More evidence for a Society of Mind model, complete with economics: The Brain Economy by Michael L. Anderson over at Forbes.
Together with fMRI, DTI and connectomes offer an unprecedented opportunity to understand how the brain operates. This is similar to learning about a city from looking at a map. You could easily find major highways, and would expect them to connect the most important parts of the city. Places where many roads converged might signify congregation and distribution points–ports, markets and the like. Now imagine being able to test these guesses with real-time infrared imaging.
You could note the arrival of raw materials as they enter the ports and make their way to the various factories, warehouses and distribution centers. Seeing activity alone wouldn’t tell you what was happening; seeing structure alone wouldn’t tell you how it is used. But together, we can begin to analyze and understand the commerce of the city.The brain has just such an economy, where the raw materials of perception are gathered, processed, transformed and distributed in accordance with the dictates of a complex network of business and consumer relations.
