Connections

(This piece is about all the pathways in the brain forming connections that mean something.)

The above image pictures the brain as a whole but with the main point being numerous connections that are made inside. A new model is being developed now that extends the internet model. The internet model doesn’t explain why the brain makes decisions, or decides on what is set in memory. It also does not explain how connections result in some kind of action. One model, put forward by Michio Kaku, is that of a “large corporation”. In this analogy, there is a huge bureaucracy with lines of authority. Vast flows of information are channeled between different offices. But the important information eventually winds up at the command center, where the final decisions are made.

 In the case of the brain this means all this information (neuron networks and pathways) is carried in networks in the brain.  That information is sent back and forth between spots in the cortex and running through the hippocampus and frontal cortex as the command centers.  (We will talk about these in the next piece.) This model assumes the brain to be constantly assessing and reassessing different lines of thought through different networks. It envisions conflicting information, sifting through that information, conflict in the brain and some kind of resultant decisions based on this conflict.

This model circles back to the idea that we have a yin and a yang to our brain make up. It means that we have the capability of dual personality traits coming from our brain. We can be both good and bad.    

Brain facts:

• What you focus your attention on rewires the brain from a structural and functional perspective.

• Neurogenesis is the ability of the brain to regenerate and replenish brain neurons. That means you are constantly creating new brain cells. Everyday a new brain develops in some way.

• The brain is also constantly letting brain cells die. The brain actually allows some brain cells and networks to die.

• So your brain can move forward or the brain can move backwards. It has been proven that people with more complex jobs can have bigger hippocampus sections of their brain.

So What:

Perhaps we can explain Putin this way. Putin in his past was a ruthless KBG agent. All the networks of his brain were dedicated to this aggressive approach. Overtime he was exposed to more subtle ways. So the conflict within his neuron make up resulted in a more diplomatic individual. As time has further worn on, different brain cells began to die. The ones who did not were the ones that were more ingrained (the KGB). So to some this is a new Putin. To others it’s the same old guy. Both are probably right. Maybe as the saying goes he is “set in the old ways”. ( More accurately, reacting to old neurological ways.) He probably has no idea that his neurological make up has changed again!