Artificial Intelligence From the Bible

Thyatira
(Motivation and Action Selection Layer, Amygdala and Motor Cortex)

Revelation 2:18-29

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

Introduction

Thyatira is the center of motivation. As such it plays a major role in attention, action selection and classical/operant conditioning. Without Thyatira there would be no goals or desires and no fears or dislikes. Thyatira rules behavior by associating motor sequences with good or bad consequences. It receives its inputs from Sardis and sends output signals back to Sardis. It also receives input signals from visceral sensors, either pain or pleasure.

One of the biggest problems a behaving system must face is the following: there is a limited number of motor effectors available at any one time. This is known as the action selection problem. As we have seen in the message to Pergamum, it is easy to detect and correct the two types of motor conflicts that occur during a given behavior or motor sequence. But what if there are several behaviors competing for the same limited resources?

To solve the problem, motor resources must be allocated to one behavior at a time so as not to cause motor conflicts. So which sequence should be given priority? Prioritizing behavior sequences is the job of Thyatira. Sequences are ranked according to their outcome or consequences. Thyatira tries to discover temporal correlations between motor sequences and pain and/or pleasure stimuli. This is essential to operant and classical conditioning.

This brings us to another problem a behaving system must deal with: blame or credit assignment. Which of the preceding motor sequences should be associated with a given pain or pleasure stimulus. More on this below.

Interpretation

2:18

And to the angel of the church in  Thyatira write: The Son of God, who has eyes like a flame of fire, and His feet are like burnished bronze, says this:

Who has eyes like a flame of fire. These are the seven spirits of God (see Sardis). They symbolize perception.

His feet are like burnished bronze. Another translation is, his feet are like fine brass. As mentioned in the interpretation of Pergamum, feet have to do with walking, i.e., motor actions. Fine brass means that motor connections are refined through experience, i.e., all motor conflicts are resolved over time, leaving only tried and tested connections. An important part of the symbolism of feet is the idea of steps or sequences of steps.

2:19

I know your deeds, and your love and faith and service and perseverance, and that your deeds of late are greater than at first.

I know your deeds, and your love. To love a person is to direct him or her toward behaviors that are potentially rewarding and away from behaviors that may result in pain or discomfort. The implication is that Thyatira receives visceral inputs and is able to associate certain behaviors with either pain or pleasure.

And service. Thyatira just performs a service for others, i.e., for Sardis (eyes) and Pergamum (feet).

And faith, and your perseverance. Faith and perseverance have to do with waiting and hoping for something to happen. In this case, Thyatira must wait for pain or pleasure signals to arrive. It discovers temporal associations between visceral signals and motor sequences. There is no way to precisely predict when and if a visceral stimulus will occur after a given action. Hence the need for patience.

And that your deeds of late are greater than at first. The King James translation is, And your works, the last more than the first. This is apparently referring to the idea that the most recent associations take precedence over the oldest. It may also have to with the fact that the most recently performed motor sequence should receive the strongest association with following visceral stimuli.

2:20

But I have this against you, that you tolerate the woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess, and she teaches and leads My bond-servants astray so that they commit acts of immorality and eat things sacrificed to idols.

Who calls herself a prophetess. Prophetess implies that Jezebel is associated with making predictions? In this sense, she symbolizes an anticipatory signal. Notice that Jezebel just calls herself a prophetess which means that she is not a true prophetess. Most of the time, she may just be guessing about a future consequence. There may be a blame/credit assignment problem in the works. In other words, it is not easy to determine which preceding actions should be rewarded or punished.

She teaches and leads My bond-servants astray. Teaching and leading can only mean that there is some sort of correlation between Jezebel and God's servants, probably on the basis of her predictions (or prophecies). Teaching does imply that Jezebel, somehow, engages in fornication with more than one of God's servants at a time. Symbolically, this probably means that she does know enough to properly assign blame or credit to preceding behaviors. So she assigns them to several behaviors at a time (she fornicates).

So that they commit acts of immorality and eat things sacrificed to idols. As I wrote in the Pergamum page, fornication (acts of immorality) and idolatry have to do with generating conflicting motor commands. But there is a limit to what Pergamum can do to correct motor conflicts. It can only handle conflicts within individual motor sequences. Multiple sequences running concurrently would certainly induce conflicts due to the sharing of limited motor resources. If Pergamum were to correct these conflicts, it would only result in destroying the motor sequences. This is not desirable. There must be a way to keep competing or conflicting sequences from running concurrently.

2:21

I gave her time to repent, and she does not want to repent of her immorality.

