God's Tiny Reflection: Neural-GPS

Let us return to the concept of God. It is my theory that the microtubule-structure is a map of the brain (the whole) in relation to the individual (the neuron). Imagine the brain from the point of view of the cell. This view would not be a detailed topography-map like the old folded road-maps of yesteryear. It would look more like the contemporary word-maps where those with the most weight appear larger and more prominent, while others with little significance are small and off to the side.

In effect, the structure of the microtubules comprises the cell's personal Bible. It's their frame of reference, their point of view, their manual of operation. The unique pattern of the microtubules are the cell's perception of reality, a kind of brain within the brain. Consider neural-plasticity. After injury, the brain has the ability to rewire itself. Uninjured parts take over for the injured. The dynamic nature of the microtubules account for this capacity to draw a new map, a new reality, and to begin to function in a new way.

Like the neurons of the brain, we are the individual parts of a larger organism called humanity. We must all choose our perception the way neurons construct their microtubules. Do we choose the rhetoric and ideas of others or do we choose the authentic reality of our individual lives? When we pollute our minds with lofty platitudes and fortified positions, we are like the diseased cell, harden with plaque, stricken with dementia, and unsure of its pattern. But the more clearly we see our position and function in the larger body of human potential the more we are like that nimble neuron, capable of filling in for a fallen soldier.

Whether God exists or not, meaning does. How we relate to the world is our personal orthodoxy, our individualized religion. When we confidently fire our sound into the complex web of history, we shift reality towards the wisdom of integrity. It may not seem like it but the future is counting on you, being you, just as you count on each neuron being its wonderful, unique, individual self. And like that healthy neuron, we must all be ready to redraw our map and redefine our reality as we sense the changing social-weather and readjust our position in this human network. After all, humanity is the living brain of this planet.  

God's Tiny Reflection: Quantum Bias

Computer scientists use the model of unidirectional brain activity to create computational strategies based on the simple interpretation of how a cell decides whether or not to fire its axon. The algorithm uses multiple, analog, biased inputs to determine a single, digital, monotone output. Each input is assigned a bias or importance that changes throughout time as experience refines its overall impact. This happens through the recursive pruning and expansion of a dynamic decision-tree's limbs. It is a fractal growth that bends towards the increasing value of its output. A few important or highly biased dendrites can fire the axon while it takes many more with a lower bias to coax emission -- the quantum event.

How the biological cell determines the bias and firing patterns associated with its individual network is a mystery. There are about a hundred-billion neurons and a hundred-trillion connections (more than the stars in our galaxy). With this much complexity, how is a brain anything but a big box of noise? Why would a single neuron decide to fire? How does a sole voice count in a cacophony of others? It seems so random but functions much like a democratic poll; the brain signals the body to act when relative networks exhibit the required activity, in other words, reach the tipping-point; the little guys dance with enough enthusiasm to raise the roof. Unlike a democracy, not every vote is counted the same. Like a kleptocracy, an important few can make all the difference. Stars often steal the show, blowing that roof right off the walls.

However a cell determines whether it will fire or not happens inside the cell where a dense mesh of microtubules holds the architecture of the cell together. For some time, this was the sole function assigned to the stuff. Now we know it plays a role in the firing of the axon. This substance is like the bones of a body except there are many more microtubules in a cell than bones in a body. This essential component of the system is linked with neurodegenerative diseases. How these fibers are aligned and what parts are stable and dynamic are the subject of intense study. But what do they mean?