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WILL BRAIN FUNCTION BE REVEALED VIA GenAI MUSIC? Part I: Hardware vs. Wetware: Structural Complexity By Mark Anderson
Why Read: Having previously provided members with a new definition of How Music Works, regarding brain/brain communications linked to human brain structure and function, in this issue we go further and propose how we can play to the natural-language context abilities of generative AI to gain a new understanding of the brain. _______ There is about as much similarity between today's neural networks and the structure and function of the human brain as there is between spider droppings and shooting stars: all four exist in the same universe. This week, I am going to propose an exciting and audacious potential future method for gaining a better understanding of the brain, based on - of all things - getting help from the advanced neural nets in the generative AI (GenAI, or GAI) family. And before the GAI Kool-Aid drinkers in the Valley assume this is part of the GAI hype rollercoaster: we are going to a much more interesting place. We're going to look at GAI music - and its potential role as a brain probe. In doing so, I'll be providing a continuation of the ideas first expressed in the Global Report of July 28, 2021: "SNS: How Music Works." For those who have access to the SNS archives, I highly recommend reviewing that piece before moving forward. Here are two excerpts from that issue to get us on track [emphasis in original]: I suspect that at least 80% of SNS members either are programmers, know how to program, or understand programs. And that, therefore, most of you are also musicians, or are passionate about listening to music. And, to a somewhat lesser degree, are good at math. When we make patterns of these intervals, we have made music. In this specific sense, music is not related to mathematics; music IS mathematics. And the neural impulses that hit our brain when we're listening to music are identically mathematical. The Structure of Music and the Structure of the Brain Many people have studied the brain's reaction to being exposed to music - which we'll return to at the end of this piece. But here's an example of something that varies a little bit by culture, but is almost universal: If I play you a C Major chord, it makes you feel happy. If I play you a C Minor chord - just one half interval different in the central tone - it makes you feel sad. Wow. Forget the electrodes, prods, and wet labs. As a composer, I can control your brain simply by playing one of those chords - something that every composer knows. In the simplest terms, it is the job of the composer's brain to create patterns of mathematical intervals that activate mirrored neural structures in the listener's brain. And: Summary Whether you're playing Chopin's "Ballades" on the piano or Led Zeppelin's "Stairway to Heaven" on your car stereo, you and your friends are enjoying a feast of mathematical patterns. If this sounds strange, cold, or just unromantic, it shouldn't - it turns out that this is the native language of your brain, and of all brains. There are many fascinating confirmations about all of the above, including - but not limited to - the phenomenon of "waking up" patients with advanced dementia, so well-documented in the film Alive Inside. [Ed. Note: See "Member Spotlight" profile of director Michael Rossato-Bennett, below.] Add to this the question of the "Mozart effect" in both improved test performance of students (if real) and the potential benefits to children in brain development given an environment of classical music; the use of music by professional athletes in achieving peak performance; and the potential for actual brain repair using music. Brains neither operate nor natively communicate in sounds. And the works of the most famous songwriters, rock bands, and classical composers are famous because those brains were the best at mirroring the mathematical patterns that match our own neural structures. This opens the door to another interesting idea: at a time when scientists are aching to find the proper tools for gaining a deeper understanding of how the human brain is organized, and functions - it turns out we already have an amazingly accurate and successful technology for probing virtually every part of the brain. It's called music.
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