A Mind is Born (256 bytes) (Youtube Music Video)

¿Puede una mente nacer en 256 bytes? (Edición Español)

Synergy suggests that complex systems like the brain exhibit emergent properties that cannot be explained solely by their individual parts. This is reflected in the groups of neurons that coordinate at specific frequencies to generate perception, memory, or consciousness. 

The idea that neurons function as antennas is based on their ability to transmit electromagnetic signals, since in addition to action potentials (chemical electrical signals), they generate weak electromagnetic fields recorded in EEG. 

Because of this, some theories speculate that they could interact with environmental fields such as Schumann waves or infrasound, or even with "temples" (mechanical/energetic vibrations).

Studies on brain oscillations (such as the work of Rodolfo Llinás) support this hypothesis of bioantennas proposed by scientists such as Persinger or Hameroff in the context of quantum consciousness.

These synchronizing vibrations can be reinterpreted as resonant vibrations, frequencies that facilitate neuronal synchrony (binaural beats, music, mantra meditation, ritual dances) and alter brain states.

If neurons are sensitive to frequencies, external synchronizations could modulate their activity, creating states of synergistic coherence (trance, creativity), reducing the "noise" of the system, and creating coherent patterns (chaos theory and attractors), a connection that opens doors to the vibrational consciousness studied by thinkers such as Ervin Laszlo and David Bohm.

How does all this connect with the milestone achieved by Linus Åkesson in his demo "A Mind is Born"?

With an executable of just 256 bytes, Linus used several extreme programming tricks to reduce the code to a minimum with self-modifying keys, similar to how a brain emerges from basic neuronal interactions.

This program rewrites itself at runtime to save space, allowing parts of the code to be reused for multiple purposes. This means that the melody is not stored as data, but is generated by a mathematical algorithm.

The same is true of the on-screen shapes, which are generated using logical and arithmetic operations rather than sprites or bitmaps.

Extreme compression with overlapping code and procedural generation makes some parts of the code do double duty, allowing a single instruction to affect both the music and the graphics.

What's amazing about this study? It's that code is also data! For example, some bytes of the program are interpreted as opcodes (instructions) and others as values ​​for music/graphics, allowing the program to take up less space by not having a strict separation between rules and information, similar to what is reflected in the lack of separation between "observer" and "observed" in perception.

Through this experiment, Linus Åkesson suggests that there is no consciousness, but rather an illusion of agency where the system seems to "decide" which notes to play, like neurons that "decide" to fire.

The mind (or its simulation) emerges from simple rules, whether in 256 bytes or in 86 million neurons.

The universe as a self-interpreting program suggests that the brain and computers are "holographic synthesizers," issues that do not distinguish between signal and processing, just like this system where the line between data and code is blurred (as in Jacobo Grinberg's theory). 

Thus, consciousness could be an emerging "demo," a loop where code (physical laws) and data (experience) feed off each other. 

A pertinent Grinberg quote would be: "Reality is a unified field where observer, observed, and process are indistinguishable" (just as in "A Mind is Born," where code, execution, and output are one).

❤️ Special thanks to the demoscene culture members for giving me such an interesting research topic ♥️