Gerhard Werner
Encyclopedia
Gerhard Werner is a medical doctor and scholar active in research covering areas of pharmacology
, psychiatry
, cognitive neuroscience
, especially neurodynamics, artificial intelligence
, and complexity
theory. During his career, and continuing after his retirement in 1989, he published just over a hundred scientific papers and held administrative posts in government, academic and corporate institutions.
Werner graduated from the University of Vienna
Medical School in 1945, and continued studies in mathematics, theoretical physics, and later Psychoanalysis
. He joined the World Health Organization
(WHO) and served in Calcutta, India and Sao Paulo
, Brazil. He worked at Cornell Medical College and Johns Hopkins University
with Vernon Mountcastle
. He was instrumental in introducing the neuropharmacological use of Succinylcholine. Werner became Chairman of the Pharmacology Department, and later Dean of the Medical School, at the University of Pittsburgh
. He served in the Veteran's Administration (VA) in Pittsburgh, and later was a consultant to Motorola
.
As a member of National Institute of Health (NIH), he was involved in the early development of the prototype for the personal computer during the LINC
project. At the University of Pittsburgh
, he helped develop an early AI-driven medical expert system - the PROPHET system
. He has a long-standing interest in the theoretical grounding of brain-related dynamical systems.
After encountering the constructivist concepts of Humberto Maturana
, Werner moved away from representationalism as a way to explain the nature of how brain and mind enable knowledge of reality. Like Walter Freeman and the late Francisco Varela
, Werner espouses dynamical systems theory in place of representationalism.
Currently, Werner is Adjunct Professor with the Department of Biomedical Engineering at the University of Texas at Austin
.
Pharmacology
Pharmacology is the branch of medicine and biology concerned with the study of drug action. More specifically, it is the study of the interactions that occur between a living organism and chemicals that affect normal or abnormal biochemical function...
, psychiatry
Psychiatry
Psychiatry is the medical specialty devoted to the study and treatment of mental disorders. These mental disorders include various affective, behavioural, cognitive and perceptual abnormalities...
, cognitive neuroscience
Cognitive neuroscience
Cognitive neuroscience is an academic field concerned with the scientific study of biological substrates underlying cognition, with a specific focus on the neural substrates of mental processes. It addresses the questions of how psychological/cognitive functions are produced by the brain...
, especially neurodynamics, artificial intelligence
Artificial intelligence
Artificial intelligence is the intelligence of machines and the branch of computer science that aims to create it. AI textbooks define the field as "the study and design of intelligent agents" where an intelligent agent is a system that perceives its environment and takes actions that maximize its...
, and complexity
Complexity
In general usage, complexity tends to be used to characterize something with many parts in intricate arrangement. The study of these complex linkages is the main goal of complex systems theory. In science there are at this time a number of approaches to characterizing complexity, many of which are...
theory. During his career, and continuing after his retirement in 1989, he published just over a hundred scientific papers and held administrative posts in government, academic and corporate institutions.
Werner graduated from the University of Vienna
University of Vienna
The University of Vienna is a public university located in Vienna, Austria. It was founded by Duke Rudolph IV in 1365 and is the oldest university in the German-speaking world...
Medical School in 1945, and continued studies in mathematics, theoretical physics, and later Psychoanalysis
Psychoanalysis
Psychoanalysis is a psychological theory developed in the late 19th and early 20th centuries by Austrian neurologist Sigmund Freud. Psychoanalysis has expanded, been criticized and developed in different directions, mostly by some of Freud's former students, such as Alfred Adler and Carl Gustav...
. He joined the World Health Organization
World Health Organization
The World Health Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations that acts as a coordinating authority on international public health. Established on 7 April 1948, with headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland, the agency inherited the mandate and resources of its predecessor, the Health...
(WHO) and served in Calcutta, India and Sao Paulo
São Paulo
São Paulo is the largest city in Brazil, the largest city in the southern hemisphere and South America, and the world's seventh largest city by population. The metropolis is anchor to the São Paulo metropolitan area, ranked as the second-most populous metropolitan area in the Americas and among...
