The core of human brain is composed of special cells called neurons. Although individual neurons have been extensively studied by the scientists, no one really knows how the combined 'ecosystem' of these tiny cells connected through electronic pulses make up the intellectual, conscious and thinking 'brain'. Here is my take on this:
Although all neurons start identical at birth, they quickly adapt into 3 distinct categories to perform respective functions for the rest of their lives:
This is the most commonly know function of a human brain and has extensively been used throughout the civilizations as a clear path to worldly appreciation and success. Anywhere from "spelling bee" competitions to the entrance tests for prestigious institution, you will see the 'magic' of memory at work. This, in my humble opinion, is the worst possible use of the power of the human brain. The storage of information can and is accoumplished by much cheaper means, which are getting cheaper and bigger by the day. Today a common cell phone can store an entire dictionary. Soon humans will come to know that memory based skills are becoming worthless tools for success. Consequently, it will also become evident that training your neurons to become memory dump is an ineffecient use of brain power.
2. Analytic:
The neurons developed for this function allow one to perform analysis over give data and deduce conclusions. No residual memory is required and all processing is done purely on the given data. Examples are evaluating next move in chess game while given any formation of the pieces (except for the almost-standard opening moves).
3. Creativity:
This is the most fascinating and little known aspect of human brain. It allows one to create something out of nothing. A large number of neurons trained to perform just this function are the characteristics of an outstanding art creator or a scientist with a vision no one else has. Note that a succesfull creativity is always accoumpanied by strong analytic abilities. Otherwise, it will lead to just fantacies, or in some cases, mental instituion. Conclusion Studies have shown that #1 and #2 type brain functions are common on all animals and even in some plants. Function #3 (Creativity) is known only to be the sole domain of humans. Unfortuantely, in order to survive in todays under-developed societies, one must posses skills by virtue of memory and analytic abilities of the brain. In fact, simply having a great memory capability over-compensate for all. Regretfully, this is still true even in the most advanced known societies of mankind on planet earth (year 2006). Hopefully in the future, the society will be able to supprt human life without needing much of the animal skills and will allow to flourish more of the human skills of the brain. Untill then, best appraoch would be to use as little neurons for memory as possible. Try to utilize cheap memory gadgets for this purpose. It may still be inevitable to load some neurons with junk in order to pass certain tests or fulfil the requirements of most yet-to-be evolved institutes. Make sure that leaves minimum and temporary damage to your brain. Try to increase the creative segment of the neurons. Now thats an entirely seperate topic. More on that later.
Although all neurons start identical at birth, they quickly adapt into 3 distinct categories to perform respective functions for the rest of their lives:
- Memorizing
- Analysis
- Creativity
This is the most commonly know function of a human brain and has extensively been used throughout the civilizations as a clear path to worldly appreciation and success. Anywhere from "spelling bee" competitions to the entrance tests for prestigious institution, you will see the 'magic' of memory at work. This, in my humble opinion, is the worst possible use of the power of the human brain. The storage of information can and is accoumplished by much cheaper means, which are getting cheaper and bigger by the day. Today a common cell phone can store an entire dictionary. Soon humans will come to know that memory based skills are becoming worthless tools for success. Consequently, it will also become evident that training your neurons to become memory dump is an ineffecient use of brain power.
2. Analytic:
The neurons developed for this function allow one to perform analysis over give data and deduce conclusions. No residual memory is required and all processing is done purely on the given data. Examples are evaluating next move in chess game while given any formation of the pieces (except for the almost-standard opening moves).
