Whereas there are specific “association area” in brain which are known to be connected to various body parts for sensing or for bringing about contraction of specific muscles; if one looks at the route taken by nerves …. it is nothing short of a wonder, as to how nerves know where to go and connect and how they find their route through spinal cord and interspaces of vertebral column?
The routes are simply too complex and the connections are too consistent to happen just by chance OR by seeking a chemical gradient field… it is clearly a faithful execution of a documented design; question is where and how this blueprint is stored and how does it get implemented?
How would engineers do it?
- They would have a circuit diagram showing connectivity of each Input and Output
- There would be a cable routing diagram specifying the physical routing
- There would be assignment of Input / Output addresses defining what is what for the logics realized through Software
- The program of control logics would check input conditions and update outputs dynamically in a loop
- There could be “closed loop control” algorithms where feedback based control dynamically maintains physiological parameters based on set “sensitivity” and “responsiveness” values, in order to attain “instantaneous commanded value”
How it happens in human body?
- Human life starts with fusion of two cells … they multiply fast and form a hollow ball
- The hollow ball grows a diaphragm inside, which thickens and forms a three layer embryonic sandwich … top layer is ectoderm ( external skin sheath) bottom layer is endoderm ( all inner linings ) and the middle layer is mesoderm which eventually forms muscles, bones, blood, organs and nerves etc.
- Middle layer then develops an evenly spread neural plate on top … and it separates, the two sides fold, and becomes a tubular roll within endoderm and ectoderm.
- Then as bony segmentation cage starts appearing around the roll marking the beginning of restrictive vertebral column around; there is massive migration of neurons towards the head.
- Eventually, most neurons migrate into brain with lot of churning, where neurons coming from bottom side of body go at the top of brain and vice versa.
- Similarly neurons coming from left side of the body migrate laterally towards right in the brain and vice versa.
- This “growth dynamics” of neurons present fleeting opportunity to neurons to make adhesive connection with their “one time neighbour” muscles and with other neurons that happen to rub them in the process while they are in adhesive phase.
- Since neurons have flexible shape … the connecting processes stretch and extend into slender axons and dendrites.
The Contrast:
- The Input-Output assignment gets decided by the predisposition and growth dynamics effected migration of neurons, it is not directly coded anywhere.
- The control logics and functionality come later … these get learnt (before or after birth) based on Input – Output they interface.
- The sensitivity and responsiveness is also learnt and refined iteratively afterwards through lower level of intelligence
- The controlling commands eventually start coming from higher level intelligence
End result:
- Brain has well defined association areas linked to various body parts, internal organs and functions … that maps the entire body into brain.
- Just as it happens in brain; it also happens at palm at soles and at earlobes …where also the whole body gets mapped through neural connectivity.
- This forms the basis of therapeutic corrections through acupuncture and homeopathy.
- Acupressure works similarly, but through altering blood flow through blood vessel. Blood vessel network are formed similarly through growth dynamics and relative crafting of adjacent tissues.
Most certainly there is a design blue print embedded somewhere in the genetic code BUT it is meant to operate “progressively” and “incrementally” over then existing structures. It is less of a documented design for the final product; and more of a multistage sequential recipe that assumes a valid starting and end condition for each stage. That inherently brings in mistake proofing and robustness …as anything actuating wrongly or out of turn will simply not be supported by the existing conditions and structures.
AVINASH KHARE