Graston Therapy/Chiropractic adjustments with Dr Bobby

First airplane flies

Near Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, Orville and Wilbur Wright  on December 17, 1903

 

make the first successful flight in history of a self-propelled, heavier-than-air aircraft. Orville piloted the gasoline-powered, propeller-driven biplane, which stayed aloft for 12 seconds and covered 120 feet on its inaugural flight.

 

Orville and Wilbur Wright grew up in Dayton, Ohio, and developed an interest in aviation after learning of the glider flights of the German engineer Otto Lilienthal in the 1890s.

Unlike their older brothers, Orville and Wilbur did not attend college, but they possessed extraordinary technical ability and a sophisticated approach to solving problems in mechanical design. They built printing presses and in 1892 opened a bicycle sales and repair shop

 

. Soon, they were building their own bicycles, and this experience, combined with profits from their various businesses, allowed them to pursue actively their dream of building the world’s first airplane.
After exhaustively researching other engineers’ efforts to build a heavier-than-air, controlled aircraft, the Wright brothers wrote the U.S. Weather Bureau inquiring about a suitable place to conduct glider tests. They settled on Kitty Hawk, an isolated village on North Carolina’s Outer Banks, which offered steady winds and sand dunes from which to glide and land softly. Their first glider, tested in 1900, performed poorly, but a new design, tested in 1901

, was more successful. Later that year, they built a wind tunnel where they tested nearly 200 wings and airframes of different shapes and designs

 

 The brothers’ systematic experimentations paid off–they flew hundreds of successful flights in their 1902 glider at Kill Devils Hills near Kitty Hawk.

 

 

Their biplane glider featured a steering system, based on a movable rudder, that solved the problem of controlled flight. They were now ready for powered flight.
In Dayton, they designed a 12-horsepower internal combustion engine with the assistance of machinist Charles Taylor and built a new aircraft to house it.

 

 

They transported their aircraft in pieces to Kitty Hawk in the autumn of 1903, assembled it, made a few further tests, and on December 14 Orville made the first attempt at powered flight. The engine stalled during take-off and the plane was damaged, and they spent three days repairing it. Then at 10:35 a.m. on December 17, in front of five witnesses, the aircraft ran down a monorail track and into the air, staying aloft for 12 seconds and flying 120 feet. The modern aviation age was born. Three more tests were made that day, with Wilbur and Orville alternately flying the airplane. Wilbur flew the last flight, covering 852 feet in 59 seconds.

 

During the next few years, the Wright brothers further developed their airplanes but kept a low profile about their successes in order to secure patents and contracts for their flying machines. By 1905, their aircraft could perform complex maneuvers and remain aloft for up to 39 minutes at a time.

 

 

In 1908, they traveled to France and made their first public flights, arousing widespread public excitement. In 1909, the U.S. Army’s Signal Corps purchased a specially constructed plane, and the brothers founded the Wright Company to build and market their aircraft

 

. Wilbur Wright died of typhoid fever in 1912; Orville lived until 1948.
The historic Wright brothers’ aircraft of 1903 is on permanent display at the National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C.

The Smartest Animals In The World

All animals, from ants to elephants, make decisions. And nature's critters continuously surprise humans with their thinking abilities.
Of course, it's hard to make a definitive ranking since measuring animal intelligence is problematic. Brain size, vocabulary, tool use, and social learning are common metrics of animal smarts, although it's difficult to compare between species since most intelligence tests or tasks are designed for a specific animals.
Animals evolve certain kinds of cognitive abilities to deal with pressures in their natural habitat, said Virginia Morell, author of "Animal Wise." Chimpanzees, for example, can make tools to hunt. Dogs may not use tools, but it doesn't make them less bright. They're just good at other things.  
We also tend to underestimate the brainpower of animals by relying too much on intelligence tests based around what humans are capable of. Right now, most people perceive speech as the main thing that separates humans from other animals, "but it's clear that parrots, dolphins, whales, and elephants have many more parts of language than we've recognized," Morell said to Business Insider.
And there are a lot of unknowns. We understand that comparing brain to body size is one way to measure intelligence, but "scientists aren't sure if that means you need a large brain, or just the ability to pack in a lot of neurons," said Morell.
The good news is "we're getting a better idea of how animals think and experience the world," Morrell said. "They aren't just roaming around feeling nothing. We know they do things with intentions, they have places to go, things to do, and they can never relax. Our sense of superiority is highly misplaced."
Here are a few animals that have surprised humans with their thinking abilities.

