MEMORY NODES
A child may remember the meaning of number four, for example, only by counting all the way from a lower number for which the meaning is already known to the child. The counting process at early age is often helped by finger gestures in which each number is associated with a specific gesture of stretched-out fingers. The phrase or word that triggers the counting process is probably the most fundamental piece of biological memory around which the entire numbering logic in a child’s brain is going to be built. Once stimulated to count due to internal brain activity or externally after being asked to count, for instance, a child would most likely start counting from either zero or one. These starting points are fundamental brain events that are essential in the counting process. Other numbers are then established in reference to either of the two in a sequential chain of events. For those children who start the counting process while looking at their closed fist, the fundamental event in the counting chain is probably number zero or nothing. Alternatively, in children who start the counting with one of their fingers stretched, the fundamental event is recorded as number one. In both cases, the triggering of the fundamental event helps the children initiate the counting process and arrive at the number where they have already mastered, event-by-event. In other words, a child may remember the meaning of number four only after remembering the meaning of number three which is on its own meaningful to the brain if the meanings of numbers two and one are previously evoked in a successful manner.
The sequential processes such as counting or making short sentences are among the earliest recipes formed in human brain. Within this context, every sequential process which is developed by brain to handle one specific topic is referred as a nodal recipe. Nodal recipes enable brain to arrive at any destination informational node by evoking the nodes revealing the path towards it. Each informational node among the sequential nodes, forming a nodal recipe, is evoked only after its previous node is evoked. From this standpoint, each individual number within the counting recipe is a node storing a single characteristic of a specific number. A relevant example of such nodal recipes is where a passphrase is stored in brain. Most of the time, the whole passphrase can smoothly be recalled once the starting node of the passphrase recipe is triggered. That means, even if the brain wants to only remember the last character of the passphrase, it should always start by remembering the beginning of the passphrase.
Unless evoked by one of the senses, the remembering process in brain always happens in a sequential manner. The process of arriving at any of the nodes within the brain occurs in two different ways. In the first approach, as in the case of the numbering sequence, brain evokes events through the underlying nodes node-by-node until it arrives at the desired node. In the second approach, to arrive at a destination node, one of the underlying nodes is tagged with an address-link to the destination node containing the relevant information. The latter process of arriving at destination nodes is necessary to avoid redundant data storage by the brain. It is worth mentioning that tagging process is not a mutual process between the two connected nodes. That is why seeing a familiar-looking individual where the person is supposed to be stimulates a complete chain of node-triggering events from place-node to person’s identity-node, while seeing the same familiar-looking person at a different place might render the brain unable to track back the place where the person belongs. This is because the person’s whereabouts node is tagged with an address-link to person’s appearance and identity while the node storing the person’s appearance or manners is not tagged with an address-link about person’s location. In such a situation, the activation of nodes with no address-links to lost nodes usually renders the brain stuck at a wrong node and prohibits the evocation of correct nodes containing the desired information. However, as soon as a clue is passed over to the wondered brain, through one of the senses like hearing or seeing, a separate node is accordingly activated which might enable the brain to arrive at the desired missing place-node.
Brain’s tendency to recall nodes in a sequential manner is a direct consequence of Brain’s sequential pattern of memorization process. The sequential memorization is the fastest and easiest way of learning since incoming information is being attached to an already established node. For instance, consider learning a new word. If the new word is visually, phonetically, or through its meaning is somehow identical to an already learned word, then it is most likely stored as an extension to the existing word node. This implies that remembering the newly stored word would inevitably results in remembering the similar underlying word. Through practice, however, more nodes are tagged with address-links to the newly learned-word node that may facilitate its accessibility over time. After this, evoking the newly learned-word node may no longer trigger the remembering of the old underlying word.
If brain finds no similarity with words within its existing vocabulary inventory, the new word node would possibly be developed with a direct link to the recipient sensory organ which in this case will probably be seeing or hearing. This way of learning would generally lead to a much faster utilization of the word since the remembering process does not involve evoking unnecessary nodes. However, since no other established node helps in remembering and therefore nurturing the newly learned-word, the new word is much more prone to be forgotten. This way of learning will usually require more time as the brain needs more cellular activity and resources to establish and tag relevant nodes with address to the newly stored word.
