Models, Metaphors, and Intuition: How we think, learn and communicate

By Michael Ruhl Frank

My goal in this writing is to promote social consciousness and increase awareness and understanding of the “human condition” that we all share, and that ultimately binds us all in our future, and our fate. I endeavor to pursue that goal with a series of discussions on how we think, how we learn, and how we communicate against the backdrop of our own individual consciousness, and to do so in an accessible manner. These discussions will leverage similarities of the human brain to neural networks in computing and artificial intelligence – as it has become increasingly important recently to understand these concepts.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Eagle Harbour Publishing
• Release date: Nov 28, 2023
• ISBN: 9635245483

Book preview

Prologue

Toward a means for common understanding.

I have no formal training in the world's religions or psychology, and only elementary courses in philosophy. I also have no formal training in neuroscience. This writing is not intended to be a scientific or philosophical offering, but is rather the personal observations and opinions of a scientist. My formal education is in theoretical physics accompanied by a healthy dose of mathematics and computer science. The only real relevance of my training to this writing is that I would consider myself an observer of life or nature, and have a passion for understanding and describing it as simply as I can.

My intent is, therefore, to approach the topics in this book with a mind toward Occam’s razor – the simplest explanations are most likely correct. I’ll also attempt to make simple connections with your experiences by sharing my own, but will as much as possible limit my storytelling to making those connections in order to illustrate a point. I’ll be intentionally brief.

I've had the opportunity to pursue several careers in my life – chef, theoretical physicist, vice president at a major aerospace company, and now, with any luck, a writer. I've always considered myself a bit of a dabbler. I’m fascinated by many things, curious, and either courageous or foolish enough to think I could do them. I've lived in most regions of the United States and have traveled a substantial portion of the world. In short, I've lived – courageously – tried and failed at many things and occasionally, largely due to luck and timing, succeeded at a few. And I would say I've done this living with a background level of fear overcome only by a drive to improve myself through experiences and thereby increase my own worth.

I discovered at a young age that life was impermanent. Maybe through losing loved ones, or witnessing tragedy, or seeing scenes of death on television, I came to the conclusion that I too will one day die. I found it hard to sleep at night for many years after, and sometimes I still do.

It’s through this background of fear confronted by the desire to be more somehow, and my observations of life in general, that I’ve come to the conclusion that the fundamental motives of all animals are self preservation and self actualization or more simply, fear and desire.¹ For most animals, self actualization amounts to reproduction (propagation of the species) and self preservation is, therefore, the primary driver. We humans have the capacity for much more, and should hold ourselves to much higher standards. Self preservation is hard wired in our brains, but we can consciously adjust our thinking to encompass a broader sense of self – both in our preservation and in our collective actualization.

My goal in this writing is to promote social consciousness and increase awareness and understanding of the human condition that we all share, and that ultimately binds us all in our future, and our fate. I endeavor to pursue that goal with a series of discussions on how we think, how we learn, and how we communicate against the backdrop of our own individual consciousness, and to do so in an accessible manner. These discussions will leverage similarities of the human brain to neural networks in computing and artificial intelligence – as it has become increasingly important recently to understand these concepts. Finally, with hope and humility, I offer my perspective on a path toward improvement going forward.

I should point out here that I’ve used the term consciousness in two different ways – one being akin to awareness (e.g., social consciousness), the other (harder to define) being individual subjective experience.² And although I don’t intend this to be a rigorous philosophical writing, I’d like to be at least somewhat mindful of the difference as I consider it to be among the more fundamental questions facing humankind. So what I would offer regarding consciousness as subjective experience is this: You might be the most knowledgeable person in the history of the world about crows, but you don’t know what it feels like to be a crow – see through a crow’s eyes, hear a crow’s thoughts, feel a crow’s fears and affections.

