I, Human: Part I – The Human Machine.

Preface.

Some time ago I was part of a discussion with my favorite adversary, Jeff. This discussion entailed love, and the chemical reactions thereof. In this I was reminded one of the great Myths of Modern Culture. That we are more than what our body is. The we are higher than the function that create us.

I had planned to create my arguments and have it out in a week, but because of how extensive of an activity this became, and several personal matters, I am finally posting this two months later.

This is the first of a series of arguments known as “I, Human.” Which is appropriate in two ways. One it probably could be posted as a series of short stories, and is about the size of the Asimovian classic, and for second, well I guess you have read I, Robot, you understand. (And so help me, the person who says they’ve “seen the movie”…)

The first article in this series is the Human Machine.

The Human Machine.

There is a common consensus that we are separate from the universe around us. This belief is the core of
human art, religion, and most philosophy. The idea that who we are is separate from our physical body, that we are more than just machines and computers. This is ingrained in every part of our culture, the religious man asks, “If we are just computers, why do we seek god?” The philosopher asks, “If we are computers, than why are we aware?” The artist asks, “How is it that I create, if I am a machine?” It seems that the common theme of these arguments is that neurons can’t understand the complexity that it is to be human.

Honestly, this is a fair assessment, a neuron on its own can’t understand the thought process that it is responsible for making this article any more than an electron surging through my computer can make this word display I am typing on. However, trillions of electrons surging through billions of transistors through the processor and coprocessors of my computer combined with some software information, viola! I have a word processor. The brain works in a strikingly similar way..

It is common knowledge by now that every thought, movement, function, is correlated with a neurological response. The data for this is so consistent that we are able to read minds using this data. Yet the debate still carries on. Boiled down the argument against the machine man goes as a follows:

1. Human beings don’t operate the same way machinery does
2. That there are certain traits and actions that are unexplainable through this world view.
3. Machines cannot be aware.

These arguments sound good at face value, however as much as we want to believe differently, the evidence seems suggest otherwise.

The Workings of the Human Machine.

All things considered, we do kind of work like machines. A machine is comprised of several moving and non-moving parts, generally has either a supply of power or an active force to perform its function, and most typically has some sort of user interface for operation. More advanced machines have cooling units, audio and video receptors and measuring devices to automatically update the machine on surrounding information. And this barely scratches the surface.

Through careful study of neurosciences and physiology we find that on all classifications of a machine, human beings match up.

Transistors and Binary Codes.

Have you ever wondered what those ones and zeros actually spell out to in the programming of your computer? If you are completely technologically lamen, binary code is a base two system spelled out in 1s and 0s (Though technically any code using any two responses or characters can be considered “binary”). In the case of your programming this means that a 1 looks like this:

0000 0001

And a letter as simple as “A” translates to this:

0100 0001

What this translates to is a series of Transistors in the processor or the coprocessors of on your motherboard. Each 0 in binary means off, and each one means on. So in the terms of A above, we have six transistors that remain off and 2 transistors that remains on. Shockingly enough, this very similar to the way our brain operates.
Every thought and action starts in the brain, not unlike a computers processor. Stimuli (outward or inward) begin a beautiful process. The transceiver (sending) end of a neuron (brain cells), called an axon, sends out a plasma membrane called a presynaptic neuron. This presynaptic neuron connects with a postsynaptic neuron (receiver) end of another neuron attached to a dendrite (The opposite of an axon). This process is called synapse.

This sends a signal to one of even one of the several dendrites in the neurofiber, in which the neuron will decide whether or not it has anything to do with what the other neuron is trying to do within its cell body. It then sends a signal to the other neuron in a binary system of Yes or No signals. More Yes signals than no signals, the neuron then transfers through its cell body (which acts like a capacitor in this way) and sends the signal on. More no signals the membrane detaches and attempts another neuron for the process. This is happening anywhere from 0.9 to 89.41 meters per seconds every seconds of the day. This repeated over and over again becomes a complete thought, processes, or actions in an individual.

Like transistors, neurons are either active or inactive in any thought process, depending on which ones are active, and which ones are inactive the thought or action is different. The major difference is the causation. In computers the code comes before the activation, whereas in the brain we can only garner a code afterwards. This is because the brains only user is itself, so the system must be more experimental than planned.

Several Moving and Nonmoving Parts.

Out of all the possible arguments, this is the simplest to prove. It is generally accepted that there are several separate but dependant functions that comprise of our body. We have a heart and circulatory system to supply nourishment, water, and energy to different parts of the body, the digestive system which converts food into usable energy. The body in the end is a complex unit built for one goal, the very longevity of itself.

Fuel for the Human Machine.

Machines most generally require some sort of force for them to work. Simple machines require weight being pressed on them, manual machines require a person to actively move their various parts, electrical machines require a constant supply of electricity, and fuel powered machines need the energy garnered from fuel, thus you place weight on one side of a lever the other side goes up, you crank your jack and your car goes up, you plug in your computer and it powers on, and you put gas in your car and it is able to run.

