cytoskeletal Computing
symmetry provides small size with sufficient angular resolution. To locate a
signal source, a detector must prevent an emitted signal from arriving at more
than one receptor. A simple circular arrangement would fail to meet this
requirement because about half the receptors are accessible to a signal emitted
from any source. A simple way to improve the design is to attach blinds or
“blades” to one side of each receptor to absorb or deflect a signal wherever it
interacts with them. A radial arrangement of straight blinds would be inadequate
because at least two receptors would remain accessible to signals from the same
source. However, if the blinds are bent circumferentially, an optimal angle is
achieved when the blinds prevent access to all but one receptor without producing
“blank spots,” areas from which signal sources cannot reach any of the receptors.
Blinds that restrict access to single receptors are even better if their shape is
concaved. Used by manufacturers of “Venetian blinds,” this curvature averts the
possibility that a signal located directly in line with a straight blind could reach
two adjacent receptors. Consequently, a signal is received not by the receptor
closest to the signal source, but by one located at a fixed angle off the incident
direction. Centriolar “blades” extend above and below the centriolar cylinder and
are pitched, or twisted. Albrecht-Buehler sees this torque as further angular
resolution, but the “propeller-like” arrangement could also serve to screw
centrioles through the cytoplasm, assuming a centriolar rotation as suggested by
Bornens (Record, 1986). Two detectors are best placed at right angles to each
other so that one of them can locate the “longitude” while the other locates the
“latitude” of the signal source. Centriole-like basal bodies fixed perpendicularly
into a two dimensional cell surface are usually not accompanied by a second basal
body at right angles. Thus the right angle paired cylinder formation permits global
exposure and three dimensional reckoning unnecessary in basal bodies. Albrecht-
Buehler’s view of centrioles as perfectly designed signal detectors is
complementary with Bornens’ concept of a gyroscopic oscillator and signaling
center. Combination of the two models results in a dynamic cell center capable of
piloting cytoplasmic activities.