Throughout the remainder of this work, I’ll try to be explicit in my meaning, if it’s not obvious, and will focus on what it feels like to be a conscious human. We each uniquely experience our selves – not just our bodily sensations, but also things like thoughts, hopes, dreams, and emotions. What’s common is the fact that we do. It’s what I consider to be our shared humanity.

Finally, the one caveat I’d like to make is that, throughout this book, you’re getting my opinion based on the background I’ve provided above. Whether right or wrong, it’s just opinion. It’s up to you to decide if it has any value or meaning. My hope is to provoke thought and maybe some improvement.

Introduction – establishing a baseline

It’s difficult to navigate the path ahead by looking in the rear-view mirror.

Evolution does not anticipate the future, but is rather governed by present and past conditions. A random variant survives based on its ability to adapt to the current environment, and the environment’s adoption of it. The current environment is, of course, the product of previous applications of this process, which we can trace back through time. This is an iterative process where the next iteration depends on the previous. However, as any student of regression analysis will attest, extrapolation of the past into the future assumes that future conditions very closely resemble the past, which in the presence of rapid change is likely a bad assumption.

Our technology is exploding faster than the evolutionary processes governing our culture can achieve. Using Moore’s Law³ as a benchmark for technology change implies a biennial pace of significant change. Biological evolution, on the other hand, happens at a scale of thousands or even millions of years. And although measuring cultural evolution or major cultural change is complicated, I would argue that it is at least multigenerational, and therefore on the order of a hundred or so years. In today’s world, we are consequently under constant pressure to adapt to new technologies without understanding the cultural implications.

So technology is driving our culture. Yet, in spite of global communication for example, we still largely operate in tribes – countries, races, religions, political parties, economic classes – that are focused on the betterment of their own at the exclusion of others rather than the survival and betterment of the whole. And many of those tribes now have the technological capability to destroy the whole. The accumulation of knowledge from one generation to the next is very visible in technology and science, but not as much in the knowledge of how to live well with ourselves and others – peaceful, compassionate, comfortable. Our thinking, understanding, and cultural norms must keep pace with our technological advances.

The human race and our magnificent brains may have evolved quite by accident. As our ancestors began walking upright in the heat of the savannas, their brains evolved an increased layer of adaptive neurons (neocortex) that served to both protect and replace neurons that might perish as a result of heat stroke (R. Ornstein, 1992, Chapter 6).⁴ This led to accelerated growth in brain size, and the adaptive capability and level of consciousness that makes humans so unique.

In modern times, as we’ve adapted to all climate conditions, that excess brain capacity has given us a wealth of technological advances, but our cultural evolution beyond tribal rivalries seems to have lagged significantly behind. In any case, we need to find a way to work together to avert our own self-destruction, and in my opinion understanding how we think, learn, and communicate is the key.

In general terms, communication is an essential evolutionary element. In order for a collection of individual things to become one coherent thing operating as a collective, communication must occur. In the simplest case, communication via chemical exchange facilitates a collection of solitary cells transitioning to a multi-cellular organism where each component has a negotiated role, perhaps based on proximity, that has evolved to benefit the whole. This evolution led to the development of a central nervous system and arguably to consciousness.

On a larger scale, the advent of goal-oriented thinking, learning, and communicating allowed nomadic hunter gatherers to transition to collective agriculturalists.

Reviews for Models, Metaphors, and Intuition

[deltaqueen50 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Chrome Yellow by Aldous Huxley was his debut novel and was originally published in 1921. Although a social satire of it’s time, I am afraid that this book hasn’t held up well as it seemed exceedingly dated to me. Unfortunately my take away from the book was that it was quite dull and largely pointless.The story follows Denis Stone, a young aspiring writer, as he goes to stay at a country house called Crome. Denis appears to be suffering from a case of puppy love, but the object of his desire seems to find him too young and is amused by his attentions. The other guests are a varied group of eccentrics and are apparently thinly disguised portraits of Huxley’s acquaintances in real life. Other than some historical lectures and a few religious sermons not a lot happens. I was crying out for a murder and a visit from Hercule Poirot to liven things up!As I mention above, Crome Yellow is the author’s debut novel and seemed to me a loosely disguised critique of various cardboard characters and their ability to pontificate about life, culture, philosophy, etc. without really saying very much at all.

