How To Create A Mind Part 4

The sensory-touch pathway in the brain.

Among its other functions, the thalamus is considered a gateway for preprocessed sensory information to enter the neocortex. In addition to the tactile information flowing through the VMpo, processed information from the optic nerve (which, as noted above, has already been substantially transformed) is sent to a region of the thalamus called the lateral geniculate nucleus, which then sends it on to the V1 region of the neocortex. Information from the auditory sense is pa.s.sed through the medial geniculate nucleus of the thalamus en route to the early auditory regions of the neocortex. All of our sensory data (except, apparently, for the olfactory system, which uses the olfactory bulb instead) pa.s.ses through specific regions of the thalamus.

The most significant role of the thalamus, however, is its continual communication with the neocortex. The pattern recognizers in the neocortex send tentative results to the thalamus and receive responses princ.i.p.ally using both excitatory and inhibitory reciprocal signals from layer VI of each recognizer. Keep in mind that these are not wireless messages, so that there needs to be an extraordinary amount of actual wiring (in the form of axons) running between all regions of the neocortex and the thalamus. Consider the vast amount of real estate (in terms of the physical ma.s.s of connections required) for the hundreds of millions of pattern recognizers in the neocortex to be constantly checking in with the thalamus.5 So what are the hundreds of millions of neocortical pattern recognizers talking to the thalamus about? It is apparently an important conversation, because profound damage to the main region of the thalamus bilaterally can lead to prolonged unconsciousness. A person with a damaged thalamus may still have activity in his neocortex, in that the self-triggering thinking by a.s.sociation can still work. But directed thinking-the kind that will get us out of bed, into our car, and sitting at our desk at work-does not function without a thalamus. In a famous case, twenty-one-year-old Karen Ann Quinlan suffered a heart attack and respiratory failure and remained in an unresponsive, apparently vegetative state for ten years. When she died, her autopsy revealed that her neocortex was normal but her thalamus had been destroyed.

In order to play its key role in our ability to direct attention, the thalamus relies on the structured knowledge contained in the neocortex. It can step through a list (stored in the neocortex), enabling us to follow a train of thought or follow a plan of action. We are apparently able to keep up to about four items in our working memory at a time, two per hemisphere according to recent research by neuroscientists at the MIT Picower Inst.i.tute for Learning and Memory.6 The issue of whether the thalamus is in charge of the neocortex or vice versa is far from clear, but we are unable to function without both. The issue of whether the thalamus is in charge of the neocortex or vice versa is far from clear, but we are unable to function without both.

The Hippocampus

Each brain hemisphere contains a hippocampus, a small region that looks like a sea horse tucked in the medial temporal lobe. Its primary function is to remember novel events. Since sensory information flows through the neocortex, it is up to the neocortex to determine that an experience is novel in order to present it to the hippocampus. It does so either by failing to recognize a particular set of features (for example, a new face) or by realizing that an otherwise familiar situation now has unique attributes (such as your spouse's wearing a fake mustache).

The hippocampus is capable of remembering these situations, although it appears to do so primarily through pointers into the neocortex. So memories in the hippocampus are also stored as lower-level patterns that were earlier recognized and stored in the neocortex. For animals without a neocortex to modulate sensory experiences, the hippocampus will simply remember the information from the senses, although this will have undergone sensory preprocessing (for example, the transformations performed by the optic nerve).

Although the hippocampus makes use of the neocortex (if a particular brain has one) as its scratch pad, its memory (of pointers into the neocortex) is not inherently hierarchical. Animals without a neocortex can accordingly remember things using their hippocampus, but their recollections will not be hierarchical.

The capacity of the hippocampus is limited, so its memory is short-term. It will transfer a particular sequence of patterns from its short-term memory to the long-term hierarchical memory of the neocortex by playing this memory sequence to the neocortex over and over again. We need, therefore, a hippocampus in order to learn new memories and skills (although strictly motor skills appear to use a different mechanism). Someone with damage to both copies of her hippocampus will retain her existing memories but will not be able to form new ones.

