Page 14 - PULSE- JULY -2020

something that no one is sure of in the human device drivers are very variable according to the
brain. The brain drives signals, but that “our
brains may also have software like an overlay
over neurons” is a relatively newer concept. If
some part of computer malfunctions, there can
be various reasons from the motherboard to the
connecting cables and maybe end components.
But if we think that the end component is the
reason for failure and repair for the same, the
error will be resolved if only our assumption
was correct. In other cases, if the cables or
motherboard are faulty, no matter how good we
repair or even change the component, the error
won’t be resolved. There are very fair chances
that our assumptions may be correct, but not
always. The approach is not as good if we start
from the motherboard end. Prosthetics are in well
use now, but they don’t always work as we expect.
Embedded computers have a predefined set of
instructions. It can’t process every kind of new
information they work the way they are defined,
which is homologous to earlier processing organs
of organisms.
Every computer system is not the same. Even two
very similar ones from the same manufacturer
and same model are different from software
perspectives in the account of a serial number,
configuration, and environment variables. Some
parts of the software are ubiquitous among
systems (mainly kernel) and may exist as a
standard among different device categories
(Android Phone and Linux). The common part is
responsible for the main working and stability of
devices. Components can be of different types
and may be attached to different approaches, but
the kernel treats them similarly. There is middle
software called device drivers, which allows
the kernel to interact with various hardware;
components. Every human being is different
by the identity of a person, and also the internal
system of different humans is similar but not the
same. The number of neurons in different persons
is distinct from each other. The attachment points
and junctions are different too, but they still work
the same, which indicates that there must be
something that is the same over species. If we
ask a computer to display a picture and it does,
we need not to bother about all underlying
processes happening as the driver takes care of
that. Similarly, while we think of lifting our hand,
some neurons are firing up automatically that we
may not be necessarily aware of.
Are they not the same?” I asked myself one day,
and despite no good evidence and reasons, I
believe that we work similar to a computer system,
and yes, variabilities are there, but there must be
a common core. So mapping the common part
is something we need to do to understand the
working of the brain. Then if we wish to design
prosthetics, we can work on individual variability
and may also find some way to interact with the
core. This approach can help people with paralysis
and other neuron defects more than just putting
prosthetics to damaged organs.