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You have arrived at the web home of Noah Brier. This is mostly an archive of over a decade of blogging and other writing. You can read more about me or get in touch. If you want more recent writing of mine, most of that is at my BrXnd marketing x AI newsletter and Why Is This Interesting?, a daily email for the intellectually omnivorous.

June, 2009

The Chaos in Your Head

Neuroscience and networks, two topics I can't resist. And here they are all wrapped together in an article about how your brain constantly walks on the edge of chaos. Apparently, the chaotic cascades inside your head are what drives intelligence and people who let chaos take over more often (though not too much) are smarter (at least from an IQ perspective).
The neuronal avalanches that Beggs investigated, for example, are perfect for transmitting information across the brain. If the brain was in a more stable state, these avalanches would die out before the message had been transmitted. If it was chaotic, each avalanche could swamp the brain.
Oh, and apparently your brain has 13 degrees of separation. Who knew?
June 29, 2009
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Noah Brier | Thanks for reading. | Don't fake the funk on a nasty dunk.