From: Neil H. (neuronexmachina@gmail.com)
Date: Fri Apr 07 2006 - 18:02:24 MDT
On 4/7/06, J. Andrew Rogers <andrew@ceruleansystems.com> wrote:
>
>
> On Apr 7, 2006, at 1:22 PM, Philip Goetz wrote:
> > It is remarkable in that
> > auditory neurons are linked directly to motor neurons, so that a sound
> > of a particular frequency can cause the grasshopper to turn toward it,
> > apparently without any other neural system intervening. Hence,
> > grasshoppers have no free will, at least in this case.
>
>
> How many other neurons have to be involved in the causal process
> before "free will" results? What is the number of terms and links
> required to reliably produce "free will" in any given causal chain?
>
> If a system of differential equations gets big enough, does a system
> described by those equations develop the ability to produce results
> that run contrary to the equations that define it?
Perhaps it would be more accurate to say that the grasshoppers turning
response to a particular stimulus isn't reliant on prior internal state, but
solely dependent on feedforward processing.
I'm not entirely certain if that's true, though. Anyone know if there's any
thing like habitutation in this system, or any sort of modulatory effects?
-- Neil
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