Ep 202: We entirely fail to explain MRI
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We entirely fail to explain MRI Phil and I have decided to look at some of the tools and techniques used to try and understand the human brain. Today, we look at the MRI. Unfortunately, Brad couldn’t follow the physics, and it shows.
Of artificial life, evolution, and day and night
In a previous post, I said that adding energy to the system would speed it up. Between that and adjusting the mutation rate, I was right. The figures are adapting to changes within minutes, instead of taking hours. In the most recent post, I managed to get the figures to push a button when they …
Quick thing on perception and illusion from an example of one.
Professor Steve Stewart-Williams, one of my twitter folk posted this thing about perceptual illusions. They were all visual. I can’t see them, but I remember seeing some back when I could see well enough to see them. Even then, not all of them would work. In fact, I had different illusions of my own.
Ep 201: Beyond the neuron
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Beyond the neuron The neuron is not the only type of brain cell. From a celebrity missing body parts, to human cells in a mouse brain, we take a look at your glia. Here’s a video about the brain, that includes the animation I mentioned in the episode, and information on your Glia. A Blueprint …
They’ve seen the light, they just need more practice.
When I posted the last post I posted, I was smugly certain that I’d be posting another post, (that very day!)all about how success had been achieved. It had been a while since I’d last looked at my figures. I had episode 200 to kick out the door, and some research to do for a …
On vision and evolution
I’m phrasing it as though they are looking at a light, because that’s what I’m doing—experimenting with implementing vision in an artificial life system. There’s a factoid floating around that evolution cannot explain the eye. It’s based on a phrase written by Darwin. He had said that it is difficult to believe that something as …
Ep 200: will robots rule the world?
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will robots rule the world? If we were to create an artificial intelligence that’s more intelligent than we are, would it take over and force us into extinction? Can a machine have a mind equal to or even better than our own? Today, we take a look at such questions, along with some side trips …
Damn local minima!
So, here’s the game, implemented in game.java. A certain number of cycles is chosen, between a minimum amount, 10 at the moment, and a maximum, 50. Then a coin is flipped that determines whether the light is on or off for this round. One port will, when called, set b to 1 if the light …
Ep 199: Unconscious learning, your brain, and savant syndrome
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Unconscious learning, your brain, and savant syndrome Today we talk about your brain and unconscious mechanisms of learning. From losing a skill for no apparent reason, to acquiring languages, to unfortunately learning paralysis and pain, to savants who apparently learn without consciously attempting to, we cover some oddities about the way your brain works and …