Chimpanzees are better than humans in some memory tasks

Our closest living relative is, unsurprisingly, not a fool. Primatologist Fras de Waal, of Emory University, crowned a young chimpanzee, named Ayumu, as number one on his list of "10 Animal Noble Prize for Overall Smartness" for outperforming humans at a memory task. Ayumu remembered the correct order of a series of numbers when they appeared at random for just 210 milliseconds on a touchscreen monitor — crushing human kids in the same task.
Chimpanzees are also known for their tool-making skills (De Waal notes that chimps have been seen fashioning spears out of sticks) and for learning how to communicate using sign language.
Goats recently amazed scientists by quickly solving a "mechanical puzzle" that caused a box to open, delivering a piece of fruit.
The goats also remembered the task after 10, suggesting they have "excellent long-term memory," co-author Dr Elodie Briefer, at ETH Zurich, said in a statement

 Elephants can work together

Elephants are large animals with big brains. They are considered smart for several reasons: they break off sticks with their trunks, have incredible memories, and seem to be capable of empathy.
Elephants also work together to solve puzzles, according to researcher Joshua Plotnik from the University of Cambridge in England. In one experiment, two elephants had to drag ropes attached on either side to a table holding two food bowls. This required cooperation because only one elephant pulling wasn't enough. 


 Parrots can reproduce sounds of the human language

We all know parrots can reproduce sounds of the English language (or other languages). But some even have an understanding of the meaning of these words.
The most impressive example of this ability is Alex, an African Grey parrot, who knew colors and shapes and learned more than 100 English words. He was trained by Irene Pepperberg, a comparative psychologist at Brandeis University and Harvard.
Before Pepperberg's groundbreaking work with Alex, "scientists had little expectation that any bird could learn to communicate with humans," the New York Times wrote in 2007, following Alex's death. 

Dolphins can recognize themselves in the mirror

 

 If scientists used brain size as metric of "intelligence," then dolphins would be "second in intelligence to modern humans," Lori Marino, a senior lecturer in neuroscience and behavioral biology who studies marine mammals — including dolphins — at Emory University once told Discovery News.
In 2012, Marino told the Associated Press: "These mammals recognize themselves in the mirror and have a sense of social identity. They not only know who they are, but they also have a sense of who, where and what their groups are. They interact and comprehend the health and feelings of other dolphins so fast it as if they are online with each other."
Morell also said that dolphins can "imitate human postures" a type of mimicry that is "cognitively demanding."

New Caledonian crows understand cause-and-effect relationships

 

 Previous studies have shown that crows (along with rooks and jays) are at the top of the bird I.Q. scale. A particularly clever species of crow, native to the Pacific island of New Caledonia, recently demonstrated the ability to understand or learn cause and effect relationships similar to the ability of 5- to 7-year-olds.
Morell notes in an article for National Geographic: "New Caledonian crows are among the most skilled of tool-making and tool-using birds, forming probes and hooks from sticks and leaf stems to poke into the crowns of the palm trees."

 Scrub jays plan for the future

A 2007 study found that western scrub-jays plan for the future by storing food that they think will be limited in the future. Anticipating future needs — those that are not motivated by instinct (like building a nest) or immediate needs (like hunger) — is a complex skill that was previously considered to be uniquely human, according to researchers from the University of Cambridge.

