Blogs Jun 24, 2010 at 9:04 am

Comments

1
I think it was just an analogy, Charles, and not a literal one. Meat probably just sounded better in his head than fat.

Anyway, if someone told you you had a fat brain you might just be offended, whereas if they told you it was meaty you might take pride in that.
2
"...cowboy culture of ours..." makes me question your conclusion. Have you looked around the world? This is one of the more tightly controlled societies in history.
3
Maybe "cholesterol" is the operative word. Have you look at the RDA of a can of Pork Brains In Milk Sauce? The cholesterol RDA percentage is like 1200%
4
Now I'm hungry. :(
5
How many Estimated Servings in one can of Pork Brains?
6
I'm not sure that murder isn't a property of "sociality," of the "species specific intersubjectivity" of which we speak. Given a member of our own species (because, like all species, we are most concerned with our own; even a vegan distinguishes between protected life--the animal--and life not deserving of protection--the vegetable--based on the ostensible proximity of the lifeform to the self), we have multiple options--to embrace, protect, mate with, form cooperative partnership with, or kill the encountered organism. What's more, our cooperative behaviors, as they extend outward, tend to form tribes, or tribal relationships writ large, like nation-states. From there, it becomes necessary to protect the interests of the tribe/nation from the conflicting interests.

In other words, the cooperative instinct codifies and ritualizes, rather than reduces, the will-to-murder. No?
8
I'd prefer a neurologist to chime in on this one, but since the article you’re referencing seems to be about the facts of the matter (and good on Huffpo for trying that out) I'll try and stick with the facts. Meat is digestible animal matter. Fat is a specific type of animal matter, of which the brain, to my limited knowledge, is not mostly compromised of. So then to say the human mind is a computer made of fat would just not be accurate. And to say associating the brain with meat harkens back to our omnivore roots makes just makes no fucking sense, Charles. All vegans brains are made of meat, cows brains are made of meat. Your connection is idiotic.
9
FWIW: We normally associate with the word "meat" with muscle. The brain is not composed of muscle, so in a sense you're right. However, though it does contain a good deal of fat - the insulation that ensheaths the connecting fibers between neurons is quite fatty - that's not quite right either.

The brain is probably closer to organ meat than anything - liver, heart, etc. Since the culinary world groups those meats under the name "offal," I propose a new analogy, one that I think does a much better job trivializing the brain's complexity and nuance:

"The brain is an offal computer."
10
Brains came first. Saying the brain is a computer made of meat is backwards; Computers are attempts at creating artificial brains made out of materials other than protein. So far they behave a lot less like brains than advertised.
11
@10
"A computer is a programmable machine that receives input, stores and manipulates data, and provides output in a useful format." Wikipedia

loosely speaking, the brain is a computer. most likely a quantum computer
12
@11: In the same way a bird is, loosely speaking, an airplane?

I understand that metaphorically speaking about the brain in those terms can be illuminating, but the metaphor only goes so far. In the way Charles is invoking it, the metaphor seems to hit its limit of utility; Computers are designed, by humans, to perform a specific function. Brains evolved over millions of years in the absence of any designer or forward-thinking use plan. The "programming," if that's what you want to call it, is acquired knowledge, not a specific coded list of operational instructions entered through a User Interface.

The two things share many similarities (largely because the creators of computers are consciously trying to emulate certain behaviors of the brain), but saying a brain is nothing but a computer seems like a gross oversimplification from where I stand. Its use here as a means of dismissing out of hand freewill, consciousness etc seems like an updated version of the nineteenth century Clockwork Universe idea.

The syllogism looks like this: "Computers mindlessly do what they are programmed to do and nothing else, so you'd never say a computer had freewill or possessed consciousness. And (handwaving occurs here) the human brain is nothing but a computer. Therefore humans do not possess freewill or consciousness."

An interesting but hardly airtight point.
13
Yay, someone already linked to the meat scifi story.
14
The contrast between the prestige we accord meat vs fat is certainly relevant to the more philosophical parts of feminism.
15
@11: "loosely speaking, the brain is a computer. most likely a quantum computer"

[Citation Needed]
16
Perhaps all those zombies were onto something.
17
Won't somebody please make a bacon computer?
18
That article makes me want want to vomit. Way to build a house, nay, a whole neighborhood out of straw. Yes, we are made of meat. So what? I understand the desire to be more than that, but the contortions and misscharacterizations of the author and his ilk are no less despicable because of it.
19
@12
loosely speaking, yes, a bird is an airplane (I should say, fundamentally). control surfaces? check. means of propulsion? check. landing gear? check. pilot? check.

i think our difference in opinion lies in our definition of 'programming.'
programming, as i see it, is the neural network of the brain, not literal command functions that tell the brain what to do with the information. as information from the senses enter the brain, it needs to figure out what part of the brain the info needs to go to in order to get processed quickly. so the brain will continually reprogram or add new neural networks/pathways to gain maximum efficiency. so everytime you smell a smell, that information gets short-tracked to olfactory(?) region of the brain instead of spinning by the optical region. when you learn a skill through repetition your muscle memory develops so that your brain doesn't have to think all the time about what you're doing. it just reprogrammed itself to gain greater efficiency. you'll notice this the next time you're driving and realize that you're not even paying 100% attention to what you're doing as you are: listening to the radio, thinking about your day, silencing your phone because you're not supposed to be txt/talking on it, all while you're driving. what i mean by this is that you're not constantly concentrating on the constant corrections in steering/acceleration in order to drive safely. your neural network has been built to the point that driving becomes 2nd nature.

so all that comes to the survival instinct which seems to be the "use plan" for the brain. survive long enough to pass on your DNA to the next generation.

and your last argument is a double-edged sword. computers don't have free-will or consciousness, but we can certainly program them to behave like they do. and the brain may not be a computer, but it sure can behave like one.
20
@15
should I have said, "behaves like a quantum computer" ?
citation
citation
citation

Please wait...

Comments are closed.

Commenting on this item is available only to members of the site. You can sign in here or create an account here.


Add a comment
Preview

By posting this comment, you are agreeing to our Terms of Use.