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Artificial Intelligence From the Bible

Sardis
(Short and Long-Term Memory/Sequence/Attention Layer, Hippocampal Formation)

Revelation 3:1-6

 
 

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Note: This interpretation is partially incorrect and subject to change at any time. See the latest news for more info.

Introduction

Sardis is my personal favorite among the churches. The metaphors are powerful and pregnant with meaning and subtlety. Sardis is essential to attention and short-term memory. One of the main functions of Sardis is to generate motor command sequences (behaviors). Precisely timed signals from Sardis are sent to Pergamum where they are selected for motor output.

As I explain below, the church of Sardis is also described in the book of Zechariah as the golden lampstand with the seven lamps, the two olive branches and the two golden pipes (Zech 4:2). This is identical to the golden lampstand that God commanded Moses to build on Mount Sinai. Obviously God attached a lot of importance to it, because he commanded Moses to have it placed inside the temple and to keep it lit continually.

Note. My interpretation of the two olive branches and two golden pipes of Zechariah is that they represent the paired outputs of Sardis. Why paired? Because Sardis sends its signals to Pergamum, the motor learning layer, where the signals are used as motor commands. There is a need for two complementary commands for every motor action, one for starting the action and the other for stopping it. It is possible that my interpretation is slightly off in this matter and that the paired parallel pathways really project from Pergamum rather than Sardis. After all, neurobiologists have identified two parallel input pathways projecting into the basal ganglia. I will have more on this when I take on the book of Zechariah.

There is a very tight relationship between Sardis and Pergamum as evidenced by the bi-directional pathway between the two. It seems that the organization of Sardis closely reflect that of Pergamum. The main difference is that Sardis can only retain memory traces for a very short time whereas Pergamum has either zero or permanent retention. As explained below, a memory trace is the temporal interval between two events.

Sardis is known as the dead church. My understanding is that the interval between incoming signals die temporarily (are recorded or memorized) before being resurrected. Note that there are aspects of Sardis that I have not yet figured out. I would appreciate any help in this regard.

Interpretation

3:1

To the angel of the church in Sardis write: He who has the seven Spirits of God and the seven stars, says this: 'I know your deeds, that you have a name that you are alive, but you are dead.

He who has the seven Spirits of God. As mentioned elsewhere in Revelation (4:5 and 5:6), the seven Spirits of God are the seven eyes of the Lord. The book of Zechariah (3:9) has a lot to say about these symbols. I interpret the eyes to be a symbol of perception. 'Seven eyes/spirits' seems to symbolize the organization of incoming signals into small groups of seven sequential signals.

Normally, when all seven signals arrive (i.e., are seen by the seven eyes) simultaneously, the neuron fires. As I will explain in my interpretation of Zechariah, sometimes the neuron fires even though it receives only a fraction of its input signals. This is needed for what is known as pattern completion, an essential capability in animals having to do with anticipation. I have more details on this issue in the Zechariah page.

And the seven stars. Apparently, this is mentioned so as to distinguish the seven stars with the seven spirits. But this could very well be different stars than the ones that the Son of Man holds in his right hand (Rev. 1:16). We know that a star is also an angel in the symbology used in Revelation. Is this the mechanism responsible for the seven-item capacity of short-term memory? We shall see.

You have a name that you are alive, but you are dead. I interpret this to mean that signals arriving at Sardis immediately die. That is to say, they are not immediately transmitted to the next layer. They are recorded for later retrieval (resurrection) or playback.

3:2

Wake up, and strengthen the things that remain, which were about to die; for I have not found your deeds completed in the sight of My God.

Wake up. Another translation is, be watchful. This metaphor is used repeatedly elsewhere in relation to the church of Sardis. To watch is to monitor the arrival of input signals. It is a way of saying that Sardis is a perceptual layer. However, there is more to being watchful or being awake than mere perception. The metaphor seems to refer to the phenomenon of attention. Unless the system is paying attention (is awake) to certain inputs, it will miss them. This implies some sort of sensorimotor canalization whereby only sensory channels that correspond to whatever sequence the system is currently focusing on (watching) are monitored. The other channels are ignored. Here's an interesting paper on canalization by Alexander Riegler that sheds some light on this subject.

