[FRIAM] sensitive, aren't we?
Nick Thompson
nickthompson at earthlink.net
Tue Jun 25 12:13:04 EDT 2019
Hang on! I missed this the first time. What the dickens is a quantum signal, anyway?
N
Nicholas S. Thompson
Emeritus Professor of Psychology and Biology
Clark University
http://home.earthlink.net/~nickthompson/naturaldesigns/
-----Original Message-----
From: Friam [mailto:friam-bounces at redfish.com] On Behalf Of Bruce Simon
Sent: Tuesday, June 25, 2019 10:47 AM
To: Prof David West <profwest at fastmail.fm>
Cc: friam at redfish.com
Subject: Re: [FRIAM] sensitive, aren't we?
And what about stochastic resonance?
Sent from my iPhone
> On Jun 24, 2019, at 12:42 PM, Prof David West <profwest at fastmail.fm> wrote:
>
> Ah Nick,
>
> because they finely tune the carrier wave (that which you perceive as neural noise) in such a way that my quantum signal, being the delicate creature it is, can survive multiple synaptic shocks as it moves from neuron to neuron — the way you would want a well padded barrel when going over Niagara Falls.
>
> davew
>
> (I assume you are wearing your hip boots as standard gear in the MIB.)
>
>
>
>> On Mon, Jun 24, 2019, at 4:10 PM, Nick Thompson wrote:
>> David,
>>
>> I will see your "bushwash" and raise you a hornswaggle.
>>
>> Why, my feathered friend, if quantum accuracy is so important, do you
>> wear your retina backwards? Why do you see through your ganglion
>> cells.
>>
>> Nick
>>
>> Nicholas S. Thompson
>> Emeritus Professor of Psychology and Biology Clark University
>> http://home.earthlink.net/~nickthompson/naturaldesigns/
>>
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: Friam [mailto:friam-bounces at redfish.com] On Behalf Of Prof
>> David West
>> Sent: Monday, June 24, 2019 4:24 AM
>> To: friam at redfish.com
>> Subject: Re: [FRIAM] sensitive, aren't we?
>>
>> Nick said:
>> "I was taught this fascinating trope in graduate school... yes, THAT
>> long ago. There is a second shoe, however. Yes the retina (cochlea,
>> etc.) is that sensitive BUT the neural noise is much louder than that.
>>
>> So ... I think this is the right language ... even though the
>> elements are sensitive to the smallest stimuli possible, the whole
>> system cannot resolve stimuli that small ... anywhere near."
>>
>> Not to impugn your professors, but bushwah!
>>
>> To make an analogy: the "neural noise" is akin to "junk DNA" just
>> because they had not figured out what signals existed within the
>> noise and how they were transmitted and received does not mean lost signal.
>>
>> While "the system" seldom makes the effort to resolve at quanta scale
>> does not mean that it cannot. (Why it seldom does is whole 'nuther
>> thread.)
>>
>> But, assuming your professors were correct, would it be permissible
>> to ask why the organism evolved the sensitivity only to evolve the
>> blockade? Or, having evolved the blockade why then evolve the
>> sensitivity? Where is the competitive advantage in having either the
>> sensitivity or the blockade? Or, do such questions tend not to
>> edification?
>>
>> I have seen the angels dancing on the head of the pin, so I know it
>> can be done. Have also consorted with others, directly or
>> intermediated by words, who can say, and demonstrate, the same.
>>
>> davew
>>
>>
>>> On Fri, Jun 21, 2019, at 4:32 PM, Nick Thompson wrote:
>>> David,
>>>
>>> Can somebody forward this on to Mike Daly, whose email I can NEVER recover?
>>>
>>> I was taught this fascinating trope in graduate school... yes, THAT
>>> long ago. There is a second shoe, however. Yes the retina
>>> (cochlea,
>>> etc.) is that sensitive BUT the neural noise is much louder than that.
>>> So ... I think this is the right language ... even though the
>>> elements are sensitive to the smallest stimuli possible, the whole system cannot
>>> resolve stimuli that small ... anywhere near. To do what it does, it
>>> needs to weed out its own noise. So accuracy in vision is not a
>>> question of accuracy of the elements, but of the ingenuity of
>>> construction. Note, for instance that we wear our retinas "backwards":
>>> we actually see THOUGH the many layers of the retina because the
>>> light sensitive elements ... the rods and cones ... are at the back
>>> of the retina. So all that sensitivity of light sensing elements is
>>> rudely cast away in the organization of the retina. It's like we
>>> are a football players who wear our jerseys inside out but boast about the
>>> precision, detail, and color of our logos.
>>>
>>>
>>> Hope you are well. Where are you well?
>>>
>>> All my Peirce books were lost in the mail coming here, so I have
>>> been focusing on my garden. Mild, calm June. May be the best garden ever.
>>> But my mind? Not so sure about that.
>>>
>>> Nick
>>>
>>> Nicholas S. Thompson
>>> Emeritus Professor of Psychology and Biology Clark University
>>> http://home.earthlink.net/~nickthompson/naturaldesigns/
>>>
>>>
>>> -----Original Message-----
>>> From: Friam [mailto:friam-bounces at redfish.com] On Behalf Of Prof
>>> David West
>>> Sent: Friday, June 21, 2019 4:15 AM
>>> To: friam at redfish.com
>>> Subject: [FRIAM] sensitive, aren't we?
>>>
>>> Doing some reading on quantum consciousness and embodied mind and
>>> came across these items:
>>>
>>>
>>> https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-human-eye-could-help-
>>> te
>>> st-quantum-mechanics/
>>>
>>> https://www.nature.com/news/people-can-sense-single-photons-1.20282
>>>
>>> (A Rebecca Holmes from Los Alamos Natl. Labs is part of the
>>> Scientific American reported research.)
>>>
>>> not only can the human eye perceive individual photons (and perhaps
>>> quanta level phenomena) "The healthy human cochlea is so sensitive
>>> that it can detect vibration with amplitude less than the diameter
>>> of an atom, and it can resolve time intervals down to 10µs [i.e.,
>>> microseconds, or millionths of a second]. It has been calculated
>>> that the human ear detects energy levels 10- fold lower than the
>>> energy of a single photon in the green wavelength…” Regarding human
>>> tactile and related senses (haptic, proprioceptive), it has recently
>>> been determined that “human tactile discrimination extends to the
>>> nanoscale [ie, within billionths of a meter],” this research having
>>> been published in the journal, Scientific Reports (Skedung et al 2013)"
>>>
>>> interesting stuff
>>> dave west
>>>
>>>
>>>
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>>
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>
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