Neural edelmanism

The recent book Neural Darwinism (ND) by Gerald Edelman, claims to put forward 'a radically new view of the function of the brain and nervous system'. Its main focus is on the understanding of the biological basis of perception. This new view is based on what Edelman calls 'The Theory of Neuronal Group Selection', the subtitle of his book. In spite of Edelman's lengthy and spirited account of this new theory, most readers appear to have had some difficulty in grasping his ideas and many have complained that the book is not easy to read. It has been particularly difficult to relate Edelman's ideas to those already current and well-known, especially as Edelman himself says rather little on this topic. In this critique I aim to set out Edelman's central ideas, as they appear to me, in a clearer and more digestible form. I examine both his general exposition of these ideas and the simulations he has presented to support them, giving page references so that the concerned reader can check my statements against the text. I have considered also Edelman's original papers, upon which the book is based, but I have not considered more recent papers which deal with matters (such as Darwin III) that are not covered in the book.