 

 Dogs can follow human gestures

 

 In many ways dogs may be more human-like than any other species, even non-human primates," researchers wrote in a 2008 dog intelligence study published in the Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior. In a separate study, Brian Hare, an expert in canine cognition, showed that dogs can follow and respond to human gestures, like pointing and eye movements, without training. This so-called "theory of mind" ability "is so important to our species," writes Slate's David Grimm, "that without it, we would have trouble learning and interacting with the world around us."
One the smartest dogs in the world (or at least with the most impressive vocabulary) is a border collie named Rico. Rico knows the name to more than 200 items — he can retrieve the object from a jumble of stuff after hearing the name only once. (Rico also took third prize in De Waal's "Animal Noble Prizes")
Another dog, Chaser, knows more than 1,000 objects and can understand English grammar. She isn't the first animal to have a basic understanding of grammar. Studies published in the journal Cognition in 1984 indicated that dolphins can also grasp elements of grammar. Apes have as well, including Kanzi the bonobo

Cats are independent

 

 

Cats are more difficult to study than dogs, as these fuzzballs (being typical cats) don't really like to participate in experiments. But this lack of interest in and of itself may be a sign of their smarts.
Writing for the Huffington Post, medical sociologist Joan Liebmann-Smith said: "Unlike dogs, which are pack animals, cats can fend for themselves; they don't need to depend on others for hunting food or even grooming. And the experts claim that cats' curiosity, tempered by their cautious behavior, are also evidence of their high intelligence."

History of tea 

Tea drinking in China has its earliest references in connection to the mythical emperor Shennong, who is regarded as the father of Chinese medicine and agriculture. Shennnong is said to have tasted hundreds of wild herbs, including tea leaves, to ascertain their medicinal value. According to this legend, the discovery of tea dates back to around 2700 B.C., the era in which Shennong is said to have lived.
During the late Western Han dynasty (1st century B.C.), The Divine Farmer's Herb-Root Classic, a book attributed to Shennong, includes a reference about tea. This suggests that even at this early point in history much knowledge about tea had already been accumulated. In 59 B.C., Wang Bao, of Sichuan Province, wrote the first known book providing instructions on buying and preparing tea - entitled A Contract with a Servant - establishing that tea was not only an important part of diet but that it was a commonly traded commodity at this time. This book is said to be the first written reference to tea utensils. At the time, tea drinking was still a luxury enjoyed by the elite classes of Chinese society.
During the Tang dynasty (around 760), writer Lu Yu wrote Cha Jing (The Classic of Tea), an early work on the subject. The book's opening passage is about tea's origins in the south, showing that this has been a long-held theory.

The Origin of Tea

During the Nara and Heian periods, many envoys were sent to Tang-dynasty China. On several occasions, these envoys were accompanied by Japan's leading Buddhist scholars, including Saicho, Kukai and Eichu. These Buddhist monks brought back with them tea seeds from Tang China, which are said to be the origin of tea in Japan.
In the early Heian Period, Emperor Saga is said to have encouraged the drinking and cultivation of tea in Japan. Tea drinking was first referred to in Japanese literature in 815 in the Nihon Koki (Later Chronicles of Japan), recording that Eichu invited Emperor Saga to Bonshakuji temple, where he was served tea. At this time, tea was extremely valuable and only drunk by imperial court nobles and Buddhist monks.
In 1191, in the early Kamakura Period (1185-1333), Eisai, founder of the Rinzai sect of Zen Buddhism, brought back a new type of tea seeds to Kyoto from Sung-dynasty China. In 1214, Eisai wrote the first book specifically about tea in Japan, Kissa Yojoki (How to Stay Healthy by Drinking Tea). According to the medieval chronicle Azumakagami, Eisai learned that the Shogun, Minamoto no Sanetomo, was afflicted by alcoholism, and sent his book as a gift to the Shogun.

