Neural Nets and the Human Brain

[Autolykos]

Yesterday I read a series of articles from this website about neural nets. (If you don't know what a neural net is, go here.) More specifically, the articles concern the construction of creative neural nets -- that is, neural nets that can generate outputs different from (but similar to) any inputs.

The idea is to "stimulate" the network by introducing "noise" that will modify its internal connections. While this seems to guarantee creative responses, it does not provide any sort of convergence behavior. This is due to there being no ability to judge the "fitness" of the outputs. If another neural network -- one that can evaluate the results of the first according to certain rules -- is added into the mix, then you get creativity with a purpose.

All of this has got me thinking about the human brain, particularly the neocortex. Most of you know that the two hemispheres of the neocortex are not the same. The "left brain" controls more formal, rule-based processing, while the "right brain" involves more intuitive, creative behavior. So what I'm thinking is that the human brain itself, on the higher level, is a "creativity machine". It has a randomly creative side -- the right hemisphere -- and an evaluative side -- the left hemisphere. An "interface" between the two is then provided by the corpus callosum.

I'm probably not the first person to realize this, but I haven't read or heard of anyone else who has. Any thoughts?

- Rob

[rez]

Quote by: Autolykos The idea is to "stimulate" the network by introducing "noise" that will modify its internal connections. While this seems to guarantee creative responses, it does not provide any sort of convergence behavior. This is due to there being no ability to judge the "fitness" of the outputs. If another neural network -- one that can evaluate the results of the first according to certain rules -- is added into the mix, then you get creativity with a purpose. All of this has got me thinking about the human brain, particularly the neocortex. Most of you know that the two hemispheres of the neocortex are not the same. The "left brain" controls more formal, rule-based processing, while the "right brain" involves more intuitive, creative behavior. So what I'm thinking is that the human brain itself, on the higher level, is a "creativity machine". It has a randomly creative side -- the right hemisphere -- and an evaluative side -- the left hemisphere. An "interface" between the two is then provided by the corpus callosum. I'm probably not the first person to realize this, but I haven't read or heard of anyone else who has. Any thoughts? - Rob

So basically the corpus callosum is the "STANNO" in the case of AI?

[Autolykos]

No, the entire neocortex is the STANNO. Rather, the corpus callosum is the interface/connection between the "creativity engine" and the "critic engine".

- Rob

[Compugasm]

Quote by: Autolykos I'm probably not the first person to realize this, but I haven't read or heard of anyone else who has. Any thoughts?

I don't remember this guys name, but he studies guys like "Rain Man" (Kim Peak) in San Diego. If I remember correctly, this guy studies why Rain Man has no corpus callosum, and how it's increased his mental abilities.