Example of neurons usefully communicating without synapses found in flies [LINK]

post by Sniffnoy · 2012-11-23T23:25:43.019Z · LW · GW · Legacy · 2 comments

Or, yet another obstacle to WBE.

http://www.the-scientist.com/?articles.view/articleNo/33350/title/Neurons-Talk-Without-Synapses/

OK, apparently ephaptic coupling is old news, but this seems to be the first example where we can say just what it does and that it is doing something useful.

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comment by lukeprog · 2012-11-24T01:52:53.442Z · LW(p) · GW(p)

PDF.

comment by pewpewlasergun · 2012-11-24T07:07:15.465Z · LW(p) · GW(p)

Would this really make WBE emulation much harder? We already know som neurons synapse with several thousand others, so adding a few hundred adjacent neurons doesn't seem that much more difficult.