20240402 : Transducers...

Transducers

Came across this word recently when I was reading something. Hadn't come across it for a while.

Its a word and concept I learnt in my electronics course (either in 12th or my 1st year engineering course I am not very sure now)

A transducer, very plainly speaking, is something which helps bridging the analog world with the digital world. 

For example, take the very simple digital thermometer in our homes. They can't directly measure temperature in digital form. They have a transducer inside which converts the temperature from a analog/ real world scale to a digital world scale so it can be displayed.

Generally speaking, we can say it helps bridge the real world with the digital world.

When I had my stroke and I was told I will struggle for balance, I was not able to understand why. My understanding (based on my school learning) was that balance is maintained by the inner ears. Of course we were not told how and I never bothered to ask. I just knew balance was maintained by the inner ears.

Some days back, I attended a session where they happened to explain the how it does it. Its fascinating to understand it.

Anyway, I realised that the inner ear mechanism is only a transducer acting as the bridge between the brain world and the real world. The brain world, while it has electrical activity, it's far more complex than just that. 

The inner ears don't maintain balance at all. It just gives the information from the real world and the brain is the one who is doing it. 

Currently, after the stroke, my inner ears, the transducers, are doing their part well but the digital (complex brain part) is not interpreting the readings correctly.

Same with my nostrils, my ears (hearing), tongue (tasting), etc, etc.

In short, all the transducers are doing their jobs correctly just the brain is not interpreting the readings well.

Come to think of it, the entire body is nothing but a bunch of transducers for the brain (and the mind inturn). It has evolved and honed the transducers over hundreds of millions of years to do its job well.

We humans have evolved our senses (set of transducers) to do a few basic things (as land creatures). Survive, grow/nurture itself and multiply. Other animals have evolved their transducers for doing the same things in thir environment. Nocturnal creatures have a more evolved sight, other creatures have a very evolved sound perception, some can use sound navigation, some can eco locate with sonar, etc.

Which poses the question, why? Why did it do all this to do just 3 basic things (survive, replicate, nurture)?

I think the mind (or consciousness) is from somewhere else. Somewhere where there are no boundaries of time and space.

It has come here to this time and space bound point (either by accident, by choice, or by reason/ consequence of something else).

This consciousness came here (this time and space bounded dimension several millions of years ago by our common time. It needed to learn where it is and evolved all the relevant transducers (body) and its interpretor (the brain) to get that understanding of space and time here.

What it wants to do, why it wants to do it, i have no idea....

But the thought certainly suddenly depreciates the value of the body to a 3rd class citizen.

Just a bunch of transducers for the brain, which is itself just an interpreter for our consciousness (our minds)...