Hofstadter, Dennett - The Mind's I

A Conversation with Einstein’s Brain 438thereafter bid each other adieu. Yet I cannot help making the observation that thereference you made in that hypothetical dialogue some possible futureconversation in these gardens between the pair of us strikingly suggests thecircumstances in which we find ourselves today!TORTOISE: How coincidental! It surely is by pure chance.ACHILLES: If you don't mind, Mr. T, I'd like to know how this fictitious Einstein bookcould conceivably shed any light on the "mind-brain problem. Could you obligeme in that respect?TORTOISE: Willingly, Achilles, Willingly. Would you mind, though, if f added a fewextra features to the book, since it is hypothetical' anyway?ACHILLES: I can't see why I should object at this point. If it's already got a hundredbillion pages or so, a few more can't hurt.TORTOISE: A sporting attitude. The features are as follows. When sound hits the ear,the oscillations set up within the drum are relayed to delicate structures within themiddle and inner ear; these eventual' connect to neurons whose duty it is toprocess such auditory information-thus we could call them "auditory neurons."Likewise, there exist neurons whose duty it is to convey coded directions to anygiven set of muscles; thus, hand motions are caused by the firing of specificneurons in the brain linked indirectly to the muscles in the hand. The same can besaid of the mouth and vocal cords. As our additional information, then, for thebook, we'd like to have whatever set of data is required to know precisely how theauditory neuron will be excited by a given incoming tone, if we supply its pitchand loudness. And the other essential chapter in the book is the one that tells inwhat way the firing of any "mouth-directing neuron" OF "vocal-cord-directingneuron" will affect the muscles of the organ in question.ACHILLES: I see what you mean. We'd like to know how the internal structure ofneurons was affected by any auditory input signal; and also how the firing ofcertain key neurons, linked to speech organs, would affect those organs.TORTOISE: Precisely. You know, sometimes, Achilles, it's good to have you around tobounce my ideas off of-they come back at me considerably cleaner than when Icame out with them. Your naive simplicity somehow complements my learnedverbosity.ACHILLES: I'd like to bounce that one off on you, Mr. T.