Maia du BillardMar 8
muesli

Do you know this feeling? You're walking down the stairs like you have done thousands of times before, when your brain suddenly goes:

"Wait... how are my legs coordinating this extremely complex biomechanical process exactly?!"

Anyway I'm happy to report gravity still works.

Mar 8 at 1:31amWeb
Show threadInyaMar 8
@fribbledom get well soon!
Show threadmuesliMar 8

@Inya

No worries, I didn't hurt myself. It's funny, though, how a little self-awareness at the exact wrong moment can actually do you harm 😆

Show threadInyaMar 8
@fribbledom It's the same for me when I want to "remember" a password or telephone number that I've entered thousands of times - it only works automatically.
Show threadmuesliMar 8

@Inya

OMG! Every single time someone asks me for my wifi password!

Show threaddonutage (Bill Cole)Mar 8
@fribbledom ouch!
Show threadunlofl [Promoted Toot]Mar 8
@fribbledom I am touch typing a response to this message, but if I stop to think about what my fingers are doing I can't do it!
Show threadB Thoreau 🛸Mar 8
@fribbledom Yes. I always wonder how my unconscious brain calculates the calculus and physics to catch a baseball, but can I explain how I calculate to do it? Noooo. Weird stuff.
Show threadmuesliMar 8

@Thoreau

I think about that a lot when driving a car. How do we calculate which gap is big enough when there are various cars in multiple lanes at varying speeds involved?!

If you asked me to solve these situations mathematically on paper, I'd give up. Yet you and I are constantly making thousands of these calculations every time we drive down the road...

Show threadmuesliMar 8

@Thoreau

Of course, the obvious answer is that we're not consciously doing these calculations.

Our brains are just matching the situation against thousands of similar experiences from the past. In the end, it's mostly a gut feeling. Which is arguably even more unsettling when you think about it.

Show threadB Thoreau 🛸Mar 8
@fribbledom I think you just described how a large language model develops. Wouldn't it just suck to find out we are all just LLMs? 🙃😅
Show threadHolgerPietaMar 8
@Thoreau @fribbledom They described how every (machine) learning system works. Neural nets are one kind of learning system. LLMs are one kind of neural net. The brain is another.
We will never find out we're just LLMs, because we already know that our brains are much more complex.
We will also never find out that we're just very complex neural nets. Because we already know that.
Show threadB Thoreau 🛸Mar 8
@HolgerPieta @fribbledom Yes I agree. I was being playful! 🙂 One of my favorite books about the brain and learning is A Celebration of Neurons by Robert Sylwester. He leans heavy into the brain as an ecosystem of parts, sometimes competing, like a rain forest. The biggest mystery for me: How do we get information introduced in the prefrontal cortex past the amygdala with help from the hippocampus into the basal ganglia /cerebellum? What happens in the 12 atom wide gap between neurons?
Show threadB Thoreau 🛸Mar 8
@HolgerPieta @fribbledom If I really want to think about Meusli's stair question: He is right, his long term memory through the basal ganglia has stored the coordination for traveling by stairs. His automaticity of movement/ stair habits is now there. His lizard brain, the amydala, made damn sure that he knows about stairs because they can kill you and the amydala is a survivor, man. When he is actually walking down the stairs and suddenly ignites his prefrontal cortex to ask,
Show threadB Thoreau 🛸Mar 8
@HolgerPieta @fribbledom " Wait, how am I doing this?" Midstep, that can trigger the amygdala to go " WHAT ARE YOU FREAKING OUT ABOUT RIGHT NOW? Do we need to adapt something? The automaticity can stop until the amydala says," Oh, we are cool. Carry on. Quit thinking so much."
Show threadB Thoreau 🛸Mar 8

@HolgerPieta @fribbledom

All this has to happen on neurons firing across at 12-atom wide gap between neurons . How electrons jump that gap is wild. How the competing parts of the rain forest brain jockey for action is so amazing. Muesli is a walking miracle.

Show threadHolgerPietaMar 8
@Thoreau @fribbledom Playfulness duly noted. The neuron gaps in the humor parts of my brain must have been significantly larger than 12 atoms this morning.
Show threadB Thoreau 🛸Mar 8

@HolgerPieta @fribbledom Well, it gave me a chance to really think about his question rather than just be silly.

***whispers to self*** It still seems mysterious how I catch a baseball without thinking. Prefrontal cortex and hippocampus would like an answer.

Show threadHolgerPietaMar 8
@Thoreau @fribbledom Recently I "rediscovered" my VR headset and played some Beat Saber: Easy levels I can "think through". But when it gets faster and harder, I have to purposely "dumb down" my higher brain functions and just let my subconscious do its thing. Which it is surprisingly good at.
In this state I don't have the slightest clue why my arms are doing what they do. Or would be able to tell you the color or direction of the box my arm just hacked in two.
Show threadKevin Boyd (he/him) 🇨🇦Mar 8

@fribbledom approximately, yes. Thankfully no injuries so far. In my case it's more of a Dirty Harry process:

"I know what you're thinking. Is this step number 6 or number 7? Well seeing as this here is a nice, carpeted stairwell that will peel your skin clean off, you have to ask yourself: do you feel lucky? Well do ya, punk?"

Show threadԎєηυкι, 手抜き🚀🐧♏ 🔭 ⚫⚪Mar 8
@kboyd @fribbledom sounds quite like Gorillaz main hit single “Clint Eastwood” 😄
Show threadKarel P KerezmanMar 8
@fribbledom You're doing science: Confirming through empirical evidence that the Earth does indeed still suck as expected.
Show threadJürgenMar 8
@fribbledom gravity, thou art a heartless bitch?
Show threadmayonnaizzeMar 8
@fribbledom me except that happens everyday and i struggle not to trip over my own feet while just walking normally
Show thread👩‍🦯The Blind FraggleMar 8
@trendytoots @fribbledom Yeah, I think it's important, at least now and then, to remember just what a wonder everything is. The funny thing with physical motion though, if I think about it, I almost can't do it.
Show threadCardboard RobotMar 8

@fribbledom This may be off topic but I have a relative with Parkinson’s and have learned some fascinating things about motor coordination. Level ground takes effort but riding a bike or driving he’s fine. Going up stairs is easier for him than level ground.

Anyone interested can google a story about a woman who drew “stairs” on her floor for her husband that greatly helped his steps and movement. Crazy puzzle how the brain and motor systems work.

Show threadԎєηυкι, 手抜き🚀🐧♏ 🔭 ⚫⚪Mar 8
@fribbledom oh, people having been operated on legs and wrist bones know this feeling much better 🤷‍♂️
Show threadToken Sane PersonMar 8

@fribbledom The Centipede's Dilemma:
A centipede was happy – quite!
Until a toad in fun
Said, "Pray, which leg moves after which?"
This raised her doubts to such a pitch,
She fell exhausted in the ditch
Not knowing how to run.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Centipede%27s_Dilemma

The Centipede's Dilemma - Wikipedia