Tea Growing 

Although there is a theory that Sancha (mountain tea) originally grew wild in remote areas of Japan's mountains and that this tea was consumed, the first tea grown in Japan is said to have been planted in Seburisan, Saga Prefecture, from seeds brought from China by Eisai. Later, Eisai gave tea seeds to Myoe Shonin in Kyoto. These seeds are said to have become the basis for Uji tea after being sowed at Toganoo in Kyoto. Tea growing soon spread throughout Japan .At this time, tea was steamed and dried without being pressed (Tencha), and became a part of the social intercourse of Samurai culture.
In writings of the Nanboku-cho Period, the tea-growing regions of the time are recorded. In several parts of Kyoto as well as in Yamato, Iga, Ise, Suruga and Musashi, tea came to be grown at temples and on temple estates. In the 14th century, tea growing began in Okukuji, Ibaraki, which is said to be at the northern limit for tea growing.

Emergence of Tea Ceremony Culture

Eisai's book Kissa Yojoki played a major role in spreading tea culture in Japan. In the late Kamakura Period, the practice of Tocha (tea competitions), which originated in Southern Song-dynasty China, became popular among the Samurai class and tea gatherings were common.The tea ceremony rapidly spread, including Chakabuki.
From the late 15th century to the late 16th century, tea masters such as Murata Shuko, Takeno Joo and Sen no Rikyu developed a new tea ceremony, referred to as Wabicha. This style of tea ceremony gained a strong following among Samurai and is the origin of the tea ceremony practiced today.

Tea Processing and Distribution

In each region there were a wide variety of tea processing methods. In Kyoto, where the Tencha method of steaming had been prevalent, Soen Nagatani of Ujitawarakyo developed a high-quality Sencha in 1738, which is said to be the forebear of modern Sencha. In 1835, Kahei Yamamoto invented the method for making Gyokuro, which became the "Uji method," and this sophisticated technique spread throughout Japan.
In the late Edo Period, distribution methods developed considerably. Tea was traded by permission of the government in tea merchant areas of Edo. From there, tea was distributed to other parts of Edo and Japan.

Tea Export

The first export of tea from Japan was in 1610 by the Dutch East India Company from Hirado, Nagasaki. The shipment of Japanese tea (pot-roasted tea, such as Ureshino) was sent to Europe.
In 1858, the Tokugawa shogunate in Edo signed the Treaty of Amity and Commerce between the United States and Japan, and this was rapidly followed by similar treaties with The Netherlands, Russia, Great Britain and France. In 1859, when the ports of Nagasaki, Yokohama and Hakodate were opened to foreign trade, tea became one of Japan's main export commodities, along with raw silk thread. In that year, 181 tons of tea were exported. Kei Oura, a woman merchant in Nagasaki, exported six tons of tea to Great Britain in 1859.
After the Meiji Restoration of 1868, the export of tea expanded under the support of the government, particularly focusing on the United States. Accompanying this, the steaming method of tea processing spread throughout Japan based on the popular "Uji method" of tea production.

Estabilish the Tea Industry 

Until the end of the Edo Period, tea was grown in Japan's mountainous regions, however, from the early Meiji Period, owing to opportunities presented by various measures instituted by the new government, including its program to assist the economic reintegration of former Samurai, expansive areas of flat land, such as Makinohara Upland, were formed into large groups of tea plantations. However, the former Samurai families who had opened up the tea plantations gradually dispersed and the plantations were taken over by farmers. The reasons the former Samurai left included a significant slump in tea export prices and the large costs incurred in establishing the tea plantations.
The formation of large groups of tea plantations was not limited to the establishment of the plantations themselves but also encompassed the development of distribution systems, tea merchants, intermediary traders and tea wholesalers as well as the invention of various types of machinery. Mechanization rapidly advanced during this period, contributing to laborsaving and more reliable quality.
In recent years, thanks to such technology as sensors and computer control, even novices are able to grow tea. Nowadays, hand rolling is mainly preserved as a cultural artifact and shown at tourist attractions.

