Related papers: Physics, Determinism, and the Brain
The problem of determining the neuronal current inside the brain from measurements of the induced magnetic field outside the head is discussed under the assumption that the space occupied by the brain is approximately spherical. By…
Much evidence seems to suggest cortex operates near a critical point, yet a single set of exponents defining its universality class has not been found. In fact, when critical exponents are estimated from data, they widely differ across…
Retrocausal models of QM add further weight to the conflict between causality and the possible existence of free will. We analyze a simple closed causal loop ensuing from the interaction between two systems with opposing thermodynamic time…
As neuroscientists we want to understand how causal interactions or mechanisms within the brain give rise to perception, cognition, and behavior. It is typical to estimate interaction effects from measured activity using statistical…
Criticality in the cortex emerges from the seemingly random interaction of microscopic components and produces higher cognitive functions at mesoscopic and macroscopic scales. Random graphs and percolation theory provide natural means to…
Can there be independent higher level laws of nature if everything is reducible to the fundamental laws of physics? The computer science notion of level of abstraction explains why there can -- illustrating how computational thinking can…
Both deterministic and indeterministic physical laws are incompatible with control by genuine (non-illusory) free will. We propose that an indeterministic dynamics can be $weakly$ compatible with free will (FW), whereby the latter acts by…
Using symmetric boundary conditions at separated times, I show analytically that both the time ordering of (macroscopic) causality and the direction of entropy increase follow from these boundary conditions. In particular, when the…
Considering the very large body of knowledge which neuroimaging has put at our fingertips over the last three decades we looked at the brain with a fresh view which could unveil those 'old' things in new ways, in a framework which could…
Cognitive control is a suite of processes that helps individuals pursue goals despite resistance or uncertainty about what to do. Although cognitive control has been extensively studied as a dynamic feedback loop of perception, valuation,…
The precise definition of causality is currently an open problem in philosophy and statistics. We believe causality should be defined as functions (in mathematics) that map causes to effects. We propose a reductive definition of causality…
A major unresolved question in Neuroscience is: What is the origin of the observed scale-invariant correlations in neural activity? Many researchers support the ``criticality hypothesis,'' which proposes that the brain operates near…
We show that it is possible to understand and identify a decision maker's subjective causal judgements by observing her preferences over interventions. Following Pearl [2000], we represent causality using causal models (also called…
The basic problem posed by free will (FW) for physics appears to be not the \textit{physical} one of whether it is compatible with the laws of physics, but the \textit{logical} one of how to consistently define it, since it incorporates the…
Criticality is hypothesized as a physical mechanism underlying efficient transitions between cortical states and remarkable information processing capacities in the brain. While considerable evidence generally supports this hypothesis,…
Free will is an old philosophical enigma that has been recently revived by neuropsychology. We restrict ourselves to the problem that determinism seems to allow only an illusion of freedom but random decissions do not contain any freedom…
Physicists are increasingly beginning to take seriously the possibility of laws outside the traditional time-evolution paradigm; yet our understanding of determinism is still predicated on a forwards time-evolution picture, making it…
Despite provable unknowables in recursion theory, indeterminism and randomness in physics is confined to conventions, subjective beliefs and preliminary evidence. The history of the issue is very briefly reviewed, and answers to five…
The crisis in the reproducibility of experiments invites a re-evaluation of methods of inquiry and validation procedures. The text challenges current assumptions of knowledge acquisition and introduces G-complexity for defining decidable…
The problematic relationship between science and philosophy has, since the beginning of modernity, divided the world into two separate domains: nature and human. Some of today's schools of philosophy and epistemological inquiry have…