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Journal of Consciousness Exploration & Research| May 2017 | Volume 8 | Issue 5 | pp. 401-422
Tumanishvili, G. G., Exploration on the Plausibility of Digitizing Individual Self & Realization of Immortality
Exploration
Exploration on the Plausibility of Digitizing
Individual Self & Realization of Immortality
George G. Tumanishvili*
Ilia State University, Georgia & Masaryk University, Czech Republic
ABSTRACT
This paper presents a theoretical description of steps needed for digitalization and transfer of an
individual’s self, and a concept of practical realization of immortality of the individual self.
Keywords: Self, infself, memory, digitalization, immortality.
1. Introduction
The essence, nature and, consequently, the mortality-immortality of a person’s “self” has been a
challenging issue for the people for millennia. Existential questions, which the people ask in
different ways depending on various stages of their development – who am I? where from? why?
where to? what for? – are in fact related to an inexhaustible desire to understand one’s own
‘self’. The issue of mortality-immortality of the ‘self’ is directly linked to all the pagan or
religious beliefs, which a person has in regards to the his/her association to the unknown, or to
some part of the whole, where his/her ‘self’ is immortal at a certain extent, as far as it represents
a part of the immortal transcendent whole, which the person believes in.
For many millennia, discussions about the person’s psyche, cognitive processes, consciousness
and his/her ‘self’ has been limited to the discourse in a so-called black box, which looked like a
discussion about a certain subject. Whereas every doctor specialized in a narrow field would be
able to directly observe a particular organ and study it, the human mind was a construct, which
was not observable, with the direct meaning of this word. It was also complicated to perform
other observations, inter alia, to measure various quantities.
Diverse approaches, which emerged and then developed in psychology, are linked right to the
individual viewpoints of the author regarding the psyche and the nature of cognitive processes,
and not to the particular measurable and observable experiments.
In regards to the question about what a thinking process is as such, and how the things existing in
the outside world are transformed into the ones in the inner world (receiving-learning, coding of
information), perception-identification of one’s own ‘self’, storing and restoring information, the
nature and function of neurons, features of mirror neurons – there is a possibility linked to the
above-mentioned issues and achievements in contemporary neuroscience to make the discourse
*Correspondence: George G. Tumanishvili, Ilia State University, Georgia. E-mail: georgetumanishvili@gmail.com
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associated with a person’s ‘self’ go beyond the scopes of viewing this phenomenon by the
authors, and to move it to an absolutely different stage of scientific discussion.
There are various terms to describe the ‘self’ in various languages, in a popular and scientific
literature. The literature in English uses the terms - Self12, Ego.3 The word “Self” provides the
ground for forming various words-terms,4 and there are also many composite words with
different contextual meanings.5
For the sake of accuracy of terms, there will be a term Infself used in this paper for defining the
contents of ‘self’. This is a term I have created and it represents information6 accumulated from
the respective stage7 of an embryo and received in any form; and the perception/understanding of
its wholeness (or its constituent) within the limits of time conditionality, provides a conscious
feeling of one’s self, as a carrier of this informational content and as a single continuous entity.
Correspondingly, when I have to express the whole contents of ‘self’ in this research, namely –
“self” (with a lexical-contextual meaning of this word), where I first and foremost imply the
information, using which makes one be conscious, I will be using the above-mentioned term –
Infself.
Self-identity, from its side, is a union of two different words/terms, and bears a cumulative
meaning of each word. In regards to ‘identity’, its etymological grounds are linked to the Latin
phrase „Idem et Idem“,8 which by word means “same and the same”, in other words – “one and
1
Old English self, seolf, sylf "one's own person, -self; own, same," from Proto-Germanic selbaz (cf. Old Norse
sjalfr, Old Frisian self, Dutch zelf, Old High German selb, selbst, Gothic silba), Proto-Germanic*selbaz "self,"
For additional reference see: Jung, Carl G, Thomas, and Marie-Louise von Franz. 1978. Mysterium
Coniunctionis. Olten [u.a.]: Walter. compare: Jung, C. G, Sonu Shamdasani, and R. F. C Hull. 2010. Four
Archetypes. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. compare: Jung, C. G and Marie-Luise von Franz. 1964.
Man And His Symbols. Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday.
2
3
We mostly find it in the texts, which are based on Sigmund Freud’s Theory of Psychoanalysis. See also:
Sigmund, Freud. 1933. New Introductory Lectures On Psycho-Analysis. London, L. and Virginia Woolf at the
Hogarth Press, and the Institute of Psycho-analysis. See also Freud, Sigmund, James Strachey, and Angela
Richards. 1984. On Metapsychology. Harmondsworth: Penguin.
4
A combining form of self and variously used with the meanings “of the self” (self-analysis) and “by oneself or
itself” (self-appointed); and with the meanings “to, with, toward, for, on, in oneself” ( self-complacent),
“inherent in oneself or itself” (self-explanatory), “independent” (self-government), and “automatic” (selfoperating). "The Definition Of Self". 2016. Dictionary.Com. http://www.dictionary.com/browse/self.
5
Self-control, self-posession, self-esteem, self-respect, self-consciousness, self-criticism, self-preception, selfattitude, self-regulation, self-actualisation, self-expression, etc.
6
For information, frameworks of this definition imply any bit of information in binary system.
7
Embryo development stage, when first electric impulses appear in the brain, among mirror neurons.
8
Dictionary,
identity.
2016.
“Identity
Meaning
In
The
Cambridge
English
Dictionary”.
Dictionary.Cambridge.Org. http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/identity.
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the same”. In this particular case, ‘identity’ is a person’s psychological viewpoint about its
infself, as a subjectively perceived totality and individuality, by which it identifies itself with a
certain typological category (the state, social status/role, culture, nationality, age, gender,
profession, etc.).9
Like an infself, the conceptual content of memory has to be clarified for this paper, as far as the
concept of memory is used with various contextual meanings in the current scholarly or popular
literature. The term ‘memory’ in this paper has a meaning defined by the author: a memory – a
biochemical, cognitive-electric process, during which information is coded,10 stored, restored.
What is the linkage between “self” and “memory”? Are these concepts identical in the conditions
when terminological contents of both terms are specified? Is it possible to digitalize the “self”
and transfer it further to a certain mechanical (tangible) medium? Actually, possibility-inability
to digitalize the infself depends on the answers to these questions. This is why we should follow
each question and provide respective answers to them.
2. Infself and Memory
As it is clearly seen from the conceptual meanings of infself and memory, information is a
necessary component for both terms, where the absence of information is perceived as the
presence of information, because there is information about the absence of information.
Everything that exists in the world carries some information. When perceiving a certain object –
an image, sound or event, a person receives various informational units, which becomes a part of
infself right at the moment of perceiving it. It is important that an infself only exists and acts in
the present.
How does information become a part of an infself? When we get certain information, despite its
contents, meaning or medium of receipt, there are respective connections appearing in our brains,
9
Compare: “feeling of selfhood, which a person develops while growing up, a relatively solid, continuous
feeling of one’s own ‘self’. An important component of an individuals’ self-consciousness – a system of
perceptions about self and features, skills, appearance, social values’ “Identity – Civil Education Dictionary”.
2016. Nplg.Gov.Ge. http://www.nplg.gov.ge/gwdict/index.php?a=term&d=6&t=4368. Compare: Fearon, James.
1999. “WHAT IS IDENTITY (AS WE NOW USE THE WORD)?” Stanford University.
https://web.stanford.edu/group/fearon-research/cgi-bin/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/What-isIdentity-as-we-now-use-the-word-.pdf.
Also, for comparison: Dictionary, identity. 2016. “Identity Meaning In The Cambridge English Dictionary”.
Dictionary.Cambridge.Org. http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/identity. See also: Oyserman,
Daphna, Kristen Elmore, and George Smith. 2012. Handbook Of Self And Identity. New York: THE GUILFORD
PRESS. For the electronic version please visit:
https://dornsife.usc.edu/assets/sites/782/docs/handbook_of_self_and_identity_-_second_edition__ch._4_pp._69-104_38_pages.pdf
10
Create-assign individual mental representation to the received information.
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among neurons. This connection can be electro-impulsive, and biochemical as well. In other
words, any received information represents a chain between neurons, which then create an
information web of neurons as a whole.
Various activities of a person: ideas, actions, feelings, emotions create various types of neural
connections. After neurons are stimulated, some connections get even stronger, and others –
weaker. This is referred to as neuroplasticity.11
Neurons get information from one end and transmit it with the other end to the axon branches,
which receive incoming signals via dendrites. The cell body, i.e. soma contains the nucleus and
cytoplasm, which determine its viability. Soma is a place to integrate information received as a
result of dendrite stimulation (or in some cases from another neuron), and to transmit it to an
elongated fiber – axon, which transmits information all along its length, until the point where the
neuron contacts another neuron, muscle or organ, with which excitement or inhibition is
transmitted (synapse). It is important that excitement or inhibition is transmitted in one direction
only, namely, from synaptic ending of the neuron (presynapse) to the body of another neuron, its
axons or membrane of an effector organ (postsynapse). There is a synaptic cleft between
presynapse and postsynapse membranes, and its width ranges from several tens to hundreds of
Angstrom units in various synapses. Presynaptic ending of the synapse, usually consists of
enlarged part of the neural axon. This is where a large number of mitochondria is gathered,
which speaks about a high energetic activity of the processes ongoing here (Khechuashvili
2016). As we know, there are stimulating synapses, where postsynapses are polarized, and
inhibitor synapses, where the postsynaptic membrane is hyperpolarized.
Axon – a long, slightly ramose projections, which transmit neural impulses from the cell of a
nervous system. As far as it is concerned, a neuron can only have 1 axon, with the length of tens
of centimeters, which ensures transmission of neural impulses to a long distance.
Synapse is a place where neural cells contact one another or tissue. It is a special type of contact
between membranes. It consists of presynaptic and postsynaptic membranes and a synaptic cleft
between them. There are vesicles at the end of axons, where neuromediators are contained, and
they are the ones to transmit neural impulses.
There is a thick bulb-like structure at the other end of the axon, so called terminal branch, with
which a neuron can stimulate adjacent glands, muscles and other neurons (Khechuashvili 2016).
Each neuron processes the received information together with many thousand neurons to
“decide” whether to create a potential of a new action. Integration of such thousands of
stimulating and inhibiting information creates the grounds of a person’s experience (Gerrig and
Zimbardo 2009).
Action potential in the neuron creates a neural impulse, and a contraction in the muscle cell,
which is necessary for every type of movement (Gerrig and Zimbardo 2009). Stimulation wave
is actively transmitted along the neuron or muscle cell fiber, and the potential speed of action
ranges from 0.1 to 10 meters per second, depending on the characteristics of neural fiber and its
"Medical Definition Of Neuroplasticity". 2017. Medicinenet.
http://www.medicinenet.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=40362.
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environment. Before stimulation, a neural cell and a muscle cell is characterized with a slight
negative electric polarization12. Its content, compared to the external space of the membrane, is
charged more negatively. 13 This polarized condition is created by a high concentration of
positively charged sodium ions in the outside of the membrane, and a high concentration of
negatively charged chlorine ions inside14 (there are also positively charged potassium ions inside,
with a relatively lower concentration). This condition is referred to a resting potential, and it
usually equals 75
millivolt (mV), where „-„ is an indicator of negative charge. The action
potential develops by stimulating the cell with neurotransmitters15 or sensor receptor cells.
Every idea, image, information that we get in the present, represents an intraneural chain, a
neural information web. This means that the thoughts, imaginations, images from the past, and
actually all the mental processes known to us, are only the specific electric and biochemical
impulses that exists only in the neural information web.
We may consider that a person’s infself emerges from the moment when the neurons start to
develop in a fetal brain, and when the first electric and biochemical impulses originate among
them. Infself generation starts with first impulses and continues until the last impulse among
neurons. This means that a person’s infself does not equal the time section from birth of a person
to its death in time. It always spans for a longer time period than this.
As I have mentioned above, a person’s memory cannot exist without impulses among neurons, as
far as the memory is a process, and neurons are participating in this process. For the memory,
namely, for storing and restoring information, there should be a synaptic, electric and
biochemical connection among neurons. In other words, if we imagine a person’s brain with
neurons in it, but eliminate connections among these neurons, then this way we also eliminate
any process of storing and restoring any information.
At a various stage of science development there have been various attitudes towards memory as
a process, and to its essence. Some part of researchers and experts considered that a memory
represents a certain repository of information, where the latter is sorted according a particular
attribute or characteristic feature.16 The basic discourse is about an issue whether there is a
memory in a material form in any part and/or section of a body, namely, in its brain. If memory
Chincharauli, Tiniko. 2016. “Action Potential | Dictionary-Guide to Social Sciences”. Dictionary.Css.Ge.
http://dictionary.css.ge/content/action-potential.
12
13
Gerrig, Richard J. and Philip G. Zimbardo. 2009. Psychology And Life. 19th ed. Pearson.
“Neurons & Synapses - Memory & The Brain - The Human Memory”. 2010. Human-Memory.Net.
http://www.human-memory.net/brain_neurons.html.
14
“Communication Between Nerve Cells”. 2017. Cerebromente.Org.Br.
http://www.cerebromente.org.br/n12/fundamentos/neurotransmissores/neurotransmitters2.html.
15
"How Human Memory Works". 2007. Howstuffworks. Accessed January 30 2017.
http://science.howstuffworks.com/life/inside-the-mind/human-brain/human-memory.htm.
16
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exists in material form17, this means that there is a particular location/s of its placement. Based
on studying these locations it will be possible to understand and study the material essence of
memory18, also to think about how it is possible to change its location, as far as it is virtually
possible to change a location of any material essence if certain conditions are created or present,
without affecting its attributes-features.
It is important to note that in the present situation, a subjective, sensory and abstract mental
reflection of an outer world is impossible in the present situation. The ability to retain
information about events represents a fundamental attribute of a living and non-living matter. We
can provide an example of information storage facilities, such as a magnetic stripe, laser disc,
also various internal and external memory devices in modern digital technologies, etc. Any of the
above-mentioned things can store information and restore (transform) it into a sound, picture or
any other image with the help of a respective tool or facility.
At the same time, memory is a process of organizing and retaining an experience, 19 which makes
it possible to reuse it in any activity, or return to a field of perception. Here we should understand
experience as any mental processes preceding the ongoing mental processes, regardless their
perception level.20
The following findings were made during recent decades related to the human memory: so-called
forms and types of memory were determined; with the purpose of retaining information at a
biological level, the biological structures, e.g. DNA (LYR) and RNA (HYR) are transformed. At
the physiology level, information is stored and transformed via dynamic physiological processes,
which differ from biological processes with their functional nature,21 or by involving in the
ongoing information processes, for a shorter period of time. This way, the structure of neural
impulses, which flow from receptors to the center with afferent fibers, is a place, which stores
information about the structure of instant changes of the condition of receptors, which happened
when they were exposed to stimulators.
17
Liu Xu, Steve Ramirez, Petti T Pang, Corey B. Puryear, Arvind Govindarajan, Karl Deisseroth, and Susumu
Tonegawa. 2012. “Optogenetic Stimulation of A Hippocampal Engram Activates Fear Memory Recall”. Nature
484: 381–385. doi:10.1038/nature11028.
18
Anne Trafton, MIT News Office. 2011. “Neuroscientists Identify A Master Controller Of Memory”. MIT
News. http://news.mit.edu/2011/hippocampus-memory-genes-1222.
Tulving, Endel and Fergus I. M. Craik. 2000. The Oxford Handbook Of Memory. 1st ed. Oxford: Oxford Univ.
Press.
19
Svanidze, Lia. 2008. “Memory – a person’s essential cognitive mental process”. Nplg.Gov.Ge.
http://www.nplg.gov.ge/gsdl/cgi-bin/library.exe?e=d-01000-00---off-0period--00-1----0-10-0---0---0prompt10---4-------0-1l--11-ka-50---20-about---00-3-1-00-0-0-11-1-0utfZz-800&cl=CL4.5&d=HASH01017f7b38bef47a985eeb8f.8.1>=1.
20
Mastin, Luke. 2010. “Types Of Memory - The Human Memory”. Human-Memory.Net. http://www.humanmemory.net/types.html.
21
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Considering these levels, there are mechanisms that participate in memory processes of a human
being, from which only two fall within the competency of psychology – physical and
psychological ones.
Together with these mechanisms, psychology studies three groups of events, which belong to the
phenomenology of memory.
We may consider that the first group consists of qualitative characteristics that are present in
various types of memory: 1. emotional, 2. image-related, 3. verbal-logical and 4. movement
memory.
In regards to the varieties of memory, the second group categorizes information according to
how long they are stored. The following forms were identified: instant (imagery), short-term
(operative)22 and long-term memory.23
The third group unites processes related to the transformation of information, namely, to
remember, to keep, to forget and to restore experience, subjects and events.
There are important mechanisms for exchanging information among various types and forms of
memory, which are activated if there are respective sensory-emotional connections towards
certain information.24
Following types of memory have been identified throughout the last decades:
1. Emotions, as far as it is considered, play a role of signals about how our demands are or
can be satisfied. As the emotion is a signal in this case, it can be stored in the memory, in the
same or approximated form, which accompanied the events experienced for the first time. In
case of perceiving or imagining a situation that has caused emotion, it is possible to evaluate
it as a desirable, or, in the contrary, as a dangerous one, at the expense of an immediate
appearance of emotion that has been stored in the memory. This evaluation lets us construct
a respective action until this situation is thought out and analyzed by the thought.
2. Imagery memory stores experience in the form of images. Essentially, an imagery
memory is the images that are stored in the memory not only as impressions acquired via the
sensory bodies that are available for perception, but also in the form of unconscious images,
etalons or patterns, which are involved in the perception process, for example – when
identifying an image. There can be not only a tangible image of perception stored in the
image, but also an intangible feature, which is related to the experienced feeling. For
"Short-Term Memory". 2015. Brainhq From Posit Science. http://www.brainhq.com/brainresources/memory/types-of-memory/short-term-memory.
22
"Long-Term Memory". 2015. Brainhq From Posit Science. http://www.brainhq.com/brainresources/memory/types-of-memory/long-term-memory.
23
Zimmermann, Kim Ann. 2017. "Memory Definition & Types Of Memory". Live Science.
http://www.livescience.com/43713-memory.html.
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example, a person can imagine a color of blue, or a certain sound, feeling of pain or sour
taste.25
3. Verbal-logical memory reflects our mental pictures (images) of our world, which are
generalized in the form of categories, discussions, abstract-conceptual schemes, and
eventually, in the form of world outlook. Besides, the verbal-logical form stores certain
programs-chains of activities that have been planned intentionally.
4. Motion memory stores various motions and their system schemes, which ensure
movement habits, automated nature of motions in repeated or typical situations. Thanks to
the motion memory we can think about something in the moment when we are running
down spiral staircases, or opening a door of our car. All types of the memory are tightly
interlinked and represent components of one whole behavioral act. For example, we can
cause a certain psychological condition with certain movements. A person may experience
positive, negative or indifferent emotions with gestures and mimics or words.
In regards to the memory forms, three key forms of memory were identified during the recent
decades: instant, short-term (operative) and long-term forms. They are different from one another
in a way how external information is represented there, and for how long it is stored, also in
regards to the functions each of them perform in the process of human memory. It is considered
that the above-mentioned three forms also represent the stages of information processing while
storing it.26
Instant or sensory memory – this is a memory of sensory organs, which are used for providing
information. It has been studied best of all in regards to vision and hearing. An image (a picture),
which is created as a result of stimulating the receptors by a single impact,27 does not disappear
immediately; it continues existence with the form it appeared with, and then gradually fades
away for the vision system within the range of one second, and for much longer for the hearing
system. As if the image is still in front of our eyes, and sound is still heard, despite the respective
stimulus has already disappeared. Such an existence of the image after stimulation has a
functional meaning. First of all, the perception system needs this time for identifying the picture
(image). These seconds (even one hundredth of a second) can matter a lot in the body. If images
were to disappear simultaneously with the disappearance of a subject, then it would be difficult
to identify it, or it would be impossible to do it because of limited attributes of the speed of
physiological systems. Inertness of sensory image leads us to the point when the perception
Svanidze, Lia. 2008. “Memory – a person’s essential cognitive mental process”. Nplg.Gov.Ge.
http://www.nplg.gov.ge/gsdl/cgi-bin/library.exe?e=d-01000-00---off-0period--00-1----0-10-0---0---0prompt10---4-------0-1l--11-ka-50---20-about---00-3-1-00-0-0-11-1-0utfZz-800&cl=CL4.5&d=HASH01017f7b38bef47a985eeb8f.8.1>=1.
25
Zimmermann,, Kim Ann. 2017. “Memory Definition & Types Of Memory”. Live Science.
http://www.livescience.com/43713-memory.html.
26
Mastin, Luke. 2010. "Types Of Memory - The Human Memory". Human-Memory.Net. http://www.humanmemory.net/types.html.
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system necessarily combines some particular single sensory images in the perception image,
which is continuous in time and space.28
It was regarded that a short-term memory represents a certain repository, where some operation
(work) is performed regarding the information that was transmitted to it from sensory bodies,
and also, from the information that was picked from a long-term memory.
A short-term memory is used for working with pictures (images), concepts and words, to work
them out, sort and store for some time. Therefore, it is a so-called working memory, which
contains some elements that are subject to various operations during some short period of time –
structuring, repetition, etc. There is a process of recoding the information in the short-term
memory – from imagery to verbal. Here the code is a form of presenting information.
The long-term memory includes a special model of the personified inner and outer world for
every individual, which is presented in the form of abstract structures. In accordance with
theoretical opinions, here the experience is gathered with its broad spectrum, including our
reflections about ourselves, other people, social norms and life values, motor habits in vocal and
written speech, dressing; problem solving skills, and habits and skills in various fields of
activities.29
It is considered that information in a long-term memory is organized based on a certain rule:
there is a difference in regards to organizing a private and abstract information. Other types of
memory are also identified: so called episodic and semantic ones.
Episodic material contains codified data and events, which are related to a certain time, and
information about what this or that item or object looked like when we were looking at them. All
the autobiographic data is stored in such memory, who? when? where? what? to whom? with
whom? for how long?
All the other remaining non-private data is regarded to be stored in semantic memory. First of
all, this is knowledge and facts, which are not related to personal experiences, certain place and
time and, on the other hand, everything that a person needs for the speech. The researchers think
that the information, which is given in a long-term memory differs not only in regards to its
nature, but also in regards to its tendency to forget. Episodic memory is in the mode of
continuous change, because personal experience changes. This is why the information contained
here can become inaccessible, but it does not disappear. Information is stored in a long-term
memory with various codes: visual, acoustic, semantic and the time of storing such information
is absolutely indefinite.
Svanidze, Lia. 2008. “Memory – a person’s essential cognitive mental process”. Nplg.Gov.Ge.
http://www.nplg.gov.ge/gsdl/cgi-bin/library.exe?e=d-01000-00---off-0period--00-1----0-10-0---0---0prompt10---4-------0-1l--11-ka-50---20-about---00-3-1-00-0-0-11-1-0utfZz-800&cl=CL4.5&d=HASH01017f7b38bef47a985eeb8f.8.1>=1.
28
Svanidze, Lia. 2008. “Memory – a person’s essential cognitive mental process”. Nplg.Gov.Ge.
http://www.nplg.gov.ge/gsdl/cgi-bin/library.exe?e=d-01000-00---off-0period--00-1----0-10-0---0---0prompt10---4-------0-1l--11-ka-50---20-about---00-3-1-00-0-0-11-1-0utfZz-800&cl=CL4.5&d=HASH01017f7b38bef47a985eeb8f.8.1>=1.
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In regards to memory, the researchers are familiar with a so-called associative form of memory.
Referring to similarity, the association recognizes the impressions, impulses and signals that
were acquired before,30 which is one of the basic elements of acquiring experience and learning.
In the associative memory it is very important to have connections between imaginations, when
one imagination in the perception is unintentionally followed by the other. Associative memory
links the material to be memorized to the material that has already been memorized.
Currently the researchers are familiar with the four basic laws of associative memory:
1. Law of similarity. The experience or recall of one object elicits the recall of things similar
to that subject. Reproduction is conditioned by similarity.
2. Law of contrast. The experience or recall of one object will elicit the recall of opposite
things.
3. Law of frequency. The more frequently two things are experienced together, the more
likely it will be that the experience or recall of one will stimulate the recall of the second.
4. Law of contiguity. The experience or recall of one object will elicit the recall of things
that were originally experienced along with that object.
Memory process consists of the following: remember, store, forget and restore.
There are two types of remembering, as it is known to the contemporary science: involuntary and
voluntary. When a person remembers information without any prior purpose to do so, this is an
involuntary remembering, and on the contrary, when there is a certain goal preceding the
moment of remembering, this is the case of voluntary remembering.
The process of remembering is an active process, when a certain action is taking place regarding
the initial material. The process of remembering starts in a short-term memory and ends in a
long-term one.
Theoretically it is known that storing information means its existence in a long-term memory,
which is not always linked to how accessible it is for consciousness. Forgetting is an
inhomogeneous process, and it can take various forms. A person, for example, may not
remember what was happening in his/her early childhood, because what s/he has perceived in an
imagery form, could not have been transmitted in a symbolic form for storage before s/he learned
speaking. Forgetting also means that a person forgets to do something that s/he used to know.
Forgetting can be related to the physical trauma of scull and brains, or to so called ‘rejection’,
involuntary forgetting those events, which used to cause anguish.
Restoring of information depends on the processes of remembering and forgetting, but it has its
own characteristics and mechanisms. It is acknowledged in psychology that restoration can take
place in three ways: identification, recalling and remembering. Identification is directly related to
the conscious identification of an image. Recalling – is a complex memory process, which means
that a necessary material is looked for in a long-term memory. As far as it is acknowledged that
the material in the memory is organized in a certain way, based on semantic signs, which create a
Mastin, Luke. 2010. "Types Of Memory - The Human Memory". Human-Memory.Net. http://www.humanmemory.net/types.html.
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certain concept or image, it does not mean that one has to blindly ramble in the corners of
memory for finding it, but rather to move in a certain way towards the required material with
semantic network.
3. Location of Infself
Below is one of the most important questions, on which the key results of our research depend:
in regards to any example, is there are a particular place in the human brains, where the
contextual image(s) of this example is stored, so that to make it possible to exactly register/mark
its location and which represents a unique tangible location of this particular image? In other
words, where is a particular place, for example, of an image of a school building façade, where
we started our studies, or any memory, which can be reduced to any type of an image, in a
particular case, to a visual image?
Before answering this question it is important to ask a question: are each of the images material,
which we get in our consciousness, be it a perception of reality, or recalling/remembering
something? If there is a positive simple answer (yes), then today or tomorrow we can find and
determine a precise location of a certain recollection/image, as far as there is a place for any
tangible item in the dimensions where we live, and in this particular case – in spatial dimension.
In the spatial dimension, the precise location of a certain object depends on a reference point,
also on whether this or that particular object is moving in regards to the reference or other points,
and whether this movement follows certain logic. It is important that for any material object it is
possible to determine the existence of its exact location, in a particular conditional period of
time.
It is also important to answer the question about what we consider to be a matter. Within the
frameworks of this research, the term ‘matter’ will be used with its classic understanding, as we
have it in the classic physics “a matter is any thing, which has a mass and occupies some space”.
If a certain image, and in case of an above-mentioned example – ‘a school façade’, which ‘we
have in the memory’ is material, it is possible to identify its specific location.
Any material thing consists of smallest units, which have properties of chemical elements
(atoms) and subatomic particles. This means that on one hand it is possible to identify a precise
location of a certain particle, and on the other hand it is possible to upload it / transfer it into a
binary system and duplicate/replicate it.
If we initially consider a picture stored in the computer as an example, its particular location is
determined by information placed in a particular cluster in the hard disk drive of this computer.
i.e. specific bits, and the picture is nothing but the chain of these bits. To draw a parallel, the
human consciousness represents an operating system of this computer, and short-term (operative)
memory – the operative memory of the computer (CASH), where this information is stored until
restarting the computer – in parallel – until the person goes to sleep (as known, transfer of
information from conditionally short-term memory into a long-term one is related to sleep).
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In the environment of knowledge and modern scientific and technological advances, until now it
has been unknown if the image of above-mentioned example of ‘school façade’ exists in a
material form in our brain, in any particular place.
This work aims to find an answer, and to present a coherent reasoning about the human’s ‘self’,
the memory and a possibility to transfer it in both options, which will be useful both in case
when the memory exists in an uniform type and volume, in any particular place and at a
particular time, also in case when it does not exist in an uniform type and volume in one
particular place and at a particular time.
Definition of Terms
Infself – represents information that has been received in any form and accumulated from the
respective stage of embryo; and perception/comprehension of its wholeness (or its constituent),
in the frames of time conditionality, results in the perception of one’s own self in terms of a
carrier of such informational content, as an uniform and continuous entity.
Perception31 - a cognitive process, simultaneous receipt/elaboration of sensory information as a
whole, which enables a person to identify, interpret and understand the external reality.
Imagination – a creative ability to create images, during which it is necessary to receive sensory
information/data.
Thinking32 – a complex cognitive activity, a biochemical, informational and electro-impulsive
process of multilateral processing of infself and external data
Opinion33 - output of thinking.
Consciousness34 - present state of infself, when thinking is taking place.
31
(Latin: perceptio, percipio)
32
The term ‘thinking’ has various content-filling components and definitions. Diversity of definitions derives
from what kind of text we are dealing with. Thinking, in the light of terminology, is often encountered in
psychology/psychiatry, philosophy, neurosciences and recently in IT (information technologies) science. There
is no uniform and universal definition of the thinking process within the frameworks of current scientific
knowledge. Different authors offer various content for the meaning of the concept. Among them, there are
various approaches towards separation of the thinking process into its constituent elements (levels). For
example, see: Anderson, Lorin W, Lauren A Sosniak, and Benjamin S Bloom. 1994. Bloom's Taxonomy.
Chicago: NSSE. Compare: Williams, Frank E. 1969. "Models For Encouraging Creativity In The Classroom By
Integrating Cognitive-Affective Behaviors". Educational Technology 9 (12): 7-13. Also, for comparison:
Ginsburg, Herbert and Sylvia Opper. 1969. Piaget's Theory Of Intellectual Development. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.:
Prentice-Hall.
33
Opinion, idea, concept – can be used interchangeably, based on the context.
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Memory – a biochemical, cognitive-electric process, during which information is coded,35
stored, retrieved.
Perception, imagination, thinking, memory – represents an ‘infself in action’
Factual circumstance: Infself receives information through so-called receptor-transmitters.
Options:
Option #1. Infself can exist in the form of a integral whole volume, in any particular
conditional time and place;
Option #2. Infself exists only when and during that time period, when it is in action. It does
not exist as an integral whole volume, in any particular conditional place and time.
In case of the first option, we have a case, when information - accumulated from a respective
stage of an embryo, and received in any form – is localized, which will let us digitalize it in the
future by coding. Due to the volume of information, it is possible to use various coding and
decoding, which makes it possible to transfer information at the bit-level precision, to an
artificial-synthetic, also to an organic medium.
Digitalization of infself’s content is one side of the deal, because the information mass does not
have an ability/characteristics of perception/understanding, which would result in perceiving its
own self, as a medium of this informational content, as an integral indivisible entity. Information
mass, taken separately, does not produce anything, such as a HDD in a computer, with many
files in it. In order to use this information, there should be a respective environment, in other
words, there should be an environment (a software) after transferring this information, which
will have those tools-parameters, which were attributes of the environment, where this
information used to exist before. Besides, it does not really matter whether this environment is
organic or artificial-synthetic.
When I mention artificial-synthetic environment, I mean a new artificial-synthetic system created
from the matrix of computer systems, also from a human being’s biological, organic matter. We
can also imply a biological, organic entity created based on the human’s biological (DNA)
material – clone.
In case of the second option, when infself exists only then and in the time period when it is in
action and it does not exist in an whole volume, in any particular, conditional place and time, we
are dealing with so-called transmission (streaming). In other words, the person’s infself in action
means a flow of impulses (streaming). Infself in action – perception, imagination, thinking,
34
The words-terms “conscious” and “consciousness” represents a certain umbrella for the terms that
include/imply numerous cognitive processes, also see: Rosenthal, David M. 1986. “Two Concepts Of
Consciousness”. Philosophical Studies 49 (3): 329-359. doi:10.1007/bf00355521. Compare: Gennaro, Rocco J.
1996. Consciousness And Self-Consciousness. Amsterdam: John Benjamins Pub.
35
Create-assign individual mental representation to the received information.
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memory – represents interaction among neurons, which creates a web of associations or neurons.
Every thought, association, image is nothing but an interaction among neurons in the neural
network. In the environment of above-mentioned example (image of a school façade), it is
nothing else but a connection among numerous neurons, which, in a figurative meaning, can be
imagined in the form of a continuous uninterrupted chain among multiple neurons, a sentence
where every neuron, conductor-transmitter ones, represent one of the links in this chain, and in
case of a sentence – every letter-sound. Despite the simplicity of an image, the neural chainsentence has a very sophisticated structure and is comprised of millions of neural connections.
Those images, often encountered-used in a daily life, for example, a face or name of a familiar
person, create solid neural connections, which at the same time accelerates coding-decoding of
an image and transmission of an impulse. The more recurring the neural connection, the faster
and solid it is.
In case of the second option, there is a continuous information stream from sensory organs and
feelings, which are transformed into neural biochemical and electric impulses, which create,
replace or in some cases repeat neural chain-sentence. And overall, they create a unified neural
association chain. The number of neurons is quite large. The estimated amount is more than 100
billion, thus, the neural chain-connections among these neurons are virtually infinite.
Whereas infself exists only in a time period when it is action, this means that ‘infself in action’ is
specific, active neural chain-sentences existing in a whole neural web.
The number of active neural chain-sentences (image, thought) is very little in one particular time
period, this is what represents infself in action, which means that it is impossible to have all the
neural connections equally active in one time period. According to this model, it is impossible to
determine the infself’s specific location, as far as it does not have any particular location in
human brain. It is a biochemical electric impulse, specifically, one or several active neural chainsentence. It is possible to determine an approximate location according to brain sections, or
based on the reaction to a certain stimulator, or to determine an approximate location of a
particular neural chain-sentence, but it will not be possible to determine a specific location of
infself’s content, as far as it (neural chain-sentences) is dispersed throughout the whole neural
web. Due to this reason, even it there were a map of neural web, its direct digitalization would
not make it possible to digitalize the infself.
In order to make it possible to digitalize the infself, it is necessary to ‘catch-digitalize-transfer’
all the active neural streams in real time.
3. How is it possible to digitalize infself?
As mentioned above, infself in action is the contents that we are given in the consciousness, also
the ingoing information streams that are changed, stored and eventually expressed. In order to
get infself in action, it is necessary to have an infself, in other words, its content and information.
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Neuroplasticity of human brain makes it possible to change the existing neural chain-sentences,
also the mechanisms and schemes that participate in the formation of active neural chainsentences.
It would have been much easier to actually digitalize the infself when it has a specific location,
where everything is stored in a coded, encrypted form, which represents its content in its entirety.
Without a specific location, it is necessary to catch-digitalize every flow (stream), which
provides its content. How is it possible?
As I have mentioned in the beginning of this paper, the formation of human brain and,
correspondingly, the origin of infself is related to the neural web, more precisely, to the first
neurons and formation of connections among them. This means that this is the very moment
when neural chain-sentences should be captured-digitalized. This will be possible in case if a
special device is placed in the embryos brain as an implant, which will act as a catcher-recorder,
or catcher-transmitter. In this case the information contained in the implant will be identical to
the stream, which is taking place in the brain of an embryo, newborn, child or adult. In other
words, information in the implant will be identical to those neural chain-sentences, which a
person has in whose brain this implant is located, i.e. it will be a complete copy of an infself’s
content, which is already half the battle.
In order to digitalize an infself of an adult person, it is necessary that the adult “re-lives all his
life”. Neural association chain-sentences, from the very beginning until the digitalization
moment, should be equally active for the sake of digitalization, which is impossible. However, in
case of theoretical possibility, their alignment structure is lost in space-time, which makes it
useless afterwards. In other words, it is only possible to digitalize the infself in action. As
mentioned above, the infself in action is every idea, which is active in the present.
Complete digitalization and transfer of infself, thus the person’s self can only be possible if there
is ‘catch-digitalize and transfer’ of absolutely all the neural connections, which is possible by
placing a respective implant in the embryo’s brain in the future.
The implant can ‘record all the streams of information-impulses’ and the information contained
therein will be identical to the neural web, which a person with an implant has. Together with
recording, the implant can provide a direct information stream to a conditional information cloud
on the server. The cloud can also act as a conductor-distributor of the received informationimpulses, where from the streams will be transmitted to the object, which is a biological or
biosynthetic continuator of a person with an implant. In other words, let us imagine that there is
an embryo, with an implant in its brain, which a) records all the neural connections, which
appears in the brain; b) transmits-streams all the neural connections to a system that stores and
distributes it on the cloud, which is located on a certain server. It can be located in the human
body, also beyond it, on an ordinary information server.
Information on the cloud (infself’s content) can be merely stored, or transmitted:
a) to a ‘vessel’ created from the biological material (DNA) of the same person (clone);
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b) to any biosynthetic, artificial-synthetic or special computer system, operating capabilities
of which will at least correspond to that of the one used by the infself when the infself
was in action.
In this case, we will get the following:
Neural connections of any person with an implant will be identical to the neural connection that
an object-person has, where the respective stream-transmission has taken place.
This means that if transmission takes place in real time, the recipient (the person and/or object
where stream-transmission takes place) ‘lives the same life’ as a person with an implant,
considering the delay, which a stream objectively necessitates (ranging from one tenth of a
second up to several seconds). This means that content of the infself in both persons, in real time,
will actually be identical.
4. Bioethical and legal side of this issue, opportunities and challenges
Infself digitalization-transfer, and accepting infself in action in another bio, biosynthetic or even
a digital ‘vessel’ implies immortality of this infself. In other words – this means immortality of a
human being, as far as a human being is not a particular body or unity of bodies. First and
foremost, a human being is an infself in action, i.e. each of us is an infself in action and nothing
else.
Immortal infself = immortal human being.
Starting to work on the issues given in this paper is related to the whole range of bioethical
issues, also legislation in a certain country, where legal norms actually offer a certain approach –
it is prohibited to clone a human being, or to create a being like a human, which results in
criminal punishment. There were respective experiments that preceded the inclusion of such
norms at a particular time, and legislative bodies tried to use this clear norm to eliminate any
possibility to work in this direction, or conduct respective experiments.
Surprisingly enough, it is a fact that actually no legislation of any country of the world provides a
definition of a human being that would be close to reality. Majority of countries recognize that
the death of a person is a moment when the human brain stops functioning, but they do not say
anything about the moment when the human brain starts functioning.
Contemporary international, human rights and local law shares the approach (despite various
approaches to time) that a human being is considered to be a human being when it is separated
from the mother’s body, from the moment of its birth. Before this, it has the right to be an
successor, and at the embryo stage it is not considered to be a human being, thus it does not
represent a subject of law.
Legislation of actual majority of countries of the modern world, like the human rights law, is not
ready for the future, namely for the fertilization and fetus growth in artificial wombs. Neither are
they ready to put equality sign between a human being and its infself. A human being is and
stays alive until there exist its infself in action, and when the infself ceases functioning, it – the
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human being - exists no more. Today this means that it is dead, but the threshold between life
and death will shift to another prism in case if it possible to digitalize-transfer the infself and,
consequently, transfer it to another medium, as far as at this time it is possible to put it (the
infself) in action again, which will be just a continuation of the infself that has existed before,
and nothing else. This is exactly how it is possible to make a human being immortal.
There emerge following bioethical and legal issues when talking about immortality: shall a
human being have the right to determine when it ceases its existence in the material world it is
living in? What should be the initial state: having a human being as a mortal being, or immortal?
In the first scenario, it cannot make a choice, because, as mentioned in the paper, this is
impossible in case of those individuals who have already been born (because the infself is not
located in one particular place). In case when the human being is primarily immortal (when it has
an implant and streaming-transmission is taking place), as soon as the first person with an
implant dies, it is possible to activate the other (person or object receiving the broadcast) infself,
which means that in fact, infself in action will be continued with the accuracy of seconds.
Correspondingly, the ‘last thought’ of the first person will be the pre-thought of the first thought
of the receiving person.
Neither science nor law, moreover the bioethics is ready for infself, therefore, for human
immortality today. Despite this, if the respective research and works start in this direction (which
is virtually impossible due to the existing legal, religious, cultural, bioethical pressures,
regulations and frameworks), the issue of human mortality and immortality may become one of
the issues in regards to which a human being can extend its own will. In other words, it will be
up to the person’s will to be mortal or not, and in case of staying mortal - when to decide to leave
this material world.
Within the frameworks of generalized philosophical-mathematic-physical discussion, the human
being will still decide to leave this material world, as far as in this world the distances between
celestial bodies are very long, which means that a person’s house can be on Earth and on several
nearby planets. This means that, if we imagine our solar system or other systems near it as
informational dimension where the smallest information unit is a bit, then the number of these
bits, despite the infinite nature of the world, is finite for us, based on the distances that we can
think of as a future home. In this context even if the human life lasts for an infinite period, the
number of events, feelings, emotions, etc. which a person can experience – information that can
become the infself’s content - is still finite. Realizing this can make a person decide to leave the
existing material world sooner or later.
5. Conclusion
Infself represents information that has been received in any form and accumulated from the
respective stage of embryo, and perception/comprehension of its wholeness (or its constituent),
in the frames of time conditionality, results in the perception of one’s own self in terms of a
carrier of such informational content, as an uniform and continuous entity.
Infself in action - perception, imagination, thinking, memory – represents interaction among
neurons, which creates an associative, i.e. neural web. Every idea, association, image is nothing
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else but interaction among neurons in the neural web. It is a place where every though, feeling,
association-image is a uniform chain-sentence that exists among neurons, and where every
neuron conductor-transmitter represents one of the links in this chain, and in case of a sentence –
each letter/sound. An image can be very simple, but the neural chain-sentence has a very
sophisticated construction and comprises millions of neural connections.
We may consider that the person’s infself originates at the moment when the neurons are formed
in the embryo’s brain and when first electric-biochemical impulse emerges among neurons.
Infself emergence starts with first impulses and lasts until the last impulse among the neurons.
This means that the person’s infself does not equal the time period from the person’s birth until
its death. It always spans longer than this period.
If there is a special device placed in the embryo’s brain as an implant, which will act as a
catcher-recorder, or catcher-transmitter of neuron formation and biochemical and electric
impulses taking place in seconds, then the information contained in the implant will be identical
to the stream, which is taking place in the brain of an embryo, newborn, child or adult.
Information in the implant will be identical to those neural chain-sentences, which a person has
in whose brain this implant is located, i.e. it will be a complete copy of an infself’s content.
The implant will be able to “record all the streams of information-impulses” and perform direct
informational stream to so-called information cloud, which can be located in the person’s body,
also on the cloud outside the person’s body that can be located on the server. The cloud will
record the received stream and also transmit-distribute it into an object, which will be a
biological or biosynthetic continuation of a person with an implant. Every neural connection of
the person with an implant will be identical to the neural connection, which the object-person
has, where the respective stream-transmission was performed.
The recipient (the person and/or object where the stream-transmission takes place) ‘will live the
same life’ as a person with an implant, considering the delay, which a stream objectively
necessitates (ranging from one tenth of a second up to several seconds). Immortal infself =
immortal human being.
A human should have an opportunity to choose when to leave the material world. In case of an
implant that will enable the stream of neural chain-sentences in every flow, when a person with
an implant dies, immediately the other infself can be activated (person or object that is a
recipient of transmission), which means that in fact, the infself in action will be continued with
the accuracy of seconds. Correspondingly, ‘last thought’ of the first person will be the prethought of the first thought of the receiving person.
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Article
Out-of-Body Experience: Review & a Case Study
Julia Sellers*
ABSTRACT
Out-of-body experiences in people with pathological conditions such as epilepsy have been
studied by a fair amount of researchers to date. However, there is a severe lack of studies aimed
at researching out-of-body experiences occurring in the non-pathological population. In article, I
provide a review of the relevant literature and present a case of anomalous perception, in the
form of autoscopic phenomena, of a healthy individual who reports experiencing massive out-ofbody experiences, spontaneously or at will, on a daily basis, since birth.
Keywords: out-of-body experience, altered consciousness, autoscopic phenomena, waking state,
near death experience.
Introduction
People report experiencing out-of-body experiences (OBEs) as part of near-death-experiences
(NDEs), or induced by hypnosis/trance/meditation techniques/contemplation and praying,
epilepsy, cardiac arrests, brain injuries, life threatening situations such as resuscitation or a
sudden shock, activities such as extreme exercising, or elicited by out-of-body-like experiences
such as body parts distortions created under a virtual reality setting (Moody, 1975; Blanke,
Landis, Ortigue, & Seeck, 2002; Fenwick & Parnia, 2002; Braithwaite, 2008; Blanke, Heydrich,
Lopez, & Seeck, 2011; Craffert, 2015). OBEs associated with cases of migraines, drug use, and
anesthesia have been reported as well (Podoll & Robinson, 1999; Blanke & Bunning, 2005;
Annoni, Forster, Habre, Iselin-Chaves, & Lopez, 2006).
The present case study aims to describe the out-of-body experiences of a white Caucasian male
who reports experiencing out-of-body-accounts in the waking/active state, under full
consciousness, occurring both spontaneously and at will. The participant, who for the purpose of
this study the author calls Mister M, is a healthy individual whose anomalous perception is not
linked to any pathological or neurological states such as epilepsy or other ictal states. Mr. M
represents an unusual case, whose out-of-body states have been observed by the author for over
25 years. Mr. M claims to have been experiencing fully conscious, fully waking OBEs since
birth, over 43 years ago, or at least since the onset of his memory. “I have had OBEs since I can
remember. I remember leaving my body as a toddler. I remember being in my mother's uterus.”
Mr. M also claims he went through the so-called conscious birth. The author relies on her own
observations of the experiencer, which she has been documenting in her working diary for the
past 20 years, on an irregular basis. The study documents the phenomenology as well as the
semiology of the OBE phenomenon which is considered by the author as an integral part of the
broader aspect of anomalous perception.
*Correspondence: Julia Sellers, Independent Researcher, Slovak Republic. E-mail: julia.sellers@gmail.com
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The available literature on out-of-body experiences uses many definitions to describe this
phenomenon. Irwin described OBEs as a state of the experiencer during which “the centre of
consciousness appears, to the experiencer, to temporarily occupy a position which is spatially
remote from his/her body” (Irwin, 1985, p.5). Blackmore suggested OBEs are an experience in
which the experiencer “seems to perceive the world from a location outside his physical body”
(Blackmore, 1982, p.1). A study conducted by Messier and Smith (2014) described the out-ofbody experience as an experience which is based on both visual as well as somaesthetic
perception in which the physical body, seen from a third person description, is illusory. People
experiencing OBEs report that the experience itself feels very real while it is happening (Blanke,
Brugger, & Mohr, 2006). The literature reporting on the phenomenon of OBEs agrees on a
number of features which usually accompany the phenomenon.
The main features include the following elements: a) sensory perception of floating (Monroe,
1971), b) a profound feeling of being outside of the body (Messier & Smith, 2014, p.2), and c) a
subjective meaningfulness and enhanced reality (Anzellotti et al., 2011, p.5). As to the most
probable cause behind OBE elicitation, the existing literature mainly implicates a disruption in
the processing of multisensory integration (Blanke, Landis, Seeck, & Spinelli, 2004). Other
studies describe OBEs as part of the so-called autoscopic phenomena. For example, Brugger and
Regard (1997) proposed to classify autoscopic phenomena based on phenomenology. Their study
suggested six different modes of autoscopic phenomena which include the sensed presence,
heautoscopy proper, autoscopic hallucinations, the out-of-body experience, and two forms of
autoscopic phenomena which the authors distinguished as inner and negative. Some researchers
opined that in order to differentiate between different autoscopic phenomena it is important to
investigate, during research, more specific questions pertaining to the autoscopic experiences
such as the ability to see your own body, the differences in visuospatial perspective of seeing
your own body, as well as the intensity of disembodiment, if any (Blanke & Mohr, 2005).
A Case Study
In the present report the author presents: 1) anecdotal evidence of the out-of-body experiences of
Mr. M as observed and entered into a diary by the author herself (the accounts were compiled by
the author over the past 25 years); 2) first-person descriptions of out-of-body experiences
delivered by the experiencer himself. Apart from presenting the results of the author‟s own
exploration and investigation of the OBE accounts of the subject, the report presents the case for
studying out-of-body experiences based on first-hand experience as delivered by Mr. M.
Consequently, it mostly relies on observations which are subjective in their nature. For the
purpose of the study, a clear distinction should be made between a natural OBE and what should
be called the near OBE state or an out-of-body-like experience. According to Blackmore (1982),
the onset of an OBE would be characterized by the following features: no sensory input from the
physical body, while the individual experiencing the OBE would remain conscious.
Consequently, a question arises whether the definition of an OBE should only take into account
cases where the experiencer remains fully conscious while experiencing the OBE, or whether the
definition should be extended to cases during which the experiencers find themselves in a
different state of consciousness (as opposed to the waking state), but still feel separated from the
physical body. Those accounts would include OBEs under hypnosis, trance, the influence of
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Sellers, J., Out-of-Body Experience: Review & a Case Study
688
drugs, the border line between sleeping and waking states, and many more. In the course of this
report only accounts of spontaneous or willfully induced OBEs, occurring fully naturally, under
full consciousness, and in the waking/active state, are presented. An active out-of- body state is a
state under which Mr. M could be standing, sitting, walking, working at a computer, driving a
vehicle, etc., while experiencing a clear sense of separation from the body, feelings of enhanced
reality, or sensation of his Self/consciousness travelling long distances away from his real
physical body. It is important to note that the waking state OBEs of Mr. M are in direct
opposition to OBEs occurring during sleep, the so-called lucid states, under hypnosis, during
REM intrusions such as hypnagogia, hypnopompia, or false awakening, during the state of the
so-called sensed presence, unconscious astral projection, autoscopic phenomena such as
autoscopy, autoscopic hallucinations, heautoscopy (whether inner or negative), Doppelgänger
effect, or OBEs induced by drugs, trance, or other types of near OBEs such as body parts
distortions created under a virtual reality setting.
A study conducted by Epstein and Freeman (1981) pointed out the importance of differentiating
between autoscopic instances including OBEs and a dream-like state as in the dreamy state one
might be in while aware of the Self without seeing one‟s body or parts of the body as usually
would be the case in an OBE. The etiology and phenomenology of the above described accounts
of out-of-body-like experiences might be different from the accounts experienced by Mr. M.
Furthermore, the descriptions of the individual accounts of out-of-body experiences of Mr. M
are subjective and the semiology of his OBEs, to a considerable degree, goes beyond the extent
of the OBE case studies presented in other scientific research to date.
Taking into consideration the above mentioned differences, as well as for the purpose of this
study, the author has opted to name the phenomenon of the out-of-body experience accounts of
Mr. M “a state of accreted consciousness” (SAC). Again, it should be noted that the present
study documents only the SACs experienced by Mr. M in a clear conscious, waking, or active
state, as opposed to OBEs occurring in the clinical population, or out-of-body-like phenomena
which might be associated with sleep related states, as mentioned earlier. To the author‟s
knowledge, the only case of a comprehensive, as well as lengthy scientific study conducted on a
healthy individual experiencing natural full blown out-of-body experiences in the waking state
while fully conscious was the case study of Alex Tanous.
The researcher into paranormal experiences, Karlis Osis, attempted to study psychophysiological
correlates of Tanous‟ massive out-of-body experience accounts (Alvarado, 1989). The American
Society of Psychical Research documented the different paranormal abilities of Tanous. These
included, among others, conscious (astral) projection, the ability to bilocate, psychometry, as
well as ASP. Tanous was also reported to be able to demonstrate teleportation, faith-healing,
communication with ghosts, solidifying light, and projecting his thoughts on a screen (Alex
Tanous Foundation for Scientific Research, communication in writing, October 2016). There are
striking similarities between the descriptions of the accounts of anomalous perception occurring
in the case of Alex Tanous and those occurring in Mr. M‟s case. The similarities include
instances of precognition as well as retrocognition, leaving the physical body at will and/or
spontaneously, communication with discarnates, and remote viewing, to mention a few.
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Unfortunately, only a limited amount of scientific studies examining out-of-body experiences in
the healthy population was conducted to date. The majority of available OBE studies pertain to
examining elicited out-of-body experiences in the clinical population. Some researchers claim
there are fundamental differences between OBEs induced electrically in different parts of the
brain versus OBEs happening naturally such as OBEs experienced as part of NDEs (Holden,
Long, & MacLurg, 2006). Ehrsson (2007) claimed his study demonstrated the first ever
experimental method of induction of an out-of-body experience in the healthy population.
However, Ehrsson in his experiments did not succeed in inducing an out-of-body experience, in
the experiencer, to the full extent. Apart from experiencing the visual perception of their own
physical body, from a location different than from within their own body, the experiencer failed
to experience other important features accompanied by the full blown out-of-body experience
such as the enhanced sense of reality, subjective meaningfulness, and a clear perception of the
Self existing apart from the physical body.
As reported by Mr. M, his out-of-body states are always accompanied by the Self clearly
separated from the physical body, unusual sensations derived from all five basic human senses
which seem to be intensified to a higher degree, and more vivid comparing to the normal state of
consciousness. In addition, Mr. M reported the presence of “an unidentified source of
extrasensory perception coming from deep within in the form of direct vibrational cognition.”
Messier and Smith (2014) claimed to have induced an out-of-body experience at will in the
psychologically normal population for the first time. The case describes a 24-year-old healthy
woman (student) who reported having the ability to leave her physical body at will. In line with
Mr. M‟s reports, she too reported instances of watching herself move from above, while
perceiving herself clearly out of the boundaries of her own physical body. Furthermore, the study
suggested the OBEs of the student did not occur spontaneously.
Instead, they seemed to be induced by will as reported by the research subject. Mr. M, in
comparison, reported both instances of leaving the physical body: induced by will as well as
spontaneous occurrence. The other OBE element, as experienced by the research subject,
common with elements reported by Mr. M‟s SAC was that the student did not feel any specific
emotions linked to her state of mind when out-of-body. Mr. M also reported neutral emotions
when experiencing the SAC except one single case when he feared “permanent separation of
consciousness from the physical body” and “felt unable to return to the physical body.” Brugger
and Regard (1997), on the other hand, in their study posited that out-of-body experiences would
typically have an emotional component to them. Moreover, Mulligan, Murphy, Persinger, and
Saroka (2010) suggested some OBEs were associated with fear. Plus, Blanke and Heydrich
(2013) in their study reported the implication of emotional processing in OBEs. Furthermore, it
is important to note that OBEs (especially the negatives ones) might be a cause of depression and
other behaviors associated with it. A study conducted by Anzellotti et al. (2011), described the
OBEs of a 40-year-old patient whose autoscopic experiences including OBEs were so terrifying
she considered suicide.
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The SAC: frequency of occurrence, time distortion, the Self
The individual accounts of SAC as experienced by Mr. M differ substantially from most OBE
accounts presented in current literature regarding the phenomenon on the basis of at least three
details: 1) the frequency of the SAC occurrence, 2) the amount of time spent in the SAC, and 3)
the ability of the conscious Self, after it separates from the physical body, to inspect at distance
different places, subjects, or objects independently of the physical body. The frequency of the
SAC occurrence as experienced by Mr. M is very high compared to OBE cases reported both in
the healthy population as well as in pathological cases, which usually only last for a short period
of time. Mr. M reports experiencing SAC at least once a day for the duration of a couple of
minutes to many hours of the standard physical time flow as experienced by a healthy physical
body.
Based on this, it would seem that an out-of-body experience does not necessarily happen only
once or twice in a lifetime, as opined by Blackmore (1982). Moreover, studies aimed at
researching how often OBEs occur in both the healthy and the clinical population revealed
interesting results. For instance, a study conducted by Blackmore (1982) suggested that 10% and
above of incidences of OBEs occurring in the general population would probably be an
overestimate. Interestingly, Blanke and Dieguez (2009) suggested the estimate to be even lower,
around 5%. Next, Mr. M reported experiencing a severe distortion of time during his SAC.
This is consistent with Persinger‟s (1974) claim that paranormal experiences (the author posits
that the SAC belongs to this phenomenon), among others, imply distortions in physical time.
According to Mr. M, prior to the onset of one of his regular daily SACs back in 2013, he looked
at the watch at 2 P.M., just before leaving his body. Upon returning to his ordinary state of
consciousness, he again checked the time, only to find that it was six hours later. Mr. M says,
“The 6 hours felt like 20 minutes to me. I really was under the impression that the time
difference between the onset of the SAC and the time I returned to the regular state of
consciousness was about 20 minutes, not 6 hours. At least this is how it felt to me. I was
horrified.” OBE instances pertaining to individuals spending a considerable amount of time out
of their physical bodies, such as in the case of Mr. M, are very rare. According to some
researchers such as Blackmore and Green (cited in Para, 2010; 1982), individual OBEs would be
difficult to observe and study as they would not last long.
