Forming a Thought

by Nita L. Sturiale

Nature is a continuous transformation of energy, from galactic motion to starlight to tree to seasonal cycles to human to idea. Though genes and culture are intimately linked the rate at which they each evolve is different. Though culture changes very quickly it is limited by the inherent abilities of brains. The interaction between individual brains and cultural information is a dynamic system of transformation and change. This continuous system moves with wavelike patterns.

/\ Slice from large-scale map of known Universe by M. Geller and J. Huchra - dots indicate galaxies.

Every organism is a living map of time and interaction in nature.

Every artwork and sciencework is a physical record of memories, ideas and information. They are also maps of the human brain.

Anything that records an interaction, the movement of one thing through another, can be considered a map.

The neuronal connections that represent the growth and learning one has experienced throughout life, a series of stroboscopic photographs of a milk drop falling through air, the path of ones footsteps through a park, each is a map of interaction. As the cut marks of a figure skater's path through ice store information about the speed, direction and weight of the body, a map stores information about its creator.

Maps are the external storage of memories. These external databases enable an organism to compare past and distant events with present ones. In the case of land maps, users can locate where they are now, where they have been and where they might want to go. Brain maps can be images of the physical structures of the brain as well as show complicated interconnections of an individual brain's neuronal pathways>>