And I gave her time to repent. This seems to mean that it takes time to ascertain whether or not an actual conflict (fornication) has occurred.

She does not want to repent of her immorality. Why does it say her immorality? Obviously Jezebel must be involved with more than one sexual partner at a time. She married the king of Judah (or was it Israel? I can't remember right now) although she was not an Israelite and was already married to someone else. But is her immorality the same as the immorality mentioned in the message to Pergamum? Apparently not since fornication in Pergamum had to do with motor output. This seems to imply that Jezebel symbolizes the act of assigning blame (or credit) to more than one sequence at a time. In other words, she correlates a pain or pleasure input to more than one behavior (sequence of actions) at a time.

2:22

Behold, I will throw her on a bed of sickness, and those who commit adultery with her into great tribulation, unless they repent of her deeds.

I will throw her on a bed of sickness. Some translations do not mention sickness. This could also be alluding to sleep. To be cast into a bed is to be rendered weak and ineffective: to be disabled.

And those who commit adultery with her into great tribulation, unless they repent of their deeds. This indicates that the particular motor sequence(s) associated with a given visceral input is (are) temporarily disabled.

2:23

And I will kill her children with pestilence, and all the churches will know that I am He who searches the minds and hearts; and I will give to each one of you according to your deeds.

[Note: I am still working on Sardis and I will have more to say on the issue of behavior sequences soon. For now, suffice to say that a sequence involves both input (eyes) and motor output (feet). The big problem that I am trying to iron out is: how are sequences played back? and by whom? At least we know it's not Jezebel as she only tries to seduce the servants of God.]

And all the churches will know that I am He who searches the minds and hearts. The OT Greek the word translated 'minds' is literally 'reins.' This is both humorous and powerful. It is humorous because reins (kidney) and hearts are the sort of things that will immediately cause a modern scientist to wince. After all, we, the enlightened, know that we do not think with our hearts and kidneys. But remember, Revelation is a purely allegorical text. It is not talking about hearts and kidneys. These words are metaphors that stand for other things.

The kidney has traditionally stood for the seat of reason whereas the heart symbolizes the seat of emotions. I am He who searches means that sequences are continually searched for both motor conflicts and motivational relevance. One of the advantages of having preset sequences is that they can be searched (scanned) prior to actually doing anything.  This is what we normally call 'thinking' or 'reasoning' and it can be done by temporarily disabling motor output.  It is clear that this ability is not available to all animals.

And I will give to each one of you according to your deeds. This means that each motor sequence has a motivational strength (negative or positive) based on its prior association with pleasure and/or pain stimuli of various strengths. The idea here is that there is a blame/credit assignment problem which is resolved by competition among motor sequences. The strongest one always wins. If two sequences have equal motivational strengths, then I suppose one must be chosen at random.

2:24

But I say to you, the rest who are in Thyatira, who do not hold this teaching, who have not known the deep things of Satan, as they call them--I place no other burden on you.

Who do not hold this teaching, who have not known the deep things of Satan, as they call them. This means that not all outputs from Thyatira are correlated to (i.e., are fornicating with) more than one sequence. 

I place no other burden on you. Nothing else for Thyatira to do.  

2:25

Nevertheless what you have, hold fast until I come.

Do not forget learned pain/pleasure correlations.

2:26

He who overcomes, and he who keeps My deeds until the end, TO HIM I WILL GIVE AUTHORITY OVER THE NATIONS;

This means that Thyatira has powerful control over motor output. As will be seen in the discussion on Philadelphia. motor signals are used to train the supervised layer or Laodicea (the nations or the gentiles). 

2:27

AND HE SHALL RULE THEM WITH A ROD OF IRON, AS THE VESSELS OF THE POTTER ARE BROKEN TO PIECES, as I also have received authority from My Father;

Rod of iron means strict control.

Broken into pieces means that motor control is organized into many individual sequences competing for attention.

As I also have received authority from My Father. 'My Father' signifies the right hemisphere. This tells me that the left hemisphere's amygdala receives connections directly from the right hemisphere. This is how the right hemisphere gains behavior control over the left. Yet one more falsifiable prediction for the scientifically minded.

2:28

And I will give him the morning star.

I am not sure about the meaning of this. A morning star (usually the planet Venus) is the only star bright enough so as to be seen after daybreak. We already know that 'star' is another word for angel. The message to Sardis also mentions seven stars, and angels figure prominently in Zechariah's vision. Somewhere in Revelation it says that the Son of Man is the bright morning star. This is all interelated but the exact metaphor still escapes me. I will have to get back to this later.

2:29

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

More to come.

__

Next: Sardis

©2004-2006 Louis Savain