Human Brain & The Universe

[beachguy in thongs]

The pineal gland converts amino acids from food and converts them into tryptophan, then 5-hydroxy-tryptophan, then serotonin, then melatonin.

After we're three months old, we can do this, before that we need breastmilk for melatonin.

But, natural production drops steeply at 30 and we have little, to none, when we're 60.

Movie reccomendation: "Altered States"

LOL, I saw that in 1993, late one night, at college. I was heading to bed and stopped in the lounge. Saw that movie and, I swear, I was tripping when I went back to my room.

[beachguy in thongs]

c4nn4bl4ss, people started messing with the Bible around 150 A.D. When people bash it, like everyone always does, it's too hard to refute their claims. Just like, it's too hard to support The Bible's validity. In the 4th Century, Roman Emperor Constantine really messed it up, and then Hasif Numar told people that his third cousin wrote it, in 968 A.D. The last fact (line) can be referenced through the state that you're in when you wake up from a long sleep. Seven hours or more.

I don't know what to think about this information. I guess, that's why I've never found my place in the world, after it changed. I don't know who to believe. The smartest guy in the world was wrong. It's true, hard work pays off in the end, but, you don't see the everything else going on in the world. Everyone needs time to evolve, not rest. Stupid news time.

[Jimmicrackedcorn]

I doubt very much that the synaptic connections in the brain are as abundant as the atomic particles in the universe, since the brain would have to be made up of those atomic particles, and the space occupying any synaptic gap, would have to be made up of those atomic particles. Around about 100 billion neurons, each linked up, to around 25,000 others, via synaptic connections (but this information varies greatly from source to source, but to the laymen like you and me the point is, its alot man!), this is the infinity you talk of. The infinite number of pathways, any one neuronal impulse, can take, due to the interconnective nature of all the neurons in the brain, this has made it one of the most complex systems in the "known" universe (this doesn't mean it is, and probably falls very very short, because I mean, LOOK AT THE FUCKIN UNIVERSE MAN WOOOOOOOOW! to which somehow spawned freakish shit like us :thumbsup: ) I imagine it like a quantum computer (however you would imagine that) parallel processing (http://www.answers.com/main/ntquery?...&curtab=2222_1) and other techniques of simultaneously processing many sources of information, to arrive at a 'single' outcome (like the processing of light, in to the depth, colour, etc., but is finally 'received' as a single perception, like the sensation of sight). The neurons are designed in a way, that an action potential (electric signal) traversing one neuron, will cause the synaptic gaps of the connected neurons to misfire and begin its own impulse which in turn will stimulate another unique set of synaptic gaps, etc etc.. like the expanding energy of transversal waves, the ripple on the surface of a pond for example, this allows for an infinity of pathways a single 'bit' of sensory stimuli can take, to arrive at a perceptive outcome, scientifically speaking, seeing colours, or synesthesia, should be expected if we are to believe anything about the current understanding of the brain, and it does happen, which is a good sign, but of course this is somewhat an exagerration of the mechanism behind sensory processes in the brain, as not every1 see's and taste's colours (unless you take a peak behind the curtain with a few chemical brothers :thumsbup. According to Hans Moravec, by extrapolating from known capabilities of the retina to process image inputs, a brain has a processing capacity of 100 trillion instructions per second.

