Reference: “All It Is” Chapter 12: “4 E/I Proc Ops”
Saturday, January 7
Walton: Good morning, my sleepy cyborg! Did I scare you at all yesterday when I mentioned that today’s lesson would be more like a science class?
David: Well, you might have if I hadn’t done very well in my high school classes. Most of them were pretty tame. Except maybe the complexity of my Anatomy and Physiology course. Too many parts and processes to these old bodies of ours! Not simple at all!
Walton: Well, good news, bad news. Which do you want first, as if it really matters?
David: Let’s do “bad” first, so the good news will be like an appetizing dessert covering up a nasty tasting meal.
Walton: Oh, the practical wisdom of youth! And to be honest and practical, there will not be very much actual “news”, or discussion of either. So the “bad news” is that we are discussing the basic anatomy of the human brain today. The good news is that it works more simply than one would “think” it does!
David: Think, huh? Clever twist there. So, I think we better get started before I fall back asleep.
Walton: First question: Did you read through last night’s assignment, the chapter on the workings of the human brain, by my terms called the “Four Primary Energy/Information Processing Operations”?
David: Read, and slept. Then read some more, and slept some more. Got a couple of good cat-naps in there. Maybe even a complete REM cycle or two! Some of the examples and exercises were more entertaining, though! Especially enjoyed the last one, the “Transistor Kisser.” Can’t wait to try that one out with someone. Maybe even Joanna, if I ever see her again.
Walton: Well, I predicted that this particular chapter might be the most challenging one for many readers. That is one reason that I created the kinds of examples and exercises that I did. But, the better news is that, today, we are going to quickly skim the technical parts, just in order to better understand the “Basic” workings of the human brain. We are NOT going to be discussing, or dissecting, beliefs today! We are simply going to figure out how in the world our storage and processing systems work. Then let it go, and let them do their job in the background of our busy lives! Does that sound a little less foreboding of a challenge for a sleepy cyborg such as yourself?
David: Let’s skim away, then. “Skating away, on the thin ice of a new day”!
Walton: Good Jethro Tull reference there! So now we shall “Bouree” ourselves into the chapter!
David: Hit it, “Aqualung, my friend!”
Walton: To make this a bit easier, open up your little electronic device to the PTP chapter called “4 E/I Proc Ops”. As with most of our lessons so far, I let you know what is going to happen, before it happens. We’ll start briefly with the explanation of each term, and then get onto the example and the exercise for each of the processes. And then, just in case you’ve never seen these small electronic components before, I have very simple sample pictures of each one.
David: I notice that you remind me to have fun during this lesson. I sure hope so, for both of our sakes!
Walton: Ain’t no doubt about it, friend! As I have previously mentioned repeatedly, everything in the world is energy. We don’t even need to go back over the explanation for that. We’ve covered it in every chapter so far. Energy, energy, energy. It is all there is and it surrounds us and is within us. It IS us! And We are IT! Therefore, there must be a way to exchange and process that energy as we experience it. Fortunately, for anyone born in what we call the digital age, the four primary electronic components of any circuit board also happen to match the four primary functions of how a signal or stimulus is received by a human body, or sensory system, how it travels into and through that sensory system, and then, if necessary, how it creates beliefs to be stored within that sensory system.
Any questions so far ?
David: I especially appreciate some of the terms you use on that page, especially when they include the word “simple” in it, like the paragraph on “Simple translation.” Nothing better than a nice concise summary! Kind of like Cosmic Cliff Notes! And we have already discussed the Awareness System and the Sensory System.
Walton: I did have to make one compromise for the purpose of explaining this process more easily. The actual terms for an electronic circuit board’s components are resistors , capacitors, inductors, and transistors. I added the preface word neuro in front of each word so we would be able to easily recognize the difference between a solid component that is on a circuit board versus a tissue-based component that is inside your body and especially inside your brain.
Since you have a fairly strong background and familiarity with music, I would like to use that example of a stimulus signal as we go through each of the four steps. Remember, of course that all of the senses have a energetic signal in them, whether it is taste, touch, smell, sight, or sound. Whether it is an electromagnetic waveform or an electrochemical transformation, everything that we perceive with all five of our senses must be converted into an electrical signal of some kind to be processed by the human body.
David: Music has easy-to-understand features of stimuli, like the amplitude, or loudness of the signal. And then pitch, or frequency of the notes being heard. All sound waves can be “seen” on an oscilloscope, as can any energy signal. So, I got that, I am with you so far.
Walton: Moving on through the symphonic “Movements of the Mind”!
David: Right on! Good title!
Walton: For the first category, neuro-resistance, think of any two energy sources or forces working against one another. One energy source seeks to travel in a particular direction and another energy source seeks to travel in the opposite direction. And then, of course the two opposing energy sources at some point are going to meet, and therefore collide.