University of Southern California neuroscientist Theodore Berger and his colleagues modeled the hippocampus of a rat and have successfully experimented with implanting an artificial one. In a study reported in 2011, the USC scientists blocked particular learned behaviors in rats with drugs. Using an artificial hippocampus, the rats were able to quickly relearn the behavior. "Flip the switch on, and the rats remember. Flip it off and the rats forget," Berger wrote, referring to his ability to control the neural implant remotely. In another experiment the scientists allowed their artificial hippocampus to work alongside the rats' natural one. The result was that the ability of the rats to learn new behaviors strengthened. "These integrated experimental modeling studies show for the first time," Berger explained, "that...a neural prosthesis capable of real-time identification and manipulation of the encoding process can restore and even enhance cognitive mnemonic processes."7 The hippocampus is one of the first regions damaged by Alzheimer's, so one goal of this research is to develop a neural implant for humans that will mitigate this first phase of damage from the disease. The hippocampus is one of the first regions damaged by Alzheimer's, so one goal of this research is to develop a neural implant for humans that will mitigate this first phase of damage from the disease.

The Cerebellum

There are two approaches you can use to catch a fly ball. You could solve the complex simultaneous differential equations controlling the ball's movement as well as further equations governing your own particular angle in viewing the ball, and then compute even more equations on how to move your body, arm, and hand to be in the right place at the right time.

This is not the approach that your brain adopts. It basically simplifies the problem by collapsing a lot of equations into a simple trend model, considering the trends of where the ball appears to be in your field of vision and how quickly it is moving within it. It does the same thing with your hand, making essentially linear predictions of the ball's apparent position in your field of view and that of your hand. The goal, of course, is to make sure they meet at the same point in s.p.a.ce and time. If the ball appears to be dropping too quickly and your hand appears to be moving too slowly, your brain will direct your hand to move more quickly, so that the trends will coincide. This "Gordian knot" solution to what would otherwise be an intractable mathematical problem is called basis functions, and they are carried out by the cerebellum, a bean-shaped and appropriately baseball-sized region that sits on the brain stem.8 The cerebellum is an old-brain region that once controlled virtually all hominid movements. It still contains half of the neurons in the brain, although most are relatively small ones, so the region const.i.tutes only about 10 percent of the weight of the brain. The cerebellum likewise represents another instance of ma.s.sive repet.i.tion in the design of the brain. There is relatively little information about its design in the genome, as its structure is a pattern of several neurons that is repeated billions of times. As with the neocortex, there is uniformity across its structure.9 Most of the function of controlling our muscles has been taken over by the neocortex, using the same pattern recognition algorithms that it uses for perception and cognition. In the case of movement, we can more appropriately refer to the neocortex's function as pattern implementation. The neocortex does make use of the memory in the cerebellum to record delicate scripts of movements-for example, your signature and certain flourishes in artistic expression such as music and dance. Studies of the role of the cerebellum during the learning of handwriting by children reveal that the Purkinje cells of the cerebellum actually sample the sequence of movements, with each one sensitive to a specific sample.10 Because most of our movement is now controlled by the neocortex, many people can manage with a relatively modest obvious disability even with significant damage to the cerebellum, except that their movements may become less graceful. Because most of our movement is now controlled by the neocortex, many people can manage with a relatively modest obvious disability even with significant damage to the cerebellum, except that their movements may become less graceful.

The neocortex can also call upon the cerebellum to use its ability to compute real-time basis functions to antic.i.p.ate what the results of actions would be that we are considering but have not yet carried out (and may never carry out), as well as the actions or possible actions of others. It is another example of the innate built-in linear predictors in the brain.

Substantial progress has been made in simulating the cerebellum with respect to the ability to respond dynamically to sensory cues using the basis functions I discussed above, in both bottom-up simulations (based on biochemical models) and top-down simulations (based on mathematical models of how each repeating unit in the cerebellum operates).11

Pleasure and FearFear is the main source of superst.i.tion, and one of the main sources of cruelty. To conquer fear is the beginning of wisdom.-Bertrand Russell Feel the fear and do it anyway.-Susan Jeffers

If the neocortex is good at solving problems, then what is the main problem we are trying to solve? The problem that evolution has always tried to solve is survival of the species. That translates into the survival of the individual, and each of us uses his or her own neocortex to interpret that in myriad ways. In order to survive, animals need to procure their next meal while at the same time avoiding becoming someone else's meal. They also need to reproduce. The earliest brains evolved pleasure and fear systems that rewarded the fulfillment of these fundamental needs along with basic behaviors that facilitated them. As environments and competing species gradually changed, biological evolution made corresponding alterations. With the advent of hierarchical thinking, the satisfaction of critical drives became more complex, as it was now subject to the vast complex of ideas within ideas. But despite its considerable modulation by the neocortex, the old brain is still alive and well and still motivating us with pleasure and fear.