Strengthen the things that remain, which were about to die. This is apparently an allusion to short-term memory (STM). STM traces are known to last only a very short time (10 to 20 seconds according to various sources) as the name implies. The idea seems to be that, by strengthening connections that fire often, STM memory traces become long term.

[Note: Although I have some ideas on the matter, the mechanism responsible for transferring STM traces into long term memory (LTM) still eludes me.]

For I have not found your deeds completed. This seems to indicate that Sardis is in constant flux and that there is always more work to do. However, I tend to believe that there is more to this verse than meets the eye. Completion may also refer to the act of permanently imprinting memorized intervals into LTM. This is probably the reason for the conjunctive adverb 'for' (meaning because) in the beginning of this sentence, to connect it with the preceding one.

In the sight of My God. This has a lot more meaning to it than one might suspect. Apparently, the actions of Sardis are monitored by the right hemisphere (my God) of the brain. This correctness of this interpretation is further reinforced in verse 3:5 below.

3:3

So remember what (how) you have received and heard; and keep it, and repent. Therefore if you do not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what hour I will come to you.

So remember what you have received and heard. There are several things to note here:

Remembering has to do with recording, which is what one would expect a memory network to do. But record what?

The adverb 'so' (synonymous with therefore) is telling. It connects the previous verse with the current sentence. In other words, "I have not found your deeds completed in the sight of My God, therefore remember how..." There is always more work for sleeping Sardis to do. Again, remember what?

Notice that the original text does not say "remember what you have received and heard" but "remember how you have received and heard." There is a big difference between what and how. This sentence tells me that there are two types of incoming signals (symbolized by received and heard) and that it is not the signals themselves that matter or even their individual times of arrival but how they arrive, i.e., how far apart they are from each other.

Sardis then seems to be recording the relative intervals between incoming signals. One would suspect that these intervals change from one moment to next, hence the admonition that "I have not found your deeds completed in the sight of My God."

The Importance of Recorded Intervals

Why is it necessary to record the intervals between events? Why is it so important to intelligence? The answer is that the proper relative order of events is needed for causal reasoning and motor timing. Reasoning is, in fact, a species of motor behavior. During playback, the generated signals must maintain the same relative temporal order that they had at the time of their recording. The reason is that the ability to detect motor conflicts (see Pergamum for more on conflict detection) depends on the relative order of motor commands. These commands are generated from Sardis.

Note that it is not the exact intervals that matter the most but the relative timing order. In other words, if all the intervals are halved or otherwise changed by the same percentage, it would not affect reasoning. Therefore, recorded events may be played back at a much faster rate. The result is that a system can think and reason extremely fast internally. This, of course, suggests that machines will be able to think much faster than humans. Why? Because they are not limited by the processing speed of biological neurons.

Consider also that the ability to replay recorded sequences at different rates is crucial to behavior. Sometimes we need to perform tasks at a faster rate than at other times.

And keep it. Another translation is, hold fast. This has to do with retaining or keeping what (the intervals) is recorded. Once recorded, an interval (or memory trace) must be kept but for how long? It does not say in this verse although I have evidence that the exact duration of short-term memory (in terms of neural cycles) is given in a different part of the book of Revelation. I will get to it in a future page. My understanding is that the recorded interval (i.e., the things that remain, which are about to die) is kept for a little while unless the memory is long term, in which case it is retained for an indefinite period of time.

And repent. To repent is to stop doing what one was doing previously and do something else. In this context, I think this means that whatever interval was previously recorded for a pair of signals should be discarded and replaced with the new one. The implication is that the system must always be ready to change its "mind" in the face of new sensory evidence.

