Hello everyone! I'm Xiao Wu, welcome back to brain hole utopia.
Click here to watch the full video
In 1990, a scientific study of mitochondrial DNA found that late Homo sapiens appeared about 50,000 years ago. Late Homo sapiens, also known as "anatomically modern man".
After that, human beings began to invent tools, able to drill wood for fire, build houses, and the most primitive art and religion appeared. This is also the earliest "big bang of civilization" in human history. Meanwhile, neuroscientist Villayannar of the University of California in the United States. Viayanur S. Ramachandran points out that the brains of primitive humans reached 1500cc today 200,000 years ago. But the real invention of tools and the creation of civilization by human beings was 50,000 years ago. So what has the brain done during this idle 150,000 years?
Today, we can produce a variety of intelligent machines to liberate the labor force and greatly improve work efficiency. So many people argue that when the "singularity" of technology arrives, whether artificial intelligence is comprehensively surpassing human intelligence, thus posing a threat to us.
Today we will talk about the "wisdom gene" --- mirror neurons that can answer the above questions.
Before we get to the point, let's first think about a question. With the rapid development of computers, meteorological forecasting, military simulations, genetic sequencing, image processing, etc., these can be done with high-precision machines. The exponential growth of technology seems to make the "intelligence" of future artificial intelligence see no end in sight. So what is the most critical factor that can distinguish us humans from this big lump of iron at present? That's right, self-awareness and emotion.
So what is self-awareness? When did people begin to realize that "me" and other people around me, other things are very different? When it comes to the illusory concept of "I", the first thing that may come to mind is a classic line in "The Tale of Wulin".
"Who am I?" Where did I come from, where did I die, and why did I appear in this world? What does my presence mean for the world, whether the world has chosen me or I have chosen the world?! Who killed me and who did I kill?! ”
In 1970, Gordon G. Gallup, Jr., a psychologist at Tulane University in the United States, used an experiment to intuitively answer this mysterious question for the first time, what exactly is "I", that is, the famous "mirror experiment". The principle of the experiment is very simple. When people look in the mirror, they immediately understand without thinking that the person in the mirror is "themselves." However, such a common behavior cannot be done by most animals in their entire lives. Because they don't know that the original in the mirror is themselves, this is the embodiment of self-awareness.
Initially, Gallup brought in two male chimpanzees and two female chimpanzees. They were kept in separate houses for 80 hours. Inside each room there is a large mirror.
At first, chimpanzees made all sorts of strange gestures in front of the mirror. It was as if the person in the mirror was the hateful intruder. But over time, slowly, chimpanzees began to comb their hair in front of the mirror and play with interesting poses. In other words, in less than 80 hours, the chimpanzee successfully recognized the person in the mirror as himself. Gain self-awareness.
Subsequently, Gallup made the experiment more difficult. He first injected the chimpanzees with an anesthetic. Apply a little red dye to the chimpanzee's forehead. The location of the red dot cannot be seen without a mirror and, of course, cannot produce a sense of touch. to ensure the accuracy of the experiment. After that, the awakened chimpanzees are sent back to the house without a mirror to observe and record how often they touch the red dot area. Then, install mirrors in the room and record videos of them touching the red dot area. Compare the results. It turns out that after installing the mirror, the chimpanzees face the mirror and touch the red dot 4 to 10 times more often than before. That is to say, they realize that the red dot is located on their body and try to wipe it off.
Chimpanzees also became the first non-human animals to be verified to be self-aware. Later mirror experiments were widely used to test other animals. To date, only chimpanzees, bonobos and orangutans among non-human primates have passed the mirror image test. There are only about 10 animals tested in the entire natural world, including some eye-popping, such as magpies, carp, elephants and ants.
In addition, the mirror test also tells us that self-awareness does not seem to be innate. Human self-consciousness is formed between the ages of 1 and 2. Because half of the 18-month-old children can't recognize themselves in the mirror.
Self-awareness is a complex psychological phenomenon, we must first know our own existence, and then distinguish ourselves from the surrounding things, in order to recognize the whole world. In the 17th century, the French philosopher Descartes left the famous saying "I think, therefore I am". Everything in the world, scientific truth, no matter how conclusive it may seem, can be doubted and refuted, but the only thing that is indisputable is the fact that "I am doubting" itself. Sounds very brain-wrenching. Simply put, "I can't deny my existence, because when I deny, when I doubt, I already exist!" While I was thinking and doubting, there was already a "thinker" who performed thinking. This is called "I think, therefore I am".
Through self-awareness, we have the ability to enter our own inner world, directly grasping our own senses, emotions, and experiences.
So another, more advanced question arises, how do we understand and grasp the emotions and experiences of others? At this point, we should mention mirror neurons.
