On the Origin and Nature of Cognition

This monograph is an extension of the earlier monographs dealing with the application of the new modified involuted manifold model. This monograph has two objectives. Firstly, it seeks to integrate neuronal organization with cognitive functionalities. Secondly, it tries to formalize a structural template of cognitive functionalities. It is based on the postulate that cognitive functionalities are essentially natural phenomena and therefore amenable to formal naturalistic description. Therefore, it employs a topological model of spacetime proposed earlier to define a new framework wherein neuronal networks occupy the four-dimensional configurations of spacetime, and cognitive functionalities occupy higher dimensional configurations of spacetime. Using the Darwinian conception of natural selection, the monograph outlines a model of natural selection operating at more than one level. Thus, natural selection at the four-dimensional configurations of spacetime leads to structural agnosticism so prevalent in neuronal organization. At the same time, natural selection at the higher dimensional configurations of spacetime leads to natural selection of cognitive functionalities. Since the proposed model offers a new computational paradigm formalized in another monograph, this monograph provides a new way to formalize cognitive computations. 

The author is a retired scientist. He has a doctorate with postdoctoral research experience. He was a chief executive of a database management company employing a team of scientists. He has been a technical advisor to the pharmaceutical industry in India specializing in new drug discovery and computer chemistry. However, he has been developing a new philosophical foundation of modern scientific thought for the last thirty years. At present, his four monographs are under various stages of publication. The list of research papers of author's graduate and doctoral research work are available on ORCID # 0000-0002-9984-7847.