Week 6 - Expert Lecture - Gerald Edelman

Gerald Edelman, while very fascinating, lost me almost completely throughout many parts of his lecture. I was able to relate to small bits of information, but as a while his lecture was very technical and very difficult to follow because of it.

One small thing that I appreciated was Mr. Edelman's description of what the mind was like. He said that it is not like a computer, but that it is more (metaphorically speaking) like a jungle. The mind obviously has structure, but it also has enormous variability as the individuality of everyone's brains demonstrates so well. Mr. Edelman gives a wonderful description of the individuality that people poses, even if there are similarities to the structure of these individuals brains.

I also enjoyed his lecture on the Darwin robots. The recreation of various aspects of the mind in these roots was interesting to watch as well as to think about. The robots undertook these tasks on their own and no two robots did these tasks exactly the same, despite being virtually identical in every respect. Mr. Edelman stressed this point with the robot that was searching for the specific spot on the floor. The ability of these robots to play a rudimentary form of soccer was fantastic. Watching the little guy work and “think” about his next move in a physical environment was very impressive.

I also liked Mr. Edelman's description of human perception and memory. If what he understands about the human brain turns out to be true, at least to some degree, then every perception we have is really an active creation and every active memory that we have is really an active imagination. Since every brain appears to interpret stimuli differently these metaphors fit extremely well. Our perceptions create a picture of the world unique to each of us and each of our memories are also uniquely remembered. The mind is really a beautiful thing when thought about in this manner. It creates a sense of wonder and mystery that some feel is exclusive to religion and excluded from science. Science is full of mystery, but no specific example that I have heard has demonstrated this as well as the uniqueness of an individuals mind.