2e:null 2f:["$","title",null,{"children":"What is a ? | Mario Delgado | Observable"}] 34:T58b,Ascribing neural network processing patterns to all mental phenomena is the basis of the study of [neural correlates](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neural_correlate). An example is [identifying emotions based on brain activity](https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/06/130619195137.htm). As a psychological dynamic, all queries have a neural correlate. The neural network's primary component is the [neuron](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neuron). It operates under a [stimulus threshold dynamic](http://www.pnas.org/content/105/9/3599.full); '[firing](http://psychology.about.com/od/aindex/g/actionpot.htm)' in response to stimuli that meet its firing threshold; a [non-linear dynamic](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nonlinear_system). The notebook [***Leaky integrate-and-fire (LIF) neuron with balanced excitation and inhibition***](https://observablehq.com/@patrickmineault/balanced-e-i-networks) models this dynamic allowing you to visualize neuronal thresholds of [excitatory](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Excitatory_postsynaptic_potential) and [inhibitory](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inhibitory_postsynaptic_potential) inputs:35:[] 32:{"id":"38064c734bf0f6c7","slug":"what-is-a","title":"What is a ?","thumbnail":"d33d26a6ee000d8c6a03ed94f49a44f814a71ef4a10030bf1a3235f5efd61077","access_level":"public","create_time":"$D2022-09-12T13:16:06.259Z","update_time":"$D2024-11-10T18:46:55.307Z","view_time":null,"first_public_time":"$D2022-09-12T14:38:58.706Z","has_unpublished_edits":null,"fork":false,"stars":0,"starred":false,"owner":{"type":"team","id":"f57b9f8a19d28778","login":"mariodelgadosr","name":"Mario Delgado ","avatar_url":"https://avatars-next.observableusercontent.com/2d2982ad09c4ca9dfd6570810ae00301e0db6ef798c4f7025ea03d4325d4807d","tier":"starter_2024"},"version":358,"publish_version":null,"role":null,"authored":false,"authors":[{"type":"individual","id":"1d3988d482a8ec0f","login":"mariodelgadosr","name":"Mario Delgado ","avatar_url":"https://avatars-next.observableusercontent.com/2d2982ad09c4ca9dfd6570810ae00301e0db6ef798c4f7025ea03d4325d4807d","tier":null}],"members":[{"type":"individual","id":"1d3988d482a8ec0f","login":"mariodelgadosr","name":"Mario Delgado ","avatar_url":"https://avatars-next.observableusercontent.com/2d2982ad09c4ca9dfd6570810ae00301e0db6ef798c4f7025ea03d4325d4807d","tier":null,"role":"editor"}],"comments":[],"custom_thumbnail":true,"trashed":false,"lapsed":null,"subscribed":null,"forks":0,"collection":{"id":"c5c41da19cb3dc14","slug":"musings","title":"Musings","owner":{"id":"f57b9f8a19d28778","login":"mariodelgadosr","name":"Mario Delgado "}},"type":"notebook","body":{"title":"What is a ?","cells":[{"id":0,"value":"# What is a ?","pinned":false,"hidden":false,"mode":"md","author":"$undefined","summary":"$undefined","output":"","database":"$undefined"},{"id":84,"value":"theoriaPoem = md` # [Theoria](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theory#Ancient_usage)\n\nA wild and cunning seahorse,${question}, named Query \nOf neural nets she was quite leery\n\nI coaxed her out of the Depths of Eerie \nInto the shoals of the Bay of Theory\n\nShe put up a fuss that left her bleary \nTo say nothing of the netter; very weary\n\nNo longer dreary, but oh so cheery, \nQuery is now my little deary`","pinned":false,"hidden":false,"mode":"ojs","author":"$undefined","summary":"$undefined","output":"$undefined","database":"$undefined"},{"id":6,"value":"[Duality](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duality) is a universal dynamic. High School physics students are often first introduced to one of the more prominent forms of duality when studying the [wave-particle](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wave%E2%80%93particle_duality) phenomenon:","pinned":false,"hidden":false,"mode":"md","author":"$undefined","summary":"$undefined","output":"","database":"$undefined"},{"id":94,"value":"","pinned":false,"hidden":false,"mode":"md","author":"$undefined","summary":"$undefined","output":"","database":"$undefined"},{"id":8,"value":"'***What is a ?