The Molecular Basis of Neural Memory: Part 8. Case Studies of “Neuro-mimetic” Technologies- Crimson Publishers
The Molecular Basis of Neural Memory: Part 8. Case Studies of “Neuro-mimetic” Technologies by Gerard Marx in Research in Medical & Engineering Sciences From Cajal’s [1] original studies (~1900), neurobiologists have represented neurons as “naked”, seemingly suspended in “space”. Cajal [1] overlooked issues relevant to the emergence of the memory talent from neural nets, specifically: 1. Not recognizing the morphology of the biologic neuron as relevant to its memory function. 2. Ignoring the presence of extracellular matrix (nECM), a hydrogel web/lattice entangling the extended neuron. 3. Unawareness of non-synaptic signaling between neurons through the nECM. 4. No code for emotions. We review 2 technologies, the IBM Brain Chip and the Blue Brain Project, both which are flawed by the same oversights. To address these flaws, we propose a tripartite mechanism, based on the dynamic interactions of 3 compartments: 1) Neurons-including glia cells/astrocytes 2) Neural extr...