Bright
Air, Brilliant Fire: On the Matter of the Mind
by Gerald M. Edelman
When someone begins with a basic belief, a devoted
a priori assumption that biology and the brain are the lowest common denominator
of all sentience, the result is such a book as this - where complicated
and pained efforts are taken to explain human consciousness, thought, and
imagination as by-products of chemical reactions and electrical impulses
- as a result of biology and "neural" evolution. Also, typical of modern
"scientists", Darwin is dedicatedly believed and Darwin's theories are
reorganized to apply to neurology, nerve formation, and brain development.
How long before we are all walking around
with microchip brain implants guaranteeing our tranquility, serenity, productivity,
happiness and satisfaction?
Reviews
Booknews, Inc., May 1, 1992
Nobel Prize-winning neuroscientist Edelman
leads nonspecialists through the current state of knowledge about the brain,
and presents a new and original way of looking at how the brain and the
mind are connected. Annotation copyright Book News, Inc. Portland, Or.
Synopsis
We are on the brink of understanding
ancient mysteries: how we know, what governs our nature, what makes a person
different from a thing. In the last decade, more than twenty disciplines
dealing with every aspect of the brain have contributed to a revolution
in the neurosciences - a revolution as significant, in the view of many
observers, as the Galilean and Copernican revolutions in mathematics and
physics or the Darwinian revolution in biology. In this book, one of the
world's foremost brain scientists gives us a glimpse into the workings
of the human brain - the most complex material object in the universe.
A match head's worth of the brain contains about a billion connections
that can combine in ways which can only be described as hyperastronomical
- on the order of ten followed by millions of zeros (there are only about
ten followed by eighty zeros' worth of positively charged particles in
the whole known universe). Gerald Edelman takes us on a dazzling tour through
such diverse topics as Turing machines, Darwin's "program," Jamesian flights
and perchings, genetics, quantum physics, and the nature of perception,
language, and individuality. He argues that biology will provide the key
to understanding the brain and ultimately the mind. Underlying this argument
is the evolutionary view that the mind arose at a definite time in history.
This sweeping book considers our place in nature and how we came to be
able to describe and change it. It examines the implications of understanding
the brain for philosophy, for curing mental disease, and for the possibility
of building conscious artifacts. Edelman does not hesitate to take on cognitive
and behavioral approaches that leave biology out of the picture, as well
as the currently fashionable view of the brain as a computer. He argues
that the workings of the brain more closely resemble the living ecology
of a jungle than they do the activities of an electric company. Some startling
conclusions emerge from these idea
From Kirkus Reviews , March 1, 1992
"Strenuous" is how Nobelist (Physiology
or Medicine, 1972) Edelman describes the difficulties readers will
encounter as they ply their way through yet another texty analysis of what
it means to be a mind. Like Stephen M. Kosslyn and Olivier Koenig (Wet
Mind, p. 235) and Israel Rosenfield (reviewed below), he likes to use old
words in new ways, to coin complex hyphenated forms, and in other ways
to multiply the prolixity level. Indeed, the three volumes complement one
another. All speak to the need to ground analyses of mental functions in
brain biology; all abhor cognitive-science approaches that look to the
computer as the model of how the brain works. Edelman's approach is based
on his theory of neuronal group selection ("TNGS"), which says that groups
of neurons compete in the course of brain development, with surviving groups
subject to a second selection in which specific pathways and synapses are
strengthened according to whether they yield good or useful outcomes to
the organism. Finally, there are broad, reciprocal interactions across
neuronal groups that yield numerous brain "maps." These ideas mark an evolution
of Edelman's earlier work in immunity and development, in which Darwinian
selection also figured. Indeed, evolution is key to Edelman's thinking.
He, like Rosenfield, sees the emergence of a primary consciousness (possessed
by birds and mammals?) rooted in the present and a high- order consciousness
(and self-consciousness) occurring in humans as the result of the development
of language. Edelman's many allusions to pivotal thinkers in philosophy
and science enrich the historical context of his discussions. In the end,
however, even he admits the daunting nature of the challenge. How to deal
with logic, art, creativity, motivation, emotions? How to relate the importance
of social interaction in development and throughout life? We can not yet,
and perhaps never will, eliminate philosophy or psychology from the discussion.
- Copyright ©1992, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.
Customer Comments
Revolutionary and On Track, wood_john_T@hotmail.com,
February 18, 1999
Edelman is absolutely right to approach
the problems of consciousness in the manner he does. Consciousness is a
biological phenomena which can only be understood in terms of it's biological,
evolutionary, and developmental context. The completion of Darwin's Program
is a must if consciousness is to be integrated into the larger body of
scientific knowledge that is biology. While the Theory of Neuronal Group
Selection is only in it's tentative stages, the approach has shown a light
on the path that may ultimately lead to a comprehensible theory that is
consistent with the rest of the sciences. Gerald Edelman will be to future
generations of neuroscientists and lay-persons alike what Charles Darwin
is to us today.
Pathbreaking explanation of how the brain
gives rise to mind, spborden@aol.com, October 4, 1997
Nobel laureate Edelman describes the biological
substrate for the human mind that accounts for its range, adaptability,
and imaginative character while advancing a scientific theory of the highest
order. For Edelman, the brain is no computer, but a product of evolution
with open-ended, emergent properties.
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