Rodolfo R. Llinás - I of the Vortex, stooges (hasło - stooges), ebooks, Consciousness Books Collection
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Preface
This essay arose out of a set of talks given at The University of St. An-
drews in Scotland, where Professor Glen Cottrell had graciously invited
me to give the American Alumni Lectures in 1989. Little did I know then
that St. Andrews would be back in my life, when, in 1998, my son Alex-
ander obtained his Ph.D. there during a break in his medical studies at
New York University.
The generation of this essay owes much to Michael Kistler, to whom I
dictated much of this manuscript, so giving me a leg up into getting the
material into a form that I could work with. Dr. Jean Jacoby helped with
the editing. My son Rafael, presently a junior staff neurologist at Har-
vard’s Beth Israel Hospital, took the time to read and criticize this effort,
as did my wife, Dr. Gillian Kimber, from her perspective as a philosopher
of mind. I would also like to thank a special friend, Dr. Antonio
Fernandez de Molina, and my colleague Dr. Kerry Walton for special
comments and additions.
This book presents a personal view of neuroscience aimed toward a
general audience, as well as toward students and those of my colleagues
who might enjoy an attempt at synthesis. This general view is offered
from the perspective of a single-cell physiologist interested in neuronal
integration and synaptic transmission. Such a position is privileged,
viii Preface
because it lies between the realms of the molecular and the systemic, as
they relate to brain function.
Single large neurons have physical dimensions observable at low opti-
mal magniªcation, that of a tenth of a millimeter. That is big enough to
be dissected by hand with pins, using a good magnifying glass (Deiters
1856). Moving just two orders of magnitude down to the micrometer
level, which requires a good microscope, one is at the scale of synaptic
transmission. One may observe synapses at the union between nerve and
muscle, for example. Two orders of magnitude further down, at tens of
nanometers, with the aid of electron microscopy, we ªnd the realm of sin-
gle ion channels and of signal transduction and molecular biology.
If, on the other hand we wish to roam orders of magnitude above the
physiology of single cells, we ªnd at two orders of magnitude above, and
in the centimeter realm, the world of systems that is the scale of pennies,
buttons, and ªngernails. At a further two orders of magnitude up, we
come to meters and to the world of motricity and cognition that charac-
terizes human beings. That is, we arrive at the realm of chairs and tele-
phones and other objects that one can hold in one’s hand or under one’s
arm.
Most neuroscientists feel that two orders of magnitude above and be-
low one’s central focus is “horizon enough,” and that anyone attempting
four orders above and below is reckless. However, there are some who
attempt such a dangerous dynamic range. They probably know that the
risk of failure is the price of synthesis, without which there are only ªelds
of dismembered parts.
Motor Primacy and the
Organization of Neuronal
Networks: Thinking as
Internalized Movement
A fundamental ªrst step in exploring the nature of mind, from a scientiªc
point of view, is to reject the premise that the mind appeared suddenly as
a result of spectacular intervention. The nature of mind must be under-
stood on the basis of its origin, the process of its becoming, by the biolog-
ical mechanism of trial and error endlessly at work. The mind, or what I
shall refer to as the “mindness state,” is the product of evolutionary pro-
cesses that have occurred in the brain as actively moving creatures devel-
oped from the primitive to the highly evolved. Therefore, a true
examination of the scientiªc basis for mindness requires a rigorous evolu-
tionary perspective, as it is through this process that mindness came to
be. How the mind came to us (or we to it, as we shall see) is a rich and
beautiful story that is over 700 million years old—and, like all things bio-
logical, is still being written.
A prerequisite for grasping the nature of mind is, ªrst and foremost,
the appropriate perspective. Just as Western society, steeped in dualistic
thinking, must re-orient in order to grasp the elemental tenets of
nondualistic philosophy, so there must be a fundamental reorientation of
perspective in order to approach the neurobiological nature of mind. An
attempt at such reorienting was the task in the American Alumni Lec-
tures at St. Andrews; this book will proceed in that vein.
x Introduction
Charles Sherrington, in his Gifford Lectures at Edinburgh in 1937, en-
titled
Man on his Nature
(1941, chapter 12), hinted at the possibility that
if human beings ever came face to face with their true natures that knowl-
edge might trigger the demise of human civilization. To him, evidently,
humans prefer to consider themselves the lowest of angels rather than the
highest of beasts. I am of the opinion that if we were to comprehend fully
the awesome nature of mindness, we would, in fact, respect and admire
each other all the more.
