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Exactly. The function of a neuron is to trigger other neurons. If you removed a neuron, but manually triggered exactly the neurons that the removed neuron would
by jules 15y ago
Exactly. The function of a neuron is to trigger other neurons. If you removed a neuron, but manually triggered exactly the neurons that the removed neuron would have triggered, it is to be expected that the same memory would be recalled.
Obviously, this argument breaks down at some point, since by induction we could remove 100% of the neurons and manually trigger the axons to the muscles that would have been triggered by triggering the single neuron in the intact brain. This would give the same observable behavior, but it is not clear whether the same experience would be had. But this is getting into the area of consciousness, which is something that nobody understands (yet).
- ajuc 15y agoIf there are cycles in neuron graph (and I'm pretty sure there are), then you cannot be sure that removing one neuron and triggering all the neurons it was connected to in correct way is the same - you'd need to also simulate reaction of that neuron you removed to possible feedback it takes after the first stimulation, maybe cycling in such loop many times.
- polyfractal 15y agoTheoretically, I'd agree. But "memory" is an extremely fuzzy definition. Perhaps the memory is not 100% identical, but missing a tiny detail about the color of the triangle on the guy's shirt in the background of the TV. There is also a lot of redundancy in neural networks. Large swaths of neurons fire together in concerted patterns, and while removing one may tweak the pattern slightly, it is equally likely that the other neurons will just adjust their weights to keep the pattern constant.
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