The brain is a giant, limitless electrical circuit of interconnecting neurons, powered by the conversion of chemical energy via decomposition of a neurotransmitter's molecular bonds, at a synapse, this breakdown will give off electrochemical energy, causing a change in membrane potential between the inside and outside of the cell, if the imbalance is large enough, it is stimulated above a certain voltage known as the "threshold" it causes the cell membrane to contract (you ever gotten electricuted, same thing, I didn't know my muscles could work that hard), and opens holes in the membrane, known as ion channels, which due to the natural flow of electricity (or any charged particle) from negative to positive (or more generally the natural tendency to neutralize charges which causes this phenomena), ions (chemicals with a charge, either positive or negative) flow down this natural electrochemical gradient, the particles (Sodium) flowing in through the membrane, increase the membrane potential dramatically, but the membrane also has a rectifying mechanism, which are also voltage dependent, when the voltage gets to a certain level, the channels (sodium) close, and the charges between the inside and outside are dramatically different than before initial stimulation. A second set of channels open, which allow ions of opposite charge to come through (also following the natural electochemical gradient, this is potassium) this causes the membrane potential to fall and undershoot, because the voltage is no longer the value required to stimulate the opening of the potassium channels, they close, and because there is no further stimulation, the cell returns to resting potential. When the cell is at its resting potential the electric forces between the sodium and potassium of the neuron is counterbalanced by the "diffusive forces," creating a state of equilibrium. This is the very basic (and simplified) mechanism that underlies all neuron stimulation, point being not 'Wow look what we can find out! Look how clever we are' but that all those processes that cause you to experience the touch/smell/sight of something, and even the emotions of happiness/sadness/anger are governed by the same exact mechanisms as everything else in the universe, they are completely natural and free flowing, plus you can't believe that all that happens, and you take it completely for granted, to me the tapping of keys, the touch of my fingertips, the light bouncing off my eyes, I don't think about processing, the shit just happens, but I feel it, and respond to it, whats up with that?

[beachguy in thongs]

100 billion (times) ten (times)1,000= A pretty big number. I read it, somewhere, that fact about the brain.

[Jimmicrackedcorn]

If you travelled at 186 thousand miles a second, it would take about 13.7 billion years, to traverse 1/2 of the observable universe.

The volume of the universe, given that it would be a perfect sphere, is 128 trillion trillion metres cubed, or 80 billion trillion miles cubed, I admit the brain is impressive, but that takes the piss, being as its the reason for all existance

Ahh well, whats on the tele?:dance:

[Euphoric]

http://home.dmv.com/~tbastian/files/brain-wv.txt

^^An interesting site on brain waves and drugs!!

http://www.causeof.org/brainwaves.htm <--is an interesting site on TV and other media's effects on brain waves

[beachguy in thongs]

Hey Jimmicracked, I had just read that before I typed it. I, also, read that each neuron only can have 1,000-10,000 connections with other cells, not 25,000.

Number of synapses in cortex = 0.15 quadrillion (Pakkenberg et al., 1997; 2003).

This Koch guy, seems to have found twice the amount of neurons: Total number of neurons in cerebral cortex = 10 billion (from G.M. Shepherd, The Synaptic Organization of the Brain, 1998, p. 6). However, C. Koch lists the total number of neurons in the cerebral cortex at 20 billion (Biophysics of Computation. Information Processing in Single Neurons, New York: Oxford Univ. Press, 1999, page 87).

Koch lists the total synapses in the cerebral cortex at 240 trillion (Biophysics of Computation. Information Processing in Single Neurons, New York: Oxford Univ. Press, 1999, page 87).

http://staff.washington.edu/chudler/facts.html

Perhaps even more surprising is that in addition to the neurons, there are 10 times as many support cells, known as glia or neuroglia, which serve to nourish and protect the brain, guide its development, and perhaps even modulate its activity.
The number of possible interconnections among our neurons, called synapses, is greater than the number of atomic particles in the entire universe.
But of course the brain is not organized in a haphazard or random fashion. The actual number of synapses in the human brain has been estimated at 100 trillion, or an average of about 1,000 synapses per neuron:
100 billion neurons x 1,000 synapses/neuron = 100 trillion synapses.
Lastly, the human brain can carry out about 10,000 trillion operations/second. By contrast, the 2004 worldâ??s most advanced supercomputerâ??IBMâ??s ASCI Purpleâ??performs only 100 trillion operations/second.

http://uwf.edu/jgould/BrainFacts.pdf

[Maui Wowie]

I'm sorry I had to bump this.

[HazardousToking]

BUMP IT UP

[HazardousToking]

So if the cosmos is the hypothetical "brain of god" then arent we all just a thought that God had?


trippy