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I am very much intrigued by our newest approach to understanding the Nervous System. Especially in regard to understanding behavior, the notion of the NS generating outputs in order to receive inputs seems very promising. And on Tuesday and Thursday we began to explore how the NS is organized to produce action (output). I appreciate the image of the stored “motor symphony” but want to continue to discuss the question of what is it that tells the “players” to play at particular times. The only problem that I am having with the direction of our discussion is that while I understand concepts of, say, the reafferent loop (for example) from a biological standpoint, I am not yet satisfied. I agree with the conclusions we are making from observations of the swimmeret’s and I am deeply interested in the big idea concepts, but I want to follow it through completely. For instance, let’s re-open the example of how talking creates input. I want to know the specifics. I want to know the specifics because I want complete understanding. I am not interested in surface level biology.

There is no conductor. This, as you said in class, is a hugely important and extremely interesting point. But can we delve into the specifications of communication? How is it happening?