One region that is a.s.sociated with pleasure is the nucleus acc.u.mbens. In famous experiments conducted in the 1950s, rats that were able to directly stimulate this small region (by pushing a lever that activated implanted electrodes) preferred doing so to anything else, including having s.e.x or eating, ultimately exhausting and starving themselves to death.12 In humans, other regions are also involved in pleasure, such as the ventral pallidum and, of course, the neocortex itself. In humans, other regions are also involved in pleasure, such as the ventral pallidum and, of course, the neocortex itself.

Pleasure is also regulated by chemicals such as dopamine and serotonin. It is beyond the scope of this book to discuss these systems in detail, but it is important to recognize that we have inherited these mechanisms from our premammalian cousins. It is the job of our neocortex to enable us to be the master of pleasure and fear and not their slave. To the extent that we are often subject to addictive behaviors, the neocortex is not always successful in this endeavor. Dopamine in particular is a neurotransmitter involved in the experience of pleasure. If anything good happens to us-winning the lottery, gaining the recognition of our peers, getting a hug from a loved one, or even subtle achievements such as getting a friend to laugh at a joke-we experience a release of dopamine. Sometimes we, like the rats who died overstimulating their nucleus acc.u.mbens, use a shortcut to achieve these bursts of pleasure, which is not always a good idea.

Gambling, for example, can release dopamine, at least when you win, but this is dependent on its inherent lack of predictability. Gambling may work for the purpose of releasing dopamine for a while, but given that the odds are intentionally stacked against you (otherwise the business model of a casino wouldn't work), it can become ruinous as a regular strategy. Similar dangers are a.s.sociated with any addictive behavior. A particular genetic mutation of the dopamine-receptor D2 gene causes especially strong feelings of pleasure from initial experiences with addictive substances and behaviors, but as is well known (but not always well heeded), the ability of these substances to produce pleasure on subsequent use gradually declines. Another genetic mutation results in people's not receiving normal levels of dopamine release from everyday accomplishments, which can also lead to seeking enhanced early experiences with addictive activities. The minority of the population that has these genetic proclivities to addiction creates an enormous social and medical problem. Even those who manage to avoid severely addictive behaviors struggle with balancing the rewards of dopamine release with the consequences of the behaviors that release them.

Serotonin is a neurotransmitter that plays a major role in the regulation of mood. In higher levels it is a.s.sociated with feelings of well-being and contentment. Serotonin has other functions, including modulating synaptic strength, appet.i.te, sleep, s.e.xual desire, and digestion. Antidepression drugs such as selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (which tend to increase serotonin levels available to receptors) tend to have far-reaching effects, not all of them desirable (such as suppressing libido). Unlike actions in the neocortex, where recognition of patterns and activations of axons affect only a small number of neocortical circuits at a time, these substances affect large regions of the brain or even the entire nervous system.

Each hemisphere of the human brain has an amygdala, which consists of an almond-shaped region comprising several small lobes. The amygdala is also part of the old brain and is involved in processing a number of types of emotional responses, the most notable of which is fear. In premammalian animals, certain preprogrammed stimuli representing danger feed directly into the amygdala, which in turn triggers the "fight or flight" mechanism. In humans the amygdala now depends on perceptions of danger to be transmitted by the neocortex. A negative comment by your boss, for example, might trigger such a response by generating the fear of losing your job (or maybe not, if you have confidence in a plan B). Once the amygdala does decide that danger is ahead, an ancient sequence of events occurs. The amygdala signals the pituitary gland to release a hormone called ACTH (adrenocorticotropin). This in turn triggers the stress hormone cortisol from the adrenal glands, which results in more energy being provided to your muscles and nervous system. The adrenal glands also produce adrenaline and noradrenaline, which suppress your digestive, immune, and reproductive systems (figuring that these are not high-priority processes in an emergency). Levels of blood pressure, blood sugar, cholesterol, and fibrinogen (which speeds blood clotting) all rise. Heart rate and respiration go up. Even your pupils dilate so that you have better visual acuity of your enemy or your escape route. This is all very useful if a real danger such as a predator suddenly crosses your path. It is well known that in today's world, the chronic activation of this fight-or-flight mechanism can lead to permanent health damage in terms of hypertension, high cholesterol levels, and other problems.

