This draft outlines Marshall Nirenberg's "speculations" as to the analogous relationship between the genetic code and the neural code. This talk was Nirenberg's most complete account of his considerations of the neural code and its relationship to the genetic code. When Nirenberg was asked to participate in a symposium on mental retardation in 1969, he insisted that his speech not be published as it was overly speculative and therefore did not meet the standards of his other scientific work. This draft of this speech compares the genetic code that directs protein synthesis with the neural code that directs neural processes. Topics covered in the talk include information storage and retrieval, questions of origins and evolution, and molecular-level mechanisms.
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