A couple of OBE/NDE researchers suggested that Mr. M‟s limbic as well as reticular activating
system be investigated due to his lengthy SACs (Sellers, 2014). Instances of individuals that
reported staying out of their physical body for a longer period of time are mostly connected to
near-death-experiences. A recent study on NDE memories showed that individuals who
experienced a NDE reported NDE memories as real events, with a high emotional content when
compared to real or imagined memories (Brédart, Charland-Verville, Dehon, Ledoux, Thonnard
et al., 2013). This is strikingly similar to Mr. M‟s reports which suggested that his SACs were
“extremely real, with extremely vivid settings, highly intensified emotional perception, as well as
intensified sensory input.” However, near-death-experiences mostly occur in life threatening
situations or when dying so the individuals experiencing NDEs would be expected to be in other
than the waking/active state or fully conscious.
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This is in direct opposition to the SAC occurring in Mr. M‟s case as they do happen
spontaneously in the waking state and under full consciousness, with no life threatening situation
preceding the onset of the SAC. OBEs as well as NDEs are often associated with each other as it
is a general understanding that an OBE is a part of every NDE. In a study conducted in 2007,
76% of NDE experiencers suggested they also experienced an OBE as they reported they clearly
existed outside their physical bodies after they left it (Mattingly, Nelson, & Schmitt, 2007).
Furthermore, a study conducted by Greyson (2007) suggested the reliability of NDEs over a
period of almost 20 years; the study also showed that some individuals who experienced NDEs
also experienced OBEs.
However, these two phenomena should not be confused with each other. Although a majority of
near-death-experiencers report the tunnel experience, such an experience could also be a part of
an out-of-body experience, which in turn is not necessarily part of a NDE as reported by Mr. M.
According to him, he regularly travels through tunnels as part of his SACs. Research on NDEs
conducted by Ring (1980) suggested that out of 102 who reported being near to death, a quarter
would experience the tunnel journey. Furthermore, an individual who experienced NDE often
reported accounts of mystical perception as well as undergoing a profound spiritual
transformative experience (STA). It is also interesting that individuals with temporal lobe
epilepsy reported religious or spiritual experiences happening in between, during, or after
seizures (Devinsky & Lai, 2008).
This seems to be consistent with Mr. M‟s reports of experiencing increased spirituality and
mysticism in some of his SACs. Furthermore, other studies argue that paranormal and/or
mystical perception including “a sense of presence” in the healthy population can be related to
the disturbance of the temporal lobe (Persinger, 2001; Makarec & Persinger, 1986). More
specifically, Persinger suggests that “both the occurrence of paranormal experiences and their
rates of incidence are associated with specific types of neuronal activity within the temporal
lobes” (Persinger, 2001, p.515).
Similar results were demonstrated by the Cardiff Anomalous Perception Scale study (CAPS)
aimed at researching anomalous perception conducted by Bell et al. (2006). During the study, the
Cardiff Anomalous Perception Scale (CAPS) was presented to close to 400 participants of the
healthy population. The results found high scores of temporal lobe disturbances associated with
anomalous perception. Disturbances in the temporal lobe revealed by the CAPS were mostly
associated with the feeling of sensed presence, sensations of being uplifted, and distortions of
time, as well as own body distortions. Pertaining to Mr. M‟s so-called “vast journeys of the
Self”, he reported that every time his Self separated from his physical body, it was able to inspect
different remote places including settings which didn‟t seem to be of Earthly origin. Moreover,
he was able to do so at the speed of thought and independently of distance involved between his
physical body and the place his Self tried to reach. According to him: “in the SAC state, neither
time nor space exists, information is instant telepathic thought, forward and backwards is equal
when experienced from the point of view of my accreted state of consciousness. I see and
perceive with all my senses, situations and scenarios from a very distant past as well as from the
future.
Furthermore, my Self is able to talk to the deceased and entities of different natures as well as
spirits. Plus, the Self is able to inspect and observe different places located at vast distances at
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will.” The above description of Mr. M‟s experiences is remarkably similar to the descriptions of
five patients who experienced ictal autoscopic phenomena, published in a research paper written
by Hoepner et al. (2013). Some of the patients who reported OBEs and other autoscopic
phenomena would also report seeing past or future scenes, encountering mystical beings, seeing
spirits and the deceased, and visiting worlds that had otherworldly settings (Hoepner et al.,
2013). This seems to be in line with other out-of-body experiencers who reported encountering
supernatural settings during their OBEs (Irwin, 1985).
With respect to Mr. M‟s “vast journeys of the Self”, an Australian researcher and author Mary
Rodwell in her book “The New Human: Awakening to our Cosmic Heritage” opined that Mr.
M‟s anomalous perception and the volume of experience acquired while out-of-body “... is
profound and deserves attention. It offers a unique perspective in terms of the nature of reality,
other worlds, dimensions, and the nature of consciousness, which is fascinating.” (Rodwell,
2016, p.329). Furthermore, Rodwell suggested Mr. M‟s anomalous perception offers “intriguing
perspectives on the holographic nature of reality, which will offer unique insight and assist
research in the nature of human consciousness and reality itself” (Rodwell, 2016, p.329). In
addition, according to Rodwell it was interesting and compelling that some of Mr. M‟s “... OBEs
were identical, and corroborated information in some of the earlier chapters....” of Rodwell„s
book. (Rodwell, 2016, p.330).
Temporal Lobe
A study conducted in 1941 revealed a connection between anomalous perception such as out-ofbody experiences and disturbances in the temporal lobe (Penfield, 1941 as cited in Tong, 2003).
The study showed that upon electrical stimulation of the right superior temporal gyrus in
epileptic patients, the patient would perceive a strange sensation of floating. Another study
suggested that the stimulation of the right superior temporal gyrus might have elicited an OBE in
a patient suffering from tinnitus (De Ridder, Dupont, Menovsky, Van de Heyning, & Van Laere,
2007). Another study also suggested that temporal lobe instability played an important role in
anomalous perception such as own body processing in participants in the healthy population who
either reported having experienced an out-of-body experience before or with no prior OBE
(Apperly, Braithwaite, Broglia, Hulleman, & Samson, 2011).
Apart from implicating the temporal lobe instability, the study also pointed out that distortion of
processing pertaining to bodily sensations is a significant sign of out-of-body experiences in the
healthy population. The study, which claimed to be the first to research predisposition to OBEs
in the healthy population, relied mostly on measures devised by the Cardiff Anomalous
Perception Scale proposed by Bell et al. (2006). Moreover, another study found disturbances
similar to the ones associated with the temporal lobe as described above to be associated with an
angular gyrus at the parietal temporal junction as reported by Blanke et al. (2002).
It is noteworthy that the majority of OBEs caused either by an artificial stimulation of parts of
the brain or elicited by brain damage implicate the angular gyrus on the right side (Blanke,
2012). In addition, Arzy and Blanke (2005) in their study implicated failure of multisensory
integration between the physical body and the TPJ as the possible etiology of the OBEs. Further,
if failure to integrate information about the location of the physical body in space and challenges
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to the integrity of multisensory information about one‟s self are implicated in OBEs, then the
question of how one experiences the self-consciousness in the first place should be addressed as
well in order to fully understand other phenomena such as body ownership illusions and their
connection to minimal phenomenal selfhood (Blanke & Metzinger, 2009).
Is the sense of having a physical body a necessary condition for the self-consciousness to arise?
The research conducted by Blanke (2002) reported the onset of vestibular challenges such as
feelings of floating or sinking, including a full blown account of out-of-body experience by an
epileptic patient after her angular gyrus in TPJ was electrically stimulated. The patient reported
floating close to the ceiling. In general, vestibular challenges as demonstrated in the case of the
patient above, are consistent with vestibular challenges faced by Mr. M when in SAC. Mr. M
reported “having been constantly floating above his body near the ceiling” and oftentimes having
difficulties getting back into his physical body when undergoing SAC.
While the floating sensation of the epileptic patient in Blanke‟s study did not last long and was
apparently triggered by the electrical stimulation of the TPJ region on the right sight of the brain,
what triggers Mr. M‟s floating above his body while experiencing SAC in the waking/active
state, given the fact that he represents the healthy population and his sensations of being clearly
separated from his physical body are not caused by drugs, alcohol, hypnosis, trance, or linked to
any pathological condition, is unknown. According to the research conducted by Alvarado,
Cardeña, and Zingrone (2010) OBEs happen mostly in states of rest or relaxation as opposed to
active states. On the contrary, Mr. M would “leave the body” frequently and spontaneously when
in an active state rather than a state of resting or being in a supine position. This also seems to be
in contrast with Blanke and Bunning (2005) who suggested that OBEs were mostly experienced
in a supine position.
A possible role of the TPJ in the body and self-processing in the healthy population is also
presented in a study conducted by Fink and Vogeley (2003). Fang and Yan (2014), in the study
on spontaneous out-of-body experiences in an epileptic 15-year-old child, also strongly
suggested implication of the right TPJ region in out-of-body experiences. Furthermore, Arzy,
Blanke, Ortigue, Seeck, and Spinelli (2006) suggested that electric stimulation of the left TPJ
was implicated in the sense of presence phenomenon or perception of an illusory shadow person.
However, it is interesting that a very recent study conducted by Braithwaite, Daltrozzo, Guelers,
Karim, and Kotchoubey (2016) reveals no apparent role of the right TPJ in abnormal body
perception. This study is in contrast with the research conducted by Blanke and Mohr (2005)
which implicated the right TPJ in elicitation of OBEs. Moreover, the findings of Blanke do not
correspond to another study aimed at investigating of the etiology of OBEs. This study,
conducted by Bos, Schouten, Smits, Spoor, and Vincent (2016) indicates implication of the left
as opposed to the right TPJ in eliciting out-of-body experiences in a patient who underwent
craniology while awake. The patient reported a floating sensation after stimulation of her left
TPJ.
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Phenomenology of the SAC
The vast majority of instances of Mr. M‟s SACs occur spontaneously or at will while Mr. M is
fully conscious and active. Mr. M also experiences SACs while relaxed or resting. Mr. M
reported his SACs occurred multiple times daily spontaneously or at will, while in a waking or
active state such as standing, working at a computer, driving a car, etc., or when resting such as
sitting or lying down. Mr. M reported he would be walking or performing regular daily activities
at work, when suddenly he would spontaneously slip out-of-body and into the SAC. The SAC
experiences would be extremely vivid, real, and a clear sense of separation between the Self and
the physical body would accompany each SAC. The surroundings as described by Mr. M, when
in SAC, would appear in brighter colors than what is considered normal under a regular state of
consciousness. “Under SAC I perceive colors that are not visible when in the physical body.”
Moreover, with each SAC, Mr. M reported feelings of disembodiment experienced in varying
intensities, and an enhanced perception of reality.
Research by Blanke, Dieguez, Grunwald, Heydrich, and Seeck (2010) suggested that bodily selfconsciousness might depend on the following three main elements: self-identification, selflocation, and first-person perspective. Furthermore, it was documented that robotic gadgets are
able to elicit out-of-body hallucinations by manipulating the sense of self-location which is
directly connected to the sense of self-consciousness (Chapuis, Fornari, Heydrich, Ionta,
Lenggenhager, & Mouthon et al., 2011). Another study documented that virtual reality is able to
produce out-of-body sensations similar to out-of-body experiences by breaking the existing unity
between the physical body and the consciousness which it embodies, which resulted in making
people believe a virtual body was their own (Blanke, Lenggenhager, Metzinger, & Tadi, 2007).
It would be interesting to study differences in neural correlates between the SACs as experienced
by Mr. M and out-of-body-like experiences elicited in the research subjects by the means of
virtual reality or using robotic devices.
Furthermore, future research should address the etiology of OBEs elicited by virtual reality or
robotic technology and whether they should be considered regular OBEs as classified under
autoscopic phenomena. Based on the SAC accounts as described by Mr. M, it follows that
sometimes he would see visual representations of himself, while at other times visual
representations would not be present. However, every time he reported perception of the Self
from an extrapersonal, as opposed to intrapersonal, position. In other words, he would perceive
his Self consciousness as existing clearly out of the boundaries of his physical body. The
question of how OBE phenomenon links with self-processing and what neural and functional
mechanisms are involved with the processing has not been fully answered by researchers yet,
and would have to be investigated in future research regarding the topic. Interestingly enough,
the study of Blanke and Bunning (2005) suggested that OBEs might be connected to selfprocessing happening at a much higher level than that what is considered normal.
In addition, Mr. M reported that during the instances of seeing his physical body he would
perceive it either from an elevated position (from an external point of view) or a normal position.
To clarify the meaning of the normal position, Mr. M explained he would see himself right in
front of him as if in a usual vertical position of the physical body. His real body, at the same
time, would be seen from the same spatial level as his physical body, as opposed to seeing it
from a different spatial level such as from an elevated position. Based on this description it
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seems that Mr. M also experiences heautoscopic phenomena, which some authors such as Burger
classified as a part of autoscopic phenomena.
Menninger-Lerchenthal described heautoscopy for the first time back in 1935 as an ability to see
one‟s Self (as cited in Anzellotti et al., 2011). According to Brugger and Regard (1997), who
used phenomenological criteria for the definition of autoscopic phenomena and considered
heautoscopy a part of autoscopic phenomena, phenomena associated with autoscopic perception
presented challenges to body ownership, embodiment, and demonstrated distorted own body
perceptions. This is partially in line with the SAC reports of Mr. M pertaining to own body
perception and embodiment. As suggested above, the SACs experienced by Mr. M are not
always accompanied by a vision of his own physical body whether from an elevated or any other
position outside his own body.
This is in line with the research of some authors who also suggested that seeing a body
representation in any form is not a prerequisite of an OBE experience (Fox & Murray, 2005). It
is also consistent with another study which suggested that you don‟t necessarily have to see a
representation of your physical body during an OBE (Bagshaw, Braithwaite, Broglia, & Wilkins,
2013). Furthermore, it is in line with the research conducted by Braithwaite et al. (2011) in
which some experiencers reported seeing their physical body during OBEs, while others reported
only a shift in perspective. The research was conducted on the spontaneous OBEs in the
psychologically healthy population. It would be interesting to know to what extent the
differences in body processing might be experienced in the SAC during which Mr. M is able to
see a visual representation of himself as opposed to the SAC in which the visual representation
of the physical body is missing. It is my understanding based on the SAC experiences reported
by Mr. M that the predominant modality involved in his SACs would be somaesthetic rather than
visual.
Furthermore, Mr. M reported that despite the fact that he would always localize the Self outside
of his physical body (in an extrapersonal space), he would not localize the Self in an illusory
body. Rather, the Self would just “flow in the space, independently of the physical body, as a
point of consciousness” as opposed to taking the form of a subtle body, parasomatic body, or
etheric counterpart, for example. Furthermore, the Self would always perceive the surrounding
environment through all basic senses which seemingly connected to both “the physical body as
well as the independent point of consciousness hanging around,” as described by Mr. M. Another
important element of the SAC as experienced by Mr. M is experiencing vivid reality. During his
SACs, Mr. M would experience situations, scenarios, and settings which would feel “extremely
real.” The element of experiencing vivid reality during OBEs is also suggested by a majority of
OBE researchers (Brugger, 2002). Mr. M reported some vestibular elements such as vertigo,
dizziness, a spinning sensation, as well as challenges to balance occurring during his SACs. This
implicates involvement of sensations of vestibular nature in OBE phenomenon. Such implication
is in line with research conducted by Lopez which associated OBEs with vestibular sensations
such as sensations of floating or perception from an elevated position (Blanke, Halje, & Lopez,
2008). The study by Blanke and Mohr (2005) also suggested vestibular challenges to be a
frequent element of OBEs.
However, Mr. M also reported SACs during which vestibular symptoms were missing. This
clearly corresponds to the case study conducted by Anzellotti et al. (2011) which suggested
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vestibular symptoms were not a necessary condition for an OBE to occur. Moreover, Mr. M
reported that, during his SACs, he often experienced the sensation of being at two different
places at the same time. This too seems to be in line with the Anzellotti et al. (2011) study, which
described a patient reporting the feeling of being at two different locations at the same time. In
addition, Mr. M reported that while sometimes he would have his double present at the second
location in the course of his SACs, most of the time this would not be the case. Oftentimes, Mr.
M would have the impression of being present at the second location in the form of pure energy,
consciousness, and/or a point, which would not show any signs of a physical double, such as
contours or outlines of his physical body in any form. In addition, Mr. M reported highly unusual
tactile perception when experiencing the SAC.
This would correspond to the results of the section of the CAPS (The Cardiff Anomalous
Perceptions Scale) study mentioned earlier which described unusual or distorted sensory
experience concerning the five basic human senses as experienced by participants from the
healthy population (Bell et al., 2006). The unusual tactile sensations reported by Mr. M included
extreme levels of skin sensitivity to the point that “I was able to touch objects at distance.” Mr.
M reported the following phenomenology pertaining to tactile sensations perceived regularly
during his SACs: “I can„t read through my physical eyes. Only through touch and feel. I am only
able to read through the shape of air and thoughts. I get oriented through touching at distance as
my whole consciousness is extended in space. I don't have to physically see the object to know
what it is. I just feel it with my extended consciousness. When out-of-body you don't need eyes,
because you can see by touch, smell, and taste, so to speak. You can feel the shape of objects at
distance. Basically you sense at distance if something is round or square.” Mr. M also
experienced synesthesia, or linking of the senses, during his SACs. For instance, when listening
to music, he would perceive the color of it “as each sound has its own color.” He would also see
different shapes and geometric patterns that the individual notes generated. Each note or sound
would have its own vibration.
Mr. M would see forms for words; each syllable would have a distinct form too. Each letter
would have a different vibration which corresponded to a certain meaning. Even colors would
have their own sounds or notes as reported by Mr. M. Furthermore, he claimed he would be able
to detect vibrations using all of his senses. He could hear, see, smell, taste, and feel vibrations.
Vibrations of joy and love compared to vibrations of anger and hatred would have different
scents and completely different tastes. According to Mr. M, the vibrations would also be detected
by the skin in the form of different pressures which, when felt intense enough, would give him
specific feelings, emotions, and/or thoughts in the form of information. Furthermore, during his
SACs, Mr. M reported losing the ability to spell correctly, read correctly, or express himself in
words.
Instead, Mr. M could use different symbols, geometrical forms, or pictures to express his
thoughts. In his own words, he is only “able to interpret what he sees in symbols, pictures, and
images for which no words exist.” According to the study by Trebuchon-Da Fonseca et al.
(2009), electrical stimulation of the left temporal lobe suggested a possible role of its anterior
part in the production of words, orally, in epileptic patients, while in healthy patients the role
seemed to shift into the posterior part of the same lobe. Furthermore, while in the SAC, Mr. M
would write from right to left, speak in reverse (as in reverse speech), or read a book in an upside
down position. According to Mr. M, when in the SAC, he perceives surroundings through 180
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degree inversion. The 180 degree inversion in extrapersonal visual space was also reported by
neurological patients in the study aimed at OBE and autoscopy conducted by Blanke et al.
(2004).
In addition, it seems that some of the features experienced by Mr. M during his SACs would
oftentimes resemble the neuropsychological semiology of people diagnosed with aphasia,
dyslexia, dyspraxia, agnosia (spatial and visual), as well as alexia. This is intriguing as Blanke et
al. (2004), in their investigation of OBEs and autoscopy phenomenon in six neurological patients
(mentioned above), found that some of them would show semiology of aphasia, agnosia, apraxia,
verbal fluency deficit, along with deficit in oral as well as written comprehension.
Accounts of remote viewing, precognition
Mr. M reported that during his SACs he oftentimes would be able to receive information that
would not be possible to obtain by ordinary senses. This seems to be in line with Persinger‟s
(2001) study which suggested that one of the features attributed to paranormal phenomena was
knowledge of information which seemed to be obtained by something other than basic human
senses. An example of a case where Mr. M was seemingly able to use information obtained by
something other than the five basic human senses was the case of a former Washington D.C.
intern, 24-year-old Chandra Levy, who disappeared in 2000. She was later found murdered in
Rock Creek Park near Washington D.C. Shortly after, Ingmar Guandique, an immigrant from El
Salvador was sentenced to 60 years in prison for killing Levy.
In 2001, the Chandra Levy case was the most watched event on national TV. When asked about
the case, Mr. M reported he knew “they got the wrong guy from the very beginning.” Back in
2001, he told his confidant how and by whom he believed the intern was murdered based on the
information he was able to view remotely while experiencing SAC induced at will for the
purpose of obtaining information about the case. Mr. M then described, to his confidant, the
murder and other information on Chandra Levy as seen by him when out-of-body. The confidant
documented the story in writing and had it notarized by a U.S. notary in July, 2001. The person
Mr. M indicated on the notarized document as the perpetrator of the murder was not identical
with the person who was sentenced to 60 years for murdering Chandra Levy. Many years later,
the conviction of Ingmar Guandique in the murder case of Chandra Levy was indeed overturned.
After having been released from prison, Mr. Guandique was deported to his native El Salvador in
May, 2017 (Bacon, 2017).
Multiple Realities
Mr. M reported that while in the SAC, he experienced multiple realities. As a matter of fact, his
experience of an OBE including a perception of multiple realities was described in chapter XX
of the new book, “The New Human: Awakening to our Cosmic Heritage”, authored by
Australian researcher Mary Rodwell. Mary Rodwell is a professional counselor and
hypnotherapist who has lectured in the USA, Canada, Hawaii, the UK, and New Zealand. In her
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book, Rodwell opined the following on the OBE/SAC abilities of Mr. M: “I believe the
information in this chapter offers a broad and detailed understanding of the OBE, as it is
experienced by ...... (Mr. M). The extraordinary detail of the OBEs; the feeling, sensing with the
multidimensional perspective, I found very illuminating and extremely intriguing. … I believe
this information can be enormously helpful on many levels, both in the validation of personal
OBE, and understanding. I believe the information will enable us to have a broader grasp of the
nature of reality and how the awareness of the individual is expanded in the out-of-body state. It
offers glimpses of what is possible for us to experience and learn in terms of the nature of
personal reality and consciousness itself.” (Rodwell, 2016, p.359).
The following is an excerpt from “The New Human”, detailing Mr. M‟s abilities connected to
abnormal perception: “...... (Mr. M) has had OBEs since birth, with a conscious birth recall of the
prenatal stage in the uterus of his mother. It is important to say that ...... (Mr. M‟s) OBEs occur
not just in a resting state (sleep state, lucid dreaming, hypnagogia, astral projection, REM micro
sleep, etc.), but are experienced with full consciousness. I also believe it is extraordinary that he
can be out-of-body for half a day or more. It appears that ...... (Mr. M) often finds it difficult to
keep himself in his body or grounded, and sometimes it is hard for him to get back into his body
afterward. … When out-of-body, he moves like a robot and can lose his balance. Furthermore,
when out-of-body he has a hard time writing, as his muscles are relaxed (to the point where it is
hard for him to hold a pen). Plus, he has difficulty expressing himself. … ..... (Mr. M‟s) abilities
were assessed in 1998, by a „government‟ to help solve the murder of a former government
minister.” (Rodwell, 2016, p.330).
Congressional Hearing on Mars
Chapter XX of Mary Rodwell‟s book discusses claims made by Mr. M pertaining to his abilities
to remotely view scenes from ancient Mars during his SACs. With respect to Mr. M‟s
observations of the Red Planet, he is of the opinion that a long time ago, quite large lakes used to
exist on Mars. The book further quotes Mr. M as saying, “Whole seas and oceans used to exist
on Mars.” (Rodwell, 2016, p.352). What is intriguing about the above description of Mars as
reported by Mr. M is that the exact same description was given by Ken Farley, the project
scientist for NASA's Mars 2020 rover mission in his July 18, 2017 testimony during a hearing of
the U.S. House of Representatives' Committee on Science, Space, and Technology's Space
Subcommittee (U.S. House of Representatives, 2017). At the hearing Mr. Farley stated that Mars
had lakes and rivers, and perhaps even a huge ocean in the Northern part (U.S. House of
Representatives, 2017). This is in line with Mr. M‟s description of the Red Planet as it appeared
in Rodwell‟s book. Moreover, it is important to state that the working diary of Mr. M‟s reports of
SACs, which the author of this report has kept for the past 20 years, had an entry on Mars from
1998. The entry, which was later adopted by Rodwell‟s book, is remarkably similar if not
identical with the words testified as many as 19 year later by Mr. Farley during the House of
Representatives hearing in July 2017.
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CAPS
Mr. M was presented with the Cardiff Anomalous Perception Scale (CAPS) to assess the level
and intensity of his anomalous perception. According to a study conducted by Bell et al. (2006),
CAPS is a new form of measurement of anomalous perception available for the healthy
population, which does not depend on former clinical scales with respect to the use of both
language as well as presumptions. Bell suggested CAPS‟ use of language was neutral, showing a
high degree of validity. 336 healthy individuals and 20 individuals with pathological cases
participated in the initial study. A principal components analysis of the general population data
revealed clinical psychosis, temporal lobe disturbance, and chemosensation to be the three main
components within CAPS (Bell et al., 2006).
CAPS contained 32 items classified into nine selection categories pertaining to the following
anomalous experiences: 1) changed intensity of sensory perception, 2) non-shared sensory
experience, 3) distortions in sensory experience, 4) perception of an unexplained source in the
form of sensory experience, 5) verbally based hallucinations, 6) form/size/shape/distortions, 7)
perceiving thoughts out loud and hearing thoughts as an echo, 7) the so-called sensory flooding,
and finally 9) temporal lobe challenges (Bell et al., 2006).
Furthermore, it is important to state that for the purpose of the CAPS study, items which did not
occur in a clear waking conscious state were removed from the CAPS so a clear distinction could
be made between the waking state as opposed to such states as the borderline between sleeping
and waking. The linking of senses accounts of Mr. M described earlier in the report correspond
to the sensory flooding category of the CAPS. When asked about sensory flooding, participants
reported experiencing sensations happening all at once as well as an inability to tell one
sensation from another (Bell et al., 2006). Accordingly, Mr. M reported, “I can smell, taste,
touch, and hear objects at distance. I feel all senses linked and I am able to perceive them all at
once.” Mr. M also reported experiencing “chemosensation”, a strange olfactory as well as
gustatory sensation, “out of the blue.” This too corresponds to the results drawn from CAPS,
which revealed chemosensation to be one of the three main components analyzed by the CAPS
in the participants of the healthy population.
For better orientation, the 32 CAPS questions presented to Mr. M and the corresponding replies
were entered in Table 1 below. Mr. M was asked to reply to the 32 CAPS questions (see Table
1). He would not give a further elaboration on the subcategories of the items. Mr. M replied
“yes” to all 32 CAPS queries. Based on this, a conclusion could be drawn that the states as
described in all 32 items aimed at measuring abnormal perceptions were present to a
considerable degree in Mr. M‟s SACs. It is important to state that Mr. M did not reply to the
question of frequency of anomalous perception given the fact that he undergoes SAC every day
since the onset of his memory, when he was about 3 years old. Based on this, Mr. M would have
experienced more than 14000 instances of SAC to date. Mr. M also skipped the questions
pertaining to the levels of distress and distraction, which were part of the 32 item original
measure.
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Table 1 CAPS Items
___________________________________________________________________________
Do you ever notice that sounds are much
Do you ever hear noises or sounds when
louder than they normally would be?
there is nothing around to explain them?
Yes x No
Yes x No
Do you ever smell everyday odors and think
Do you ever detect smells which don‟t seem
that they are unusually strong?
to come from your surroundings?
Yes x No
Yes x No
Do you ever find that your skin is more
Do you ever experience unexplained tastes
sensitive to touch? To heat or the cold?
in your mouth?
Yes x No
Yes x No
Do you ever think that food or drink tastes
Have you ever heard two or more
much stronger than it normally would?
unexplained voices talking with each other?
Yes x No
Yes x No
Do you ever notice lights or colors seem
Do you ever have the sensation that your
brighter or more intense than usual?
body, or a part of it, is changing or has
Yes x No
changed shape?
Do you ever experience smells or odors that
Yes x No
people next to you seem unaware of?
Do you ever have the sensation that your
Yes x No
limbs might not be your own or might not be
Do you ever see things that other people
properly connected to your body?
cannot?
Yes x No
Yes x No
Do you ever find the appearance of things or
Do you ever hear sounds or music that
people seems to change in a puzzling way,
people near you don‟t hear?
e.g., distorted shapes or sizes or color?
Yes x No
Yes x No
Do you ever experience unusual burning
Do you ever look in the mirror and think that
sensations or other strange feelings in or on
your face seems different from usual?
your body?
Yes x No
Yes x No
Do you ever hear voices commenting on
Do you ever find that sounds are distorted in
what you are thinking or doing?
strange or unusual ways?
Yes x No
Yes x No
Do you ever hear voices saying words or
Do you ever find that common smells
sentences when there is no one around that
sometimes seem unusually different?
might account for it?
Yes x No
Yes x No
Do you ever think that everyday things look
Do you ever find that sensations happen all
abnormal to you?
at once and flood you with information?
Yes x No
Yes x No
Do you ever notice that food or drink seems
Do you ever have difficulty distinguishing
to have an unusual taste?
one sensation from another?
Yes x No
Yes x No
Do you ever see shapes, lights, or colors
Do you ever hear your own thoughts
even though there is nothing really there?
repeated or echoed?
Yes x No
Yes x No
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Do you ever hear your own thoughts spoken
Yes x No
aloud in your head, so that someone near
Do you ever have the feeling of being
might be able to hear them?
uplifted, as if driving or rolling over a road
Yes x No
while sitting quietly?
Do you ever sense the presence of another
Yes x No
being, despite being unable to see any
Do you ever find that your experience of
evidence?
time changes dramatically?
Yes x No
Yes x No
Do you ever have the sensation that your
limbs might not be your own or might not be
properly connected to your body?
___________________________________________________________________________
Table 2 below lists specific elements based on descriptions of first-hand accounts of SACs as
experienced by Mr. M. The phenomenological correlates of individual accounts of SACs were
divided into specific categories based on different types of anomalous perception as experienced
by Mr. M.
Table 2 Common elements occurring during SACs as experienced by Mr. M
________________________________________________________________________
region as well as energy
places at distance at the
Bodily, vestibular, and
centers of the coccyx
speed of thought
proprioceptive
- traveling through a tunnel
- clear sense of ability of
perception
- presence of a variety of
Note: the vast majority of
the experiencer to control
physical sensations such as
people who have
their body remotely
vibrations of various
experienced traveling
- strong feeling of being
intensities emanating
through a tunnel actually
taken into another
directly from the inside of
underwent NDE
space/time, dimension,
Mr. M‟s physical body
- watching own body from
remote past, distant future,
- dizziness, brief states of
an elevated position,
or an environment
vertigo
usually ceiling or side
substantially different from
- sensation of body shaking
walls in an enclosed space
terrestrial
from side to side (the
such as a room
- an instant transfer over
shaking seems to be
- seeing own physical body
long distances to different
provoked by buzzing
contours (the double,
places including what is
vibrations emanating from
parasomatic body, etheric
perceived by the
within the body)
counterpart) which mostly
experiencer as other
- sensation of falling into
look transparent, are
dimensions, the past, or the
an abyss
glowing, or have an intense
future (the transfer takes
- subtle sensations of
white color
place instantly at the speed
floating
- perceiving the Self
of thought)
- sharp burning
- consciousness leaving the
Note: in the above
pain/sensation in the sacral
body or moving away from
described case, the out-ofit in order to visit different
body transfer is immediate
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Sellers, J., Out-of-Body Experience: Review & a Case Study
and based solely on the
intensity of intentions
(desire) of the experiencer
to move elsewhere
- a clear sense that the
experiencer whose Self is
projected outside the
physical body has the
ability to move in
space/time, creating a
distinct feeling of flying,
hovering, jumping, and/or
skipping over large
distances in space
- ability to cross or pass
through tangible objects
such as walls, doors,
windows, pieces of
furniture, ceilings,
buildings, different objects,
or even people
- ability to leave the body
under full consciousness
while continuing to carry
out simple activities such
as talking to others, talking
on the phone, driving a car,
moving around in the
physical body, drinking,
eating, walking – however
there is a clear sense of
separation of the physical
body and the Self
- ability to touch other
inanimate objects and the
outside as well as inside of
living bio-matter whether
mineral, plant, animal, or
human
- ability to move inanimate
objects, or affect them
otherwise at distance, such
as breaking glass at
distance without any
physical contact between
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the experiencer and the
object affected
Visual perception
- visions of bright glare
despite the fact that the
OBE takes place at night
and in complete darkness
Note: the experiencer often
sees bright vibrant colors
or plasma-like shimmering
lights accompanied by
sounds
- blurry or double vision
- distorted vision of the
surrounding environment
- wave-like distorted
motion of surrounding
objects
- changes of shapes of
surrounding objects in
unusual ways
- 180 degree inversion in
perceiving the environment
- 360-degree vision (the
so-called circular vision)
Auditory sensations
- presence of different
sound effects such as:
- sounds similar to buzzing
bees or flies
- a deep droning sound
similar to the sound of
singing the Indian Ohm
mantra
- sounds similar to rattling,
wheezing, ticking, or a
powerful roar
- the sound of bells or
sounds of metal objects
colliding with each other
- inner sounds coming
directly from within the
body (the sounds are very
intense; they seem to be
coming directly through
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the experiencers‟ physical
ears from outside, e.g. the
experiencer is able to hear
their own breath, heartbeat,
fluid motion inside the
body, movements of
organs inside the body)
- ability to hear people
talking at considerable
distance or at a location
different from the location
of the physical body
- ability to hear through
walls
Sleep paralysis
- body paralysis or an
inability to move from the
place where the body is
located at the time
- numbness/paralysis of
certain body parts, such as
an inability to close and/or
open the eyes
- total inertia and inability
to control one's own
physical body
Anomalous perception in
the form of extrasensory
abilities
Extrasensory perception of
information drawn from
other human beings
(including unborn or
deceased), animals, trees,
and plants at the level of
exchange of instant
thoughts (telepathy),
feelings, and emotions.
Note: Mr. M perceives
thoughts/feelings/emotions
of the above mentioned
subjects as if they were his
own
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- ability to extract
information from
inanimate objects
providing they are organic
in nature such as rocks,
minerals, crystals, wood,
metal, water, plasma,
lights, colors, different
shapes of light and sound
- ability to sense moods of
others, examine their states
of consciousness, energy
flow, and patterning of
objects placed in the
surrounding area or at
distance
- ability to withdraw
meaningful information
from other individuals
based on tactile, auditory,
gustatory, and olfactory
sensory perception which
the experiencer perceives
as coming from an
unidentified source
- ability to smell different
scents such as roses, lilies,
cigarette smoke, incense,
vanilla, menthol, and other
odors even though the
objects emitting the
fragrance are not present in
the area or anywhere near
the experiencer
Modes of exiting the
physical body
- leaving the body in the
waking state, while fully
conscious, but without
intending to do so,
unexpectedly
- leaving the body in the
waking state, while fully
conscious, and at will
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- leaving the body while
standing, sitting, walking,
talking, working at the
computer, exercising, lying
down, or while resting
- awakening from a deep
sleep, semi-sleep, lucid
dreaming,
hypnopompia, microsleep,
or REM microsleep into a
state of being outside the
physical body at the level
of pure consciousness, the
Self, or a point
disembodied from the
physical body and existing
independently from the
physical body while
floating and/or moving in
the broader space/time
Note: The Self is fully
aware of its identity and
perceives the surrounding
environment from the firstperson perspective
Modes of returning back
to the physical body
- by own volition
- automatically being
pulled back into the
physical body by some
unknown force
- due to an unspecified
feeling by the experiencer
that he will not be able to
re-enter his body
- a slow return to the body
while the experiencer is
able to observe the
specifics of the return to
the body
Some of the elements
demonstrated during Mr.
M’s SACs
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- vestibular challenges /
attempts to find the right
balance between
intrapersonal and
extrapersonal space when
active and walking during
SAC
- difficulty in articulating /
challenges both to oral as
well as written fluency in
his mother tongue
- onset of some of the
common features found in
aphasia, agnosia, alexia,
apraxia, dyslexia
- ability to read and
distinguish individual
letters through touch and
feel
- spatial orientation
through touching at
distance
- ability to feel the shape of
objects at distance
- enhanced multisensory
perception (including
visual, auditory, tactile,
olfactory, as well as
gustatory)
- perception of double
reality taking place
simultaneously (being at
two places at the same
time)
- ability to
perceive information
seemingly not connected in
one indivisible whole
- ability to perceive
unusual symbols, numbers,
geometric images, as well
as light patterns of
different shapes
- experiencing synesthesia
(linking senses)
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- severe time/space
distortions
- strong perception that
time does not exist
- with respect to time flow,
going forwards or
backwards feels the same
to Mr. M
- episodes of both
precognition as well as
retrocognition
- ability to perceive and
experience future life
events before they happen
to the physical body (the
case of retrocausality)
- ability to remote view
Different modes of
occurrence (both in the
case of Mr. M as well as
in general)
- spontaneously, naturally,
in the waking state, under
full consciousness
- induced at will
- in an active state such as
standing, walking, talking,
working on the computer,
etc.
- in a resting state such as
sitting or lying down
- in a lucid state or during
the so-called lucid dream
(the experiencer is asleep,
but aware of the fact that
he is dreaming and can
navigate the dream)
- during the so-called false
awakening
- as part of NDEs
- induced by
hypnosis/trance/meditation
/contemplation
- during REM intrusion
such as hypnagogia,
704
hypnopompia, during
sleeping paralyses
- during autoscopic
phenomena such as
autoscopy, autoscopic
hallucinations,
heautoscopy (whether
inner or negative), and the
Doppelgänger
phenomenon
- OBEs induced by drugs,
epilepsy, migraines,
cardiac arrests, brain
injuries, life threatening
situations, sudden shocks,
extreme activities such as
jogging or exercising
- induced by out-of-bodylike experiences such as
body parts distortions
created under the virtual
reality setting
________________________________________________________________________
Conclusion
The majority of current OBE studies examine elicited out-of-body experiences in the clinical
population rather than the healthy population, or OBEs which are induced artificially rather than
at will or occurring spontaneously in the waking/active state. This study presented a case of
anomalous perception of a 43 year old healthy individual who, for the purpose of the report, was
called Mr. M.
Mr. M reported experiencing massive autoscopic phenomena such as out-of-body experiences
(as well as other autoscopic phenomena, which are outside the scope of this report)
spontaneously or at will, on a daily basis, since birth. The phenomena as experienced by Mr. M
were for the purpose of this study called “states of accreted consciousness” (SACs). I posit that
the SACs of Mr. M are special and deserve attention as well as further examination due to their
rare nature. As already mentioned, a majority of them occur spontaneously or at will, in the
waking state, under full consciousness, in an active state. Mr. M also experiences SACs while
resting. All SACs are accompanied by a clear sense of separation from the body, while Mr. M‟s
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Sellers, J., Out-of-Body Experience: Review & a Case Study
705
physical body is in an active state such as standing, sitting, walking, talking, working on the
computer, etc.
Moreover, the Self consciousness separated from Mr. M‟s body during his SACs is able to exist
independently as a “quantum of standing waves energy” and perceive different realities taking
place at once as if “I was here, but also at another place at the same time.” In addition, this
separated Self consciousness is able to visit and inspect different places “at the speed of thought”
and independently of distance. The explanation for the above described accounts where no
pathological dysfunction was established is not clear. Therefore, more research aimed at the
explanation of the SAC phenomenon as experienced by Mr. M should be done in the future.
In general, the phenomenology as well as semiology of the SACs experienced by Mr. M suggests
that there are multiple diverse factors contributing to anomalous cognition and perceptual
experience. The mechanism based on neural network processing by which this kind of abnormal
perception is experienced by Mr. M would still need to be defined. Despite the fact that the
mechanism of abnormal perception as experienced by Mr. M in the reported SACs is not fully
understood, my direct observation as well as analysis based on Mr. M‟s first hand reports
indicates that visuo-vestibular processes might play an important role. Furthermore, I speculate
that spontaneous out-of-body experiences with no sign of inducement (made willingly or
unwillingly) occurring in a healthy individual might be caused by the emission of discontinuous
pulses of specific vibratory/oscillation rates of frequency produced by the physical body. The
specific frequencies are resonant based. Furthermore, they are feeling and emotion based.
Moreover, they have to be intense enough to spontaneously induce specific discharges causing
an OBE. These discharges might be similar to paroxysmal discharges inducing out-of-body
experiences in pathological cases. Since feelings such as joy, love, hatred, and fear are
longitudinal compressed mechanical waves of high intensities with an existent electrical
component, I posit they might be able to exert pressure intense enough as to provoke a brain
discharge able to cause out-of-body experiences and other anomalous as well as paranormal
experiences spontaneously. I further posit that frequencies able to cause spontaneous out-of-body
experiences, states of accreted consciousness as well as other paranormal phenomena in
a healthy individual are produced by synapses.
Moreover, I suggest that those phenomena are controlled by synaptic firing which in turn is
controlled by frequencies emitted by individuals when experiencing feelings of specific intensity.
Current research focuses mainly on autoscopic phenomena occurring in the clinical population. It
would be interesting to do research on healthy individuals who claim to be experiencing out-ofbody experiences occurring on a regular basis, spontaneously or at will, versus individuals who
represent the healthy population and have only experienced an OBE once in their life. Even more
intriguing would be to compare OBEs reported occurring in the healthy populations versus OBEs
elicited by epilepsy, or other pathological cases in the clinical population.
Finally, comparison of OBEs occurring in the healthy population either spontaneously and/or
willingly and in the waking and active states versus OBEs occurring in resting states such as
hypnagogia, hypnopompia, REM intrusion, déjà vu, microsleep, trance, hallucinations, under
influence of drugs or medication, might be revealing too.
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Exploration
Propagation of Thoughts in the Field of
Consciousness as Quantum Waves
Narendra D. Sharma*
Abstract
I (consciousness) am, therefore, I think. Hence, there is a direct relationship between
‘Consciousness’ and ‘Thought’. This could be better understood if a concept of ‘Field of
Consciousness’ is invoked. It is conjectured that the concept of ‘Fields’, may be helpful in
understanding the propagation of ‘Thoughts’ (considered as ‘Energy’), in the ‘Field of
Consciousness’. If this view is acceptable, then it may be worthwhile giving a mathematical
expression to this abstract phenomenon of ‘Field of Consciousness’, linking it with ‘Thoughts’.
The ‘Thought Waves’ which are the energy waves, actually are the ‘Quantum Waves - the
Waves of Probability’, a concept similar to one hypothesized by Schrödinger and Max born in
continuation of Louis de Broglie’s hypothesis in ‘Quantum Theory’. Thought waves will have a
‘Wave Function’. For a thought to materialize, it would be necessary for the ‘Wave Function’ to
collapse in one’s mind.
Keywords: Consciousness, electromagnetic field, thoughts, quantum wave.
Introduction
During late seventeenth century, Isaac Newton while laying the foundations of ‘Principles of
Mechanics’ developed an idea of ‘Gravitational Force’ between two bodies, which later
culminated into the concept of force being experienced in ‘Gravitational Field’. The issue of
forces between charges, magnetic poles and current carrying conductors could also be resolved
once it was realized through scientific reasoning and imagination during the second half of the
eighteenth century that it was neither the charges nor the particles but actually the ‘Field’ in the
space between charges and particles could only describe the physical phenomenon. It took final
shape during nineteenth century with the efforts of many European physicists working on newly
evolved idea of 'Field', and 'Force experienced in an Electric and Magnetic Field'. This finally
culminated into the concept of 'Electromagnetic Fields', the equations of which were summarized
by Maxwell. Similar, it is conjectured that the concept of ‘Fields’, may be helpful in
understanding the propagation of thoughts in the ‘Field of Consciousness’.
Rene Descartes (1596-1650), a French philosopher, mathematician and scientist is considered as
one of the most influential thinkers in the history of western philosophical thought, also known
as the ‘Founder of Modern Western Philosophy’. Descartes developed the conceptual
*
Correspondence: Narendra Dutt Sharma, Former Controller, Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, Mumbai.
Email: ndsharma57@gmail.com
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foundation of ‘New Mechanical Physics’, and tried to explain everything in the created world
external to human beings. His method of systematic doubt also impacted the subsequent
development of philosophy. He argued that, ‘The Sciences must be founded on Certainty’, and
wrote, ‘Rules for the Direction of the Mind’. Descartes said, ‘I think, therefore I am’, one of the
most famous statement, but, by making this statement, Descartes put ‘Thought’ before ‘I’, that
means ‘Thought’ before ‘Consciousness’. He probably made one of the biggest mistakes in the
history of western philosophical thought. How could ‘Thought’ be considered in existence before
‘I’ exist? If ‘I’ am not there, who will think? Descartes is also known as the father of 'MindBody' problem, separating these two entities and thus creating a philosophy of 'Dualism' of 'Mind
and Matter’. He also said that all the objective principles of physical sciences should be
expressible in mathematical language. It created a divide among the subjective and objective
thoughts, considering the objective thought only to be the subject of science. This was probably
the beginning of a divide between scientific thought and contemporary philosophy. It concluded
in providing a new dimension of thought to the western world, finally leading to materialism
over a period of time.
Influenced with such thoughts, Sir Isaac Newton (1642-1727), an English Physicist and
Mathematician laid the foundations of ‘Principles of Mechanics’, popularly known as
‘Newtonian Mechanics’, which also became the foundation of scientific thought in ‘Physical
Sciences’, for next two centuries. In essence, this was rise of ‘Mechanical World View’. It was
thought that the most important force is the ‘Newton’s Gravitational Force’. Looking from the
‘Classical Mechanics’ point of view, this concept was applicable to all branches of physics
where various phenomenon were explained by the action of attractive or repulsive forces
depending upon the distance between entities. Even in case of kinetic theory of matter, this
mechanical view embraced the phenomenon of heat leading to a successful picture of the
structure of matter.
However, serious difficulties were encountered when an attempt was made to apply this
mechanical world view in order to define the electrical and optical phenomenon. In case of
moving charge acting upon a magnetic needle, the force does not depend only upon the distance
but also upon the velocity of the charge. It was also found that the force acts perpendicular to the
line connecting the needle and the charge which neither attracts nor repels!
Similarly in case of optics, ‘wave theory’ found acceptance against corpuscular theory of light. If
viewed from a mechanical concept, it meant as if the waves are spreading in a medium,
consisting of particles, with mechanical forces acting between them. Then question arose that
what is the medium through which light spreads and what are the mechanical properties of the
medium? Since it was getting difficult to reduce the optical phenomenon to the mechanical view
unless this question is answered, the mechanical view was completely given up. The older
‘mechanical world view’ was rejected in favour of some newly evolving concepts. This new
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concept which appeared on the horizon of understanding of physical sciences since the time of
Newton, probably one of the most important concepts, was that of ‘Field’.
Imaginative thoughts of great minds such as Coulomb (1736-1806), a French physicist, Oersted
(1777-1851), a Danish physicist, Gauss (1777-1855), a German mathematician, Ampere (17751836), a French physicist, Ohm (1789-1854), a German physicist, and Faraday (1791-1867), an
English physicist and a ‘Natural Philosopher’, led to the concept of ‘Field’, and ‘Forces
experienced in a field’. This newly evolved idea not only proved to be most successful in
explaining the forces experienced by the charges or the magnetic poles but finally culminated in
the concept of 'Electromagnetic Fields', the mathematical equations of which were summarized
by a great Scottish physicist Sir James Clark Maxwell (1831-1879). Maxwell’s equations
described the structure of 'Electromagnetic Fields' governing the electric, magnetic and optical
phenomenon. The idea of 'Electromagnetic Waves' as a carrier of 'Energy' brought a new
thinking in the world of physical sciences. It may be interesting to mention here that the
pioneering work of Heinrich Hertz (1857-1894) demonstrated the existence of ‘Radio Waves’ in
1887 (with the inspiration from the work of Herman von Helmholtz (1821-1894) and Maxwell)
and showed that the velocity of radio waves is equal to the velocity of light. Hertz thoughts
inspired a new subject of ‘Electrodynamics’ which put an end to all the unnecessary arguments
about ‘action at a distance’. A new concept of ‘Fields’ was thus introduced to explain those
phenomenons of nature that were hitherto not satisfactorily explained. This has been discussed
by the author in detail in one of his very recent publications. 1
Forces experienced in Fields
It has been established that two bodies experience a ‘Force’ among them in a ‘Gravitational
Field’ of these bodies, the force being directly proportional to the masses of these two bodies and
inversely proportional to the square of the distance between them. This force is mathematically
represented along with a ‘Gravitational Constant’, as propounded by Isaac Newton (1642-1727).
Similarly, two electric charges experience a force (attraction/repulsion) in an ‘Electric Field’
established between these charges, the force being a function of the magnitude of these two
charges and inversely proportional to the square of the distance between them. Likewise, two
magnets experience a force in a ‘Magnetic Field’, established between these two magnets again
depending as a function of their magnetic pole strength and inversely proportional to the square
of the distance between them. In an identical fashion, two current carrying conductors experience
a force in an ‘Electromagnetic Field’ set up between them depending on the magnitude of the
two currents and inversely proportional to the square of the distance between them. In all these
cases the force is being mathematically represented with an appropriate constant of
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proportionality. Maxwell’s equations of ‘Electromagnetic Fields’, thus, mathematically
summarize the entire phenomenon taking place in these fields.
Einstein had presented his “General Theory of Relativity” in 1915. The theory of relativity
actually arose from the field problems. The old theories were full of inconsistencies and
contradictions and hence Einstein found need to ascribe new properties to the Space-Time
continuum, which is supposed to be the canvas where events take place in this physical world.
Space-Time continuum was given even a deeper meaning by “General Theory of Relativity”. It
was no longer restricted to inertial co-ordinates. It even took into account the issue of gravitation.
The new structure was formulated for the gravitational field. The gravity arises from ‘warping of
space’ and hence gravity found a new definition as the “curvature of Space-Time continuum”.
Geometry was also playing important role now in the description of physical world. General
theory of relativity amalgamated all the four dimensions of space and time. The theory also
strengthened the concept of ‘Field’ in understanding the behaviour of physical world. Einstein
had also predicted the presence of ‘Gravitational Waves’, which have been detected very
recently. A new concept was introduced to help understand the nature of ‘Physical Reality’ in a
better manner.
Therefore, this subject could be viewed in following fashion. If there is a single entity, it creates
its own field. To experience force, it needs another entity which will also have its own field.
Therefore, the force between these two entities could be experienced as a virtue of interaction of
these two fields. The nature and magnitude of the force experienced depends on various physical
parameters as explained above.
Thoughts and the Field of Consciousness
‘Thoughts’ have been considered as ‘Energy’ in eastern philosophical and spiritual concepts.
Thoughts of entity ‘A’ will establish a field of consciousness of entity ‘A’. These thoughts could
however propagate independently in an all pervading ‘Field of Cosmic Consciousness’.
Similarly, if there is an entity ‘B’, the thoughts of entity ‘B’ will also establish its own field of
consciousness. These thoughts could also travel in the ‘Field of Cosmic Consciousness’ in a
similar fashion as that of entity ‘A’. The two thoughts could however interact through their
respective thought waves propagating in their respective fields of consciousness, these two fields
being in interaction, thus, creating an effect on these two entities in a fashion depending on the
nature of thoughts, positive or negative. If an entity ‘A’ is in a state of ‘Thoughtlessness’, it will
then not be affected by thoughts of any other entity, however, the entity ‘A’ will still continue to
be in a ‘Field of Cosmic Consciousness’. Actually the ‘Field of Consciousness’ of entity ‘A’ then
merges with the ‘Field of Cosmic Consciousness’, which is all pervading in the universe.
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The concept of ‘Field of Consciousness’ has already been developed by the author in one of his
recent publications 1. This idea was evolved in reference to the concept that human emotions do
create physical reality and that this mechanism may be happening in the ‘Field of
Consciousness’, where any phenomenon is not limited by the established theory of ‘SpaceTime’, conceptualized by Einstein more than a century ago. It was also emphasized in that
deliberation that the entangled particles instantaneously reflect the same action or state, even if
they are separated by any distance whatsoever.
Equations of the Field of Consciousness
Let us denote the 'Field of Consciousness' by 'Fcon'. The propagation of thoughts takes place in
this field. We could also define the thoughts as 'Th'. Now, we formulate two equations as follows;
∇× Fcon = Th
(1)
∇. Fcon = 0
(2)
The equation 1 means that the 'Thoughts' (like current) are propagating through a field defined as
‘Field of Consciousness' (like a magnetic field). Similarly, equation 2 means that the 'Field of
Consciousness' is only a medium in which the thoughts propagate. At any point in space
pervaded with the field of consciousness, the thoughts input is equal to the thoughts output.
‘Field of Consciousness’ cannot generate any thoughts as such, but is only a medium for the
propagation of thoughts. Thoughts are generated by the individual entities. This could also mean
that in the absence of thoughts in either of the entities i.e. in a state of 'thoughtlessness',
there may not be any interaction of field of consciousness of that specific entity with the field of
consciousness of another entity. It appears to be true, because if one is in the vicinity of a sage
under deep meditation, who is in a state of so called 'thoughtlessness', it may not be possible to
establish any kind of contact with him, because he is in contact with the all pervading CosmicConsciousness. His consciousness has now merged with the ‘Supreme Cosmic Consciousness’.
These two equations could then be called as, "The Equations of Field of Consciousness".
In this discussion, these equations have been evolved on the basis of Maxwell’s equations
derived for ‘Electromagnetic Fields’, using Ampere’s Circuital Law and Gauss’s Law, which are
normally represented as follows;
∇× H = J
(3)
∇. B = 0
(4)
Where, B and H are magnetic flux density and magnetic field intensity respectively, both being
related through a constant known as permeability of the medium. The factor J is current density.
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The equation 3 is the representations of Ampere’s circuital law without addition of ‘Maxwell’s
factor’. The equation 4 represents Gauss’s law. Gauss's law states that there are no magnetic
mono-poles possible, and the total magnetic flux through a closed surface is zero, which also
means that flux entering at a point/surface is equal to the flux leaving the point/surface. The
Ampere's circuital law on the other hand, signifies that the magnetic field induced around a
closed loop is proportional to the electric current enclosed by the loop.
Similar concept has been evolved and discussed by the author in a recently published paper
where the subject of synchronization of our brains during conversation has been elaborated 2. It
was discussed that this phenomenon of inter- brain synchronization happens in the ‘Field of
Consciousness’. This was also outlined there that an obvious question may now arise in the
intellectual minds whether 'Fcon', and 'Th' are measurable in quantitative terms (as the empirical
science demands), since these have been only understood qualitatively as of now. But, it could be
considered that once the mathematical equations are formulated for such an abstract
phenomenon, this possibility could also be worked out in future.
It was also pointed out in the same article 2 that these concepts could be further extended once
the 'Thoughts', are considered not only as 'Waves', but ‘Quantum Waves - the Waves of
Probability', exactly as discussed in 'Quantum Theory'. This being so, one could then apply some
advanced mathematics to work out the equations further. One could even develop 'Wave theory
of Quantum Consciousness'.
Thoughts as Quantum Waves – the Waves of Probability
The ‘Thoughts’ indeed are the ‘Quantum Waves – the Waves of Probability’, something similar
to one hypothesized by Schrödinger and Max Born in ‘Quantum Theory’. In continuation with
the work of Louis de Broglie and with the understanding of dual nature of electron as a particle
and a wave considered as a quantum wave, Schrödinger had developed the mathematical
treatment of the subject commonly known as ‘Wave Mechanics’. The Schrödinger’s equation
actually represents a physical system consisting of an observing system and the observed system.
The observed system is a wave function, which is the wave component of the wave/matter
duality as postulated by Louis de Broglie. As per the de Broglie hypothesis, not only electron but
every object in this universe is both a ‘particle’ and a ‘wave’, the wave part being represented by
the Schrödinger’s wave equation, the wave being observed by the observing system.
Schrödinger’s wave equation is a generic equation which represents only ‘Standing’ Waves’ and
not ‘Travelling Waves’. Schrödinger’s wave equation represents all the possible standing wave
functions in the universe, the main variables of this wave equation being time and energy.
Therefore, if the correct variables for a particular observed system are given as input, the
Schrödinger’s wave equation will represent that wave function. If input is the energy variables of
the electron wave, the Schrödinger’s equation will then represent the electron wave function over
time. Normally, it is simpler to understand the energy structure of electrons and some such other
micro objects; therefore it is possible to apply the Schrödinger wave equations to these wave
functions. Macro objects have much more complex wave functions (but they do have a wave
function) and it may be quite difficult to input their variables to create the Schrödinger’s wave
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function. It could, however, be said that the Schrödinger wave equation is applicable for any
simple or complex wave function. The other aspect of the physical system of the Schrödinger’s
wave equation is the observing system. When the observing system interacts with the observed
system at any given time, the wave function of the observed system collapses to only one of the
logical possibilities at that given time.
Max Born clarified through systematic mathematical treatment that these ‘Quantum Waves’,
which are associated with a ‘Wave Function’ are actually the ‘Waves of Probability’ and not the
waves of material as thought by Schrödinger, answering to the question that ‘waves of what?’.
These quantum waves, therefore, are statistical predictions; the waves of probability being
nothing but a likely outcome. The quantum waves merely define the potential location which
could be occupied by a particle. Probability wave is neither an event nor a phenomenon; it is just
a description of likelihood of an event or phenomenon to occur. It was, therefore, considered that
the particle exists only in a blurry state of possibility until its wave function collapses during
observation. The object’s behaviour could only be defined as probabilities. The object actually
could therefore assume a particular motion or place only on the collapse of its wave function.
