Bubble Tank

One image that formed in my head when thinking about Copycat at al is that of a water tank in which bubbles (the structures which are built up by the codelets) slowly form, shrink, disappear, grow, merge and finally reach the surface when they prove to be big, strong and stable. If the Fluid Analogies model of Copycat is really a valid approximation of what’s going on in hour own head, then this analogy opens up some nice interpretations.

The codelets slowly build structures based on the input – in the case of the human brain, nerve signals from our senses. They make connections, dig up possibly related memories and try to bring this into a coherent state. In the beginning this is very undirected and may produce complete nonsense, later the structures become less chaotic but might still be very far fetched and only when they really make sense they make it to the surface. The surface being the border between unconscious and conscious thinking.

Following the analogy further: what happens if we change some parameters of the system, for example lower or rise the surface or let bubbles rise faster or slower? If it is harder for a bubble to reach the surface – that is a certain interpretation of a situation make it to the conscious mind – then this bubble has to be very stable. The codelets have lots of time to grind away all irregularities and the existing memories enforce their expectations. In other words: boring, conventional and uncreative. And if you turn the wheel into the other direction: unconventional, often wrong, but sometimes there might be a solution that turns out to be very creative.

And if you push the wheel even further? Then you expose the conscious mind with the chaos of half-baked ideas, structures of mostly random connections which only made it to the surface, because they did not have to prove themselves. Which to me sounds very much like a description of paranoia, psychosis or other mental dysfunctions.

As an example: Someone might look into a dark cloudy sky. Add some flashes and distant thunder for the dramatic effect. This visual impression kicks off all kinds of cognitive processes in the subconscious mind. The result that bubbles up to the surface between subconsciousness and consciousness is usually something like “no picnic today, let’s check the movies,” or “where’s my umbrella?” But if the parameters are badly tuned it could also be “the aliens are preparing their invasion.” Or a bit less extreme: “let’s see what happens it a flash strike a kite.” Pretty stupid idea in my opinion, unless you’re a brilliant researcher.

The point is that every mind potentially has those crazy or plain insane ideas, they just don’t make it to the surface, because they loose the race against more conservative and thus more stable structures. Creative minds lower the bar and every once in a while they can find a gem. Insane minds get lost in a cloud of random bubbles that obfuscate their sight (unfortunately it seems to be hardwired into our minds that we willingly trust whatever makes it through the surface).

And here’s what triggered this particular bubble to form in my mind:

We’re all familiar with the stereotype of the tortured artist. Salvador Dali’s various disorders and Sylvia Plath’s depression spring to mind. Now new research seems to show why: a genetic mutation linked to psychosis and schizophrenia also influences creativity.

New Scientist Health, July 16, 2009: Artistic tendencies linked to ’schizophrenia gene’

Via: KurzweilAI.net