In the 1990s, Giacomo Rizzolatti, a professor of neurology at the University of Parma in Italy, stumbled upon a strange phenomenon while studying the motor cortex of the brain. The F5 region of the cerebral motor cortex controls the movement of the hands and mouth. Professor Rizzoratti's research team inserted thin electrodes into the rhesus monkey's brain and then had the monkey perform the action of grabbing the raisins while observing the discharge signals of individual nerve cells. The original purpose of this experiment was to understand how neurons in the activated state write instructions to perform specific actions. But in the course of the experiment, strange phenomena occurred.
When the monkey performs the action of grabbing the raisins, a unique set of neurons is activated and releases signals along with the action.
But when the monkeys saw the experimenters grab the raisins, about 20 percent of the unique set of neurons would also be activated, releasing the same signal. At first, Rizzoratti's experimental team thought that there was some imperceptible factor that caused the phenomenon. For example, when the monkeys watched the experimenters grab the peanuts, did they do some small movements that they did not notice? But as the experiment went back and forth, they ruled out that possibility. Other distractions, such as the monkeys' food cravings, were also ruled out.
But even then, that group of neurons is still activated. This means that the form of activity of this group of neurons is related to the actions seen by the monkey. What does this mean? This suggests that the brain reacts to the action itself, regardless of the performer of the action. Like a mirror in his head that mirrors the actions of others, Rizzoratti named the group of neurons "Mirror Neurons."
So what is the point of mirror neurons? It builds a bridge between me and the whole outside world. It becomes the basis for us to imitate, learn and interpret the behavior of others.
For example, when we see a tightrope acrobatic performance, we feel nervous, and even involuntarily swing our bodies from side to side with the performers. When we saw a large caterpillar crawling over someone else's hand, it was as if we felt that something was crawling on our hands. When we watched the game, we would scream as if we were running back and forth on the field. When we watch idol dramas, when the male and female protagonists sprinkle sugar, they will involuntarily show their aunt smiles. All of this is driven by mirror neurons.
Going back to our original question, the capacity of the human brain grew to its current size about 200,000 years ago. However, the fire of civilization such as drilling wood for fire and building houses did spread suddenly 70,000 to 50,000 years ago. This is most likely related to the sudden appearance of mirror neurons. It allows us to quickly imitate and learn from the behavior of others. To take a very simple example, if one person in the clan accidentally discovers how to obtain the fire, this skill will spread rapidly in the clan with a spark. Not only that, but the next generation of reproduction will also learn and imitate the elders, so that this skill will be passed on vertically from generation to generation.
Darwin's theory of evolution was about natural selection. The evolution of species is extremely slow. In order to adapt to the cold climate, it may take hundreds of thousands of years for polar bears to evolve their fur. But in ancient times, in order to keep out the cold, humans could slaughter a bear, strip it of its fur, and make it into a coat. Human children, on the other hand, can quickly acquire this skill within five minutes by watching their parents hunt and make clothes.
Imitation and observation are the basis for the development of human civilization, because only by standing on the shoulders of giants can we see higher and farther.
And mirror neurons, like gods, suddenly blessed with "wisdom genes" for human beings, give us a more unique, sharp and sharp eye, which can penetrate the mysteries of nature. It is precisely because humans have more advanced mirror neurons that since then, our evolutionary path has been riding the dust and drifting away from other animals, becoming the overlord of the earth.
American neuroscientist Viayanur Ramachandran once said that the discovery of mirror neurons has made an important contribution to understanding the formation of early human intelligence. Mirror neurons are to psychology what DNA is to biology. Although mirror neurons have also been found in individual primates, the mirroring mechanism in humans is more complex. Chen Jianxiang, a doctor of education at Beijing Normal University, believes that the mirror mechanism of human beings has also undergone several major evolutionary processes in the process of evolution.
From the very beginning, "external imitation of direct stimuli", that is, imitation of observed actions. Finally, it evolved into "internal simulation of abstract stimuli", that is, even if there is no external behavioral action of the observer, the behavioral action can be simulated in the brain, which is what we call "brain complement". This is the ability to understand in education and learning.
Under the influence of mirror neurons, our imitation behavior is increasingly microscopic and internalized, and finally forms a moody and invisible "brain imitation" mechanism. From then on, humans will no longer be like gorillas, beating their chests and shouting. We became one of the first magical species on Earth to share hidden information.
In modern society, the most everyday embodiment of mirror neurons, in addition to imitation and learning, may be empathy. Empathy, also known as empathy, empathy, empathy, empathy, etc., is an ability to put yourself in the shoes of others and understand the feelings of others.
There is an interesting story in the transcript of interviews with psychopaths in "Genius on the Left, Madman on the Right". It is said that there is a mentally ill person who has always felt that he is a mushroom squatting in the corner of the ward every day with an umbrella, not eating or drinking. The doctor who treated him, in a hurry, came up with a clever trick. The doctor also took an umbrella and crouched down next to him. The patient looked at the doctor and asked, "Who are you?" The doctor said, "I'm a mushroom." The patient nodded, did not speak, and continued to do back his mushroom. After a while, the doctor suddenly stood up and began to walk around the room. The patient asked, "Aren't you a mushroom?" How can you walk around? The doctor said, "Mushrooms can also walk around!" The patient felt that it made sense, so he also got up and walked.
