

Neurons in human skin perform advanced calculations - adventured
http://www.medfak.umu.se/english/about-the-faculty/news/newsdetailpage/neurons-in-human-skin-perform-advanced-calculations.cid238881

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webnrrd2k
This sheds some light on one of those things I believe, but can not prove...

I usually carry too much junk in my pockets, and when I dig around in my
pocket for something it amazes me how fast I can recognize what I'm touching.
I don't know why but I've thought that there is some other non-conscious
system in place that, at a minimum, helps improve tactile recognition. It's
kind of subtle, but it feels like my hand somehow knows what I'm searching
for, and can recognize it much better than _I_ can.

Also, along the same lines of thought, I suspect that there must be a whole
lot of intelligence locked away in our bodies that isn't easily accessed
consciously, but it's still there.

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ehsanu1
> It's kind of subtle, but it feels like my hand somehow knows what I'm
> searching for, and can recognize it much better than I can.

Most brain processes are subconscious, so if neurons outside the brain perform
part of those processes, it should not really matter. Subconscious processes
are subconscious, within the brain or not.

Anyways, read "On Intelligence" by Jeff Hawkins for a theory of how very fast
pattern matching works in the brain. Skin neurons not needed, but can also fit
into the theory I think.

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supadupa777
Kind of reminds me of how these anenomes feel/process. I'd love to see this
under a FMRI.

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amphiprioninae#mediaviewer/File...](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amphiprioninae#mediaviewer/File:Amphiprion_ocellaris_\(Clown_anemonefish\)_in_Heteractis_magnifica_\(Sea_anemone\).jpg)

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erikpukinskis
This kind of result, of which there have been many, is pretty of the reason
why I believe the computing power needed to rival human intelligence is vastly
underestimated. And why singularity predictions are fundamentally
overoptimistic.

The other major reason is that much of cognition happens outside the body, in
physical and cultural structures that are even less computationally tractable.

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otakucode
Likewise, a great deal of what we find 'important' or 'significant' relates
directly to our basic existence as material bodies with specific biological
needs. Like a fish not realizing they were in water, it is very easy for
people to not notice how reliant they are on their bodies. Were we able to
build a machine intelligence, I have serious doubt that we would be capable of
recognizing it as alive or conscious. It would have absolutely no drives in
common with us. It would not need space. It would not need the separation of
individuals. It would not need to respond to stimulus on a short time scale.
It would probably have absolutely no need to communicate with us at all. Its
needs would be so utterly alien to us that it would be very difficult to
observe it and conclude 'that is intelligence'.

Likewise I think the idea of "uploading your brain" is ludicrous unless the
plan is to simulate it existing in a virtual physical world. The human brain
reacts poorly to sensory deprivation - consciousness dissolves in the absence
of physical sensory input. Cutting off every sense totally? I don't think we
have any evidence to suggest that what would remain could qualify as a human
mind. And we've got some evidence that it would not. Our bodies and our brains
are not separate. Dualism is fundamentally untrue. We can see this in many
studies of various injuries that rob people of various capabilities of their
body which bleed over to significant effects on their mind. Make people hold a
pencil in their teeth, which forces them to 'smile', and they will have more
positive emotional reactions. People with paralyzed facial muscles suffer
decreased emotional range in their mind. Paralyzed individuals generally
experience depression (separate from the depression expected from suffering
harm). Cutting off the brain from the body hurts the mind.

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iandanforth
This isn't surprising or really new. There are 4 types of mechanoreceptors in
the skin, plus pain and temperature sensors. Each of those types have
individual endings or sensors that have a specific range of intensity to which
they respond most strongly. Also, they compete locally with each other. So the
idea that neurons are "computing shapes" is really no different than computing
edges, corners, specific patterns of vibration, a rapid change in temperature,
or any other sensation that is more than a single point in time and space. In
general the peripheral nervous system does _a lot_ of computation and, given
that many species don't have, or can do without, a brain, we shouldn't be
surprised when things that are done in the neo-cortex are also done by the
antecedent computational substrate.

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jrapdx3
I'm thinking about the findings in skin neurons from a slightly different
angle, well maybe two angles.

For one, study of brain increasingly points to widely distributed circuitry as
the way functionality is implemented. But the brain doesn't exist isolated
from the rest of the body, on the contrary, endocrine, immune, gut systems are
highly interconnected with brain circuits.

IOW it's plausible neural circuits throughout the body are part of the brain's
distributed circuitry, and contribute to functions we identify as "brain
functions". The idea of "brain" as synonymous with "brain function" may be a
great oversimplification.

The second idea might support a concept of body-wide distribution of
information processing circuits. In embryogenesis, brain and skin both stem
from the outer layer or ectoderm of early embryonic development.

We can speculate this common origin means neurons in the skin, and throughout
the nervous system, are endowed with computational capability and continue to
participate in non-local computations. This idea implies neurons winding up at
locations far from the brain could still be included in the distributed
network.

It will be interesting to find out where the research on neurons in fingers
takes us. It might turn out to be a wild ride.

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xg15
We do know that amputations and organ transplantations are possible without
causing brain damage, though. So this can only be true to an extend - or at
least the body has the ability to tolerate loss of information.

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ajcarpy2005
Could this she new light on Parkinson's and/or possibly other diseases that
make movement or give motor control less well-adjusted?

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jrapdx3
Hmm. I don't think so, but anything's possible.

The problem in Parkinson's is degeneration of midbrain dopamine neurons which
project to other brain regions that regulate and coordinate body movements.
It's hard to imagine what connection would exist between neurons in the skin
and the dopamine neurons in the brain.

That's not to say the skin's neurons aren't amazing in their own right. Very
interesting research indeed.

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RevRal
Reminds me of the skimmers in Blindsight by Peter Watts.

Available here:
[http://rifters.com/real/Blindsight.htm](http://rifters.com/real/Blindsight.htm)
for anyone interested in a great sci-fi read.

~~~
hellbanner
The author is a marine biologist, which makes their take on sci-fi rather
sciency (good thing).

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auvrw
this makes perfect sense after reading some molecular biology lately: bacteria
are constantly trying to attach and detach from our skin, and that,
apparently, involves a constant struggle between electrostatics and biological
structures...

... my issue is whether or not that ought to be called "calculation" or
"computation." sure it's an /interpretation/ of the natural process, but not
necessarily equivalent. I realize that's not what this article is saying, but
i wonder if we're getting too bogged down in algorithms with some of these
things.

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keville
Nice, so our nervous system uses a CDN? Not much of a surprise given latency
concerns at the edges of the network.