Human beings in our power method are more like cars. We require constant carbon-based fuel in order to run our systems properly. The difference between us and cars I guess is we don’t use an explosion method in order to power us! Human beings are made of several complex chemicals, including amino acids, proteins, lipids, peptides, etc. And thus we require a fuel that is similar to those materials in order to convert them into usable energy.

The fuel I am of course referring to is food. And thus where our power supply is located is our digestive system. The digestive system works taking raw food and breaking it down and separating the processable chemicals. The usable chemicals (vitamins, proteins, acids etc.) and some of the useless or harmful chemicals (trans fatty acids, harmful bacteria) are converted in order to pass through the walls of the stomach and put through a filtering system, like the kidneys and the liver to ensure the fuel is clean before using it to power the body. This is not unlike how gasoline is made.

Our respiratory system also plays a factor in fueling our body, by absorbing oxygen, in which we require to power every cell in our body. All these fuels are taken to every part of our body via the circulatory system, powering the body, allowing it to go on to your day to day tasks.

User Friendly.

A machine is generally useless unless there is a method in which a user can operate the piece of machinery (any time this is impossible, we consider the machine broken). In more modern machines the more essential processes (such as measurement, pressure, regulations) is taken over by a computer, in which can perform the calculations without troubling the user. Human beings are no different.

Our brain is a cross between the user and the computer of the human machine. The lower parts of our brain (the “reptilian brain”) operates as a computer, performing all of the essential, yet mundane and repetitive processes, such as breathings and heartbeat (performed by the brainstem), The collection and compilation of sensory information (via the temporal and occipital lobes of the brain), and sending regulating and sending neural and hormonal informationthrough the system (via the hypothalamus and pituitary gland, respectively).

The user interface is located in the frontal and parential lobes of the brain, or the “mammalian brain”; this where our conscious judgments, reasoning, and motor functions take place. For all intents and purposes this is the region of the machine that controls the functions of the rest of the brain. It does this through a complex system of nerve fiber, which sends a complex array of positive and negative signals and feedback through a miraculous systems known as the nervous system.

Cooling Units.

Hear that humming from your computer as you are working on it? That’s not just the energy running through your mother board, nor is it little demons crawling in your computer. That is a fan that’s sole purpose in existence is to move the charged (heated) air away from the motherboard. It turns out that excess heat is pretty bad for the motherboard, and well most machinery for that matter. That is why most machinery, especially machinery that is electronic has cooling systems.

Well, our body doesn’t like heat more than any other machine. But we don’t have nifty fans, heat syncs, or air conditioning units. What we do have is a tolerance for water, and sweat. Sweat cools the body allowing it to work in harsh conditions, or continue to do strenuous work. But cooling isn’t the only thing our body does. It also protects from the cold.

When we are exposed to freezing temperatures our nerves send a signal to our brain that it is cold, this information is relayed through the thalamus to the hypothalamus of the brain. The hypothalamus then begins a process known as homeostasis. Homeostasis is the process in which the body regulates itself. In cold temperatures the body begins to shiver and increase its metabolism in order to generate heat. If this is not enough the body will begin to restrict the blood vessels in the arms and legs in order to draw more heat to the core of the body, trying to ensure the survival of the body.

Video and Audio.

You are chatting with a friend on the internet who lives hundreds of miles away, luckily you have installed on your computer a webcam and a microphone. These wondrous devices make face to face-to-face teleconferencing possible. Not only is it making the world into one giant neighborhood, but it is pushing business deals faster than ever possible. But how is it possible?
This all starts with a camcorder, which receives light through a lens, focuses it using an iris, and transmits the data in the form electric signals in order to be translated and saved to an onboard computer (or tape if you have an analog camcorder).

The microphone works by taking the vibration of a diaphragm in the receiver of the microphone, and then translated to electric signals. These electric signals in computers are stored so they can be reproduced. Certain machines not only have webcams and microphones, but facial and vocal recognition systems. These systems are based off of determining a pattern on a persons face and comparing them with previous patterns already entered into the machine.

Not only do we have this, we couldn’t imagine life without it. It turns out that the human eye, as well as sight works in the exact same way. Light transmits through the cornea, and then the inner lens of the eye. The optic nerves determine the intensity of the light and force the iris to focus or un-focus accordingly. The retina then converts the light into electric signals and sends it to your occipital lobe. Your occipital lobe translates this information into a picture that we see every conscious moments (and some unconscious ones). Without going into too much detail this information is then transferred to the parental lobe, which tells you where it is then to the frontal lobe to tell you what it is, then the temporal lobe which tells you what this means to you, as well as records the information in the hypothalamus, to be possibly later turned into long term memory.