, Brazil. He worked at Cornell Medical College and Johns Hopkins University
Johns Hopkins University
The Johns Hopkins University, commonly referred to as Johns Hopkins, JHU, or simply Hopkins, is a private research university based in Baltimore, Maryland, United States...
with Vernon Mountcastle
Vernon Mountcastle
Vernon Benjamin Mountcastle is Professor Emeritus of Neuroscience at Johns Hopkins University.He discovered and characterized the columnar organization of the cerebral cortex in the 1950s...
. He was instrumental in introducing the neuropharmacological use of Succinylcholine. Werner became Chairman of the Pharmacology Department, and later Dean of the Medical School, at the University of Pittsburgh
University of Pittsburgh
The University of Pittsburgh, commonly referred to as Pitt, is a state-related research university located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. Founded as Pittsburgh Academy in 1787 on what was then the American frontier, Pitt is one of the oldest continuously chartered institutions of...
. He served in the Veteran's Administration (VA) in Pittsburgh, and later was a consultant to Motorola
Motorola
Motorola, Inc. was an American multinational telecommunications company based in Schaumburg, Illinois, which was eventually divided into two independent public companies, Motorola Mobility and Motorola Solutions on January 4, 2011, after losing $4.3 billion from 2007 to 2009...
.
As a member of National Institute of Health (NIH), he was involved in the early development of the prototype for the personal computer during the LINC
LINC
The LINC was a 12-bit, 2048-word computer. The LINC can be considered the first minicomputer and a forerunner to the personal computer....
project. At the University of Pittsburgh
University of Pittsburgh
The University of Pittsburgh, commonly referred to as Pitt, is a state-related research university located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. Founded as Pittsburgh Academy in 1787 on what was then the American frontier, Pitt is one of the oldest continuously chartered institutions of...
, he helped develop an early AI-driven medical expert system - the PROPHET system
PROPHET system
The PROPHET system was an early medical expert system.The system was initiated in about 1965 by a young administrator at NIH, William Raub, who had the idea to set up a collaborative communication network modeled on Arpanet, for use among biomedical investigators to share data and procedures, with...
. He has a long-standing interest in the theoretical grounding of brain-related dynamical systems.
After encountering the constructivist concepts of Humberto Maturana
Humberto Maturana
Humberto Maturana is a Chilean biologist and philosopher. He is considered a member of the second wave of cybernetics, known for developing a theory of autopoiesis about the nature of reflexive feedback control in living systems.- Biography :After completing secondary school at the Liceo Manuel de...
, Werner moved away from representationalism as a way to explain the nature of how brain and mind enable knowledge of reality. Like Walter Freeman and the late Francisco Varela
Francisco Varela
Francisco Javier Varela García , was a Chilean biologist, philosopher and neuroscientist who, together with his teacher Humberto Maturana, is best known for introducing the concept of autopoiesis to biology.-Biography:...
, Werner espouses dynamical systems theory in place of representationalism.
Currently, Werner is Adjunct Professor with the Department of Biomedical Engineering at the University of Texas at Austin
University of Texas at Austin
The University of Texas at Austin is a state research university located in Austin, Texas, USA, and is the flagship institution of the The University of Texas System. Founded in 1883, its campus is located approximately from the Texas State Capitol in Austin...
.
The origin and current use of the concepts of computation, representation and information in Neuroscience are examined and conceptual flaws are identified which vitiate their usefulness for addressing the problem of the neural basis of Cognition and Consciousness. In contrast, a convergence of views is presented to support the characterization of the Nervous System as a complex dynamical system operating in a metastable regime, and capable of evolving to configurations and transitions in phase space with potential relevance for Cognition and Consciousness.
-Perspectives on the Neuroscience of Cognition and Consciousness,
Pages 82-95, BioSystems 87, 2007