11 ms·
> Can one not understand something about how cultures work without knowing how brains work? Can one not know something about how an ape behaves without understa
by tomgp 9y ago
> Can one not understand something about how cultures work without knowing how brains work? Can one not know something about how an ape behaves without understanding their gut-biome?
Absolutely this. An explanation of evolution in terms of atomic interactions would lack some of the explanatory and predictive power we gain at the higher levels between bio-chemistry and phenotype. I think part of good science (and FWIW software design) is choosing the correct abstraction level, the one with the best predictive, descriptive and explanatory power. Sometimes these will be different abstractions or models that have different affordances.
In the case of the OP I think it's easy to underestimate how hard it is to generate a bottom up explanation of a processor given that we already have such an explanation from its status as engineered artefact. The answer is simple if you know the answer.
- SubiculumCode 9y agoAgreed. The iomportant thing to understand about neuroscience is that it is being attacked at multiple levels of decscription (synapse,dendritic trees, whole neurons, small groups of neurons, cortical columns, networks of cortical columns. Then we try to bridge understanding across levels of description and all try to relate it to behavior on one way or another.
- haZard_OS 9y agoQuite right. The movement toward a reconciliation between various levels of abstraction and observation is one (perhaps the greatest one) of the ways we know we scientists are "getting it right". Peter Watson's book "Convergence" is a delicious description of this broad phenomenon in scientific investigation(s).