In a similar fashion, ‘Thought Waves’ are the ‘Quantum Waves’ which could be considered as
the ‘Waves of Probability’ – only a statistical prediction associated with a ‘Wave Function’.
When a thought is generated by an entity ‘A’, this thought could take a shape only when its wave
function collapses in one’s mind. This is the reason that while one may generate innumerable
number of thoughts every time, only few thoughts may take shape depending upon the energy of
thoughts and the collapse of its wave function in one’s mind. Similarly, when an entity ‘A’,
generates any thought about an entity ‘B’, or for any number of other entities for that matter, the
thought will take a material shape again only depending upon the energy level of the thought
wave and most importantly, whether the wave function of that thought has collapsed in the mind
of entity ‘B’ or any other entity for that matter.
Until the collapse of the wave function, the thought will only remain in the blurry state of
possibility of that event to occur. Therefore, it could be said that any thought will take the
material shape only and only when one allows the wave function of that thought to collapse in
one’s mind. These thoughts need a medium and propagate in the ‘Field of Consciousness’ of that
particular entity creating the thought. This field of Consciousness of an entity ‘A’ could interact
with the field of Consciousness of entity ‘B’, or any number of other entities for that matter.
However, a field of Consciousness of any entity is superimposed on the ‘Field of Cosmic
Consciousness’, pervading the entire universe.
Conclusions
In this article, first the concept of ‘Fields’, which arose during late eighteenth and nineteenth
century to describe the physical phenomenon of ‘Forces in a Field’ has been discussed. On the
basis of such established concepts, an idea of ‘Field of Consciousness’ has been conjectured,
which has been given a meaning for the propagation of ‘Thoughts’ considered not only as
‘Energy’ but also the ‘Quantum Waves – the Waves of Probability’. It has also been concluded
that the ‘Thoughts’ could propagate in the ‘Field of Consciousness’ as ‘Quantum Waves’. ‘I am,
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therefore I think’ is the most profound statement in the Eastern philosophical thought. There are
only two profound entities in the universe, ‘Thoughts’, and ‘Consciousness’, and everything else
is simply a manifestation of those.
References
1. (Sharma Narendra Dutt, 2018), On the Concept of Space-Time and Consciousness: Some Western and
Indic Thoughts, Journal of Consciousness Exploration & Research, Volume 9, Issue 4, pp 328-349
2. (Sharma Narendra Dutt, 2018), Science behind Synchronization of our Brains during Conversation,
Journal of Consciousness Exploration & Research, Volume 9, Issue 6, pp 590-593
3. (Einstein, Albert, Infeld Leopold, 1938), The Evolution of Physics, New York, Simon and Schuster
4. (Heisenberg Werner, 1971), Physics and Beyond, New York, Harper and Row
5. (Heisenberg Werner, 1961), Physics and Philosophy, New York, Harper and Row
6. (Klostermaier Klaus K., 2004), The Nature of Nature – Exploration in Science, Philosophy and
Religion, Chennai, The Theosophical Publishing House
7. (Lidley David, 2008), Uncertainty – Einstein, Heisenberg, Bohr, and the Struggle for the Soul of
Science, New York, Anchor Books
8. (Morris Richard, 1987), The Nature of Reality – The Universe after Einstein, New York, The Noonday
Press
9. (Pagels Heinz R., 1982), The Cosmic Code, New York, Dover Publication
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Relativistic Implications for Physical Copies of Conscious States
Andrew Knight
arXiv:2005.04101v2 [physics.hist-ph] 13 May 2020
aknight@alum.mit.edu
(Dated: May 14, 2020)
The possibility of algorithmic consciousness depends on the assumption that conscious states
can be copied or repeated by sufficiently duplicating their underlying physical states, leading to a
variety of paradoxes, including the problems of duplication, teleportation, simulation, self-location,
the Boltzmann brain, and Wigner’s Friend. In an effort to further elucidate the physical nature of
consciousness, I challenge these assumptions by analyzing the implications of special relativity on
evolutions of identical copies of a mental state, particularly the divergence of these evolutions due
to quantum fluctuations. By assuming the supervenience of a conscious state on some sufficient
underlying physical state, I show that the existence of two or more instances, whether spacelike
or timelike, of the same conscious state leads to a logical contradiction, ultimately refuting the
assumption that a conscious state can be physically reset to an earlier state or duplicated by any
physical means. Several explanatory hypotheses and implications are addressed, particularly the
relationships between consciousness, locality, physical irreversibility, and quantum no-cloning.
I.
INTRODUCTION
Either it is physically possible to copy or repeat a conscious state or it is not. Both possibilities have profound
implications for physics, biology, computer science, and
philosophy.
Whether or not consciousness can be copied is fertile
ground for a multitude of troubling, if not fascinating,
thought experiments. There’s the duplication problem
[1]: imagine we can teleport a traveler to another planet
by creating “a precise duplicate of the traveler, together
with all his memories, his intentions, his hopes, and his
deepest feelings,” but then we decide not to destroy the
original copy? “Would his ‘awareness’ be in two places at
once?” There’s the simulation problem [2]: if conscious
awareness can be uploaded onto a computer, then how
do we know we aren’t simulated minds in simulated universes? In fact, because simulated universes are much
less expensive, in terms of matter and energy, than actual universes, then if consciousness can be duplicated,
we are almost certainly one of vast numbers of simulated
copies. There’s the problem of self-location [3]: if a psychopath tells you that he has created an exact physical
copy of you and will torture it unless you pay a hefty
ransom, then you should pay the ransom unless you are
absolutely sure that you aren’t the copy. There’s the
problem of the Boltzmann brain: if consciousness is just
the result of atoms in a brain, what’s to prevent a set
of physically identical atoms, somewhere in the universe,
from accidentally coming together in just the right way
to create your brain? And what would that feel like?
Notice that each of these problems is a direct consequence of the copiability or repeatability of conscious
states.1 If it turns out, for whatever reason, that con-
1 Throughout this paper, I’ll treat copiability and repeatability of
conscious states as essentially interchangeable because repeating
a conscious state (or resetting it to an earlier state) is akin to
copying it at a later point in spacetime.
scious states cannot be copied, then these and other problems disappear. Whether each of the above scenarios is
actually possible is an empirical question, and given the
rate that technology is advancing, it may be just a matter
of time before each is tested. There are related problems
that may never be testable such as, “Will a computer
ever become conscious – and how would we know?” After all, there is no consensus on how to measure the existence or level of consciousness in an entity. Some say
that consciousness depends on the ability to pass a hypothetical “Turing test.” Some say it depends on the level
of complexity in neural networks. Some say it depends
on certain activity in the brain. So how can we possibly learn anything about the nature of consciousness if it
depends on a definition?
It is easy to get bogged down in the meaning of “conscious” and lose sight of the big picture. It’s as if the
question, “Will a ball near Earth experience a force of
gravity?” has been preempted by, “What do you mean
by ‘ball’ ?” So let me rephrase: “If I am near Earth, will
I experience a force of gravity?” My goal is to derive, if
possible, an objectively correct prediction to several questions such as: will it ever be possible to teleport a copy
of myself to another planet? Will it ever be possible to
upload my conscious awareness onto a computer so that
I can outlive my physical death? Will it ever be possible, perhaps in millions of years, for a collection of atoms
somewhere in the universe to accidentally come together
in just the right way to create my conscious awareness?
Will it be possible for me to experience these things? The
answer is yes only if my conscious states are fundamentally such that they could be copied or repeated. Are
they?
First, let’s consider the question, “Will it ever be possible to upload me to a digital computer?” This a scientific
question if it can be phrased as a falsifiable hypothesis.
“It is impossible to upload me to a digital computer”
would be falsified, for example, by my being conscious
and aware while possessing a body consisting essentially
of on-off switches. But what do I mean by “me”? I
2
mean my identity – but what is that? Questions like
this lead many to reject from the realm of scientific inquiry anything involving identity or consciousness. But
that’s a mistake because science is about making predictions about our own experiences, and without a consistent sense of identity, whose experiences are we predicting?
In this paper, I will assume it is possible to copy conscious states and show how this assumption, in conjunction with special relativity, leads to a contradiction. In
doing so, I will rely heavily on the extent to which consciousness and identity supervene on an underlying physical state. For this reason, I will begin with a discussion
of identity and why objections based on identity are inadequate to counter the conclusions of this paper.
identity into one concept: temporal continuity2 of identity (or transtemporal identity). Whether there really is
such a thing, and whether it matters, will be addressed
in the following sections.
In this paper the word consciousness 3 includes identity
and a conscious state is a state experienced by someone;
that is, a person experiencing a conscious state has an
identity and one conscious state cannot be experienced
by more than one person. So if a particular physical
state produces a conscious state, and that physical state
includes (among other things) light sensors that are absorbing photons having a wavelength of 680nm, then the
produced conscious state may correspond to someone’s
subjective experience of seeing the color red, in which
case we can ask who is experiencing that conscious state
and whether that person is seeing red.
A.
II.
QUESTIONING IDENTITY
Let’s consider what it means to upload me to a digital computer. I think it means two things. First, that
it’s me, that I experience it. (Let’s call this existence
of identity.) If a scientist tells me that an exact copy
of me has been uploaded to a computer, but I don’t experience whatever sensations accompany living inside a
computer, I will respond that I have not been uploaded.
“But I can’t tell the difference between you two,” the
scientist may respond. “Yes, but I can,” I would reply, “and you have failed to upload me.” Second, that
my identity would persist; that as the computer physically evolves in time according to the laws of nature,
the consciousness it creates would continue to be mine.
(Let’s call this persistence of identity.) In other words,
if the computer begins in some initial physical state S1
that produces me in conscious state C1 , and after awhile
physically evolves to physical state S2 that happens to
produce conscious state C2 , that conscious state C2 will
still be mine, and I subjectively experience an evolution
from conscious state C1 to C2 . And if, due to a random
quantum
event, the computer were to evolve to physical
0
0
state S2 (instead of S2 ) that happens to produce C2 (in0
stead of C2 ), then conscious state C2 will still be mine
and I subjectively
experience an evolution from conscious
0
state C1 to C2 . I don’t expect the scientist to guarantee
that I will live forever – after all, the physical evolution of
the computer could simply stop producing consciousness
– but I do expect that as long as the physical evolution
of the computer continues to produce conscious states, I
will be the person experiencing them, not someone else.
In other words, if a scientist claims to have uploaded me
to a digital computer, if I don’t subjectively experience
(in the form of evolving conscious states) the physical
evolution of the computer over time, then that scientist
has failed. Let me combine existence and persistence of
Boltzmann Brains and Bad Science
As it turns out, the Boltzmann brain problem is much
bigger than the weirdness of the occasional human brain
fluctuating into and out of existence. In cosmological
models in which Boltzmann brains dominate, not only is
any brain much more likely to be a random fluctuation,
but any complete person, world, or even galaxy is much
more likely to be a random fluctuation. Are you a Boltzmann brain? You might think the answer is no because
you can see a vast world around you and you seem to have
many years’ worth of memories that are consistent with
a long-lasting, law-abiding physical world. However, the
overwhelming majority of people who would make such
claims are, in these models, random fluctuations. They
are “Boltzmann observers” who have no right to believe
that any of their observations are reliable or that their
scientific predictions will come to fruition.
This is a problem. Science, after all, is about collecting evidence and making predictions based on falsifiable
hypotheses. However, if a model based on science predicts that the foundation of science itself is not reliable –
then what? Sean Carroll eloquently sums it up [4]: “it’s
overwhelmingly likely that everything we think we know
about the laws of physics, and the cosmological model
that predicts we are likely to be random fluctuations,
has randomly fluctuated into our heads.” In other words,
if a model that is based on physical evidence in the world
around us predicts that that very evidence is an illusion,
then we should reject such a model as “cognitively unstable.”
2 This temporal flow is often called a “stream” of consciousness,
but many have argued that consciousness consists of a series of
discontinuous blips of awareness that are perceived as continuous.
This distinction is irrelevant to the present analysis.
3 Just as there is no consensus on the definition of consciousness,
there is no single term or phrase to represent it – others are mentality, sentience, self-awareness, and the subjective experience of
qualia.
3
A similar fate befalls denial of identity because
the foundation of science fundamentally depends on
transtemporal identity. “A ball falls toward Earth at
9.8m/s2 ” is an hypothesis that, if incorrect, can be falsified through experimentation. But that requires a scientist to prepare the experiment, then perform it, then
collect and analyze data, and then determine whether the
hypothesis has been falsified. This series of events, all of
which are necessary in scientific investigation, occurs in
a temporal order, and if the scientist did not or could not
expect to be the same person throughout, then she would
have no reason to believe that she could test falsifiable
hypotheses. She would have no reason to trust science.
Therefore, any theory or model that rejects the temporal continuity of identity should be rejected as rendering
science internally inconsistent. Further, while transtemporal identity is necessary for scientific inquiry, it is not
itself subject to scientific scrutiny because no experiment
can falsify it; thus, there is no scientific rationale to doubt
the existence of transtemporal identity.
B.
Fissioning Philosophers
Philosophers have had much to say about both the
existence and persistence of identity, but their analyses
almost exclusively depend on the assumption that conscious states can be copied. The typical philosophical
analysis of identity goes something like this: Identity is
produced by the brain; the brain is just a chuck of matter
that can be moved around, copied, replaced, and so forth,
at will; therefore, the notion of identity is problematic.
For instance, Parfit begins his analysis [5] with, “We
suppose that my brain is transplanted into someone else’s
(brainless) body, and that the resulting person has my
character and apparent memories of my life. [I shall here
assume] that the resulting person is me.” He then proceeds, in thought experiment, to slice up the brain, trade
brain sections with other people, sever connections between hemispheres, and so forth, to arrive at various conclusions (such as the “fission” or “fusion” of identities)
that are at odds with transtemporal identity. Zuboff [6]
also starts with replication of a brain that “is a precise
duplicate of yours in every discriminable respect...” and
concludes that so-called fission – in which “one subject
can, in a single next moment, experience two differing
non-integrated contents of experience” – is the necessary outcome. These “brain-in-a-vat” style thought experiments have dominated philosophical theories of mind
and identity, not to mention science fiction, for decades,
and represent the best prima facie arguments against
transtemporal identity.
However, an argument that relies on premise X cannot be used to disprove an argument for X. My goal in
this paper is to show, among other things, that conscious
states cannot be copied. Because the typical philosophical arguments depend on the in-principle copiability of
brains, mental states, etc., then not only are they inad-
equate to counter the arguments in this paper, they are
entirely inapplicable. In other words, the strongest arguments against transtemporal identity depend on the
assumption that conscious states can be copied, but this
is the very notion that I am attempting to refute. Therefore, any notion or theory of identity that depends on the
copiability of conscious states (or the copiability of brains
in conjunction with the supervenience of consciousness on
brains) is simply irrelevant to the present analysis.
C.
Universal Beliefs
Why fight the notion of transtemporal identity in the
first place? After all, it’s what we all implicitly believe.
Every decision we make about the future depends on our
belief in identity. Let’s say that a travel agent was to
offer you the following options:
• For $10,000, you will spend a week at a resort in
Tahiti;
• For $6,000, an exact physical copy4 of you will be
created and will spend a week at a resort in Tahiti
while your current body is anesthetized;
• For $2,000, a really good copy of you – one that
looks, acts, and talks just like you but is not an
exact copy – will be created and will spend a week
at a resort in Tahiti while your current body is
anesthetized.
In all three cases, the underlying question you’ll no
doubt ask yourself is, “What will I experience?” If you
believe that an exact physical copy of you inevitably includes your identity, then you might be tempted to go
with the second option, given that the $4,000 in savings
could be enjoyed by you at a later date. And if you believe that a reasonably good copy of you includes your
identity, then you might be tempted by the third option.
In other words, your potential choice between the latter two options depends on (your beliefs about) whether
your identity can flow to a copy of you, not on whether
you have an identity. When choosing, you are, presumably, not thinking about neural firings, corresponding to
pleasure sensations, in a brain that is similar or identical to yours; you are thinking about whether you will
experience those pleasure sensations.
This is also true, I suspect, of those philosophers who
officially refute transtemporal identity. This is easily
4 I have no idea what this phrase means, nor does any other physi-
cist, although many philosophers throw it around casually. An
exact copy in classical phase space is impossible because infinite
precision does not exist in the physical world; an exact copy in
quantum mechanical Hilbert space is impossible because of quantum no-cloning; and so on. But for the sake of this section, let’s
pretend there is such a thing.
4
demonstrated by proponents of the Many Worlds Interpretation (“MWI”) of quantum mechanics, in which a
similar identity problem notably arises in the question of
what an observer experiences at some quantum mechanical “branching” event (cf. [7]). Imagine an observer,
originally in state |Ψobs iready , who is about to perform a
measurement on a quantum mechanical system in initial
pure state |Ψs i, which is a superposition of orthogonal
(or mutually exclusive) states |Ai and |Bi such that a
measurement of it will yield outcome A with 99% probability or outcome B with 1% probability:
√
√
|Ψs i =
0.99 |Ai + 0.01 |Bi
(1)
The measurement apparatus, originally in state
|Ψm iready , is designed so that if outcome A obtains, the
observer will experience intense pain, while if B obtains,
he will experience neither pain nor pleasure. According
to MWI, which assumes the universality of quantum mechanics at any scale, the experiment causes the entire
system to linearly evolve according to:
|Ψobs iready |Ψm iready |Ψs i
√
√
0.99 |Ψm iA |Ai + 0.01 |Ψm iB |Bi
→ |Ψobs iready
√
→
0.99 |Ψobs iA |Ψm iA |Ai
√
+ 0.01 |Ψobs iB |Ψm iB |Bi
(2)
Notice that the final evolution in Eq. 2 remains a superposition in which a state of the observer corresponding
to observation of outcome A (and thus the experience of
pain) is correlated to outcome A, and vice versa for outcome B. In collapse interpretations of quantum mechanics, the wave state in Eq. 2 instantaneously reduces to
either |Ψobs iA |Ψm iA |Ai, a world in which the observer
experiences intense pain with a likelihood of 99%, or
|Ψobs iB |Ψm iB |Bi, a world in which the observer avoids
pain with a probability of 1%. Transtemporal identity
is no problem in this case because the pre-measurement
observer can expect to become one or the other of the
post-measurement observers. However, because MWI is
a non-collapse interpretation in which every term in a
quantum wave state, no matter how macroscopic, corresponds to an actual world, MWI implies that after the
measurement, there is a real observer correlated to outcome A and a real observer correlated to outcome B.
Identity fissions, and neither post-measurement observer
has a better claim to “being” the pre-measurement observer than the other [8]: “All your future selves, on all
your branches, are equally real and equally yours.” Like
many philosophers, the MWI proponent can, in an academic setting, disavow any belief in a transtemporal identity. Perhaps he will try to console himself by noting that
the experiment will cause his identity to fission so that,
after the measurement, there will exist an “equally real”
version of himself that has experienced no pain. But I
suspect that, despite fanciful arguments discounting notions of enduring identity, he will be more than a little
nervous to carry out the above experiment. I suspect
that when push comes to shove, he will in fact be afraid
of the pain that he – not someone who looks and acts
just like him, but he – is likely to experience.
D.
Much Ado About Nothing
The most likely objections to the arguments in this
paper will target transtemporal identity. But even if I
haven’t convinced you that science without identity is
unscientific, or that philosophy without identity is inapplicable to this paper, or that belief in transtemporal
identity is essentially universal, it doesn’t matter because
the issue of identity is a red herring.
My goal in this paper is to determine whether or not
conscious states can be copied, where a particular conscious state is identified with a particular person. That
is, I want to answer questions like, “Is it possible in principle to upload myself to a computer?” or “Is it possible
to teleport me to a distant galaxy?” To do so, I simply
assume that a person’s conscious state (i.e., a conscious
state corresponding to someone’s transtemporal identity)
supervenes on some underlying physical state that can
be copied, and then show that this assumption leads to
a contradiction. But if a person’s conscious state does
not supervene on physical state (whether because identity is an illusion, or identity fissions, or whatever), then
we come to the same conclusion that conscious states
cannot be copied, because there is nothing physical that
can be copied that will produce a conscious state of that
person.
Stated bluntly: if there is something physical that can
be copied that causes me to be uploaded to a computer,
then what are the logical consequences? (That is a question I will explore in Section III.) But if there is not
something physical that can be copied that causes me
to be uploaded to a computer, then we have the answer:
(my) conscious states cannot be copied.
III.
WHY CONSCIOUS STATES CANNOT BE
COPIED
A.
Assumptions
In this section, I’ll lay out the structure of my argumentation as well as some of the assumptions I make. I
will let conscious state (or mental state) include identity
so that two or more different people cannot experience
the same conscious state. However, different conscious
states could clearly be experienced by the same person,
such as if a person experiences conscious state C1 and
then later state C2 , which is temporally downstream from
state C1 . Also, I use “person” to refer to any conscious
entity, whether instantiated in human or other biological
or even nonbiological form.
5
A scientist claims that he is able to upload me
to a digital computer. Do we have reason to doubt
his claim?
Let’s assume that the scientist’s claim is true and then
follow it to its logical consequences. First, he is claiming
to upload me. If he is right, then when he uploads me,
I will subjectively experience being conscious and aware
yet embodied not by a human body but by a collection
of physical objects (such as digital switches) configured
as a general purpose computer executing software code.
Next, because software is simply a set of instructions that
can inherently be copied and executed on any general
purpose computer, what happens if he uploads me to a
second computer? Will I subjectively experience both?
What would happen if those two experiences, responding to different stimuli (or inputs), start to diverge? It
might seem easy to solve the problem by adding an ad
hoc requirement that only the first software copy can be
executed, but how could Mother Nature possibly enforce
this rule if the two computers are spacelike separated –
i.e., causally nonlocal – so that the temporal ordering of
events is relative to an observer? Now, instead of software, the scientist claims that he is able to create a copy
of me in a different spacetime position. He is not merely
claiming that he is able to make a reasonably good physical copy of my brain, or an exact copy of my brain, or
a reasonably good physical copy of my body, or an exact
copy of my body. Rather, he is claiming to be able to
copy me, identity and all. The same problems arise as
in the case of uploading me to a computer. I will argue
that the demands of special relativity are inconsistent
with the ability to freely copy a conscious state because
the following two assumptions lead to a contradiction:
• Supervenience of conscious states: A conscious or mental state C1 supervenes on physical
state S1 , so that instantiation of physical state S1
is sufficient to create conscious state C1 of a person
having an identity. If physical state S1 physically
evolves over time to state S2 that is sufficient to
create conscious state C2 , then state C2 will be the
same person (i.e., having the same identity) as state
C1 .
• Copiability of conscious states: A copy of physical state S1 , which is sufficient to create conscious
state C1 , can be instantiated elsewhere in spacetime5 in a manner that does not prevent other instantiations from evolving.
Note that the second assumption (“Copiability”) depends on the first assumption (“Supervenience”); Copiability can be false on its own, but if Supervenience is
false, then Copiability must also be false because there is
nothing physical that can be copied to produce the same
conscious state of the same person.
The phrase “physical state” is meant in the broadest
sense possible. Classically, the physical state of a system
of matter might be fully described in phase space – i.e.,
in terms of the positions and momenta of each of its constituent particles. However, we know that the classical
description of the universe is only an approximation and
fails to correctly describe and predict extremely small
systems, the purview of quantum mechanics. Quantum
mechanically, however, it can’t be said that any particular particle in a system even has a position or momentum
until measured; and while its position can be measured
to nearly arbitrary precision, quantum uncertainty guarantees a trade-off in the precision to which its momentum
can be simultaneously measured. Further, the quantum
mechanical description of a particle can’t be separated
from that of other particles with which it is entangled,
making the quantum mechanical prediction of a physical
system larger than a few atoms essentially impossible.
Quantum mechanics may itself turn out to be an emergent approximation of a more fundamental ontology.
Therefore I do not intend to limit “physical state” to
any known description. Instead, by assuming that conscious state C1 supervenes on physical state S1 , I simply
mean that there is something physical about the universe
that gives rise to that conscious state. Of course, there’s
no guarantee that a given physical state will create a
conscious state – probably very, very few will – but if
a conscious state exists then it depends entirely on the
underlying physical state. I also assume that a given conscious state might be created by more than one physical
state. In other words, it may be the case that conscious
state C1 arises from any member of some large set {S1 ,
S1∗ , S1∗∗ , ...} of underlying physical states, and that instantiating any of these physical states will produce the
same conscious state C1 of the same person.
Further, while the following arguments apply to a
physical state of any size, they are more interesting and
elucidating when applied to a small or minimal physical
state S1 that produces conscious state C1 (although state
S1 need not be the absolute minimum or smallest state
that produces the person’s consciousness). For instance,
if it turns out that the human brain6 is sufficient to create a person’s consciousness, then certainly that brain
5 If
state S1 depends on spatiotemporal location – i.e., if that
state cannot be instantiated elsewhere in spacetime – then the
assumption of Copiability is obviously false. To use the philosopher’s lexicon, two physical systems are not “numerically identical” if they exist at different locations in spacetime, no matter
how physically similar they may be. So if one already accepts
that numerical identity is necessary for the same person to experience the same conscious state, then it follows that conscious
states cannot be copied or repeated.
6 Specifying physical state S as “the human brain” is quite sloppy,
1
as we really need to specify the features (e.g., relationships
among cells, molecules, electrons, etc.) that define state S1 and
give rise to conscious state C1 . If, for example, state S1 depends
only on how cells act like digital switches, then S1 can be specified and instantiated in the form of a digital computer. If, however, S1 depends on quantum effects, then quantum no-cloning
may prevent specification of S1 at all.
6
plus a body also creates the person’s consciousness. But
if, as engineers, our goal is simply to create the person’s
consciousness as simply and efficiently as possible, then
we may as well focus on just the brain. So when I assert that conscious state C1 is created by physical state
S1 , I don’t necessarily know what kinds of information or
sorts of physical attributes specify that physical state S1 .
I also don’t know how big state S1 is. Is it the local state
of certain neural connections in one’s brain? The state
of one’s entire brain? One’s body? The planet? The universe? (Although, if it turns out as a matter of fact that
the smallest physical state S1 sufficient to create a conscious state C1 happens to involve particles throughout
the entire universe, then clearly that will prevent state
C1 from being copied.)
B.
Alice1 and Alice2 are the same person; Alice at Point 1 is
Alice at Point 2, and she
will subjectively experience the
0
evolution from C1 to C2 because of a temporal continuity
in her identity.9
Spacelike Separated Copies
I will now show how the assumptions of Supervenience
and Copiability conflict with the demands of special relativity. With reference to Fig. 1, a physical state S1 on
which conscious state C1 supervenes exists at a Point 1
in spacetime. In other words, a conscious person having
an identity determined by state S1 exists at Point 1 –
let’s call her Alice and designate the person at Point 1 as
Alice1 . For simplicity, assume that the information specifying state S1 is read and then the state is destroyed or
reconfigured soon afterward so that state C1 no longer
exists.7 The light cone of Point 1 is shown; events outside the light cone are called spacelike (or nonlocal) and
cannot have any cause-effect relationship, temporal relationship, or information connection to the event at Point
1; events inside the light cone are called timelike and do
have a temporal relationship to Point 1.
A copy of state S1 is instantiated at Point 2 (shown
with its light cone) and allowed to physically evolve to
0
a physical state S2 that is sufficient to create conscious
0
state C2 . (For the moment we will ignore what may be
happening at Point 3.) The physical evolution of state
S1 over time is subject to physical laws and depends on
both random quantum events8 and chaotic amplifications
of initial conditions such that state S1 could evolve over
some time period to any one of a large
set of
mutually
0
00
exclusive states, among which S2 , S2 , and S2 are possibilities. By Supervenience, a conscious person exists at
Point 2, and that person is Alice – let’s call her Alice2 .
FIG. 1. Spacelike separated instantiations of physical state
S1
Fig. 1 also shows a Point 3 (with its light cone), with
Points 2 and 3 lightlike to Point 1 but spacelike to each
other. A copy of state S1 is instantiated at Point
3 and
00
allowed to physically evolve to physical state S2 that is
00
00
sufficient to create conscious state C2 , where C2 is con0
sciously distinct from C2 – that is, Alice would be able
to tell them apart. (For the moment we will ignore what
may be happening at Point 2.) By Supervenience, Alice
is created at Point 3 – let’s call her Alice3 . Again, Alice3
is the same person as Alice1 and she
will subjective expe00
rience the evolution from C1 to C2 because of a temporal
continuity in her identity.
Now, imagine for the moment in Fig. 1 that copies
of state S10 are instantiated
at0 both 00of Points 2 and 3,
00
but that S2 = S2 = S2 and C2 = C2 = C2 . Note that
Points 2 and 3 are timelike to Point 1, which is a necessary condition if the information necessary to produce
the copies at Points 2 and 3 depends on information collected at Point 1. Further, Points 2 and 3 are spacelike
to each other so that there is no fact about simultaneity
or temporal ordering between them, nor can information
pass from one to the other.10 We already know that if
7 This is not a requirement but does simplify the analysis.
If it
turns out that the mere existence of the information necessary
to produce state S1 is itself adequate to produce state C1 , then
it is impossible to destroy S1 without also preventing any future
instantiations of C1 .
8 Whether or not quantum mechanics has anything to do with
consciousness, it is clear that conscious states can correlate to
(amplified) quantum events, such as the “click” a scientist consciously notices when using a Geiger counter to measure decays
of radioisotopes.
9 To reiterate, this must
be true if Supervenience is true, and if
Supervenience is not true, then conscious states cannot be copied
because there is no underlying copiable physical state that preserves the person’s identity, and we can skip to the end of the
paper.
10 While Point 2 appears closer in time to Point 1, and thus earlier
than Point 3, in fact the interval in spacetime is the metric s =
p
c2 ∆t2 − ∆x2 − ∆y 2 − ∆z 2 . Which of Points 2 and 3 occurs
earlier in time is actually relative to an observer.
7
state S1 was not instantiated at Point 2, then Alice exists
at Point 3 and she will subjectively experience the evolution from C1 to C2 because of a temporal continuity
in her identity. However, even when S1 is instantiated
at Point 2, Alice exists at both Points 2 and 3, she has
precisely the same subjective experience at both points,
and she will subjectively experience the evolution from
C1 to C2 . This must be true because we already know
that Alice exists in conscious state C1 at Point 2. But
the creation of physical state S1 at Point 3 is spacelike
to creation of physical state S1 at Point 2, which means
that from the perspective of Point 3, there is no fact
about the creation of state S1 at Point 2. The creation
of S1 at Point 2 can have no physical effect at Point 3.
For the same reason that Alice exists and experiences an
evolution from C1 to C2 due to the creation of state S1
at Point 2, she exists and experiences an evolution from
C1 to C2 due to the creation of state S1 at Point 3. This
may seem philosophically odd, but (so far) there is no
physical contradiction.11 We should be careful, however,
not to imagine different Alices who happen to have very
similar experiences; Alice1 , Alice2 , and Alice3 are all the
same Alice. Supervenience requires that Alice1 experiences the evolution of C1 to C2 due to physical evolutions
of instantiations of physical state S1 at both Points 2 and
3.
Finally, let’s0 return
to the 0original
configuration of Fig.
00
00
1, in which S2 6= S2 and C2 6= C2 – i.e., that they are
consciously distinct states.12 In that case, both Alice2
and Alice3 exist, but the underlying physical evolutions
of the two physical states S1 diverge. (It makes no difference which of the two systems diverges as the divergence
is relative to the other.) For the sake of clarity, assume
also that the entirety of the evolutions of states S1 (at
0
00
Point 2) to S2 and S1 (at Point 3) to S2 are spacelike
to each other. Given that Alice exists at both Points 2
and 3, what does Alice actually experience in Fig. 1?
At both Points 2 and 3 she experiences state C1 arising
from state S1 , but0 then 00does she subjectively experience
an evolution to C2 or C2 ? There are exactly three logical possibilities13 : she experiences neither, both, or one
or the other.
Is it possible that Alice experiences neither? Remember that Alice is created independently by instantiations
at both Points 2 and 3; the instantiation evolving from
11 Tappenden explains [9]:
“How can two doppelgangers zillions
of lightyears apart whose simultaneity we know, from Special
Relativity, is entirely relative to an inertial frame, how can they
share a single mind?” The answer: no need for causal connection.
12 We can ensure that the states are distinct by designing the systems to correlate to amplifications of cosmic microwave background radiation originating from different directions and/or
points in spacetime.
13 These three options perfectly mirror the options suggested by
Saunders [10]: “Nothing, both, or else just one of them?” He
concludes that only the third alternative is possible, but does
not consider the effects of nonlocality.
Point 3 cannot be affected by the instantiation evolving
from Point 2. If Alice is created by the instantiation
00
at Point 3 and experiences an evolution from C1 to C2 ,
then nothing that
happens in the evolution of state S1
0
at Point 2 to S2 can affect Alice’s experience from C1 to
00
C2 . Therefore, she cannot experience neither.
Perhaps Alice experiences both? What would it feel
like for Alice to subjectively experience
consciously
dis0
00
tinct evolutions from C1 to C2 and C1 to C2 ? Or, more
colloquially, what would it feel like for her to experience
diverging streams of consciousness? Before we indulge
in speculations about higher planes of consciousness or
fissioning identities, we should note the problem with locality. Note that the experience of Alice2 in Fig. 1 de0
pends on the underlying physical evolution of S1 to S2 ,
while the experience of Alice300 depends on the underlying
physical evolution of S1 to S2 . Alice3 cannot experience
an evolution of conscious0 states that 0depends on a phys00
ical evolution of S1 to S2 , because S2 is spacelike to S2 ,
just as Alice2 cannot experience an evolution of conscious
00
states that depends on a physical evolution of S1 to S2 .
Therefore, Alice cannot experience
an 00evolution of con0
scious state from C1 to both C2 and C2 .
Finally, is it possible that Alice experiences one or the
other? The problem here is that because the underlying physical systems are spacelike separated, there is no
means or criteria by which nature can independently select one instantiation or the other for the continuity of Alice’s identity. For instance, imagine that Mother Nature
simply required that the “first” instantiation of state S1
would assume Alice’s identity; that won’t work because
Points 2 and 3 are spacelike to each other so there is
no observer-independent fact about which happens first.
Perhaps Mother Nature could choose the point having
the shortest spacetime distance to Point 1, which in Fig.
1 would be Point 2. However, again, the spacelike separation of the points prevents the passage of any signal
from Point 2 to Point 3 to “stop” the creation of Alice’s
conscious state C1 at Point 3.
Therefore, having ruled out the only three possibilities,
the copiability of conscious states to spacelike locations
in spacetime leads to a contradiction. One might object
that the above argument depends on the instantiation
and evolution of spacelike-separated copies of state S1 ;
perhaps there is no problem when the copies are instantiated locally to each other. This objection fails. If there
is something fundamentally impossible about the spacelike instantiation of copies, then it must be found in their
instantiation, not in their relative locations or the extent
to which they are separated. Further, the following section will show that timelike instantiations of copies of
state S1 are equally problematic.
C.
Timelike Separated Copies
The spacelike instantiations in Section B are problematic because of a lack of causal connection. I will now
8
show that a similar contradiction arises when we consider two timelike instantiations of state S1 because they
would require impermissible backward-in-time causation.
Fig. 2 is comparable to Fig. 1, the primary difference
being that Point 3 is timelike to (and occurs after) Point
2, which is timelike to (and occurs after) Point 1. For
the same reasons, if we ignore what may be happening at
Point 3, then Alice2 , who is the same person as Alice1 at
Point 1, exists at Point 2 and
will subjectively experience
0
the evolution from C1 to C2 . And if we ignore what may
be happening at Point 2, then Alice3 , who is the same
person as Alice1 at Point 1, exists at Point 3 and00 will
subjectively experience the evolution from C1 to C2 .
FIG. 2. Timelike separated instantiations of physical state S1
Now, imagine for the moment in Fig. 2 that copies
of physical state S01 are 00instantiated at0 both00 of Points 2
and 3, but that S2 = S2 = S2 and C2 = C2 = C2 . By
the assumption of Supervenience, Alice exists and has
precisely the same subjective experience at both Points 2
and 3 and will subjectively experience an evolution from
C1 to C2 . To the extent that any conscious state, when
it is experienced, is subjectively experienced as occurring
“now,” states C1 at Points 2 and 3 must be experienced
identically and thus must be subjectively experienced simultaneously. So, even though Point 3 objectively occurs after Point 2, Alice’s conscious experience (which
includes the subjective experience of “now”) is the same
at both points. After all, if they were subjectively experienced as different times, such different experiences
would manifest themselves in different conscious states.
While this may seem philosophically odd, again there is
no contradiction.14
14 Zuboff explains [6]: “This experience [across brains] of being you,
here, now, would be numerically the same whenever, as well as
wherever, it was realized.”
Unlike in Section B in which the copies of state S1
are spacelike separated, Alice3 is in fact created after
Alice2 , in which case a causal connection is possible in
principle. However, state S1 is already assumed (by Supervenience) to be sufficient to create Alice in conscious
state C1 , so the instantiation of state S1 at Point 3 must
necessarily create Alice in state C1 , independently of her
creation at Point 2 (or any other event prior to Point 3).
In other words, the assumptions of Supervenience and
Copiability prevent the kind of causal connection that
would invalidate these arguments. For example, consider
the case in which creation of Alice2 causally prevents
the creation of Alice3 ; if that were true, then creation of
conscious state C1 at Point 3 would depend on facts that
transcend physical state S1 , thus contradicting Supervenience. Therefore, if state S1 is sufficient to create Alice
in state C1 , then instantiation of S1 at Point 3, and its
corresponding creation of Alice3 , cannot be altered by
the existence of Alice2 . For the same reason that Alice
exists and experiences an evolution from C1 to C2 due
to the creation of state S1 at Point 2, she also exists and
experiences an evolution from C1 to C2 due to the creation of state S1 at Point 3. Again, we should be careful
not to imagine different Alices who happen to have very
similar experiences; it is the same Alice.
Finally, let’s0 return
to the original
configuration of Fig.
00
0
00
2, in which S2 6= S2 and C2 6= C2 (i.e., they are consciously distinct states). In that case, both Alice2 and
Alice3 exist, but the underlying physical evolutions of
the two states S1 diverge. Given that Alice exists at
both Points 2 and 3, what does Alice actually experience
in Fig. 2? At both Points 2 and 3 she experiences state
C1 arising from state S1 , but0 then 00does she subjectively
experience an evolution to C2 or C2 ? Like in the case of
spacelike separated copies of state S1 , there are exactly
three logical possibilities: she experiences neither, both,
or one or the other.
Regarding neither, I have explained why instantiation
00
of state S1 at Point 3, and its evolution to state S2 ,
will
produce Alice subjectively experiencing state C1 to
00
C2 independently of instantiation of state S1 at Point 2.
Therefore, it cannot be neither.
Regarding both, the problem 0here is that Alice
experi00
ences the evolutions of C1 to C2 and C1 to C2 as simultaneous (from her subjective perspective), because they
both begin at the same conscious state C1 . Therefore, for
Alice to experience both conscious evolutions, it must be
the case that the conscious experience of Alice2 depends
not only on the underlying physical evolution of S1 (at
0
Point 2) to S2 , but also on the underlying physical evolu00
tion of S1 (at Point 3) to S2 . However, if Alice is to experience conscious states in real time with their underlying
physical states, this scenario would require impermissible backward-in-time causation, because what she experiences prior to Point 3 would depend at least in part on
events occurring after Point 3. Further, because of physical indeterminism (e.g., chaos and quantum mechanical
randomness), it cannot be known at Point 2 whether, or
9
when, additional copies of state S1 will be instantiated.
Therefore, it would be impossible
for Alice to00experience
0
both an evolution of C1 to C2 and C1 to C2 if she experiences them in real time with the underlying physical
evolutions.
The only possible way for Alice to experience both evolutions would require two facts: first, that Alice’s conscious states are experienced after (i.e., not in real time
with) the physical states that produced them; and second, that Alice could not experience any conscious states
until the instantiation of additional copies of state S1 is
no longer possible. In other words, Alice would only be
able to experience conscious state C1 created by multiple
copies of state S1 after the final copy of state S1 was instantiated. Thus, Alice can only subjectively experience
consciousness after which time her conscious states can
no longer be copied or repeated – in which case Copiability is false.
Finally, regarding whether Alice will experience one
evolution or the other, I have explained why instantiation
of state S1 at Point 3, and its evolution to state
00
S2 , will produce Alice3 subjectively experiencing state
00
C1 to C2 . Therefore, if Alice is to experience conscious
states in real time with their underlying physical states,
whether 0or not Alice2 will experience the evolution from
C1 to C2 depends on the future fact of whether Alice3
is created by instantiation of state S1 at Point 3, another impermissible backward-in-time causation. Thus,
for Alice to experience one evolution or the other, not
only would Alice’s conscious states necessarily be experienced long after the physical states that produced them
have long since disappeared, but Alice could not experience any conscious states until the instantiation of additional copies of state S1 is no longer possible. Thus, Alice
can only subjectively experience consciousness on or after which her conscious states can no longer be copied or
repeated – in which case Copiability is false.
Therefore, having ruled out the only three possibilities,
the copiability of conscious states to timelike locations in
spacetime leads to a contradiction. In conjunction with
the conclusion of Section B, it follows that Copiability is
false.
IV.
DISCUSSION
The assumptions of Supervenience and Copyability
lead to a contradiction, whether copies of a conscious
state are created spacelike or timelike. Therefore, Copyability, which depends on Supervenience, is false. Consequently, a conscious state cannot be copied or repeated
(unless something about the universe prevents the copies
from evolving differently); said differently, if two instances of the same conscious state could evolve to different conscious states, they cannot both exist. This
conclusion does not speak to the veracity of the statement, “Consciousness is created by the brain,” but if that
statement is true, then there must be something physical
about the brain that prevents it from being copied. Why
should this be the case? And what are some potential
implications?
A.
Explanatory Hypotheses
Why might it be fundamentally physically impossible
to copy or repeat conscious states? It may be the case
that there is no way to adequately measure physical state
S1 , or if there is, that there is no way to recreate it elsewhere in spacetime. Some potential reasons include: the
information necessary to specify the physical state is contained in distant particles that cannot be reached; attempting to measure the information inherently destroys
it, for example, because of reduction of a quantum wave
function; the information cannot be measured with adequate precision due, for example, to quantum uncertainty; the state includes quantum entanglements with
distant particles that cannot be recreated; and/or the
state is too large to measure or instantiate elsewhere.
The assumption of Supervenience does not depend on
physical state S1 being a quantum state, nor do the arguments in this paper depend on any relationship between consciousness and quantum mechanics. Having
said that, many of the above explanatory hypotheses for
the physical inability to duplicate conscious states invoke
quantum mechanics. This should not be entirely surprising; the only known physical mechanism that prevents
the instantiation of multiple copies of the same entity is
quantum no-cloning, a no-go theorem that asserts the impossibility of creating an identical copy of an unknown
quantum state. It may well be the case that whatever
physical state S1 is required to create conscious state C1
depends on quantum information that prevents it from
being copied. Aaronson [11], for example, points out that
if a conscious chunk of matter is “unclonable for fundamental physical reasons,” then that unclonability could
be a consequence of quantum no-cloning if the granularity a brain would need to be simulated at in order to
duplicate someone’s subjective identity was down to the
quantum level.
Further, the non-repeatability of a conscious state implies irreversibility, and the concept of irreversibility pervades physics: classically in the form of the Second Law
of Thermodynamics and increasing entropy15 , and quantum mechanically in the form of decoherence [12], which
occurs “as soon as a single [correlated] quantum is lost
to the environment.” Since there will always be those
who claim that any quantum mechanical process is reversible in principle by acting on the system with the
reverse Hamiltonian, we could limit ourselves to “any
fact of which the news is already propagating outward
15 Strictly speaking, classical physics is time-reversible; increasing
entropy is entirely a statistical result and is not an immutable
law of nature.
10
at the speed of light, so that the information can never,
even in principle, be gathered together again in order to
’uncause’ the fact” [11]. If we indeed live in a universe
with nonnegative curvature, as is currently believed, and
given that almost the entire night sky is black, we can
regard virtually every photon emitted into space as irretrievable. Thus if it turns out that consciousness can
only result from irreversible processes, that irreversibility
may itself be manifested in a physical state that cannot
be read or copied because some of the information specifying it is embedded in photons streaming through space
at the speed of light.
B.
Implications
First, of course, the conclusion that conscious states
cannot be copied or repeated instantly renders moot the
philosophical problems mentioned in the Introduction.
Two others will be broached here.
Consciousness is not algorithmic. The possibilities of mind uploading and computer consciousness depend on whether consciousness is fundamentally algorithmic – that is, whether consciousness can be reduced to
a finite set of input-dependent instructions. Because an
algorithm can be executed in the form of software on any
general-purpose computer independently of its underlying physical substrate, any algorithm can be copied with
no fundamental limitation on the number of copies that
can be executed; it can also be repeated on the same computer by resetting that computer and then executing the
software again. If a conscious state cannot be copied or
repeated, but an algorithm can, then an algorithm cannot
produce a conscious state. That inevitably leads to the
conclusions that Strong Artificial Intelligence (“Strong
AI”) is likely false (cf. [13]) and that mind uploading
and computer consciousness are likely impossible.
Wigner’s Friend is not conscious. In Eq. 1, we
were told that the quantum mechanical system |Ψs i is
initially in a superposition of states |Ai and |Bi; when the
observer performs a thousand experiments on systems
identically prepared in state |Ψs i, he finds that around
99% of them are measured in state |Ai and the remaining
in state |Bi. However, what if the observer had been
fooled? What if instead of a thousand systems in a pure
state, he was actually provided with 990 systems already
in state |Ai and 10 already in state |Bi – i.e., a mixed
state? Is there a way for him to modify the experiment
to figure this out? Yes: by making measurements in a
new basis in which one element, |Ci, is parallel to |Ψs i
and the other element, |Di, is perpendicular. If each
system was originally in a pure state, then all 1000 will,
with certainty, be measured in state |Ci; if the systems
were mixed, then some are likely to be measured in state
|Di.16 While the principle is relatively easy to explain,
16 This is because the systems starting in state |Ai are in a superpo-
the actual process of measuring in the new basis – called
an interference experiment – is prohibitively complex in
all but the simplest situations.
In Eq. 2, let’s rename the observer either Schrodinger’s
Cat (“SC”) or Wigner’s Friend (“WF”); both refer to essentially identical thought experiments in which an isolated macroscopic system involving some quantum mechanical event is allowed to evolve until finally observed
by a Super-observer (Schrodinger or Wigner, respectively). When Wigner finally confers with his friend postmeasurement, WF of course reports having measured either outcome A or B. But did WF collapse the wave
function when he performed the measurement? Or did
WF remain in the superposition shown in Eq. 2 until
Wigner conferred with his friend, in which case Wigner’s
observation of WF collapsed the wave function? This is
the same question as whether WF was in a pure or mixed
state at the time of Wigner’s observation, and the only
way for Wigner to know is by repeatedly doing an interference experiment on WF in a basis parallel to the
state in Eq. 2. But the only way to do that would be
to repeatedly measure WF in a coherent superposition
of states, which requires that WF’s state (specifying his
body, brain, memories, etc.) is itself reversible. Such manipulations, if they were possible, would require erasing
WF’s memory and further require WF to experience “the
same mental processes over and over, forwards in time as
well as backwards in time” [11]. Deutsch [15] describes a
hypothetical method for experimenting on WF by having him send a message to Wigner that is uncorrelated to
the measurement outcome17 , but concedes that such an
experiment requires memory erasure. While many scholars have asserted the “in-principle” possibility of such an
experiment18 , Deutsch attempts to overcome otherwise
insurmountable technical hurdles of performing a WFtype experiment on humans by instead positing conscious
computers.
However, if a conscious state cannot be repeated, as I
showed in Section III, then this kind of manipulation on
a conscious observer is not possible. In other words, if
the WF (or SC) experiment can actually be performed,
then WF (or SC) is not conscious; if he is conscious,
then the experiment cannot be performed. Further, if
consciousness is not algorithmic, then Deutsch’s attempt
sition of |Ci and |Di with nonzero amplitudes, so when each such
system is measured in the {|Ci,|Di} basis, some will be measured
as |Ci and some as |Di; and vice versa for those systems starting
in state |Bi. However, because there is some nonzero probability
that all 990 initially |Ai states and all 10 initially |Bi states are,
by random quantum “accident,” measured in state |Ci, which is
identical to the outcome predicted for systems in a pure state,
it actually requires infinitely many interference experiments to
confirm a pure state (cf. [14]).
17 But see [16], which points out why a post-measurement message
from WF will always be correlated to the outcome.
18 But see [17], which argues that the thermal isolation required for
such reversibility precludes performing the experiment on any
living thing we might regard as conscious.
11
to salvage his experiment by substituting a computer for
a person fails. Because the ability to measure WF in a
coherent superposition requires reversibility, and because
a conscious state is not reversible (because it cannot be
repeated), it follows that WF’s conscious measurement is
related to an irreversibility in the measurement process.
A conscious state can only arise after reversal of the state
is no longer possible – that is, when the state is truly
irreversible. Therefore, consciousness may be a direct
result, and indication, of the irreversibility of a physical
process.19
led physicists and philosophers into a minefield of intractable problems and seeming paradoxes. More careful
scrutiny of the assumptions, particularly in light of physical limitations imposed by special relativity on copies of
conscious states instantiated at different points in spacetime, yields a contradiction: there is something about
consciousness that prevents it from being copied or repeated at will.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
C.
Concluding Remarks
Conscious states are produced by the brain;
the brain is a just a chuck of matter; it is copiable in principle; therefore, copying a conscious state is merely a technological problem.
The allure of this faulty logic is irresistible and has
[1] Penrose, R., 1989. The Emperor’s New Mind: Concerning Computers, Minds, and the Law of Physics. Oxford
University Press.
[2] Bostrom, N., 2003. Are we living in a computer simulation?. The Philosophical Quarterly, 53(211), pp.243-255.
[3] Elga, A., 2004. Defeating Dr. Evil with selflocating belief. Philosophy and Phenomenological Research, 69(2),
pp.383-396.
[4] Carroll, S.M., 2017. Why Boltzmann brains are bad.
arXiv preprint arXiv:1702.00850.
[5] Parfit, D., 1971. Personal identity. The Philosophical Review, 80(1), pp.3-27.
[6] Zuboff, A., 1990. One self: The logic of experience. Inquiry, 33(1), pp.39-68.
[7] Wallace, D., 2012. The Emergent Multiverse: Quantum
Theory According to the Everett Interpretation. Oxford
University Press.
[8] Lewis, D., 2004. How many lives has Schrdinger’s cat?.
Australasian Journal of Philosophy, 82(1), pp.3-22.
[9] Tappenden, P., 2011. A metaphysics for semantic internalism. Metaphysica, 12(2), p.125.
[10] Saunders, S., 1998. Time, quantum mechanics, and probability. Synthese, 114(3), pp.373-404.
19 Aaronson comes to a similar conclusion [11] and notes that, if
correct, it may have interesting cosmological implications, such
I would like to thank Martin Bier, Brian Pitts, Scott
Aaronson, Paul Tappenden, Igor Salom, Kenneth Augustyn, Gary Ihas, Christopher Lind, and Annie Knight
for their guidance, comments, and stimulating conversations. This research did not receive any specific grant
from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or notfor-profit sectors.
[11] Aaronson, S., 2016. The Ghost in the Quantum Turing
Machine. In: The Once and Future Turing: Computing
the World. Cambridge University Press.
[12] Haroche, S., 1998. Entanglement, decoherence and the
quantum/classical boundary. Physics today, 51(7), pp.3642.
[13] Searle, J.R., 1990, November. Is the brain a digital computer?. In Proceedings and addresses of the American
Philosophical Association (Vol. 64, No. 3, pp. 21-37).
American Philosophical Association.
[14] Okn, E. and Sebastin, M.A., 2016. How to back up or
refute quantum theories of consciousness. Mind and Matter, 14(1), pp.25-49.
[15] Deutsch, D., 1985. Quantum theory as a universal physical theory. International Journal of Theoretical Physics,
24(1), pp.1-41.
[16] Salom, I., 2018. To the rescue of Copenhagen interpretation. arXiv preprint arXiv:1809.01746.
[17] de Barros, J.A. and Oas, G., 2017. Can we falsify the
consciousness-causes-collapse hypothesis in quantum mechanics?. Foundations of Physics, 47(10), pp.1294-1308.
as the universe having nonnegative curvature. |
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Davis, J. J., & Schübeler, F., A Seminal Model to Describe the Dynamics of the Peace Propagation Process within a Community
Research Essay
A Seminal Model to Describe the Dynamics of the
Peace Propagation Process within a Community
Jeffery Jonathan ( ישועJoshua) Davis & Florian Schübeler*
The Embassy of Peace, Whitianga, New Zealand
Abstract
In this essay, we make an initial exploration about the process of peace propagation in a small
community by describing the dynamics of people existing in different states of consciousness
and interacting in a set of encounters that are conjectured to provide the necessary elements in
order to make a transition from one state of consciousness to another. This process describes
ways of existing and acting in the world which human beings traverse in order to achieve inner
peace and affect others to support the propagation of such peace within the community [1, 2]
towards the development of a large-scale, trans-generational Peace Propagation Model for the
Exploration and Understanding of Global Peace [3].
Keywords: Seminal model, dynamics, peace propogation, community.
Introduction
In previous work [1], complementary to this essay, entitled “A System Dynamics Approach to
Modelling Individual Peace towards the Creation of a Social Peace Propagation Model”, it is
written:
The dream of Global Peace is alive today in the hearts and minds of many people.
To attain this dream requires that each part of the whole, each person within
humanity, finds ways to live in peace and harmony. This is a personal challenge
and each person is responsible for fulfilling their own state of peace, whether it be
in personal connection with the Creator or in an impersonal interaction within the
field of Universal Values…we are convinced and therefore we conjecture that as
more people attain inner peace, human communities of inter-associations of
peaceful people will also contribute to the tendency of greater social harmony
and, by extension (interaction between communities), humanity will follow the
same tendency [1, pp. 289-290].
This essay is an exploration of how peace can propagate within communities. Initially, we have
conceived the idea of a model to describe a trans-generational peace propagation process for
*Correspondence: c/o Sarah Frew, The Embassy of Peace, Whitianga, New Zealand. E-mail: science@theembassyofpeace.com
ISSN: 2153-8212
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Published by QuantumDream, Inc.
www.JCER.com
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147
Davis, J. J., & Schübeler, F., A Seminal Model to Describe the Dynamics of the Peace Propagation Process within a Community
communities, where encounters with people existing in more advanced states of being1 are
considered to be the main catalyst for a person to transition from a lower state of consciousness
to a higher one. The more meaningful encounters people have with others in more advanced and
peaceful states of consciousness, the greater the probability for them to transition to a higher
state, and thereby support the community as a whole to become more peaceful. This larger
system encompasses the genetic propensities for peace and the environments that support this
gene pool expression from one generation to the next [4, 5a, 5b].
This undertaking is accomplished with a systemic approach that relies on systems thinking,
system dynamics, stochastic and agent-based simulation which have been successfully used for
complex systems like the one we aim to understand [6, 7, 8, 9, 10a, 10b, 11, 12, 13].
Here we describe a model that considers four (4) distinct States of Consciousness: Survival
Consciousness, Sharing Consciousness, Student of Higher Spiritual Laws, and God’s
Consciousness (States Zero (0), One (1), Two (2) and Three (3) respectively), to be defined later.
In our model, meaningful and valuable interactions with people spiritually developed and
existing in peaceful states of consciousness are considered to be the main catalyst for a person to
transition from chaotic, stressful and violent states to more coherent and peaceful ones.
Here we define a person existing in a higher state of consciousness as someone who has attained
peace understood as a state of being or existence, while a person living in continuous reactive
mode as a consequence of being conditioned to survival, we define he or she as one existing in a
lower state of consciousness.
The model also considers other complexities, as for example: (1) the number of encounters
(interactions) over time with people in different states of consciousness and how those
interactions affect the probability of transition between states of consciousness, (2) the transition
from State Two (2) to State Three (3) is based on a time delay rather than the number of
encounters, (3) transitions where a person can regress to lower states of consciousness based on
their level of commitment for spiritual growth, and (4) the level of commitment is modulated by
the number of encounters with people in different states of consciousness in combination with
the person’s own state of consciousness.
This conceptual model may serve as a framework to further develop mathematical and
simulation models with the aid of semi-Markovian transition probability matrices [14, 15, 16]
representing the different functions that describe the probabilistic behaviour of the transitions
between one state and another.
It is important to note that this is a seminal model that ought to be refined over time in order to
reflect additional and more complex dynamics that more likely would facilitate the development
1
Individuals who are more masterful in embodying inner peace for long periods of time, with the capacity to restore
relatively quick when tired, and to affect others more efficiently in the attainment of individual peace.
ISSN: 2153-8212
Journal of Consciousness Exploration & Research
Published by QuantumDream, Inc.
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Davis, J. J., & Schübeler, F., A Seminal Model to Describe the Dynamics of the Peace Propagation Process within a Community
of an integral model for Planetary Peace Propagation (PPP) within and between communities.
This kind of model would aim to a better understanding of what is required, and within which
time horizon, to see peaceful and harmonious communities emerging around the globe.
