You are a network

Introduction

Your entire body is a large system of multiple networks of subsystems that work together to keep you alive.

The Brain as a Neural Network

Take the brain, for example—it is the processing (compute (thinking)) center of the brain. The brain itself is a system consisting of nodes that connect to each other. These nodes are called neurons. Together they form a neural network.

You could think of the brain as one neural network, and that is technically correct. However, as you perceive different stimuli, each of these stimuli follows distinct neural pathways. These pathways are generally the same for certain types of stimuli.

Each of these pathways can also be considered separate neural networks.

The Process of Sight

Sight, for example, starts with the stimulus—photons reach your eyes (from the spot you were looking at (focusing on) (reflected from their source)), then they reach your eyes (ocular hardware).

Then your eyes do their thing (magnify and reflect light onto the retina (it reaches the retina upside down)), where the rod and cone cells do their thing (primary shape and color detection; note I did not use the word perception). The light then travels along the optic nerve (very similar to optical fiber cables but biological (organic)).

It then splits along four neural pathways: the light from the left field of vision from both eyes takes the pathway that goes to the right cerebral hemisphere, and the light from the right field of vision from both eyes takes the pathway that goes to the left cerebral hemisphere (a specific region in each respective hemisphere—these are image processing units—there are two main regions, one in the left hemisphere and one in the right, so you can say you have two image processors (these too consist of multiple neurons, forming a neural network to process the data)).

Then the vision is reconstructed and sent as a signal to the region of the brain that deals with perception and understanding. This is where you perceive all your senses (regardless of type) (processing happens elsewhere).

This process results in you being able to see.

1. Stimulus: light enters your eyes
2. Your eyes convert it into signals and send them to the brain via four neural pathways.
3. Signals from these four neural pathways reach both hemispheres.
4. Images are processed and reconstructed once sent to the perception center.
5. You perceive the images.

1-2-4-2-1

Look familiar? (Computer Science majors might find this familiar). This is fundamental to machine learning.

It’s a neural network!

Neural Network Layers

Two layers are visible and understandable—input and output. The rest are hidden layers.

The sight process can be viewed as having an equivalent neural network; however, this is not entirely correct. There are multiple different types of hardware along the way, but speaking purely from a Machine Learning perspective, this is accurate.

This network, then, consists of multiple sub-networks where other processing takes place for sub-components of sight (prerequisites for sight).

Language Processing and Distractions

Similarly, sound, as a stimulus, follows a similar process; however, this time, instead of two processors, there is only one.

Humans have only one language processor. It is one of our greatest flaws. This is why you find yourself distracted and unable to be productive, like writing a letter or studying for a test while listening to music. Your language processor is trying to process two stimuli of the same kind at once!

Oddly enough, this doesn’t seem to happen if you’re listening to music without lyrics. As long as there are no words involved, your language processor will not also try to process the lyrics of a song while working on that letter your boss asked you to finish by 4 p.m. the next day (and it’s already 3 p.m. the next day and you have only one hour until the deadline).

Your language processor is located in the left hemisphere. When you are born, you don’t have any understanding of language. This is something that becomes a part of you through learning and social conditioning.

Development of Hemispheric Dominance

This is why, in infants, the right hemisphere is dominant. It is my belief that the right hemisphere remains dominant until a certain point of development (around ages 8 to 12)—this is when children begin behaving more logically and also where logic develops exponentially—this transition eventually makes the left side of the brain the dominant side, though not immediately.

Some of us manage to “survive” this process, largely leaving our right brains dominant. Those of us that “survive” display more artistic behaviors and a passion for the arts primarily.

Neurodivergence

This is also where neurodivergence occurs. “Normal” people have a certain harmony between both their hemispheres. Neurodivergent people, however, tend to rely more on one hemisphere than the other.

Neurodivergence caused by Down’s Syndrome usually results in the right brain being more dominant, which is why people with Down’s Syndrome excel at the arts and making new friends (sometimes even without the ability to communicate properly)!

Those on the autism spectrum, however, tend to be faster learners and display greater propensities for logical thinking (left-brained).

There is also a case to be made for the dark triad, but I will not be exploring this right now.

Learning and Memory

Back to the topic of babies. When you are an infant, your right hemisphere is dominant. This, I believe, is where your subconscious resides—which is also probably what enables you to learn a language in the first place.

It’s very similar to training a large language model; however, a baby has a lot of information on how to develop that has been passed on through genetic inheritance. This is also probably what enables children to learn faster than machines.

Once you’ve learned a language significantly well, it gives way to thought structure. Once your thoughts are structured, logic takes over exponentially, leading to the development of the left hemisphere, which happens through social conditioning.

Of course, social conditioning starts before language learning, but then it paves the way for a different type of social conditioning through the use of language.

This is why you may sometimes think something but not be able to structure a thought. It may also explain why you forget things (again, one of my beliefs: I believe short-term memory is stored in the right hemisphere and long-term memory in the left because it is structured and symbolic).

This is also why you may have a dream and then be unable to remember it.

I am going to stop here; abrupt, I know, but when I finish giving form to these thoughts, I will update this post.