Thank you Jeff for the clarification. Indeed your theory does make sense. That said, I currently hold a different view, which I’ve outlined in this post:
Degree of specialization of each cortical column: If we view the cortex as a multi-agent system where each agent possesses its own knowledge, the degree of knowledge overlap between agents becomes a fundamental parameter. This can be visualized as a continuum with two extremes: on one end, each agent is the sole expert in its domain; on the other, each agent models the entirety of the system’s knowledge. Where should we place the cursor on this spectrum? The locality of lateral coupling between cortical columns in superficial layers suggests a “local” voting process, where a cortical column collaborates primarily with only a few dozen neighboring columns. In contrast, from my understanding, the TBP leans further toward the other end of the continuum, as it implies that even a cortical column from V1 could recognize and contribute to identifying complex objects, such as a cup.
I’ll give it more thought, especially in light of Artem Kirsanov’s new video, which helped me better conceptualize the key points where our views differ.