After another moment, the doctor picked up a hamburger and began to eat. The patient asked again, "Aren't you a mushroom?" How can you eat? The doctor said, "Of course mushrooms can be eaten?" The patient felt that it made sense, so he began to eat. After a few weeks, the patient was able to live like a normal person. Although he still felt like a mushroom.
Magical mirror neurons bring people closer together and teach us to understand and love each other, just like the title of the book by Professor Rizzoratti, the discoverer of mirror neurons, "What I see you is myself" is the title of the book.
Speaking of which, some people may ask, if someone's mirror neurons are damaged, or the mirror mechanism is not fully developed, what will happen? The most typical example is autism. The mirror mechanism of autistic children is like a broken, missing mirror. They showed obvious difficulty in imitating the movements of others.
Rizzolatti's research team once did an experiment on children with autism. Let the typically developing child and the autistic child complete a coherent action, such as picking up chocolate and putting it in the mouth to eat. In typical children, when the hand grabs the chocolate, the nerve cells that control the muscles of the open mouth have been activated. That is to say, for the typical child, grabbing the chocolate and putting it in the mouth to eat it is a coherent series of actions, a whole. The nervous system can make systematic predictions and planning.
In children with autism, the nerve cells that control the muscles of the open mouth are activated only when chocolate has been put to the mouth. That is, their inability to prejudge behavior is planned. This leads to autistic people fully understanding the behavior and intentions of others. Unable to appreciate the feelings of others, naturally do not have the ability to empathize.
Rizzolatti's findings are significant for the early diagnosis and treatment of autism. He pointed out that children all have a "critical period" of development mirror mechanism, which is generally concentrated in the first year of life and slowly disappears after that. If autism can be diagnosed sooner, the more appropriate communication and emotional stimulation can assist in the sound development of the mirror mechanism. The later it is discovered, the incomplete mirror mechanism has taken shape, and it will be difficult to recover and treat.
Speaking of which, let's consider the last question of today, can we create self-consciousness for computers based on the characteristics of human mirror neurons? In fact, it's not hard for a robot to learn to mimic human movements, and install an image recognition and processing module to help the robot capture what it sees as human movements. Sensors are used to control the individual joints of the robot. In this way, at least mechanically, it can imitate the movement of human twisting and twisting and lifting legs. But can such a robot understand the emotions behind every action? Obviously not.
At the current level of development of artificial intelligence, the possibility of a self-aware highly intelligent robot being manufactured in a short period of time is still very low.
Perhaps one day, the "singularity" of science and technology will really arrive, and strong artificial intelligence will appear, not only surpassing human beings in all aspects, but even having a self-awareness of "I think, therefore I am".
Then, in a short period of time, it quickly evolved into super artificial intelligence. Maybe by then, machines will really put an end to purely human civilization.
#pgc-card .pgc-card-href { text-decoration: none; outline: none; display: block; width: 100%; height: 100%; } #pgc-card .pgc-card-href:hover { text-decoration: none; } /*pc 样式*/ .pgc-card { box-sizing: border-box; height: 164px; border: 1px solid #e8e8e8; position: relative; padding: 20px 94px 12px 180px; overflow: hidden; } .pgc-card::after { content: " "; display: block; border-left: 1px solid #e8e8e8; height: 120px; position: absolute; right: 76px; top: 20px; } .pgc-cover { position: absolute; width: 162px; height: 162px; top: 0; left: 0; background-size: cover; } .pgc-content { overflow: hidden; position: relative; top: 50%; -webkit-transform: translateY(-50%); transform: translateY(-50%); } .pgc-content-title { font-size: 18px; color: #222; line-height: 1; font-weight: bold; overflow: hidden; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap; } .pgc-content-desc { font-size: 14px; color: #444; overflow: hidden; text-overflow: ellipsis; padding-top: 9px; overflow: hidden; line-height: 1.2em; display: -webkit-inline-box; -webkit-line-clamp: 2; -webkit-box-orient: vertical; } .pgc-content-price { font-size: 22px; color: #f85959; padding-top: 18px; line-height: 1em; } .pgc-card-buy { width: 75px; position: absolute; right: 0; top: 50px; color: #406599; font-size: 14px; text-align: center; } .pgc-buy-text { padding-top: 10px; } .pgc-icon-buy { height: 23px; width: 20px; display: inline-block; background: url(https://lf3-cdn-tos.bytescm.com/obj/cdn-static-resource/pgc/v2/pgc_tpl/static/image/commodity_buy_f2b4d1a.png); }
Mysterious Mirror Neurons ¥179 Purchase