For this essay however, we will focus only on the exploration of a single community, in a single
generation, with the aim to expand the model for future papers allowing us to describe
interactions between communities and the planetary trans-generational process towards Global
Peace.
I. Description of the Model
Following we introduce the reader to a general description of a simplified version of the PPP
Model that represents some relevant aspects of the complex system to be explored. Initially we
devote our attention to the understanding of the different states, probability functions and rules to
represent the system via a simplified general conceptual model, to lay the foundations for the
development of simulation models, geared towards the investigation of the behaviour of this
system under different scenarios and conditions. Next, the reader is presented with a description
of the states in which a person may exist and the transitions between them as he or she interacts
with others, as similarly described by different authors in an attempt towards a synthesis between
science and spiritual wisdom [17, 18, 19].
The four (4) distinct states of consciousness are described as follows:
-
State Zero (0), ‘Survival Consciousness’ represented by the in our diagrams and
tables; a person who is habituated to receive for self alone (selfish), with a cognitive
map strongly conditioned to exist in survival, territorial and reactive mode.
-
State One (1), ‘Sharing Consciousness’ represented by the
in our diagrams and
tables; a person who receives for the sake of sharing without an expectation of
receiving in return, showing good character and kindness towards others, while still
attending to his or her own personal desires, aspirations and dreams.
-
State Two (2), ‘Student of Higher Spiritual Law’, a Talmid Or Ain Soph, or simply
Talmid Or, represented by the in our diagrams and tables; a person who is learning
to connect with the Light of the Creator in order to listen to the still small voice
within his or her own garden of consciousness, aiming to do the Will of the Most
High and eventually attain God’s Consciousness or alternatively, to live in peace, in
tune with the Universe and the flow of meaningful events that lead to meaningful
actions of goodness and kindness.
-
State Three (3), ‘God’s Consciousness’, a Tzadik or Tzadikah, represented by the
in our diagrams and tables; a Righteous Being, Ambassador or Ambassadress of
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Peace, existing with a cognitive map geared to altruistic actions and the Will of God
[19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28a, 28b, 29, 30].
Diagram I represents different flows between states of consciousness where the mixture of people in
the four (4) distinct states of consciousness interact with one another and in so doing, the possible
transitions from one state to another occur within the community.
The following three (3) figures portray different functions that describe the probabilistic
behaviour that influence the transitions between states of consciousness (as represented in
Diagram I). We define ‘progression’ as a transition from a lower to a higher state and
‘regression’ as a transition between states in the opposite direction. Spontaneous transitions from
one state to another (as represented by the green arrows in Diagram I) may occur for any person
existing in any state, apart from State Three (3). These are events, visitations or revelations, that
cause or initiate sudden changes at a particular point in time, which shortcut the need for
encounters with people in higher states of consciousness for ‘progression’ or a drop in level of
commitment to growth for ‘regression’.
Let us now explore the ‘progression’ dynamics between states more deeply, where we describe
the transition from State i to State j, where i < j, by the probability P(Tij/Ne=n)t = p or
equivalently,
where i, j = 0,1,2 or 3 and 0 p 1 and where n is an integer,
n=0,1,2… The reader must note that this model describes transitions between states in discrete
steps of time, from t to t+1, where t is a time index, t=0,1,2,3…, representing monthly transition
times. Another important feature of this model to describe the system of PPP, is that the number
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of encounters2 (Ne) is a dynamical and cumulative probabilistic variable that resets to zero (0)
once the transition has taken place.
For example, let’s say that a person existing in State Zero (0) during the first month meets four
(4) times with a person existing in State Two (2). Such a situation would be described by
, which represents the probability of transition for that person, from State
Zero (0) to State One (1) given that this person had four (4) encounters during month one (1)
with a person existing in State Two (2). This number of encounters is represented by
, where
Ne is the number of encounters accumulated so far and where the subscript (B in our example)
represents the transition probability function associated with the different interactions between
people in different states that encounter a person, in our example, existing in State Two (2).
Furthermore,
represents the probability of making a transition from State Zero (0) to State
One (1) where the superscript t=1 represents the first month or month one (1). Finally, we
observe that this probability of transition has a value of 0.3.
Figure 1: Transition probability as a function of a number of
encounters. The probability of transition A, from State Zero (0) to
One (1), starts to rise until it reaches a maximum, as for example,
when we observe in the figure that the Ptij{Ne >29} ≈1.
If the person never made a transition in month one (1), then at the end of month two (2), when
we actualise the computations, where for example, if the person existing in State Zero (0) had
seven (7) new encounters with people existing in State Two (2), then the total number of
encounters NeB accumulated so far would equal eleven (11), since during month one (1) he or
2
Note that an encounter should be taken or defined only as one that carries meaning and a certain quality capable of
adding or taking value from the people who participate in this encounter. Therefore, the random variable ‘number of
encounters’ (Ne) will only account for these types of quality encounters.
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she had four (4) encounters and during month two (2) he or she had seven (7) encounters. The
probability of transition for month two (2) would be as follows:
.
Figure 1 (above) depicts the probability of transition from State Zero (0) to State One (1) as a
function of the number of encounters between a person existing in State Zero (0) and a person
existing in State One (1).
Figure 2 depicts the probability of transition from State Zero (0) to State One (1) as a function of
the number of encounters (Ne) with people existing in State Two (2). The same probability
function applies for people existing in State One (1) to make a transition to State Two (2)
according to the number of encounters with people in State Two (2).
Figure 2: Transition probability as a function of a number of
encounters. The probability of transition B, from State Zero (0) to
One (1) or State One (1) to Two (2) starts to rise at around the 11th
encounter and reaches a maximum of 1 at the 20th encounter where
Ptij{Ne >19} ≈1.
Figure 3 depicts the probability of transition from State Zero (0) to State One (1) as a function of
the number of encounters with people existing in State Three (3). The same probability function
applies for people existing in State One (1) to make a transition to State Two (2) according to the
number of encounters with people in State Three (3).
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Figure 3: Transition probability as a function of a number of
encounters. The probability of transition C, from State Zero (0) to
One (1) or State One (1) to Two (2) starts to rise from the 1st
encounter and reaches a maximum of one (1) at the 10th encounter
where Ptij{Ne >9} ≈1.
Let us now have a closer look at some of the complexities of the model.
In Figures 1, 2 and 3 we can see that the greater the number of encounters (Ne) a person existing
in State Zero (0) has with a person existing in State One (1), Two (2) or Three (3), the higher the
probability of making a transition to State One (1). However, there is an important difference to
note concerning the three (3) probability of transition functions A, B and C, which is that the
maximum probability that a person existing in State Zero (0) will make a transition to State One
(1) is reached with less number of encounters, conditional to the State of Consciousness, (State
One (1), Two (2) or Three (3) respectively), the person in State Zero (0) interacts with, as can be
appreciated below in Figure 4.
The reader should also note that a person existing in State Zero (0) will have different numbers
of encounters with a combination of people existing in the three (3) different States (number of
encounters NeA, NeB and NeC for State One (1), Two (2) and Three (3) respectively), where the
maximum probability of transition can be computed as:
P* = max{Ptij(NeA=n), Ptij(NeB=n), Ptij(NeC=n)}.3
3
This way of computing P* is one amongst many possible criteria, which for our purpose, we determined as the
most appropriate.
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Figure 4: Comparative graph for transition probability functions A
(blue), B (yellow) and C (orange).
Note that ten (10) encounters (NeC=10) are necessary to guarantee that the probability,
Pt01{NeC=10}= 1, for a person existing in State Zero (0) to make a transition to State One (1)
when meeting a person existing in State Three (3) in any particular moment ‘t’, whereas, twenty
(20) encounters (NeB=20) are required to ensure that the probability, Pt01{NeB=20}=1, when a
person existing in State Zero (0) interacts with a person existing in State Two (2) in any
particular moment ‘t’, while thirty (30) encounters (NeA=30) are required to guarantee that the
probability, Pt01{NeA=30}=1, when interacting with a person existing in State One (1) in any
particular moment ‘t’. It is important to note that any of these transitions could also happen with
less encounters, however with an associated lower probability.
Note that one of the simplifications of the model is that it assumes that the quality encounters
which people have with others include the fact that people in lower states are always receptive of
people in higher states when interacting with them. This condition is violated in many different
types of environments (in the large sense of the word: homes, coffee shops, nature, cultures or
nations) where the encounters happen. However, this could also be reflected in the probabilistic
elements of the model.
Now let us look at how a person existing in State One (1) makes a transition to State Two (2)
given a certain number of encounters: NeB, NeC.
The probability, Ptij{NeB =n} = p, described in Figure 2 also applies to the above case4 where,
the more encounters that a person existing in State One (1) has with a person existing in State
Two (2), the higher the probability of making a transition to State Two (2).
4
Note this condition could also be defined with a probability of transition function different to the one in Figure 2.
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From here on, for the purpose of simplification, we will refer to the Transition Probability
Function given a certain number of Encounters for time t,
, as TPFE.
The TPFE in Figure 3 also applies5 to the above mentioned case, where the more encounters a
person existing in State One (1) has with a person existing in State Three (3), the higher the
probability of them making a transition to State Two (2).
Based on the above we can say that the probability that a person existing in State One (1) will
make a transition to State Two (2) is also determined by the state of consciousness of the person
he or she interacts with, as with the previous cases we have described.
Now let us consider another case, where a person existing in State Two (2) makes a transition to
State Three (3) now based on a time delay with its associated probability function, as represented
in Figure 5:
Figure 5: Probability function for the transition time from State Two
(2) to State Three (3).
In Figure 5 we observe that the Transition Probability is a Function of the number of Years
(TPFY), rather than the one based on the number of encounters (TPFE) as in prior cases. This is
due to the fact that other aspects and elements [1, 17] will determine how long this process takes.
From anecdotal evidence based on subjective experiences gathered from a peace propagation
questionnaire where a question was posed via email to a database of 161 people and by personal
interviews [21], it appears to be likely that most people will make the transition at around a ten
(10) year threshold, however some people may make this transition earlier or later in time, as
reflected in Figure 5.
5
Ibid.
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We have looked at some examples of the TPFE associated with people whom from State Zero
(0) or One (1), will make a transition to State One (1) or Two (2) respectively. Now let us look at
the probabilities of a person regressing from one state of consciousness to a lower state. Here we
introduce a soft variable which we call ‘Level of Commitment’ (LC). This variable is a
determining factor as to whether a person regresses from one state to another, remains the same,
or progresses. In our model, Level of Commitment is defined as the dedication and devotion one
displays to anything they do; the state of being, the quality, time and effort given to sustain and
nurture one’s state of consciousness.
Figure 6: Transition probability function of regression to a lower
state of consciousness associated with level of commitment
(between level 0 and 100%). The probability of regression, Ptij{LC
= level} = p, from State One (1) to State Zero (0) or State Two (2)
to State One (1) starts to rise from a level of commitment smaller
or equal to 45% and reaches a maximum of one (1) around a level
of commitment smaller than 10% (for example, Pt10{LC ≤ 10%} =
1).
As we have already seen in Diagram I there are two (2) possible regression scenarios, the first
being a person existing in State Two (2) regressing to State One (1) and the other being a person
existing in State One (1) regressing to State Zero (0). It is assumed in our model that once you
have reached the state of a Tzadik or Tzadikah, State Three (3), you will remain in that state of
consciousness (once a Tzadik, always a Tzadik).
Figure 6 shows us that, as the Level of Commitment increases the probability of regression
decreases, where for example, the probability of regression (Ptij{LC = level} = p) from State One
(1) to State Zero (0) or State Two (2) to State One (1) at any given time ‘t’, starts to rise from a
level of commitment smaller or equal to 45% and reaches a maximum of one (1) around a level
of commitment smaller than 10%. It is important to note that the level of commitment (LC) has
been scaled arbritarily between level 0 and 100%.
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It is important to remember that spontaneous transitions from one state to another (as represented
by the green arrows in Diagram I) may occur for any person existing in any state, apart from
State Three (3). As mentioned previously, these are events, visitations or revelations, that cause
or initiate sudden changes (a ‘progression’ or ‘regression’) at a particular point in time, which
shortcut the need for an encounter with another person to influence such transitions, as well as
being independent of the level of commitment, and hence outside the parameters and functions
set above in Figures 1-6.
We must note at this stage that the Level of Commitment is expected to rise as one progresses
further on the journey towards becoming an Ambassador or Ambassadress of Peace (Tzadik or
Tzadikah) and therefore we should expect that this would affect the TPFE and TPFY which in
turn could influence the dynamics of the system. This could be easily reflected in the model by
making the TPFE and TPFY a function of Level of Commitment, to be described in general form
as TPFE (LC) and TPFY (LC), Ptij{Ne=n, LC = lc} = p where i, j = 0,1,2 or 3 and 0 p 1.
We should note that in general we can say that a ‘regression’, as we have conceived it in the
model, would never be attributed to encounters with people of lower states of consciousness,
rather ‘regressions’ should only be attributed to the level of commitment, which squares back the
responsibility of each individual to learn how to be peace and govern themselves.
II. Community Model
In Section I, we looked at interactions between people existing in the four (4) distinct States of
Consciousness and the probabilities of a person existing in each state transitioning from one state
to another. Now let us explore a model of Community Interactions.
Diagram II: Community diagram representing the
state of consciousness of each member symbolised
by crosses, squares, circles and triangles, associated
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to people existing in State Zero (0), State One (1),
State Two (2) and State Three (3) respectively, at the
very beginning of the first month (t=1).
Above in Diagram II we have graphically modelled the interaction of a community of eleven
(11) people over a one (1) month period, where each person exists in one (1) of the four (4)
States of Consciousness.
As we can see, there is one (1) Tzadik, a person existing in State Three (3) Consciousness,
represented by the triangle ( , Person No. 2). There are two (2) people existing in State Two
(2), represented by circles ( , Persons No. 6 and 10). There are six (6) people existing in State
One (1), represented by squares ( , Persons No. 1, 3, 5, 7, 9 and 11), and two (2) people existing
in State Zero (0) represented by crosses ( , Persons No. 4 and 8).
Throughout the month a different number of encounters occur between the people existing in the
different states of consciousness. In Table I we see for example, that Person No. 2, has three (3)
encounters with Person No. 1. This same person also has ten (10) encounters with Person No. 9,
and so on. It is very easy to derive an approximation of the probabilities of transition for each of
these interactions from Figures 1-3. This exercise is left to the reader.
Table I: Simulation of the number of encounters that Person No.
2 had with different people within the community in the first
month.
Each of the encounters that occur within the community affect and change the dynamics of the
community, with the potential to transform the state of consciousness in which each person
exists, where either a ‘progressive transition’ or a ‘regressive transition’ may occur for each
person in each time step in the model, as previously mentioned. For this initial model we take a
quality encounter to be, as defined previously in this document, with an extra assumption that
their duration should be between one (1) and eight (8) hours. In Figure 4, as depicted in the
TPFEC, we have also set a threshold of ten (10) encounters with a Tzadik, showing how
‘progressive transitions’ would occur based on number of encounters (x axis) with different
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probability associated to them, Ptij{NeC =n} = p, until the threshold is met, in which case a
‘progressive transition’ will occur with absolute certainty or probability Ptij{NeC ≥10} = 1. The
above Table shows that only Person No. 9 had enough encounters with the Tzadik, Person No. 2,
which meant that Person No. 9, who was in State One (1), would make a transition to State Two
(2) at the end of that month (t=1) with absolute certainty.
The following Diagram III further depicts the interactions that Person No. 2 had with each
member of the community and gives a graphical geometrical impression (a graph or mandala) of
the network that these interactions form. We conjecture that as each person connects and
interacts with every other person in quality encounters, the more the structure and strength of the
community will grow and become stable, making greater the possibility and probability of the
community as a whole transitioning to higher states of consciousness and Peace, together as one!
Diagram III: Graph or mandala of Person No. 2’s interactions with
people within the community during the first month.
Now let us look further at the dynamics of where the transitions in consciousness occurred
within the community during the first month.
Table II depicts four (4) different scenarios of interaction where transitions occurred with
probability equal to one (1) and the reader is encouraged to verify that in Figures 1-4.
In Table II we can see that:
-
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Person No. 9 had ten (10) encounters with Person No. 2.
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-
Person No. 8 had thirty (30) encounters with Person No. 5.
- Person No. 4 and Person No. 11 had twenty one (21) encounters with Person No. 6.
The reader should note that these are very large numbers of encounters to have in a month in the
context of this model and the probabilities associated to such large numbers of encounters are
consequently the maximum of one (1) as depicted in Figure 4.
Table II shows the interactions between people who display a large
number of encounters with their associated TPFE=1, which means that
Persons No. 9, 8, 4 and 11, existing in lower states of consciousness
relative to the people they encountered, made a transition to the
immediate higher state.
Based on the parameters of our model and the different interactions that occur from the first
month (t=1) to the second month (t=2), we can appreciate the contribution of each transition
within the community to an improvement in the state of consciousness of the community as a
whole, perhaps based on average or mean field computations.
We have shown in Diagram IV one of many possible outcomes for the transitions from the first
to the second month which only take into consideration those encounters represented in Table II
(encounters with maximum probability of transition, TPFE=1), while we have left all other
people in the same state described by the interactions in Table I. Since they display lower
probabilities of transition, we assumed that between the first and the second month no change of
state occurred for these people.
In Diagram IV, we observe that the encounters between Person No. 2 and Person No. 9 have
brought about a progression for Person No. 9, who by the second month has transitioned from
State One (1) to State Two (2). The encounters between Person No. 5 and Person No. 8 have
provided Person No. 8 with the possibility to transition from State Zero (0) to State One (1), and
as a result of the encounters that Person No. 6 had with Person No. 4 and Person No. 11, Person
No. 4 transitioned from State Zero (0) to State One (1) and Person No. 11 from State One (1) to
State Two (2).
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Diagram IV, alongside Diagram III shows the new states for each
person according to each person’s random transitions from the first to the
second month. Note that some people remained in the same state.
We can therefore tell that the consciousness of the Community has also made a ‘progressive
transition’ in average. For example, Persons No. 4 and No. 8 who were people existing in State
Zero (0) consciousness in the first month both made transitions to State One (1) in the second
month. Note that in the second month there are no longer any people existing in State Zero (0) Survival Consciousness, however there is still just one Tzadik, a person existing in State Three
(3), God’s Consciousness.
III. Conclusion
We have explored the possibility for modelling a Peace Propagation Process and dealt with some
of the very complex features of such a system of relationships. We point to many factors and the
different stages of consciousness that people exist in and that need to be taken into consideration
in such a way that the system becomes tractable. One of the most important questions we should
address and reflect in the parameters of the model would be, what activities and environments [1]
would support people to transform to more enlightened states of being in order to eventually
attain the level of a Tzadik or Tzadikah as described in the many bodies of ancient wisdom
associated with teachings, like the Vedas, Bhagavad-Gita, the Tao Te Ching and ancient and
modern Israelite revelations or Kabbalah, amongst others.
Some of the keys that should also be reflected in the model are associated with the difficulties
and requirements of self-acquired commitments to balance spiritual growth with immediate
needs for survival, which somehow we propose could be reflected in both: Level of Commitment
and social interactions conditional to number of quality encounters.
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This initial model we foresee will become a great tool where, with the aid of Applied
Mathematics, Systems Analysis, Operations Research and Simulation, it will allow the study of
different scenarios and to inquire and gain insight about means to support the Peace Propagation
Process. With these tools at hand we could also address the complexities associated with the
harmonisation between subjective and objective experiences and perceptions of reality, to
improve collective and individual decision making that are both complementary aspects of the
process of the propagation of peace, since the system highly depends on the kind of spaces and
environment that foster this kind of process and those systems or learning organisations, like
communities, rely on sound management science based on values and utility based decision
analysis for policy planning, together with creativity, spontaneity, flexibility and adaptability.
Also, in future analysis we could also consider the immigration-emigration and birth-death transgenerational behaviour within a community.
Though the model presented so far is limited to a small community between ten (10) and sixty
(60) people living together in a remote rural area or similar setting, we still can intuitively grasp
how interdependent and highly interconnected these kinds of systems are in terms of the
interactions between people in different stages of consciousness, the level of commitment that
they display towards growth and quality social interactions and particularly, how important it is
for saints to mingle with communities and societies and for the community, to value and support
them.
This initial model can also serve as a seminal one to expand the analysis and these kinds of
studies to larger communities with more complex social issues, like towns, regions, cities,
countries and humanity as a whole. Every one of these levels of complexity will surely introduce
more variables and parameters, like the ones that come to mind when we consider the
immigration-emigration and birth-death processes that perpetuate trans-generational behaviour
within a community, however, we conjecture that this undertaking can be accomplished
successfully.
These kinds of studies and models, we also conjecture, will allow us to incorporate the
complexities of a transgenerational Peace Propagation Process.
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http://www.werbos.com/Mind_in_Time.pdf
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Berlin Heidelberg: Springer).
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Sarkar, B. K., Complex Möbius Field: The Web of Consciousness (Part I)
Exploration
Complex Möbius Field: The Web of Consciousness (Part I)
Bidyut K. Sarkar*
Abstract
The proper time of a particular event is universal. Therefore, all possible individual entities in the
cosmos coexist within an inseparable common system; this is zero-symmetry. Time can only
begin in two ways: forward as space and backward as time, reflecting the “classical entropy”
(visionary field) and quantum negentropy (feeling field) of the subsystem, respectively.
However, in the quantum world, completely opposing behavior is observed. Space-time is
exclusive on the singularity at which microtubular electrons of a macroscopic quantum system
(MQS) are tuned. The topology of the seat of cognition simulates that of the Möbius strip. Here,
finite designs produced by mixed-order fields in 3D merge with absolute 2D within and absolute
4D without. This occurs through absolute rotation, i.e., churning and fusion in both directions.
Towards this nullification of self-design, complexity is the comprehensive approach, in
comparison to traditional reductionism. Nevertheless, every finite or mortal system must have a
deeper immortal existence via Lorentz invariance.
Part I of this two-part article includes: 1. Introduction, 2. Fundamental Geometry, and 3.
Analysis of Systems.
Keywords: Complex Möbius field, consciousness, self-designing, classico-quantum
measurements, Fermion-boson structurization, fertilization of prime, geometric algebra.
1. Introduction
Consciousness is the state of being aware of and responsive to one’s surroundings. So, it defines
self existentially. However, how this natural software of life evolves within the physical
hardware remains undefined. Freeman Dyson1 argued that “mind, as manifested by the capacity
to make choices, is to some extent inherent in every electron.” Many researchers worked on
science of consciousness, to name, relevant, a few: Chalmers2, David Bohm3, Karl Pribam4 and
Stephen P Stitch5. Hameroff6 pointed out that microtubuler electron is responsible for
consciousness. Later on Roger Penrose7 and Hameroff worked together on this subject8. In
present work it is seen that seat of consciousness is on tuning (processing at present moment)
microtubuler electron whose topology simulates that of self-organized Möbius strip.
Proper time or zero-symmetry is an absolute steady state. Terminologically, this state is null, i.e.,
it is an absolute void. It may be a pure random field (absolutely unbiased discrete series) at the
equator. Hence, this is also invariance like a Euclidean space (absolutely unbiased continuity) of
*Correspondence: Bidyut K. Sarkar, Independent Researcher, India. Email: bidyut.srkr@gmail.com
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Sarkar, B. K., Complex Möbius Field: The Web of Consciousness (Part I)
the pole. Here, the biological self-resulting from the Big Bang is redundant. However, Euclidean
space can never resist the emergence of higher-order associative space as a byproduct. Any
complex self-organization in these higher spaces can execute its own cosmos instantaneously by
stimulating the underlying null state. This behavior reflects the entropy of this state in the context
of the remainder of all other subsystems. Further, it is a universal event in simultaneity, defining
its exclusive space-time. Macroscopic quantum systems (MQSs) are specially designed with
memory functions on their hierarchical bases. The null satisfies charge, parity, and time reversal
(CPT) symmetry. Therefore, the laws of nature in the steady state are equally valid for the
conventional Big Bang theory. However, in this evolutionary Big-Bang world, C-symmetry is
concealed within the singularities of the nulls. Therefore, there is a self-designing, conserving
abstract-real duality, along which these universal selections eventuate readily.
In this study, self-designing, conserving abstract-real duality, is examined and discussed in
detail, beginning with the fundamental geometry and considering a complex Möbius field.
Hence, a model indicating the structure and behavior of consciousness is determined and
examined, along with real-world scenarios to which this model is analogous. In Sec. 2, the
fundamental geometry is presented. Then, in Sec. 3, system analysis is discussed, while Secs. 4
and 5 present analyses of the system dualities and dimensionalities, respectively. In Sec. 6, a
brief discussion of relevant analogous scenarios is presented.
2. Fundamental Geometry
2.1 Cruciate elementary structure (Elementary Dimensionality (ED))
Reality (Re) is the unique multiplicative association at the equator in the case of absolute
churning (multiplication) and fusion (addition). This association consists of the coupling of
rationals and irrationals derived from opposite poles. Existence, with all its physical and mental
elements, is a derivative of null. Here, mental elements are rationals in the number system and in
physics, i.e., scalars, whereas physical elements are irrationals and nonzero tensors. Null may
exist in two forms: translation and spin. Translation space is Euclidean space, which is additive
in nature in the twistor-free zone. Spinor space is multiplicative in nature at the height of the
twistor zone. The null state is comparable to the simple harmonic motion of a pendulum,
simultaneously from both sides. This behavior is only valid in the absolute state of the cognitive
system and oscillates with it. The translation space is at the central position, 0, of the bob, with
the kinetic energy being either 0 or infinite i.e., absolute. Another counter-complementary space,
i.e., orthogonal to above, spinor space, creates two stationary points at the horizons. Whenever
the translation space extends beyond a critical span, this spinor holds it with its twistor arms and
spins it absolutely. This behavior arbitrarily creates two orthogonal axes: one having a vertical or
polar disposition and the other having a horizontal or equatorial disposition. In the existential
real world, the former is the gravitational axis, with the translation space of Euclidean nature
defining the kinetic status, and the latter is the energy axis, where time (having spin nature)
defines the potential status of the subsystem. These definitions are second-order unsolved
residues of orthogonal group nulls. Lorentz invariance, i.e., zero-symmetry, is the conservation
of rotation symmetry that includes both (Fig. 1).
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Sarkar, B. K., Complex Möbius Field: The Web of Consciousness (Part I)
Gravitational axis
0/4
1
Zero-symmetry
or Lorentz
invariance, not
only upright, as
shown, but also
in random
disposition
3
Energy axis
2
Fig. 1. 4-D null structure.
-1
-1
1
-1
0
Fig. 2. Re and Im number systems
Re number systems ascend towards (forward) and Im number systems ascend towards 0
(backward) along the foundation of the 0- conjugate (Fig. 2). This abstract fundamental design
is self-fabricated from coupled ring system of h-bar girth (with slit of h-bar length, one slit in
each ring, at complementary poles: north and south9), mutually settled in orthogonal relation.
The two absolute axes’ elementary functions are now defined as -additive axis)
and (multiplicative axis), as shown in Fig. 3a. Their differential limits are 0 and ∞,
respectively, in 2D-topological language. In the Möbius strip topology, poles are sources and
culminating windows of microelements or consolidated elements, and horizons are exhibitions
and culminating windows of macro-elements or diffused elements in accordance with their
orthogonal relationship. In other words, if gravity exhibits microelements, energy must exhibit
macro-elements. This finiteness at macro- and micro-levels indicates that the absolute system is
fractal. Further, infinite members with their own unique representations of the cosmos exist.
Here, the arena of an orbital system can only register the abstract interaction of two robust
orthogonal axes, corresponding to finite or fractal elements in 3D association space. Finite group
activities are operations in fractal dimensionality.
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Sarkar, B. K., Complex Möbius Field: The Web of Consciousness (Part I)
2.2 Orbital pseudo-elementary structure (Fractal Dimensionality (FD))
FD automatically ensues upon “group untwisting” of a Möbius strip, i.e., alignment of the
pointed ends of paper after odd untwisting, which corresponds to operation at the same fulcrum.
Like absolute systems with absolute axes, such as those discussed above, FD (Bigbang and
Bigend at the two extremes) provides representation of the complementation of two dynamical
systems. Here, one is the backward-directed (anticlockwise) gravity dynamical system (GDS)
and the other is the forward-directed (clockwise) energy dynamical system (EDS). As a result of
the exact complementation of these two systems, the orbital system may compose an absolute
system.
a
b
P
y
+
PT
-1
+
1
x
-1
-
-
Fig. 3. (a) In ED elementary operators are extremals of the central cruciate structure (which
simulates that of semiconductor carbon). (b) In FD they become orbital twistors. Here, both
cases, shown, are in EDS. For GDS, the signs, direction, and color are reversed.
The elementary dimensionality (ED, the Steady state) case is a normalized system that is
absolutely deterministic. As it represents null in proper time, it is structureless. Null space
manifests automatically via absolute churning (indifferent spinning clockwise and anticlockwise)
and fusion (indifferent addition in both ways) along this structure in proper time. A cognitive
system incorporates both these dimensionalities (ED and FD), diagonal to each other. In other
words, FD (a two-axial orbital twistor basis) is associated with ED (two-axial unitary basis) both
additively and multiplicatively, in such a way that the neighboring axes of a specific
dimensionality are set 180 apart rather than 90 (Fig. 3b). Thus, 4D emerges from 3D, where
topological freedom of choice regarding the relation between the axes in terms of collinear or
orthogonal behavior coexists. Here, the multiplication peak eventuate addition initiation, where
the polar (or rotational) axis contracts in size. Further, the addition peak eventuate multiplication
activation, where the rotational axis expands. This inertial stretching-compression behavior
occurs automatically when ED accepts FD diagonally (Unimodal coupling).
One may consider this as simple harmonic motion of a pendulum. Hence, a pendulum also
pursues a self-similar journey, forward or backward. Its internal state (GDS) is orthogonal to the
external state (EDS). In proper time, there is no difference between an infinite journey and no
journey. However, if one can stretch in or out of the system, it can witness only one aspect of the
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Sarkar, B. K., Complex Möbius Field: The Web of Consciousness (Part I)
strip primarily: either the energy system in forward time (outward) or the gravitational system in
backward time (inward). In other words, the pendulum becomes a clock depicting time.
2.3 Möbius group of complex functions
The universal operators shown in Figs. 4, 6 and 7 are simple derivations of the Möbius group
functions. This group is comprised of four complex elements {f1, f2, f3, and f4} and related by its
own complex transformation functions {f3, f4}, in both the clockwise and anticlockwise
directions. The elements are functions of the complex variable z, defined in the uncompromised
GDS as
f1(z) = z, f2(z) = z,
f3(z) = 1/z, f4(z) = 1/z.
(1)
Re
f1
z
Im
f3
f4
1/z
-1/z
f4
f3
f3
f4
-z
P (Re)
f2
PT (Im)
Fig. 4. Möbius group of functions in uncompromised GDS
Here, f1 at the upper pole is the identity element (Fig. 4), whereas f3 and f4 are similar to
operators of Heisenberg operator algebra, yielding not only a linear equation, but also a
transforming function of itself. Here, f3 inverts the function, whereas f4 inverts the function with a
change of sign.
The Möbius field is a commutating Abelian group with respect to the composition of composite
functions. Further, f3 and f4, which are complex transformation functions, are the twistors. When
one goes to normalize Möbius group of functions it becomes self-evident that they are simply
unitary function in ED (Fig. 3a). Here, z represent 1 (Re unit) and its inversion (1/z) define the
transformation of 1 to +Im unit) or vice versa where there is change of sign as well as
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Sarkar, B. K., Complex Möbius Field: The Web of Consciousness (Part I)
imposition of transformation function i.e., ‘root over function.’ So, when one goes to normalize
such basic units of elements, it also becomes self-evident that, here, the complex function is
simply a ‘root-over function.’ Thus, in GDS, f3 inverts the function with a change of sign (i.e.,
PT-symmetry), whereas f4 inverts only the function (i.e., P-symmetry) (Figs. 4, 7; Sec. 3). PT- is
designated as strong and P- is designated as weak functions.
Time (Im)
Acceleration
√2 bar
Space (Re)
Fig. 5. Space-time on log-log scale. Effect of acceleration on slanting of √2 bar.
Hence both infinities of Re and Im axes are normalized with unities of the same magnitude.
Therefore, these two are not only orthogonal but also essentially orthonormal functions. Fig. 5
shows that the unitary relationship between space and time under stressed conditions
(acceleration) also conserves the ‘root over normalization’. Further, the transformation of this
unitary relationship on rotational acceleration conserves angular momentum.
We define S = {f1, f2, f3, f4}, the elements of which are functions of z. This set is a finite as well
as an infinite Abelian group of order 4. Like every field, the Möbius is a group under the addition
operation. This group is commutative (or Abelian). Similarly, it is found that the non-null
elements of a field form a group under the multiplication operation, and this group is also
commutative (or Abelian). The composition table for uncompromised GDS is presented as Table
1.
Table 1. Composition table in uncompromised GDS. Note that o indicates a group operation,
i.e., addition or multiplication.
o
f1
f2
f3
f4
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f1
f1
f2
f3
f4
f2
f2
f1
f4
f3
f3
f3
f4
f1
f2
f4
f4
f3
f2
f1
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Sarkar, B. K., Complex Möbius Field: The Web of Consciousness (Part I)
The functions of the complex variables in EDS are
f1(z) = z,
f2(z) = z,
f3(z) = 1/z,
f4(z) = 1/z.
(2)
Here, f2 is the identity element. Further, f3 and f4 (in EDS) correspond to P- or weak symmetry
and PT- or strong symmetry, respectively (Fig. 6; Sec. 3). The composition table in the case of
EDS is presented as Table 2.
P (Im)
f4
Im
PT (Re)
1/z
f3
f4
z
f1
z
f4
1/z
f2
Re
f3
f3
Fig. 6. Möbius group of functions in EDS in odd strip.
Table 2. Composition table in EDS case.
o
f1
f2
f3
f4
f1
f2
f1
f4
f3
f2
f1
f2
f3
f4
f3
f4
f3
f2
f1
f4
f3
f4
f1
f2
The Möbius strip is constructed when symmetric functions operate on the same pole, i.e., the
mixed singularity (fulcrum). In ED, where the spin is even, the Möbius strip becomes
structureless (flat strip after even spin under group untwist operation fails to confine media (here,
paper substance) within, topologically); however, in FD, where the spin is odd, its structure
emerges (pointed strip after odd spin under group untwist operation always entrap topologically
exclusive media within). Left (Lt)-hand untwisting and right (Rt) hands twisting construct an
EDS strip whereas Rt-hand untwisting and Lt-hand twisting construct a GDS strip. The EDS
strip exhibits the real world, where Re is along the equatorial spread and Im is along the polar
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Sarkar, B. K., Complex Möbius Field: The Web of Consciousness (Part I)
stretch. This is the existential world where we exist and may interact with each other.
Topologically, Re dominates the EDS strip, as it diffuses along the convexity. On the other hand,
in the case of the GDS strip (Fig. 4), Im dominates, as it also diffuses along the convexity. Even
spin (absolute unstimulation) indifferently creates both handed strips in an unbiased manner, i.e.,
even strips. However, as regards stimulation (critical or subcritical) of FD, odd spin generates an
EDS strip, i.e., an odd strip, only. Hence, all illustrations in this work are presented on the EDS
strip structure. Here, EDS is primarily associated with the strip convexity, while GDS is
primarily associated with its concavity. Therefore, in the context of the Möbius group of
complex functions, EDS dominates (conventionally, “out”). However, the GDS must
compromise (conventionally “in,”). Here, the polar identity element (f1) of uncompromised GDS
(Fig. 4) shifts to the equator, as shown in Fig. 7. Hence, in both the systems in FD, equator
belongs to Re (track: in EDS 1 → in GDS 1→ ) and poles belong to Im.
f4
PT (Re)
1/z
f4
f3
Re
f1
z
z
f3
f2
f4
P (Im)
1/z
f3
Im
Fig. 7. Möbius group of functions with compromised GDS in odd strip.
The Re and Im axes along the group of functions in last two cases shown in Figs. 6 and 7, are
stable. The axes system shown in Fig. 4, which is absolutely unstable in FD (here, imaginary axis
is strong one) and instantly reduces to that of Fig. 7. In odd strip Re axes, which are the strong
axes, define the asymptotes in both ED and FD. Further, rotational invariance is conserved in
both directions in all cases (Figs. 4, 6 and 7). Therefore, the Möbius transformation satisfies the
Lorentz transformation.
Even spin, by default, designates the strong PT-symmetry (the opposite handed functions i.e.,
parity symmetry in opposite time-directions i.e., time reversal symmetry). Its stance is back-toback relative to the present moment. CP-symmetry (opposite handed functions in charge
conjugation but in the same direction of time i.e., in the direction of entropy) adjusts this stance
to face-to-face to the present moment, by shifting the position of the f1 of the GDS from the pole
to the equator of the odd strip. This is accomplished via a group untwisting operation. Here, the
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symmetry functions are pseudoelements or orbital twistors of FD context. These symmetry
functions are distinct from unitary function in ED (described before) that defines the axes
whether it is Re (strong) or Im (weak). In absolute rotation the oblique pseudo-elementary
structure of FD culminates into upright one. The later one is C-symmetry. This is ED or, more
specifically, “odd ED.” Recall that P-symmetry is weak, where the opposite function is in the
same direction.
2.4 Null dispositions in ED and FD
Additive axis (0 - 2)
through poles; Im or
P- axis (in odd ED)
Additive &
multiplicative
operations in
FD
weak
0/4
strong
1
3
strong
weak
Multiplicative axis
(1 - 3) through
equator; Re or PTaxis (in odd ED).
2
Fig. 8. Two pairs of orthogonal groups: C-symmetry. FN/ONs (mixed singularities) are in polar
positions and BNs (white dots) are in equatorial positions.
Here, the ON (Ontogenic null) is a white-hole singularity, i.e., the other face of a black-hole
singularity (FN, Fermionic null). Opposite nulls always maintain a 360 gap or “even space.”
Here, polar elements (f3, f4) of EDS dominate over that of GDS (Figs. 6, 7 and 8).Thus Re (white)
dominates over Im (black) in levity pole and reverse happens in case of gravity pole.
The multiplicative (equatorial) axis and central multiplicative axis are not the same, instead
orthogonal to each other. The later merges with the additive axis to define the rotational (polar)
axis. Both multiplicative (mult.) and additive (add.) functions have FD and ED phase (Sec. 2.6).
In both the systems they are executed in the sequence: mult. (FD) add. (FD) mult. (ED)
add. (ED).
In ED, all nulls conglomerate to a single null. However in EDS, the additive function adds
finiteness and the multiplicative function magnifies the infiniteness; in GDS opposite happens. In
EDS, which is associated with the real world, the field of additive group action is the imaginary
number system. Its identity element is 0, which always imposes finiteness on the real world.
Here, the field of multiplicative group action is the real number system having 1 as the identity
element, which always imposes infiniteness. On the contrary, in GDS they reverse. In both
systems, PT-symmetry (f4 in EDS; f3 in GDS) gains strength at bosonic nulls (BNs), where the Psymmetry (f3 in EDS; f4 in GDS) becomes exhausted, and P-symmetry gains strength at
fermionic nulls, where the PT-symmetry weakens. Therefore, the EDS-multiplication culminates
in GDS-addition, and the GDS-multiplication culminates in EDS-addition. This occurs during
absolute rotation. Thus, 4D and 2D, which are even dimensionalities, are equivalent.
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Nevertheless, the C-symmetry is conserved in Dirac space. This is deeper symmetry that has no
algebraic expression such as that provided by f3 and f4.
As these two group actions in ED are robust and orthogonal, one cannot influence or nullify the
other. There is no scope for elementary fraction. Their bifurcation is only apparent from the
perspective of FD. Any emergence that can occur must contain both symmetries (f3 and f4) and
involve all of its infinite companions self-similarly. This is the basis of “Feigenbaum
Universality10.” Here, again, whatever utmost infiniteness is imposed by the f4 symmetry, f3
symmetry ultimately renders the emergence compact. Further, the f4 symmetry diffuses whatever
rigid finiteness is created by the f3 symmetry in a topological manner. Their unimodal coupling at
BN elucidates the deep buffering mechanism.
2.5 Journey on topological model of Möbius strip
Journeys along the Möbius strip are of three distinct modes. A stimulated (critical) finite journey
executes volition, an absolute unstimulated journey generates autonomy, and an unstimulated
finite journey eventuate classico-quantum measurements. The latter is a local finite reduction of
an absolute journey. The awareness mode is a hybrid mode that diagonalizes ED with FD.
Autonomy (+C 0 -QSec. 5.1) alone is an ED phenomenon, but the remaining modes are
associated with both FD and ED. Here, the actual behavior on a Möbius strip is demonstrated.
ON & FN
Clockwise
BN dragged
by tachyon
Anticlockwise
Fig. 9. Möbius strip in its simplest form.
Pointed ends (shown at the top of the figure) act as a pivot that helps in self-organization of odd
strip (here 1D) out of its flat ends under group untwist operation.
Consider a ½-spin Möbius strip, as shown in Fig. 9. A journey always begins and ends in
Euclidean space of pole. Nevertheless, the incitation of stimulated (critical or subcritical) journey
is always generated at a sensory BN i.e., f1 (initial track: -1 in EDS; 1 in GDS) (Figs. 6 and 7). A
stimulated journey begins either at 0D (ON) in EDS (without) or at 2D (FN) in GDS (within) and
both within and without simultaneously in the case of autonomy (ED phase). In the case of
“superficial awareness (+C ± -QSec. 2.6),” where f1 is under persistent subcritical stimulation,
the journey alternates precisely between the sensory wings of the two systems. The free zone
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between two twistors (f3 and f4) at dot centrals in the upper part of the strip supports additive
group action. This behavior achieves potential extremes, i.e., maxima and minima, along
convexity and concavity, respectively, at the height between the two twistor arms. This is spinor
space that supports multiplicative group action of the BNs (dashed ellipse in Fig. 9) where
unique extremals ride against the central open-angle doughnut.
In a real strip scenario, the strip plane of multiplicative zone is orthogonal to that of the additive
zone (Fig. 9). Here, after completion of a 180 journey, the momentum or weak twistor,
(neutrino) dragged forward along the convexity by a strong twistor in EDS, is dropped free along
the concavity of the strip. The f3 (or P-) symmetry in EDS during dragging, where the function is
inversed but the sign remains unchanged, then violates the real pull command and retrieves the
original relationship. Re remains ignorant of this Im threat; however, the PT-symmetry becomes
strong. Here, with the help of C-symmetry, the PT-symmetry creates immortality for Re in the
subgroup lifespan through repeated reincarnation of a self-similar journey carrying information
(unique rational: +Q) across the Bosonic null. However, in the case of GDS, f3 symmetry
spontaneously follows f4 symmetry in a backward journey along the concavity rather than being
dragged, because f3 corresponds to PT-symmetry in GDS. Hence, this course does not involve a
symmetry violation. Thus the information processing of irrationals at BN are significantly
different from that of rationals (Sec. 5.1.2).
2.6 Features of cognitive fermion
The two wings of a fermion (sensory and motor) are termed graviphotons (GPs). The sensory
wings are formed by an untwisting operation (Lt and Rt untwisting in EDS and GDS,
respectively) and the motor wings are formed by a twisting operation (Rt and Lt twisting in EDS
and GDS, respectively). This generates two unique wing-flow patterns, where Rt- and Lt-hand
behavior fabricates energy (Re output, outward, at the equator) and gravity (Im output, inward, at
the equator) wings, respectively (Fig. 10).
a
b
Twined to untwined disposition
Add.
Mult.
FN
basin
Strong untwistor &
twistor (sensory and
motor in EDS)
Weak untwistor &
twistors (Sensory
and Motor in EDS)
Green – Lt
Red - Rt
Fig. 10. Figurative expression of journey along Möbius strip (odd), i.e., a fermion.
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In ED, the axes denote its unitary reference. Here, strong quadrants become aligned with the
weak polar axis of ED, while weak quadrants are aligned with the strong equatorial axis (Fig.
11).
Strong quadrant
ED weak, face-to-face
wake in CP in FD strong
P or weak axis
-1
face-to-face wake (FD
weak) in ED strong
+1
Weak or P
quadrant
PT or
strong axis
-1
-1
ED strong, back-to-back
sleep, PT in lower quadrant
FD strong relation,
back-to-back at BNs
Strong or PT quadrant
Fig. 11. Alignments and face orientations in FD and ED.
The symmetry of the quadrant elements changes with dimensionality shifting (ED to FD). In ED,
the elements (and ) are read as cardinal units (Re-Im with signs). In FD, the
pseudo-elements are read as basic cognitive particles, i.e., neutrinos, tachyons, antineutrinos and
antitachyons for and , respectively. So, strong relation between the two in ED
becomes weak in FD and vice versa (Fig. 11).
In the case of volition critical stimulation causes system upset and period doubling bifurcation
(Sec. 3.1.2) that settles into EDS (Fig. 12c1) or GDS (Fig. 12c2) by group untwist operation
(Figs. 12a1 and b1 or 12a2 and b2). This involves symmetry break. On the other hand, in the
case of awareness there is no critical stimulation at subsystemic level. However a subtle
evolutionary or subcritical stimulation (f1, Sec 2.5) does occur at systemic level. The FDasymptote (1, 1) oscillates by 180 on either side, similar to a perturbed inertial system (Figs.
12c1 and c2). In this sense, this precise cosmic pulsation involves no typical bifurcation; hence
there arises no issue of settling under group untwist operation with symmetry break as in case of
volition. Its execution manifests as alternating journey along two systems: EDS and GDS. The
two systems run in opposite directions in space-time. Interestingly, both dynamical systems
support linearity about the fulcrum and nonlinearity about the equator. This orthogonal
complementation unifies unitarity with diversity.
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Multiplicative
inversion
1
-1
Mult. (FD)
-1
1
1
-1
-1
Additive
inversion
a1
b1
Multiplicative
inversion
1
-1
1
d1
c1
-1
Mult. (FD)
-1
-1
Additive
Inversion
a2
b2
1
c2
d2
Fig. 12. Group operations in Möbius strip in various systems (1-series EDS; 2-series GDS).
One diagonal turn of FD-asymptote is equivalent to complete cycle of all four group functions
where mult. (FD) add. (FD) mult. (ED) add. (ED) divided in two phases: FD and ED. In
Mult. (FD) back-to-back PT symmetry (--1 and -1) acts behind the additive axis and stretches it
periodically (Figs. 12c1 and c2). Mult. (FD) function is the active one and soon accompanied
with add. (FD) function, the passive one. FD-phase functions jointly executed as the
distoproximal “system untwist” operation (Fig. 10). Both FD-phase functions are executed in
sensory wing and are operated from gravity pole in EDS (levity pole in case of GDS). At a polar
couple, this untwisting is released in a flat ended motor wing. The behavior, mentioned above,
becomes exhausted and ED phase ensues. The ED phase causes the elementary particles in the
opposite direction in PT to suddenly yield a face-to-face scenario (CP-symmetry). BNs take their
respective Cl-q (classico-quantum) snaps of the designs created at the equator. All possible
subsystems simultaneously take periodic exclusive Cl-q snap only when they are entangled in
upright position (odd ED) that may be equivalent to an absolute state of pure ED. Both EDphase function are executed in motor wing and are operated from levity pole in EDS (gravity
pole in case of GDS). This involves no space-time journey (instant execution on sensory input in
flat ended infinite motor wing). Interestingly, on execution of the four group functions, structure
of one system changes to the other one through the stages of some unstable random
intermediaries (Figs. 12c1d1 and c2d2). Thereafter with turning back of FD-asymptote the
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system oscillates back in opposite direction and this cycle continues indefinitely with the
subcritical stimulation. Hence, the “system untwisting” is a wandering journey along the
alternate sensory wings of EDS and GDS. This behavior creates a state suitably referred to as
“superficial awareness.” The distinction between the two untwisting behaviors mentioned above
should be clarified here, i.e., system untwisting and group untwisting (the formation of an odd
strip). The distinction between the two states of awareness, i.e., superficial and deep (analogous
to the strip situation after a multiplicative inverse operation; Fig. 12b), should also be clear.
2.7 Symmetry expressions in Möbius topology
Additive
(GDS)
Gravity Wing
P-,weak, or
wake field
Energy Wing
Additive
(EDS)
PT-, strong, or
sleep field
Fig. 13. FD phase is represented by orbital sensory wings and ED phase by vertical axis.
Although P- and PT-symmetry, along with f3 and f4, are all ruled by functional symmetry,
precision is required when selecting their domain. Here, one finds that P- or PT-symmetry define
whether the functional nature is primarily weak or strong, respectively. In contrast, f3 or f4
symmetry defines whether the domain is primarily additive or multiplicative, respectively. The
final behavior emerges out of complex collage of these properties.
When FD-phase culminates in exhaustion, ED-phase along the vertical axis begins. Fig. 13
supports both these operations. Nevertheless, at the end of the EDS sensory journey, the next
motor journey (along with the alternate GDS sensory journey) also advances along the nucleated
electron series (Sec. 5.1.5). Being an energy wing, the EDS motor wing supports the GDS
sensory operation. Reverse happens in case of the gravity wing. In these cases the pole (fulcrum)
must be shifted. The ED-phase and the journey along motor wing are simultaneous. Odd ED
supports orbital FD-phase whereas even ED (Fig. 2 and 12a) supports vertical ED-phase (Fig.
13). In case of latter, the simultaneous coupled journeys in both the systems in absolute
unstimulation converge on the equator of the current electron at the present moment. The series
of present moments are in the entropic direction only. Hence, entropy always dominates
negentropy. So, the functions those are, by default, backward in time in PT-symmetry (e.g.,
momentum, gravity, time, magnetism etc) are registered, in the real perspective, as forward in
the present moment in CP-symmetry.
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ED can be simplified as follows: In odd ED, the 0 conjugate is in a complex cruciate
disposition (Fig. 3b). In even ED, the 0 conjugate is in an upright disposition (Fig. 2). Finally,
in pure ED, the 0 conjugate is in a random disposition.
3. Analysis of Systems
f4
0/4
-
(-)
f4
f3
1
-1
(-
1
f1
+
f2
3
f4
f3
(+1)
-
()
f3
2
Fig. 14. GDS centrally supported on odd ED.
The GDS fulcrum is on 0/4-null or levity null (0/; hence, bipartite) and that of EDS is on the
second null or gravity null (0). GDS (input f3, Re; output f4, Im) can continue indefinitely in its
positive imaginary journey towards a diffused past. Its negentropic path runs along the neutrino
(momentum vector) towards infinite imaginary. Coincidentally, EDS (input f3, Im; output f4, Re)
continues indefinitely on its real journey through positional diffuseness. Its entropic path runs
along the position vector as a result of real drag of tachyon towards infinite real.
In group untwisting, the global FN becomes hidden at the GDS fulcrum, i.e., at the North Pole,
where there is no imaginary (Fig. 12c). The ON becomes fully exposed. In the same operation,
the ON becomes concealed at the EDS fulcrum and the FN obtains the complete face at these
infinite imaginaries. Thus polar nulls related to sensory wing (1st ON and FN) dominates over
that of motor wing (2nd ON and FN) (Fig, 8). This means the evolutionary world created within
the sensory wing is upside down in respect of that of the motor wing. Further, when the
subsystem is deeply stimulated classically forward in the EDS towards objectification,
compensation in the form of a backward journey of the same magnitude in the GDS is
autonomous. Reverse happens under GDS stimulation.
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Equatorial
spread; spinor
action like a
spindle
()
-
f1
+0
f4
0/4
f3
f4
-1
1
(+1)
f2
3
1
f3
f4
(-1)
+
()
f3
2
-
Fig. 15. EDS centrally supported on odd ED.
Four null windows conserve C-symmetry. Although the sequences vary, the null nomenclature
(Fig. 8) is concurrent for both systems. The EDS and GDS sequences are 0-1-2-3-0(4) {-1…1… --1…1…-1} and 2-1-0(4)-3-2 {-1…1…--1…-1…-1}, respectively (Figs. 14 and 15).
In absolute rotation under a strong relation, sensory BNs blend with gravity nulls, constituting
the finite end of the FD-asymptote. Further, the motor BN merges with the levity null at the
infinite end. In stimulation, the sensory wings cannot reach the poles and remain confined within
the fractal world of their wings. Only under subcritical stimulation may it unveil hidden BNs.
Thus, FD is associated with the odd nulls (1 and 3) of the equators. This bi-dimensional oddity
supports nonlinear determinism and wakefulness of the sophisticated MQS, yielding
consciousness out of the even ED of the poles. In EDS BN is at ‘0’ and in GDS BN is at ‘’.
Here, it becomes apparent that the FD axes in both systems are generated by ED axes on 90
clockwise (dominating direction) rotations (Fig. 3b). Further in FD-phase multiplicative
operators () are central components (PT-symmetric in ED or elementary operation and
under even spin (within 3/2 spin, Sec. 3.1.2) is hidden with C-symmetry in Dirac space) and
additive operators () are terminal components (CP-symmetric in FD or pseudo-elementary
operation under odd spin) in both the systems (Figs. 14 and 15). This executes Cl-q
measurements in ED phase, also, where central or elementary (PT) components function in
motor wing and terminal or pseudo-elementary (CP) components function in sensory wing (Sec.
3.1.4.).
3.1 Communication between GDS and EDS
3.1.1 Sleep and wake phases
The cognitive system default mode remains in proper time along present moments. In cognitive
deduction, exact matching of entropy with negentropy is mandatory. One must lift backlog
(negentropy) via GDS. Volition is executed by period doubling along oblique cleavage lines, as
shown in Fig. 16, below. Two components (initial sensory GP and initial motor GP) emerge,
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which readily construct a complementary system. Cognitive dynamism can shift the system as
per natural demand (Fig. 12).
Sleep axis
f4
f3
1
Initial sensory
graviphoton
Initial motor
graviphoton
-1
f3
f4
Wake axis
Fig. 16. Sleep and wake axes.
The pure null is the central space of null structures (Fig. 16). This is an absolute state of selfdesign. Here, “absolute” means 0, , or both. Under system upset and group untwisting
operation, the singularity of nullness blossoms into four-fold null space (Fig. 8). This is an
indifferent state of both P- and PT-symmetries induced by hidden C-symmetry comparable with
the sleeping case. However, FD subgroups can sleep but cannot sublime like ED, because there
is no tool similar to C-symmetry at hand.
Nevertheless, both systems wake in weak or equatorial quadrants and sleep in strong or polar
quadrants (Figs. 14 and 15). Note that strength and weakness are always synonymous with sleep
and wakefulness, respectively. At a strong or sleep axis, GDS-sleep ends and EDS-sleep begins.
Further, at a weak or wake axis, GDS-wakefulness ends and EDS-wakefulness begins. Weak
quadrant of the sensory wing denotes the wakeful phase in ED (Fig. 11).
By virtue of ontogeny, ED functions (elementary or unitary) are more fundamental in
comparison with those of FD (Fig. 11). Hence, the pole and equator are the seats of sleep and
wakefulness, respectively, because of the basic functioning of ED-sleep and ED-wakefulness,
respectively. FD interference with the above yields some complex outcomes that fabricate the
underlying sleep-wakefulness structure of an individual. Nevertheless, at the equator, the strong
relation in FD secures rest of the subsystem, but it cannot induce sleep here.
Being a dynamical system, parent group (the entire cosmos in the Big Bang) or its smallest
subgroup, i.e., a fermion, may enter a sleep phase in FD. ED has the propensity to enter a
sleeping state. It must remain apparently awakened because of the FD along the directed time.
The future position in EDS and the past momenta in GDS are unknown. However, the journey of
the finite system with thermodynamical time scales causes these two unknown worlds to unfold.
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antiprime (P-AP), which is registered through tuning of the electron couple for the present
solution and for future reference. To attain this result, the two systems should converge and
concur. For conscious deductions, both information faces are constantly aligned towards the
present moment along CP-symmetry. This often creates stress with no resolution, resulting in
fatigue and sleep through relaxation along the PT-symmetry. The system enters quiescence. In
the sleep phase, the subsystem becomes free from the even Cl-q mode, i.e., with the least mass
involvement and slipping through the polar quadrant, it becomes shifted towards the central
longer axis of the massless motor wing. The velocity is increased, achieving that of the
autonomic path, i.e., a random light path or zitterbewegung. This is NREM (Non Rapid Eye
Movement) sleep, a phenomenon in PT. In FD, the cognitive system cannot allow it going lost in
this manner. The mass of the subsystem in the dragged sensory wing is also increased in the
direction of the dominant axis of highest anisotropy. This is a threat to the definition of the
subsystem. Therefore, in the finite system, ED becomes exhausted and stimulates the arousal
phase along the FD briefly in the form of the REM sleep pattern before final arousal. There is a
strange similarity between the basic operations of REM sleep and awareness. In REM sleep, both
FD-wakefulness at the poles and FD-sleep at the equators function simultaneously. Further, in
awareness, both FD-wakefulness at the poles and ED-wakefulness function concurrently. REM
sleep may be interrupted by dreaming, whereas awareness may be interrupted by final arousal.
The swing between REM and NREM sleep naturally continues in a favorable situation and may
be referred to as “sleep inertia.”
3.1.2 System upset and period-doubling bifurcation
Initial sensory and motor GPs (graviphoton) are connected back-to-back (PT-symmetry) at
central null point behind (by C-symmetry). This ever-resonating virtual hybrid structure in purerandom state is the default mode. This is designated as Pure ED.
