The Brain from 25,000 Feet

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-xxv

   PDF

2. Scaling in Nervous Networks

   • Mark A. Changizi

   Pages 1-73

3. Inevitability of Illusions

   • Mark A. Changizi

   Pages 75-150

4. Induction and Innateness

   • Mark A. Changizi

   Pages 151-237

5. Consequences of a Finite Brain

   • Mark A. Changizi

   Pages 239-293

6. Back Matter

   Pages 295-330

   PDF

In The Brain from 25,000 Feet, Mark A. Changizi defends a non-reductionist philosophy and applies it to a variety of problems in the brain sciences. Some of the key questions answered are as follows. Why do we see visual illusions, and why are illusions inevitable for any finite-speed vision machine? Why aren't brains universal learning machines, and what does the riddle of induction and its solution have to do with human learning and innateness? The author tackles such questions as why the brain is folded, and why animals have as many limbs as they do, explaining how these relate to principles of network optimality. He describes how most natural language words are vague and then goes on to explain the connection to the ultimate computational limits on machines. There is also a fascinating discussion of how animals accommodate greater behavioral complexity. This book is a must-read for researchers interested in taking a high-level, non-mechanistic approach to answering age-old fundamental questions in the brain sciences.

• behavior
• complexity
• cortex
• learning
• natural language
• perception
• philosophy

"This is a very rich and exceedingly well-written book. I learned a lot."
(Dan Ryder, University of Connecticut, U.S.A., Synthese 141:2)

• Sloan-Swartz Center for Theoretical Neurobiology, Caltech, Pasadena, USA

  Mark A. Changizi

Policies and ethics