***' taps into that dynamic by asserting that the interrogative pronoun '[What](https://www.thesaurus.com/e/grammar/interrogative-pronouns/)' is a '[query](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Question_mark)' and [recursively](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Recursive) posits a '[question](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Question)'.","pinned":false,"hidden":false,"mode":"md","author":"$undefined","summary":"$undefined","output":"","database":"$undefined"},{"id":17,"value":"[Having established that the Universe is thinking](https://observablehq.com/@mariodelgadosr/perspective-extra-the-thoughtful-universe), it's worth exploring the nature of a 'query' itself.","pinned":false,"hidden":false,"mode":"md","author":"$undefined","summary":"$undefined","output":"","database":"$undefined"},{"id":19,"value":"$34","pinned":false,"hidden":false,"mode":"md","author":"$undefined","summary":"$undefined","output":"","database":"$undefined"},{"id":202,"value":"eiChart","pinned":false,"hidden":false,"mode":"ojs","author":"$undefined","summary":"$undefined","output":"$undefined","database":"$undefined"},{"id":186,"value":"viewof alpha = Inputs.range([0, 1], {\n value: 0.5,\n step: 0.1,\n label: \"Alpha Scaling\"\n})","pinned":false,"hidden":false,"mode":"ojs","author":"$undefined","summary":"$undefined","output":"$undefined","database":"$undefined"},{"id":188,"value":"viewof beta = Inputs.range([0, 0.2], {\n value: 0.1,\n step: 0.01,\n label: \"Beta Decay\"\n})","pinned":false,"hidden":false,"mode":"ojs","author":"$undefined","summary":"$undefined","output":"$undefined","database":"$undefined"},{"id":192,"value":"viewof excRate = Inputs.range([0, 20], {\n value: 12,\n step: 0.1,\n label: \"Excitation Rate\"\n})","pinned":false,"hidden":false,"mode":"ojs","author":"$undefined","summary":"$undefined","output":"$undefined","database":"$undefined"},{"id":195,"value":"viewof inhRate = Inputs.range([0.1, 20], {\n value: 12,\n step: 0.1,\n label: \"Inhibition Rate\"\n})","pinned":false,"hidden":false,"mode":"ojs","author":"$undefined","summary":"$undefined","output":"$undefined","database":"$undefined"},{"id":25,"value":"The firing of several networked neurons, primed/stimulated with a query, is analogous to a [mechanical calculator](https://youtu.be/nmwSmwNF9XY) that has been programmed and is then cranked with a threshold rotational force to perform its calculation.\n\n","pinned":false,"hidden":false,"mode":"md","author":"$undefined","summary":"$undefined","output":"","database":"$undefined"},{"id":29,"value":"The firing of the network of neurons ***may-or-may-not*** result in the neural network state of query resolution; like when a mechanical calculator is instructed to divide by zero:\n\n","pinned":false,"hidden":false,"mode":"md","author":"$undefined","summary":"$undefined","output":"","database":"$undefined"},{"id":31,"value":"Resolution and non-resolution states may in turn recursively re-initiate the query resolution. A form of this dynamic was perfected by [Socrates](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Socratic_method). \n\nWhich leads to the question: How is a question distinguished from an answer? \n\nMathematics and Duality provide the proper 'perspective'. Mathematics informs us that ${tex`0`} (zero) is the 'answer' to an infinite number of math [operations](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_(mathematics):\n* ${tex`1 - 1 = 0`}\n* ${tex`1 * 0 = 0`} \n* [${tex`e^{i \\pi} + 1 = 0`}](http://mathworld.wolfram.com/EulerFormula.html)...\n\nMathematically stated:\n\n${tex`0 = 1 - 1 = 1 * 0 = e^{i \\pi} + 1`}...