The system of global neurotransmitter levels, such as serotonin, and hormone levels, such as dopamine, is intricate, and we could spend the rest of this book on the issue (as a great many books have done), but it is worth pointing out that the bandwidth of information (the rate of information processing) in this system is very low compared with the bandwidth of the neocortex. There are only a limited number of substances involved and the levels of these chemicals tend to change slowly and are relatively universal across the brain, as compared with the neocortex, which is composed of hundreds of trillions of connections that can change quickly.

It is fair to say that our emotional experiences take place in both the old and the new brains. Thinking takes place in the new brain (the neocortex), but feeling takes place in both. Any emulation of human behavior will therefore need to model both. However, if it is just human cognitive intelligence that we are after, the neocortex is sufficient. We can replace the old brain with the more direct motivation of a nonbiological neocortex to achieve the goals that we a.s.sign to it. For example, in the case of Watson, the goal was simply stated: Come up with correct answers to Jeopardy! Jeopardy! queries (albeit these were further modulated by a program that understood queries (albeit these were further modulated by a program that understood Jeopardy! Jeopardy! wagering). In the case of the new Watson system being jointly developed by Nuance and IBM for medical knowledge, the goal is to help treat human disease. Future systems can have goals such as actually curing disease and alleviating poverty. A lot of the pleasure-fear struggle is already obsolete for humans, as the old brain evolved long before even primitive human society got started; indeed most of it is reptilian. wagering). In the case of the new Watson system being jointly developed by Nuance and IBM for medical knowledge, the goal is to help treat human disease. Future systems can have goals such as actually curing disease and alleviating poverty. A lot of the pleasure-fear struggle is already obsolete for humans, as the old brain evolved long before even primitive human society got started; indeed most of it is reptilian.

There is a continual struggle in the human brain as to whether the old or the new brain is in charge. The old brain tries to set the agenda with its control of pleasure and fear experiences, whereas the new brain is continually trying to understand the relatively primitive algorithms of the old brain and seeking to manipulate it to its own agenda. Keep in mind that the amygdala is unable to evaluate danger on its own-in the human brain it relies on the neocortex to make those judgments. Is that person a friend or a foe, a lover or a threat? Only the neocortex can decide.

To the extent that we are not directly engaged in mortal combat and hunting for food, we have succeeded in at least partially sublimating our ancient drives to more creative endeavors. On that note, we'll discuss creativity and love in the next chapter next chapter.

CHAPTER 6

TRANSCENDENT ABILITIES

This is my simple religion. There is no need for temples; no need for complicated philosophy. Our own brain, our own heart is our temple; the philosophy is kindness.-The Dalai Lama My hand moves because certain forces-electric, magnetic, or whatever "nerve-force" may prove to be-are impressed on it by my brain. This nerve-force, stored in the brain, would probably be traceable, if Science were complete, to chemical forces supplied to the brain by the blood, and ultimately derived from the food I eat and the air I breathe.-Lewis Carroll

Our emotional thoughts also take place in the neocortex but are influenced by portions of the brain ranging from ancient brain regions such as the amygdala to some evolutionarily recent brain structures such as the spindle neurons, which appear to play a key role in higher-level emotions. Unlike the regular and logical recursive structures found in the cerebral cortex, the spindle neurons have highly irregular shapes and connections. They are the largest neurons in the human brain, spanning its entire breadth. They are deeply interconnected, with hundreds of thousands of connections tying together diverse portions of the neocortex.

As mentioned earlier, the insula helps process sensory signals, but it also plays a key role in higher-level emotions. It is this region from which the spindle cells originate. Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) scans have revealed that these cells are particularly active when a person is dealing with emotions such as love, anger, sadness, and s.e.xual desire. Situations that strongly activate them include when a subject looks at her partner or hears her child crying.