Tea in Modern Japan

 

The lifestyles of modern Japanese people have changed substantially. To alleviate feelings of "dissatisfaction caused by having only green tea" in ordinary households, oolong tea started to gain significant attention as a tea suitable to go with oily foods and as a tea that could be consumed in large quantities. In 1979, ITO EN launched a product by adapting Chinese oolong tea to Japanese tastes. This triggered a boom in oolong tea in Japan. Subsequently, to meet the needs of a fast-paced modern lifestyle, ITO EN developed a ready-to-drink tea beverage product, something that had been previously unthinkable. In 1981, the Company launched its canned oolong tea, and this was followed by canned green tea and canned black tea in 1985.
Later, ITO EN developed products in PET plastic bottles and cardboard cartons, which became top-selling lines. Nowadays, the entire beverage industry has followed ITO EN's lead, and a huge tea beverage market has taken shape. In every era, there is a need for teas to suit the times and ways of drinking beverages that match lifestyles.
Tea is now used in a myriad of ways, which are not limited to just beverages. Applications include catechin dyeing technology, Chahaigo board and supplement products, which utilize the active components of tea.

Mariah Carey Biography

Music Producer, Film Actress, Songwriter, Singer  a a great story with an exceptional woman

Early Life

Singer Mariah Carey was born March 27, 1970, in Huntington, Long Island, New York,

to Alfred Roy Carey, a Venezuelan aeronautical engineer; and Patricia Carey,

a voice coach and opera singer. Has two older siblings: a brother, Morgan, and a sister, Alison. Carey

is known as one of the top "pop divas" of the 1990s, having sold more than 80 million albums worldwide. Her voice spans more than five octaves and she writes most of her own music.
Carey's parents divorced when she was 3 years old. She stunned her mother by imitating her operatic singing as early as age two, and was given singing lessons starting at age four. After graduating in 1987 from Harborfields High School in Greenlawn,

New York, Carey moved to Manhattan where she worked as a waitress, coat check girl, and studied cosmetology while writing songs and actively pursuing a music career at night.

Early Music Career

When she was 18 years old, Carey and her friend, singer Brenda K. StarrMariah Carey (1990) which included four No. 1 singles: "Vision of Love,Emotions was released in 1992

; the title track became her fifth No. 1 single, and included hits "Can't Let Go"

and "Make it Happen."

" "Love Takes Time

," "Some Day,"

and "I Don't Wanna Cry."

Her second album
, went to a party hosted by CBS Records. Starr convinced Carey to bring along one of her demo tapes. She intended to give the tape to Columbia's Jerry Greenberg, but Tommy Mottola, the president of Columbia Records (later Sony), intercepted it before she could hand it to Greenberg. After listening to the tape on the way home from the party, Mottola signed Carey immediately and set her to work on her first album, Mariah Carey (1990) which included four No. 1 singles: "Vision of Love," "Love Takes Time," "Some Day," and "I Don't Wanna Cry." Her second album Emotions was released in 1992; the title track became her fifth No. 1 single, and included hits "Can't Let Go" and "Make it Happen."

Success on the Pop Charts

In March 1992, Carey appeared on MTV's Unplugged. This performance was released as an album and a home video, resulting in another No. 1 single (a cover of The Jacksons' "I'll Be There")Music Box (1993)The Jacksons' "I'll Be There"

cut back a bit on the lavish studio production techniques heard in her previous albums, and included the No. 1 singles, "Dreamlover" and "Hero." Her November 1994 release Merry ChristmasMerry Christmas combined traditional Christian hymns with new songs. In 1995 she released Daydream;

the first single "Fantasy" debuted at No. 1. It also included collaborations with R&B and hip-hop artists, such as Wu-Tang Clan and Boyz II Men ("One Sweet Day").

. Her next album
Her 1997 album, Butterfly, included 11 compositions written by Carey, and demonstrated her continued interest in hip-hop and R&B, including the Sean "Puffy" Combs-produced "Honey," her 12th No. 1 hit. Carey's 1998 album, #1's, featured her 13 previous chart-topping singles as well as the Academy Award-nominated "The Prince of Egypt (When You Believe)," a duet with fellow pop diva Whitney Houston.

