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“For me, understanding the brain has always been a computational problem,” says Papadimitriou, who became fascinated by the brain five years ago. “Because if it

by seven4 6y ago

“For me, understanding the brain has always been a computational problem,” says Papadimitriou, who became fascinated by the brain five years ago. “Because if it isn't, I don't know where to start.” Interesting - we do tend to approach problem sets via the lens that is readily available to us. Slightly unrelated but I've always been fascinated by how useful it is to overlay two areas of interest and the insights that present themselves when you focus at the intersection. What's more it seems to work with disparate ideas as well as it does with adjacent ideas. I'm convinced it's a useful way to ideate/think of ideas for startups/businesses.

throwaway_pdp09 6y ago
> we do tend to approach problem sets via the lens that is readily available to us. Is it possible to do otherwise? We use the most appropriate tool for a job, the one we're most familiar with. I can't see an alternative. Could be being short-sighted though.
- rbanffy 6y ago
  Sometimes you look at the problem and realize that, first, you'll need to build new tools to analyze it.
FakeRemore 6y ago
On the other hand, brain as a computational entity is a theory that's been around for a long time. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computational_theory_of_mind https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computational_theory_of_mind > Despite being vigorously disputed in analytic philosophy in the 1990s due to work by Putnam himself, John Searle, and others, the view is common in modern cognitive psychology and is presumed by many theorists of evolutionary psychology. The theory is quite foundational for cognitive science and popular in a number of other fields. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cognitive_science#Computational_modeling https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cognitive_science#Computationa... So it's not like he's doing anything fundamentally new. He's maybe come up with a new computational model that might give new insights.

by seven4 6y ago

throwaway_pdp09 6y ago

> we do tend to approach problem sets via the lens that is readily available to us. Is it possible to do otherwise? We use the most appropriate tool for a job, the one we're most familiar with. I can't see an alternative. Could be being short-sighted though.

rbanffy 6y ago
Sometimes you look at the problem and realize that, first, you'll need to build new tools to analyze it.

FakeRemore 6y ago

On the other hand, brain as a computational entity is a theory that's been around for a long time. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computational_theory_of_mind https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computational_theory_of_mind > Despite being vigorously disputed in analytic philosophy in the 1990s due to work by Putnam himself, John Searle, and others, the view is common in modern cognitive psychology and is presumed by many theorists of evolutionary psychology. The theory is quite foundational for cognitive science and popular in a number of other fields. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cognitive_science#Computational_modeling https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cognitive_science#Computationa... So it's not like he's doing anything fundamentally new. He's maybe come up with a new computational model that might give new insights.