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The Brain from 25,000 Feet

High Level Explorations of Brain Complexity, Perception, Induction and Vagueness

  • Book
  • © 2003

Overview

Authors:
  1. Mark A. Changizi

    1. Sloan-Swartz Center for Theoretical Neurobiology, Caltech, Pasadena, USA

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Part of the book series: Synthese Library (SYLI, volume 317)

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Table of contents (4 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-xxv
    Download chapter PDF

  2. Scaling in Nervous Networks

    • Mark A. Changizi
    Pages 1-73

  3. Inevitability of Illusions

    • Mark A. Changizi
    Pages 75-150

  4. Induction and Innateness

    • Mark A. Changizi
    Pages 151-237

  5. Consequences of a Finite Brain

    • Mark A. Changizi
    Pages 239-293

  6. Back Matter

    Pages 295-330
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Keywords

About this book

In The Brain from 25,000 Feet, Mark A. Changizi defends a non-reductionist philosophy and applies it to a variety of problems in the brain sciences. Some of the key questions answered are as follows. Why do we see visual illusions, and why are illusions inevitable for any finite-speed vision machine? Why aren't brains universal learning machines, and what does the riddle of induction and its solution have to do with human learning and innateness? The author tackles such questions as why the brain is folded, and why animals have as many limbs as they do, explaining how these relate to principles of network optimality. He describes how most natural language words are vague and then goes on to explain the connection to the ultimate computational limits on machines. There is also a fascinating discussion of how animals accommodate greater behavioral complexity. This book is a must-read for researchers interested in taking a high-level, non-mechanistic approach to answering age-old fundamental questions in the brain sciences.

Reviews

"This is a very rich and exceedingly well-written book. I learned a lot."
(Dan Ryder, University of Connecticut, U.S.A., Synthese 141:2)

Authors and Affiliations

  • Sloan-Swartz Center for Theoretical Neurobiology, Caltech, Pasadena, USA

    Mark A. Changizi

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