The following essays serve as informal white papers. Their purpose is to enable a more complete understanding of the mind/brain model developed by Mind Brain Insights, LLC. This includes the ability to map any mental state or process, or combination thereof, to the brain. These essays therefore very useful to anyone considering collaborating, or working on a project, with Mind Brain Insights, LLC.
A secondary purpose is to shine light on some of the brain myths we argue are a huge (yet unrecognized) roadblock standing in the way of applied neuroscience and brain science. These myths obscure an accurate understanding of how brains actually work. To be clear these are no one’s fault. They’re the inevitable result of a lack of a theoretical framework i.e. a brain theory. Understanding consciousness and the mind, and its brain connection (the mind brain problem) is in its infancy. The result are widespread assumptions (both explicit and implicit) which I argue are misguided. Illuminating these paves the way for an alternative view of the system to emerge.
The good news is applied neuroscience (neurotech, medtech, BCI, CNS medicine, AGI…) has tremendous potential. Brain science currently possesses a vast amount of knowledge, skills and expertise that is very useful. Cognitive neuroscience for example is critical to functional neuroimaging and signal decoding. What if these current abilities were combined with a correct cognitive ontology (parts list of the mind), mind model (their activity through space and time), and ability to connect this to the brain? This is a third theme of these essays.
The mental states and processes of people, and their neural manifestation, is a fascinating topic; especially when explored realistically and in all its rich subjectivity. Brain science has so far only dealt with the tip of the iceberg. In reality all we perceive, recognize, identify, feel, think, imagine, plan, believe, know, intend, attend to — any aspect of human experience and knowledge — is encompassed by the mind. And incredibly, this is all enabled by the human brain.