Overcoming Obstacles

In July 2001, Carey was admitted into a New York-area hospital and put under psychiatric care after suffering what her publicists called a "physical and emotional collapse." Carey had been preparing to promote her upcoming feature film debut, Glitter, and its accompanying soundtrack album, but cancelled all public appearances. The release of Glitter was subsequently pushed back from late August to late September 2001.

Carey was released from the hospital after two weeks.
In January 2002, Carey and EMI (the corporate owner of Virgin Records, with whom Carey had signed a reported $80 million contract in April 2001) severed their relationship. Though the film and soundtrack for Glitter failed to generate the desired box office and sales totals, Carey reportedly walked away from Virgin with nearly $50 million as part of her severance agreement. In May 2002, she signed a deal with Universal Music Group's Island/Def Jam Records. In December 2002, Carey staged a comeback with her eighth album, Charmbracelet,

which debuted in third place on the charts. The record's accompanying tour, her first in more than three years, launched in June 2003.

In Recent Years

In 2012, Carey was chosen as a new judge for season 12 of the popular FOX television show American Idol, taking a seat alongside Randy Jackson, Nicki Minaj and Keith Urban.
Carey has sold around 160 million albums worldwide. She is the third best-selling female artist of all time, according to the Recording Industry Association of America. With 2008’s Touch My Body

   (from her eleventh studio album E=MC²),

Carey passed Elvis Presley to become second only to the Beatles for the most No. 1 hit singles in the United States.
Outside of her music career, Carey is active in fundraising for The Fresh Air Fund, an independent nonprofit agency that has provided free summer vacations to more than 1.6 million disadvantaged New York City children since 1877.
In January 2015, Carey inked a deal to become the latest diva songstress to take up residency in Las Vegas beginning in May.
take up residency in Las Vegas beginning in May

Personal Life

In June 1993, Carey married Mottola in a spectacular ceremony at Manhattan's St. Thomas Episcopal Church.

 

The couple divorced in 1998. Carey then dated Latin singer Luis Miguel for three years, but their relationship reportedly ended in the summer of 2001.
Carey married rapper/actor/talent show host Nick Cannon on April 30, 2008, in a secret ceremony in the Bahamas.

The couple had been dating for less than two months, their romance having blossomed after he appeared in her music video for "Bye Bye." In 2011, Carey and Cannon welcomed twins Moroccan and Monroe.

After six years of marriage, in August 2014, the couple announced their separation. It was also reported that a confidentiality agreement was issued that bars discussing the details of their split publicly. In January 2015, it was reported that Cannon officially filed for divorce.

Artificial Intelligence....

 

 

The Symmetry, Self-Similarity and Recursivity theory of Brain and Mind

This brain theory that is in the process of being revealed to world may also be given the longer title of, ‘The Symmetry, Self-Similarity and Recursivity theory of Brain and Mind’. This is quite an effort to say, and so it is a useful and convenient shorthand to refer to the theory as the ‘Fractal Brain Theory’. The word Fractal implies Symmetry, Self-Similarity and Recursivity so the title ‘Fractal Brain Theory’ is an entirely appropriate as well as useful shorthand. We’ll go through each of these foundational concepts in turn in order to give a better idea of the significance and power of the Fractal Brain Theory.

