INCESSANT TRANSMISSION 9/22 



obtained simply by the taking of more fibres, whether by growth in 

 embryogeny or by some functional taking-over in learning. 



The full impact of this theorem on neuropsychology has yet to be 

 felt. Its power lies not so much in its ability to solve the problem 

 "How does the brain overcome the ever-increasing corruption of 

 its internal messages?" as in its showing that the problem hardly 

 arises, or that it is a minor, rather than a major, one. 



The theorem illustrates another way in which cybernetics can be 

 useful in biology. Cybernetic methods may be decisive in the 

 treatment of certain difficult problems not by a direct winning of the 

 solution but by a demonstration that the problem is wrongly con- 

 ceived, or based on an erroneous assumption. 



Some of today's outstanding problems about the brain and 

 behaviour come to us from mediaeval and earlier times, when the 

 basic assumptions were very different and often, by today's stand- 

 ards, ludicrously false. Some of these problems are probably 

 wrongly put, and are on a par with the problem, classic in mediaeval 

 medicine : what are the relations between the four elements and the 

 four humours ? This problem, be it noticed, was never solved — what 

 happened was that when chemists and pathologists got to know more 

 about the body they realised that they must ignore it. 



Some of our classic problems in the brain — perhaps some of those 

 relating to localisation, causation, and learning — may well be found 

 to be of this type. It seems likely that the new insight given by 

 cybernetics may enable us to advance to a better discrimination; if 

 this happens, it will dispose of some questions by a clear demonstra- 

 tion that they should not be asked. 



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