What We Cannot Know: Explorations at the Edge of Knowledge

by Marcus du Sautoy

Tononi and colleagues have run interesting computer simulations on ‘brains’ consisting of eight neurons connected in different ways to see which network has the greatest Φ. The results indicate that you want each neuron to have a connection pattern with the rest of the network that is different from that of the other neurons. But at the same time, you want as much information to be able to be shared across the network. So if you consider any division of the network into two separate halves, you want the two halves to be able to communicate with each other. It’s an interesting balancing act between overconnecting and cutting down differentiation across the different neurons versus creating difference at the expense of keeping everyone talking.

greater connection Tononi