One can point out that cameras do not perceive depth perception. Our body gets around this by the curvature of the lens, as well as having two different cameras. These the dual eye system allows for our brain to interpret the curvature and relative distance of an object or person. The other reason why a camera cannot interpret Three dimensional objects is a matter of both the projection technology on an interface you use (pictures, moniters), as well as inferior hardware and software to render this image. Luckily, the real world is a much better display than even the most advanced technology (as cool as holograms are) cannot match; it’s like living in perpetual HD.

The webcam metaphor has a second part which bears over viewing: the microphone that is installed in your computer, or the camcorder itself. This microphone works by vibrating a small metallic membrane at the resonance of your voice. This vibration is converted into electronic signals and sent to the computer (or an unfortunate karaoke machine). It turns out that our ear works in the exact same way. The only difference between my ear, and the microphone on your computer, is that I have better acoustics. This is given to us by our outer ear, which is perfectly designed to reflect vibrations into the ear canal, where it will build acoustics, and sound clearer.

Potentiometers, Accelerometers and Touch Screens.

Pick up your PS3 controller, move your left analog stick, and your character moves in relatively the same direction you moved your character sheet. How does the machine know the difference between up or down? Left or right? This is made possible by a Potentiometer. A potentiometer measures the resistance of a small piece (usually a coil) inside the switch that is having force pushed against it. Basically, as you are moving the analog stick, a small piece of metal inside is being pushed or pulled at a predictable rate. This resistance is transmitted to your PS3 and it correlates with that action.

In this way the tendon is the bodies version of the potentiometer. A tendon is a fibrous tissue that connects muscle to the bone. In the last twenty years we have found that tendons not only connect muscles to the bone, but they measure how much force is being applied to them, and when the muscle is fully extended. It sends this signal through the nervous system to the brain (the premotor cortex), which sends a signal back to the muscles (via the primary motor cortex) which tells the muscles how to react to this strain. Once again we have a measurement from extension to compression, that garners a reaction from a main computer.

Put down the controller, and pick up your iPod. Notice how, when on safari or watching a video, you can flip onto either side and the screen will turn. This is due to a device known as an accelerometer. The accelerometer is a small cylindrical device, with an even smaller cylindrical device within it, falling from one point to another; this essentially the pull of gravity, and the direction of gravity. When placed into your iPod, it turns the screen. When placed in our inner ear, it tells us where we are standing.

The Vestibular System is the system in our brain that tells our head what position it is in, and thus is able to tell the body if it is standing up, leaning side to side, or falling on our face. This function is mostly due to the stataconia and the otoliths inside of it. In lamens terms it’s a big sack with “stones” in it (it’s really just calcium). The position of these stones inside the gelatinous sack tells the brain what position the head is in, allowing it to adjust the body accordingly. It’s because of the constant vibration and shifting of the head in cars that we become carsick (it is vibrating the otoliths rapidly).

Now that we’ve had fun with the accelerometer, if you’re lucky enough to own an iPod touch, run your finger across the touch screen. Ever wondered what makes that technology possible? Basically a fine and thin mesh grid is plotted out on the top screen. This machine measures all electronic changes, a bit of light pressure, and temperature changes in each one of the squares on the grid. The amount of squares that have pressure applied to send an electronic signal to the processor, telling it what you are touching.

The Nervous System has a very similar grid with a very similar function. The nerves in our skin are interweaved so we can sense all changes in temperature, all pressure and touch applied to it, and pain signals that may occur. It transmits this information to the Somatosensory area of our brain, which is responsible for knowing the parameters of our body, as well as interpreting the signals the nerve endings are sending. For this reason you can feel when it becomes chilly out, you can feel the hands as they touch you, and feel what your hands touch.

The Human Machine Conclusion.

It seems that we are much more like machines than we give credit. If we are to consider a machine as simply a series of moving and non-moving parts, that have power supply or an active force to utilize it, and generally has a form a user interface, than human beings fit the bill. The moving parts being our muscles and internal organs that allow for our greater survival, Our power coming from a consistent fuel we call food, Our brain acts as a user and a computer and operates in a binary system, we even have our own cooling system, write-back cache, RAM, and optical processors. The similarities between man and machine are far too great to ignore. So, all things considered… We do act like machines.

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[i] It should be noted that neurons actually can be activated several times in the same thought process.

[ii] We refer to this as <a href=”http://encyclopedia2.thefreedictionary.com/Organic+fuel”>organic compounds.</a>

[iii] This is not too terribly unlike how cache works.

Part II Coming….
Join me for Part II of I, Human, where I explore what cannot be recreated through our knowledge, and ask again, is there something more?

[1] It should be noted that neurons actually can be activated several times in the same thought process.

[1] We refer to this as <a href=”http://encyclopedia2.thefreedictionary.com/Organic+fuel”>organic compounds.</a>

[1] This is not too terribly unlike how cache works.