Phantom Sensations: What's a Brain to Do? A Critical Review of the Re-mapping Hypothesis

I will review the most widely held account of phantom sensations; the “re-mapping hypothesis.” According to the re-mapping hypothesis, amputation is followed by significant neural reorganization that, over time, restores the alignment between the brain’s representation of and the actual condition of the body. Implicit in the re-mapping hypothesis is the view that the brain’s primary function is to accurately represent the body. In response, I propose an alternative theory, the “preservation hypothesis.” The preservation hypothesis argues that the primary function of the brain is to preserve the entirety of the brain’s structures and functional capacities. While these issues concern empirical matters, assessing our views on the subject discloses deeply held assumptions regarding the brain’s primary function; does the brain operate to provide an accurate representation of the body? Or, does the brain operate solely to preserve its structures and functional capacities in their entirety

REBOOTING BAKER V. SELDEN IN ORACLE V. GOOGLE

With the Supreme Court poised to rule on Oracle v. Google, the long-running suite of cases involving the copyrightability and fair use of a software interface called an API, the case typifies the difficult fit of copyright protection to software. This Note takes a close look at the code at issue and argues that the nature of software innovation is better suited to patent protection: object-oriented code, such as the Java language at issue in this case, evolves through a process of copying and tweaking, or in coding terms, modularity, abstraction, and inheritance. Thus, an IP regime which allows for such evolution (namely, patent) encourages such innovation whereas copyright, with its broad exclusive rights over derivative works, does not. The ill fit of the copyright regime is also exemplified by the carving out of copyright-free (“copyleft”) spaces where coders and software innovation thrive. Nor do the concerns motivating copyright protection of protecting creative expression make sense in software development, where the goals are efficiency, productivity, and readability of the code. Thus, the Supreme Court should return to the principles of Baker v. Selden and plant the boundary marker keeping § 102(b) functionality on the patent side of copyright-patent boundary