According to our best models, spikes coming in irregularly would be made into an output of regular, well-behaved, evenly spaced spikes. But this creates a paradox: if neurons make regular-spaced spikes, where then do the random, irregularly spaced spikes of cortex come from in the first place? Theorists love paradoxes. Paradoxes in science show us where there is a gap in our understanding, and hold out the promise that solving the paradox will create a new view of how the world works. Fittingly, the irregular-spike paradox invoked a pile-on of theorists, and a raft of proposals for what could
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