Involvement of more senses increases the learning efficiency since it results in a larger cellular activity and thus more resources for the newly established node through an increase in number of poking incidences. It is worth mentioning that memorization process, especially through different senses, might in some cases lead to the formation of separate nodes for the same concept which may form the foundations of independent sequential nodes. That is why hearing a specific word may cause recalling different events than reading its equivalent.
Traceable nodes within a brain can be evoked either directly through the senses or after being addressed by other nodes. The latter way is essential in enabling brain to function and reason without being distracted by the sensory organs. This is equally important in bringing prominence to nodes that were originally founded on other nodes. For instance, although at early stage any of individual number-nodes are merely accessible via number-nodes located earlier within the counting recipe chain, in experienced brains all single digit numbers form independent nodes that are directly accessible by nodes from outside the original recipe.
Much of the data received by brain are stored with very faint cellular marks. This includes a significant portion of the incoming daily aural and visual data that are subsequently forgotten or overwritten. The loss of data in brain is not specific to nodes with faint cellular marks. Even nodes which are stored with strong cellular marks, if not revisited regularly, at some point will be fully or partially overwritten by neighboring cellular activity. A node whose address is tagged by many other nodes, and is therefore constantly revisited, is immune to annihilation. On the other hand, a node may lose its connection to underlying nodes or be partially or fully overwritten over time if not revisited in time. Examples of these situations are seen in the subject materials learned years ago from which only general highlights are excerpted in the form of newly established recipes and informational nodes. For such subjects, many of the original nodes are partially or totally overwritten and many more have lost their address-links to relevant nodes. In general, the longer the nodes are not revisited, the higher chances are that they are forever forgotten.
Recipes prepared by brain regarding different subjects decide on how effective the brain is while dealing with those specific subjects. These recipes are sieves and definitions that are developed to filter incoming information and to establish the most appropriate responses. The more accurate and detailed recipes within the brain are, the more reliable its verdict after the analysis of the topic would be. An expert brain with regards to a particular topic, for example, holds many recipes and nodes about the topic that take part in analyzing different aspects of the topic within its reach of knowledge.
From a biological perspective, every node is a unique constellation of cells. Nodes are mainly formed in response to the external stimuli received through one of the input sensory organs or the internal stimuli which are prepared to trigger the output organs like speaking or limb movement. Nodes can also be formed because of brain’s own reasoning after some of the existing recipes and nodes are screened by other recipes. Generally speaking, brain is a collection of intertwined nodes that are tagged with addresses to relevant nodes and in which every node is able to replicate its perceived information upon evoking.
The most significant issues concerning the data storing or restructuring by brain are ‘how much of nutrition is available to the brain cells’ and ‘how focused the brain is’ the moment it has received or analyzed the information. A combination of satisfactory nutrition and interested brain facilitates the creation of new nodes or modification of existing ones. However, most of the time these conditions can only be maintained for a short period of time which renders the cellular adaptation and therefore the learning process generally a slow trend. This necessitates practice or in better words revisiting established nodes over and over again to re-nourish the memory cell constellation and make intended transformations. It is worth mentioning each time a node is revisited, whether it is aimed at storing or recalling information, the cellular constellation of the node structure would at least slightly be transformed. The transformation might happen for different reasons but mostly occurs to adapt to the reason that has caused the revisit.
RELIGION
The slow process of learning makes the environment by far the most effective means with regards to node formation. That is how a specific habit, culture, belief, or religion is established in brain. An absolute majority of religious people have come to believe in the religion they follow only by strengthening the nodes which had been planted in their brains since the times they hardly remember. In fact, long before a brain is sufficiently experienced to question the surroundings, nodes answering those questions have already been formed in line with the governing environmental circumstances.
