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Sand in the Brain: A Fundamental Theory To Model the Mind

Posted by timothy on from the my-brain's-usually-rusty dept.

An anonymous reader writes "In 1999, the Danish physicist Per Bak proclaimed to a group of neuroscientists that it had taken him only 10 minutes to determine where the field had gone wrong. Perhaps the brain was less complicated than they thought, he said. Perhaps, he said, the brain worked on the same fundamental principles as a simple sand pile, in which avalanches of various sizes help keep the entire system stable overall — a process he dubbed 'self-organized criticality.'"

2 of 105 comments (clear)

  1. Re:As an observer by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

    I think it should be noted that the human brain also has an affinity for the inside of bathing suits. . .

  2. Re:Ick by ceoyoyo · · Score: 3, Funny

    Can We stop artificially dividing the brain and the Mind, please? The two ideas are likely the same and their distinction speaks of lingering medieval mysticism.

    See that? I even put in the gratuitous capitalization!