

![0_image_0.png](0_image_0.png)

Although much of the computations are done in parallel, this is not the parceling out of computational tasks to different processors by taking advantage of the parallel components of the algorithm, which is what happens in what is technically called "parallel computing" [5]. Rather, here the entire data is seemingly *pushed* into a variety of autonomous processors, quite as a stream of water is pushed into various channels with different function, justifying the term stream computing. The higher-order processor cannot be generic and it must use specific application knowledge to design it.

## The Biological Context

There is a wealth of experimental evidence from neuroscience that suggests that the conscious mind "creates" its reality in order to have a narrative that is "consistent" with the information reaching it from various specialized modules. This is seen most clearly in subjects who have suffered brain injury where the effect becomes most pronounced. In the 60s and the 70s, Kornhuber and Deecke performed a series of experiments to measure the correlation between electrical activity in the brain (EEG) and a voluntary act. They found that the EEG from the area corresponding to the finger in the motor cortex for a subject who is about to move a finger starts to build up several hundred milliseconds before the conscious decision to make the act is made [6]. The conscious mind appears to label such an act its own free decision although one might dispute this. Libet et al, in a variation of this experiment, showed that the EEG potential appeared to increase about 0.3 seconds before the subject made his "conscious choice" to flex his finger. These results are in agreement with the idea of the cortex constructs a model that is consistent with the mediating experience [7]. Likewise, blindsight subjects can see the completed Kanizsa triangle in their supposedly blind field. This indicates that the space of our visual experience is located outside of the visual cortex. 