GIANT change of perspective
Via ScienceDaily:

An entirely new way of looking at the cerebellum, based partly on a long series of MRI self-scans by a group of neurologists.

"The biggest surprise to me was the discovery that 80 percent of the cerebellum is devoted to the smart stuff," said senior author Nico Dosenbach. "Everyone thought the cerebellum was about movement. If your cerebellum is damaged, you can't move smoothly -- your hand jerks around when you try to reach for something. Our research strongly suggests that just as the cerebellum serves as a quality check on movement, it also checks your thoughts as well -- smoothing them out, correcting them, perfecting things."

People with damage to their cerebellum are known to become uncoordinated, with an unsteady gait, slurred speech and difficulty with fine motor tasks such as eating. The cerebellum also is quite sensitive to alcohol, which is one of the reasons why people who have had too many drinks stumble around. But the new data may help explain why someone who is inebriated also shows poor judgment. Just as a person staggers drunkenly because his or her compromised cerebellum is unable to perform the customary quality checks on motor function, alcohol-fueled bad decisions might also reflect a breakdown of quality control over executive functions.

First thought, irresistibly triggered by the quality-control image:

= = = = = START REPRINT:

It's clear by now that Elon is a crackhead. Presumably he uses only the highest-quality carbon-neutral meth, distilled in secret mountain fortresses in Switzerland and smoked in diamond-encrusted platinum bongs, but nevertheless a crackhead.

Compare this situation to the '50s when all auto execs were blind drunk, falling-down drunk, barely conscious, EXCEPT Romney the Mormon. Romney was the only sober dude in the industry, and his sober judgment pulled a small failing company up to match the big three. He didn't have to be a genius, he only had to be CONSCIOUS while the others were stumbling around. Now the situation is reversed. The other carmakers are led by sober adults and Elon is the only crackhead.

You wouldn't expect the crackhead company to succeed, and it's not succeeding. Elon steals 100-year-old ideas that failed the first time, and finds uniquely stupid ways to make them fail even worse, but this time they fail COOOOOOOL which is apparently better than plain old unenlightened unDisruptive failure.

= = = = = END REPRINT.

Second thought:

Perhaps cognition isn't a separate category at all. It's just a dream-like replay or preplay of motion. All motion is defined by PURPOSE, and it's clear that the millions of stored motion files in the cerebellum are organized by purpose. Cognition is also defined and filed by PURPOSE. Most thoughts involve an image of an action leading to a goal. Or not.

With verbal thoughts you can FEEL the rehearsed motion, as the planned sentence activates the circuitry of the larynx and articulators almost to the point of actual motion. I'm not convinced that the same thing happens with other motions in waketime. It certainly happens in dreamtime. Sometimes the last switch in the muscle circuit accidentally turns on, leading to clumsy speech and movements.

= = = = =

Later third thought:

This change of view would instantly explain one major puzzle. Fact: People can lose HUGE parts of the cortex and still function well. Under the 'standard model' the cortex is the complete home of all thinking and judgment and decision. If you lose any part of the cortex you should lose a corresponding part of your thinking ability.... but in fact you don't.

In this new perspective the cerebellum is the CPU, and the cortex becomes a sort of aftermarket accessory like an extra hard drive to store backup data and high-level programming. Losing part of the backup is a real inconvenience but doesn't interfere with daily work.

Labels: Carver

  ¶ 9:06 AM