The main reason making people create and embrace religion lies in their need to find answers to questions that lack conclusive answers. The most notable of such questions are ‘where have we begun’, ‘where are we heading’, ‘what for’, plus a whole range of other related why, who, what, and when questions. Religion can best be defined as any system of members who work actively or passively to unify their ideology regarding unanswerable questions. In extreme cases, the unification of ideology extends to include questions that may have definitive answers.
Religion, as established inside the brain, is for most part a collection of inter-tagged recipes that adapt the incoming information to the existing nodal structure or label them as false if they are found not to comply with the conditions required by at least one of the existing recipes. Usually, besides the nodes created as conclusive answers to the unanswerable questions, religion interferes with the formation of plenty of nodes covering all sorts of topics inside the brain of constituent members. Some of these affected nodes include routine daily practices which are tagged with correct and incorrect keywords or are carefully transformed in a way that are deemed to best serve the religious ideology. As time goes by, the network of religious nodes and their influence in decision making within brain grows larger which makes it increasingly difficult to convince the brain of its misconceptions.
Religious brains tend not to reexamine the credibility of the developed recipes or nodes when revisiting them for at least one of two main reasons. One reason is that brain itself prevents any reexamination because it contains a recipe that prohibits questioning the credibility of other recipes or nodes deemed as utterly correct or sacred. The alternative reason is that brain might give up any reassessment since it would take an enormous amount of concentration and nutrition for it to suppress or transform any of established religious recipes or nodes and to consequently readjust all related recipes and nodes, while in the meantime maintaining brain’s desired consistency level.
Majority of members in a religious system accept a certain practice or belief as correct or incorrect solely because others in the system consider it as such. This way of judgment encourages the religious mindsets to mostly outsource the decision making to others and convince themselves that some people within the religious system know the complete answers to the unknown. Yet, in fact, nobody knows the exact answers to the unknown. Should the answers had been known, the religion would have not existed at first place.
LOGIC
Whether created or revisited, the nodes are always checked for consistency and are mostly formed or reformed to support the general trend followed by existing nodes. The constant analysis of incoming information for consistency is performed by existing recipes. Normally, there is no strong reason for a brain to reevaluate the authenticity of existing recipes or nodes. However, there are certain situations which may force the brain to consider reassessing the validity of existing recipes or nodes. If needed, such reevaluations are more difficult for those recipes or nodes on which a growing number of other recipes and nodes rely for credibility. A brain which is willing to reevaluate every existing recipe or node within a specific topic is considered to have a logical approach within the framework of that topic.
The most serious test that reveals the religious or logical approach of a brain towards a topic occurs when conflicting information with high veracity is received by the brain. In a religious approach, brain labels the newly received information as false because it is unwilling to question the authenticity of the existing foundational recipes and nodes within the topic. On the other hand, a logical approach of the brain tends to evaluate the validity of the incoming information while at the same time slowly reevaluating the authenticity of the existing recipes and nodes. Unlike a religious brain, a logical brain sees a claim far from being a fact which needs to be supported by at least one piece of evidence. According to its final verdict on the issue, the logical brain may even discredit its most well-established recipes and nodes and start the tiresome process of restructuring a whole network of recipes and nodes within the topic. Such restructurings usually last for long durations of time as the growth of new recipes and nodes as well as scrutinizing process of all the relevant nodal structures and their subsequent ramifications need significant level of focus and nourishment.
The tedious procedure of reevaluating the existing recipes and nodes may cause challenging times for brains with logical approaches, at least during early stages. However, after this difficult initial period, information within such brains would be much better structured and supported by consistent recipes and nodes that make the future analyses much faster and more consistent.
It is important to note that every brain starts from a blank stage and develops in line with the nodes being formed within it. Because nearly the entire initial nodes are formed due to environmental stimulations, all brains in their initial form have religious approaches towards various topics. It is only after receiving credible conflicting information by an experienced brain that its logical character might be surfaced. A brain that has never received any reliable conflicting information has in fact had no reason to transform itself from religious to logical with regards to a certain topic.