Understanding AI / Neural Nets though biological music harmony
It’s REALLY important to understand the basics of important technologies in our technology driven, globalized, complex and dangerous world. And one of the biggies is AI, some of which is based on the concepts of neural networks. This is complicated stuff, but I find the way our ears and associated nerve cells detect music harmonies to not only be absolutely fascinating, but one of the simpler ways to begin to understand AI and neural nets (if you want to call this simple, but this is as simple as it gets). A somewhat long while ago, I was an Electrical and Biomedical Engineer who focused on nerve cells and how to interface them with electronics. After college, I ended up focusing mostly on robotics, image processing systems and control systems for manufacturing semiconductors, and then Software Engineering, and then finance and risk management/security, so I never thought I would use my biomedical engineering knowledge again, but here we are many years later.
There are TWO essential things to understand to get this picture. (I’ll let the current experts expand upon the details, but this is my current HIGH LEVEL understanding to help us share the concepts behind the big picture).
First we need to understand how nerve cells work. They are both ANALOG & DIGITAL (just like human behavior)
A nerve cell is in one of two states (i.e. binary like a digital computer)
- Resting
- FIRING (an “Action Potential”) which lasts for a very short time.
But WHEN it fires is analog. A nerve cell will FIRE only when enough of its Dendrites are stimulated by other nerve cell’s Axons during the other nerve cell’s Action Potential (often multiple nerve cells are required). So for example in the diagram above, if the two nerve cells on the left FIRE, their Action Potential starts at the cell body and moves down their single Axon. These Axons have multiple tendrils which connect to multiple other nerve cells and stimulate other nerve cells Dendrites via a synapse. Whether the nerve cell on the right fires depends on several factors:
- How many other Axon’s are stimulating it
- When those other Axon’s stimulate it — for example, at exactly the same time, a little bit later, or much later. (If a little bit later, it still may contribute to whether the cell fires, but less so than if it happened at the same time).
- The “strength” of the synapse. For example, learning occurs by re-enforcing or growing synapses and their strength
- Furthermore — the nerve cell may fire multiple action potentials in succession if the inputs are intense and frequent enough.
And by the way, some of these Axons are very long and travel to other parts of the brain or body. Also note that MS (Multiple Sclerosis) is caused by the gradual destruction of the myelin insulating sheath resulting in the reduction or failure of the Action Potential to reach its tendrils and thus other Dendrites.
I’ll spare you other details because it is isn’t important for a basic understanding, but suffice it say it’s analog (Many factors sum up together to contribute to the binary decision).
Details such as the sodium & potassium ion pump, the flow of ions during the Action Potential, the resting and Action Potential voltages, and the types of neurotransmitters (See gray blobs in the synapse) and the various chemicals/agents that absorb/remove the neurotransmitters. It’s incredible how fast this complex stuff happens.
Second we need to understand the neural net that detects harmonies
Sound detection occurs in two stages. I’m over simplifying this, but here are the basics of harmony, which is built into the way the nerve cells for hearing are PHYSICALLY WIRED into our bodies and enforced over time though Axon and synapse development.
The FIRST STAGE is pretty simple. Our ears have little “hairs” in the inner ear, each of which is a different size and each of which responds to a different frequency and on its own, stimulates a nerve cell. These hairs and nerve cells each cover the full frequency of what we can hear.
The SECOND STAGE is where it gets real interesting. The Axons tendrils of each STAGE ONE nerve cell connect to the dendrites of multiple STAGE TWO harmony detecting nerve cells. The STAGE TWO nerve cells will only fire if they detect harmonies — for example if at least two different nerve cells (i.e. two different frequencies) fire at approximately the same time. The intensity of the harmony is analog to the brain, because the nerve cells will fire with more frequency depending on the same variety of factors mentioned above regarding whether an action potential fires:
- How many different notes (other nerve cells stimulate it)
- How those notes are wired up (i.e. they are wired up or reenforced in groups that form pleasant harmonies).
- Whether those are in sequence — happening at the same time or almost at the same time, or very shortly thereafter.
The harmony nerve cell signals then get sent to the brain where you hear the sounds plus the harmonies which have a special stimulation to the brain.
What is the purpose of harmony?
Biology doesn’t waste resources on anything unless it contributes to the survival of the species. So why would our bodies expend energy and resources to physically wire our brain this way? I don’t know, but I can speculate:
- Detection of harmony is related to resonance and it allows us to hear more clearly through all the noise out there.
- It’s improves our communications as our voices or other audio methods of communications can more readily be heard and the nerve cells learn to detect / emphasize specific frequencies or resonating / harmonic sounds.
- Music is an important part of our culture, bonding, and survival. Birds sing. Not necessarily in harmony, but single notes perhaps form a harmony on a timeline (i.e. notes that follow each other and fit together sound pleasing). And maybe humans singing or playing music in harmony have a further evolutionary advantage due to bonding and communications of intention and energy. And maybe they allow us to distinguish between people who have bad energy and those who have good energy. Good music / vibe tells the truth about our emotions and and thus our trust level. Toxic people give themselves away, and our detection of them is a clear biological signal to avoid these people, regardless of what their words say — but do we?
How does this relate to our modern world?
The concept of harmony is of course important in our modern world! But, the understand of AI & neural nets is important for leaders in our modern world. Even if you want to understand how an organization learns and syncs up in “harmony “you can apply these concepts. Organizations learn through repetition, reinforcement, and attraction to people and concepts that have a good vibe, a good harmony. I deal with this every single day in my job as a the head of cybersecurity for a multi-billion dollar public company. I am constantly calling out people who have a bad attitude and/or aren’t syncing up with what others are doing or refuse to learn through example and repetition. My brain detects problems very easily, and through many years of experience (failures and successes), and my 2nd career as a performing musician, song writer, and producer, I’ve learned to trust the vibe more than anything,. And I act on it, despite the resistance of other people who only listen to words — it’s like they don’t have a SECOND LEVEL BS detector. Does the vibe match the words and the goals?
But AI / Neural nets is also one of a few critical technologies and concepts that our world and government leaders need to understand. It has a huge impact on our future, on how social media and thus politics works, among many other issues. Sadly, our politicians mostly don’t have a clue how technology works and needs to be managed — they are relics. The captains of industry are running circles around them and us without any reasonable restraints, and as a result a few 1% people are IN CONTROL. The late Carl Sagan has said many times that our technology is growing exponentially whereas our ability to manage it is barely growing at all. A HUGE disaster is mathematically certain, unless we change the equation.
It is essential that we all get deeper into this game, and get some new blood into leadership positions.
Maria is an author who wrote a book about going from straight to trans, a performing musician, song writer, producer, and tech company executive specializing in risk management & cybersecurity. Maria also used to be a lobbyist specializing in liability & cybersecurity as well as Green Energy (Power Grid and Electric and Hybrid vehicles). Maria’s philosphy is that soft skills are the most needed right now in the management of technology and the global risks it poses.