[jonfaith · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Words - I wonder if you can realize how much I love them. You are too much preoccupied with mere things and ideas and people to understand the full beauty of words. Your mind is not a literary mind.

Goodreads is but a sea of possibilities, rife with points of contact albeit drifting and bobbing. Too often I don't hear the calls across the foamy expanses. It is with relief and gratitude that I thank Jim Paris for suggesting this novel.
Crome Yellow is Huxley's first novel.
It has wit and snark.
It overflows with pain and self-deprecation.
It takes place in a place called Crome.
It involves a bank holiday and there are references to oysters.

[dreesie-1 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Wealthy people hang out at someone's country house. They talk art, politics, philosophy, and wish they weren't single. They pine after each other or try to figure out who might be a possibility. The host holds the annual day-long fair and they all assist.There is definitely humor here, but it is 100-year-old upper class English humor, and doesn't really do it for me. The best and most interesting part is when Mr Scogan spends a page expounding on what he thinks will be life in the future. His world sounds like an outline for Brave New World--which this book predates by 12 years.

[soylentgreen23 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Clever, arguably too clever, since sometimes it's hard to keep track of who's doing what and why. Some great scenes, though.

[lynsey2-1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This is a solidly written novel with moments of humor and insight but overall a tad boring.

[leslie398 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

3.5★ I may up this to 4 stars -- I want to see how it lasts in my memory. This is a satire or comedy of manners so there is not much action. Various people are gathered at a country house for a visit which gives Huxley a chance to show us different types of 'bright young things' (this was published in the early 1920s). I found much to amuse me but it rarely made me laugh out loud.One character I found particularly funny was the local vicar, Mr. Bodiham: "He preached with fury, with passion, an iron man beating with a flail upon the souls of his congregation. But the souls of the faithful at Crome were made of india-rubber, solid rubber; the flail rebounded." A predecessor of Amos in Stella Gibbons' [Cold Comfort Farm]!There were indications of Huxley's masterpiece to come, [Brave New World]. For example, in this early passage by one of the guests (Mr. Scogan):"Eros, for those who wish it, is now an entirely free god; his deplorable associations with Lucina may be broken at will. In the course of the next few centuries, who knows? the world may see a more complete severance. I look forward to it optimistically. ... our descendants will experiment and succeed. An impersonal generation will take the place of Nature's hideous system. In vast state incubators, rows upon rows of gravid bottles will supply the world with the population it requires. The family system will disappear; society, sapped at its very base, will have to find new foundations; and Eros, beautifully and irresponsibly free, will flit like a gay butterfly from flower to flower through a sunlit world."Finally, a quote I love from this (also by Mr. Scogan):"After all, what is reading but a vice, like drink or venery or any other form of excessive self-indulgence? One reads to tickle and amuse one's mind; one reads, above all, to prevent oneself thinking."

[mreed61 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

4 1/2, but there's no half here. Oh, well. Eventually, this will get a full review at accidentallymars.wordpress.com.

[dinadansfriend · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This example of a country week end novel is the first published work (1921) by Aldous Huxley. In some ways this may have been a novel for the episode structure of "A Dance to the Music of Time". The characters show up, do a number of character revealing acts, chat about their lives, and very little happens in front of the readers. But Huxley is a good character drawing writer and I had a good time.

[steadfastreader · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Huxley's first novel. It lacks the organization and amazing storytelling of Brave New World but you can see that he is toying with the ideas that he will later use in Brave New World. This is a decent read, but I'd only recommend it for people who really enjoy Huxley.

[mlbelize · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

It wasn't bad - it just wasn't for me.

