Monday, August 1, 2011

The Connectome

What are we? What shapes who we are, or in a more mystical way, what is our soul?

We are our connectome. The word might sound complicated to you, but the definition is pretty simple. A connectome is basically a map of all the neural connections in a brain. The definition is the only simple thing about it, considering that the branches of neurons, that are basically the "wires" that connect our brain, summed up, are millions of miles long, yes, all of it into our brain.

Sebastian Seung explains in that video how HARD it is to study neurons, and even how harder it is to find the connections between them, he also tries to give an explanation on what we are, what is our "soul" and what makes each one of us what we are, other than the DNA. These scientists are doing an awesome work.



This shows us that our brain is not simply storaging data, it shapes itself by creating these extremely complicated net of connections.

A very important part of this, in my opinion, is that our connectoms are shaped according to our experiences, which makes each one of us unique.



One day we are going to know our own brain so well, that super computers are going to be able to analyze our connectome in a matter of seconds, our memories, our thoughts, our feelings, our experiences are all able to be converted in data and processed by a computer.

This video is a master piece, it is probably going to be passed on in schools to the newer generations, I really suggest that you watch it. It opens a whole new world to humanity.

2 comments:

  1. Thats an indepth documentary, Ireally liked how he explained how much it would take to map the human brain, just to map one 'synops' it would take huge amaunts of work it's just unbelivable...amazing


    Watch it people

    ReplyDelete
  2. What I like the most is the name 'connectome', which pretty much says 'connect-to-me'. This signifies the point itself..everything I experience, everyone I know, everything I see has an impact on who I am-it will connect to me.

    ReplyDelete

 
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