3. Creativity:
This is the most fascinating and little known aspect of human brain. It allows one to create something out of nothing. A large number of neurons trained to perform just this function are the characteristics of an outstanding art creator or a scientist with a vision no one else has. Note that a succesfull creativity is always accoumpanied by strong analytic abilities. Otherwise, it will lead to just fantacies, or in some cases, mental instituion. Conclusion Studies have shown that #1 and #2 type brain functions are common on all animals and even in some plants. Function #3 (Creativity) is known only to be the sole domain of humans. Unfortuantely, in order to survive in todays under-developed societies, one must posses skills by virtue of memory and analytic abilities of the brain. In fact, simply having a great memory capability over-compensate for all. Regretfully, this is still true even in the most advanced known societies of mankind on planet earth (year 2006). Hopefully in the future, the society will be able to supprt human life without needing much of the animal skills and will allow to flourish more of the human skills of the brain. Untill then, best appraoch would be to use as little neurons for memory as possible. Try to utilize cheap memory gadgets for this purpose. It may still be inevitable to load some neurons with junk in order to pass certain tests or fulfil the requirements of most yet-to-be evolved institutes. Make sure that leaves minimum and temporary damage to your brain. Try to increase the creative segment of the neurons. Now thats an entirely seperate topic. More on that later.
3 comments:
Sure, these three seem to be the basic capabilities. In Bloom's taxonomy 'memory' is called 'knowledge' and is at the base, just like it is in your analysis. cf.
http://coe.sdsu.edu/eet/Articles/BloomsT/index.htm
However, there also seem to be an overlap between these three. A complete absence of memory may make the other two very difficult or impossible. What needs to be avoided is a skewed distribution of cognitive load on these three. memory ought not to be used as a substitute for the others.
Soul, spirit, divine, nirvana, and ambrosia...
let me add 'devil' and 'advocate'. Take a hypothetical example of bird trapped in a large cage. The bird tries one wall then another and finally the door, which is open and flies out. Was any creativity involved here? Probably not it was just a hit and trial thing. What about a mouse in a maze? again hit and trial. A child trying to solve a small puzzle? What about Edison trying out different materials to see which one would last the longest as a bulb filament? again hit and trial? wait. wasn't Edison 'creative'?
Why can't creativity be one of those response the mind throws up when generating one of those trials as a way to solve a particular problem, which may be real or imaginary, a problem about the physical world or just a problem of finding ways to express the inner world (which again is a mental model of the physical world plus the model of other people's inner worlds plus our own understanding of how these models should be in contrast to how they actually are).
Why can't creativity be just a random outcome of signals racing around in networks of neurons whose structure is uniquely shaped by each individual's experiences and their own responses to those experiences?
Why can't creativity the quantum fluctuation or uncertainty that accompanies every electrical signal at the subatomic levels within a neuron?
However, I will stop playing the devil's advocate here and focus on the fact that a significant majority of human beings feel the presence of and therefore believe in the divine. Although, it is possible to dismiss this fact as well as an explainable phenomenon that arises due to non-availability of complete information, the question is should it be dismissed?
Even, if you want to dismiss it do we know that we have the right explanation? Let me use my creativity here and conjecture that the human brain has another capacity or capability not listed above, and that is to access a pool of global information that is only accessible by the human mind. This information does not need to flow as it is embedded in the quantum structure of the universe. Therefore, all information is present everywhere at all times. Since human mind is part of that universe it is connected to this pool. In addition it has a capacity to appropriate or extract only those portions of this information that are relevant to it in a particular context or in reference to a particular problem it is trying to solve.
More later…
Creativity:
Most often misinterpreted and gets confused with "Ingenuity". It is important we make this very important distinction. Finding a solution to a problem where the path leading to the solution can be traced back to existing data and analysis. Not quite Creativity. Creativity is having the ability to envision a concept that is not logically linked to the available data or analysis. Hence "create".
Although its fairly common to regard most inventors as "creative" and their inventions as their "creations", the issue is semantics. Most inventions, including light bulb, telephone, fire, wheel are logical consequence of a thought process that has well defined destination towards that invention.
However, true creativity and creative work is not too difficult to identify. If we look into the biography of great inventors, including Newton, we will see that their final thoughts are sometimes a result of a "spark" of imagination, that has nothing to do with previous analysis or data.
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