Re: Senescence

["John M" <***>]

Jamie,
an interesting mechanism-explanation for a nonmechanical complexity process.
I deem it a valid semantical support for things hard to express in other
terms.
It specifies visualizably the "essential components" I was talking about.

Also exciting Sally's finding (I did not hear it so far) and want to ask
her - based on many microtomical electronmicroscopy I did myself - whether
she did experience the re-attachment of the "floating" dendrites to *other*
neurons explicitly, or just noticed a 'meandering away'? In the latter case,
knowing the almost 2D - like observation in the frozen EM thin layer - it
could well be by some movement of the 'connectivity-spot' out from the plane
of the cut layer - mistaken for a separation. EM id not that specific.
(I haven't communiacted with her for a decade, could you provide a valid
e-mail address?)

Thanks

John M
----- Original Message -----
From: "James N Rose" <***>
To: <***>
Sent: Sunday, November 30, 2003 7:52 PM
Subject: Re: Senescence


> Have you ever seen the pictures of Rave's (the kids'
> dance club scene) and concerts where someone is held
> aloft and floated along above outstretched hands and
> arms holding them up?
>
> Life (an organism) is supported in its 'being' in
> much the same way by all the biochemistry and activity
> of its riotous makeup.  A minimum bustle of correct
> activity must be maintained to keep the person 'up-there',
> or a living body functional.
>
> If too many support activities are removed, 'life
> support' cannot be maintained, cannot be brought
> back.  The rest of the support organization
> moves to other states and other connections.
>
> An intersing similarity exists in the brain.
> Sally Tarrant Cobb did a marvelous analysis
> in the 1970's from microtome cross sections.
>
> She discerned that dendritic synapses aren't
> fixed once they are in place in the brain.
>
> The synapses are more like local-amoebae,
> constantly dissolving and reforming in a
> dance of conncetion.  I described this at
> an Emergence conference in Holland in Feb 2000
> as being like the mind being held in place,
> by those arms and extended hands at a concert,
> constantly aboil in flurrying activity to hold
> up the mind as an active reality; here, the
> dendtritic lengths and amoeboid ends writhing
> in contact with one another.
>
>
> Dynamic systems (complex systems) 'maintain'
> as long as the undersupport of activities exist.
> That simple, that basic (even if the vast networks
> of those supports is not easy to specify).
>
> Jamie