Spindle cells have long neural filaments called apical dendrites, which are able to connect to faraway neocortical regions. Such "deep" interconnectedness, in which certain neurons provide connections across numerous regions, is a feature that occurs increasingly as we go up the evolutionary ladder. It is not surprising that the spindle cells, involved as they are in handling emotion and moral judgment, would have this form of connectedness, given the ability of higher-level emotional reactions to touch on diverse topics and thoughts. Because of their links to many other parts of the brain, the high-level emotions that spindle cells process are affected by all of our perceptual and cognitive regions. It is important to point out that these cells are not doing rational problem solving, which is why we don't have rational control over our responses to music or over falling in love. The rest of the brain is heavily engaged, however, in trying to make sense of our mysterious high-level emotions.

There are relatively few spindle cells: only about 80,000, with approximately 45,000 in the right hemisphere and 35,000 in the left. This disparity is at least one reason for the perception that emotional intelligence is the province of the right brain, although the disproportion is modest. Gorillas have about 16,000 of these cells, bon.o.bos about 2,100, and chimpanzees about 1,800. Other mammals lack them completely.

Anthropologists believe that spindle cells made their first appearance 10 to 15 million years ago in the as yet undiscovered common ancestor to apes and hominids (precursors to humans) and rapidly increased in numbers around 100,000 years ago. Interestingly, spindle cells do not exist in newborn humans but begin to appear only at around the age of four months and increase significantly in number from ages one to three. Children's ability to deal with moral issues and perceive such higher-level emotions as love develop during this same period.

Apt.i.tude

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (17561791) wrote a minuet when he was five. At age six he performed for the empress Maria Theresa at the imperial court in Vienna. He went on to compose six hundred pieces, including forty-one symphonies, before his death at age thirty-five, and is widely regarded as the greatest composer in the European cla.s.sical tradition. One might say that he had an apt.i.tude for music.

So what does this mean in the context of the pattern recognition theory of mind? Clearly part of what we regard as apt.i.tude is the product of nurture, that is to say, the influences of environment and other people. Mozart was born into a musical family. His father, Leopold, was a composer and kapellmeister (literally musical leader) of the court orchestra of the archbishop of Salzburg. The young Mozart was immersed in music, and his father started teaching him the violin and clavier (a keyboard instrument) at the age of three.

However, environmental influences alone do not fully explain Mozart's genius. There is clearly a nature component as well. What form does this take? As I wrote in chapter 4 chapter 4, different regions of the neocortex have become optimized (by biological evolution) for certain types of patterns. Even though the basic pattern recognition algorithm of the modules is uniform across the neocortex, since certain types of patterns tend to flow through particular regions (faces through the fusiform gyrus, for example), those regions will become better at processing the a.s.sociated patterns. However, there are numerous parameters that govern how the algorithm is actually carried out in each module. For example, how close a match is required for a pattern to be recognized? How is that threshold modified if a higher-level module sends a signal that its pattern is "expected"? How are the size parameters considered? These and other factors have been set differently in different regions to be advantageous for particular types of patterns. In our work with similar methods in artificial intelligence, we have noticed the same phenomenon and have used simulations of evolution to optimize these parameters.

If particular regions can be optimized for different types of patterns, then it follows that individual brains will also vary in their ability to learn, recognize, and create certain types of patterns. For example, a brain can have an innate apt.i.tude for music by being better able to recognize rhythmic patterns, or to better understand the geometric arrangements of harmonies. The phenomenon of perfect pitch (the ability to recognize and to reproduce a pitch without an external reference), which is correlated with musical talent, appears to have a genetic basis, although the ability needs to be developed, so it is likely to be a combination of nature and nurture. The genetic basis of perfect pitch is likely to reside outside the neocortex in the preprocessing of auditory information, whereas the learned aspect resides in the neocortex.

