Speaker: Roger Redondo.  Chair: Jack Gold

A fine talk from Neuroscientist Roger Redondo, HSS Edinburgh Group  Committee Member, and ex-President of Edinburgh University Humanist Association. Roger's talk was aided by OHP, laptop presentation including video and various other imaginative aids. I estimate around 90 people turned up, a large gathering by any standards.

Roger kicked off by asking us to memorise different objects hidden around the hall under cups to later test our capacity to remember.  I had the impression he was a little surprised that most folks DID remember where the toy pineapple and other items were to be found, and not just the £20 note.

If we ever had any doubts about the complexity of the human brain they were soon dispelled. Roger clearly explained what goes on inside the brain, how and why the brain functions, what makes us human and how it can all so easily break down.

Comparisons were made with other creatures, whose brains are simple compared to our own but are absolutely right for the correct functioning of those creatures in their particular environment  - fewer brain cells for such creatures would prevent proper functioning; too many more brain cells would be too 'expensive' a strategy.

Audience volunteers were connected to each other by coloured ropes, from wrist to wrist, that were then selectively disconnected to demonstrate the cooperative and cumulative learning process of brain cells, a process that results in progressively successful human behaviour.  This was a great demo and a lot of fun.

Two kinds of brain cells deserved special attention from Roger. 'Place-cells' help creatures know where they are and how to navigate successfully. A firework display of sparking neurons happens every step we take (at least on simulations!), some neurons apparently  'recognising' particular locations and working collectively with other cells to navigate spaces or avoid obstructions.  Successful Place-cells are rewarded; unemployed or navigationally challenged cells drop away.  'Mirror cells' appear to help us empathise with other humans as, through our senses, we recognise body language, facial expression, moods etc.  This may even be the keystone of consciousness according to Roger.  Anyone familiar with David Chalmers' 'Hard Problem' that differentiates human self-knowledge, subjectivity, self-consciousness from HOW the mind and body works, could be forgiven for considering Mirror cells a possible solution.  After all mirror cells apparently help us empathise with others, therefore why not the mother of all empathies Roger asks - with the person we spend most time with - ourselves? Could this not explain consciousness?  If, that is, the same system is in operation?

Roger demonstrates video footage of robots benefiting from what we know about brain cells - robots that learn a kind of spatial awareness, and a kind of self or bodily awareness that apparently aids its navigation - or at least it is meant to - their attempts to walk or crawl seemed quite haphazard.  Roger hints that the more complex such robots become the more species-like they will become.  Perhaps they could even pose a threat, he ponders, were they able to reproduce (manufacture other versions of themselves) I wonder.

My comments, to finalise (if I may)

Sorry Roger, I disagree about the robots thing.  Complexity of transistors may simulate human complexity but inside that robot machine it is DARK.  Compared to our subjective minds, lit with creativity and qualitative perception, these machines will always be artefacts made by humans to mimic humans, but they will never be human - or even a parallel 'species'.  

Put more simply, I love the smell of a rose and so do most people. We know what each other means when we describe the smell of a rose to each other.  But words fail the actual sensation we each get as individuals - the real joy is somehow special to us like the smell of coffee, a great piece of music or a lovely sunset.   My point, finally (!) is this; Roger, you can build a robot to appear to appreciate those subjective sensations, the ones that make us human, and that will be a marvellous achievement - but a robot will never smell a rose or appreciate music as we do - it will always be a zombie and always be dark inside.

(Feel free to disagree!)

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