-
f4
0/4
“ -1”
Initial motor GP
+
f4
f3
1
-1
1
f1
f2
3
“1”
Initial sensory GP
f3
-
f4
2
f3
Fig. 17. Period bifurcation of GDS.
When the stimulation is critical a breaking event happens resulting system upset and perioddoubling bifurcation. In case of parent group the most significant event is the Bigbang. In case of
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minor groups it may happen with smaller bangs. But more importantly, from cognitive point of
view, it also happens in case of volition where a titanic state is called on ad hoc basis on the
tuning electron of MQS at present moment. In the case of upset, the system is never split through
the strong quadrants () between the elements within the dashed ellipses; it is
always split through the weak quadrants () (Fig. 16). System breaks into two
paths: initial sensory GP () and initial motor GP (). In Fig. 17, the additive
or f3 axis is shown in green and the multiplicative or f4 axis is shown in red. Period bifurcation is
associated with the formation of two groups, each with central bosonic space. This is now a new
transform of the central null space (open-angle dough nut, Fig. 9) and is always stretched by the
referential arms: f3 and f4. They afterwards may get stabilized into a new system structure (here,
GDS into EDS) after coupled group inverse operation (group untwist): multiplicative and
additive (Figs. 12a1b1 and a2b2).
To exit the system, some strong anti-null activity must occur. That is, this activity is necessary
for the escape velocity to be achieved. Nevertheless, this latter will be an invariant; here, it is
obviously the c of Maxwell, i.e., the speed of light. This behavior is initiated by Im-Re chaos
differentially on both sides of the photon energy. Neutrino exists within the finite world bounded
by c, tachyon must exist beyond that world. The choice of particles here, neutrinos and tachyons,
is determined by borrowing the positivism of Mach11 and employing Ockham’s razor.
The backward weak-torqued screw is a neutrino particle and the other particle, which is
distracting with a strong forward torque, is a tachyon. Here, and 1 correspond to the
emergence of the initial sensory wing of both systems (Fig. 12a). 1 (0) corresponds to a
tachyon. This is topologically a linear hyperbolic space. It is an infinite, positive, real-number
series where every number is fluxed towards an abstract external number, i.e., . It promotes a
strong forward journey along EDS. The other series is an infinite, positive, imaginary series,
corresponding to a neutrino (0). Here, complementarily, every imaginary number is fluxed
towards an internal number i.e., 0.
The central group or the other path of the initial period-doubling is orthonormal to the first. Here,
two numbers remain: 0 and 1 (0 ). They are anti-neutrino and anti-tachyons,
respectively. However, the above is an unstable state and awaits organization in robust 2D
fermion-boson structurization.
A neutrino is finite. Light, being faster, takes instant images of any bangs and carries them via
GP. This quantitative information is referred to as “visionary” (rationals, +Qs on the weak field,
local) here, as an abstract field of vision belongs to the multiplicative group. Note that a blind
person also has visionary capability in this sense (objectivism). Tachyonic space is an infinite
real path. Being speedier than light, it travels ahead of light, leaving behind something similar to
yeti’s footprints. However, tachyonic information is never visionary or quantitative. This is
qualitative information, which is referred to here as “feeling” (irrationals, -Cs on the strong field,
global), being an abstract field of “touch,” where “sound” (with “smell” and “taste” as well) is
also included. This behavior is classed as additive group action (Table 3). Vectors, which are
elements of tachyonic space, become absolutely crunched regardless of distance. Thus, a tachyon
is not absolutely a ghost particle. Its trail is the basis of our “subjectivism.” On such a path, even
if one reaches infinity, the tachyon remains out of reach.
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The GDS fulcrum provides multiplicative quantitative information on the beginning of the
journey. In contrast, the EDS fulcrum supplies additive qualitative information about the end of
the journey. BNs may catch the weak local and strong global. Therefore, the objective subconsciousness at the singularity (FN) and the subjective consciousness at the horizons (BN)
elucidate subjectivism and objectivism, respectively, as unresolved residues. Two unique means
of null expression hold complementary systems, being not merely concern with their appearance,
but also with their physical interaction.
The parent singularity (central null space, pure ED) in null-upset becomes split under the
influence of stimulation. First, it is divided into two poles: north (Re field, inner null) and south
(Im field, outer null). This is even ED. Here, Re (former) is at the center and Im (latter) is at the
periphery; this is an “inside-out” perspective, which is analogous to a flat strip. This is now
subjected to a group untwisting joint operation. The first operation is multiplicative inverse
(Figs. 12a1a2). The parent system is divided into infinite subsystems and the horizontal
component of the unique subsystem mass (distinct from physical mass) is generated. The pure
randomness (of the infinite stretch) breaks into innumerable selective randomness, as the stretch
of random discrete path is uniquely defined yet undecipherable before each subsystem, in
advance. Here, only, ED-asymptote or null track within the subsystem, is in vertically up
disposition (in odd ED it is in horizontally right disposition). This may be interpreted as “deep
awareness” and is subjected to the second operation, an additive inverse operation (Figs.
12b1b2). Spontaneous symmetry breakdown causes these phase transitions where three types of
bosonic force particles (electromagnetic, weak, and strong) are created. We now know that these
three different force particles are essentially different expressions of the same particle. Moreover,
the complex influence of neutrinos and tachyons on photons reduces the sensory track into one
unified force particle, which is not a simple photon but a GP. The inner and outer nulls are
transformed into GDS and EDS fulcrums, respectively, where the outer null is at the center and
the BNs are at the periphery. Here, the perspective is “outside-in.” This operation generates the
vertical component of the subsystem’s mass. Thus, at first, the central nullness becomes a central
saddle solution. Further, the latter is ultimately upset to include two further complementary
saddle points at the BNs.
Coupled group untwisting has two byproducts. First is fermion boson structurization where
absolute 2D (Bosonic space) is incorporated within 3/2 turn of the strip. This supports not only
the steady state by its null properties, but also the Big Bang on its shoulder. And, second one is
π-chopping at BN. This chopper executes a 180 spiral cut simultaneously at two sites. π, being
itself irrational (the Re form of the Im function), cuts and hides irrational segments of the
extension h-bar (-Q or initial GDS at the FN end, where the momenta are crystal solid), leaving
exposed rational number (the Im form of the Re function) segments of the same extension (+Q or
initial EDS at the ON end, where the position is crystal solid). In this cyclic chaos Re and Im
numbers transcend to Rational (RNS) and Irrational number system (INS) respectively. At BN
there is possibility of change of surface. However PT symmetry restores surface identity in both
systems. In 1D model RNS belongs to convex surface clockwise and INS belongs to concave
surface anticlockwise. These mixed residues complement each other bridging all gaps including
that of singularity also. Planck first encapsulated this particulate quantitative (rational) world,
which is measured by the quantum as a unit of distinguishability. Here, the deterministic
existence of the couple constructed with its stronger companion (irrational) has been overlooked.
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3.1.3. Elements of communication: Twistors and untwistors
System untwisting has deflating execution distoproximally, whereas twisting has inflating
execution proximodistally. In a stimulated journey of volition within a sensory wing, finite
twisting (different from infinite twisting of motor wing), rather than untwisting, is the ideal
behavior. Here, in EDS, the gravity wing (Lt untwisting) becomes the energy wing (Rt twisting).
It’s the real volitional journey, forward i.e., clockwise. In GDS the energy wing becomes the
gravity wing. It’s the imaginary volitional journey, backward i.e., anticlockwise. To accomplish
this, the fulcrum with hand function is changed within the same wing. With the significant
strength of the stimulation in volition, this lag cumulates with cycles within the same wing till
the titanic stimulation becomes exhausted. Here, the equatorial quadrants expand and the polar
quadrants shrink hiding beginning and end problems.
1
1/-
Lt untwist
/ Rt twist
Rt untwist
/Lt twist
( (1)
(-1) (-
Fig. 18. Sensory wings for journey: Volitional (twists) and evolutionary (untwists).
Therefore under stimulation of FD there may be distoproximal journey along sensory wings
alternatively operated at fulcrums of EDS and GDS in case of cosmic pulsation as well as cyclic
journey within the same wing in case of subsystemic volition. In both the cases of stimulation
system changes from one to another (Figs. 12 and 17). Here, the computation was in analog
rather than digital mode. An analog system can process qualitative or nonlinear input more
efficiently. Lorentz did not incorporate any phenomenon-based information but considered the
phenomenon itself in the form of three equations. Therefore, as the input is qualitative, the
response is also subjective. In phase space, stimulated journey (critical or subcritical) has the
collective appearance of a Lorenz attractor (Fig. 18). One may find that the Lorenz butterflyshaped attractor is the subjective presence of the processing fermion in phase space. Thus, one
may postulate that objective subconsciousness, with subjectivism as the unresolved residue, is
eternal.
Both the unknown or diffused past and future are in the future. Additive inverse operations yield
unknown diffused past momentum and position as the local future (-C) and past (+Q),
respectively before universal yet exclusive snap of the present moment where they transcend into
local past permanently.
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Twistors and untwistors
Im (true and pseudo)
Re (true and pseudo)
Neutrino (f3), (
In EDS: Weak
bwd untwistor
Anti-tachyon, (f4)
(-1) (EDS). Strong
bwd. untwistor
Tachyon (f4),
(1) (EDS). Strong
fwd. twistor
Anti-neutrino (f3),
(- . In EDS,
Weak fwd. twistor
Weak bwd:
Positive Im
Strong bwd:
Negative Re
Strong fwd:
Positive Re
Weak fwd:
Negative Im
Scheme 1. Pseudo-elementary twistors in EDS (bwd and fwd indicate backward and forward,
respectively). In GDS with change of hand function twistor becomes untwistor and vice versa.
Every null is armed with two possible screw setups. These twistor and untwistor mechanosystems render the model versatile and modular.
3.1.4 Modular circuitry
The untwistor hides expositions in the sensory wing and the twistor exposes hidden processing in
the motor wing in EDS (the reverse function with change of sign occurs in GDS).
twist
b
Rt-handed screw system
along strip (3/2)
untwist
a
Rt
t
s
i
w
t
n
u
Lt
t
w
i
s
t
u
n
t
w
i
s
t
u
Lt
t
s
i
w
t
Rt
twist
Lt-handed screw system
along strip (3/2)
untwist
Fig. 19. (a) GDS fulcrum at levity null and (b) EDS fulcrum at gravity null.
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Thus, twistors and untwistors are opposite executions of the same functions originating deep
within the paper strip. The untwistor produces “shaft inversion” and the twistor produces gauge
diffusion Fig. 19). GDS primarily operates on Im entities. Here, shaft inversion occurs along
untwisting at - in the sensory wing and gauge diffusion occurs along twisting of in the
motor wing. EDS primarily operates on Re entities. Here, shaft inversion occurs along untwisting
at -1 in the sensory wing and gauge diffusion along twisting of +1 in the motor wing (Fig. 12c).
Bang
EDS sensory
or GDS motor
GDS sensory
or EDS motor
Conjugate
electron
Nucleus
Fig. 20. Sensory and motor GPS in symmetric pairs in both systems.
Sensory and motor GPs are in a symmetric pair in both systems (Fig. 20). In the motor GP, the Lt
wing (from top) is the gravity wing and the Rt wing (from the bottom) is the energy wing. They
are executive arms of the respective systems. In finite journeys, the memory system can only
function if and only if the support is on its hierarchy. The stretching of a journey is extended in
EDS and GDS along the entropy and negentropy, respectively. Therefore, the motor wings in
both systems hold longer tracks along the journey than the sensory wings. For deterministic
functioning of the memory system, this is supported on an electron couple in associative phase
space along the nucleated series at birth (Sec. 5.1.5). Although this behavior rarely occurs in
reality, for simple illustration, two electrons are shown in the same orbit of the same atom (Fig.
20). One may note that two types of Cl-q measurements are possible: one within the same wing
of the same electron (ED phase) (Sec. 5.1.4), and the other located across the sensory and motor
wings belonging to the conjugate electrons (combined FD and ED phase). Although both almost
coincide, the first more clearly holds its position in the memory string and the second is more
important in tracking and registering if is contextually finalized important. The electron is the
basic element that has equal play in both the classical and quantum worlds. Therefore, its
position satisfies the orthogonal union of the Grand Unified Theory (GUT) expressed by
multiplicative group action of the BNs at the horizon, and also the energy and gravity expressed
by the additive group action at the singularity of microtubular electrons or atomic nucleus in
phase space along its lower hierarchy.
3.2 Electromagnetism and energy-gravity system
Twistors may now be considered as a screw system on a gauge potential. Along the time
convention, one may verify that electricity travels forward in time (S N) whereas magnetism
travels backward in time (N S), as shown in Fig. 21.
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N
S
Fig. 21. Electricity (white arrow) and magnetism (black arrows) directions in time.
Maxwell’s field laws provide no mathematical relation between magnetism and electricity with
time convention. However, nature constitutes a laboratory for absolute experimentation and
verification. Here, an exact incidence of lightening is electricity in forward time along a position
vector, which is matched with the antisymmetric magnetic field flux of the cloud particles in
backward time along the momentum vector, conserving proper time or zero-symmetry. The spin
at a BN relates the orbital clockwise or anticlockwise movement with a forward or backward
journey simultaneously on the same gauge potential.
Both the gravity-energy system and electromagnetism are absolute systems. The former is
comprised of first-order fields at FN/ON and the second contains second-order fields at BNs.
However, multiplicative association promotes not only first-order fields to second order, but also
higher-order fields to second-order conjugates across symmetric BNs (+C+-Q, +C-Q). Both
electromagnetism (multiplicatively commutating) and gravity-energy (additively commutating)
represent Euclidean fields at BN and FN, respectively.
Self-design unfolds in two flavors: duality and dimensionality12, which always coexist. These
concepts are discussed in Secs. 4 and 5 respectively.
(Continued on Part II)
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Vary, A., Excursions from the Mesostratum
Perspective
Excursions from the Mesostratum
Alex Vary*
Abstract
We explore the conjecture that the mesostratum is populated with phantoms and spirits of people
who are deceased yet still linger nearby and attempt to influence earthly human activities.
Phantoms and formless spirits in the mesostratum limbo may engage in post mortem, past death
excursions (PDE).
Keywords: Spirit, phantom limbo, transcendent mesostratum, NDE, OBE, miraculous events.
Introduction
Most modern scientists automatically reject reports of miraculous and transcendent events
because they are unable to offer scientific explanations for such phenomena. C. Radhakrishnan
insists that “after science signs off, the only option for further investigation is through Vedantic
methods.” [1] In agreement, we argue that enlightened scientists and physicists may explain
these phenomena as evidence of a hyper-reality that transcends but influences material reality.
Accordingly, we offer the mesostratum, a transcendent reality, which extends far beyond the
material horizon. We describe the mesostratum as the interface between the superstratum and
physiostratum, between a transcendent reality and material reality, in which phantoms and
spiritual entities reside and influence both terrestrial and extraterrestrial venues and beings. [2]
We conjecture that the mesostratum is a limbo populated by multitudes of phantoms and
formless spirits that cling to the physiostratum and wish to, and occasionally do, access or
influence their former earthly abode, as well as the spirits of living people. It may be that most
spirits are benign and helpful, that some are malicious and evil, that many are simply lost, and
that all ultimately strive to unite with their soul, atman and in God and Brahma. We postulate
that our higher consciousness resides with spirit which hovers between the superstratum and
physiostratum, between soul and body, and metaphorically between heaven and earth.
According to Radhakrishnan, previous Bhagavad Gita commentators have missed the core
Vedantic view pertaining the to three layers: Paramatma, Avyakta and Kshara: correlating with
Superstratum (Atman), Mesostratum (Avyakta), and physiostratum (Kshara). The Avyakta is
beyond observation by the senses and cannot be understood beyond transitions of form and
content. Bhagavad Gita 2:25 [3]
During a near-death-experiences, many get a gimps of mesostratum forms and content, of
phantoms and spirits residing there and return with the feeling that they have received
enlightenment and guidance. This depends on the nature of the spirits, whether they are
* Correspondence: Alex Vary, PhD, Retired NASA Scientist & Independent Researcher. Email: axelvary@wowway.com
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Vary, A., Excursions from the Mesostratum
indifferent, benevolent, mischievous, or malicious. We usually allow our judgement, conscience,
or spiritual consciousness to be our guide. Christians may choose to let Jesus be their guide.
After all, according to John 14:6: Jesus said, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one
comes to the Father except through me.” Adherents of Vedantic teachings and transcendental
meditation can gain access to and employ other resources of guidance. Daoists find the way
effortlessly.
It is suggested that upon the body’s death, formless spirits may become lost in a mesostratum
limbo without guidance, be mislead, confused. Some spirits may assume a phantom human form
and access mesostratum resources which allow ghostly reappearances on earth. This paper is
offered for consideration by those who wish to explore and understand the nature of the realm
their spirit may enter when it departs its earthly abode.
Near Death Experiences
John Petrovic writes, “I have a professional colleague who did [have a near-death experience]
when he had a heart attack . . . Before this experience, Don was quite a worldly and hard-nosed
type of person. At a technical meeting, we had lunch and during that lunch when I asked him about
his heart attack he spontaneously began to relate to me his near-death experience. I was
somewhat taken aback, since this type of discussion was quite out of character for Don as I had
known him up to that time.” [4]
“Don said that his heart attack began and he was in great pain due to it and very fearful about the
possibility of dying. He told me it felt like he left his body and was then transported to some other
place, where he was given the choice to proceed further or to go back. Don told me that the
choice to proceed further had great peace associated with it, while the choice to go back had much
pain. But he chose to go back because he felt he couldn’t leave his wife yet. So he was sent
back. . . . I was very surprised. I had never expected to hear a near-death experience related by
someone as worldly as Don.”
Michael Sabom described approximately 200 cases of near-death experiences. The most
extensively medically documented one was that of “Pam Reynolds” (not her real name). Pam
Reynolds had a giant basilar artery aneurysm, a ballooned section of a large artery at the base of
her brain. If the aneurysm ruptured, the result would be immediate death. So she needed a major
operation to fix the problem. [5]
Here is Pam’s account of her near-death experience: “There was a sensation like being pulled, but
not against your will. I was going on my own accord because I wanted to go . . . The feeling was
like going up in an elevator real fast. And there was a sensation, but it wasn’t a bodily, physical
sensation. It was like a tunnel but it wasn’t a tunnel. . . I became aware of my grandmother calling
me. But I didn’t hear her call me with my ears . . . It was a clearer hearing than with my ears. I
trust that sense more than I trust my own ears. The feeling was that she wanted me to come to her,
so I continued . . . and at the very end there was this very little pinpoint of light that kept getting
bigger and bigger and bigger. . . the light was incredibly bright, like sitting in the middle of a
lightbulb. It was so bright that I put my hands in front of my face fully expecting to see them and
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I could not. But I knew they were there. Not from a sense of touch . . . but I knew they were
there . . .” As the surgery neared completion and she was in recovery, the spirit of Pam’s uncle
urged and helped her to return to her body and her NDE concluded.
The most remarkable aspects of Pam Reynolds’ NDE are her out-of-body experience (OBE)
descriptions of the surgical procedures and equipment that were being employed at the time the
surgeon was cutting into her skull to expose her brain. These descriptions are difficult to explain
from a scientific medical viewpoint, and indicate that her conscious awareness and vision did not
resided in her body during the surgery.
Kenneth Ring in Lessons from the Light comments on the implications of NDE for an afterlife
which may assume the form of a post death experience, discussed next. Ring reports that those
who have had the NDE are, “ . . . persuaded that what they have seen and understood during their
vision represents something as authentic as it is indubitable. And, by the same measure, typically,
these individuals are equally sure that what they have experienced is no dream, fantasy, or
hallucination. More than one such person has asseverated to me, and with great emphasis, that
their NDE was ‘more real than life itself’, or ‘more real than you and I sitting here talking about it’,
or similar avowals.” [6]
Post Death Excursion
We contemplate and inquire into the post mortem, past death excursion (PDE) phenomenon. We
can cite evidence of the PDE because of accounts by living people who have seen an apparition, a
phantom, or who have hallucinated what appeared to be the presence of the deceased person
nearby. [7] These are almost invariably cases where the spirits of the deceased manage to
materialize or occupy living minds. Such an occupation may implant memories of experiences of
the deceased into the neural network of a living person. Voluntary or involuntary meditation or
receptivity may result in a realistic illusion, apparition, hallucination arising from the transmission
of subjective signals sent by the deceased via the mesostratum.
The most well-known extraordinarily miraculous PDE is that of Jesus. According to Luke
24:36-49 (NIV), Jesus appeared to his disciples . . . stood among them and said to them, “Peace be
with you.” . . . They were startled and frightened . . . He said to them, “Why are you troubled, and
why do doubts rise in your minds? Look at my hands and my feet. It is I myself! Touch me and
see.” . . . He said to them, “This is what I told you while I was still with you: Everything must be
fulfilled that is written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms.”
A relevant modern example of PDE is the case of Lt. David McConnel who was a British pilot
trainee. During an otherwise routine flight, he died in a plane crash on December 7, 1918.
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Importantly, the exact time of his death, 3:25 pm, was known because the watch he was wearing
stopped when his plane crashed. At roughly the same time that McConnel crashed, his military
training roommate, a Lt. J.J. Larkin, stated that he saw McConnel walk into the pilot lounge, and
that he had a short conversation with him. Here is Larkin’s account which he wrote on December
22, 1918 for transmission to McConnel’s father and family: [4]
“I heard someone walking up the passage; the door opened with the usual noise and clatter which
David always made . . . I turned half round in my chair and saw him standing in the doorway, half
in and half out of the room, holding the door knob in his hand. He was dressed in his full flying
clothes . . . there being nothing unusual in his appearance. His cap was pushed back on his head
and he was smiling . . . I am not positively sure of the exact words he used . . . I was looking at him
the whole time he was speaking. He . . . closed the door noisily and went out.”
What is described above, by an unimpeachable witness who avowed that he did not believe in
ghosts prior to this event, is the apparent solid apparition of a fellow pilot who had just died in an
aircraft accident. Furthermore, it was clearly documented that the witness, Lt. Larkin, had no
knowledge of McConnel’s death at the time that he experienced the apparition. This is a ghostly
encounter that is difficult to explain on any orthodox materialistic basis. We suggest that this
represents an instance of PDE where McConnel’s spirit assumed a form of materialization such
that he could revisit former earthly surroundings, temporarily.
We should not be surprised that many disembodied spirits are reluctant to depart earth and may
literally haunt places with which they were once familiar. Indeed, such spirits may linger and
attempt to help living loved ones. There are plenty of accounts world-wide where spirits of
deceased people apparently have made post death excursions that are witnessed as apparitions,
phantoms, and ghosts.
The PDE may go further than a ghostly appearance and become a reincarnation. There are many
who have memories of previous lives in their conscious memories. An authority on this kind of
PDE is Ian Stevenson who performed detailed investigations on over six hundred cases of claimed
reincarnation. Stevenson’s book, a classic in the field, presents the following celebrated account of
reincarnation. [8]
Swarnlata Mishra was born in Shahpur on March 2, 1948, and lived in the town of Panna. At an
age of three and one-half years, she began talking to the other children in her family about details
of a previous life in a town called Katni, which was about 100 miles from Panna. She said that
she had been a member of a family there named Pathak. Swarnlata revealed fragments of her
apparent memories, mostly to her brothers and sisters, but also to some extent to her parents.
In March 1959, a Mr. Banerjee spent two days investigating Swarnlata’s case with the Mishra
family. He then went to Katni, where he met the Pathak family, the family Swarnlata claimed to
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Vary, A., Excursions from the Mesostratum
have been a member of in her previous life. Banerjee said he was guided by Swarnlata’s
descriptions into finding the right Pathak house. He found that the statements made by Swarnlata
corresponded closely with the life of Biya, daughter of one particular Pathak family in Katni.
Biya was also the deceased wife of Sri Chintamini Pandey, living in the town of Maihar. Biya
had died in 1939. It is possible that the personality of Biya was somehow residing in the
mind/body of Swarnlata, that Swarnlata was partially possessed by the spirit of Biya which had
survived Biya’s physical death in the form of a PDE.
In 1961, Stevenson personally interviewed the key people associated with the Swarnlata case.
Possible explanations for the case include fraud, extrasensory perception, possession, or
reincarnation. Stevenson eliminated fraud, discounted extrasensory perception, and narrowed the
explanation of the observed facts as an indication of a continued spiritual existence after physical
death.
Conclusion
We have cited only a few illustrative examples from an extensive literature which supports the
circumstances associated with OBE, NDE, and PDE and the concomitant reality of the
mesostratum as the residence of phantoms and spirits. Figure 1 represents the conjectured relation
among the Superstratum, the Mesostratum, and the Physiostratum and the phantom/spirit
populations within each.
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References
1. The Secret Behind the Universe, C. Radhakrishnan and K. R. Gopal, CreateSpace, 2016.
2. Prespacetime Journal, Exploration of Mesostratum Physics, Alex Vary, Vol. 7, No. 11, 2016.
3. Personal correspondence with C. Radhakrishnan, 2016.
4. The First Principles - a scientific guide to the spiritual, John J. Petrovic, BookSurge Publishing, 2008.
5. Light and Death, Michael Sabom, M.D., Zondervan Publishing House, 1998.
6. Lessons from the Light - the near-death experience, Kenneth Ring, Moment Point Press, 2006.
7. Journal of Consciousness Exploration and Research, Spiritual Nature of Consciousness, Alex Vary, Vol.
8, No. 2, 2017.
8. Twenty Cases Suggestive of Reincarnation, Ian Stevenson, University of Virginia Press,1980.
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Journal of Consciousness Exploration & Research | November 2017 | Volume 8 | Issue 10 | pp. 824-839
Deshpande, P. B., and Kowall, J. P., How the US Could Keep Its Decline at Bay Longer
824
Perspective
How the US Could Keep Its Decline at Bay Longer
*
Pradeep B. Deshpande1 & James P. Kowall2
1
Professor Emeritus of Chemical Engineering, University of Louisville, & Six Sigma and
Advanced Controls, Louisville, KY 40241 USA
2
Independent Researcher, Suburban Eugene, Oregon, USA
ABSTRACT
All great cultures eventually decline and the United States cannot be an exception to this natural
law. In the context of recent turmoil around the country, the question is, has the decline of this
great nation already begun, and even if it has not, is it prudent to stand on the sidelines helplessly
witnessing the evidence of decline appear right in front of our eyes, or to intervene? This papers
suggests that the answer is the latter and that a scientific framework for external and internal
excellence is the pathway for intervention to keep the decline at bay longer. The ideas and
concepts may appear US-centric but they apply to all nations in various stages of rise and
decline.
Keywords: United States, decline, external excellence, internal excellence, scientific framework.
BACKGROUND
The first author first arrived from India in 1963 enrolling as an undergraduate student in
Chemical Engineering at the University of Alabama. An African-American student had just been
admitted to the University for the first time and the then Governor, the late Mr. George C.
Wallace had stood in the door of the President’s mansion to prevent the entry of the student from
enrolling. The then Attorney General, the late Mr. Robert F. Kennedy had sent in Federal
Marshalls to remove the Governor from the premises. The Manager of Northrop Space
Laboratories in Huntsville, Alabama, where the first author worked for a year after finishing his
Master’s work in 1967, wrote a formal letter to the Governor in 1963 telling him that racial
issues were making it difficult to attract top talent to their company.
Fast forward to 2017 and the first African-American President had just finished serving his
second term and the next President had been in office for several months. Then came the events
of August 14, 2017 in Charlottesville, Virginia. What to make of this and several similar
situations this country is facing of late? All great cultures eventually decline and the United
States of America cannot be an exception, but the question is, has the US decline already begun,
and even if it has not, could its inevitable eventual decline be kept at bay longer? Relatedly, do
*
Correspondence author: Prof. Pradeep B. Deshpande, Six Sigma & Advanced Controls, Inc., 7013 Creekton Drive, Louisville,
KY 40241, http://www.sixsigmaquality.com E-mail: pradeep@sixsigmaquality.com
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825
we stay on the sidelines helplessly witnessing Charlottesville-like things happen right front of
our eyes, or do we intervene? This paper explains that it is possible to intervene with a scientific
framework for internal and external excellence to keep the decline of this nation at bay longer.
Unfortunately, the “peace-loving people” themselves are partly to blame by their inaction for
why the nation is not more peaceful. To explain, societal response to hatred, bigotry, intolerance,
and violence takes on many forms which include new laws and regulations, nonviolent protests,
counseling, punitive actions, etc. These efforts are well-intentioned and necessary but they are
not sufficient. For progress, the good folks will have to change themselves from within. The
process of changing themselves from within can be configured to have a positive effect on the
larger section of the society which is not even participating in the exercise and that intern will
make the entire society more peaceful and in turn, keep the decline of the nation at bay longer.
The performance of the exercise is auditable.
That said, there are obstacles to progress: (1) Open-mindedness. Humanity has become
increasingly rational-minded since the days of Copernicus perhaps stung by Aristotle’s false
claims of our Earth-centric existence and that is a good thing, but unfortunately, many have
become tunnel-visioned. A scientific framework for progress is essential which we now have,
and (2) nothing extraordinary can happen without a burning desire. Everyone has been gifted
with the capacity to learn or change and the necessary skills can be taught and learned but the
desire to change is a choice. If a strong enough desire to change from within can be inculcated,
the nation can become much more peaceful in short order.
Strange as it may sound, to solve this problem, it is necessary to understand how the universe
came into existence, how human life evolved, why nations rise and decline, and how we may
improve ourselves and the society we live in for a more peaceful nation.
HOW IT ALL BEGAN
In 1929, American astronomer, Edwin Hubble discovered that the universe was expanding.
Physicists have discovered of late that it still is, and at an accelerated pace. Clearly, going
backwards in time, the universe would get smaller and smaller until a point of singularity is
reached. Beyond this point, everything would disappear leaving behind absolutely nothing, just
an infinite void, same and uniform everywhere.
In 1995, rebellious teenager Amanda Gefter set out on a quest to understand ultimate reality and
the meaning of nothing with the help of her father, Warren Gefter, MD, Division Chief and
Cardio-thoracic Imaging Professor of Radiology at the University of Pennsylvania hospital. In
this context, Ultimate reality is understood to be something that is omnipresent, uniform
everywhere, and the same for all observers and all perspectives. During the pursuit that lasted
more than a decade, she interacted with dozens of renowned physicists including the late John
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826
Archibald Wheeler, a colleague of Albert Einstein at Princeton, and the famed Stephen Hawking,
finally concluding that ultimately, nothing (observable) is real, meaning that the ultimate reality
is the nothingness of the void. She released her findings in the path-breaking book, “Trespassing
on Einstein’s Lawn” [1]. In the book, she concludes that it all starts out with nothing but for
some inexplicable reason, the nothingness gives birth to an incredibly hot and an unbelievably
dense energy phase, about the size of 10-33 cm in diameter which goes by the name Planck
length. The complex analysis involved relativity theory, quantum mechanics, inflationary
cosmology, and particle physics.
So, a questions arises, how can something, the universe, come out of nothing (Shunya), the void,
and why should it? At the Science and Ultimate Reality Conference in Princeton in 2002,
Wheeler told the Gefters that the universe was a self-excited circuit, meaning that no creator was
required for its creation. The process of creation is automatic, just as a huge tree comes out of the
tininess of a hollow seed, but this leaves us with the unanswered chicken-and-the-egg question:
where does the seed come from? Inspired by the non-dual concepts of Shankara and
Nisargadatta, the second author expanded on Gefter’s findings: True, there was nothing
(observable) left at the start since the four fundamental forces of nature (electromagnetism,
gravity, strong nuclear force, and weak nuclear force) had all vanished as they had not yet been
energized in an accelerated frame of reference, but, something must have come through from the
other side, something nonphysical that can only be identified as the individual (Atmanic)
consciousness of the observer that in some mysterious way arises at a point of view from what
can best be called the undifferentiated (Brahmanic) consciousness of the void [2].
In other words, conscious intention of the void as expressed in the accelerated reference frame of
an observer is what led to the Big Bang which created the universe, while a freely falling
reference frame implies the disappearance of the universe. This scenario only makes sense if in
some sense, every observer has its own observable world which can appear to come into
existence (in an accelerated reference frame) or disappear from existence (in a freely falling
reference frame), but always from the observer's own point of view.
So, we have two hypotheses to scrutinize. One, the universe is a self-excited circuit. This is a
dead-end since there is no way to test it. The second is that intention of the undifferentiated
consciousness created the universe. This hypothesis can be tested since we all have
consciousness, let’s call ours, differentiated consciousness to distinguish it from the
undifferentiated consciousness of the void. The question then is, is our individual (differentiated)
consciousness a microcosm of the undifferentiated consciousness? The answer is yes, and it may
be explained thus: Everything was connected to everything else at the moment of the Big Bang
when the universe was about the size of Planck’s length (10-33 cm in diameter).
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How could it not be? The question is, is it still so connected? Western scientists have conducted
numerous experiments to demonstrate that we remain connected at some level although not
physically linked [3]. This implies that our differentiated consciousness is a microcosm of the
undifferentiated consciousness of the void. This connectivity will be helpful in what we are
trying to achieve as we will see.
HOW WE GOT HERE
At the moment of the Big Bang there was only an intense energy phase present. The universe has
been inflating in size from its initial size of about the Planck’s length some 13.8 billion years ago
to its current size because dark energy has been burning away. As dark energy burns away, heat
is radiated away in the form of photons of electromagnetic radiation. These very high-energy
photons can transform into particle/anti-particle pairs, like electron/positron pairs and
proton/anti-proton pairs. The proton is a composite particle of quarks, while the anti-proton is a
composite particle of anti-quarks. The transformation occurs according to the standard model of
particle physics. The conversion of energy into mass gives birth to galaxies, stars, planets, and
other matter, but for this to occur, there has to be more matter than anti-matter. The explanation
of why there is more matter than anti-matter in the universe is provided by something called the
parity violation, which is a kind of symmetry breaking. The weak nuclear force breaks the
symmetry called parity. Parity is the symmetry under mirror reflection, and it turns out that the
mirror reflection of a neutrino is not the same neutrino, but is much more massive. The result of
parity violation is that anti-protons decay into electrons and so there is predominately matter in
the universe rather than equal parts matter and anti-matter. This kind of parity violation can only
occur due to the very high energies present shortly after the big bang event. As the universe
inflates in size and cools, protons become stable and so we are left predominantly with matter.
Currently, the observable universe is estimated to comprise of 5% matter, 27% dark matter, and
68% dark energy.
With galaxies, planets, stars, and other matter in place, the next thing to focus on is our planet. In
the evolutionary scheme of how life evolved here on planet Earth, among what is required first is
habitable temperature and liquid water to make life as we know it, possible. Anthropological
evidence suggests that life on Earth began in the form of single-cell organisms. Single-cell
organisms evolved over time giving birth to multi-cell organisms, to Chimpanzees, and finally to
early humans in our current form, some earlier than others. Eventually, humans settle in various
geographical areas which today go by the name, nations.
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INTERNAL EXCELLENCE EXPLAINED
To understand why nation rise and decline, it is necessary to understand the notion of internal
excellence. Each of the 7 billion human inhabitants of Earth have three components of the
mindset S, R, and T explained in Table I. The definition of the three components is such that
everyone is expected to possess a certain minimum amount of each. The possibility of perfection
(pure S) is thus precluded. The specific proportion of these components determines the level of
internal excellence of an individual. These ideas lead to a scale of internal excellence depicted in
Figure 1(a).
Table I: Mindset Components and Human Emotions
Mindset Component
S
R
T
Emotions
Positive Emotions
Negative Emotions
Attribute of the Mindset Component
Truthfulness, honesty, equanimity, steadfastness
Attachment, bravery, ego, ambition, greed, desire to live
Lying, cheating, causing injury in words or deed, sleep
Attribute of Emotion
Unconditional love, kindness, empathy, compassion
Anger, hatred, hostility, resentment, frustration, jealousy,
fear, sorrow, etc.
Now, human beings are endowed with two types of emotions: positive emotions and negative
emotions, also explained in Table I. Positive emotions strongly and positively correlate with a
high S component while negative emotions strongly and positively correlate with excessive
values of R and T components. This realization leads to a scale of emotional excellence depicted
in Figure 1(b). The two scales are entirely equivalent. The noble ones among us are toward the
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top of these scales while the wicked ones towards the bottom, and the rest of us somewhere in
between. The goal of life should be to rise on these scales of excellence. All Incarnations and
prophets of every religion have spent their lifetimes to prod humanity to rise on the scale of
internal excellence. The core message of ancient Indian scriptures including the Vedas,
Upanishads, Bhagvad Geeta, Mahadev, etc., etc., can be summed up in a few words: Rise on the
scale of internal excellence.
Actually, everyone is trying to rise, but in ignorance, we are either searching for the wrong thing
or we are going about it the wrong way. Everyone wants to be happy, but when we speak of
happiness, we really mean something slightly different. This is because virtually every human
emotion comes packaged as a pair of opposites. For example, if there is happiness, sadness and
despair are also possibilities. So, when we say we want to be happy, we are really referring to a
subtler form of happiness; blissfulness, the term which, by definition, is devoid of the opposite.
So, unknowingly everyone is searching for blissfulness. In Sanskrit, blissfulness goes by the
name, Sat Chit Ananda.
A subjective measure of internal/emotional excellence is the capacity to remain centered in the
presence of extenuating circumstances that are part of life. This state is taken to be toward the
top-end of the scales of excellence where an individual is able to transcend the three components
(and be in the state of bliss) and yet remain engaged in mundane activities of life. Yogis refer to
this state as Turya Avastha. Dramatic examples of internal excellence and lack thereof may be
found in [4, 5].
Blissfulness has been taken to be an essential characteristic of the undifferentiated consciousness
for millennia. The fact that everyone is searching for blissfulness is a strong indication that
human consciousness is a microcosm of the undifferentiated consciousness. Guruji
Paranjothiar’s favorite expression is Santhosam, while the Hindi-speaking Baba Shivanand Ji
says, Har Haal Me Khushi (happiness under all circumstances). Confidence in this hypothesis
also comes from the experiments of Western scientists showing that we remain connected at
some level although not physically linked, just as everything was at the moment of the Big Bang
when the size of the universe was about the size of Planck’s length. Furthermore, through the
process of connecting, creation has been demonstrated (Aham Brahmasmi) [6, 7]. The work of
the mathematical genius, S. Ramanujan, provides a stunning example. Barely a high school
graduate, Ramanujan would write down complex mathematical theorems and their proofs
without knowing the steps in between. Asked by his mentor at Cambridge, Prof. G. S. Hardy, he
is reported to have replied, The Goddess speaks to me. It is clear, he must have connected.
Ramanujan was the first Indian to be elected a Fellow of the Royal Society.
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MEASUREMENT OF INTERNAL/EMOTIONAL EXCELLENCE
The first step in any scientific pursuit of enhancing internal/emotional excellence is to find a way
to measure emotions. Computer Science and Electrical Engineering researchers at MIT recently
developed a wireless device they call EQ Radio with funding from the National Science
Foundation and the US Airforce with additional support from major US corporations [8, 9]. The
Figure 2. MIT’s EQ Radio
wireless device sends RF signals to the subject and captures and analyzes the reflected signals
(see Figure 2) with a machine learning algorithm to determine the heart rate, heart rate variability
(HRV), and respiration rate from which the subject’s emotions are estimated, the researchers say
at an accuracy of 87%. Other researchers had already known about the influence of these outputs
on the emotional state.
Now, the photonic signature (light-energy) is the primary attribute of humans of which heart rate,
HRV, and respiration rates are subsets and therefore it is the method of choice in this paper. To
elaborate, human beings have trillions of cells. If we break down the cells further into even
smaller parts, we find that they are made up of atoms. Atoms are not solid objects, they have
protons and neutrons in their nuclei and electrons orbiting them. So, a question arises: what
characteristic of an atom gives the specific character to matter?
For example, why is Gold, Gold? Or, why is Iron, Iron? The answer is, vibrational characteristics
of the specific atomic configuration (number of protons and neutrons in their nuclei and the
electrons orbiting them). Similarly, since cells are made up of atoms, the vibrational
characteristics of the specific cellular configuration is what determines the cellular structure,
which in turn determines if a cell is normal or not. The specific vibrational characteristics of the
cells in our body determine our physiological and psychoemotional state. Vibrations can be
thought of as light, not necessarily visible light, with unknown frequencies along the entire
electromagnetic spectrum and hence the name, aura (light-energy). Thus, the aura really is our
photonic signature and it is unique for everyone. The photonic signature (light-energy, aura)
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cannot be measured directly. It must be inferred from secondary measurements. Over fifteen
Figure 4. Chakra System of a Yogi
years ago, a Russian scientist developed a device to estimate the photonic signature of humans
using the principle of gas discharge visualization (GDV) [10]. Here, a harmless electrical signal
is applied to the fingers of both hands (one at a time), placed on the glass plate of the GDV
device connected to a digital computer with a USB cable as shown in Figure 3. The finger’s
response to this stimulus is a burst of photons that are captured by the software. The light-energy
characteristics of the photonic discharge (pixels - intensity, area) so captured are compared with
the data for tens of thousands of subjects to estimate the physiological and psychoemotional state
of the subject at a high confidence level. The measurement is painless, noninvasive, and takes
only a couple of minutes to complete. The GDV device was approved by the Russian Health
Ministry for use as a routine medical diagnostic device in Russian hospitals and doctor’s offices
over fifteen years ago. The GDV results are presented in several tabs: (1) Overall energy in
Joules, (2) Emotional stress level, Joules (3) Energy of the seven chakras, Joules and the chakra
alignment along the central vertical line, (4) Health status, Joules, and (5) Energy reserve, Joules.
The bioenergy measurements not only provide an estimate of the physiological health but also
psychoemotional state which is reflective of internal/emotional excellence. As an example,
Figure 4 depicts the chakra system of a self-realized yogi.
HOW TO RAISE INTERNAL EXCELLENCE OF INDIVIDUALS
With the measurement system on hand, the next step is to identify a process with which to raise
internal excellence/emotional excellence. A thirty-day self-assessment will offer convincing
evidence that consciously watching over the S, R, T components to make sure the S component
nudges higher and R and T components nudge lower, delivers limited success. It is essential to
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change ourselves from within and there is only one way to accomplish this goal, and it is
meditation. A good physical body is supportive of meditation practices and therefore, Asanas
and Pranayam are very important. A companion paper, Six Sigma Unravels Science of
Meditation explains how meditation is thought to work [11]. Figure 5 depicts the progress of the
first author pursuant to a three-day meditation program offered by Baba Shivanand Ji in
Bangalore not long ago.
Figure 5. Chakra System Before-and-After Three-day Meditation Program
RISE AND DECLINE OF NATIONS
In the context of the definition of S, R, T components, just as individuals have a level of internal
excellence, so do societies, but when it comes to societies, we speak of an average level of
internal excellence. As the average S component of the society rises, the society rises, but the S
component cannot rise indefinitely and when it reaches its peak, the T component takes over and
the society begins to decline. The T component cannot increase indefinitely either and so, when
it reaches its peak, the S component gains dominance and the society begins to rise again. The
transformation of the mindset induces repeated rise and decline of societies as illustrated in
Figure 6. This has been true for thousands of years and it will continue to remain so for the
foreseeable future. The fundamentals of why such a transformation should take place is not well
understood, but it is certain that it does. There is ample historical evidence of rise and decline of
societies but in the early nineties, we set out to find additional corroborative evidence which we
found in the Encyclopedia Britannica. Encyclopedia Britannica being a Western source of
reference, we decided to first focus on Greece. Figure 7(a) depicts the rise and decline of Greece
over two thousand years ago. It denotes the number of persons from Greece listed in all twentythree volumes of the Encyclopedia Britannica over time. The data clearly depicts the rise and
decline of Greece. Then, we tabulated similar data for England, Germany, and the United States.
These data are shown in Figures 7(b) – (d) [12].
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Figure 6. Rise and Decline of Societies due to Mindset Transformations
Figure 7(a – d). Rise and Decline of Greece (A: Top Left) and Data for England (B. Top
Right), Germany (C. Bottom Left) and the United States (D. Bottom Right)
HOW TO RAISE INTERNAL EXCELLENCE OF A NATION: TOWARDS A MORE
PEACEFUL NATION
The route to raise the internal excellence of societies is also meditation but it is not practical to
expect all 360 million inhabitants of the United States to meditate every day, regularly. Here, the
notion of collective consciousness comes to the rescue. Earlier in the paper we explained that we
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remain connected at some level although not physically linked. By way of additional
corroborative evidence, the Late Lewis Thomas, (MD, Harvard) reported in his book The Lives
of a Cell [13] that a single termite with 50,000 neurons in its brain could hardly be expected to
do anything much less think. But when they are in a colony of tens of thousands of termites,
however, they succeed in building structures having beautiful arches and symmetrical columns.
Now, let us take an example of collective human consciousness. It involves an experiment called
Global Consciousness Project that Professor Roger Nelson of Princeton and his team of direct
[14]. Under the auspices of this project, over one hundred electronic random number generators
(RNGs) have been installed in different parts of the world of which fifty to sixty are operational
at any given time. Under normal circumstances the RNG network produces a completely
unpredictable sequences of zeros and ones but when the collective human consciousness
becomes coherent/synchronizes because of a great event, good or bad, natural or man-made, the
network of RNGs outputs becomes structured, i. e., it becomes less random. The researchers peg
the probability that the observed effect being due to chance at one in a billion. Figure 8 depicts
the RNG output at the time of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the World Trade
Center in New York. Notice that the changes in the RNG output at the time of the attacks are
rather large. An even more intriguing observation is that the changes in RNG Output occurred
Figure 8. RNG data became less random at the time of 9/11 attacks
several hours before the attacks as though human consciousness knew things that it was not
consciously aware of.
The Global Consciousness Project merely records the correlates of global consciousness and
significant global events but the obvious extension is to direct global consciousness to make
humanity more peaceful. As in the case of individual transformation, the route here is also
through meditation, however, it is not practical to expect 7 billion inhabitants of Earth to
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meditate twice daily, not only for themselves but also for humanity at large. Fortunately, there is
a way out and this is where the work of the late Maharishi Mahesh Yogi and his associates
assumes significance. The Late Maharishi Mahesh Yogi put forward an idea several decades ago
which has come to be known as the Maharishi effect. The Maharishi effect states that global
peace requires a mere 1% of the people meditating on a continuing basis. Many outstanding
scientists are subscribers to Maharishi’s transcendental meditation program and there is a
university in Fairfield, Iowa that bears his name.
A team of scientists affiliated with the Maharishi organization carried out an experiment in the
Middle East in the eighties to assess the efficacy of the Maharishi effect in Lebanon and Israel.
Orme-Johnson and David Leffler conducted an experiment during the peak of the Israel-Lebanon
war in the 1980s and found that the larger the number of meditators, the more marked was the
reduced level of conflict. They also found improvement in crime, auto accidents, fires, national
mood, etc. [15].
John Hagelin and his associates conducted another experiment to demonstrate the benefit of
group meditation. In this experiment up to 4,000 meditators meditated daily for a period of eight
weeks during June 7 - July 30, 1993 to increase coherence and reduce stress in Washington DC
with the intention to bring down the violent crime rate in the District of Columbia [16]. The
authors reported that a twenty-seven-member Review Board consisting of sociologists and
criminologists from leading universities, representatives from the police department and the
Government of the District of Columbia, together with civic leaders, approved the research
protocol for the project in advance and monitored progress. The outcome selected for assessment
was the Weekly Crime Rate as measured by the Uniform Crime Report program of the Federal
Figure 9. Efficacy of TM SiddhiTM Program in Washington, DC
(With Permission from Dr. John Hagelin)
Bureau of Investigation. The results of this experiment are shown in Figure 9.
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PATH FORWARD FOR THE UNITED STATES
The S, R, T components of societies undergo transformation over time due to reasons that we do
not fully comprehend. As a consequence of this transformation, societies sustain repeated rise
and decline. Since our specie does not appear to have evolved into humans at the same time,
there are societies in the various stages of rise and decline present on the scene at any given time.
Figure 10. Scientific framework can accelerate rise of India, change the direction of Greece, and keep
the decline of the United States at bay longer.
Consequently, global peace ad infinitum is not possible. However, by adopting the scientific
framework of excellence, emerging nations such as India can rise faster, nations in decline such
as Greece can change direction, and developed nations such as the United States can keep their
inevitable, eventual decline at bay longer and that will make the world more peaceful. This is the
best possible scenario. These ideas are depicted in Figure 10.
Figure 10 depicts the United States at this time by two points A and B. Only in hindsight will we
come to know if this nation was at point A or point B at the present time. If the US is at point is
at point A, well and good for this means, there is more scope to rise. But, if it is at point B, then,
the decline of the nation has had already begun. In either case, the adoption of the scientific
framework of internal and external excellence is the clarion call for action.
TOWARDS A BETTER AND MORE PEACEFUL NATION
The scientific framework for internal excellence can make the nation more peaceful [17]. Add to
that the scientific framework for external excellence, and the nation can be better (in the sense of
defects in products and services) and more peaceful. The text Six Sigma for Karma Capitalism
details the framework for external excellence [18].
Ancient Indian wisdom is both vast and profound but due to the paucity of measurements in
ancient times, it had been difficult to validate it. The availability of scientific measurements and
a structured and data-driven methodology such as six sigma make this task easier. The authors
are neither experts in Indian scriptures nor in Sanskrit although the first author has read the
English commentaries on the Geeta many times and the second author has understood the
wisdom of Adi Shankara and Nisarga Datta from a Modern Physics perspective. Appendices at
the end of the paper present additional information that the readers may find interesting.
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A scientific perspective of national transformation towards a better and more peaceful nation is
presented. The scientific underpinnings for national transformation are well understood.
Embracing and diligently pursuing the framework is the pathway to keep the decline if this great
nation at bay longer.
Acknowledgement: This paper is written with the explicit blessings of Gurumahan Maharishi
Paranjothiar, founder of Universal Peace Foundation, Thirumurthi Hills, TN, and implicit Blessings of
Avadhoot Baba Shivanand Ji. Guruji Paranjothiar has been going into meditation for three weeks every
year for the last twenty six years for world peace.
REFERENCES
1. Gefter, Amanda, Trespassing on Einstein’s Lawn, Bantam Books 2014.
2. Kowall, James P., Physicist’s Dilemma: The Non-Physical Nature of Consciousness, Journal of
Consciousness Exploration and Research, 5, 4, 2014.
3. Braden, Gregg, The Divine Matrix, Hay House, Inc., Carlsbad, CA 2007.
4. Baba Shivanand Ji among Monkeys (You Tube Video).
5. Road Rage Nation (http://abcnews.go.com/WNT/video/road-rage-worse-40594136).
6. Deshpande, Pradeep B. and Kowall, James P., Science of Creativity and Innovation, Journal of
Consciousness Exploration and Research, 8, 1, January 2017 pp. 40-45.
7. Deshpande, P. B., Aroskar, S. A., Bhavasar, S. N. and Kulkarni, B. D., Mind Over Matter:
Materialization of Intentions, Journal of Consciousness and Research, 5, 2, February 2014 pp. 103116.
8. http://eqradio.csail.mit.edu.
9. Hotz, Robert L., Researchers Use Wireless Signals to Recognize Emotions, The Wall Street Journal,
September 20, 2016.
10. Korotkov, Konstantin G., Human Energy Field: Study with GDV Bioelectrography, 2002,
amazon.com.
11. Deshpande, Pradeep B., Aroskar, Sanjeev A., Bhavasar, S. N., and Kowall, James P., Six Sigma
Unravels Science of Meditation, Paper in submission to Journal of Consciousness Exploration and
Research, November 2017.
12. Deshpande, P. B. and Christopher, P. M., On the Cyclical Nature of Excellence. Reflections,
Unpublished Paper, No. 1, 1993.
13. Lewis Thomas, The Lives of a Cell, Penguin Books, 1974.
14. Roger D. Nelson, Global Consciousness Project, Meaningful Patterns in Random Data, Princeton
Plasma Physics Laboratory Colloquium, October 11, 2006 (http://noosphere.princeton.edu).
15. Orme-Johnson, David W., International Peace Project in the Middle East – The Effects of Maharishi
Technology of the United Field, Journal of Conflict Resolution, 32, 1988 pp 776-812.
16. Hagelin, John S., et al., Effects of Group Practice of the Transcendental Meditation Program on
Preventing Violent Crime in Washington, DC: Results of the National Demonstration Project, JuneJuly 1993, Social Indicators Research, 47, 2, 153-201, 1999.
17. Deshpande, Pradeep B. and Kowall, James P., The Nature of Ultimate Reality and How It Can
Transform Our World: Evidence from Modern Physics; Wisdom of YODA, SAC 2015 (available on
amazon).
18. Deshpande, Pradeep B., Six Sigma for Karma Capitalism, SAC 2015 (available on amazon)
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APPENDIX A. SOME USEFUL FUNDAMENTALS
1. All scientific theories are provisional in that as more and more data that conforms to the predictions
of the theory arrives, our confidence in the theory rises, but if a single data materializes that
contradicts the theory, then that theory must be abandoned in favor a new or modified theory
(Stephen Hawking in A Brief History of Time).
2. In the absence of measurements, a scientific theory is but a conjecture.
3. Inferential measurements are appropriate for things that cannot be directly measured.
4. Science demands that the results of experiments are repeatable and reproducible regardless who
conducts the experiments, where, and when and that is the way it should be. Six Sigma recognizes
that all outcomes exhibit a certain amount of variation due to causes that are unknown and
uncontrollable. Thus, zero defects ad infinitum is not in the plan of nature.
5. Everyone has the capacity to change; the ability to change can be taught or learned, but the desire to
change is a choice.
6. Progress requires a change of perspective from how much we know to how little we know.
7. Mysticism is science not yet discovered but take care, mysticism and superstition are close cousins
and so, always validate observations with six sigma principles.
8. No one invents anything. All the data, information, and facts are already there waiting to be
downloaded by connecting.
9. Be an inquirer, not a skeptic.
10. Trust but verify regardless of the source.
APPENDIX B. WHEN TO USE SCIENCE
1. Science is the appropriate branch of knowledge to use when the fundamentals of the system under
scrutiny are well understood.
2. Six sigma is the appropriate methodology to use when the fundamentals of the system are not well
understood, as is often the case with complex processes, in which case a systemic methodology like
six sigma must be used for problem-solving based on input-output data.
3. When measurement systems are unavailable or when there are uncertainty issues with the
measurements, then, steps 1 and 2 will cease to be useful. Then, direct perception, as with meditation,
or another way of increasing our focus of attention, is the only route to new discoveries.
Take care, discoveries made through direct perception must meet the rigor of logical consistency.
APPENDIX C. DEMOCRACY AND INTERNAL EXCELLENCE
There is a widespread admiration for democracy as the preferred form of Government. This fondness
arises from the expectation that certain expectations will be fulfilled with this form of Government. These
ideas are depicted in Figure C-1. As this Appendix explains, there is much the world needs to understand
about when democracy will deliver the intended outcomes.
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Figure C-1. Democracy as an Input-Out system
Now, reflect on the prospects of success with democracy in the context of where on the rise and decline
phase a given nation is. The prospects of success are much more likely in a society in Figure C-2 in which
the average level of internal excellence is high enough but highly unlikely in Figure C-3 which depicts a
society in decline.
Figure C-2 Prospects of Success with democracy are High
Figure C-3 Prospects of Success with democracy are Very Low
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Article
The Proposition of a Quantum Consciousness Model
Based on the Theology of the Urantia Book (Part I)
Raul Valverde*
Concordia University, Canada
Abstract
The article proposes a quantum consciousness model that explains that our consciousness is
immortal, non local and can work independently of the physical brain. The model also proposes
that our perceived reality is created by our consciousness by interpreting vibrating energy. The
quantum consciousness paradigm has been used in recent years to support a multidimensional
view of the human mind and modern humanistic and spiritual psychology paradigms such as
transpersonal psychology. The proposed model is supported by the Urantia book that aims to
unite religion, science and philosophy. The Urantia book reveals the nature of human
consciousness and supports with its theology the proposed quantum consciousness model.
Part I of this two-part article includes: 1. Introduction; 2. Literature Review; 3. Experimental
Results Supporting Quantum Brain/Mind/Consciousness; 4. Quantum Physics & Consciousness.
Keywords: Quantum consciousness, quantum physics, neurotheology, Urantia book.
1. Introduction
The trend to explain consciousness by applying quantum theories has gained popularity in recent
years and, although clearly disdained by neuroscientists, more and more researchers direct their
steps this way up. Brian D. Josephson (1962) of the University of Cambridge, winner of the 1973
Nobel Prize in Physics for his studies on the quantum effects in superconductors (Josephson
effect), proposes a unified field theory of quantum nature that would explain not only
consciousness and its attributes, but also all the phenomenology observed to date in terms of
parapsychological, metaphysical and mystical experiences (Valverde 2015b).
The Urantia book aims to unite religion, science and philosophy. The book supports the idea of a
unified quantum field and explains the nature of reality by using quantum principles.
In this article, a literature review that supports that quantum nature of consciousness is presented
followed by a set of experiments that support the quantum consciousness paradigm. A quantum
consciousness model with seven principles is proposed and a table with Urantia book’s
references that support these statements is presented with explanations on how these references
*
Correspondence: Raul Valverde, Concordia University, Canada. E-mail: raul.valverde@concordia.ca
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support the model.
