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Computer Game Reveals 'Space-Time' Neurons In the Eye
sciencehabit (1205606) writes news that the EyeWire project from MIT has yielded some exciting results. "You open the overstuffed kitchen cabinet and a drinking glass tumbles out. With a ninjalike reflex, you snatch it before it shatters on the floor, as if the movement of the object were being tracked before the information even reached your brain. According to one idea of how the circuitry of the eye processes visual data, that is literally what happens. Now, a deep anatomical study of a mouse retina — carried out by 120,000 members of the public — is bringing scientists a step closer to confirming the hypothesis."
The paper (paywalled), and a gallery of screenshots of the game.
The retina and optic nerve are very complex and dense. The almost certainly perform some level of preprocessing, and as such are really just an extension of the brain. However to say that you react before -any- info reaches the brain smacks of a physical impossibility as the brain has to receive some sort of data to trigger motor action. Unless the motor nerves are connected directly to the eyeballs.
Silence is a state of mime.
The eyes are actually part of the brain and have computational and comparative circuits built into them. This has been known for many decades.
The "space-time" intro at first made me think they discovered quantum sensors in the eyes that detect action slightly before it happens using parallel universes or the like. But they are just talking about motion-sensing pre-processing by the retina itself.
Disappointment. I wanted the ability to walk into my boss's office and say, "Before you get up to fire me, I quit!"
Table-ized A.I.
I had a friend and he was one of those friends who would always get me into trouble when I was a kid. He was four years older than me... and this was in grade 9 for me. He was the kind of dude that would just throw something at you and yell your name last second. It got so that I had developed Jedi reflexes around this kid. Something told me exactly what to expect. One day the bastard throws a big knotted wooden log towards my head, and calls it out last second as it's about to hit my face.
Without any hesitation I caught it!! About 45-55lbs, which isn't that much -- but it's a hell of a lot to catch without warning.
My point is that there is probably some kind of zone of effect to this type of thing where in a kitchen for example you could expect that a plate or glass might get knocked off the counter so you would be queued up to catch something whenever you enter the kitchen.
The dangers of knowledge trigger emotional distress in human beings.
are real.
Happiness in intelligent people is the rarest thing I know.
Ernest Hemingway
As much as it's a rubbish summary and so forth, the game itself (eyewire.org) is actually quite compelling, at least on a par with those silly bubble saga things - and it gets human "mice" to map neurons for us science types!
Please be more positive, the more we know about such things, the sooner I'll have my network socket... ;-)
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It's no stranger than building a computer out of sand and minerals.
The first time I experienced this affect was a few year ago while I was walking in some local trails. All of a sudden my body ducked and only after did I realise that I was about to hit a low hanging tree branch. Our mind is living in the past.
ayottesoftware.com
Excuse me for hijacking the first post, but there are so many people writing stupid things below, that I have to point this out: https://www.coursera.org/cours...
Learn about neurology, it is very interesting. Preferentially, learn it before writing something about it as if you know it.
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