[kristelh_15 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Crome Yellow by Aldous Huxley published in 1921 was Huxley's first novel. It is a witty, satirical book about the British literati. It is set in a country home of Henry Wimbush in the town of Crome. The time period is just after World War I. Denis Stone, who sees himself a poet, is hopelessly in love with Henry’s niece. Mr Scogan is the rational person who discourses constantly and prefers the things of man and rejects nature. Priscilla Wimbush is immersed in the occult. Gombauld is the painter who is rejecting cubist art and painting reality instead. He is also painting a portrait of Anne. The author addresses sex in this book. He references that sex was only prudently treated in the 19th century but was enjoyed and fun in the earlier centuries. There is also Mary who would be an early woman libber seeking to express her sexuality without the restraints of society. The author uses many words that required looking up, at least for me and there is the sense that he is mocking language. A quote from the book on reading; “Human contacts have boon so highly valued in the past only because reading was not a common accomplishment and because books were scarce and difficult to reproduce…..”The proper study of mankind is in books.”
I liked the book but it wasn’t as enjoyable as his Brave New World but this is a quick read for those working their way through the 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die.

[daveskinner · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I read this so many years ago that I cannot recall the details, but I have kept the paperback for 40 years because the parts that are "Henry Wimbush's engaging accounts of his eccentric ancestors," have haunted me for all those years. It is probably the greatest thing I have ever read.

[cshoughton · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I feel a little guilty that I so enjoyed Crome Yellow, as if I'd been sitting for hours in a high school cafeteria making fun of nearly everyone else, especially my own friends.

[aaronmaples · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Huxley's first novel. As a reader of a number of his other works, this one I felt was quite light compared to some later works. Somewhat predictable love story at times, but still unfolds surprises along the way. Huxley does not disappoint by filling an estate with a bunch of intellectuals trying to one up each other in the context of the english countryside. I will always remember sleeping getaways with mattress on the rooftop reading stars while conversing across turrets- life dangering in the meantime.

[ursula_2 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I've never read anything by Huxley besides Brave New World, and I try to go into reading the books on the 1001 list knowing as little as possible, so I had no clue what to expect. (On a side note, one of the very annoying things about the 1001 book is that in the descriptions, they frequently spoil the book they're talking about. So now, I don't read their comments until after I've finished the book in question.) This was Huxley's first published book, and it's a satire which takes place at an English country home. The narrator is Denis, who is a poet. He's clumsily enamored of the host's daughter, Anne. Other characters include two other young women, one of whom has her own love problems and the other of whom is somewhat deaf, but as Denis discovers, that doesn't necessarily mean she misses what goes on around her; Henry, the host, who has opinions on everything and loves to share them at length; and Gombauld, an artist. The plot isn't particularly deep, but the plot isn't the point. It's really all about how these people interact with each other. If you were a contemporary of Huxley's and moved in the same circles, I'm sure reading this would make you smile and recognize people you knew. And for the modern reader, one of Henry's ideas sounds very familiar:"An impersonal generation will take the place of Nature's hideous system. In vast state incubators, rows upon rows of gravid bottles will supply the world with the population it requires. The family system will disappear; society, sapped at its very base, will have to find new foundations; and Eros, beautifully and irresponsibly free, will flit like a gay butterfly from flower to flower through a sunlit world.""It sounds lovely," said Anne."The distant future always does."I found it quite entertaining, and a short read. I also added at least 15 words to my vocabulary (I don't think Huxley ever met a word he didn't like).

[greatrakes · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Crome Yellow is the first early Huxley I have read and I am surprised it isn't more widely talked about. A very funny dissection of the moneyed classes of the 1920's, far better in characterisation and wit than Waugh's Vile Bodies, in my opinion.The 'hero', Denis, a hopeful young poet, is a guest at Crome, the ancestral home of Henry Wimbush, whose history of the previous inhabitants, he recites whenever he can, and is his only interest. Denis tangles with a recovering Cubist painter, a successful writer called Barbecue-Smith, Mary, a virgin obsessed by the dangers of repression and dreaming constantly of wells and towers, and a demented vicar hoping beyond hope for the end of times. The most grotesque character is Mr Scoggins, a rationalist who looks forward to a future which has a strong resemblance to Brave New World.I really enjoyed this book.

