Dietmar Dietrich – författare

To be able to merge the psyche with the neural system has been a long-sought goal. There is much scientific literature on results from research on this topic, but the goal of this “booklet” is to present the subject in a nutshell and to attract a wider audience to this highly complex topic. Scientists often need years to grasp the scope and implications of merging the psyche with the neural system. Does that really have to be the case? What does the simulated model look like? What are the underlying philosophies? Can it be understood without mathematical formalism?

Uniting the psyche and neurology in one model, on the one hand, allows psychological and social theories to be tested on a scientific basis using simulation experiments. On the other hand, a model developed according to the functional structures of the human brain, let us call it the Psi-Organ, which comprises neurology and psyche as one unit, can serve as a basis for AI systems. These can be systems with cognitive capabilities that save human lives, save energy, ensure safety at airports, provide support in caring for the elderly and much more. In other words, systems that can simplify our lives in the most relevant ways and on a broad basis. This model, the Psi-Organ, goes far beyond today''s primarily behavior-based AI methods.

The declared goal of this book, an extended and revised translation of the German edition (2021), is to show how a unified model of the psyche and body can be developed via insights from psychoanalysis, neurology and computer technology. On the one hand, such a model allows for the testing of psychological and social theories on a scientific basis with the help of simulation experiments. On the other hand, the model developed according to the functional structures of the human brain and psyche provides the basis for artificial intelligence systems. These are systems with cognitive capabilities that can save human lives, save energy, ensure safety at airports, provide support in old-age care and in the medical field; in other words and generally speaking, systems that can simplify our lives in a relevant way and on a broad basis.

A great deal of time and money is invested in genetic engineering and neurology, but research into the mental apparatus in the context of the neurological part, i.e., modeling the brain in a holistic way, is sparse in every respect. However, the results of the scientific project SiMA, of which the first author has been a driving force, show that the research of this organ, which in the authors’ understanding includes the mental apparatus, as a whole, is quite feasible today. This is also the main message of the book, which addresses topics such as artificial intelligence, the brain, psychoanalysis, behavioral models, complexity, bionics of the mental, emotions and feelings, consciousness and awareness, preconscious and unconscious, the functional (and not only behavioral) description and modeling of the brain and especially of the mental apparatus, and some more.

In the world of technology, there is generally little interest in psychoanalysis, whereas in the world of psychoanalysis, people usually refuse to deal with mathematics and technology, especially computer technology. Is there an information theory of the brain on the one hand, and of computer technology on the other hand? The authors attempt to answer this question from both sides. With the goal to reach as many readers as possible and to provoke, the authors break with traditions and give space to new forms of thinking and argue that it is crucial to take a new path in automation, in artificial intelligence and in (technical) cognitive science, but also in psychoanalysis and neurology, in order to create a common basis for scientific and technical possibilities that have been previously inaccessible.

Can psychoanalysis offer a new computer model? Can computer designers help psychoanalysts to understand their theory better?In contemporary publications human psyche is often related to neural networks. Why? The wiring in computers can also be related to application software. But does this really make sense?

Artificial Intelligence has tried to implement functions of human psyche. The reached achievements are remarkable; however, the goal to get a functional model of the mental apparatus was not reached. Was the selected direction incorrect?The editors are convinced: yes, and they try to give answers here. If one accepts that the brain is an information processing system, then one also has to accept that computer theories can be applied to the brain’s functions, the human mental apparatus.

The contributors of this book - Solms, Panksepp, Sloman and many others who are all experts in computer design, psychoanalysis and neurology are united in one goal: finding synergy in their interdisciplinary fields.