David: Crash and Crunch! Danger, Will Robinson!
Walton: Yes, and yet resistance is one of the most common events on the planet. It is not always categorized as a negative feature of life, but in many cases it can end up being a harmful, or even dangerous, feature. Let’s take a pretty common example of resistance. Let’s say there is a car going down a street, and another car coming in the opposite direction. It is a one lane road so they are heading directly toward each other. For whatever fictional reason, neither car chooses to stop in its energetic process of traveling down that road .
David: And the anticipation builds!
Walton: The obvious outcome of those two forces heading directly toward each other, and meeting at a particular point in space and time, is going to result a lot physical damage to the vehicles, the nearby environment, and obviously to the people who are driving those two vehicles. Major destruction, maybe heat, maybe fire , maybe loud noises. But whatever the case, a lot of what we would judge to be destructive energy and destroyed physical matter. Let’s focus on the element of heat for now. On an electronic circuit board, an electrical signal is freely trying to travel down the path of a wire. Without interference of any kind, it could travel forever. Until, of course, it meets some kind of resistance. The electronic component called a resistor is designed specifically to slow down, or block, the movement of that electrical current. And, as in the example of the car accident, when energy meets some kind of resistance, heat is generated, and with the possibility of too much energy being applied, that he could actually burn up and destroy the electronic component of the resistor.
David: I’ve seen some electrical devices start having smoke come out of them. Something internal got out of whack. I think that is why some devices, like guitar amplifiers, have small fans running inside them. To cool things down!
Walton: On the other hand, if there is a wire attached to both sides of the resistor , and if the energy is controlled flowing through that wire, there is a controlled amount of heat energy that is sometimes called a “load”. And that load of energy can be used in many valuable ways. This is where you get the term “amplitude” from. The height or amount of energy that is measured across that resistor can serve many functions. Like with your musical instruments, and especially your guitar amplifiers, if there is very little resistance in the circuit, the volume is low. If you turn up the amplifier knob, the sound becomes louder. More volume, more power, more ability to influence the environment. And of course, thanks to a group called Spinal Tap, we know what happens when you turn the amplifier up to 11!
David: “Smoke on the water, fire in the sky!”
Walton: So, take any situation where one energy source faces an opposite energy source, and they meet at a single place, – Voila! Resistance energy! The possibility of heat, fire, destruction, at the very least, an increased amplitude of energy or power at that particular sight.
David: It could be most anything, right? Vehicles hitting each other, people pushing against each other, the volume of words spoken to someone else, the wind and the weather, …
Walton: Correct – all physical objects, whenever one energy force meets another energy force , you get the potentially destructive situation called resistance. And finally, another very important phrase that we will probably repeat over and over again, is this: Resistance always leads to the persistence of that resistance. Always. Especially with human beings. Something else must occur to transform one source of resistance or another in order to avoid the increased rise of that amplitude or power.
Can you give me a brain-based example of resistance in real life before we move on to the next category of electronic devices?
David: Well, on your written page, you use the idea of measuring the “voltage” across a neuron, to determine its amplitude.
Walton: Yes, very important. Measuring the energy from the input location to the output location, from Dendrite to Axon, is how we determine the amplitude, or strength of the signal that is traveling through that particular neural network. And we have billions of these neural circuits, allowing for the human brain to process billions of variations in amplitude.
David: And when we simply consider human interactions, it would seem like there is a lot of energy, and emotional, resistance between people. Does this work under the same basic principles you’ve described here?
Walton: Yes, of course it does. Good observation. And the concept of Resistance is so important to what we’re discussing here that we’ve got a whole chapter designated for the three categories of energy interactions between human beings. As a matter of fact , I believe that is in the very next two chapters that we discuss this. Stay tuned for the excitement of that. In those chapters we really get to see the results of the statement I made earlier about how “resistance leads to the persistence of that resistance.”
David: Can’t wait. Sounds like it might be a bit depressing.
Walton: Well, it is how humans choose to utilize their personal energies. Life is life, and it is all a choice. Maybe, just maybe, when we study human resistance, we will discover a more positive, uplifting alternative. Don’t despair, David. This isn’t all Dicken’s “Bleak House”!
Now, moving on to other energy aspects of the human brain, we encounter Capacitance.
With the concept of capacitance, the flow of energy is once again blocked from moving down the wire of the pipeline. But the flow is interrupted in a different way. Not interrupted by a physical substance or force, but instead it is interrupted by a gap of space between the two paths of energy flow. And only when the flow of energy is strong enough or high enough to leap over that gap, can the energy continue to flow along its intended path. Capacitors are all about there being a gap of a certain width between two parts of an energy path.
