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Critical brain hypothesis: A physical theory for when the brain performs best

quantamagazine.org

41–43 of 43 posts

Re: Critical brain hypothesis: A physical theory for when the brain performs best

#41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The book Drunk spends a lot of time on this very point: From a long term health perspective, alcohol is very bad or even toxic for humans. That being said, it's been used throughout history for short term benefits ranging from creativity to facilitating social interactions. On the creativity side, the author explicitly states how drinking alcohol can help adults activate child like curiosity and thinking. The idea be…

This is my experience. I tend to "freeze up" when faced with a blank page. It becomes impossible to just start , because I get bogged down in planning or trying to predict future roadblocks. One glass of wine and I tend to just say "eff it" and start banging away at the keyboard.

I'm teetotal and I feel like I can sort of turn this on, usually motivated by boredom.

I wonder if I am putting more effort into it, or lacking a genuine uninhibitedness which drinkers access easily. Or perhaps, on the contrary, by drinking they make it harder to access this state naturally?

Re: Critical brain hypothesis: A physical theory for when the brain performs best

#42
post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Critical" has a precise meaning in these kinds of systems; it essentially means when correlation lengths diverge (or, with a finite brain, become the size of the whole). In physical systems this happens at 2nd order phase transitions. Unfortunately most familiar phase transitions are first-order (boiling and freezing, for example) but the development of macroscopic magnetism as iron cools is an example. Away from th…

> "Critical" has a precise meaning in these kinds of systems; it essentially means when correlation lengths diverge (or, with a finite brain, become the size of the whole). If someone doesn't know what "critical" means, they also don't know what a "correlation length" is, so I don't think this clarification is very helpful. Who was the intended audience?

The meaning of critical in complex systems is accessible only if you studied physics or theoretical neuroscience or something related. I'm pretty sure correlations are familiar to most people in STEM, such as the average reader of HN

Re: Critical brain hypothesis: A physical theory for when the brain performs best

#43
As someone with epilepsy I found this article fascinating.

Over the years I've been forced to learn a lot about neurology on my own. I've never seen anything or anyone explain how the brain operates this simply.

We're on the edge of revolution in the way neurological disease are treated.

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