There are other skills that contribute to degrees of competency, whether of the routine variety or of the legendary genius. Neocortical abilities-for example, the ability of the neocortex to master the signals of fear that the amygdala generates (when presented with disapproval)-play a significant role, as do attributes such as confidence, organizational skills, and the ability to influence others. A very important skill I noted earlier is the courage to pursue ideas that go against the grain of orthodoxy. Invariably, people we regard as geniuses pursued their own mental experiments in ways that were not initially understood or appreciated by their peers. Although Mozart did gain recognition in his lifetime, most of the adulation came later. He died a pauper, buried in a common grave, and only two other musicians showed up at his funeral.

CreativityCreativity is a drug I cannot live without.-Cecil B. DeMille

The problem is never how to get new, innovative thoughts into your mind, but how to get old ones out. Every mind is a building filled with archaic furniture. Clean out a corner of your mind and creativity will instantly fill it.-Dee Hock Humanity can be quite cold to those whose eyes see the world differently.-Eric A. Burns Creativity can solve almost any problem. The creative act, the defeat of habit by originality, overcomes everything.-George Lois

A key aspect of creativity is the process of finding great metaphors-symbols that represent something else. The neocortex is a great metaphor machine, which accounts for why we are a uniquely creative species. Every one of the approximately 300 million pattern recognizers in our neocortex is recognizing and defining a pattern and giving it a name, which in the case of the neocortical pattern recognition modules is simply the axon emerging from the pattern recognizer that will fire when that pattern is found. That symbol in turn then becomes part of another pattern. Each one of these patterns is essentially a metaphor. The recognizers can fire up to 100 times a second, so we have the potential of recognizing up to 30 billion metaphors a second. Of course not every module is firing in every cycle-but it is fair to say that we are indeed recognizing millions of metaphors a second.

Of course, some metaphors are more significant than others. Darwin perceived that Charles Lyell's insight on how very gradual changes from a trickle of water could carve out great canyons was a powerful metaphor for how a trickle of small evolutionary changes over thousands of generations could carve out great changes in the differentiation of species. Thought experiments, such as the one that Einstein used to illuminate the true meaning of the Michelson-Morley experiment, are all metaphors, in the sense of being a "thing regarded as representative or symbolic of something else," to quote a dictionary definition.

Do you see any metaphors in Sonnet 73 by Shakespeare?

That time of year thou mayst in me beholdWhen yellow leaves, or none, or few, do hangUpon those boughs which shake against the cold,Bare ruined choirs, where late the sweet birds sang.In me thou seest the twilight of such dayAs after sunset fadeth in the west,Which by and by black night doth take away,Death's second self that seals up all in rest.In me thou seest the glowing of such fireThat on the ashes of his youth doth lie,As the deathbed whereon it must expireConsumed with that which it was nourished by.This thou perceiv'st, which makes thy love more strong,To love that well which thou must leave ere long.

In this sonnet, the poet uses extensive metaphors to describe his advancing age. His age is like late autumn, "when yellow leaves, or none, or few, do hang." The weather is cold and the birds can no longer sit on the branches, which he calls "bare ruin'd choirs." His age is like the twilight as the "sunset fadeth in the west, which by and by black night doth take away." He is the remains of a fire "that on the ashes of his youth doth lie." Indeed, all language is ultimately metaphor, though some expressions of it are more memorable than others.

Finding a metaphor is the process of recognizing a pattern despite differences in detail and context-an activity we undertake trivially every moment of our lives. The metaphorical leaps that we consider of significance tend to take place in the interstices of different disciplines. Working against this essential force of creativity, however, is the pervasive trend toward ever greater specialization in the sciences (and just about every other field as well). As American mathematician Norbert Wiener (18941964) wrote in his seminal book Cybernetics Cybernetics, published the year I was born (1948): There are fields of scientific work, as we shall see in the body of this book, which have been explored from the different sides of pure mathematics, statistics, electrical engineering, and neurophysiology; in which every single notion receives a separate name from each group, and in which important work has been triplicated or quadruplicated, while still other important work is delayed by the unavailability in one field of results that may have already become cla.s.sical in the next field.It is these boundary regions which offer the richest opportunities to the qualified investigator. They are at the same time the most refractory to the accepted techniques of ma.s.s attack and the division of labor.

