/brain-computer-analogy

notes/slides/resources for the parallel session of INM-6 Retreat 2019

Benefits and problems of the brain-computer analogy. Do we limit our understanding by thinking in terms of neural ‘coding’, ‘computation’, and ‘processing’?

Its our hubris as humans that convinces us the nature of the universe is expressible in the language that we have at our disposal right now. [..] our theories are strongly latched to our description languages, even our basic observations can not be independent of our theories. When our language changes, our observations changes. - Sam Gershman

Organization of the session

Short presentations (max. 6 topics, max. 10min)

Since there are more topics than time slots, please enter your initials to the topics you are interested in. To vote, edit the wiki page of this repo.

Add an '!' if you would be willing to prepare the short presentation. You can add a '!' to multiple topics, but no-one will present more than one. Forming pairs is fine. I will talk to you afterwards to distribute the topic preparation according to the preferences. Please vote until this Friday!.

Also please feel free to add and specify topics as you see fit, and add resources to the list which could help others.

  • Scope of the brain-computer analogy: which terms and comparisons do we use, what do they mean/imply? (e.g. algorithm, processing, en/de-coding, memory, hardware, software, ..)

  • Useful computer analogies: examples of where they improve our understanding

  • Misleading computer analogies: examples where they are false, or we don't know yet (e.g. case of cognition via logic operators)

  • Computer analogy as simplifications: what features do we discard?

  • The neural 'code'!?: different uses of 'neural code' in literature?

  • The other way around: neuroscience analogies influencing computing (e.g. Turing & von-Neuman, neuromorphic hardware, ML, embodied computing)

  • Alternative analogies: examples and how are they are better/worse/different? (e.g. steam-machine, hydraulics, ant colonies, orchestra)

  • Historic examples: analogies in other fields and what effect did they have?

  • Alternative brain analogies: in what cases are they useful?

  • Is this important?: the case for/against spending time thinking about analogy use

Discussion (min. 20min) with take-away goals:

  • Listing all the analogies
  • In what cases do the analogies fail?
  • In what cases are the analogies useful?
  • In the useful cases, to what degree do they apply and what to keep in mind when using them

Links & Refs

Papers

Articles

Twitter discussions