[isabelx_21 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Young poet Dennis Stone attends a country house party at Crome. There are lots of philosophical conversations about artistic matters, the host tells interesting stories about his ancestors and Dennis suffers the pangs of unrequited love. I don't get the title; Crome is the name of the house and village, but why Yellow? The house is built of rosy brick, not of golden Cotswold stone so it's not that.

[cdeuker · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Someone says that this book is a bit like an Agathie Christie novel without the murder. I like that--a group of intellectuals, young and old, are staying at a country house right after WWI. They discuss art, love, literature, and history. Much of it is very entertaining--the intellectual back and forth reminded me of MY DINNER WITH ANDRE. The characters, unfortunately, are basically mouthpieces for ideas. When Denis--near the end--contemplates suicide, my response was . . . "Oh, well." His love for Anne is similarly a yawner. Even though I wouldn't want to read "idea" novels all the time, I'm delighted to have read this one, and I'll read more Huxley in the future.

[tronella_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

So this is some kind of... presumably satire about a bunch of people sitting about in their country house telling each other their opinions and/or complaining about their unrequited love for each other. It was fun to read, although the main character especially is particularly irritating. The best-written parts, in my opinion, were the parts describing the history of the household and its former occupants - the story about the couple with dwarfism whose son was really tall was particularly well done.I definitely liked this the least of the three Huxley books I've read, but it was still pretty good.

[takeitorleaveit_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Huxley's first book at a ripe and young adolescence age and OH is he aware of it! Huxley has no problem with the extreme vulnerability of his lead character, to the point of letting his jealousy get in the way of the novel sometimes. It is also one of the most genuinely melancholy books I have ever read. If I had to compare it to an album it would possibly be Beck's 'Mutations'. However, he shows fleeting glimpses' of future Huxley as his older characters have a flair for history, one even writing a large and silly history of the town 'Crome' (a British countryside town) that includes a dwarfish lord who kills himself and his wife, a family of beautiful women who pretend not to eat but lock themselves in a basement at night downing chickens and hams, amongst other stuff. the history is not the most important part of the novel, the ultimate feeling of character development and the strong sense of description and criticism is what is so rich in this novel and what made me so excited to pick up every page. Although it was his first it cannot be called raw as it is better than many writers greatest works. Huxley is a writer's writer other than the few books he is known for, and any male between the age of 20-24 who feels angst and discontented with the melancholy of his stature in relationships and the surroundings he finds himself in will adore 'Crome Yellow.' It's very much something that Morrissey would read in his youth. PS check out the vintage cover of the copy I scored at this rad book shop in Venice, California!

[pghdragonman · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Very slow moving, maybe because the narrative is very detailed, the story is nonetheless worth reading if you are a student of Huxley's time or of Huxley. This story is most notable for an encounter between a man and a woman who, because the night was so hot, moved their mattresses to a roof and spent the night outside together. When the novel was first published, this was considered absolutely scandalous. This novel, and more specifically this passage, is considered by many literary historians as signaling the end of the Victorian Era.

[912greens · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

There is a passage in which a minister tries to beat his sermon against the "rubber souls" of the congregation. I thought that this might have been an inspiration for the Beatles? But have since heard other theories on the origins of their Rubber Soul.

[grunin_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

[This started out a little slow; then I went to the audiobook, and the characters came to life. After a couple of chapters, I then went back and forth, audio when commuting, book when sitting still.]There are several passages here that show the kernel of "Brave New World" (1932) to have been fully formed in 1921, at the latest. I recommend it to those who are curious about this, and also to anyone much familiar with the culture of postwar England. Others may find the satire opaque or pointless.