A technique I have used in my own work to combat increasing specialization is to a.s.semble the experts that I have gathered for a project (for example, my speech recognition work included speech scientists, linguists, psychoacousticians, and pattern recognition experts, not to mention computer scientists) and encourage each one to teach the group his particular techniques and terminology. We then throw out all of that terminology and make up our own. Invariably we find metaphors from one field that solve problems in another.

A mouse that finds an escape route when confronted with the household cat-and can do so even if the situation is somewhat different from what it has ever encountered before-is being creative. Our own creativity is orders of magnitude greater than that of the mouse-and involves far more levels of abstraction-because we have a much larger neocortex, which is capable of greater levels of hierarchy. So one way to achieve greater creativity is by effectively a.s.sembling more neocortex.

One approach to expand the available neocortex is through the collaboration of multiple humans. This is accomplished routinely via the communication between people gathered in a problem-solving community. Recently there have been efforts to use online collaboration tools to harness the power of real-time collaboration, which have shown success in mathematics and other fields.1 The next step, of course, will be to expand the neocortex itself with its nonbiological equivalent. This will be our ultimate act of creativity: to create the capability of being creative. A nonbiological neocortex will ultimately be faster and could rapidly search for the kinds of metaphors that inspired Darwin and Einstein. It could systematically explore all of the overlapping boundaries between our exponentially expanding frontiers of knowledge.

Some people express concern about what will happen to those who would opt out of such mind expansion. I would point out that this additional intelligence will essentially reside in the cloud (the exponentially expanding network of computers that we connect to through online communication), where most of our machine intelligence is now stored. When you use a search engine, recognize speech from your phone, consult a virtual a.s.sistant such as Siri, or use your phone to translate a sign into another language, the intelligence is not in the device itself but in the cloud. Our expanded neocortex will be housed there too. Whether we access such expanded intelligence through direct neural connection or the way we do now-by interacting with it via our devices-is an arbitrary distinction. In my view we will all become more creative through this pervasive enhancement, whether we choose to opt in or out of direct connection to humanity's expanded intelligence. We have already outsourced much of our personal, social, historical, and cultural memory to the cloud, and we will ultimately do the same thing with our hierarchical thinking.

Einstein's breakthrough resulted not only from his application of metaphors through mind experiments but also from his courage in believing in the power of those metaphors. He was willing to relinquish the traditional explanations that failed to satisfy his experiments, and he was willing to withstand the ridicule of his peers to the bizarre explanations that his metaphors implied. These qualities-belief in metaphor and courage of conviction-are ones that we should be able to program into our nonbiological neocortex as well.

LoveClarity of mind means clarity of pa.s.sion, too; this is why a great and clear mind loves ardently and sees distinctly what it loves.-Blaise Pascal There is always some madness in love. But there is also always some reason in madness.-Friedrich Nietzsche When you have seen as much of life as I have, you will not underestimate the power of obsessive love.-Albus Dumbledore, in J. K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince I always like a good math solution to any love problem.-Michael Patrick King, from the "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" episode of s.e.x and the City s.e.x and the City

If you haven't actually experienced ecstatic love personally, you have undoubtedly heard about it. It is fair to say that a substantial fraction if not a majority of the world's art-stories, novels, music, dance, paintings, television shows, and movies-is inspired by the stories of love in its earliest stages.

Science has recently gotten into the act as well, and we are now able to identify the biochemical changes that occur when someone falls in love. Dopamine is released, producing feelings of happiness and delight. Norepinephrine levels soar, which lead to a racing heart and overall feelings of exhilaration. These chemicals, along with phenylethylamine, produce elation, high energy levels, focused attention, loss of appet.i.te, and a general craving for the object of one's desire. Interestingly, recent research at University College in London also shows that serotonin levels go down, similar to what happens in obsessive-compulsive disorder, which is consistent with the obsessive nature of early love.2 The high levels of dopamine and norepinephrine account for the heightened short-term attention, euphoria, and craving of early love. The high levels of dopamine and norepinephrine account for the heightened short-term attention, euphoria, and craving of early love.

