A randomly wired network still can have different number of short range vs long range connections, vertical vs horizontal connections etc.
Brain is not randomly wired; it consists of cortical columns—a basic unit replicated over the brain—and some of the wiring is very specific. The axons can very accurately find their destinations. Different areas of brain can be built with different parameters of the network organisation. There are good reasons not to adopt tabula rasa—blank slate—that’s why i propose the slates prepared for specific work, in minor ways. We certainly can evolve different fur on different parts of our bodies—and so we can evolve different network properties in different areas of brain. But if you want to link specific sets of neurons in specific ways from the DNA to build a circuit that performs an evolved function—all chances are you can not do that, as there isn’t any genes which express just in those neurons.
The lined slate example is to make it clear that I am not arguing in favour of complete ‘tabula rasa’.
With regards to our brains being learning machines, the neuroplasticity is good evidence that parts of brain can learn the tasks not originally intended, at the levels of performance close to the normal, suggesting only minor innate specialization.
A randomly wired network still can have different number of short range vs long range connections, vertical vs horizontal connections etc.
Brain is not randomly wired; it consists of cortical columns—a basic unit replicated over the brain—and some of the wiring is very specific. The axons can very accurately find their destinations. Different areas of brain can be built with different parameters of the network organisation. There are good reasons not to adopt tabula rasa—blank slate—that’s why i propose the slates prepared for specific work, in minor ways. We certainly can evolve different fur on different parts of our bodies—and so we can evolve different network properties in different areas of brain. But if you want to link specific sets of neurons in specific ways from the DNA to build a circuit that performs an evolved function—all chances are you can not do that, as there isn’t any genes which express just in those neurons.
The lined slate example is to make it clear that I am not arguing in favour of complete ‘tabula rasa’.
With regards to our brains being learning machines, the neuroplasticity is good evidence that parts of brain can learn the tasks not originally intended, at the levels of performance close to the normal, suggesting only minor innate specialization.