I have been rereading
a very fascinating book, On Intelligence, by Jeff Hawkins,
published in 2004. This reading has
generated some important insights, or possible connections, for me. Lest any of my L.D.S. readers suspect that I
am trying to ‘teach for [as] doctrine the philosophies of men mingled
with scripture’ I assure them I am not and never do. I am simply ‘seek[ing]
learning’ from the ‘best books,’ secular and scriptural, ‘even by study and
also by faith.’ It is the intent of Omnium-Gatherum-Millerum
to pass along that learning.
[That which follows in standard type are my understandings
gleaned from On Intelligence, and that
which is in italic type are my
particularly religious views that could be extended from it.]
The human
brain is made up of an estimated 30 billion cells—neurons. The neocortex—the outside sheet of cells of
the brain is actually made of six layers of neuron sheets (visualize it as sort
of a very thin sheet of soft, smooth, convoluted six-ply plywood) that are functional units of nerve tissue arranged
in a hierarchal manner. All regions of
the cortex look much the same, but they do functionally different things.
Nevertheless, Hawkins infers they use the same basic algorithm(s) everywhere.
This is important—and the point of today’s essay.
Where do
they get the governing algorithm?
Mr. Hawkins
postulates that there is a single, powerful algorithm (a procedure or set of
steps for solving a problem) that functionally ties these layers together and
which our brain builds upon. This is the
key to learning and memory. All your
brain knows, he concludes, is ‘patterns.’ All our knowledge of the world is just a
model based on patterns. Memory is what
happens to stored patterns. A chain of
memory is what is called a ‘thought.’
It is interesting that clear back in 1831
Joseph Smith, Jr., received a revelation that stated, “I give unto you a pattern in all things, that ye may not
be deceived….” Believing the testimony of the prophets, I submit that some fundamental learnings or
patterns (e.g., what many call ‘conscience’) were ‘implanted,’ as it were, from
before we became a sentient living soul and that ‘higher spiritual learnings’
from the Holy Spirit help inform
cognitions and reveal divinely implanted patterns for people who conform
their lives to be worthy recipients of such input. As spirit children of God we inherit divine
attributes and are told “every man is given a gift by the Spirit of God.”
Though lacking Joseph Smith, Jr.’s revelatory explanation, the ancient Greek
philosopher Plato postulated his ‘Forms’ notion that our souls come from
mystical places and that our ‘higher minds’ retain latent knowledge of ‘forms’ or
archetypes from that place. He, too, without science to validate it (as if
science must validate everything), believed we were born with at least some ‘patterns’
in place to explain our relationship to our world. The concept of ‘instinct’ in
animals supports that notion.
Antedating
even Plato was the Old Testament personality Job. We read in his book that “there is a spirit
in man; and the inspiration of the Almighty giveth them understanding.” (Job
32:8)
To continue with Hawkins' explanation,
he says the brain is ‘wired’ or connected in such a way that it is
"auto-associative," meaning that it recalls patterns when it ‘sees’
(actually reacts to the ‘action potential’ or nerve impulse) similar patterns
to the ones it has previously learned.
Hawkins extends his ideas into what he calls the "Memory Prediction Framework” or system. This is the idea that the entire neocortex is built with functional units that predict the patterns coming from whatever they connect to, regardless of whether it is another cortical region, sensory input, motor output, or as I, not he, above posed: revelatory input. This idea is taken to be the defining property of intelligence: "The capacity of the brain to predict the future by analogy to the past." Another way of saying it is the ability to make predictions about the future is the crux of intelligence!
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