Symmetry

Symmetry is such an amazingly powerful idea. In fact if the entire process of science had to be summed up in a single word, then a good candidate for this word would be ‘symmetry’. Science can be said to be the process of discovering the patterns of nature and the Universe. But it is more than that, because science is also the process of discovering the patterns behind the patterns. That is, the meta-patterns and unifying patterns, which show us how all the seemingly separate patterns are really manifestations of the same underlying pattern. And so we have the same problem in the brain, where we are confronted with a dizzying and myriad array of facts and findings with no obvious and apparent way of seeing any overarching pattern behind it all. So it makes perfect sense that the idea of symmetry should be applicable. Indeed if symmetry is behind the very process of science itself, then why should the search for a scientific understanding of the brain be any other way? And so then the problem becomes, how to apply this powerful concept towards that goal and this is not at all obvious. The specific ways that the symmetries behind the law of physics are explored in science, don’t translate in any sort of direct or intuitive way to the study of the brain. The symmetry of mathematical equations or of regular geometric forms, seems far removed from the organic messiness and irregularities of biology and brain. And at first glance and superficial inspection, the brain seems so full of asymmetry and dissymmetry. So one of the problems that the fractal brain theory solves and is how to interpret the brain and mind, using some of the most cutting edge findings in neuroscience and some bridging ideas from mathematics, in order to see clearly the underlying and unifying symmetries behind it all. Physicist believe that there is an overarching ‘supersymmetry’ that unifies all the natural laws of the Universe, though this idea is still in the process of being fully worked out. By the same token, the Fractal Brain Theory is able show that likewise there is an overarching symmetry that is able to explain and account for all the diverse phenomena of brain and mind. With this underlying symmetry we are able to reduce all the vast complexities of the brain and mind into a very elegant and compact description. And so symmetry forms an important foundation of the brain theory.

Self-similarity

 

The idea of Self Similarity is synonymous with idea of something being ‘fractal’, hence the name Fractal Brain Theory. An object that is self-similar or fractal contains smaller copies of its overall form within itself repeated and at many smaller scales. A useful way of looking at self-similarity is to think of it as nested symmetry, where a pattern repeatedly contains copies of itself within itself. A much used example of self similarity is that of a tree, where the diverging pattern of branchings coming off the main trunk is repeated in a similar way in its branches and even in the veins of its leaves. So a tree can be described as self similar and fractal. Fractal geometry which was discovered in the 1970s has been called the geometry of nature. Tradition geometry deals with straight lines, regular triangles, squares, circles and the like. Fractal geometry seems far better suited to describing complex natural forms such as mountains, clouds and snowflakes; as well as organic structures such as plants, animals, people and even entire cities. It is even suggested by leading scientists that the entire universe may have fractal structuring. And so quite appropriately the Fractal Brain theory is the application of the idea of self-similarity in the context of understanding the natural phenomenon of brain and mind. It is an approach which has been suggested and tried before in the past few decades but which came up against hurdles which at the time seemed insurmountable. And on superficial inspection and with a limited understanding of the brain, then it is not at all apparent that the brain can be understood as being fractal. But with the benefit of recent empirical findings from neuroscience and a novel way of interpreting the data, then the Fractal Brain Theory is able to show how indeed the brain and mind can be conceptualised as being perfectly fractal and completely self-similar. And this sets up a lot of the conceptual groundwork for the brain theory and gives the theory its organizing principle..

Recursivity

Recursivity really is a universal process and the process of life itself can be considered as recursive. The process by which life comes into being, starting from a fertilized egg, dividing into two, then recursively and repeatedly dividing into 4, 8, 16 and so on, to give rise to all the cells in your body, this is an example of a recursive process. And the process of sexual reproduction, and the diverging and converging lines of family trees, generation recursively following upon generation is another example of recursion. Some thinkers even imagine the entire Universe and everything that happens in it as one big recursive process, so the idea of recursivity is pretty deep. Recursivity is a key concept that underlies computer science and the workings of all computers. The Fractal Brain theory shows that this phenomenon of recursivity is fundamental for understanding how the brain and mind works.