2. Literature Review
Hu & Wu (2010) as part of their explanation of the quantum consciousness model, come to the
conclusion that materialistic theories for the explanation of consciousness are likely invalid and
that quantum effects play important roles in consciousness. Another character that has stood in
defense of a quantum theory of consciousness was the physicist Roger Penrose (1994). Penrose
(1994) attacks and almost ridicules those who argue that the artificial intelligence of computers
can reproduce human attributes, including consciousness. Penrose, based on the mathematical
theorem of Gödel and based on subsequent his elaborations, concludes that no system that is
deterministic, that is, which is based on rules and deductions, can explain the creative powers of
the mind and its judgment. This nullifies the claim of classic physics, computer, neurobiology,
etc., that structure themselves into a complex phenomenon of consciousness. Penrose says that
only the peculiar characteristics of non-deterministic quantum physics could issue an
approximate judgment on consciousness, within a theory that involves quantum phenomena,
macro physical and conditions of non-locality. At this point, perhaps it would be interesting to
clarify that local conditions are not known in quantum physics, those capabilities that either have
a quantum system, experience instant communication between two parts without there being
time duration between communication of an event from one point to another system.
There is still another favorable group to this explanatory theory of consciousness, which is
headed by Dr. Ian N. Marshall (Marshall & Zohar 1997) who through empirical testing system
claims to have the key to the issue. Marshall and Zohar (1997) showed that conscious thought
emerges from quantum effects. Quantum physics helped to have a quantum understanding of
consciousness. What we are able to perceive with our five senses is not reality. Quantum physics
has shown that space and time are illusions of perception. Our body cannot really be a reality if
it does not occupy most of the space it seems to occupy; an experiment made at the University of
Manchester revealed the shape of the interior of an atom is almost entirely empty space. The
question then became how we could possibly make the world around us see us if this is the case
(Russell et al., 1993).
The quantum consciousness model suggests that consciousness lives in the quantum domain
outside time-space. Fred Wolf (1984) states that there has never been an adequate definition, a
clear metaphor, or even a good physical picture of what time is, in quantum mechanics, time is
not an observable phenomenon; it is only an extraneous ordering parameter. Davies (1988)
indicates that time exists merely as a parameter for gauging the interval between events.
Griffin(1986) states that the notion that physics is in some fundamental sense `timeless' has been
widely accepted. Wolf (1984) states that In quantum mechanics, space is an observable. To
observe space, we need the observer and the observed. Their separation is `space.'
Hu & Wu (2013) based on their theoretical and experimental studies have shown that: (1) human
Consciousness is non-spatial and non-temporal and not in the brain but in prespacetime; (2) brain
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is an interface between human Consciousness and the external world; Hu & Wu (2010)
elaborate that the quantum consciousness model includes that quantum effects play important
roles in brain and in consciousness such as in wave function collapse. They also explain that
consciousness is likely outside spacetime and is the foundation of reality and that conscious
intentions likely have physical effects on matter.
The quantum consciousness model proposes that our true consciousness does not exist in our
brains or in our bodies, but this illusion of our individual bodies along with the misinformation
of our true origins has manifested the idea that we all think independently from one another.
With this understanding, it seems possible to scientifically explain telepathy, clairvoyance,
spiritual mediums related to the transfer of information between sources without physical means
of communication phenomena. When we understand that there is a common spiritual bond
between all things in the universe and that we are all part of a divine intelligence, this simple
understanding will fill all the holes in modern religions and predictions about the future and
literally every occurrence of events (Russell et al., 1993). Unity of Mind is likely achieved
through quantum entanglement beyond the current forms of quantum mechanics (Hu & Wu
2010). The quantum consciousness paradigm through the principle of entanglement also
proposes that although each person appears as a separate and independent, in reality we are all
connected to the patterns of universal intelligence also called the absolute. Our body is part of a
universal body, our minds are part of the universal mind and in turn all of these are part of the
universe (Valverde 2016).
According to quantum physics, the physical world and its reality, it's just a recreation of the
observed. Consciousness likely play important roles in quantum effects such as in wave function
collapse that is responsible for the creation of our reality (Hu & Wu 2010). We created the body
and reality, as we create the experience of our world in its different manifestations dimensional.
In its essential state (atomic or cosmic subquantum micro), the body is made of energy and
information, not solid matter, this is only a meager level of perception, this is energy and
information arising from the endless fields of energy and information spanning the entire
universal creation (Valverde 2015a).
The quantum consciousness model also teaches that our true consciousness lives in a constant
present and it is not bound by time past and future. Consider the distinction of past, present,
and future, what we are conscious of as now is already past, even if only by a fraction of a
second. The conscious content of the moment is therefore of that which is past and gone. The
future is not yet. The present is but it cannot be specified in words or thoughts, without its
slipping into the past. When a future moment comes a similar situation will prevail. Therefore,
from the past of the present we may be able to predict, at most, the past of the future. The actual
immediate present is always the unknown.
Wolf (1984) writes that "The closest we come to observing time is observing what Buddhists call
`being-time.' Everything that is, is, was and will be. Every moment remains motionless and
frozen. Past, present and future represent a map for the perusal of the all-seeing being-time.".
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David Bohm writes that atomic structure dissolves into electrons, protons, neutrons, quarks,
subquarks, etc., and eventually into dynamically changing forms in an all-pervasive and
universal set of fields. When these fields are treated quantum-mechanically, we find that even in
what is called a vacuum there are `zero-point' fluctuations, giving `empty space' an energy that is
immensely beyond that contained in what is recognized as matter. In the vacuum state the `state
function' (which represents the whole of space and time) oscillates uniformly at a frequency so
high that it is utterly beyond any known physical interpretation. Further, "we would be justified
in saying that the vacuum state is, in a certain sense, `timeless' or `beyond time,' at least as time
is now known, measured and experienced."
With this in mind, it is less than surprising that science is confused about what occurs at the
quantum level. For example, L. Beynam, in a paper called "The Emergent Paradigm in Science"
that appeared in Revision in 1978, gave a formulation of the well-known Bell's Theorem. Basic
principles of quantum theory spatially separated parts of reality cannot be independent, he goes
on to say that this "opens up avenues of scientific development for which the classical constructs
of space and time prove almost totally useless and meaningless”.
Paul Davies (1988) in God and the New Physics reports on a 1982 experiment by Aspect,
Dalibard, and Roger at the Institute of Theoretical and Applied Optics in Paris. From this
experiment, this conclusion is drawn:
Either objective reality does not exist and it is meaningless for us to speak of things or
objects as having any reality above and beyond the mind of an observer or
faster-than-light communication with the future and the past is possible.
In a recent book called Time--The Familiar Stranger, J.T. Fraser (1987) writes:
For a photon traveling at the speed of light, the passage of time has no reality. In the
"life" of a photon, all events happen at once and all distances shrink to zero.
3. Experimental Results Supporting Quantum Brain/Mind/Consciousness
Several published research studies support with empirical data the proposed quantum
consciousness model in this paper. In 1993, in the University of Mexico, neurophysiologist
Jacobo Grin-berg-Zylberbaum conducted experiments involving the brain activity of paired
students. Two people meditated together with the intention of direct (signal-less, nonlocal)
communication. After twenty minutes, they were separated (while still continuing their unifying
intention), placed in individual Faraday cages (electromagnetically impervious chambers), and
each brain was wired up to an electroencephalogram (EEG) machine. One subject was shown a
series of light flashes producing in his or her brain an electrical activity that was recorded in the
EEG machine, producing an “evoked potential” extracted by a computer from the brain noise.
Surprisingly, the same evoked potential was found to appear in the other subject’s brain, and
viewable on the EEG of this subject (again minus brain noise). This is called a “transferred
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potential,” but is similar to the evoked potential in phase and strength (Grinberg-Zylberbaum et
al. 1987). This experimented supported the concept that consciousness is non-local.
Wackermann, et. al (2003) conducted an experiment where six channels electroencephalogram
(EEG) were recorded simultaneously from pairs of separated human subjects in two acoustically
and electromagnetically shielded rooms. The results indicate that correlations between brain
activities of two separated subjects may occur, although no biophysical mechanism is known.
This also supporting the non-local property of human consciousness.
Persinger et. al (2010) performed an experiment with magnetic stimulations of the brain in order
to recreated non-local correlations. The experiment concluded that the human brain is the focus
of all human experiences. The substantial microstructural and neuroelectrical differences
between the two cerebral hemispheres predicts two major classes of mystical experiences which
involve the sensed presence and the out-of-body experience. Direct cerebral electrical
stimulation during the 20th century evoked these experiences.
Persinger et. al (2003) conducted an experiment with four pairs of adult siblings served once as
either the stimulus or the response person in two sessions separated by one week. While the brain
of the stimulus person, who was seated in a closed chamber, was exposed successively to six
different complex magnetic fields for 5 min. each quantitative monopolar
electroencephalographic measurements over the frontal, temporal, parietal, and occipital lobes
were collected by computer for the response person who was seated in another room. The results
suggest that an appropriate altered state of one brain can effect specific predictable frequencies
of the electroencephalographic activity of another distant brain which is genetically related also
supporting the non-local property of human consciousness.
Early experiments conducted that prove that consciousness is responsible for the collapse of the
wave function were criticized mainly because the subjective component that require an
individual to state when he or she observes the wave function. Some scientists have argued that
is not human consciousness that collapses the wave function but the environment. The 'subjective
reduction' interpretation of measurement in quantum physics proposes that the collapse of the
wave-packet, associated with measurement, is due to the consciousness of human observers. A
refined conceptual replication of an earlier experiment, designed and carried out to test this
interpretation in the 1970s, is reported by Bierman (2003). Two improvements are introduced.
First, the delay between pre-observation and final observation of the same quantum event is
increased from a few microseconds in the original experiment to one second in this replication.
Second, rather than using the final observers' verbal response as the dependent variable, his early
brain responses as measured by EEG are used. The results confirm the collapse of the wave
function but this time not confirmed by verbal confirmation but by EEG measurements in order
to avoid the argument of bias and environment as responsible for this phenomenon.
Germine (1998) performed a study, where random and uncertain stimuli are generated by
radioactive decay and recorded on two separate disks. These data are observed by a human
subject, whereby the data are collapsed in the consciousness of that subject. The same data are
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later observed by a second subject. It is proposed that there is a cognitive process that occurs
when the wavefunction is collapsed, which is manifested in recordings of electrical potential.
These electrical-potential changes will occur in the first subject, who is collapsing the
unobserved and therefore uncertain data, but not in the second, who is observing collapses and
therefore certain data. The two subjects will alternately observe the two data conditions, and a
record of the brain-potential difference between the two conditions for each subject will be
determined. Any statistical differences observed when all other variables are controlled will
relate to brain processes associated with collapse of the wavefunction. Such results supported the
hypothesis that the collapse of the wavefunction is a universal mental process.
Another evidence of the non locality of quantum consciousness is proposed by John Lorber
(1981) that specialized in children with hydrocephalus, or water on the brain. Children with this
condition have an abnormal amount of cerebral spinal fluid accumulation in the cavities inside
their brain compressing brain tissue that usually leads to mental retardation seizures, paralysis
and blindness and if not treated to death. Lorber describes dozens of children and some adults
with severe hydrocephalus but live normal lives. Indeed, in a sample of children with their
cerebral space filled with ninety-five percent of spinal fluid in their skull leaving virtually no
room for any brain tissue, half of them had a higher IQ than one hundred and thirty.
Penrose and Hameroff (2011) have argued that that the human brain is a quantum computer and
that quantum computations occur in the brain materially and literally. More important, it is
exactly this kind of quantum computations in the brain that leads to the mind in general and
consciousness in particular. Much effort has been taken to pinpoint how quantum computations
are carried out neurophysically, for example, through entangled microtubules in neurons
connected and synchronized by gap junctions. When entanglement collapses by “orchestrated
objective reduction,” a fundamental effect of quantum gravity, consciousness arises. Recently,
this Orch OR state reduction is linked to the gamma band EEG signal in the brain (~40 Hz),
suggesting a ~25-ms rhythm of conscious progression.
Hitchcock (2003) a quantum computing model of the brain called T-computer that is in charge of
linearizing events in order to create time. T-computers are essential to our maps of reality. They
are used to create ordered sets of time labeled observed events or whose 'linear' or non-linear
causal time ordering may be the location of the infostates representing the events in memory and
their contents. An infostate of a system is the set of configuration observables for that system
along with the information content usually expressed as the wavefunction for the system.
Information originates in quantum system and is processed as quantum or classical states of the
neural networks of our brains. The model supports the idea that time is just a sequence of events
created by the brain from the quantum reality.
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4. Quantum Physics and Consciousness
According to quantum physics, the physical world and its reality, it's just a recreation of the
observed. We created the body and reality, as we create the experience of our world in its
different manifestations dimensional. In its essential state (atomic or cosmic subquantum micro),
the body is made of energy and information, not solid matter, this is only a meager level of
perception. This is energy and information arising from the endless fields of energy and
information spanning the entire universal creation.
When looking at the electronic microscope, we are looking at our microcosm, we then can see
how the quantum particles manifest virtually as a symphony and intelligent orchestration at
speeds much higher than the visible light, this quantum view also represents the immutability of
our macrocosm. In this reality, each individual inhabits a reality that is beyond all change, as
deeper within us without the knowledge of our three-dimensional or physical outer senses. There
is a core of being, an energy field that creates immortality in nature, and manifests as the
physical body. This core is the essential being or soul, primordial seed, which is contained in an
atom called seed. We are seeds of eternal essence at this stage of quantum eternity.
This is the seed based on new paradigms posed by Planck, Maxwell, Faraday, Heisenberg,
Schrödinger, Bohr, Einstein and Hawking, among many other pioneers of quantum mechanics.
They understood that the way to see the world in their time was very wrong. Within the quantum
paradigm, we are more than our physical body; our true self and personality are governed by the
rules of the principle of cause and effect and are embedded into a body for the duration of human
life. The field of human life is open and unlimited in its deeper quantum level, this means that we
are immortal and timeless. Once we identify with the eternal reality that is consistent with
quantum vision of the universe, we will enter the new paradigms of quantum consciousness.
Everything that exists has a natural vibration to its atoms all the way up to the immensity of the
universe to show a simple connection between land and our bodies.
It was Democritus, five centuries before the birth of Christ, who first suggested that the matter
was not continuous, that is, which it was made by adhering small pieces infinity between yes, to
which he called atoms ("indivisible" in Greek). Perhaps in those ancient times, science was not
aware of the importance of this, it took centuries, not only to accept the theory, but already
including his own name "atom". Much of quantum phenomenology is still theory, but some
theories that have led to advances as the transistor, television, communications satellites, x-ray
devices, computers, and the atomic bomb. The current technical structure, it would not be
possible or even imaginable without the knowledge and application of quantum mechanics.
Lord Rutherford of Nelson, a professor at Cambridge in the early years of the 20th century, was
the first to describe the atom experimentally as a kind of planetary system dimensions
"Unimaginably" tiny. In the center was what he called atomic nucleus, positively charged, and
turned around a swarm of electrons, negatively charged, in a perfect balance. Subsequently he
identified the positive charge of the nucleus was equal to the number of electrons that revolved
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around it, and in turn equal to the atomic number in the periodic table. Subsequent processing
and measurements of this scheme, called Rutherford atom, evolved into new and more complex
theory.
Max Planck in the Christmas gathering of German Physical Society, took the stand to outline
what it would be a revolutionary proposal (James et al 2011). The light, which until then was
supposed to be made of continuous waves without interruption, was now conveyed also in small
packets of energy, with amounts energy package well defined: to this "minimal.
Plank called this energy package "quanto". This amount Power was proportional to the frequency
of vibration light wave or electromagnetic emission that were, and thus it was unchanged for a
given wavelength. Any amount of energy that is measured or observed, is always the sum quanta
of composing, there then, as there is a continuous matter, continuous power; does not exist in the
universe means quanto energy quanta or three and a half, the quanto is "the minimum that the
universe dispatched "if we ask energy ".
Physical revolution that was implicit theory was not fully appreciated by Planck himself: among
other things, just state what came to be called the "wave-particle duality", that is, the strange
feature with light and electromagnetic waves sometimes behave as wave trains and sometimes
intangible as particles with a mass and a specific load and something as the body and the spirit of
things, to explain in language humanist. It's not a figure of speech, this dualistic behavior has
been measured many times and depends precisely "how we want to see". To see it as particles
exist a series of experiments and others see it as waves.
Based on Rutherford atom, and the quanta of Planck, the Danish physicist Niels Bohr, issued a
new theory of the structure the atom, which in his honor is known as "atom Bohr '. This theory,
first showed that electrons orbiting core on the model of Rutherford, would finish fall against the
core itself because of the gravitational force exerted it. This could lead to a universal catastrophe,
because nothing would exist otherwise (Bohr 1922).
Bohr suggested that electrons were carriers of mechanical energy due to its rotational speed, it
was possible to measure quanta, as any energy should be an integral multiple quanto. Thus, each
electron would have minimal power in the the core, and when gaining some energy, it would be
possible to separate the core and perhaps even jump to another electron shell. In any case, the
transition of an electron from a higher to lower energy states produces a quantum of light, and
vice versa. Pauli (1940), with its call exclusion principle, then set the concept of how many
electrons could be by layer, and how his mechanics. Here, we should note that the importance
of gaining or losing electrons is significant in nature. For example, in a simplified form, the basic
gas, the hydrogen has a proton (+) and a neutron (0) at its core, while around it has one electron
(-). If hydrogen gains an electron and happens to have two it becomes another gas, helium, and in
that conversion is issued an amount of energy that is the same as is similar to the hydrogen bomb,
which is also similar to the sun and stars (nuclear fusion). In other words, the sun and stars are
just large hydrogen bombs, gigantic factories converting hydrogen into helium. In contrast, if we
would like to convert hydrogen helium, we should make one of the electrons that orbit the
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nucleus of helium jump its orbit and disappeared. This is not possible without providing some
amount of energy, and the best way to achieve it is by bombarding we want ejected electron
atomic particle to another to deviate it from his path (nuclear fission). Thus, it is possible convert
other elements in accordance with the ancient tradition wanted alchemical, but the downside is
indeed serious: the amount energy to be applied to convert any element to gold is much more
expensive, even today, to acquire the same in any gold jewelry.
Thus, in the same way that the study of the atom led to the conclusion that the material (the
surface of a table, a wall, and all you can imagine), is not continuous, but It is an intricate
network of atoms linked together by the so-called force weak nuclear, power itself, in all its
manifestations (Radiant, mechanical, etc.), is not continuous, but the sum of amounts "of
quanta of energy.
The uncertainty principle Heisenberg (1958) had an enormous impact today since it is mitigated
by modern concepts. Scientists, who once had the physics of Newton, led French Laplace to
ensure that the universe was absolutely deterministic. This happened in the early nineteenth
century. Laplace held that since the universe has rigorous laws and these know the state of the
universe, these same laws would predict the future evolution of things. This thought was going a
little further, by stating that these laws also exist for behavior human and therefore ruled all
future possibilities of man. These ideas had a surprising success that reaches our days, but now
the word determinism is replaced by that of "Destiny". "Everything is written", "we can not
escape our destiny" "The future is inflexible". This canceled at a stroke the first and most
important gift that we received from God and that is none other than FREEDOM: freedom to live
or die, freedom to love or hate, freedom to believe something or its opposite, etc. To which
determinism answered with a technique of "a posteriori", because once the man action exercised
his freedom by choosing something immediately answered: "Part of your destiny, as the
universal laws governed at the time of your choice are really elected for you "Human freedom”,
from this perspective, was reduced a mere illusion.
Strong implications of the discoveries of Planck, Bohr, and many others not quoted in brevity, it
was not fully appreciated until 1926, when the great German physicist Werner Heisenberg
formulated his famous uncertainty principle. Heisenberg thought, correctly, that to predict the
future of a particle was necessary to know the current speed and position and to study the present
time particle that only one thing is essential. However, Heisenberg, concluded an unthinkable
difficulty, if quanta content in light waves hits the particle, we will see its position, but we cannot
deduce its speed. On the contrary, we have no way of detecting the passage of the particle by a
point and another separated from the first and measuring its speed does not allow us to know
nothing about its position in space at any given time. Heisenberg demonstrated that one cannot
know both the position and velocity of a particle in the future.
The implications of the work of Planck and Bohr had not been observed until Heisenberg
enunciated his famous uncertainty principle, just as sure now that the implications of this
principle has not yet been apprehended today all day, although there is much debate and are the
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subject of intense controversy. The Heisenberg uncertainty principle is obvious to note that
governs for both particles and for the whole universe so is not possible to predict future events,
since it is not measurable even the current state of play as necessary.
The philosophical importance derived from the uncertainty principle has indirectly reached
various disciplines. For example, in anthropology, it was certain that when a researcher visited
such a primitive tribe, he observed the behavior of those Indians. That's not quite correct,
because the presence of an anthropologist modifies their behavior, and so much more as they are
culturally different both researcher and researched.
Heisenberg, with Schrödinger and Dirac formulated the called "mechanical Quantum ", which is
to redefine, since it is not possible to know both the speed and position of a particle, the so-called
"quantum state" which is a combination of both things at once. This does not leads to a single
result is not predicted for each observation event, but a number of results are given in place
calculating possible probabilities each (from the call wave function). A widely used example is
the room where we are, for example, quantum mechanics can predict the millions of millions of
different situations in the room space can occupy each of the molecules of air there, and likely to
be met. One of these positions is that all the air in the room could focus on one of the upper
corners, and we suffocate from lack of oxygen. This, however, is highly unlikely, but certainly
happen in the time elapsed since now and 46 billion years in the future.
Einstein objected to the uncertainty principle since according to his famous phrase: "God does
not play dice" that meant that he hated the idea of the final decision on which would likely
among trillions of them possible at any given time, you were to chance. However, until today,
experimentation supports fully the Heisenberg uncertainty principle. Another interesting aspect
of the theory of quantum mechanics is the confirmation of the wave-particle duality, relative
concatenante with the Bohr theory of the atom comes to reinforce it.
One of the most famous and curious thought experiments the recent history of physics, is the
Schrödinger's cat (Legget 1984).
A cat is penned up in a steel chamber, along with the
following device (which must be secured against direct interference by the cat): in a Geiger
counter, there is a tiny bit of radioactive substance, so small, that perhaps in the course of the
hour one of the atoms decays, but also, with equal probability, perhaps none; if it happens, the
counter tube discharges and through a relay releases a hammer that shatters a small flask of
hydrocyanic acid. If one has left this entire system to itself for an hour, one would say that the cat
still lives if meanwhile no atom has decayed. The psi-function of the entire system would express
this by having in it the living and dead cat (pardon the expression) mixed or smeared out in equal
parts.
It is typical of these cases that an indeterminacy originally restricted to the atomic domain
becomes transformed into macroscopic indeterminacy, which can then be resolved by direct
observation. That prevents us from so naively accepting as valid a "blurred model" for
representing reality. In itself, it would not embody anything unclear or contradictory. There is a
difference between a shaky or out-of-focus photograph and a snapshot of clouds and fog banks.
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There is a fifty percent chance that each occurred but some must have consummated that the cat
lives or is dead. Quantum physics is not so simple, as it follows from this simple proposition.
The so-called Copenhagen Interpretation argues that there is a superposition of quantum states
actually living / non-living cat, and it is absurd to wonder which of the two situations is the right
until a determined observer. This is the called function collapse wave. At that time the cat was
alive or dead, but only at that moment, to be an observer, "the universe would have decided ". Of
course, the experiment is theoretical because it is not possible to completely isolate a showcase.
Now some of the issues raised in this mental exercise if present in the microscopic reality,
include the one by the famous physicist David Bohm (Bohm & Hiley 1984), he says the situation
is not possible described and that the cat is really dead or alive. To solve the problem of
indeterminacy, he suggests a complex process of "hidden variables" that would eliminate this
conceptually. Finally, it is worth remembering the Interpretation Many Worlds of Everet III
(1983), according to which the universe would unfold in two: one with a dead cat and a live, in
which case we would be only one, but also in other without being aware of it-. This assumption
is highly questionable since imply a doubling of the universe in every quantum process, thereby
dramatically increases the complexity at each instant.
However, it is not entirely possible to banish for obvious reasons probative nature and even, in
recent years, this has been the subject of depth studies as evidenced by the fact that it has been
published in the journal "Scientific American" month of June 1994, a curious physical work
known about. Until about 25 years ago, it was believed that the elementary particles of matter
were the electrons, protons and neutrons, as constituent core atom. But experiments conducted
on those produced collisions of protons with protons, electrons or protons, led to the conclusion
that there were even more elementary particles in the matter. Indeed, the physics scientist
Gell-Mann (1964) received in that year the Nobel Prize for the discovery of these particles,
which he called "quarks". The study initiated by the quarks of Gell-Mann (1964) set the next
surprise in quantum physics. Moreover, as good citizens of the quantum world, protons, neutrons,
and quarks behave incomprehensible. A proton, for example, is composed of three quarks, two
up quarks and one down quark (Generally quarks cannot be linked in varying amounts three).
The resulting color of the sum of the three quarks must be always the "white", ie the colors of
them are mixed other to be canceled. Another feature is that the mass of the proton is less than
the sum of the masses of the three quarks that comprise. Quarks, when bound into protons,
neutrons, and other particles, they achieve such stability, for disintegrate and die "by itself" has
not yet elapsed time precise since the universe exists for this to occur, and probably will not be in
the future. However, when a quark is released in a collision between particles, it does not pass
the half-life of a billionth of a second (Gell-Mann 1964). Another important concept in quantum
theory is the concept of the spin. The spin is an essential feature of the particles and atomic
sub-particles, and a brief description is to indicate the number of turns that should give those to
observe all their properties. The spin is what defines and creates the differences between material
particles and virtual (or forces) particles. For each particle there is its antiparticle, as Dirac
predicted (Cooper, & Jennings 1986), this is particle with the same mass and opposite charge
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(including electric charge). For example, the antiparticle of the electron is the positively charged
electron, or positron, which is produced naturally in certain types of radioactive decay.
Ageless body and mind time, we are immortal and timeless. Once we identify with the eternal
reality and consistent with quantum omniverse vision, we will enter the new paradigms of
quantum consciousness, this will expand their omniversales, radio, exponential and dimensional
fractals.
Each particle omniverse, turns out to be a ghostly bunch of energy vibrating in an apparent void
immense, (ether), the quantum field is not separate from us, "is us," that's where it all creates
stars, galaxies, leptons, quarks, of all creation.
We are creating ourselves to each nano-moment, in a huge capacity and creativity. The human
body and all the whole cosmos is created and recreated every nano-moment, the body is a
flowing body and potentiated by billions of years of intelligent experience. This intelligence is
dedicated to monitor each nano-instant, constant change atropic and entropic, which takes place
in each of ourselves, each cell is a terminal miniature connected to the cosmic computer or
Omniversal mind we call all or God of all Gods.
(Continued on Part II)
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A QBist Ontology
U.J. Mohrhoff
arXiv:2005.14584v2 [quant-ph] 8 Jun 2021
Received: date / Accepted: date
Abstract This paper puts forward an ontology that is indebted to QBism, Kant,
Bohr, Schrödinger, the philosophy of the Upanishads, and the evolutionary philosophy of Sri Aurobindo. Central to it is that reality is relative to consciousness or
experience. Instead of a single mind-independent reality, there are different poises
of consciousness, including a consciousness to which “we are all really only various
aspects of the One” (Schrödinger). This ontology helps clear up unresolved issues
in the philosophy of science, such as arise from the reification of either instruments
or calculational tools, or from a disregard of the universal context of science, which
is human experience. It further helps clear up unresolved issues in the philosophy
of mind, among them the problem of intentionality and the dilemma posed by the
mutual inclusion of self and world (Husserl’s paradox of human subjectivity).
Keywords Bohr · Consciousness · Experience · Kant · Mind-body problem ·
QBism · Schrödinger · Upanishads
1 Introduction
I find myself in excellent company. Like the distinguished philosopher Hilary Putnam (and others certainly), I keep changing my mind.1 The definite statement of
the previous version of what started out in 2000 as the “Pondicherry interpretation” of quantum mechanics (Mohrhoff, 2000) [in the form of a comment on the
“Ithaca interpretation” by David Mermin (1998)] was published in 2017 in this
journal (Mohrhoff, 2017). There I attributed the necessity of distinguishing between a non-contextual classical domain and a contextual quantum domain to the
difference between the manifested world and its manifestation. I envisioned the
Ulrich Mohrhoff
Sri Aurobindo International Centre of Education
605002 Pondicherry India
E-mail: ujm@auromail.net
1 The Philosophical Lexicon (Dennett and Steglich-Petersen, 2008) contains the following
entry:
hilary, n. (from hilary term) A very brief but significant period in the intellectual career
of a distinguished philosopher. “Oh, that’s what I thought three or four hilaries ago.”
2
U.J. Mohrhoff
manifestation of the world as a progressive transition from the undifferentiated
unity of a single ontological substance to a world which allows itself to be described in the object-oriented language of classical discourse. Subatomic particles,
non-visualizable atoms, and partly visualizable molecules mark the stages of this
transition. Instead of being constituent parts of the manifested world, they play
an instrumental role in its manifestation.
Two questions arise in this framework. Firstly, how are we to describe the
intermediate stages of the transition, at which the definiteness of properties and
the distinguishability of objects are not as yet fully realized? My answer to this
question was (and still is) that whatever is not intrinsically definite can only be
described in terms of probability distributions over what is intrinsically definite,
to wit: the possible outcomes of measurements. What is instrumental in the manifestation of the world can only be described in terms of correlations between
events that happen (or could happen) in the manifested world. This goes a long
way towards explaining why the general theoretical framework of contemporary
physics is a probability calculus, and why the events to which it serves to assign
probabilities are measurement outcomes.
And secondly, what accounts for the intrinsic definiteness of measurement outcomes? It is not enough to argue, as I did at the time, that the measurement
apparatus is needed to realize or define the values that quantum observables can
possess, or to make properties available for attribution to quantum objects. The
measurement apparatus is also needed to indicate the actually possessed value of
a quantum observable or the actually possessed property of a quantum object,
and no property or value can be indicated in the absence of a sentient observer
to whom it is indicated. The reason why the properties of the manifested world
are intrinsically definite is that the manifested world is an experienced world. It is
manifested to us.
What made me come round to seeing that there is no difference between observations qua measurement outcomes and observations qua (subjective) experiences,
which are intrinsically definite, was a new and radically epistemic interpretation of
quantum mechanics, launched early in the 21st Century by Caves et al. (2002). Initially conceived as a generalized personalist Bayesian theory of probability called
“Quantum Bayesianism,” it has since been re-branded as “QBism,” the term Mermin (2017) prefers, considering it “as big a break with 20th century ways of thinking about science as Cubism was with 19th century ways of thinking about art.”
The big break lies not in the emphasis that the mathematical apparatus of quantum mechanics is a probability calculus but in this plus a radically subjective
Bayesian interpretation of probability plus a radically subjective interpretation
of the events to which, and on the basis of which, probabilities are assigned by
“users” (of quantum mechanics) or “agents” (in a quantum world).2
To drive home the ultimate context of empirical science, which is human experience, QBists emphasize the role of the individual subject in constructing “a
common body of reality” (Fuchs et al., 2014). At first experience is not ours; it is
yours and mine. It becomes ours, and the process by which it becomes ours is communication. Science is seen as “a collaborative human effort to find, through our
individual actions on the world and our verbal communications with each other,
2 While Fuchs and Schack prefer the term “agent,” Mermin prefers “user,” to emphasize
that QBists regard quantum mechanics as a “user’s manual” (Mermin, 2017).
A QBist Ontology
3
a model for what is common to all of our privately constructed external worlds”
(Mermin, 2017).
I am indebted to QBism for another reason: it made me look more closely
at the original writings of Niels Bohr and discover (i) that the different versions
of the so-called Copenhagen interpretation misrepresent Bohr’s views in various
degrees, and (ii) that Bohr himself came tantalizingly close to adopting a QBist
stance (Mohrhoff, 2019). The principal differences between his views and QBism
are attributable to the fact that Bohr wrote before interpreting quantum mechanics
became a growth industry, while QBism emerged in reaction to an ever-growing
number of attempts at averting the “disaster of objectification” (van Fraassen,
1990) caused by the reification of (almost always) unitarily evolving quantum
states.3
As my engagement with QBism made me realize that the incontestable definiteness of human sensory experience alone can justify the definiteness of observations,
so my subsequent engagement with the Bohr canon convinced me that this is what
Bohr himself had been trying to say (Mohrhoff, 2019). When Bohr stressed the
“perfectly objective character” of the quantum-mechanical description of atomic
phenomena, it was “in the sense that no explicit reference is made to any individual observer” (Bohr, 1999, p. 128, emphasis added). It was never in the sense
that no reference was made to the community of observers. Reference to individual
observers was implicit in all such “remarkably QBist-sounding pronouncements”
(Mermin, 2017) as the following: “in our description of nature the purpose is not
to disclose the real essence of the phenomena but only to track down, so far as it
is possible, relations between the manifold aspects of our experience” (Bohr, 1985,
p. 296). It is our experience because it is communicable, and it is communicable
because it is expressible in terms of classical concepts. To Bohr, classical concepts
are classical not because they are proprietary to classical physics but because we
all know what they mean, inasmuch as their meanings are rooted in what we all
have in common, to wit: the spatiotemporal structure of human sensory experience
and the logical or grammatical structure of human thought or language (Mohrhoff,
2019).
With regard to the roots of objectivity, then, QBism is on the same page with
Bohr. In particular, they both emphasize the importance of ordinary language in
constructing an objective reality.4 But this also means that neither evinces a desire
to go beyond the intersubjective agreement that is achieved through communication. The question of whether we only experience our respective private worlds or
actually experience one and the same world is left open.
Schrödinger (1964, p. 69), too, who according to Fuchs et al. (2014) took “a
QBist view” of science, would have agreed with QBism about the role that language
plays in establishing the correspondence between, as he put it, “the content of
any one sphere of consciousness and any other, so far as the external world is
concerned.” What does establish it for him “is language, including everything in
3 Earlier invocations of consciousness, starting with von Neumann (1932/1955) and London
and Bauer (1939/1983), were unsuccessful attempts to avert this disaster. These should not
be mixed up with QBism.
4 Bohr insisted that “all well-defined experimental evidence, even if it cannot be analysed in
terms of classical physics, must be expressed in ordinary language” (1996, p. 355), i.e., “plain
language suitably refined by the usual physical terminology” (1996, p. 390) or “conveniently
supplemented with terminology of classical physics” (1999, p. 277).
4
U.J. Mohrhoff
the way of expression, gesture, taking hold of another person, pointing with one’s
finger and so forth, though none of this breaks through that inexorable, absolute
division between spheres of consciousness” (original emphasis). But Schrödinger
also made it clear that establishing something is not the same as accounting for it.
To him, the agreement between the content of my sphere of consciousness and that
of yours was not rationally comprehensible: “In order to grasp it we are reduced
to two irrational, mystical hypotheses,” he wrote (1964, p. 106).
One of these was “the so-called hypothesis of the real external world.” According to it there is “a real world of bodies which are the causes of senseimpressions and produce roughly the same impression on everybody” (1964, p. 67–
68). Schrödinger left no room for uncertainty about what he thought of it: to invoke
the existence of such a world “is not to give an explanation at all; it is simply to
state the matter in different words. In fact, it means laying a completely useless
burden on the understanding”—the burden of making sense of the relation between our experiences and an empirically inaccessible “real” world. While we can
use language to compare our respective experiences, we have no way of comparing
our experiences with this world of bodies presumed to contain the causes of our
experiences. The other hypothesis, which he endorsed, was that “we are all really
only various aspects of the One” (Schrödinger, 1964, p. 106). It will be the subject
of Sec. 7.
Since previously I have been critical of QBism (e.g., Mohrhoff, 2014), the title of
the present paper may seem misleading or inappropriate. One referee wondered if it
was meant ironically. It was not. Apart from QBism’s grounding of the definiteness
of measurement outcomes in human experience, there is much to commend it.
I agree with QBism that the mathematical formalism of quantum mechanics is
(and only makes sense as) a calculus for assigning probabilities to measurement
outcomes on the basis of information derived from measurement outcomes.5 “If
quantum theory is so closely allied with probability theory,” Fuchs (2010) once
asked, “why is it not written in a language that starts with probability, rather
than a language that ends with it?” QBism has come close to writing it in just
such a language. All that quantum mechanics needs is the Born rule, provided that
it is formulated in terms of positive-operator-valued probability measures that are
informationally complete, rather than in terms of the standard projector-valued
measures. If this is done, one finds that “[t]he Born Rule is nothing but a kind of
Quantum Law of Total Probability! No complex amplitudes, no operators—only
probabilities in, and probabilities out” (Fuchs, 2010).6
5 In The Ashgate Companion to Contemporary Philosophy of Physics (Wallace, 2008), a
distinction is made between the “bare quantum formalism,” which is regarded as “an elegant
piece of mathematics . . . prior to any notion of probability, measurement etc.,” and the “quantum algorithm,” which is looked upon as “an ill-defined and unattractive mess.” In truth, there
is no such thing as a bare quantum formalism. Every single axiom of any axiomatization whatsoever of the quantum theory only makes sense as a feature of a probability calculus (Mohrhoff,
2018, Sec. 20.2).
6 The most general form of the Born rule is too unwieldy to replace the amplitudes and
operators of the standard formalism. A simple and elegant form is obtained whenever SIC
(symmetric informationally complete) measurements can be used, but proofs of their existence
are elusive. As of May 2017, such proofs have been found for all dimensions up to 151, and for
a few others up to 323 (Fuchs, 2017). The mood of the QBist community nevertheless is that
a SIC measurement should exist for every finite dimension.
A QBist Ontology
5
QBism is not just another interpretation of quantum mechanics. It is a view
of science that “puts the scientist back into science” (Mermin, 2014). The insight
that the universal context of science is human experience is as old as Kant’s theory
of science. More recently Schilling (1958), in a paper presented during an AAAS
meeting in 1955, contrasted popular belief about science as “a sort of intellectual
machine, which . . . inevitably grinds out ultimate truth in sequential steps” with
“science as lived by its practitioners,” and concluded that
[w]e have come to realize, as perhaps no scientists before us ever have,
that the human observer or explorer and his experience are integral and
determinative parts of whatever world he is studying.
But it is the QBist solution to one of the most pressing conundrums in the philosophy of science—the (small) measurement problem7 —that has brought home to
me that the world studied by scientists cannot be detached from the scientists by
whom it is studied. Only the character of human sensory experience can account
for the definiteness of measurement outcomes or the fact that we do not experience
superpositions of macroscopically distinct states.
There are other currents of thought that have flowed into the ontology presented in these pages, least but not last my understanding that the difference
between classical and quantum is rooted in the difference between the manifested
world and its manifestation. There are Kant and Bohr, there is Schrödinger’s solution (inspired by the philosophy of the Upanishads) to what he called the “arithmetical paradox” (Schrödinger, 1992a), and there is Sri Aurobindo (2001, 2003),
who is arguably the most qualified modern interpreter of Upanishadic thought. But
it is QBism that brought these currents together in the realization that the manifestation of the world does not take place in a mindless vacuum. The manifested
world is an experienced world. It is manifested to us. In Upanishadic terms, the
One (as a single conscious substance) manifests the world to itself, and therefore
to us who are but “various aspects of the One.”
QBism, as most QBists will agree, is a work in progress.8 Certain claims that
have been made by QBists appear to be inconsistent with the general drift of
QBism, and some of them are discussed in an appendix. Particularly unfortunate
are the inconsistencies that arise from an ambiguous use of the expression “external world.” One possible meaning for this expression is a collectively constructed
“common body of reality” (Fuchs et al., 2014) or “a model for what is common to
all of our privately constructed external worlds” (Mermin, 2017). Another possible
meaning is invoked in the following passage, in which Fuchs and Schack (2004)
refer to “the world external to” the agent as “the world as it is without agents”:
The agent, through the process of quantum measurement stimulates the
world external to himself. The world, in return, stimulates a response in
the agent that is quantified by a change in his beliefs—i.e., by a change from
7 A distinction has been drawn between the “big” measurement problem and the “small” one
(Pitowsky, 2006). The big one, which calls for a dynamic account of how measurements come
to have outcomes, only arises in ontologies that reify quantum states. The small measurement
problem calls for an explanation of why we do not experience superpositions of macroscopically
distinct states.
8 When I wrote to Mermin that QBism appears to mean different things to different QBists—
although this may only be an appearance—he replied (on 5/29/2019): “No, it’s not just an
appearance. QBism is a work in progress, still under construction. Welcome to the crew.”
6
U.J. Mohrhoff
a prior to a posterior quantum state. Somewhere in the structure of those
belief changes lies quantum theory’s most direct statement about what we
believe of the world as it is without agents.
While the first meaning depends on a community of individual agents, the second is
independent of agents. The tension between the two senses is particularly jarring
in such statements as the following, which occur not infrequently in the QBist
literature. Mermin (2019) writes: “The world acts on me, inducing the private
experiences out of which I build my understanding of my own world.” If we build
our understandings of our respective private worlds—and therefore our common
body of reality—out of the private experiences the world has induced in us, the
world that induces experiences in us cannot be uncritically identified with the
shared external reality we have constructed out of our private experiences.
How the world that we construct on the basis of our experiences is related to
whatever it is that induces experiences in us, has been a central issue throughout
the history of philosophy. It can be stated in the form of a dilemma, whose two
horns are (i) the existence of consciousness in what appears to be a material world
and (ii) the existence in consciousness of what appears to be a material world.
Husserl (1970, p. 178) referred to it as “the paradox of human subjectivity: being
a subject for the world and at the same time being an object in the world.”
Taking hold of the dilemma’s objective horn (and focusing on perception), we
gain an understanding of certain causal chains leading from external objects to
firing patterns in brains, but then we find ourselves stymied by the notorious “explanatory gap” (Levine, 2001) between neural processes and conscious experience.
Here is how the issue has been presented by Putnam (1987, pp. 7–8):
How does the familiar explanation of what happens when I “see something red” go? The light strikes the object (say, a sweater), and is reflected
to my eye. There is an image on the retina. . . . There are resultant nerve
impulses. . . . There are events in the brain, some of which we understand
thanks to the work of Hubel and Wiesel, David Marr, and others. And
then—this is the mysterious part—there is somehow a “sense datum” or a
“raw feel.” This is an explanation? An “explanation” that involves connections of a kind we do not understand at all . . . and concerning which we
have not even the sketch of a theory is an explanation through something
more obscure than the phenomenon to be explained.
Taking hold of the dilemma’s subjective horn, we gain an understanding of the
general structure of empirical knowledge, its dependence on the logical structure of
rational thought and the spatiotemporal structure of (human) perceptual experience, but then we find ourselves stymied by the same explanatory gap approached
from the other side: the brains studied by neuroscience are themselves objects of
perceptual experience, and objects of perceptual experience cannot be uncritically
identified with whatever it is that causes perceptual experience.
Most philosophers have found the paradox of subjectivity intolerable; hence
the common attempt to eliminate one or the other of our two selves—the transcendental self for which the world exists, or the empirical self which exists in the
world, as an aspect or attribute of a physical body. The common reaction in our
own day is to eliminate subjectivity altogether by some kind of physicalist reduction. For the purpose of developing a QBist ontology, only the approach which
A QBist Ontology
7
starts with the transcendental self is available.9 It will be taken up in Sec. 2 with
an outline of Kant’s theory of science.10
Quantum mechanics, too, has given rise to two mutually incompatible approaches: one fundamentally philosophical, the other essentially mathematical;
one spearheaded by Niels Bohr, the other set in motion by John von Neumann.
Here, too, only one—the first—is compatible with QBism. Bohr’s philosophy of
quantum mechanics, therefore, is the subject of Sec. 3. “From our present standpoint,” Bohr (1999, p. 157) wrote in a strikingly Kantian vein, “physics is to
be regarded not so much as the study of something a priori given, but rather as
the development of methods for ordering and surveying human experience.” What
Bohr added to Kant’s theory of science was his insight that empirical knowledge
is not necessarily limited to what is directly accessible to our senses, and that,
therefore, it does not have to be solely a knowledge of sense impressions organized
into objects. It can also be a knowledge of properties that (i) are defined by experimental arrangements (which are directly accessible to our senses), and that
(ii) only exist if their presence is indicated by the results of actual experiments.11
While we owe to Bohr the insight that the properties of quantum systems are
contextual, he was less explicit about the contextuality of the carriers of these properties. The latter was brought into focus first by Schrödinger and more systematically half a century later by Ulfbeck and (Aage) Bohr and by Brigitte Falkenburg,
as will be discussed in Sec. 4. According to Falkenburg (2007, pp. 205–206, original
emphasis),
only the experimental context (and our ways of conceiving of it in classical
terms) makes it possible to talk in a sloppy way of quantum objects.. . . . Bare
quantum “objects” . . . are only individuated by the experimental apparatus
in which they are measured or the concrete quantum phenomenon to which
they belong.
The overall conclusion of Secs. 3 and 4 is that if Kant did not rule out the elision
of the experiencing and thinking subject, quantum mechanics certainly did.
If atoms and subatomic particles owe their properties to the experimental conditions under which they are observed, how can the experimental apparatus (or
any other macroscopic object) be related to the atoms and subatomic particles of
which it is commonly said to be composed? What is immediately given us in visual
experience is not things but shapes, and quantum mechanics makes it possible to
understand how the shapes we attribute to things are manifested (to us, in our experience). In this manifestation, atoms and subatomic particles play instrumental
roles. This will be shown in Sec. 5. Moreover, because the shapes of things can be
accounted for in terms of spatial relations between (ultimately) formless relata, we
can invoke the principle of the identity of indiscernibles and regard the relations
that constitute all forms not as relations between a multitude of relata but as the
9
Nor would direct realism as defended by Searle (2004) fit the bill (Mohrhoff, 2021).
I second von Weizsäcker’s (1980) recommendation: “Those who really want to understand contemporary physics—i.e., not only to apply physics in practice but also to make it
transparent—will find it useful, even indispensable at a certain stage, to think through Kant’s
theory of science.”
11 Affinities between Bohr and Kant have been noted by a number of scholars (Bitbol, 2010;
Bitbol et al., 2009; Brock, 2009; Chevalley, 1994; Cuffaro, 2010; Falkenburg, 2009; Faye and
Folse, 1994; Folse, 1994; Honner, 1982; Hooker, 1994; Kaiser, 1992; MacKinnon, 2012).
10
8
U.J. Mohrhoff
self-relations of a single relatum. Subsequently, in Sec. 6, it will be argued that
“the miraculous identity of particles of the same type” (Misner et al., 1973) is
actually a feature of all particles, not only of particles of the same type.
So far the question of whether we only experience our respective private worlds
or actually experience one and the same world has remained open. But if the spatial
relations that make up the formal aspect of quantum objects are reflexive and thus
entertained by a single relatum, then there has to be more to the agreement between “the content of any one sphere of consciousness and any other” (Schrödinger,
1964, p. 69) than is warranted by language. This is where Schrödinger’s appeal to
the Upanishads comes in. What explains the agreement is that “we are all really
only various aspects of the One” (p. 106)—the one Self of the Upanishads, the
Ultimate Subject from which we are separated by a veil of self-oblivion. The same
veil, according to the Upanishads, also prevents us from perceiving the Ultimate
Object, as well as its fundamental identity with the Ultimate Subject. It prevents
us from perceiving that the world is something that the One (qua Ultimate Object) manifests to itself (qua Ultimate Subject)—and therefore to us who are but
“various aspects of the One.” But if at bottom we are all the same subject, we have
to conceive of two poises of consciousness or modes of awareness, one in which the
One manifests the world to itself aperspectivally, as if experienced from no particular location or from everywhere at once, and one in which the One manifests the
world to itself perspectivally, as if experienced by a multitude of subjects from a
multitude of locations. This takes the edge of Husserl’s paradox of human subjectivity. As situated aspects of the One, we appear to be objects in the world; as
the One, we both constitute and contain the world. This is the gist of Sec. 7.
An idea that has been dominant throughout history is that neural representations are encodings. Section 8 addresses the nature of the interpreter of the
encoded information, the basis of its interpretive capacity, and the problem of intentionality, which may be the most pressing issue in the contemporary philosophy
of mind.
The main plot of the self-manifestation of the One is a cycle of self-concealment
(involution) and self-discovery (evolution). Section 9 outlines the steps by which
the stage for the adventure of evolution was set. It also addresses the reason why
the One would want to enter such a cycle, considering the pain and suffering that
(in hindsight) it entails. Section 10, finally addresses the part that physics plays
in all this, touches on the conundrum of free will, and speculates about the future
of evolution.
2 Beyond correspondence
The oldest attempts to bridge the explanatory gap invoke some kind of correspondence. A correspondence theory (of truth) is a theory that frames the relation
between the world we experience (or construct on the basis of our experiences)
and the reality that induces experiences in us, as some kind of correspondence.
The oldest known such theory, which endured for approximately 2,000 years, is
the one that ancient and medieval philosophers have attributed to Aristotle. It
holds that the relation between the phantasm and the external object, by virtue
of which the phantasm represents the external object to the mind, is literally a
relation of similarity.
A QBist Ontology
9
To 17th-Century thinkers like Descartes and Locke, it still seemed to pose
no difficulty to conceive of perceived sizes and shapes as similar to real sizes and
shapes. That a perceived color should be similar to color in the external world was a
more questionable proposition (as it had been for Aristotle). Locke and Descartes
therefore distinguished between “primary qualities,” which were independent of
the perceiving subject, and “secondary qualities,” which bore no similarities to
sensations but had the power to produce sensations in the perceiving subject.
Eventually, though, thinking of perceived sizes and shapes as similar to real sizes
and shapes proved to be no less questionable than the proposition that color
sensations are similar to colors in the external world. (Berkeley made it clear that
to ask whether a table is the same size and shape as my mental image of it was
to ask an absurd question.)
Enter Kant, whose Critique of Pure Reason ranks as one of the most influential
philosophical works of all time. Its appearance marks the end of the modern period
and the beginning of something entirely new (Schönfeld and Thompson, 2019). In
it Kant starts out by saying that all qualities are secondary in Locke’s sense.
Nothing of what we say about an object describes the object as it is in itself,
independently of how it affects us. Nor does Kant stop at saying that if I see a
desk, there is a thing-in-itself that has the power to appear as a desk, and if I
see a chair in front of the desk, there is another thing-in-itself that has the power
to appear as a chair. For Kant, there is only one thing-in-itself, an empirically
inaccessible reality that has the power to affect us in such a way that we have
the sensations that we do, and that we are able to “work up the raw material of
sensible impressions into a cognition of objects” (Kant, 1998, p. 136).
Kant owes his fame in large part to his successful navigation between the Scylla
of commonsense realism and the Charybdis of idealism. What allowed him to steer
clear of both horns of this dilemma was a dramatic change of strategy. Instead of
trying to formulate a metaphysical picture of the world consistent with Newtonian
mechanics, as he had done during the pre-critical period of his philosophy, he
inquired into the cognitive pre-conditions of the possibility of natural science.
“Look,” he might have said, “natural science exists. We have Newton’s laws of
motion, the law of gravity, and various other laws. So let us find out what must
be the case on our part so that we can have such a thing as natural science.” He
did not presume to inquire into the metaphysical underpinnings of this fact. He
resolved to determine its cognitive underpinnings. The position taken by him was
that the objective world is constructed by the human mind from sensory material
that is passively received and concepts that owe their meanings to the logical
structure of rational thought and the spatiotemporal structure of human sensory
experience. The most important of these concepts are substance and causality.
The link between substance and logic was first forged by Aristotle. To Aristotle,
a property was whatever could be the predicate of a logical subject, while a substance was something that could not be predicated of anything else. Substances,
therefore, enjoyed independent existence, while properties owed their existence to
being attributes of substances. Locke (1997) subsequently distinguished between
two conceptions of substance: (i) a “notion of pure substance in general” and
(ii) “ideas of particular sorts of substance.” The first was to him “nothing but
the supposed, but unknown, support of those qualities we find existing, which we
imagine cannot subsist sine re substante, without something to support them.” In
other words, it was something that the qualities we find existing do not need—“any
10
U.J. Mohrhoff
more than the earth needs an elephant to rest upon,” as Russell (1945) later put
it. Substances in sense (ii) are sometimes called “Lockean substances.” They are
“such combinations of simple ideas as are, by experience and observation of men’s
senses, taken notice of to exist together.” They bring into play another function of
the logical (or grammatical) subject: substance serves to combine different “simple
ideas” in the same way (or the same sense) that a single subject serves to combine
several predicates.
In Kant’s theory, substance fulfills both functions: like a Lockean substance it
serves to bundle sensible impressions in the manner in which a logical or grammatical subject bundles predicates, and like an Aristotelean substance it makes
it possible for me to think of my sensible impressions as connected not in or by
me but in or by an external object. This allows me to ignore the fact that the
external object owes its existence largely to me, the thinking subject that “work[s]
up the raw material of sensible impressions into a cognition of objects” (Kant,
1998, p. 136).
The concept of causality likewise performs two functions. It allows me to think
of impressions received at different times as connected in accordance with the
logical or grammatical relation between an antecedent and a consequent, and it
makes it possible for me to think of my successive perceptions as connected not in
me, by my experiencing them, but objectively, as causes and effects in an external
world. (Kant believed that another concept was needed to objectivize the temporal
relation of simultaneity. In a relativistic world, in which simultaneity cannot be
objectivized, no such concept is required.)
Furthermore, the possibility of thinking of my perceptions as a self-existent
system of external objects requires that the connections be lawful. If sense impressions are to be perceptions of a particular kind of object (say, an elephant)
they must be connected in an orderly fashion, according to a concept denoting a
lawful concurrence of perceptions. And if sense impressions are to be perceptions
of causally connected occurrences, like (say) lightning and thunder, they must fall
under a causal law, according to which one perception necessitates the subsequent
occurrence of another. To Kant, therefore, natural science was concerned with
causal laws and Lockean substances.12
3 Niels Bohr
The crucial premise of Kant’s inquiry was that (i) “space and time are only forms
of sensible intuition,13 and therefore only conditions of the existence of the things
12 Kant maintained that by establishing lawful causal relations, we also establish objective
temporal relations. Although today we have a deeper understanding of the relationship between
physical law and spacetime geometry, Kant was right in stressing the intimate relation between
physical law and temporal relations. Because we cannot formulate a fundamental physical law
without presupposing a particular geometry, there is no “true” geometry. As was stressed
by Poincaré (1905), “[o]ne geometry cannot be more true than another, it can only be more
convenient.” For any physical theory, the best spacetime geometry to use is one that yields the
simplest mathematical formulation of the theory. In Kant’s time, this was Euclidean geometry
plus Newtonian uniform time, today it is the Minkowski geometry of special relativity or the
pseudo-Riemannian geometry of Einstein’s theory of gravity.
13 “Intuition” is the standard translation of the German word Anschauung, which covers
both visual perception and visual imagination. Perception is sensible, i.e., filled with actual
sensations, imagination is not.
A QBist Ontology
11
as appearances,” that (ii) “we have no concepts of the understanding and hence
no elements for the cognition of things except insofar as an intuition can be given
corresponding to these concepts,” and that therefore (iii) “we can have cognition
of no object as a thing in itself, but only insofar as it is an object of sensible
intuition, i.e. as an appearance” (Kant, 1998, p. 115). Niels Bohr could not have
agreed more, insisting as Kant did that meaningful physical concepts have not
only mathematical (quantifiable) but also visual (spatiotemporal) content.14 But
Bohr (1985, p. 217) also realized that “the facts which are revealed to us by the
quantum theory . . . lie outside the domain of our ordinary forms of perception.”
By “our ordinary forms of perception” Bohr meant
the conceptual structure upon which our customary ordering of our senseimpressions depends and our customary use of language is based. The basis
of this ordering is, certainly, the possibility for recognition and comparison
and accordingly the usual description of nature is characterized by the
attempt to express all experience by stating the locations of material bodies
and changes of location with time relative to a coordinate system defined
in the traditional manner by means of measuring rods and clocks. (Bohr,
1999, pp. xxxv–xxxvi)
In other words, he meant the system of concepts that allows us to unambiguously
identify (recognize and compare) objects in space and time. But this is the very
system of concepts whose applicability Kant has shown to be a precondition of
the possibility of objective knowledge, by which Kant meant knowledge of a (for
all practical purposes subject-independent) system of objects.
What Kant did not anticipate was the possibility of an empirical knowledge
that, while being obtained by means of sense impressions organized into objects,
was not a knowledge of sense impressions organized into objects. Bohr realized
that quantum mechanics was that kind of knowledge. What Bohr added to Kant’s
theory of science was his insight that empirical knowledge was not necessarily
limited to what is directly accessible to our senses, and that, therefore, it did not
have to be solely a knowledge of sense impressions organized into objects. It can
also be a knowledge of properties that (i) are defined by experimental arrangements
(which are directly accessible to our senses), and that (ii) actually exist only if their
presence is indicated by the results of actual experiments. The click of a counter
does not simply indicate the presence of something inside the region monitored by
the counter. The counter defines a region, and the click constitutes the presence of
something within it. Without the click, nothing is there, and without the counter,
there is no there.
