Practopoiesis: Or how life fosters a mind

The mind is a biological phenomenon. Thus, biological principles of organization should also be the principles underlying mental operations. Practopoiesis states that the key for achieving intelligence through adaptation is an arrangement in which mechanisms laying a lower level of organization, by their operations and interaction with the environment, enable creation of mechanisms lying at a higher level of organization. When such an organizational advance of a system occurs, it is called a traverse. A case of traverse is when plasticity mechanisms (at a lower level of organization), by their operations, create a neural network anatomy (at a higher level of organization). Another case is the actual production of behavior by that network, whereby the mechanisms of neuronal activity operate to create motor actions. Practopoietic theory explains why the adaptability of a system increases with each increase in the number of traverses. With a larger number of traverses, a system can be relatively small and yet, produce a higher degree of adaptive/intelligent behavior than a system with a lower number of traverses. The present analyses indicate that the two well-known traverses-neural plasticity and neural activity-are not sufficient to explain human mental capabilities. At least one additional traverse is needed, which is named anapoiesis for its contribution in reconstructing knowledge e.g., from long-term memory into working memory. The conclusions bear implications for brain theory, the mind-body explanatory gap, and developments of artificial intelligence technologies.Comment: Revised version in response to reviewer comment

The fossil tragulids of the Siwalik Formations of Southern Asia

Tragulids are common in the Early Miocene through Pliocene Siwalik faunas of the Indian Subcontinent where they are represented by as many as 17 species. Large collections of Siwalik fossils have recently been made by collaborative projects from Harvard University, the University of Arizona, the Geological Survey of Pakistan, and the Pakistan Museum of Natural History. The collections together comprise over 3700 specimens, including dental, cranial, and postcranial elements. Most of this fossil material is from northern and southwestern Pakistan from well-dated stratigraphic sections. The oldest definite tragulids are from the Early Miocene Vihowa Formation and are around 18.7 Ma, while the youngest are in the Pliocene Tatrot Formation and are 3.3 Ma. The fossil tragulids of the Siwaliks differ from the extant species in a number of ways. Importantly, they have a much wider range of body sizes, ranging from 1 to nearly 76 kg. Consequently the small species overlap with the smallest species of extant Tragulus, while the large species approach medium size bovids and cervids. Compared to other ruminants, Siwalik tragulids are also relatively abundant and species rich. Although the status of some described species is uncertain, preliminary analysis indicates there are many as yet undescribed species. Three genera are known and typically at least four species co-exist at any one time during the Miocene. The history of the south Asian tragulids can be correlated to documented environmental changes. The Siwalik deposits formed in a large fluvial system, with mostly forested or wooded low relief floodplains having abundant cover and fruit. Isotopic analyses of tooth enamel and soil carbonates indicate the vegetation was dominated by C3 plants until 9 Ma, after which there was a shift to a more seasonally dry monsoon climate, undoubtedly accounting for a Late Miocene change in the relative abundance of tragulids