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zanotowane.pl doc.pisz.pl pdf.pisz.pl pingus1.htw.pl
Preface
This essay arose out of a set of talks given at The University of St. An-
drews in Scotland, where Professor Glen Cottrell had graciously invited
me to give the American Alumni Lectures in 1989. Little did I know then
that St. Andrews would be back in my life, when, in 1998, my son Alex-
ander obtained his Ph.D. there during a break in his medical studies at
New York University.
The generation of this essay owes much to Michael Kistler, to whom I
dictated much of this manuscript, so giving me a leg up into getting the
material into a form that I could work with. Dr. Jean Jacoby helped with
the editing. My son Rafael, presently a junior staff neurologist at Har-
vard’s Beth Israel Hospital, took the time to read and criticize this effort,
as did my wife, Dr. Gillian Kimber, from her perspective as a philosopher
of mind. I would also like to thank a special friend, Dr. Antonio
Fernandez de Molina, and my colleague Dr. Kerry Walton for special
comments and additions.
This book presents a personal view of neuroscience aimed toward a
general audience, as well as toward students and those of my colleagues
who might enjoy an attempt at synthesis. This general view is offered
from the perspective of a single-cell physiologist interested in neuronal
integration and synaptic transmission. Such a position is privileged,
viii Preface
because it lies between the realms of the molecular and the systemic, as
they relate to brain function.
Single large neurons have physical dimensions observable at low opti-
mal magniªcation, that of a tenth of a millimeter. That is big enough to
be dissected by hand with pins, using a good magnifying glass (Deiters
1856). Moving just two orders of magnitude down to the micrometer
level, which requires a good microscope, one is at the scale of synaptic
transmission. One may observe synapses at the union between nerve and
muscle, for example. Two orders of magnitude further down, at tens of
nanometers, with the aid of electron microscopy, we ªnd the realm of sin-
gle ion channels and of signal transduction and molecular biology.
If, on the other hand we wish to roam orders of magnitude above the
physiology of single cells, we ªnd at two orders of magnitude above, and
in the centimeter realm, the world of systems that is the scale of pennies,
buttons, and ªngernails. At a further two orders of magnitude up, we
come to meters and to the world of motricity and cognition that charac-
terizes human beings. That is, we arrive at the realm of chairs and tele-
phones and other objects that one can hold in one’s hand or under one’s
arm.
Most neuroscientists feel that two orders of magnitude above and be-
low one’s central focus is “horizon enough,” and that anyone attempting
four orders above and below is reckless. However, there are some who
attempt such a dangerous dynamic range. They probably know that the
risk of failure is the price of synthesis, without which there are only ªelds
of dismembered parts.
Motor Primacy and the
Organization of Neuronal
Networks: Thinking as
Internalized Movement
A fundamental ªrst step in exploring the nature of mind, from a scientiªc
point of view, is to reject the premise that the mind appeared suddenly as
a result of spectacular intervention. The nature of mind must be under-
stood on the basis of its origin, the process of its becoming, by the biolog-
ical mechanism of trial and error endlessly at work. The mind, or what I
shall refer to as the “mindness state,” is the product of evolutionary pro-
cesses that have occurred in the brain as actively moving creatures devel-
oped from the primitive to the highly evolved. Therefore, a true
examination of the scientiªc basis for mindness requires a rigorous evolu-
tionary perspective, as it is through this process that mindness came to
be. How the mind came to us (or we to it, as we shall see) is a rich and
beautiful story that is over 700 million years old—and, like all things bio-
logical, is still being written.
A prerequisite for grasping the nature of mind is, ªrst and foremost,
the appropriate perspective. Just as Western society, steeped in dualistic
thinking, must re-orient in order to grasp the elemental tenets of
nondualistic philosophy, so there must be a fundamental reorientation of
perspective in order to approach the neurobiological nature of mind. An
attempt at such reorienting was the task in the American Alumni Lec-
tures at St. Andrews; this book will proceed in that vein.
x Introduction
Charles Sherrington, in his Gifford Lectures at Edinburgh in 1937, en-
titled
Man on his Nature
(1941, chapter 12), hinted at the possibility that
if human beings ever came face to face with their true natures that knowl-
edge might trigger the demise of human civilization. To him, evidently,
humans prefer to consider themselves the lowest of angels rather than the
highest of beasts. I am of the opinion that if we were to comprehend fully
the awesome nature of mindness, we would, in fact, respect and admire
each other all the more.
[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]