As long as the only relevant context of empirical science was human experience
(as it was for Kant), or as long as the reach of human sensory experience was
potentially unlimited (as it was for Kant, Newton, and classical physics in general),
the elision of the subject could be achieved: one could think and behave as if
the objective world existed independently of perceiving and conceiving subjects.
Having asserted that “we can have cognition of no object as a thing in itself, but
14 Position and orientation are obviously of this kind. So are linear and angular momentum
(which derive their meanings from the symmetry properties of space or the invariant behavior
of closed systems under translations and rotations) as well as energy (which derives its meaning
from the uniformity of time or the invariant behavior of closed systems under time translations).
12
U.J. Mohrhoff
only insofar as it is an object of sensible intuition, i.e. as an appearance,” Kant
(1998, p. 115) could go on to affirm that
even if we cannot cognize these same objects as things in themselves, we at
least must be able to think them as things in themselves. For otherwise there
would follow the absurd proposition that there is an appearance without
anything that appears.
But now there was more than one relevant context. In classical physics, a single picture could accommodate all of the properties a system can have at any
moment of time. When quantum mechanics came along, that all-encompassing
picture fell apart. Unless certain experimental conditions obtained, it was impossible to picture the electron as following a trajectory (which was nevertheless a
routine presupposition in setting up Stern–Gerlach experiments and in interpreting
cloud-chamber photographs), and there was no way in which to apply the concept
of position. And unless certain other, incompatible, experimental conditions obtained, it was impossible to picture the electron as a traveling wave (which was
nevertheless a routine presupposition in interpreting the scattering of electrons by
crystals), and there was no way in which to apply the concept of momentum.
The implication was then (and still is) that the properties of atoms and subatomic particles owe their existence to the experimental conditions under which
they are observed. The positions indicated by droplets forming track in a cloud
chamber were the positions of a particle because they were indicated by the
droplets. The momenta indicated by the (imaginary) tangents on a track were the
momenta of a particle because they were indicated by the track. As Heisenberg
(1927) phrased it, “Die ‘Bahn’ entsteht erst dadurch, daß wir sie beobachten”—a
particle’s path only comes into being because we observe it.
But if atoms and subatomic particles owe their properties to the experimental
conditions under which they are observed, the experimental apparatus cannot
owe its properties to the quantum-mechanical systems of which it is commonly
said to be composed. And therefore neither the existence of microscopic objects
(like atoms and subatomic particles) nor that of macroscopic objects (like the
experimental apparatus) can be attributed to independently existing substances.
The contextuality of the properties of microscopic objects thus implied that the
elision of the subject could no longer be achieved.
This explains Bohr’s concern about the objectivity of the quantum-mechanical
description of atomic phenomena. To Kant, the ability to attribute properties
to substances, and to connect them according to the principle of causality, were
preconditions of the possibility of objective knowledge, and so they were to Bohr,
who stressed that “the objective character of the description in atomic physics
depends on the detailed specification of the experimental conditions under which
evidence is gained” (Bohr, 1999, p. 215). A detailed specification of these conditions
can only be given if it is possible to describe them in terms of property-carrying
substance conforming to causal laws.
If “the description of the experimental arrangement and the recording of observations must be given in plain language, suitably refined by usual physical terminology,” it was because “by the word experiment we can only mean a procedure
about which we are able to communicate to others what we have done and what
we have learned” (Bohr, 1999, p. 128). If we could not refer to property-carrying
substances that conform to causal laws, we could not communicate to others what
A QBist Ontology
13
we have done and what we have learned. Hence when Bohr affirmed the “perfectly
objective character” of the quantum-mechanical description of atomic phenomena,
it was “in the sense that no explicit reference is made to any individual observer”
(Bohr, 1999, p. 128, emphasis added). It was never in the sense that no reference
was made to the community of observers. This is also obvious from the importance
Bohr attached to communication in common language, which went so far as to allow him to define objectivity in terms of the latter: “By objectivity we understand
a description by means of a language common to all” (Bohr, 1999, p. xxxvii).
If “the physical content of quantum mechanics is exhausted by its power to formulate statistical laws governing observations obtained under conditions specified
in plain language,” as it was to Bohr (1999, p. 159), or if the quantum-mechanical
formalism “represents a purely symbolic scheme permitting only predictions . . .
as to results obtainable under conditions specified by means of classical concepts,”
as it did to Bohr (1996, pp. 350–351),15 the reason was twofold: (i) Because “the
facts which are revealed to us by the quantum theory . . . lie outside the domain of
our ordinary forms of perception” (Bohr, 1985, p. 217)—in other words, because
they are not accessible to direct sensory experience—they are not amenable to
description in classical terms (i.e., by concepts that owe their meanings in part
to the spatiotemporal structure of human sensory experience). The only possible
description therefore is mathematical or statistical. (ii) A statistical description
must be given in terms of correlations between events that can be described in
classical terms, i.e., events that are accessible to direct sensory experience.
At first quantum theory seemed to require a radical departure from the classical universe of discourse staked out by Kant. After all, the correlations between a
preparation and an observation—between “the fixation of the external conditions,
defining the initial state of the atomic system concerned and the character of the
possible predictions as regards subsequent observable properties of that system”
and “the test of such predictions” (Bohr, 1996, p. 312)—could not be accounted
for in classical terms. It is to Bohr’s great merit that instead of discarding the
classical universe of discourse he expanded it, by adding an intrinsically unspeakable domain of quantum phenomena, which becomes speakable only in terms of
statistical correlations between events that happen or can happen in the classical
domain.
4 Particle metaphysics
If quantum systems owe their attributes to being measured, may not the quantum systems themselves be constituted by the outcomes of measurements? At the
beginning of the 21st Century—about the time QBism came on the scene—this
suggestion was followed up by Ole Ulfbeck and Aage Bohr (2001). Like Kant and
later Niels Bohr, Ulfbeck and Bohr view space and time as “a scene established
for the ordering of experiences.” Clicks given off by detectors belong to this scene.
15 To Bohr, as mentioned in the introduction, classical concepts are classical not because
they are proprietary to classical physics but because we all know what they mean, inasmuch
as their meanings are rooted in what we all have in common, to wit: the spatiotemporal
structure of human sensory experience and the logical or grammatical structure of human
thought or language (Mohrhoff, 2019). This includes the concepts mentioned in Note 14 as
well as those of substance and causality.
14
U.J. Mohrhoff
Particles traveling from a source to a detector and producing clicks do not: “the
connection between source and counter is inherently non-local.” While clicks are
“events in spacetime, belonging to the world of experience,” there are no particles
“on the spacetime scene.” The individual click is “an event entirely beyond law.”
Genuinely fortuitous clicks, occurring by themselves, form “the basic material that
quantum mechanics deals with.” These views echo misgivings about the particle
concept that half a century earlier have been expressed by Schrödinger (2014, pp.
121-122, 131–132, original emphases):
When you observe a particle of a certain type, say an electron, now and
here, this is to be regarded in principle as an isolated event. Even if you
do observe a similar particle a very short time later at a spot very near to
the first, and even if you have every reason to assume a causal connection
between the first and the second observation, there is no true, unambiguous
meaning in the assertion that it is the same particle you have observed
in the two cases. . . . It is beyond doubt that the question of “sameness,”
of identity, really and truly has no meaning. . . . We must not admit the
possibility of continuous observation. Observations are to be regarded as
discrete, disconnected events. Between them there are gaps which we cannot
fill in. . . . [I]t is better to regard a particle not as a permanent entity but
as an instantaneous event. Sometimes these events form chains that give
the illusion of permanent beings—but only in particular circumstances and
only for an extremely short period of time in every single case.
We are accustomed to thinking of a measurement as ascertaining the possession,
by a given physical object or system, of one of several possible properties, which
are determined by the setup. Specifically, we think of a position measurement as
ascertaining the possession, by a given particle, of one of several possible positions, which are defined by an array of detectors. In experimental particle physics,
however, much the opposite is the case: while we have a large number of possible
positions, each defined by a detector, no particle is given. What is given is clicks,
and our task is to organize them into tracks indicating the successive positions of
what we imagine to be persistent individuals—wrongly, as Schrödinger first and
later Ulfbeck and Bohr have stressed.
Although, for Ulfbeck and Bohr, there are neither electrons nor neutrons on
the spacetime scene, “clicks can be classified as electron clicks, neutron clicks, etc.”
It does, however, take more than one click to identify a click as an electron click
or a neutron click. There has to be a sequence of clicks, and it must be possible to
interpret each of the clicks as constituting the presence of the same kind of particle.
Particle detectors are designed so that these conditions are satisfied FAPP, to use
Bell’s (1990) famous acronym for “for all practical purposes”.16 A typical particle
detector consists of zillions of individual detectors each monitoring a relatively
small region of space or spacetime. Compared to the number of actual clicks elicited
during each experimental run, the total number of possible clicks (or droplets,
16 The qualification “FAPP” becomes necessary whenever classical features are obtained
by ignoring quantum features. In this case the quantum feature ignored is the uncertainty
relation for position and momentum. Because the locations of the clicks are “fuzzy” enough,
the correlations between the clicks make it possible FAPP to imagine a continuous path, to
imagine a particle following it, and to imagine it causing the clicks that make up the observed
track.
A QBist Ontology
15
or whatever else makes up a track) is therefore enormous. This—along with the
conservation of energy and momentum tempered by the uncertainty principles for
energy and time and for momentum and position—makes it possible to observe
tracks, to identify the type of particle associated with a given track, and to thereby
determine the type to which the clicks constituting the track belong.17 It must be
emphasized, however, that there are no true individuals; at best there are “close
enough” individuals. While particle types and their possible interconversions are
rigorously defined by theoretical/axiomatic particle physics, the particle types so
defined are not rigorously individuated by the (only approximately continuous)
tracks of experimental particle physics.
A diversity of particle concepts are in contemporary use. In a painstaking
investigation of “what exactly physicists mean when they talk about subatomic
particles” (to which this section owes its title), Brigitte Falkenburg (2007, p. 30)
has shown that “[t]he attribution of physical properties to subatomic particles is
not based on one unified theory but on several incommensurable theories” (p. 324,
original emphasis), for “the operational, axiomatic, and referential aspects of physical concepts fall apart” (p. 162). The axiomatic (chiefly field theoretical and group
theoretical) aspect only refers to particle types. It refers neither to individual particles nor to the experiments by which particles are observed and investigated.
The operational aspect is tied to the probabilistic or ensemble interpretation of
quantum mechanics and to classical measurement laws, and
[t]he way in which quantum concepts refer can only be understood in contextual terms. Quantum concepts refer to the properties of quantum phenomena which occur by means of a given experimental setup in a given
physical context” (p. 200, original emphasis).
By way of illustration, consider the scattering experiments which in modern particle physics are front and center. Each experiment begins with either a single
particle beam aimed at a fixed target or two intersecting beams. Because the incoming particles are accelerated by making them pass through strong magnetic
and electric fields over large distances, the laws of classical mechanics and classical
electrodynamics are used to describe how particles of definite momentum p are created. What happens next is described in quantum-mechanical terms. The particles
are said to be prepared in a momentum state (the rigorous definition of which is a
probability algorithm), and the mathematical picture of an incoming plane wave
of wavelength λ = 2πh̄/p is used. If the target is, say, a crystal, its structure (to be
determined) is treated as belonging to the classical boundary conditions of the experiment being conducted, and the incoming plane wave is treated like a classical
wave that gets diffracted by the target. After the scattering, either clicks or tracks
are observed, depending on whether one is interested in spatial interference patterns or distributions of outgoing momenta and/or particle types. To determine
the locations of the clicks or to measure the curvature and other properties of
the tracks, one reverts to purely classical measurement methods. The underlying
17 A track makes it possible to measure such quantities as its radius of curvature (in a magnetic field), the particle’s time of flight, its kinetic energy, and/or its energy loss through
ionization and excitation. Measuring three of these quantities is sufficient in principle to positively identify the particle type (Grupen and Shwartz, 2008). (The type of a neutral particle,
which cannot be inferred directly from a track, can be inferred indirectly from the particle’s
interactions with charged particles, with the help of the conservation laws.)
16
U.J. Mohrhoff
pragmatic “philosophy” has been aptly summed up by Wolfgang Ketterle (2003)
in a popular talk, in which he said that after several years of practice one gets
used to preparing waves and detecting particles.
While Bohr had stressed the contextuality of properties, he was considerably
less explicit about the contextuality of objects. The latter was brought into focus
by Falkenburg (2007, pp. 205–206, original emphasis):
only the experimental context (and our ways of conceiving of it in classical
terms) makes it possible to talk in a sloppy way of quantum objects. . . . Bare
quantum “objects” . . . seem to be Lockean empirical substances, that is,
collections of empirical properties which constantly go together. However,
they are only individuated by the experimental apparatus in which they
are measured or the concrete quantum phenomenon to which they belong.
To Falkenburg (p. 339, original emphases), therefore, subatomic reality is a topdown construct:
The opposite bottom-up explanation of the classical macroscopic world in
terms of electrons, light quanta, quarks, and some other particles remains
an empty promise. Any attempt at constructing a particle or field ontology
gives rise to a non-relational account18 of a subatomic reality made up of
independent substances and causal agents. But any known approach of this
type is either at odds with the principles of relativistic quantum theory
or with the assumption that quantum measurements give rise to actual
events in a classical world. As long as the quantum measurement problem
is unresolved, an independent quantum reality is simply not available.
What Falkenburg refers to at the end is the big measurement problem mentioned
in Note 7, which is also known as the problem of objectification. Since insolubility
theorems have been proved for this problem (Busch et al., 1996; Mittelstaedt,
1998), the actual and unconditional conclusion is that an independent quantum
reality is not available—period. All of this goes to confirm that the objective
world is the objectivized or objectivizable subset of our private and subjective
experiences, the part we share and think about as external to ourselves.19
Another indication that objective word is an objectivized world, projected
outward and externalized by experiencing subjects, is that the objectivation has
its limits. The contextuality of positions in particular—i.e., the dependence of
attributable positions on the existence of position-defining detectors—limits the
extent to which objective space can be conceived as “intrinsically” partitioned.
This alone makes nonsense of the field-theoretic postulation of an independently
existing spacetime manifold. Such a manifold is a useful, even indispensable tool
for calculating scattering amplitudes, but as the basis for an ontological quantum
reality, it is a recipe for disaster.
18 Physical reality, as conceived by Falkenburg (2007, p. 334), is relational in three respects:
(i) it is context dependent, (ii) it is defined relative to classical concepts, and (iii) it is energy
dependent such that (e.g.) the quark-antiquark and gluon content of nucleons increases with
increasing scattering energies.
19 I use the verb “to objectivize” and the noun “objectivation” for the process by which
we construct our common external reality, and reserve the verb “to objectify” and the noun
“objectification” for references to the inexplicable emergence of measurement outcomes from
reified quantum states (as in “the disaster of objectification”).
A QBist Ontology
17
5 The shapes of things
If atoms and subatomic particles owe their properties to the experimental conditions under which they are observed, the following question arises: how is the
experimental apparatus (or any other macroscopic object) related to the atoms
and subatomic particles of which it is commonly said to be composed?
What is primarily given to us in visual experience is not things but the shapes
of things—not independently existing substances but shapes that we are generally
able to attribute to re-identifiable Lockean substances. The parts that are primarily
given to us in visual experience are therefore defined in spatial terms. In fact, until
quantum mechanics came along, the parts of a material object were thought to be
defined by boundaries acting in the manner of three-dimensional cookie cutters,
while their forms were thought to be defined by boundaries separating their “stufffilled” insides from their vacant outsides. Plato believed that the Universe could
be described using five simple shapes—the solids named after him, four of which
he believed to constitute the four elements Fire, Air, Water, and Earth—but he
obviously could not account for the origin of these primordial shapes. The Greek
atomists held that atoms came in an infinite variety of sizes and shapes, which
likewise remained unaccounted for. Newton (1718) speculated “that God in the
Beginning form’d matter in solid, massy, hard, impenetrable, moveable Particles, of
such Sizes and Figures, and with such other Properties, and in such Proportion to
Space, as most conduced to the end for which he form’d them”—and he (Newton)
left it at that.
The first to give a dynamic explanation of extension and impenetrability was
the Serbo-Croatian polymath Roger Boscovich (Bošković). On the basis of his
study of collisions, Boscovich (1922) arrived at an atomic theory in which matter
was reduced to a dynamic system of relations between identical dimensionless
“points of force” lacking mass and substantiality. His Theory of Natural Philosophy,
first published in 1758, was well known and remained influential for 150 years. His
work inspired Faraday’s lines of force, it advocated a relational view of space, and
it accounted for the stability of objects in terms of equilibria between attractions
and repulsions.20 So impressed was Friedrich Nietzsche by Boscovich’s elimination
of matter that he compared him to Copernicus.21
While Boscovich arguably achieved the complete elimination of pre-existent
forms, classical point mechanics, for which he laid the foundation, retained them
in the shape of point masses. The first theory to provide a successful and complete
dynamical reduction of form is quantum mechanics. If a quantum object has a
20 Here is how Henry Cavendish summarized the essentials of Boscovich’s theory (James,
2004, p. 51): “[M]atter does not consist of solid impenetrable particles as commonly supposed,
but only of certain degrees of attraction and repulsion directed towards central points. They
also suppose the action of two of these central points on each other alternately varies from
repulsion to attraction numerous times as the distance increases. There is the utmost reason
to think that both these phenomena are true, and they serve to account for many phenomena
of nature which would otherwise be inexplicable.”
21 “While Copernicus convinced us to believe, contrary to all our senses, that the earth does
not stand still, Boscovich taught us to renounce belief in the last bit of earth that did ‘stand
still,’ the belief in ‘matter,’ in the ‘material,’ in the residual piece of earth and clump of an
atom: it was the greatest triumph over the senses that the world had ever known” (Nietzsche,
2002, p. 14).
18
U.J. Mohrhoff
form, this consists of indefinite spatial relations between component parts.22 If
it lacks components, it also lacks a form.23 (Here I do not speak of individuated
quantum objects. I refer to such natural kinds as quarks, nucleons, nuclei, and
atoms, which the axiomatics allows us to construct by increasingly approximative
methods.)
The form of a bipartite quantum object—for instance, that of a hydrogen atom
if the structure of its nucleus is ignored—consists of a single indefinite relative
position. The time-independent forms of such an object can be classified in terms of
the possible outcomes of the measurements of three quantities: the object’s energy,
its total angular momentum, and one component of its angular momentum. The
form of a quantum object with N components “exists” in a configuration space of
3 × N dimensions and consists of N × (N −1)/2 indefinite relative positions. The
abstract forms of nucleons, nuclei, atoms, and molecules “exist” in probability
spaces of increasingly higher dimensions. At the molecular level of complexity, a
different kind of form comes into (abstract) being: a 3-dimensional form that can
be visualized, and this not merely as a distribution over a probability space, to
wit: the spatial arrangement of the atoms constituting a molecule.24 If there is a
quantum-classical boundary, it is molecules that straddle it. On the classical side
are their atomic configurations, which change slowly, with electron wave functions
following adiabatically.25
But if the shapes of quantum objects—including molecules, and eventually
everything we tend to think of as “made from” atoms and molecules—can be
accounted for in terms of spatial relations (relative positions and orientations)
between (ultimately) formless relata, then we can invoke the principle of the identity of indiscernibles and regard these spatial relations not as relations between a
multitude of relata but as the self-relations of a single relatum.
6 The One
Just as quantum mechanics is inconsistent with set-theoretic thinking about objective space—i.e., as “a Many that allows itself to be thought of as a One,”
which was Cantor’s definition of a set—so quantum mechanics is inconsistent with
set-theoretic thinking about particles. Objective space is more appropriately conceived as a One that allows itself to be thought of as a Many up to a point, and
so is the multiplicity of particles (Mohrhoff, 2017). The multiplicity of individuated quantum objects is obviously limited by the experimental conditions on
22 What is intended by the characterization of a physical quantity Q, such as a relative
position or orientation, as indefinite, is that it can only be described by assigning nontrivial
probabilities to the (counterfactually) possible outcomes of an unperformed measurement of Q.
23 According to the current standard model of particles and forces, some quantum objects,
including electrons and quarks, are fundamental in the sense of not being composed of other
quantum objects. While such objects are often described as pointlike, this can only mean that
they lack internal structure, which is another way of saying that they lack component parts.
24 What contributes to making these configurations visualizable is that the indefiniteness of
the distance d between any pair of bonded atoms, as measured by the standard deviation of
the corresponding probability distribution, is significantly smaller in general than the mean
value of d.
25 Only molecules consisting of very few atoms are known to occur in energy and angular
momentum eigenstates (Joos et al., 2003, p. 99).
A QBist Ontology
19
which the individuation of quantum objects depends, and the multiplicity of nonindividuated quantum objects (e.g., the multiplicity of electrons in an atom) is
readily conceivable as the result of a process by which a One enters into reflexive
relations (i.e., relations with itself).
It is not a new idea that particles of the same type are numerically identical,
in the sense of being (multiple aspects of) one and the same thing. In his Nobel
lecture, Feynman recalled: “I received a telephone call one day at the graduate
college at Princeton from Professor Wheeler, in which he said, ‘Feynman, I know
why all electrons have the same charge and the same mass.’ ‘Why?’ ‘Because,
they are all the same electron!’ ” The present claim, on the other hand, is that
“the miraculous identity of particles of the same type,” which according to Misner
et al. (1973) is to be regarded “not as a triviality, but as a central mystery of
physics,” need not be confined to particles of the same type.
To see why all fundamental particles, even those belonging to different types,
can (and should) be regarded as numerically identical, consider, first, an elastic
scattering event featuring a pair of incoming particles “in” the states |1i and
|2i and a pair of outgoing particles “in” the states |Ai and |Bi.26 If the two
particles are of the same type, we can say that initially there are two things with
the respective properties 1 and 2, and that subsequently there are two things
with the respective properties A and B, but we cannot say that there are two
separate enduring things. And if there are no enduring things, one readily agrees
with Schrödinger (Bitbol, 2007) and Ladyman and Ross (2007) that there are no
things. What we can say is that there is one thing, which is initially observed to
have the properties 1 and 2 (e.g., being here as well as being there, or moving
Eastward as well as moving Westward), and which is subsequently observed to
have the properties A and B.
Next assume that the two particles are of different types α and β, that the
initial states are |α, 1i and |β, 2i, and that the final states are |α, Ai and |β, Bi.
What we can be sure of in this case is that initially there are two things each
with a pair of properties (α, 1 and β, 2), and that subsequently there are again two
things each with a pair of properties (α, A and β, B). While it is customary to say
in this case that we are dealing with two enduring things, this cannot be advanced
as the reason why we observe a particle of type α and a particle of type β both
initially and in the end. On the contrary, it is the fact that we observe a particle
of type α and a particle of type β both initially and at the end that we are in a
position to entertain the belief that we are dealing with two enduring things. This
belief has the same FAPP status as the belief that the clicks that make up a track
indicate the presence of the same enduring individual. What remains rigorously
assertible is that there is one thing, which is initially observed in possession of the
property pairs (α, 1) and (β, 2), and which is subsequently observed in possession
of the property pairs (α, A) and (β, B). Nothing, therefore, stands in the way of
conceiving of the spatial relations which make up the formal aspects of quantum
objects as reflexive relations entertained by a single relatum, and to posit this
as the sole metaphysical substrate of all properties measured or experienced. We
shall call it “the One.”
26 For brevity’s sake the customary phraseology of “being in” such and such a state is used
in lieu of the more correct mouthful.
20
U.J. Mohrhoff
While the click of a detector is the most basic kind of outcome-indicating event,
it is only a particular kind of genuinely fortuitous event. Every measurement is
genuinely fortuitous not merely with regard to its specific outcome (which may in
fact be predictable) but more fundamentally with regard to its occurrence. There
are no causally sufficient conditions for the success of an attempted measurement.
The redundancy typically built into a measurement apparatus can maximize the
likelihood of success, but it can never guarantee success.27
What shall we make of the fortuitous nature of outcome-indicating events? If
in spite of their fortuitous character—i.e., undeterred by their lack of a cause in
the experienced world —we adhere to the principle of causality, we will have to
acknowledge the existence beyond this world of a causal agent responsible for each
and every click in this world. We cannot, as Falkenburg suggests,28 posit a unique
causal agent behind the clicks that make up any particular track, except FAPP.
What is warranted without qualification is to associate a single causal agent with
every click (not only those that make up a particular track). And if we do, we
will be able to identify the One—the sole substrate of all properties—also as the
sole causal agent responsible for all clicks, and more generally for all successful
measurements.
7 Schrödinger’s take
So far the question of whether we only experience our respective private worlds
or actually experience one and the same world was left open. But if the spatial
relations that make up the formal aspect of quantum objects are reflexive and thus
entertained by a single relatum, or if there is a single substance underlying every
property measured or experienced, or if there is a single causal agent responsible for
every successful measurement, then there has to be more to the agreement between
“the content of any one sphere of consciousness and any other” (Schrödinger, 1964,
p. 69) than is warranted by language.
To Schrödinger (1964, p. 106), the agreement of the content of my sphere of
consciousness with the content of yours was not rationally comprehensible: “In
order to grasp it we are reduced to two irrational, mystical hypotheses.” Previously we noted what he thought of “the so-called hypothesis of the real external
world.” The second hypothesis, which he endorsed, was that “we are all really
only various aspects of the One.” The multiplicity of minds, he wrote in another
work (Schrödinger, 1992a), “is only apparent, in truth there is only one mind.
This is the doctrine of the Upanishads. And not only of the Upanishads.” The
27 This likelihood is not one of the probabilities that quantum mechanics serves to assign.
Quantum mechanics probability assignments are based on the assumption of a successful outcome, which is why the probabilities associated with the possible outcomes of a measurement
always add up to 1.
28 As part of her “critical view of quantum reality,” Falkenburg (2007, p. 259) has proposed
“a weakened version of the traditional metaphysics of substance,” where “the metaphysical
carriers of the properties are cancelled” but “some metaphysical glue is left which makes [the
properties] stick together.” In spite of the fact that, “[o]perationally, the particle behind a
track is nothing but the repeated localization of conserved dynamic quantities,” she concludes
that “we cannot but interpret the repeatability as indicating an underlying entity” (p. 260),
which obviously will be a different one for different tracks.
A QBist Ontology
21
Upanishads are ancient Sanskrit texts, which contain many central concepts and
ideas of classical Indian philosophy.
The “One” mentioned by Schrödinger is the one Self of the Upanishads, the
Ultimate Subject from which we are separated by a veil of self-oblivion. The same
veil, according to the Upanishads, also prevents us from perceiving the Ultimate
Object, as well as its fundamental identity with the Ultimate Subject. It prevents
us from perceiving that the world is something that the One (qua Ultimate Object) manifests to itself (qua Ultimate Subject)—and therefore to us who are but
“various aspects of the One”.29
If at bottom we are all the same subject—without being aware of it, except by a
genuinely mystical experience that is hard to come by—then we have to conceive of
two poises of consciousness or modes of awareness, one in which the One manifests
the world to itself aperspectivally, as if experienced from no particular location
or from everywhere at once, and one in which the One manifests the world to
itself perspectivally, as if experienced by a multitude of subjects from a multitude
of locations.30 In the former poise, the One contains the world; in the latter,
it is contained in it. The fact that reality is relative to consciousness—whether
unitary and aperspectival or multiply situated and perspectival—takes the edge
of Husserl’s paradox of human subjectivity. As situated aspects of the One, we
appear to be objects in the world; as the One, we both constitute and contain the
world.
In the view of the Upanishads, all knowledge, all experience is founded on identity. What ultimately exists, independently of anything else, is indistinguishably
(i) a consciousness that contains, (ii) a substance that constitutes, and (iii) an infinite quality and delight (ānanda) that experiences and expresses itself in form and
movement. If the One is essentially this infinite, self-existent quality and delight,
one understands why the One would adopt a multitude of standpoints within the
world that it manifests to itself: a mutual creative self-experience offers a greater
variety of delight than a solitary one. If the One adopts a multitude of localized
standpoints, knowledge by identity takes the form of direct knowledge: each individual knows the others directly, without mediating representations. If the One
identifies itself with each particular form or standpoint to the exclusion of all others, knowledge of other forms will be reduced to an indirect knowledge, i.e., a direct
knowledge by the individual of some of its own attributes (think electrochemical
pulses in a brain), which serve as representations of the other forms.
29 If “to Western thought this doctrine has little appeal,” Schrödinger (1992b, pp. 129–130)
remarks, it is because our science “is based on objectivation, whereby it has cut itself off from
an adequate understanding of the Subject of Cognizance, of the mind.” To which he adds
that “this is precisely the point where our present way of thinking does need to be amended,
perhaps by a bit of blood-transfusion from Eastern thought. That will not be easy, we must
beware of blunders—blood-transfusion always needs great precaution to prevent clotting. We
do not wish to lose the logical precision that our scientific thought has reached, and that is
unparalleled anywhere at any epoch.”
30 An aperspectival consciousness features prominently in the respective works of Jean Gebser
(1986) and Sri Aurobindo (2005). Such a consciousness transcends the distantiating viewpoint
of our perspectival outlook. There, the subject is where its objects are; it knows them by
identity, by being them. The familiar dimensions of phenomenal space (viewer-centered depth
and lateral extent) come into being in a secondary poise, in which the One views the world in
perspective. There, objects are seen from “outside,” as presenting their surfaces. Concurrently,
the dichotomy between subject and object becomes a reality, for a subject identified with an
individual form cannot be overtly identical with the substance that constitutes all forms.
22
U.J. Mohrhoff
8 The cognitive synergy of the One
Perhaps the most pressing issue in the philosophy of mind concerns what is known
as “intentionality”: how can anything in the world, such as a neural firing pattern,
represent—and, more generally, refer to or be about—anything else in the world?31
An idea that has been dominant throughout history is that representations are
encodings. Much has been learned about the processes by which the brain extracts
information from the images falling on the retinas (Hubel, 1995; Enns, 2004). This
information is said to be encoded in patterns of electrochemical pulses, and if
these patterns are to be experienced as (or to give rise to experiences of) a world
extended in space and time, they have to be decoded or interpreted. The decoding or
interpretation presupposes, inter alia, acquaintance with the expanse of space and
the passing of time, and such acquaintance is not something that neural processes
can provide.32
Some, like Bickhard and Richie (1983), noting that encodings always require
an interpreter, are intent on repudiating the interpreter. What is really required,
however, is an understanding of the nature of the interpreter and the basis of its
interpretive capacity, and this the Upanishadic theory of existence can provide.
According to it, the incomplete quantitative information provided by neural firing
patterns is supplemented by a qualitative direct knowledge that springs from a
subliminal source, as Fig. 1 suggests. Our indirect knowledge would not be possible
if it were not supported by a subliminal direct knowledge, even as direct knowledge
would not be possible if it were not founded on identity. In the words of Sri
Aurobindo (2005, pp. 560–61),
In the surface consciousness knowledge represents itself as a truth seen from
outside, thrown on us from the object, or as a response to its touch on the
sense, a perceptive reproduction of its objective actuality. . . . Since it is
unable to . . . observe the process of the knowledge coming from within, it
has no choice but to accept what it does see, the external object, as the
cause of its knowledge. . . . In fact, it is a hidden deeper response to the
contact, a response coming from within that throws up from there an inner
knowledge of the object, the object being itself part of our larger self.
31 In recent years, many philosophers have put a high priority on providing a reductionist
account of intentional categories, such as beliefs and desires. If this project were to fail, Fodor
(1987) opines, “that would be, beyond comparison, the greatest intellectual catastrophe in the
history of our species; if we’re that wrong about the mind, then that’s the wrongest we’ve ever
been about anything. The collapse of the supernatural, for example, didn’t compare; theism
never came close to being as intimately involved in our thought and our practice—especially our
practice—as belief/desire explanation is. Nothing except, perhaps, our commonsense physics—
our intuitive commitment to a world of observer-independent, middle-sized objects—comes as
near our cognitive core as intentional explanation does.”
32 Like the color of a Burmese ruby, spatial extension is a quality that can only be defined
by ostentation—by drawing attention to something of which we are directly aware. If you are
not convinced, try to explain to my friend Andy, who lives in a spaceless world, what space
is like. Andy is good at math, so he understands you perfectly if you tell him that space is
like a set of all triplets of real numbers. But if you believe that this gives him a sense of the
expanse we call space, you are deluding yourself. We can imagine triplets of real numbers as
points embedded in space; he cannot. We can interpret the difference between two numbers
as the distance between two points; he cannot. At any rate, he cannot associate with the word
“distance” the phenomenal remoteness it conveys to us. And much the same goes for time.
Time passes, and the only way to know this is to be aware of it.
A QBist Ontology
23
Fig. 1 Our indirect (hence representative) knowledge is the meeting point of information
flowing inward from the external object and information flowing outward from a subliminal
source.
9 Evolution: the Upanishadic view
I suppose we can all appreciate the advantage of an ontology that has at its core
an infinite Quality/Delight over a framework of thought according to which what
is ultimately real is a multitude of entities (fundamental particles or spacetime
points) lacking intrinsic quality or value. In many traditions such a multiplicity
is fittingly referred to as “dust.” But a questions remains: why should a selfexistent and infinite conscious Quality and Delight not only adopt a multitude
of standpoints but also identify itself with each to the apparent exclusion of the
others? The answer lies in the fact that the main plot of the self-manifestation of
the One is evolution, or rather a cycle of self-concealment and self-discovery.
From the point of view of the Upanishads, evolution presupposes involution.
Involution consists in a stepwise departure from the original status of the One as at
once an all-containing consciousness, an all-constituting substance, and an infinite
quality/value/delight. The first step towards involution is individuation. One nice
thing about the process of individuation is that we can feel as if we understand it.
We all know first-hand what it means to imagine things. So we can easily conceive
of a consciousness that creates its own content. With a little effort we can also
conceive of consciousness as simultaneously adopting a multitude of standpoints,
and of some or all of its creative activity as simultaneously proceeding from these
several standpoints. We also know first-hand the phenomenon of exclusive concentration, when awareness is focused on a single object or task, while other goings-on
are registered, and other tasks attended to, subconsciously (if at all).
Further possibilities present themselves. The multiple concentration of consciousness may be inclusive, or it may be exclusive. Involution begins in earnest
when the individual subjects lose sight of their mutual identity and, as a result,
lose access to the aperspectival view of things. Carried further, involution renders consciousness implicit in its aspect of formative force. Carried still further,
it renders formative force implicit in inanimate forms. And carried to its furthest
extreme, it renders the principle of form implicit in a multitude of formless entities. And since these formless entities are indistinguishable and therefore (by the
principle of the identity of indiscernibles) numerically identical, involution ends
24
U.J. Mohrhoff
with the One effectively deprived of its innate consciousness and self-determining
force—the Ultimate Subject, infinitely creative, rendered implicit in the Ultimate
Object. This (or something much like it) is how the stage for the adventure of
evolution was set.
We have now strayed, inevitably, into the vexing territory of theodicy: what
could justify this adventure, considering all the pain and suffering that (in hindsight) it entails? Certainly not an extra-cosmic Creator imposing these evils on
his creatures. But the One of the Upanishads is no such monster; it imposes these
things on itself. But still—why? Imagine for a moment that you are all-powerful
and all-knowing. Could you experience the joy of winning a victory, of overcoming
difficulties and oppositions, of making discoveries, of being surprised? You could
not. To make all of this possible, you impose limitations on your inherent power
and knowledge. In the words of Sri Aurobindo:
a play of self-concealing and self-finding is one of the most strenuous joys
that conscious being can give to itself, a play of extreme attractiveness.
There is no greater pleasure for man himself than a victory which is in
its very principle a conquest over difficulties, a victory in knowledge, a
victory in power, a victory in creation over the impossibilities of creation. . . .
There is an attraction in ignorance itself because it provides us with the
joy of discovery, the surprise of new and unforeseen creation. . . . If delight
of existence be the secret of creation, this too is one delight of existence;
it can be regarded as the reason or at least one reason of this apparently
paradoxical and contrary Lila. (Sri Aurobindo, 2005, pp. 426–27)
Lı̄lā is a term of Indian philosophy which describes the manifested world as the
field for a joyful sporting game made possible by self-imposed limitations.
10 Concluding remarks: physics, free will, and the future of evolution
So how does physics fit into this scheme of things? If the force at work in the
world is an infinite force working under self-imposed constraints, we can stop being spooked by the quantum-mechanical correlation laws.33 There is no need for
mechanistic or naturalistic explanations of the working of an infinite force. What
we need to ask is why the force at work in the world works under constraints, which
question we have answered, and why these constraints have the particular form
that they do. Briefly, a world about which anything coherent can be said requires
sufficiently stable, re-identifiable forms. If these are to be manifested by means
of spatial relations between relata that lack spatial extent, the spatial relations,
as well as the corresponding relative momenta, must be indefinite, uncertainty
relations must hold, the relata must be fermions—in short, something very much
like quantum mechanics must hold (Mohrhoff, 2002, 2009). And if the manifested
world is, in addition, to contain individuals capable of telling stories about sufficiently stable, re-identifiable objects, the standard model and general relativity
must hold at least as effective theories (Mohrhoff, 2018, Chap. 25).
33 There is an ever-growing number of “no-go” theorems (Bell, 1964, 1966; Kochen and
Specker, 1967; Greenberger et al., 1989; Klyachko et al., 2008) demonstrating the impossibility
of dynamical explanations of the correlations that quantum mechanics successfully predicts.
A QBist Ontology
25
A force working under self-imposed constraints is also capable of lifting its
constraints. Their purpose was to set the stage for the drama of evolution, not to
direct the drama. We are actors in this drama, and if our free will is limited, it is
not because it is illusory. Needless to say, there is but one way in which complete
freedom can be attained, and that is by becoming the sole determinant of the
goings-on in the world. We are in possession of true freedom to the extent that
we are not only consciously but also dynamically identified with the One. Absent
this identification, our sense of being the proud owner of a libertarian free will is a
misappropriation of a power which belongs to our subliminal self, and which often
works towards goals that are at variance with our conscious intentions.
The first aim of the force at work in the world—after setting the stage for
evolution—is to bring into play the principles of life and mind. Because it has
to accomplish this through tightly constrained modifications of the initial laws
(Mohrhoff, 1999),34 the evolution of life necessitates the creation of increasingly
complex organisms, and the evolution of mind necessitates the creation of increasingly complex nervous systems. This explains why the representations that mediate
indirect knowledge require something of the order of a hundred billion neurons.
Evolution is not finished. When life emerged, what essentially emerged was
the power to execute creative ideas. When mind (or consciousness as we know
it) emerged, what essentially emerged was the power to generate such ideas. The
true nature of these principles is obscured by the fact that the requisite anatomy
must first be established, and the more pressing tasks of self-preservation and
self-replication must first be attended to. What has yet to emerge is the power
to develop into expressive ideas the infinite Quality at the heart of reality. When
this happens, the entire creative process—i.e., the development of Quality into
Form using mind to generate expressive ideas and life to execute them—will be
conscious and deliberate.
If all of this sounds phantasmagoric, it is in large part because our theoretical
dealings with the world are conditioned by the manner in which we, at this point in
history, experience the world. We conceive of the evolution of consciousness, if not
as a sudden lighting up of the bulb of sentience, then as a progressive emergence of
ways of experiencing a world that exists independently of being experienced. There
is no such world. There are only different ways in which the One manifests the
world to itself. These different ways have been painstakingly documented by Jean
Gebser (1986). One characteristic of the “structures of consciousness” that have
successively emerged or are on the verge of emerging is their dimensionality. An
increase in the dimensionality of the consciousness to which the world is manifested
is tantamount to an increase in the dimensionality of the manifested world.
Consider, by way of example, the consciousness structure that immediately
preceded the present and still dominant one. One of its characteristics is the
notion that the world is enclosed in a sphere, with the fixed stars attached to
its boundary, the firmament. We cannot but ask: what is beyond that sphere?
Those who held this notion could not, because for them the third dimension of
space—viewer-centered depth—did not at all have the reality it has for us. Lacking
our sense of this dimension, the world experienced by them was in an important
34 The reason we lack direct evidence of these modifications is the Houdiniesque nature of
this manifestation. “If delight of existence be the secret of creation,” there have to be serious
limitations on the extent of possible modifications. Given the means at our disposal, it will
therefore be virtually impossible to discern where and when they occur.
26
U.J. Mohrhoff
sense two-dimensional. This is why they could not handle perspective in drawing and painting, and why they were unable to arrive at the subject-free “view
from nowhere,” which is a prerequisite of modern science. All this became possible
with the consolidation, during the Renaissance, of our characteristically threedimensional consciousness structure.
Our very concepts of space, time, and matter are bound up with our present
consciousness structure. This made it possible to integrate the location-bound
outlook of a characteristically two-dimensional consciousness into an effectively
subject-free world of three-dimensional objects. Matter as we know it was the result. It is not matter that has created consciousness; it is consciousness that has
created matter, first by its self-concealment, or involution, in an apparent multitude of formless particles, and again by evolving our present mode of experiencing
the world. Ahead lies the evolution of a consciousness structure—and thereby of
a world—that transcends our time- and space-bound perspectives. Just as the
mythological thinking of the previous consciousness structure could not foresee
the technological explosion made possible by science, so science-based thinking
cannot foresee the consequences of the birth of a new world, brought about, not
by technological means, but by a further increase in the dimensionality of consciousness.
Appendix: A minimal critique of QBism
As Falkenburg (2007, p. 339) acknowledges, “Bohr’s complementarity view of
quantum mechanics already suggested long ago a way of avoiding the dilemma
of either empiricism or metaphysical realism.” If, as she notes, “no unambiguous philosophical interpretation of quantum theory emerged out of them,” it was
because nobody seemed to realize or take seriously (i) a crucial presupposition
of Bohr’s philosophical reflections—to wit, “the subjective character of all experience” (Bohr, 1996, p. 259)—and (ii) a crucial implication of the same, which
is that the classical environment owes its definiteness solely to the incontestable
definiteness of conscious experience (Mohrhoff, 2019).
While, to my mind, the greatest merit of QBism lies in its spirited defense of
these crucial points, its most significant shortcoming lies in its failure to recognize
that in constructing a common body of reality, the users (of quantum mechanics) or
agents (in a quantum world) automatically objectivize the intrinsic definiteness of
their private experiences. When Fuchs & friends state that the only thing a QBist
“does not model with quantum mechanics is her own direct internal awareness
of her own private experience” (Fuchs et al., 2014), so that QBism must treat
“all physical systems in the same way, including atoms, beam splitters, SternGerlach magnets, preparation devices, measurement apparatuses, all the way to
living beings and other agents” (Fuchs and Schack, 2015), they ignore this obvious
fact. If quantum mechanics is a general theory of action and response, according
to which every action (on the external world) counts as a measurement and every
response (by the external world) counts as the outcome of a measurement, as
Fuchs and Schack (2004) claim, it must be possible to put into words all possible
actions along with their possible responses. And for this it must be possible to talk
about beam splitters, Stern-Gerlach magnets, preparation devices, etc., in classical
terms.
A QBist Ontology
27
As Fuchs (2017) sees it, a measurement (i.e., an action taken to elicit one of
a set of possible experiences) “can be anything from running across the street at
L’Étoile in Paris (and gambling upon one’s life) to a sophisticated quantum information experiment (and gambling on the violation of a Bell inequality).” Missing
the distinction between a domain that is directly accessible to sensory experience,
and a domain that is speakable only contextually, in terms of quantum phenomena,
QBism also fails to make the necessary distinction between two kinds of action:
(i) actions by which we reach into the quantum domain, whose predictable outcomes are linked to their known initial and boundary conditions in accordance
with the Born rule, and (ii) actions whose predictable outcomes are linked to their
known initial and boundary conditions in accordance with the classical law of total probability. Running across the street at L’Étoile in Paris (and gambling upon
one’s life) obviously belongs to the latter kind.
Everything we believe—including everything we claim to know—is a belief.
QBists are absolutely right about this, and I second their interpretation of probability as a personal degree of belief.35 The objective world—i.e., “the common
external world we have all negotiated with each other” (Mermin, 2017)—is what
we collectively believe to exist. The implicit assumption underlying this collective
belief is not only that the spatiotemporal structure of my perceptual awareness
and the logical structure of my thought are the same as the spatiotemporal structure of your perceptual awareness and the logical structure of your thought: we
share the cognitive structures to which our basic physical concepts owe their meanings. The implicit assumption is also that my experiences are as definite as yours.
Wigner may be ignorant of the outcome experienced by his friend, but he cannot
be cavalier about the definiteness of her experiences. It simply makes no sense to
describe the state of Wigner’s friend (Wigner, 1961) as a coherent superposition
of having experienced two different outcomes—a possibility envisioned by Fuchs
(2017). By the very nature of our common external world, or by the manner in
which it is constructed by us, Wigner is not merely justified but required to assign
to the state of his friend an incoherent mixture reflecting his ignorance of her actual experience. And the same applies to the respective states assigned by Alice
to Bob and by Bob to Alice in experiments with spin-1/2 particles prepared in the
singlet state, contrary to what is claimed by Fuchs et al. (2014).
References
Bell, J.S. (1964). On the Einstein Podolsky Rosen paradox. Physics Physique
Fizika, 1, 195–200.
Bell, J.S. (1966). On the problem of hidden variables in quantum mechanics.
Reviews of Modern Physics, 38, 447–452.
Bell, J.S. (1990). Against “measurement.” In A.I. Miller (Ed.), 62 Years of Uncertainty, pp. 17–31. New York: Plenum.
Bickhard, M.H. & Richie, D.M. (1983). On the Nature of Representation. New
York: Praeger.
35 Specifically, I am with them in rejecting the so-called eigenvalue–eigenstate link, according
to which the assignment of probability 1 to the possible value q of an observable Q justifies
the belief that Q actually has the value q.
28
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Ulrich J. Mohrhoff studied physics at the University of Göttingen and at the
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The World According to Quantum Mechanics: Why the Laws of Physics Make
Perfect Sense After All (Singapore: World Scientific, Second Edition 2018). His
research interests are the Foundations of Quantum Physics, the Philosophy of
Mind, and the Interface between Contemporary Physics and Indian Philosophy.
The author affirms that there is no conflict of interest. |
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Pitkänen, M., Emotions as Sensory Percepts of the State of Magnetic Body
Research Essay
On Emotions as Sensory Percepts of the State of Magnetic Body
Matti Pitkänen 1
Abstract
What are emotions, how emotions are created, and how are they represented - In the brain, body
or somewhere else? Emotions can be divided into lower level emotions and higher level emotions.
What do the levels of emotions correspond to?
1. TGD inspired answers to the questions are that emotions are sensory percepts about the state
of magnetic body (MB) and sensory-motor loop generalizes: Various glands excreting hormones
to blood stream and binding to receptors give rise to the analog of motor output.
2. Neural transmitters binding to receptors serve as bridges allowing to build connected networks
of neurons from existing building bricks. They are accompanied by flux tube networks giving
rise to tensor networks as quantum coherent entangled structures serving as correlates of mental
images and allowing classical signalling with light velocity using dark photons.
In a similar manner, hormones give rise to networks of ordinary cells implying, in particular, that
emotional memories are realized in (biological) body (BB). Nervous system gives information
about the state of these networks to brain. Hypothalamus serves as the analog of motor cortex
excreting hormones controlling the excretion of hormones at lower level glands.
3. The hierarchy of Planck constants defines a hierarchy of dark matters and hef f = n× defines
a kind of IQ. The levels of MB corresponding to large/small values of n would correspond to
higher/lower emotions.
MB decomposes to two basic parts: The part in the scale of BB formed by networks having cells
and larger structures as nodes (forming a fractal hierarchy) and the part in the scales larger than BB.
1. In the scales of BB (short scales), the dynamics involves topological dynamics of the flux tube
network and sensory percepts can be accompanied by conscious-to-us desire to change the state
of MB and thus of BB and could be seen as intentions induced by the comparison between what
happened and what were the expectations. The outcome would be state function reduction
replacing the behavioral pattern with a new one giving better hopes for achieving the goal. In
zero energy ontology (ZEO), behavioral pattern is represented as quantum superposition of 4-D
MBs so that time aspect is naturally involved with emotions.
2. In the scales larger than that of BB (long scales), the change of the topology is not easy and the
dynamics involves oscillations of MB - analogs of Alfwen waves - and analogs of ordinary motor
actions changing the shape of flux tubes but leaving its topology unaffected.
Alfwen waves with cyclotron frequencies and generalized Josephson frequencies assignable to
cell membrane as Josephson junction would be involved. The size scale of particular onyon-like
layer of MB corresponds to the wavelength scale for cyclotron frequencies and is proportional
to hef f /h = n for dark photons. For instance, alpha band in EEG corresponds to the scale of
Earth but the energy scale of dark photons is that of bio-photons.
The TGD inspired model of music harmony gives as a side product a model of genetic code predicting correctly the numbers of codons coding for amino-acids for vertebrate code. The model
allows to see sensory percepts about the dynamics in large scales as analog of music experience.
The notes of 3-chords of the harmony correspond to light as dark photons and frequencies defining the notes of the chord: cyclotron radiation and generalized Josephson radiation from cell
membrane would represent examples of dark light. Music expresses and creates emotions and
music harmonies would correspond to various emotional states/moods realized at the level of
1 Correspondence: Matti Pitkänen http://tgdtheory.com/. Address: Rinnekatu 2-4 A8, 03620, Karkkila, Finland. Email:
matpitka6@gmail.com.
ISBN: 2153-8212
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Journal of Consciousness Exploration & Research | March 2018 | Volume 9 | Issue 3 | pp. 250-268
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Pitkänen, M., Emotions as Sensory Percepts of the State of Magnetic Body
DNA and its dark counterpart (dark nuclei represented as dark proton sequences). MB would
be like a music instrument with flux tubes serving as strings. It is difficult to assign any specific
desire to large scale sensory percepts about MB and the interpretation as higher emotions - or
rather feelings - makes sense.
Keywords: Emotion, sensory percept, magnetic body, brain, body, mind.
1
Introduction
What are emotions, how emotions are created, and how are they represented. One can consider these
questions from the point of view of neuroscience, endocrinology and quantum physics. Emotions can
be divided to lower level emotions accompanied by intention/need/desire (hunger is accompanied by the
need to eat) and thus distinguishing them from sensory qualia whereas higher level emotions like catharsis
and the experience of beauty not accompanied by any desire. What does this division correspond to?
TGD inspired answers to the questions are as follows:
1. Emotions are sensory percepts about the state of magnetic body (MB) and sensory-motor loop
generalizes: Various glands excreting hormones to blood stream and binding to receptors give rise
to the analog of motor output. Neural transmitters binding to receptors serve as bridges allowing to
build connected networks of neurons from existing building bricks. They are accompanied by flux
tube networks giving rise to tensor networks [24] as quantum coherent entangled structures serving as
correlates of mental images, and allowing classical signalling with light velocity using dark photons.
In a similar manner hormones would give rise to active networks of ordinary cells accompanied by
tensor networks. Nervous system gives information about the state of these networks to brain and
hypothalamus serves as the analog of motor cortex sending hormones controlling the excretion of
hormones at lower level glands.
2. Emotions are sensory percepts about the state of magnetic body (MB) rather than those of biological
body (BB). Also sensory-motor loop generalizes: various glands excreting hormones to blood stream
and binding to receptors give rise to the analog of motor output.
Consider first neuronal level. Neural transmitters binding to receptors serve as bridges allowing
to build connected networks of neurons from existing building bricks (flux tubes associated with
axons in the case of nervous system) and accompanied by flux tube networks giving rise to tensor
networks as quantum coherent structures serving as correlates of mental images and allowing classical signalling with light velocity using dark photons. These tensor networks represent our mental
images only if they correspond to our sub-selves [32].
In a similar manner hormones would give rise to tensor networks of ordinary cells accompanied by
flux tube networks giving rise to quantum coherent structures, tensor networks serving as correlates of emotional mental images. Nervous system mediates information about the state of these
networks to brain. Hypothalamus serves as analog of motor cortex excreting hormones controlling
the excretion of hormones at lower level glands.
3. The hierarchy of Planck constants defines a hierarchy of dark matters and hef f = n×h defines a kind
of IQ. The levels of MB corresponding to large/small values of n would correspond to higher/lower
emotions.
MB decomposes to two basic parts: The part in the scale of BB and formed by networks having cells
and larger structures as nodes (forming a fractal hierarchy) and the part in the scales larger than BB.
1. In the scales of BB (short scales) the dynamics involves topological dynamics of the flux tube
network and sensory percepts can be accompanied by conscious-to-us desire to change the state
of MB and thus of BB and could be seen as intentions induced by the comparison between what
ISBN: 2153-8212
Journal of Consciousness Exploration &Research
Published by QuantumDream, Inc.
www.JCER.com
Journal of Consciousness Exploration & Research | March 2018 | Volume 9 | Issue 3 | pp. 250-268
252
Pitkänen, M., Emotions as Sensory Percepts of the State of Magnetic Body
happened and what were the expectations. The outcome would be state function reduction replacing
the behavioral pattern with a new one giving better hopes for achieving the goal. In zero energy
ontology (ZEO) behavioral pattern is represented as quantum superposition of 4-D MBs so that
time aspect is naturally involved with emotions.
2. In the scales larger than that of BB (long scales) the change the topology is not easy and the
dynamics involves oscillations of MB - analogs of Alfwen waves - and analogs of ordinary motor
actions changing the shape of flux tubes but leaving its topology unaffected (these actions might
represent or serve as templates for ordinary motor actions in body scale [13]).
Alfwen waves with cyclotron frequencies and generalized Josephson frequencies assignable to cell
membrane as Josephson junction [12, 9] would be involved. The size scale of particular onion-like
layer of MB corresponds to the wavelength scale for cyclotron frequencies and is proportional to
hef f /h = n for dark photons. For instance, alpha band in EEG corresponds to the scale of Earth
but the energy scale of dark photons is that of bio-photons.
The TGD inspired model of music harmony [20] gives as a side product a model of genetic code
predicting correctly the numbers of codons coding for aminoacids for vertebrate code. The model
allows to see sensory percepts about the dynamics in large scales as analog of music experience.
The notes of 3-chords of the harmony correspond to light as dark photons and frequencies defining
the notes of the chord: cyclotron radiation and generalized Josephson radiation from cell membrane
would represent examples of dark light. Music expresses and creates emotions and music harmonies
would correspond to various emotional states/moods realized at the level of DNA and its dark counterpart (dark nuclei represented as dark proton sequences). MB would be like a music instrument
with flux tubes serving as strings. It is difficult to assign any specific desire to large scale sensory
percepts about MB and the interpretation as higher emotions - or rather feelings - makes sense.
2
Background
2.1
Some background from evolution
It is good to list some basic data from evolution of nervous system (see http://tinyurl.com/yabtfhy4)
first.
• Bacteria have no nervous system but already they are capable of simple sensory perceptions. Bacteria can move to the direction where the concentration of nutrients increases so that they probably
perceive the concentration of nutrients. The feelings of hunger and satiety are perhaps the most
primitive emotional states, one can think that these emotions/feelings were possessed also by bacteria. The need to get food is associated with hunger and it seems that the lower emotions induce
desire/intention leading to goal directed behavior.
• Ladder-like nervous system is a primitive nervous system possessed by invertebrates and has at its
end a bulge - ganglion - representing primitive brain. Anthropods, which include insects, belong to
this class of animals.
• Brainstem and cerebellum developed from the ganglion and gave rise to what is called lizard brain.
Brain stem controls the functioning of heart, lungs, stomach and other organs and cerebellum
controls motor activities. Since the cortex allowing to decompose visual field into objects is missing,
vision must be very primitive - including however detection of motion and distance for the target of
attention. Maybe there is just the target of attention instead of the decomposition of the perceptive
field into objects. Olfaction, hearing, and vision work together to identify the target of attention.
• Chordata (see http://tinyurl.com/63af3ag) consist of urochordata and cephalochordata preceding vertebrates.
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Pitkänen, M., Emotions as Sensory Percepts of the State of Magnetic Body
Remark: Vertebrates have EEG, which must be a significant difference. In TGD framework scaled
up variants of EEG are in principle with higher frequency ranges are possible with similar structure
and correspond to smaller value of hef f /h = n.
• Limbic system (see http://tinyurl.com/ny2e8ff) defines what is known as emotional brain. It
contains hypothalamus as an analog for the highest motor areas in cortex. Hormone excretion is the
tool of control. Using this tool hypothalamus controls the hormone excretion of lower level glands
in brain and body in turn controlling the state of body. Hormone levels correlate strongly with
emotions [7].
• At the top is cortex containing sensory, motor and associative regions.
2.2
Some background from neuroscience and endocrinology
Also some data bits in neuroscience and endocrinology dealing with the endocrine system, its diseases,
and its specific secretions known as hormones are in order. Endocrine system forms only part of cell
signalling (see http://tinyurl.com/yckwaaob). One can classify the signalling according to the range
of signals. Intracrine signals stay in target cells, autocrine signals affect the cell itself or of nearby cells via
receptors. Juxtacrine signals affect adjacent (touching) cells. Paracrine signals target cells in the vicinity
of the cell: nerve pulses correspond to this kind of signalling. Endocrine signals target distance cells and
hormones reaching their target via blood stream serve as signal molecules.
Remark: In TGD framework the term ”signal molecule” is misleading. Signal molecules bound to
receptors would only serve as bridges/relays giving rise to networks in which dark photon signals would
propagate and make possible classical communications. Also quantum entangled structures - tensor
networks - would be formed.
