Sunspots 409

Things I have recently spotted that may be of interest to someone else:

Health: An article on healthy snacking, and which says that snacking helps you lose weight, in AZSCentral.

Science: Fire ants can sting. I knew that, from experience. But NPR reports that there are people who are allergic to the bites, which can be life-threatening. There's also a link to a news report that a South Carolina high school football game was postponed because there were too many fire ant nests on the field. (See here for my own photo of a fire ant nest.)

NPR also reports on a very scary "superbug," a bacterial type that is resistant to almost everything, and can pass that resistance on to other types of bacteria.

Scientists have been able to get human glial cells (see Wikipedia article on those) to grow in mouse brains, according to a report by NPR. These mice acted normally, as far as could be determined, but were able to learn much more quickly.

NPR also reports that bees like caffeine, and that it helps their memory.

Image source (public domain)

Artificial Intelligence and the Soul

An article by Russell Bjork, in Perspectives on Science and Christian Faith, is now available freely on-line. Bjork's title is "Artificial Intelligence and the Soul," and the article has some interesting things to say, backed up with appropriate references.

The author deals with the definition of artificial intelligence, which is a rather nebulous concept.

Bjork says that Genesis 2:7 is not necessarily speaking of separate creations of a human body and a human soul, and, in fact, is most likely not doing so. He gives good Biblical evidence for this.

He then deals with three questions.

First, ". . . there would not seem to be—in principle—a theological reason why personhood could not emerge . . . from the operation of a sufficiently complex technological artifact." (p. 98 -- there are 8 pages in the article, but I am giving the page from the original journal.)

Bjork claims that, should androids or robots with artificial intelligence (whatever that is) roughly equal to that of humans come to exist, this would not challenge any important Biblical doctrine.

And, in summary, he states: "There is no inherent theological conflict between a biblical view of personhood and work in artificial intelligence, nor would successes in this field undermine human value or the doctrine of the image of God." (p. 101) He does not believe that production of an artifact with near-human intelligence is likely in the near future, and is not sure that such a man-made thing will ever exist. But he is not sure that it can't, either.

So far, theoretical, but important questions. Read Bjork for more information on these matters.

A man supposedly in a vegetative state can communicate.

CNN reports that a man who had been diagnosed as being in a vegetative state is actually aware of the outside world. He responded to questions, as indicated by brain waves.

Most persons who have been diagnosed as being in a persistent vegetative state do not show this indication of awareness.

Did Adam have a belly button?

The answer, of course, is that we don't know.

I just read a photo (on Facebook) of what appears to be a pamphlet or magazine article, claiming that Adam and Eve didn't have navels, because they didn't go through embryonic development. (The navel, or belly button, of course, is where the umbilical cord is attached.) Perhaps they didn't. On the other hand, perhaps they did.

Even if Adam and Eve were created as mature adults, they might have had navels. Presumably, they began life as able to converse in whatever language they used. (NOT English, I think!) If they began life as mature adults, with language skills, they must have had all the neural connections necessary for these skills, even though they didn't experience the language learning through which the rest of us set up those connections, which enable us to speak and understand language. So, just as their brains were created as if they had gone through normal development, their abdomens might have also been created in that way, with navels. (Innies? outies?)

See here for Wikipedia article on neuroplasticity. The notion that neural connections are formed, or altered, by learning, is, as I understand it, firmly believed by almost all neuroscientists, but is not backed up by a tremendous amount of experimental evidence. Experimental work of this type is very difficult to do, as it would mean working, on a biochemical and/or microscopic level, in a living brain, and it wouldn't be ethical to do such research in humans at all. Here's a report on some actual experimental evidence for the idea. It is hard to imagine that learning would take place without altering the physical and chemical structure of the brain.

Thanks for reading. Check your navel.

Musicophilia, by Oliver Sacks

I recently read Musicophilia: Tales of Music and the Brain, by Oliver Sacks (New York: Knopf, 2007) The book is filled with fascinating true tales about some of the patients Sacks has dealt with over the years of his career. He also mentions some historical cases, and cases worked with by other medical personnel.

Sacks gives example after example, showing that music is an important part of human behavior, that changes to the brain may release or inhibit musical skills or love for music, and that musical ability, in some forms of brain deterioration, lasts after many other skills are no longer present.

Sacks, a physician, obviously loves classical music. That shouldn't make the book any less fascinating to readers.

I previously posted on a particular aspect of the book, namely the question of religious experiences and the brain.

I'm glad I read it.

Here's a quotation:
One does not need to have any formal knowledge of music -- nor, indeed, to be particularly "musical" -- to enjoy music and to respond to it at the deepest levels. Music is part of being human, and there is no human culture in which it is not highly developed and esteemed. Its very ubiquity may cause it to be trivialized in daily life; we switch on a radio, switch it off, hum a tune, tap our feet, find the words of an old song going through our minds, and think nothing of it. But to those who are born in dementia, the situation is different. Music is no luxury to them, but a necessity, and can have power beyond anything else to restore them to themselves, and to others, at least for a while. Oliver Sacks, Musicophilia: Tales of Music and the Brain. New York: Knopf, 2007, p. 347.

Sunspots 201

Things I have recently spotted that may be of interest to someone else:

Science:
Wired reports that men and women perceive beauty differently (the researchers did not use images of people in their experiments).

Slate tells us that chimpanzees aren't that much stronger than humans , contrary to what you may have heard.

Wired reports that scientists are "Rewiring the Brain" (of mice, so far, but the report also discusses how it is possible to influence your brain from outside your head without surgery). Part 1 is here, and Part 2 is here . Says one of the scientists: "Not only do we not have a model for how our brains do complex tasks, we can't even imagine one." Refreshing humility!

Sports:
(Or maybe Christianity) In Sports Illustrated, an article about Tanner Smith, freshman Clemson men's basketball player, who dreamed of starting a charity "to make kids with cancer laugh," at age 9, and, with the help of his parents (his dad has had cancer, or some bad results from having it, for 15 years) have made it a reality.

Computing:
Turn yourself into a Superhero.

Music:
Happy birthday, Vivaldi!

Christianity:
Henry starts out by giving advice on what to do if you have trouble with the music at your church, and, somehow, ends up with the relationship between the Christian life and sexual activity. Really.

Image source (public domain)