Science Forums 2

[HydrogenBond]

The mother neuron was only presented to describe the situation of a neuron trying to replicate itself. Like any dividing cell, the mother cell, is working on the needs of dividing. If this mother cell was a neuron, it would not be equiped to deal with all the exterior ion signals, it was wired into, with the same dexterity as it could, before it was about to give birth. All the internal scaffolding proteins, that hook into the dendrites and axons, need to dissociate so they can be shared. The result would be a dead memory zone connected to all the original wiring.

Where there was one cell, now there are two daughter cells. The daughter neurons would start wiring themselves internally with scaffolding proteins so the DNA is at the heart. But with two cells taking more space, as they grow, they will put the squeeze on neurons nearby, which could cause their hook-ups to slide. These neurons made these hook-ups with the assumption, this is restricted space. Neurons don't divide, because of the adverse affects. We would become scatter brained.

An interesting consideration is behavior and DNA. There is a debate whether behavior is preprogrammed into the brain and therefore within the genetics. This is not an easy physical correlation to make, although observation in nature seems to indicate that preprogramming does exist. Baby sea turtle hatchlings know to make a run for it. There is possible way where preprogramming can appear within the brain without it being on the DNA, directly. It only has to be on the DNA, indirectly.

As an analogy, say you are at a company picnic, in charge of the fun. Depending on the type of people who show up, will define what type of games you will play. If they are all jocks, then one may get a a game of football going. If there are a blend of all levels of ability, one may decide softball. If none are athletic it may be the egg toss and trivia.

Since all the cells of the body, more or less, have a nervous connection and these converge into larger branches to reflect an organ, for example, the brain sees the capability within the sum of its parts. It could be like the sports coordinator. Once DNA defines the capabilities, or the people who will show up to the picnic, then the brain adapts to this to make use of what is possible. The cat purrs because it has this ability. The dog can not purr, so this will not be part of the brains neural strategy. It can still move its mouth and make sounds, but this has limits. The unborn child in the womb, its brain is already testing out some of its abilities as it kicks. The brain is a learning entity, that can see what it has to work with.

In this scenario the DNA does not have to have the behavior chemically stored in it. It only has to make the basic brain dynamics and then define the capabilities of the machine. As for the newborn sea turtle, it has legs and needs water, so it is off and running. We can't get it to bark or do math problems, so this will not reflect in its innate behavior. This keeps the DNA simple, while also allowing a lot of subtle variations. Maybe it is not suppose to be a perfect process, to allow for advancements.

This neural strategy would extrapolate easier into the environment. It is not limited to one way, like a kidney cell. The capability is now being pertubated with input data, allowing the innate capacity to use the machine, with far more situational flexibility. The machine is better off working one way, so some things are consistent. This is the zero point for the brain, such that extrapolation into nature has limits.