Whitman Was Not a Neuroscientist

Do I contradict myself?Very well then I contradict myself,(I am large, I contain multitudes.)-Walt Whitman, "Song of Myself" (from Leaves of Grass)Science is the search for objective truth based on physical laws of the universe. Scientific theories try to explain the consistent and predictable behavior of natural systems. They are generally reductionist, meaning that complex systems are reduced to simpler and more fundamental elements. The principles of physics, for instance, are expressed in the form of beautiful equations that are the envy of the softer sciences.xkcd: PurityThe enterprise of explaining how human brains produce complex thought (or how any nervous system produces observable behavior, for that matter) is notably lacking in the realm of grand unifying theories, a topic of discussion recently in the New York Times: “What would a good theory of the brain actually look like?”But the “search for a general ‘bridging theory’ may be a fruitless one” – like Awaiting a theory of neural weather. The “bridge, some way of connecting two separate scientific languages — those of neuroscience and psychology” may not exist.I'm not sure why the question, “What would a good theory of the brain actually look like?” was even posed in the first place (or posed in that fashion, like a single theory should be expected to explain “the brain”). Adam Calhoun asked what I think is a more productive question:  Are these the equations of the brain?English t...
Source: The Neurocritic - Category: Psychiatrists and Psychologists Authors: Source Type: blogs