[Comp-neuro] From Socrates to Ptolemy

[G. Bard Ermentrout]

We've established that there is no "noise" in the nervous system. Now lets 
take on the shibboleth of "realistic" models. So, I will ask you all 
why a model with 10000 compartments with dozens of active channels, none 
of which has been measured (or probably can be with current techniques) is 
more realistic than an abstracter model about which one can prove or argue 
with some rigor is capable of explaining the underlying phenomena. I think 
one can easily go to far in simplifying, but one can also err in the 
opposite direction.

Bard