David: Quick example – if I hold my two hands close together, but not touching, is that capacitance?
Walton: Yes, basically, that is it. And if you had an electrical charge traveling through one arm, and it wanted to cross that gap, you might generate one of those really cool fiery flames that you so often see in the Marvels movies! But don’t try that trick at home – you might explode from within!
Here is another example: Imagine a bunch of people want to cross a stream, but they need to hold hands to cross the quickly moving waters. Only when there are enough of them to collectively hold hands and connect one side of the stream to the other side of the stream, will they be more assured of the possibility of each of them successfully making it across that stream. Without enough people involved, the pathway is like a dead end. The signal stops. It just cannot go any further without the necessary level of energy to cross that gap. When you get a strong enough signal of moving energy of any kind, that energy signal can then leap across the gap or space between the two sides, thus successfully continuing its energy flow.
David: Simple analogy: I am attempting to sing into a microphone. When I am twenty feet away, my voice energy is not strong enough to be picked up. As I walk closer, then the microphone can “hear” me, and allow my musical message to continue it’s path into the recording device.
Walton: And on the topic of connecting this principle of capacitance to our musical framework. By the way, in the brain, the gap is the space between neurons, called the synaptic cleft. The neurons do not touch inside the brain – there are spaces between them all!
David: Between the end of any axon and its neighboring dendrite? That gap?
Walton: Yes, that is the gap! Billions of gaps, all over the brain!
David: And maybe more than too many in rather ignorant people!!
Walton: Too true! Anyway, a musical sound wave has two features. We’ve already discussed the first feature: Amplitude or power, the “height” of the sound wave. The capacitance-based feature of a musical sound wave is its frequency. Frequency is measured as how many times a signal is repeated. If the crossing of that gap doesn’t happen very often, the energy signal moving across that gap has a low frequency. However, if more energy travels across that gap at a faster rate, your frequency reading is higher. More energy, or a thinner or wider gap, – these things affect the variation in frequency of the energy traveling down that wire. For example, humans can only hear certain sound frequencies. That doesn’t mean that there aren’t vibrations or sound waves below or well above the hearing frequencies of the human sensory system. Low notes versus high notes. Musical sound waves versus gamma waves and X Rays. A big difference.
David: So Resistance, or Amplitude, is caused by the presence of a physical thing. And Capacitance, or Frequency, is caused by the absence of a physical thing?
Walton: That works for me, for now. In the brain, as I just mentioned, the space between neurons is called a synaptic cleft. And neurons are not all equally spaced from each other . The spacing between neurons is associated with the frequencies of energy that are trying to travel through those particular neuron electrical circuits.
So, as you may read in detail on the web page, the qualities of amplitude and frequency are based on the electronic structure of resistance and capacitance. Once again, any questions so far ?
David: The words sound very complicated. But the actual functioning of the electrical, or energy signal, traveling through the brain is very simple.
Walton: And not just the brain. Remember that the whole body, what we are calling the Sensory System, has miles and miles of neurons running through it. Where there is a neural network, there are signals traveling with vital messages.
Now, to continue, the third of these electrical traits is called inductance. One unusual feature of energy traveling through a wire is that it creates an electromagnetic field around the outside of the wire. This isn’t the energy current running through the wire, it is a force that is created outside of the wire because of the traveling of the energy through the wire itself. With inductance, you could take a coil of wire and run electricity through it. You could take another nearby coil of wire without any electricity running through it. And yet you could still generate an electrical current through the second coil by making the electromagnetic field of the first coil strong enough! That is inductance!
David: So let me try to summarize what we’ve got so far: With Resistance, we have the energy flowing through a wire and it meets some kind of block, which causes an increase of voltage, or amplitude, around that block. With capacitance, we have the energy flowing through a wire and that energy has to cross a gap of a certain size, which causes an increase in frequency. And now, with inductance, you are saying that we have energy flowing through a wire, and because that flow creates an electromagnetic field around the wire, we are causing other nearby circuits to also start creating energy to flow through them. Is that pretty close?
Walton: Yes sir. You’ve got it. With resistance, the energy flow is affected by the middle section of the neuron. With capacitance, the energy flow is affected by the gap, or synaptic cleft, between the neurons. And with inductance, the energy flow through one neuron creates an electromagnetic field that stimulates energy flow through nearby neurons.