If these biochemical phenomena sound similar to those of the fight-or-flight syndrome, they are, except that here we are running toward something or someone; indeed, a cynic might say toward rather than away from danger. The changes are also fully consistent with those of the early phases of addictive behavior. The Roxy Music song "Love Is the Drug" is quite accurate in describing this state (albeit the subject of the song is looking to score his next fix of love). Studies of ecstatic religious experiences also show the same physical phenomena; it can be said that the person having such an experience is falling in love with G.o.d or whatever spiritual connection on which they are focused.

In the case of early romantic love, estrogen and testosterone certainly play a role in establishing s.e.x drive, but if s.e.xual reproduction were the only evolutionary objective of love, then the romantic aspect of the process would not be necessary. As psychologist John William Money (19212006) wrote, "l.u.s.t is lewd, love is lyrical."

The ecstatic phase of love leads to the attachment phase and ultimately to a long-term bond. There are chemicals that encourage this process as well, including oxytocin and vasopressin. Consider two related species of voles: the prairie vole and the montane vole. They are pretty much identical, except that the prairie vole has receptors for oxytocin and vasopressin, whereas the montane vole does not. The prairie vole is noted for lifetime monogamous relationships, while the montane vole resorts almost exclusively to one-night stands. In the case of voles, the oxytocin and vasopressin receptors are pretty much determinative as to the nature of their love life.

While these chemicals are influential on humans as well, our neocortex has taken a commanding role, as in everything else we do. Voles do have a neocortex, but it is postage-stamp sized and flat and just large enough for them to find a mate for life (or, in the case of montane voles, at least for the night) and carry out other basic vole behaviors. We humans have sufficient additional neocortex to engage in the expansive "lyrical" expressions to which Money refers.

From an evolutionary perspective, love itself exists to meet the needs of the neocortex. If we didn't have a neocortex, then l.u.s.t would be quite sufficient to guarantee reproduction. The ecstatic instigation of love leads to attachment and mature love, and results in a lasting bond. This in turn is designed to provide at least the possibility of a stable environment for children while their own neocortices undergo the critical learning needed to become responsible and capable adults. Learning in a rich environment is inherently part of the method of the neocortex. Indeed the same oxytocin and vasopressin hormone mechanisms play a key role in establishing the critical bonding of parent (especially mother) and child.

At the far end of the story of love, a loved one becomes a major part of our neocortex. After decades of being together, a virtual other exists in the neocortex such that we can antic.i.p.ate every step of what our lover will say and do. Our neocortical patterns are filled with the thoughts and patterns that reflect who they are. When we lose that person, we literally lose part of ourselves. This is not just just a metaphor-all of the vast pattern recognizers that are filled with the patterns reflecting the person we love suddenly change their nature. Although they can be considered a precious way to keep that person alive within ourselves, the vast neocortical patterns of a lost loved one turn suddenly from triggers of delight to triggers of mourning. a metaphor-all of the vast pattern recognizers that are filled with the patterns reflecting the person we love suddenly change their nature. Although they can be considered a precious way to keep that person alive within ourselves, the vast neocortical patterns of a lost loved one turn suddenly from triggers of delight to triggers of mourning.

The evolutionary basis for love and its phases is not the full story in today's world. We have already largely succeeded in liberating s.e.x from its biological function, in that we can have babies without s.e.x and we can certainly have s.e.x without babies. The vast majority of s.e.x takes place for its sensual and relational purposes. And we routinely fall in love for purposes other than raising children.

Similarly, the vast expanse of artistic expression of all kinds that celebrates love and its myriad forms dating back to antiquity is also an end in itself. Our ability to create these enduring forms of transcendent knowledge-about love or anything else-is precisely what makes our species unique.

The neocortex is biology's greatest creation. In turn, it is the poems about love-and all of our other creations-that represent the greatest inventions of our neocortex.

CHAPTER 7

THE BIOLOGICALLY INSPIRED DIGITAL NEOCORTEX

Never trust anything that can think for itself if you can't see where it keeps its brain.-Arthur Weasley, in J. K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban No, I'm not interested in developing a powerful brain. All I'm after is just a mediocre brain, something like the President of the American Telephone and Telegraph Company.-Alan Turing A computer would deserve to be called intelligent if it could deceive a human into believing that it was human.-Alan Turing I believe that at the end of the century the use of words and general educated opinion will have altered so much that one will be able to speak of machines thinking without expecting to be contradicted.-Alan Turing