Therefore if you do not wake up. This second emphasis on waking up is telling. Again, I believe it has to do with the mechanism of attention. It is evident that it is expected that the Sardis system will not be able to watch everything at all times, i.e., it shall be frequently distracted. After all we can only pay attention to just a few things at a time. Again we notice the use of the word therefore. As before, we must take it to mean that there is a connection between what was said previously in the message and what is about to be said. The verse can be rephrased thus: "Remember how you received and heard and keep it and repent. Therefore, if you do not wake up..." In other words, there is a connection between remembering and being awake. Unless one is paying attention to something, it will not be remembered.

I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what hour I will come to you. This seems to be saying that the interval between signals is never really known beforehand and is always subject to revision. So it is important to keep watching but, for obvious reasons, the system cannot pay attention to everything at the same time. More on attention later.

3:4

But you have a few people in Sardis who have not soiled their garments; and they will walk with Me in white, for they are worthy.

You have a few people in Sardis. The word translated 'people' here is literally 'name' in the Greek text. This is a clue that tells us that Sardis sends its signals to Pergamum where they are given a new name. The word 'name' here and in Pergamum is what I call a connecting label because it links one church to another. The word 'few' symbolizes the fact that these particular signals are rare. More on this later.

Who have not soiled their garments; and they will walk with Me in white: for they are worthy. The symbolic meaning of garments seems to be rather important because it is mentioned elsewhere (e.g., Zech.3:3, Rev. 16:15). It is apparently very important to be able to distinguish between clean and filthy garments. Only a few have clean garments. Notice that these few are not given new clothing but keep their original garments because they have not soiled them. I will have more to say on this subject when I discuss the book of Zechariah.

And they will walk with me in white. This tells us that output signals from Sardis are used for motor actions (walking). As mentioned previously, Pergamum is where walking takes place.

3:5

He who overcomes will thus be clothed in white garments; and I will not erase his name from the book of life, and I will confess his name before My Father and before His angels.

He who overcomes will thus be clothed in white garments. This does not seem to be referring to the few people who have not soiled their garments in verse 3:4. Here the reference is to those who are given white garments to wear, ostensibly because their old garments are dirty. Again, this will be explained further in the Zechariah page. Here is another verse in Revelation that speaks of garments:

Rev. 16:15
 Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed is he who watches, and keeps his garments, lest he walks naked, and they see his shame. Here the text does not mention filthy or white garments but the lack of garments. Shame and nakedness seem to be a reference to unfounded assumptions. Sometimes we behave (walk) under the assumption that certain things occurred or did not occur, only to find out later that we were wrong, hence the importance of paying attention (watching).

I will not erase his name from the book of life. This seems to indicate some sort of resurrection. Dead signals are somehow resurrected (played back). Notice the reference to 'his name.' This is another clue that tells me that output signals from Sardis eventually make their way to Pergamum where they are given a new name and used for motor output.

But I will confess his name before my Father. Father refers to the right hemisphere (see the preamble for more on this). This means that output signals from Sardis are also sent to the right hemisphere (1).

And before his angels. This part is what makes me wonder about the meaning of the seven stars in verse 3:1 (star is another word for angel). Are they the same as the seven stars that the Son of Man holds in his right hand (is it one angel for every church?) or are they specific to Sardis? I tend to think the latter. Why would these signals be sent to all the churches (cell assemblies) in the right hemisphere? And why would seven stars be mentioned in the message to Sardis? I have more thinking to do. (If the reader has a suggestion, please contact me.)

3:6

He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.

Indeed. I am trying as best as I can. Again, this is not the end of the Sardis saga. There is a lot more to learn from the book of Zechariah, things that are directly connected to the operation and function of Sardis. More on this in the near future.

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Scripture taken from the NASB®.

Next: Philadelphia

(1) Yet another falsifiable prediction for the science-minded skeptic. But wait a minute, this is already well-known. See, for example, "The case for a relationship between human memory, hippocampus and corpus callosum."

©2004-2006 Louis Savain

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