--- abstract: | This article uses coordinated database, physics and evolutionary considerations to suggest how the mind stores and processes its data. A) The comparison is made between the capabilities of the mind and those of a modern relational database while conserving phenomenality. The strong structural similarity of the two systems leads to the conclusion that the mind may be profitably described as being a network of “mental databases” (i.e. databases with phenomenal capability). This is the MD hypothesis. The need for bidirectional material-to-mental bridging and addressing indexes is shown. This is the Neural Index (NI) hypothesis. The MD and NI hypotheses taken together constitute the MDNI hypothesis. B) A strength shown by the MDNI theory is that it engenders proposals for answering questions relating to gaps in current knowledge. Among others, examples are: Question 1) How does the brain show such plasticity in repairing injuries? Answer 1) By recreating indexes from protected mental data. Q2) What are the Darwinian advantages of consciousness? A2) Economy of material resources such as brain weight and facilitation of evolution, among others. Q3) Why can’t the NCC of phenomenal events, such as the feeling of pain, be seen through scanning and other brain activity investigation methods? A3) They take place in the mental domain. Q4) Is consciousness causal or epiphenomenal? A4) Causal. C) The MDNI hypothesis is situated in a Penrosian expanded physical environment requiring Darwinian evolutionary continuity, modularity and phenomenality. This last property cannot in principle be generated or even simulated in Turing machines (i.e. all digital computers) modeling the brain, however much complexity, multiprocessing and interconnection takes place. The MDNI hypothesis is shown to contribute to the clarification of other matters concerning the brain/mind, such as its stability, causality and binding capabilities. It is also used to give a new interpretation of Libet’s work. The concept of the progressive “emergence” of consciousness as biological evolution advanced is shown to be false because consciousness must have existed from a relatively early period in brain evolution. D) The question of what neural correlates of consciousness (NCC) between sensorimotor data and instrumented observation one can hope to obtain using current biophysics is investigated. It is deduced that what is seen using the various brain investigation methods reflects only that material part of current activity transactions (e.g. visualizing) which update and interrogate the mind, but not the contents of the integrated mental database which constitutes the mind itself. This approach yields reasons why there is much neural activity in an area to which a conscious function is ascribed (e.g. the amygdala is associated with fear), yet there is no visible part of the brain’s electromagnetic or quantum activity which can be clearly identified as phenomenal. altloc: [] chapter: ~ commentary: ~ commref: ~ confdates: ~ conference: ~ confloc: ~ contact_email: ~ creators_id: [] creators_name: - family: Brown given: Ken honourific: Mr lineage: '' date: 2006-12 date_type: published datestamp: 2006-12-12 department: ~ dir: disk0/00/00/52/94 edit_lock_since: ~ edit_lock_until: ~ edit_lock_user: ~ editors_id: [] editors_name: [] eprint_status: archive eprintid: 5294 fileinfo: /style/images/fileicons/application_pdf.png;/5294/1/MDNIText.pdf full_text_status: public importid: ~ institution: ~ isbn: ~ ispublished: unpub issn: ~ item_issues_comment: [] item_issues_count: 0 item_issues_description: [] item_issues_id: [] item_issues_reported_by: [] item_issues_resolved_by: [] item_issues_status: [] item_issues_timestamp: [] item_issues_type: [] keywords: 'Database, index, memory, modular, mental, consciousness, neural correlates of consciousness, cognitive neuroscience, semantic, phenomenal, evolution, quantum physics.' lastmod: 2011-03-11 08:56:43 latitude: ~ longitude: ~ metadata_visibility: show note: 'The approach taken by this article is fertile. Having been expanded to produce this version, it is being being further expanded for the next.' number: ~ pagerange: ~ pubdom: FALSE publication: ~ publisher: ~ refereed: FALSE referencetext: |- Allman, John (1999), Evolving Brains (New York: Scientific American Library, 1040-3213; no. 68) Anahory, Sam and Murray, Dennis (1997), Data Warehousing (Essex: Addison Wesley) Baars, Bernard J., Banks William P, Newman James P. (2003), Essential Sources in the Scientific Study of Consciousness (Massachusetts: MIT Press) Block, Ned (1994) On a Confusion about a Function of Consciousness (Behaviour and Brain Sciences). The part of interest here is the descriptions of access and phenomenal consciousnesses Chalmers, David (1996), The Conscious Mind, (Oxford: Oxford University Press) Churchland, Patricia (2002), Brain-wise, (Massachusetts: MIT Press) Crick, Francis (1993), The Astonishing Hypothesis (London: Macmillan Library Reference) Davies, Paul (2006), The Goldilocks Enigma, (London: Penguin Group) Dawkins, Richard (1989), The Selfish Gene (Oxford: Oxford University Press) Dennett, Daniel C. (1991), Consciousness Explained (London: Allen Lane) Eddington, Arthur (1954), The Mathematical Theory of Relativity (Cambridge University Press) Eibl-Eibesfeldt, Erenäus (1989), Human Ethology (New York: Aldine de Gruyter) Feynmann, Richard, (1998) Six Not So Easy Pieces (London: Penguin) Gazzaniga, Michael, Richard B. Every, George R. Mangun (2002), Cognitive Neuroscience (New York and London: W.W. Norton) Gribbin, John, (1995), Schrödinger’s Kittens (London: Weidenfeld and Nicholson) Hofstadter, Douglas R. (1979) Gödel, Escher and Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid (New York: Basic Books) Koch, Cristof (2004), “The Quest for Consciousness”, p. 34 (Colorado: Roberts and Co.) Libet, Benjamin (2004), Mind Time (Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press) Lorenz, Konrad (1977), On Aggression (New York: Bantam Books) Mills, Robert (1994), Space, Time and Quanta, (W. H. Freeman and Company) Nagel, Thomas (1972), What Is It Like to Be a Bat? The Philosophical Review 83, pp. 435-50. Penrose, Roger, (1989), The Emperor’s New Mind (Oxford: Oxford University Press) Penrose, Roger, (1994), Shadows of the Mind (Oxford: Oxford University Press) Penrose, Roger, (1997), The Large, The Small and the Human Mind (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press) Pinker, Steven (1994), The Language Instinct (London: Penguin Press) Scott, Alwyn, (1995), Stairway to the Mind (New York: Copernicus) Searle, John R. (1992), The Rediscovery of the Mind (Cambridge: MIT Press) Wilber, Ken, (2001), Quantum Questions (Boston: Shambhala) Included because it gives the reflections of great quantum scientists on the implications of their own work. relation_type: [] relation_uri: [] reportno: ~ rev_number: 10 series: ~ source: ~ status_changed: 2007-09-12 17:08:49 subjects: - bio-phys - comp-neuro-sci - bio-evo succeeds: 4521 suggestions: |+ I have recently been invited to become a reviewer for the "Second European Cognitive Science Conference" which will take place in 2007 (I mention this only to show that I am recognised as possessing some knowledge of cognitive science). I believe that this article has the virtue of showing innovation - no-one to my knowledge has made either the basic MDNI proposition and many of the supporting observations are important, if confirmed as true. The preceding version of this article was submitted to "Cognitive Science". The editor was most encouraging but felt that it was too broad in comparison with the normal articles in his journal, with which I agree. However, the approach does need all the supporting arguments from several different disciplines for it to hang together (this is why there are many keywords). He did however wish for a copy of the next version (i.e. this one). His comments are in the "Comments and Suggestions" box of the 2005 version of this paper, entitled "The "Mental Database". The editor (Dr Goldstone) changed at the beginning of this year. The reason for changing the title from the singular "The Mental Database" to the plural "The Mental Databases" is that there are many databases in the brain, connected together in a network. sword_depositor: ~ sword_slug: ~ thesistype: ~ title: The Mental Databases type: preprint userid: 4666 volume: ~