Three breakthroughs: A unifying language, unifying structure & unifying process

The fractal brain theory is the systematically application of the fundamental principles of symmetry, self-similarity and recursivity towards the understanding of brain and mind. And this leads to three major scientific breakthroughs, which we’ll elaborate in turn…

A Single Unified Language

The first of our breakthrough concepts has been anticipated. It is a way of describing not just all the structures and processes of the physical substrate of the brain but also all the various emergent structures and processes of mind; using a single unifying language. So for instance the 1996 publication, ‘Fractals of Brain, Fractals of Mind: In search of a Symmetry Bond’, described the existence of a ‘secret symmetry’, secret in the sense of being at that point undiscovered, which would allow us to conceptualize the brain and mind as a single continuum and describe it in the same language. This is the ‘symmetry bond’ referred to in the books title. Professor of Psychology and commentator on all things AI, Gary Marcus, described recently in 2014 how useful it would be to gain a unified description of brain and mind, and how this could potentially revolutionize the field. With the coming of the Fractal Brain Theory, the ‘secret symmetry’ is secret no more. We have now exactly this unifying language for describing all aspects of brain as well as mind. It is also a descriptive language which is supported by a vast array of empirical evidence, which suggests that it is not something ad hoc or arbitrary but rather one which reflects fundamental truths about how the brain and mind work. Indeed one of the strengths of the fractal brain theory is that it does take into account and incorporates a vast array of empirical facts and findings from neuroscience and psychology. It uses the unifying language to describe in a common format, all this vast diversity of information. This leads to the second major breakthrough the brain theory enables..

A Single Unifying Structure

Intuitive we know that there must be some sort of unity and integrated structure behind the brain and mind. This is because we know that somehow, all the various myriad aspects of our brains and minds must work together in an unified and coordinated way to achieve our goals and objectives. We know from our experience and introspection that this must be the case, we have this personal sense of oneness and singular wholeness that gives us the impression of self and identity. But it has been very problematic for brain scientists and artificial intelligence researchers to work out how exactly this is the case physiologically and how this may be implemented. Neuroscience exists as an ocean of facts and findings, with no obvious way to fit them all into a unified understanding. In 1979, Francis Crick of DNA fame, wrote that in relation to brain science, “what is conspicuously lacking is a broad framework of ideas in which to interpret these various concepts.” 35 years later, this unifying theoretical framework still seems to be missing. Neuroscientists Henry Markram’s much publicized and very well funded billion euro brain simulation project can be seen as an attempt to integrate all the knowledge of neuroscience which exists into some sort of integrated whole. Here the aim is to merely to bring all the neuroscience together in order to program it into a big computer simulation, but without any theoretical underpinning behind it whatsoever. A leading artificial intelligence researcher named Ben Geotzel is attempting to bring together a lot of existing partial solutions and previous attempts at AI, but is facing an ‘integration bottleneck’, without any clear way to make all the separate pieces fit and work together sensibly.

 In contrast what the Fractal Brain Theory introduces is a very elegant way of arranging all the various aspects of brain and mind, and fitting them all together into a single top-down hierarchical classification structure. This partly derives from the having a single unifying language with which to describe everything. By having a common description for all the separate pieces of the puzzle, this is the prerequisite for fitting all the pieces together into a single structure. Furthermore this unified classification structure also derives from what we know about hierarchical representations and relationships in the brain as suggested by the actual neurophysiological substrate and experimental findings. This gives us a very powerfully integrated and all encompassing overview of brain organization and the emergent structures of the mind which are grounded in the neurophysiological substrate. It is an important step to fully understanding the brain and the creation of true artificial intelligence. After all, many of the biggest names in AI and theoretical neuroscience stress the importance of hierarchical representations and processes. What the fractal brain theory is able show is that the entirety of brain and mind may be conceptualized as a single tightly integrated and all encompassing hierarchical structure.

The single all encompassing structure of brain and mind in turn leads to the third, final and most dramatic breakthrough which the fractal brain theory delivers. Given our all encompassing unifying structure we may then ask, is it possible to define a single overarching process over that structure which captures all the separate processes happening within it. Or put another way, if we can represent the entire brain and mind as a single integrated data structure, then is it possible to specify a single algorithm over that data structure, which captures the functionality of all the partial algorithms of brain and mind? And the answer is yes.