Conjecture 1.6: Foundational brain structures primarily communicate problems for resolution

Establish that foundational brain structures primarily function to communicate sensed problems efficiently in a common form from cell to cell, enabling separation of distinct problems and their resolution by suitable actuation mechanisms, rather than to extract information for evaluation and learning.

Background

Extending cellular and multicellular principles to the nervous system, the authors propose that neuronal circuits propagate problem signals (e.g., via electrical activity) to coordinate action across tissues, minimizing sensor activity through feedback.

This conjecture reframes classical views of brain computation, asserting that function emerges from problem communication and resolution rather than explicit information extraction.

References

Conjecture 1.6: Foundational brain structures are not extracting information to evaluate and learn from, but communicating sensed problems efficiently in a common form from cell to cell, so that each detected problem is separated and resolved by a suitable actuation mechanism.

— A Foundational Theory for Decentralized Sensory Learning (2503.15130 - Mårtensson et al., 19 Mar 2025) in Conjecture 1.6, Section “Neurons and Networks” (Introduction)