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I’ve thought about this a lot and read the thoughtful comments of the people who posted before me. I am still having some trouble conceptualizing the way in which this battery-operated system works.

So, back to the idea of random movement of ions… It makes sense that random movement occurs, based upon Professor Grobstein’s explanation of ion concentration within and outside a neuron being a statistical phenomenon. Extrapolating the idea of randomness from the microcosm of signal transduction to the effect of that random movement, namely outputs without inputs, for me begs a question: what sorts of outputs result from this random movement? Are they visible (to an observer) behavioral outputs? Are they autonomic processes of which we are not aware that mediate physiological processes? If no two brains are alike, and each brain capable of myriad cables connected to boxes, connected to other boxes… are some organisms more susceptible or likely to experience outputs without inputs? Is there some sort of “potential” energy stored that initiates the turning “on” of the battery?