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Hmmmm. "Hess says they tried to shop around the idea to other neuroscience journals first, to avoid the conflict of interest—but didn’t have much luck, since mo
by rwnspace 9y ago
Hmmmm. "Hess says they tried to shop around the idea to other neuroscience journals first, to avoid the conflict of interest—but didn’t have much luck, since most editors they spoke to had never heard of algebraic topology".
Neuroscience as a field is quite comfortable with 'n-dimensions', given the importance of matrices to data. Let alone the relationship between topology and graph/network theory... It seems highly unlikely that editors would not be at least roughly familiar with algebraic topology. It reads (to me), "Our research is not marketable, because it lacks prescriptive insight, so we published it in our own journal". The conflict of interest statement in the paper is suspect, as the article roughly mentions.
From the abstract: "We propose that the brain processes stimuli by forming increasingly complex functional cliques and cavities". I can't see how this says anything not already well-established, though perhaps differently described - that biological structures in the brain support the use of hierarchical network models at the neuronal IP level.
Anecdotally, I find the 'jargonification' of neuroscience a little disturbing. This reads like false progress. I'm simply an interested lay-person, so I'm open to correction on all the above - but as I see it, additional ways of describing 'what' does not necessarily give a 'how'.
- ngcc_hk 9y agoThat is what I wonder as well. Still the downgrade I sort of heard of. Hence the silly comment I put up.
- overdunk 9y agoJargonification always feels like job security by obscurity. In other words, not actually job security, but a contrivance thereof.
- zamalek 9y ago> I can't see how this says anything not already well-established I am not a neuroscientist. It sounds like the cavities are orderly in 11 dimensions, whereas previously they seemed chaotic - the "shape of the activity" (i.e. something akin to a fMRI) is structured. This is different to the mathematical model of a neuron (being the matrix you mentioned). I could also be reading this incorrectly.