\n\nLike the [wave-particle](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wave%E2%80%93particle_duality) phenomena, both sides of the equation are...equal.","pinned":false,"hidden":false,"mode":"md","author":"$undefined","summary":"$undefined","output":"","database":"$undefined"},{"id":57,"value":"Parenthetically, ${tex`0`} (nothing) is theorized by some cosmologist to be the origin of the 'something' we experience:\n\n>...What produced the energy [of the Universe] before inflation? This is perhaps the ***ultimate question***. As crazy as it might seem, the energy may have come out of nothing! The meaning of \"nothing\" is somewhat ambiguous here. It might be the vacuum in some pre-existing space and time, or it could be nothing at all – that is, all concepts of space and time were created with the universe itself.... \n> -- [***The Cosmos: Astronomy in the New Millennium***](https://www.cambridge.org/us/academic/subjects/physics/astronomy-general/cosmos-astronomy-new-millennium-5th-edition?format=PB&isbn=9781108431385)","pinned":false,"hidden":false,"mode":"md","author":"$undefined","summary":"$undefined","output":"","database":"$undefined"},{"id":63,"value":"A neural correlate can be BOTH a 'question' and an 'answer'; think of a [rhetorical question](https://www.thoughtco.com/rhetorical-question-grammar-1692060) as one example. \n\n'Perspective' is required when pondering\n * waves-particles;\n * questions-answers;\n * nothing-something.\n \nAnd the perspective pondering, in-and-of-itself, has a neural correlate.","pinned":false,"hidden":false,"mode":"md","author":"$undefined","summary":"$undefined","output":"","database":"$undefined"},{"id":70,"value":"Neurons are not the only entities in the Universe that operate with a stimulus threshold-response dynamic. \n\nIn his book [*Programming the Universe*](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Programming_the_Universe), Massachusetts Institute of Technology researcher [Seth Loyd](https://www.bing.com/ck/a?!&&p=f0c86dcc705ebb17JmltdHM9MTY2Mjk0MDgwMCZpZ3VpZD0zYTUwMjBkMC1iMmM3LTYwNzYtMTcyOS0zMWFlYjM3OTYxYzgmaW5zaWQ9NTE5Mw&ptn=3&hsh=3&fclid=3a5020d0-b2c7-6076-1729-31aeb37961c8&u=a1aHR0cHM6Ly9lbi53aWtpcGVkaWEub3JnL3dpa2kvU2V0aF9MbG95ZA&ntb=1) observes the Universal Duality that every atom is involved in non-stop computation:\n>...You can think of atoms as carrying bits of information, or you can think of bits of information as carrying atoms. You can't separate the two... \n>[--Life, The Universe, and Everyting, Wired 03/01/2006](http://web.archive.org/web/20211018183206/https://www.wired.com/2006/03/life-the-universe-and-everything/) ","pinned":false,"hidden":false,"mode":"md","author":"$undefined","summary":"$undefined","output":"","database":"$undefined"},{"id":74,"value":"{\n const question2 = question.cloneNode(true);\n return md`Like the brain's neurons, atoms (and [subatomic particles](https://observablehq.com/@mariodelgadosr/perspective-extra-the-thoughtful-universe) ) are being stimulated to a threshold and recursively 'firing'...answering the Universal ${question2}.`;\n}","pinned":false,"hidden":false,"mode":"ojs","author":"$undefined","summary":"$undefined","output":"$undefined","database":"$undefined"},{"id":87,"value":"## Theoria\n\nThe poem [*Theoria* ](#theoriaPoem) at the top of this notebook is an homage to the late philosopher [Denis Dutton](http://www.ted.com/speakers/denis_dutton), who rightfully argued that [artistry is an evolutionary adaptive trait](http://www.ted.com/talks/denis_dutton_a_darwinian_theory_of_beauty):\n\n

","pinned":false,"hidden":false,"mode":"md","author":"$undefined","summary":"$undefined","output":"","database":"$undefined"},{"id":92,"value":"## Related\n* [Is it Possible to Think Without Language?](https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/50684/it-possible-think-without-language)","pinned":false,"hidden":false,"mode":"md","author":"$undefined","summary":"$undefined","output":"","database":"$undefined"},{"id":76,"value":"import { animation as question } from \"@mariodelgadosr/flubberize-question-mark-to-seahorse\"","pinned":false,"hidden":false,"mode":"ojs","author":"$undefined","summary":"$undefined","output":"$undefined","database":"$undefined"},{"id":129,"value":"import { importCell } from \"@mbostock/dataflow\"","pinned":false,"hidden":false,"mode":"ojs","author":"$undefined","summary":"$undefined","output":"$undefined","database":"$undefined"},{"id":147,"value":"import { eiChart, set } with {\n alpha as alpha,\n beta as beta,\n excRate as excRate,\n inhRate as inhRate\n} from \"@patrickmineault/balanced-e-i-networks\"","pinned":false,"hidden":false,"mode":"ojs","author":"$undefined","summary":"$undefined","output":"$undefined","database":"$undefined"}],"files":"$W35","stdlib":"1","titling":"auto"}} 33:"$32:body"