The nearby coils, or neurons, did not need their own energy source. They obtained energy movement from the electromagnetic field surrounding the first coil. This is where we get into the study of magnetic properties. Of course we’re not going to be doing too much with magnetism here in this program . But as far as the human brain and the neurons is considered, each neuron has a center “body”, which contains the cell “nucleus”, and also little arms or legs or appendages sticking out from it. Technically the term for these extensions are axons and dendrites. Each neuron has lots of these flowing out from it. And all of these axons and dendrites are nearby but not touching other axons and dendrites. But wherever there is energy flow, there is also a connected electromagnetic force! So in the process of energy flowing through a neuron, it will run into three things: the resistance of the central cell body itself, or it will try to leap across the synaptic cleft, or it will also interface magnetically with its nearby neighbors, also causing them to pick up these electromagnetic forces of the other neurons.
David: Again, complicated in action, but simple in the description of its basic functioning. As far as music is concerned, we have resistance-based amplitude, capacitance-based frequency, and inductance-based magnetic waves, as well as resonant frequencies!
Walton: You can begin to see how what starts as one simple source of energy flowing could immediately be transported to other neurons in the brain by several methods. Direct contact, across a gap connection, or electromagnetic communication. Once again, any questions ?
David: Well, the simplicity and the complexity are starting to cause quite a confusing mix in my own personal collection of neural activities. So I’m glad that there is only one more type of component to discuss. And I am even more pleased that the whole concept of neural activity can be simplified down into these four components. With that said, since my brain is not yet totally fried, let’s move on to the 4th, and the last of these components. Okay?
Walton: Great idea! The 4th and final electronic component, which was the last one invented, or at least discovered, by the world of electrical engineers, is the transistor. Transistors are kind of like a fancy version of a resistor. The early basic transistors had three legs sticking out of them. They are called the Emitter, the Base, and the Collector. An electrical current is supposed to be able to run through the Collector and Emitter . However, in the case of a transistor, the Base acts as a switch that turns the current on or off. Obviously, when it is in the off condition , no electrical current passes through the transistor. And when it is turned on the current is free to travel on its merry path to another circuit somewhere !
David: So the base is kind of like a traffic cop in the street. The cars only get to proceed when he decides that they can keep moving.
Walton: Yes. The incoming vehicles could travel through the intersection to the outgoing streets when his arms are swinging for them to do so. However, for this to occur, the cop has all the power and control to say “Stop” or “Go”!
David: It also seems like the switch on train tracks or a light switch. Switches off, no energy travels between the collector or emitter. If this switches on, then energy does flow where it wants to go. On, off, on, off, over and over again. So for the transistor to work, the most important part of this process is that the Base leg is receiving or not receiving some kind of signal from the rest of the surrounding circuit.
Walton: And this is where we get into the Binary numbers, or digital, part of the logical working of the brain. The signal or energy flow is either definitely on or definitely off. A One or a Zero. Voltage or no voltage. No intermediate state. With resistors, you can adjust the amplitude up and down. With capacitors you can increase or decrease the space of the synaptic cleft gap. With inductors, you can also increase or decrease the amount of energy flow. But not with transistors. It’s like an all or nothing thing. One or Zero. Yes or No . Energy flow or Energy stop.
David: And is there a particular place, or part, of the brain where this digital processing occurs?
Walton: It may be happening all over the place. But folks who work with the physical brain claim that certain sections of the brain are more conducive to digital functioning. Some call it left brain/right brain, thinking. Or it could be which side of the brain is being stimulated, across the corpus collosum, the top ridge of the brain.
And that concludes the basic explanation of how the four primary electronic components are similar to the workings of the neural network in the human brain. The amount of energy, the speed of the energy, the spacing of the neurons, the movement of energy through the neurons in close proximity to each other, and the movement of electrical signals back and forth across different hemispheres of the brain. And there you have it: the complete layout and explanation of how the human organism and the human brain and our neural networks communicate with the stimuli of the physical world around us.
David: Does all this information matter for PTP to work?
Walton: When we first started discussing these four aspects of brain functioning, I hope I put out the suggestion that it is too easy to try to get complicated and get lost in the details of the brain functioning. But since PTP is supposed to be a simple explanation of human behavior, this whole chapter is simply to demonstrate that the complicated human is produced from simple functions. Let the doctors and scientists and chemists and engineers worry about the details. When all of their information and knowledge gets boiled down, the only thing essential for a typical normal everyday human to be concerned with is that these four functions are what cause people to make the decisions they make, to create the things that they create, to limit them or to free them as far as the possibilities of what they can accomplish in any normal typical day in the life of an earthling.
The next two chapters will be much more oriented toward how all of this data is actually used in the day to day functioning of human beings. Therefore, today’s lesson is definitely over! Study it or forget it, but at least be ready to move on to the more practical chapters of this paradigm!
If you want more fun with all of this, get down to your local Circuit Shack, pick up a basic electronics kit, and play away!
David: I think, rather than play away with it, I am going to stay away from it!
Walton: Well then, Digital David, see you tomorrow for “the good stuff”!
David: Goodnight, Wizard of Watts!
*****