1. Limbic brain (see http://tinyurl.com/ny2e8ff) would be the neural part for the system behind
emotions and serve as the analog of cortex participating the neural processing related to emotions.
Neural information would arrive from body to brain via nervous system and the analog of motor
response from limbic brain would be based on endocrine system using hormones as a control tool
(http://tinyurl.com/l2pstuv) .
2. Endocrine system (see http://tinyurl.com/l2pstuv) involves several feedback loops via hypothalamus and pituitary. Hypothalamus plays a role analogous to that of the highest motor areas in cortex. Emotions are expressed via excretion of hormones by hypothalamus (see http:
//tinyurl.com/hdt5t8g) and the hormones from hypothalamus control the excretion of hormones
by lower level glands. Besides hypothalamus also pituitary gland and pineal gland are brain glands.
The four most important glands outside brain are pancreas, ovaries/testes, thyroid gland, parathyroid gland, and adrenal glands: together with 3 brain glands this makes altogether 7 glands. Interestingly, this happens to be the number of chakras in the Eastern medicine. Besides this there
are many other hormone secreting organs. The so called diffuse endocrine system involves hormone
emitting cells heart muscle and epithelial cells in gut. Immune system excretes hormone and also
skin can be regarded as a gland.
3. Hormones (http://tinyurl.com/znk4tzn) are used to communications between organs and tissues
for physiological regulation and behavioral activities. Hormones have diverse chemical structures,
most of which belong to 3 classes: eicosanoids, steroids, and amino acid/protein derivatives (amines,
peptides, and proteins).
All vertebrates possess hypothalamus (see http://tinyurl.com/hdt5t8g). Hypothalamus is located below thalamus and serves as a link between neural system and endocrine system and regulates
certain metabolic processes and other activities of the autonomic nervous system. Hypothalamus
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Pitkänen, M., Emotions as Sensory Percepts of the State of Magnetic Body
synthesizes and releases neural hormones in turn stimulating or inhibiting the secretion of pituitary
hormones in turn controlling the secretion of hormons in lower level glands.
Hypothalamus controls body temperature, hunger, important aspects of parenting and attachment behaviors, fatigue, sleep and circadian rhythms. Hypothalamus consists of several nuclei.
Hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis is a complex set of direct influences and feedback between hypothalamus, pituitary and adrenal glands located in kidneys. Delta waves (in EEG) with frequencies
in the range (.5,4) Hz - usually thought to arise either in cortex or thalamus - controls extretion of
neural hormones from hypothalamus.
Remark: In TGD framework delta waves would be associated to the control by MB. Note that
delta waves do not correlate directly with the contents of consciousness.
Endocrine system controls physiology and there are good reasons to think that at least some hormones
are closely related to the control of simple emotions such as satiety, pleasure, hunger, fatigue, fear,
aggression, and rage. Not all emotions involved need to be conscious to us. For instance, at the neural
side autonomic part of the neural system is unconscious to us.
Remark: TGD inspired theory of consciousness [32] predicts self hierarchy. The sub-selves of self
give rise to mental images of self. Sub-sub-...-selves contribute a diffuse background to the experience of
self. Emotions could correspond to this kind of background.
The book ”Molecules of emotion” by Candace Pert [7] gives a nice representation about peptides as
molecules of emotions. Dopamine is one peptide acting both as both neural transmitter and hormone
and positive emotions accompany its excretion.
2.3
What emotions are and how do they emerge?
2.3.1
Basic facts about emotions
One learns from Wikipedia (see http://tinyurl.com/7ml7vcs) that there is almost endless variety of
theories of emotion. For instance, in Scherer’s components processing model of emotion, five crucial
elements of emotion are said to exist:
• Cognitive appraisal: provides an evaluation of events and objects.
• Bodily symptoms: the physiological component of emotional experience.
• Action tendencies: a motivational component for the preparation and direction of motor responses.
• Expression: facial and vocal expression almost always accompanies an emotional state to communicate reaction and intention of actions.
• Feelings: the subjective experience of emotional state once it has occurred.
This definition of emotion includes as its aspects cognitive processing (neural feedback), physiological
correlates (hormone excretion), action tendencies (intentions/needs/desires/drives), bodily expression of
emotion, and feeling. This classification assigns physiological activation patterns to all emotions (what
about ”higher” emotions?). Feeling forms only one aspect of emotion.
It has been also proposed that there are 6 basic emotions: anger, disgust, fear, happiness, sadness
and surprise. One can wonder why pleasure and psychological pain are not counted as basic emotions:
maybe they are associated with happiness and sadness. Neither hunger and satiety are included: since
hunger induces goal directed behavior, it would seem natural to count it as emotion rather than sensory
experience. It seems possible to assign to emotions positive/negative coloring, which would allow to see
them as pairs analogous to pairs of color and complementary color.
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Personally I would call emotions inducing desires primitive emotions perhaps possessed already by the
simplest organisms - even those without nervous system. Certainly I would not try to reduce higher level
emotions such as experience of beauty to these primitive emotions.
One can also distinguish emotions using as a criterion the time scale involved: feelings, moods, temperament, personality describe these time scales in increasing order.
1. Primitive emotions represent information in a very concise form. Just a single bit represented as
emotional coloring of experience as positive or negative is enough and if it is negative/positive
it induces an intention to change/continue the behavior. A very complex unconscious information
processing can give rise to this bit and intuition and emotional intellect could summarize the outcome
of this kind of processing.
Remark: In TGD framework this unconscious information processing could be assigned to the
levels of self hierarchy below sub-selves identified as mental images.
2. It seems that simple emotions induce the need or desire to do something, an intention. This would
naturally relate to the comparison of the expected state to the perceived one. If the result is not
expected, the desire to change something is created: hunger → need to eat. Computer scientist
would tend to see us as collection of behavioral programs (habits and routines) and emotional
coloring would suggest how to change the routine to possibly achieve the desired result.
3. Low level emotions are holistic meaning that the physiological correlates cannot be localized in
particular body part. One might however argue that a person fallen in love localizes this feeling
with heart. Also hunger (if counted as emotion rather than sensory experience) can be localized to
stomach. In any case, emotions as mental images would be holistic and physiologically assignable
to a rather large part of body. One can argue that higher level emotions such as feeling of beauty
cannot be localized to body.
4. There are also experiences what one might call higher level emotions and they perhaps relate to
emotional intellect and intuition. They can be created in by many manners: say by art: catharsis
- experience of beauty - or by meditation - experience of bliss. It is difficult to associated this kind
experiences with particular physiological events. Interestingly these emotions do not seem to induce
any desire or intention.
Music creates this kind of emotions. Simplest emotions are feeling of joy and sadness correlating
with the harmony of music but in general music harmony defies characterization in terms of language
and in terms of emotions of real life. To my opinion this correlation is a valuable guide line as one
tries to understand correlates of emotions and feelings.
2.3.2
Are emotions percepts or analogs of motor actions?
Concerning the generation of emotions there has been debate between proponents of two alternative
visions.
1. Brain expresses emotions using body as a tool so that emotions (e-motion) would be analogous to
motor activities. The problem is that emotions are not intentional actions and one cannot control
them. The explanation could be that the activities generating emotions are unconscious to us. This
argument might make sense: we have autonomic nervous system too.
Remark: In TGD framework self hierarchy could solve the problem. An action unconscious would
be conscious at some lower level of the self hierarchy. Emotions would be our perceptions about
what has happened at lower levels of self hierarchy and the outcome would be statistical.
This view is supported by the existence of endocrine system. Glands excreting hormones would
generate the emotions as analogs of motor actions. Hormones diffuse via blood circulation and induce
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emotional expression. Hormones serve as molecules of emotion and information. Hypothalamus
plays the role of the highest motor area controlling by hormones the hormone expression of lower
glands.
Hypothalamus, pituitary, and pineal gland are brain glands. The glands in body can can also
control emotions. In particular, heart muscles and epithelial cells in gut could independently express
emotions by emitting hormones. Reflex action serves as an analogy for this.
2. Philosopher James proposed an alternative interpretation: body produces emotions and brain perceives them: this would explain why emotions are not under volitional control. This interpretation
as such has been show to be wrong by an experiment in which the generation of physiological correlate of emotion was prevented in gut: the emotion was however felt. It is however true that there
is neural feedback giving information about the physiological state.
Candace Pert proposes in her book [7] a compromize between these views. There is the analog of
sensory-motor loop involved and one cannot actually say that emotion would be associated with brain or
with body: it is assignable to both of them.
Remark: Quite recent observation (see http://tinyurl.com/pzfhw9d) is that so called vagus nerve
traverses all organs and couples nervous system, endocrine system, and immune system together. In
TGD picture this nerve would build bridges between neurons of these systems and couple them to single
quantum coherent system and allows communications with dark light between these organs.
3
TGD based interpretation for emotions
In TGD framework the interpretation of the transmitters involved (such as hormones) would not be as
signal but as a tool creating the channels making signals propagating with light velocity (dark photons
transforming to ordinary photons identified as bio-photons) and giving rise to quantum coherent active
networks of cells (tensor networks) giving rise to conscious entities at some level of self hierarchy and
possibly our mental images as sub-selves.
Signal molecules bound to receptors would act as small bridges connecting existing pieces of network
to larger networks. These pieces would be flux tubes associated with axons in the case of nerve pulse
transmission and neurotransmitters would give rise to the bridges. Synchronous neuronal firing would be
a signature of the connected flux tube network. In [28] and [27] TGD inspired view about nervous system
is discussed. This view has a natural generalization to the case of other signalling systems.
The dynamics for the topology (reconnections, braiding) of MB would induce the dynamics of biomolecules,
cells and larger structures at the nodes of the fractal network.
3.1
Basic notions of TGD inspired quantum biology
It is good to list the basic notions of TGD inspired biology once again. They are magnetic body (MB),
dark matter as hef f = n × h phases of ordinary matter with n having non-standard value having first
principle description in terms of adelic physics [30], and zero energy ontology (ZEO).
1. The basic distinction between TGD and Maxwell’s electrodynamics and gauge theories is that
every system as field identity in TGD Universe as separate space-time sheets, topological field
quanta correspond to magnetic flux sheets or tubes and also to electric field has topological quanta.
This follows from the notion of induced gauge field. In Maxwell’s theory fields of different systems
interfere, in TGD they correspond to separate space-time sheets but particle experiences the sum
of the forces caused by them since it touches these space-time sheets.
This forces the replacement organism + environment → magnetic body (MB) + organism + environment. MB receives sensory input from biological body (BB) and controls BB. Sensory input to
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MB can be in terms of generalized Josephson radiation from cell membrane acting as generalized
Josephson junction and coding nerve pulse patters to frequency modulations. The control by MB
can be realized in terms of cyclotron radiation to DNA (accompanied by what I call dark DNA
[22]).
2. The hierarchy hef f = n × h, n = 1, 2, 3, .. of Planck constants gives rise to a hierarchy of dark
matters. hef f = n × h labels the onion like layers of MB. The size scale of give layer is by
uncertainty principle of order of cyclotron wavelength λ ∝ m/eB and thus proportional to particle
mass m. The value of Planck constant determines the hierarchy level: n measures the complexity of
the algebraic extension associated with the dynamics as dimension of extension of rationals involved
with the dynamics at basic level, and serves as a kind of IQ. Evolution corresponds to a gradual
and unavoidable increase of hef f /h = n in statistical sense.
(a) At the atomic level the value of n seems to be n = 6 rather than n = 1 [29, 25]. For valence
bonds the value of n is already larger and increases along the rows of the periodic table
being largest for the molecules containg atoms toards the right end of the period: biologically
important atoms C, N, O, S, P are examples associated with valence bonds with large n.
(b) For protons at hydrogen bonds the value of n is much higher than for electrons of valence
bonds and the generation of hydrogen bonds could be seen as a crucial aspect of bio-chemistry.
Metabolic energy is measured as the difference of the energy of bond for ordinary value of hef f
from the real one and one can say that metabolic energy provides for the system ability to
increase its negentropy. Metabolic energy increases hef f resources: this is why we must eat.
(c) An important additional hypothesis generalizes the notion of gravitational Planck constant due
to Nottale [2]. The hypothesis [17, 18] states that at the flux tubes mediating gravitational
interactions (propagation of gravitons) one has
~ef f = n~ = ~gr =
GM m
,
v0
where M and m are the masses associated with the ends of the flux tube and v0 < c has
dimensions of velocity. This formula holds true if M m/v0 exceeds Planck mass squared and
implies that the coupling parameter GM m in perturbation series is replaced with v0 /c < 1 so
that one achieves convergence.
For large values of M the value of hgr can be very large, which means that long range gravitational interaction can give rise to systems with very high cognitive resources. This hypothesis
generalizes also to other interactions in rather obvious manner and the phase transition increasing the value of hef f leads to dark phase in which perturbation theory converges (the
value of the coupling strength α ∝ 1/~ef f is reduced).
The value of M depend on the state of the network defined by the flux tubes mediating
gravitational interaction. At the limit of ordinary quantum gravity M would be mass of
elementary particle. There is however entire dynamical fractal hierarchy of gravitational flux
tubes completely analogous to those postulated flux tube hierarchies in neural system and
in endocrine system. For instance, the fountain effect of superfluidity could correspond to a
situation involving large value of hgr . In living matter the mass of large neuron is of order
Planck mass and defines kind of critical mass in the sense that gravitational interaction between
two large neurons could correspond to hgr .
3. Zero energy ontology (ZEO) essential for TGD inspired theory of consciousness is the third basic notion. In ZEO quantum states have as classical correlates 4-D space-time surfaces rather
than time=constant snapshots of time evolution as in standard physics. They can be identified as
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preferred extremals of action principle analogous to Bohr orbits. Following biologists and neuroscientists one could speak about the generalization of the notion of behavioral pattern or biological
function. Computer scientist talks about programs.
The act of free will is analogous to a replacement of a deterministic program with a new one in
ZEO. ZEO is actually forced by the acceptance of the fact that we have free will which must be
consistent with the determinism of field equations. At quantum level, classical program as preferred
extremal is replaced with a quantum superposition of classical programs, which in some resolution
cannot be distinguished from each other.
System must have sensory percepts about the state of MB. If the percept is not consistent with the
expectation, the perception is accompanied by negative emotional coloring.
3.2
Sensory perceptions as artworks
TGD view about neural system differs in several aspects from that of neuroscience.
1. Sensory organs are assumed to serve as carriers of sensory percepts: qualia [10] are not associated
with sensory areas but with sensory organs [26, 28]. ZEO providing a new view about time and
memory allows to solve the basic objection related to phantom limb phenomenon: pain in phantom
limb would be sensory memory and realized as 4-D sensory percept having contributions from
geometric past.
2. The distinction between experienced time - identified as a sequence of small state function reduction identifiable as analogs of weak measurements (generalized Zeno effect) - and geometric time
identifiable as distance between the tips of causal diamond (CD) is essential for understanding this
view about memory [8].
3. The assumption that sensory percepts are artworks rather than passive records of sensory input
requires virtual sensory input from brain to sensory organs and build-up of the final standardized
percept by pattern recognition - an iterative procedure involving very many forth-and back signals.
Nerve pulse transmission is quite too slow process to allow this and dark photon signals propagating
with maximal signal velocity between brain and sensory organs are suggestive [28]. Dark photons
decay to ordinary photons in energy conserving manner and identifiable as bio-photons and having
energy spectrum in visible and UV range [15, 16].
4. Nerve pulses and neurotransmitters would not represent real communication but give rise to temporary intra-brain communication lines along which communications as dark photon signals would take
place with maximal signal velocity using dark photons (characterized by hef f /h = n) transforming to biophotons in an energy conserving manner. Neurotransmitters and also other information
molecules (hormones,..., messengers) attached to receptors would serve as bridges fusing permanent
but disjoint communication lines along axons to a connected temporary communication line for dark
photons to propagate. Nerve pulses would also generate generalized Josephson radiation allowing
communications between biological body (BB) and magnetic body (MB) using EEG. Meridian
system would be permanently connected system of communication lines.
5. This picture leads to a concrete proposal [26, 28] about the roles of DMT and pineal gland concerning imagination and dreams and hallucinations. Pineal gland would indeed serve as third eye
(it serves quite concretely as an eye in some lower organisms) but receives dark photon radiation
from MB. This give rise to imagined sensory percepts. DMT attaching to the receptors can lead to
continuation of flux tubes down to sensory organs and this in turn would generate sensory percepts
identifiable as dreams, hallucinations, psychedelic experiences, mystic experience, even encounters
with extraterrestrial life-forms.
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3.3
Emotions as sensory percepts about the state of MB
The model of emotions relies on the identification of sensations as sensory percepts about the state
of magnetic body so that the same mechanisms would be involved. In particular, the percepts at the
level of brain would involve iterative fourth-and-back signalling using dark photons building emotions as
standardized mental images.
Consider first the view about sensory perceptions and motor actions.
1. One can argue that ordinary sensory percepts are basically observations about the state of BB. For
instance, retina is part of body affected by the incoming light signal. Nerve pulses from sensory
organs generate transmitters, which produce bridges connecting existing flux tubes to connected
flux tube networks assignable to networks of active neurons. The activity manifests as synchronous
firing. This makes possible communications with light-velocity and quantum entanglement for the
network possible so that it become tensor network [24]. These network give rise to sensory mental
images representing objects of the external world.
Remark: Cortex is essential for this process: this would mean that organisms without cortex
should not be able to decompose perceptive field to objects. Is midbrain able to achieve targeted
attention to some feature of perceptive field and how much does the information processing in retina
contribute? Note that frogs have no cortex and are able to perceive only the motion of the target
and presumably also its distance.
2. Motor action can be seen as a response to sensory percept. In ZEO motor action has interpretation
as time reversed sensory perception mathematically. This is suggested by Libet’s classical discovery
[6] that the decision to perform motor action is preceded by neural activity in brain. TGD based
interpretation is that the decision induces a classical signal proceeding to geometric past or that it
replaces superposition of space-time surfaces with a new one so that the ”average” geometric past
changes.
This view generalizes to emotions.
1. Emotions would be seen as sensory percepts about the state of MB rather than that of BB. For the
part of MB inside BB the topology of MB is under continual change and lower level emotions would
characterize the state of this part of MB. Not all these emotions need be conscious to us and this
might relate to diffuse de-localized character of emotions. The most important contribution to the
bodily emotion would come from the dynamical pattern for the topology of MB regarded as 4-D
object in ZEO.
Also now emotional mental images would be assignable to MB and would naturally be artworks
involving forth-and-back signalling with light-velocity.
2. Hormones as molecules of emotion excreted to blood flow as an analog of motor response would
replace neural transmitters and serve as bridges allowing to build networks of cells and possibly
larger structures. Hormones would serve as tools for changing the topology of the network in body
length scales and the topology would depend on the distribution of hormones. One would have the
analog of sensory-motor loop involving feedback in terms of neural signals.
Hypothalamus would serve in the role of motor area in cortex and control other glands by excreting
hormones controlling their hormone excretion. The neural input to brain and eventually to limbic
brain would lead to the hormonal response of hypothalamus and other glands. Also MB would
control the response.
As already noticed, delta waves in frequency range [.5,4] Hz (not correlating directly with our conscious experience) are involved with the control the excretion of hormones from hypothalamus.
Neuroscientist would assign these waves to cortex and thalamus, In TGD framework these waves
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would come from appropriate layer of MB but could have also brain counterparts since the interaction between MB and BB requires resonance and therefore same frequencies [33].
3. The connected networks of cells - or more precisely, their 4-D time evolutions as space-time surfaces
analogous to Bohr orbits - would give rise to emotional mental images. The 4-D nature of basic
objects could explain why emotions involve temporal aspect. Their size scale of networks would
be typically rather large so that emotions or more precisely feelings associated with them would
be holistic and would not allow localization to any part of body. In smaller scales they would be
probably unconscious to us: this could provide an alternative explanation for the diffuse nature of
emotions. Besides transmitters and hormones there are also other information molecules responsible
for the generation of tensor networks inside cell and in the vicinity of cells.
4. There are also sensory percepts from the part of MB outside BB. There are no nodes defined by
cells or larger structures of organism and the dynamics could involve motions of biological body
perhaps representing this dynamics as a template or mimicry.
Remark: Since the magnetic bodies of organisms can have sizes of order Earth size and even larger
different organisms - in particular those of the same species - could appear as nodes of flux tube
network. This might related to the findings of Sheldrake [4, 5] about species learning [23].
Also oscillations of this part of MB - analogs of Alfwen waves (see http://tinyurl.com/7ekxqt2)
propagating with light velocity and analogous to oscillations of strings in the case of flux tubes should contribute to sensory percepts about MB. EEG and its possibly existing fractal counterparts
at higher frequency scales have natural identification as the analogs of Alfwen waves and cyclotron
frequencies are favoured frequencies in the control of gene expression by MB as also their differences
modulated by nerve pulse patterns in the case of communication of sensory data from cell membrane
to MB [12]. These oscillations could correspond to higher emotions since these parts of MB have
the largest values of hef f /h = n. In feelings generated by music time is indeed essentially involved
and one can say that these experiences are non-local in time.
It would seem that emotions, which do not involve any obvious goal or desire - such as happiness or
sadness - correspond to higher level emotions assignable to the part of MB outside MB. Note that the
parasympathetic part of autonomic system - rest-and-digest mood - involves also goals/needs/desires
such as sexual arousal, salivation, lacrimition, urination, digestion, and defecation so that these
emotions do not correspond to ”higher” ones. The sympathetic part - fight-or-flight mood - obviously
involves desires and goals.
Remark: One of the basic paradoxes related to time is how it possible to become conscious of entire
music piece in single moment as for instance Mozart did. The explanation relies on the distinction
between subjective time and geometric time.
The idea the part of MB with the scale of BB stores emotional memories raises interesting questions.
Could also immune system involve flux tube network? Could the meridian system of Chinese medicine
(see http://tinyurl.com/cwwggkw) be a flux tube network having acupuncture points as nodes. Is this
network rather static and based solely on signalling with dark photons? The reports that heart transplants
can transfer the memories of the donor to the receiver conform with the proposed vision. The claim that
eating meat causes violent nightmares is supported also by my own experiences.
3.4
Emotions and information
It is known that emotions correlate strongly with information although emotions and rational thinking are
often seen as diametrically opposite to each other. One however speaks of intuitive feelings and emotional
intelligence is now a generally accepted notion.
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1. Negentropy is a measure for the amount of conscious information having no counterpart in standard
physics, where one can define only ensemble entropy and entanglement entropy. Entanglement
negentropy is defined in p-adic sectors of the adele and although it obeys generalization of Shannon
formula it can have positive values unlike the negative of the ordinary Shannon entropy.
Remark: Adelic physics [30, 31] fuses real number based physics for sensory experiences (physics
of matter) and various p-adic physics as physics of cognition to single structure.
2. The values of hef f /h = n for given system is bound to increase in statistical sense since there exists
infinite number of extensions with dimension higher than given extension and only finite number
of them with dimension smaller. The increase of n does not imply increase of negentropy: it only
gives prerequisites for generating larger negentropy and the system can decide whether to do this.
3. Metabolic energy feed provides system with molecules having valence bonds with values of n larger
than for atoms. Hydrogen bonds and their generalization have even larger n. To gravitational flux
tubes one can assign even larger n. Reality as zero energy state wants to understand itself and
this leads to an increase of its negentropy in statistical sense and at the same time makes reality
algebraically more complex giving rise to evolution in this manner. Note that metabolic energy does
not generate negentropy as I have claimed earlier - it only makes possible to generate negentropy.
Emotions - at least those assigned to BB in the proposed model - have positive/negative coloring.
What could be the interpretation of this bit.
1. Could this bit tell whether the state function reduction meaning a replacement of zero energy states
as a kind of behavioral pattern with new one led to increase or decrease of negentropy?
2. Or could the color of emotion tell whether the state function reduction led to the increase or decrease
of n characterizing the ability to generate negentropy.
3.5
”Higher” emotions and music
Music expresses emotions and also create higher level emotions. As all art, it also induces experience of
beauty. Since hef f /h = n serves as a kind of IQ in the evolutionary hierarchy, there are good reasons to
expect that the emotions/feelings induced by music and other art forms are assignable to MB.
The dynamics of MB involves oscillations characterized by frequencies and in EEG frequencies are of
key importance for the part of MB outside biological body. The communications from cell membrane to
MB involve modulation of EEG frequencies identified as generalized Josephson frequencies by nerve pulse
patterns [12] and would define a coding of sensory data to higher level emotions. The control signals from
MB via DNA inducing gene expression would use dark photons at cyclotron frequencies to control BB.
3.5.1
Model for music harmonies and genetic code
For few years ago I ended up with a model of music harmonies leading also to a model of genetic code as
a side product [20].
1. The idea was that the 12-note scale could allow mapping to a closed path (octave equivalence)
going through all vertices of icosahedron having 12 vertices and not intersecting itself. Also the idea
that the triangles defining the faces of the icosahedron have interpretation as 3-chords defining the
notion of harmony for a given chord deserves study. The paths in question are known as Hamiltonian
cycles and there are 1024 of them [1]. There paths can be classified topologically by the numbers
of triangles containing 0, 1, or 2 edges belonging to the cycle representing the scale. Each topology
corresponds to particular notion of harmony and there are several topological equivalence classes.
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2. In the article [21] I introduced the notion of Hamiltonian cycle as a mathematical model for musical
harmony and also proposed a connection with biology: motivations came from two observations.
The number of icosahedral vertices is 12 and corresponds to the number of notes in 12-note system
and the number of triangular faces of icosahedron is 20, the number of amino-acids. This led to
a group theoretical model of vertebrate genetic code and replacement of icosahedron with tetraicosahedron to explain also the 21st and 22nd amino-acid and solve the problem of simplest model
due to the fact that the required Hamilton’s cycle does not exist. The outcome was the notion of
bio-harmony.
3. All icosahedral Hamilton cycles with symmetries (Z6 ,Z4 , Z2rot and Z2 ref l turned out to define
harmonies consistent with the genetic code. In particular, it turned out that the symmetries of
the Hamiltonian cycles allow to to predict the basic numbers of the genetic code and its extension
to include also 21st and 22nd amino-acids Pyl and Sec: there are actually two alternative codes maybe DNA and its conjugate are talking different dialects! One also ends up with a proposal for
what harmony is leading to non-trivial predictions both at DNA and amino-acid level.
4. The conjecture is that DNA codons correspond to 3-chords perhaps realized in terms of dark photons - music of light - or even ordinary sound. 256 different bio-harmonies are predicted and
these harmonies would give additional degrees of freedom not reducing to biochemistry. Music expresses and creates emotions and a natural conjecture is that these bio-harmonies are correlates of
emotions/moods at bio-molecular level serving as building bricks of more complex moods. Representations of codons as chords with frequencies realized as those of dark photons and also sound
is what suggests itself naturally. This together with adelic physics involving hierarchy of algebraic
extensions of rationals would explain the mysterious lookin connection between rational numbers
defined by ratios of frequencies with emotions.
5. In fact, also the emotions generated by other art forms could be realized using music of dark
light. Dark photons in various wavelength ranges and correspond to various values of hef f would
correspond to various sensory qualia and are represented at pineal gland (”third eye”) as imagined
sensory percepts [28]. They can be transformed to real sensory percepts at sensory organs by using
DMT molecules as bridges allowing the propagation of dark photons (or the bio-photons resulting in
their energy conserving transformation to ordinary photons) to sensory organs, where they generate
genuine sensory experience identified as dream, psychedelic experience, hallucination, etc...
3.5.2
How to realize emotions as music of genes concretely?
How to realize the music of genes represented as sequences of 3-chords of dark light as a communication
tool between dark and ordinary DNA/RNA and possibly even dark and ordinary variants of tRNA and
amino-acids?
1. Communication between ordinary and dark matter levels must be possible. This is guaranteed if
the transition energy spectra at different levels of hef f /h = n hierarchy contain common transition
energies so that a resonant interaction by exchange of dark photons becomes possible. This condition
is extremely demanding and could explain why basic bio-molecules are selected amongst numerous
alternatives [33] - this is indeed one of the hen-egg problems of pre-biotic evolution.
2. A hypothesis worth of studying is that the cyclotron transition energies of both ordinary DNA
and RNA nucleotides and their dark variants represented as dark proton sequences are same [33].
Cyclotron transition energies should cover several octaves and the natural proposal is that magnetic
field strength associated with the flux tube codes for the notes. In music experience roughly 10
octaves are needed corresponding to the range of audible sounds.
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3. The cyclotron frequencies of DNA nucleotides A, T, C, G are very nearly the same and near 1 Hz
for B = Bend = .2 Gauss since their masses do not differ much. Since the nucleotides are negatively
charged, also the cyclotron energies for codons and codon sequences are around 1 Hz. hef f = hgr
hypothesis states that the cyclotron energies of DNA are in the energy range of bio-photons in
visible and UV.
There hould be correspondences between a) the 64 ordinary DNA codons and allowed 3-chords and b)
64 dark variants of DNA codons and allowed 3-chords. These correspondences fix that between ordinary
and dark codons. One would have triality.
1. To realize music of genes one the value of B must have values in a range of several octaves. The
magnetic field strengths B associated with the flux tubes accompanying DNA strand should have
a spectrum given by 12-note scale. Both 64 dark DNA codons and 43 = 64 ordinary DNA codons
should correspond to 20 + 20 + 20 + 4 = 64 allowed 3-chords formed from the notes of 12-note scale.
2. Dark codons correspond to entangled states of 3 dark protons. The positions of dark protons are
different so that ermutations of the positions of dark protons are involved. The invariance of 3-chord
under permutations of notes would correspond to fermionic statistics. These permutations are lifted
to braidings if dark protons are connected by flux tubes to some other system, for instance ordinary
DNA.
If the dark protons are ordered linearly along flux tube, it would seem that these these positions
correspond to those of ordinary code letters. This does not make sense. If the letters of codon are
connected to the dark protons by flux tubes, the permutations of dark codons induce braiding of the
flux tubes but do not affect the order of the letters of the ordinary codon. Braiding would become
an essential part of the correspondence between ordinary and dark codons.
3. One should understand the correspondence of dark codons with the allowed 3-chords of a given
harmony and also with the ordinary DNA codons. Bio-harmony is defined as a composite of 3
harmonies with 20 allowed 3-chords and having symmetries Z6 , Z3 , and Z2 and of tetrahedral
harmony with 4 chords. Tetrahedron can be regarded as disjoint object or attached to DNA, and
this gives two variants of code.
How could these the icosa-tetra-hedral Hamilton cycles relate to the physical realization of dark
proton triplets? Each icosahedral cycle should give rise to 20 dark proton triplets. Why the
icosahedral geometry with Hamiltonian cycle should make itself manifest in the quantum physics
of dark proton triplet?
4. Could icosahedral geometry quite concretely correspond to a tensor network? The vertices of the
icosahedron would be connected by a sequence of flux tubes connecting nearest neighbors to form a
Hamiltonian cycle. Dark proton triplets would quite concretely be localized at the triangular faces
of the icosahedron.
Braided triplet of flux tubes would emerge from the vertices of an icosahedral triangle defining 3chord and would connect it to the nucleotides of the corresponding ordinary DNA codon. Magnetic
field strengths at these flux tubes would correspond to the notes of 12-note scale as defined by the
Hamiltonian cycle in question. The permutations of the dark proton states at the vertices of the
triangle would induce braidings of the flux tube triplet actually defining minimal braid in topological
quantum computation (sic!) The braiding accompanying the states of 3 dark protons would make
the correspondence with ordinary ordered DNA codons possible.
Note that each dark proton triplet could be also connected (without braiding) to its conjugate dark
proton triplet by a triplet of flux tubes so that one would obtain closed flux loops and one could
speak of knots instead of braids.
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Remark: Braiding brings strongly in mind the many TGD inspired proposals for DNA as topological quantum computer [?, ?]: maybe DNA as topological quantum computer could be (also?)
realized in this manner.
What physical objects could the 20 vertices of icosahedron correspond to? Hydrogen bonded water
clusters give rise to both tetrahedral and icosahedral structures. Could one associate dark proton
triplets to the dark parts of these structures? Could one try to experimentally identity possible
sequence of icosahedral water molecule clusters with vertices connected by hydrogen bonds associated with the DNA sequence? If the hydrogen bonds correspond to flux loops as suggested, they
can be rather long (proportional to hef f /h = n) so that even distant water molecules can become
hydrogen bonds and one could have a fractal hierarchy of icosahedra.
5. Resonance condition suggests that at the level of ordinary DNA double strand the cyclotron energies of dark protons associated with the hydrogen bonds connecting DNA nucleotides correspond to
those of flux tube triplets connecting ordinary and dark DNA codons. The magnetic field strengths
associated with the dark flux tubes accompanying hydrogen bonds would correspond to those associated with the triangles of icosahedral triangle. This would make possible communication between
the two dark sectors by dark-photon triplets as music of genes.
This leaves unanswered questions.
1. Why the 20+20+20=60 3-chords from 3 harmonies with different icosahedral symmetries (Z6 , Z3 , Z2 )
and 4 chords from tetrahedral harmony would combine to form single bio-harmony with 64 chords?
This requires the presence of 3 Hamiltonian cycles with different symmetries. Why all three different symmetry types for DNA and RNA? Could the 20 amino-acids correspond to single symmetry
type? Could tRNA codons correspond to two symmetry types?
2. How the 3-chords of dark photons could be played? 3-chord should be a collective effect affecting
both dark and ordinary codon by inducing emission of 3-photon state like - like playing a chord by
string instrument. The notes of the light chord need not emerge simultaneously but as arpeggios.
Could there be a pulse travelling along the Hamiltonian cycle and picking all the cyclotron notes
at the vertices containing dark proton and sending a cyclotron signal along flux tubes to ordinary
DNA codon. This pulse would travel along dark DNA and play the music defined by dark DNA
sequence.
3.6
Support for the view that information molecules serve as bridges in flux
tube networks
I have discussed information molecules from TGD point of view for for the first time about two decades
ago [11]. It was amusing to find that this discussion highlighting the interpretational problems related
to information molecules is still very topical. These strange findings give direct support for the view
that information molecules serve as bridges making possible the formation of networks of cells interpreted
in terms of flux tube networks in TGD framework. For this reason I glue below the earlier discussion
followed by the recent comments.
”Central nervous system (CNS), endocrine system and immune system are three basic systems involved
with bio-control and -communication. The work of Candace Pert and other neuroscientists has led to
a general notion of information molecule described in popular manner by Candace Pert [7]. Neural
transmitters and modulators associated with CNS are only special cases of information molecules. Also
neuropeptides and various hormones are involved. It has become clear that emotions are closely related
with the activity of information molecules and that both brain, endocrine system and immune system
communicate intensively with each other. One could regard even brain as a big gland. Of course, one
could also consider various glands and organs as mini-brains.
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The interactions of the information molecules involve the formation of receptor-information molecule
complex either at cell surface or in the cell plasma inside cell. Receptor-information molecule complex
inside cell can move to genome and induce gene transcription. In case that the complex is formed at the
surface of cell, second messenger action is involved. One can also speak about N:th messenger action.
There are many poorly understood aspects related to the mechanisms of information molecule action [3].
1. There are only few second messenger pathways and relatively few receptors but large number of
different functions. This phenomenon is known as pleiotropy or multi-functionality. For instance,
given second messenger causes different effects depending on the hormone that activated it (the phenomenon is somewhat analogous to the phenomenon in which message can be understood in several
manners depending on the state of receiver). At purely chemical level the problem is how second
messenger knows what hormone activated it? In steroid action the complex formed by information
molecule and receptor in turn activates some gene. Now the question is: How the activated RNA
polymerase knows which gene has to be activated? Pleiotropy appears also at level of hormones.
Same hormone can have multiple effects and the border between hormone, neuropeptide or even
neurotransmitter is unclear. For instance, hormone which by definition transmits long distance
communications, can have effects in nearby cells and thus acts like a neuropeptide. How hormone
knows what function it must perform? Also drugs and treatments can have different effects and side
effects.
2. There is also functional redundancy: the same function is performed by several second messenger
molecules. For instance, glucagon, growth hormone, adrenaline and corticosteroids elevate glucose
levels. This suggests that there is deeper level of communication involved and that second messenger
molecules are more like computer passwords than subprogram calls. Now the question is: What these
subprogram calls do correspond physically?
3. Biological functions can be initiated also in non-chemical manner. The phenomena of healing by
touch and the effects of meditation and biofeedback are examples of biological self-organization processes are initiated in non-chemical manner. Even other treatments like massage, acupuncture or
meditation can decrease or inhibit pain. These observations suggest that chemical level is not the
deepest level involved with biological functions and the question is: What is this deeper control level?
Simple lock and key mechanism cannot provide answer to the questions raised above. Rather, computer
password might provide better metaphor for the second messenger action whereas receptor-information
molecule complex would effectively generate subprogram call perhaps carried by the second messenger
molecule or possibly broadcasted. It seems that information molecules act more like signs or symbols
rather than being purely chemical agents. These symbols are interpreted by cell level intelligences and the
interpretation depends on context.”
The mysterious looking finding is that the cell activated by information molecules somehow knows,
which information molecule did the activation. This can be understood if the information molecule
attached to the receptor serves as a bridge so that the cell becomes part of a flux tube network to
which information molecule characterizes. The recent interpretation is in terms of a generation of a flux
tube network. Information molecule characterizes the network which is formed. The information storage
capacity of these networks - allowing quantum entanglement - is exponentially large than that of state of
the nodes: hence the naive AI based idea about copying consciousness to diskette by assigning a bit to
each neuron is extremely unrealistic.
3.7
Getting memories by eating those who already have them
While writing this article I learned about extremely interesting findings. I have already earlier written
about the finding that both pieces of a split planaria inherit the memories (identified as learned skills or
conditionings) of the original planaria [14]. One possibility is that the bodies rather than brains of the
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planaria carry the memories. Second possibility is that the splitting of planaria involves the replication
of its magnetic body carrying at least some of the memories. The news at this time was that planaria get
the memories of planaria that they have eaten!
To begin with, one must carefully distinguish between genuine memories and memories as behavioral
patterns (conditionings, skills).
1. Cognitive memories as behavioral patterns are assumed to be due to the strengthening of synaptic
contacts (long term potentiation (LPT, see http://tinyurl.com/yafzovyk) giving rise to nerve
circuits, which are active or easily activated.
In TGD framework activation means formation of flux tube network giving rise to quantum entangled state with neurons at the nodes: neural activity generates transmitters serving as bridges
between flux tubes associated with axons and create flux tube network carrying a conscious mental
image. A quantum coherent entangled tensor network is formed and also classical communications
using dark photons are possible in this state. These neurons are firing synchronously. Nerve pulses
would not be signals between neurons but would induce communications to magnetic body in scales
even larger than body.
2. Genuine memories - say episodal memories - would in TGD (zero energy ontology, ZEO) correspond
to neural activities in geometric past: kind of seeing in time direction. These are typically verbal
memories but also sensory memories are possible and can be induced by electric stimulation of
brain.
Consider now the experiments discussed in the popular article ”Somewhere in the brain is a storage device for memories” (see http://tinyurl.com/y8ejpcho). They all relate to the identification of
memory as a behavioral pattern induced by conditioning and are therefore emotional memories.
1. In one experiment sea slugs learned to avoid painful stimulus. This led to a generation of synaptic
contacts between neutrons involving increased synaptic strength - long term potentiation (LPT).
Then some drug was used to destroy the LPT. The problem was that the lost contacts were not
those formed when the memory was formed!
2. In second experiment mice were used. A conditioned fear (LPT) was induced in mice and again
the generation of synaptic contacts was observed. Then the contacts - long term potentiation - was
destroyed completely. Memories as conditioned fear however remained!
It was an amusing accident to learn about this just when I was building a model for emotions as
sensory percepts about the state of magnetic body (MB) fundamental in TGD inspired quantum biology.
1. In the recent case the memories are definitely emotional memories and in TGD framework they
would be naturally at the level of body and generated as mental images associated with large
numbers of ordinary cells appearing as nodes of quantum entangled flux tube networks giving rise
to tensor networks [24]. Hormones would be the tool to generate and modify these networks.
2. Emotional memories would be represented by the conditioning and analog of LPT at the level of
body rather than at the level of brain! Hormones like also other information molecules would act as
relays connecting existing pieces of network to larger ones! The neural activity would be involved
only with the generation of memories and induce hypothalamus to generate the fear network using
the hormones controlling hormonal activities of lower level glands.
3. The model could also explain the finding that in the splitting of flatworm the both new flatworms inherit the memories and that even non-trained flatworms eating trained flatworms get their memories
(defined as behavioral patterns involving emotional conditioning).
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Journal of Consciousness Exploration & Research| May 2023 | Volume 14 | Issue 3 | pp. 185-194
Lucido, R. J., Testing the Consciousness Causing Collapse Interpretation of Quantum Mechanics Using Subliminal Primes
Derived from Random Fluctuations in Radioactive Decay
185
Article
Testing the Consciousness Causing Collapse Interpretation of
Quantum Mechanics Using Subliminal Primes Derived from
Random Fluctuations in Radioactive Decay
Richard J. Lucido*
Abstract
Stimulus primes derived directly from patterns in a local source of radioactive decay were
flashed on a screen for a duration of time too brief to be consciously experienced. The primes
were immediately followed by a presentation of a stimulus symbol that human participants were
asked to rapidly respond to. According to the Consciousness Causes Collapse Interpretation of
Quantum Mechanics (CCC), because the primes had not yet been exposed to conscious
observation, they should continue to exist in a state of superposition based on the radioactive
decay from which they were derived. It was hypothesized that if the CCC interpretation were
correct, a prime produced in this way should not yield the standard effect on subsequent response
times as it would in a control condition in which observation had deliberately occurred
beforehand. This hypothesis was supported. The standard effect on response times was found in
the observed condition but not in the unobserved condition. The current findings support the
CCC interpretation of quantum mechanics.
Keywords: Consciousness, quantum mechanics, wave function, collapse, subliminal prime, test,
superposition, observation.
1. Introduction
To make sense of experimental results researchers have postulated different interpretations of
quantum mechanics. In the standard orthodoxy, often referred to as the Copenhagen
Interpretation, particles exist in a state of superposition, a collection of all possible states
described by Schrodinger’s wave function, until the act of measurement, at which time the
superposition collapses into only one of these possible states. The Copenhagen Interpretation is
silent on what actually constitutes an act of measurement or on how or why it collapses the wave
function. Unsatisfied with this lack of clarity, other interpretations have emerged that contest the
reality of the superposition. For example, the Many Worlds interpretation (Everett, 1957) holds
instead that the universe bifurcates every time a measurement is taken on a quantum system, that
all the possibilities are actually realized. Other interpretations maintain that nonlocal hidden
variables are determining the results of each measurement (Bohm, 1980), or that the collapse of
the wave function is a random yet objective process (Ghirardi, Rimini, & Weber, 1986).
*
Correspondence: Richard J. Lucido, PhD, practicing Educational and Behavioral Psycholigst, USA.
Email: ricklucido@wayne.edu
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Lucido, R. J., Testing the Consciousness Causing Collapse Interpretation of Quantum Mechanics Using Subliminal Primes
Derived from Random Fluctuations in Radioactive Decay
186
Perhaps the most fantastic interpretation of quantum mechanics is the augmentation to the
Copenhagen interpretation suggested by John von Neumann (1932) and Eugene Wigner (1961).
This interpretation holds that there is no clear physical end to the superposition, that the mathematics allows for the collapse of the wave function to be placed anywhere on the causal chain
from the physical measurement device all the way to the experimenter's subjective perception.
In other words, when a particle in superposition interacts with a physical measuring device, it is
reasonable to conclude that both the particle under consideration along with the physical measuring device itself are existing in a state of superposition until they are observed by the experimenter. What reason is there to conclude that macrophysical objects persist objectively in time
while microphysical objects exist only in superposition? The only clear place to draw the line of
collapse is at the point where a physical system interacts with consciousness, something that is
outside of the physical reality that is governed by quantum mechanics. This has subsequently
become known as the Consciousness Causes Collapse (CCC) interpretation.
In the years since its inception, the CCC interpretation has been further developed by researchers
in a variety of disciplines, some using it to make a case for interactional dualism (Beck & Eccles,
1998; Schwartz & Begley, 2002; Stapp, 2003), while others have used it to argue for monistic
idealism (Lanza & Berman, 2009). However, the interpretation remains unpopular. A recent poll
among working physicists, mathematicians, and philosophers found that only six percent of the
respondents thought that the observer had a role in collapsing the wave function (Schlosshauer,
Koer, & Zeilinger, 2013). Many consider the CCC interpretation to be unparsimonious and unscientific because it adds nonphysical elements into physics (e.g., Stenger, 1993), furthermore
most scientists and philosophers would consider consciousness to be itself entirely a physical
process (e.g., Dennett, 1991; Levine, 2001), although this view has been contested by others
(e.g., Chalmers, 1995; Nagel, 1974). Nevertheless, interest in the CCC interpretation persists
into the present day by researchers who continue to argue that it remains a viable way to interpret
quantum mechanics (Chalmers & McQueen, 2021, Kent, 2021).
Although work on the CCC interpretation has been largely conceptual, there have been proposals
on how the problem could be resolved empirically. For example, Sebastián & Okón (2016) proposed an experimental paradigm where a physical measuring device is set to measure a particular
property of a quantum system at an appointed time in the future and then sealed from conscious
view. After the time in which the measuring device was to have taken its reading, they argue
that it may be possible for a measurement of a different property of the system to be taken that
can determine whether or not the first property continues to remain in a state of superposition. If
that superposition were found to persist, they argue, it would provide support for the CCC interpretation. While this route may ultimately be a way to resolve the issue, the specifics of the experimental procedure have yet to be defined in such a way that an experiment can be performed.
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Lucido, R. J., Testing the Consciousness Causing Collapse Interpretation of Quantum Mechanics Using Subliminal Primes
Derived from Random Fluctuations in Radioactive Decay
187
Putting the CCC interpretation to an empirical test may require methods that are not limited to
those of experimental physics. An interdisciplinary approach that utilizes existing methods in
experimental psychology can provide the needed angle. Psychological researchers have developed paradigms that directly pertain to the border of conscious versus unconscious information
processing, and have developed objective measures of their effects. The well-established research paradigm of subliminal priming provides a place to start.
In cognitive psychology the term priming refers to an effect where exposure to one stimulus influences a person's response to another stimulus. For example, a positive word such as “happy”
is recognized and responded to faster after the word “joy” as compared to a negative word such
as “sadness” or “death”. The word “up” is responded to faster following a prime such as “high”
or “top” as opposed to “bottom” or “low”. Psychologists have been exploiting these reliable reaction time effects for decades as a multipurpose research tool. In recent years, these methods
have even been used to prime subjects subliminally (Dehaene et al, 1998; Greenwald et al, 2003;
Kouider & Dehaene, 2009). In such research, subjects are flashed a prime (such as a word or a
symbol) on a computer screen for a length of time that is just underneath the duration that can be
consciously experienced (about 50 milliseconds).
Despite subjects reporting to not be aware of seeing the prime, they demonstrated shorter reaction times responding to stimulus that is congruent with the prime than to incongruent stimulus.
Their brains processed the meaning of the prime and began to react to it even though they were
not aware of it. The prime was processed unconsciously. Utilizing this apparent ability for humans to process information unconsciously, and for that information processing to be objectively
measured through its effects on response time, the CCC interpretation of quantum mechanics can
be put to an experimental test. Specifically, this study aimed to create an interaction between a
quantum phenomenon and a physical measuring device, and then to subsequently assess whether
the phenomenon continued to be in a state of superposition before the data gathered from that
physical measuring device had any interaction with consciousness. By looking unconsciously,
we should be able to see the superposition without collapsing it.
2. Hypotheses
A sequence of stimulus primes will be derived directly from quantum events without any contact
from a conscious observer. According to the CCC interpretation, these primes, having not yet
been exposed to conscious observation, will have yet to collapse into an exact state. These
primes, still in a state of superposition, will be paired with stimulus items that the participants
will be asked to rapidly respond to. The participants' response times will be measured. This experimental condition will henceforth be referred to as the unobserved condition.
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Lucido, R. J., Testing the Consciousness Causing Collapse Interpretation of Quantum Mechanics Using Subliminal Primes
Derived from Random Fluctuations in Radioactive Decay
188
The primes in the control condition will be prepared identically to the experimental condition,
with the exception that the experimenter will view these primes on the computer screen prior to
the participant’s engagement in the response time task. This will henceforth be referred to as the
observed condition.
A prime in a state of superposition should not have an effect on response time as it will be
simultaneously both congruent and incongruent with the stimulus. Therefore, it is hypothesized
that if the CCC interpretation of quantum mechanics is correct the stimulus primes will not have
the expected effect on reaction time (reducing it when congruent and increasing it when incongruent) in the unobserved condition as they will in the observed condition.
3. Methods
(1) Stimulus Response Task
The stimulus items were drawn randomly from the set of whole numbers 1-9, where each stimulus item consisted of a single digit. The primes were similarly drawn from the set of whole
numbers 1-9, where each prime was also a single digit. Upon viewing the stimulus items the
subjects were asked to give an oral response as quickly as possible to each number indicating
whether the number was odd or even, by actually saying the words “odd” or “even” into the laptop microphone. The time it took for the participants to respond with their answer was measured
automatically by the computer program to an accuracy of 1 millisecond.
For each trial, participants were asked to respond to a set of 80 stimulus items. During the trials
the program proceeded automatically through the items with a 1.5 second interval in between
each item. Each item began with a forward mask, a nonsense series of symbols that remained on
the screen for a duration of 167 milliseconds. This was immediately followed by a prime that
remained on the screen for 50.1 milliseconds. The prime was followed by a backwards mask (a
different series of nonsense symbols) that remained on the screen for a duration of 33.4 milliseconds, followed by the presentation of the stimulus symbol, which remained visible for a duration
of 1,200 milliseconds or until the participant responded by speaking the words “odd” or “even”.
The interval between the presentation of the stimulus and the participant's verbal response was
recorded in the program along with the response itself. The stimulus symbols consisting of the
numbers 1-9 were randomly assigned by a deterministic function within the computer program.
Because of the set up just described, sometimes odd numbered stimulus items followed odd
numbered primes, and sometimes even numbered stimulus items followed even numbered
primes. In these cases, the primes were labeled as being congruent with the stimulus items.
However, in other cases, odd numbered stimulus items followed even numbered primes and even
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Lucido, R. J., Testing the Consciousness Causing Collapse Interpretation of Quantum Mechanics Using Subliminal Primes
Derived from Random Fluctuations in Radioactive Decay
189
numbered stimulus items followed odd numbered primes. In these cases, the primes were labeled as being incongruent with the stimulus items.
(2) Preparation of the Primes
A Geiger counter was used to measure radioactive decay from a small sample of uranium ore
during a series of four second intervals of time. Using Arduino software and related circuitry the
number of Geiger counter clicks obtained during each four second interval was automatically
transformed into a series of digital values that were fed into a laptop computer. The Geiger
counter, uranium ore, the laptop, and the related circuitry were placed within a sound insulated
container for the duration of time in which data from the radioactive decay was being taken
(about 10 minutes). The room that housed the experimental apparatus was not occupied by any
other human or animal, nor was anyone else on the floor of the lab during the time when the data
was taken. To further ensure that the sound of the Geiger counter clicks were not coming into
contact with any type of consciousness, loud music was played in the room to drown out any
sound that escaped the container.
After each 10-minute data gathering period, the experimenter reentered the room and removed
the laptop to a second room. The experimenter had covered the screen of the laptop with a
wooden clipboard so that the contents of the screen could not be seen. The experimenter used
keystrokes to unlock the computer, and then using the copy function transferred the Geiger counter data (about 150 digits) out of the Arduino program interface and closed the program.
The experimenter then removed the screen covering and opened up the response time program
(Inquisit 6 Software). The experimenter then scrolled down to the section in the code where the
numerical data from the Geiger counter clicks needed to be inserted. It is at this point where the
only procedural difference between the two conditions was implemented. When inserting the
primes for the unobserved condition, the experimenter covered the screen and pasted in the Geiger counter data using keystroke functions, thus never having had any conscious experience with
the number sequence generated from the radioactive decay. However, when pasting in the prime
sequence in the observed condition, the experimenter did not cover the screen and simply looked
at the list of numbers for a few seconds after pasting them in the code. Once the primes were
inserted in the code for both the observed and the unobserved conditions the program was set for
the participants. The experimenter carried the laptop into a third room where the participant was
waiting. The laptop was put in front of the participant who initiated the start of the stimulus
presentations with a mouse click.
(3) Correspondence of the Primes
The program code had been set up in such a way so that the frequency of Geiger counter clicks
pasted in the code became associated with a different whole number prime 1-9. There were elevISSN: 2153-8212
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Lucido, R. J., Testing the Consciousness Causing Collapse Interpretation of Quantum Mechanics Using Subliminal Primes
Derived from Random Fluctuations in Radioactive Decay
190
en different sets of these correspondences. The correspondence set that was used was also determined by a blind cut and paste from the Geiger counter data. By basing both the sequence of
primes and their correspondence directly on the Geiger counter data, a situation was created
where two collapses needed to occur before the exact nature of each prime could be determined.
This was done for the purpose of preventing against possible quantum backfilling in the unobserved condition, whereupon their eventual collapse during the data analysis items with a larger
response time would be more likely to pull incongruent primes and items with shorter response
times would be more likely to pull congruent primes. It was thought that the significant increase
in complexity of the possible outcomes within the superposition that this would entail would
work to prevent retroactive backfilling from being able to occur.
(4) Participants
Two different participants were used to produce response time data. Each participant was administered a series of six trials containing 80 items, for a total of 12 trials overall. Each of the
trials consisted of 40 items from the observed condition and 40 items from the unobserved condition. The participants alternated the condition they started with each trial to control for order effects. The participants generated 464 responses in the observed condition and 464 responses in
the unobserved condition. A total of 16 items in the observed condition and 16 items in the unobserved condition were spoiled due to either microphone sensitivity that resulted in those items
being rapidly skipped before the participants could respond to them, or due to items with frequency values higher than 11 Geiger counter clicks, which resulted in no prime being generated.
When asked following the data collection, neither of the participants reported to be able to discern the primes. One participant was removed from the study after their first trial upon reporting
to be able to see the prime on some of the items.
4. Results
The participants responded to 928 items overall (464 in the observed condition and 464 in the
unobserved condition). The participants responded incorrectly to only seven items (four in the
observed condition and three in the unobserved condition). The response time measurements for
each item that was incorrectly responded to was changed to the upper timeout limit of 1,200 milliseconds.
Although the primes used in the observed condition and the unobserved condition were both derived directly from the same source, the frequency of radioactive decay, comparisons were still
made to ensure their equivalency. The primes in both conditions had a range of 1-9. The primes
in the observed condition (M = 5.00, SD = 2.58) and in the unobserved condition (M = 5.04, SD
= 2.48) had equivalent means and standard deviations.
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Lucido, R. J., Testing the Consciousness Causing Collapse Interpretation of Quantum Mechanics Using Subliminal Primes
Derived from Random Fluctuations in Radioactive Decay
191
Table 1. Response Time Means and Standard Deviations Across Primes and Conditions
________________________________________________________________________
Observed Condition
Unobserved Condition
N
M
SD
N
M
SD
_______________________________________________________________________________
Congruent Prime
227
652.31*
128.40
231
675.95(ns) 138.52
Incongruent Prime
237 689.71 124.47
233
684.49
119.85
_______________________________________________________________________________
*p<.001, ns: non-significant
Table 1 presents participant response times across experimental conditions. Independentsamples t-tests were used to analyze the differences. The stimulus primes affected participant
response time in the observed condition but not in the unobserved condition. In the observed
condition participants responded faster to items preceded by congruent primes than they did to
items preceded by incongruent primes (t = -3.19, p <.001). In the unobserved condition, participant response times to items preceded by congruent primes were statistically equivalent to those
preceded by incongruent primes (t = -0.71, p = 0.239).
5. Discussion
All of the stimulus primes used in this study were determined by frequency patterns in a local
source of radioactive decay. These primes were found to affect participant response times only if
they were subject to prior conscious observation. Within the observed condition, significantly
shorter response times were obtained on items paired with congruent primes than those paired
with incongruent primes. However, within the unobserved condition (where conscious observation had been withheld) the response times between items with congruent and incongruent
primes were statistically equivalent. This result indicates that the wave functions determining
the primes in the unobserved condition were still in a state of superposition when the participants
responded to the stimulus items. Otherwise, if they had already collapsed into definite states,
they should have had the same effect on participants' response times as they did in the observed
condition.
This result supports the CCC interpretation of quantum mechanics, which holds that the act of
conscious observation brings about the collapse of the wave function, rather than the interaction
of the quantum phenomena with a physical measuring device. If it were the case that the physical measuring device alone collapsed the wave function, the radioactive decay would have collapsed into a series of definite states upon its initial interaction with the Geiger counter, and
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Lucido, R. J., Testing the Consciousness Causing Collapse Interpretation of Quantum Mechanics Using Subliminal Primes
Derived from Random Fluctuations in Radioactive Decay
192
whether the experimenter later viewed the values on a computer screen would not have altered
the effect the primes had on reaction time. But this was not the case. The primes only worked
once they were observed by the experimenter. Given this result, we are left with little option
other than to conclude that it was the experimenter’s conscious observation that played the critical role in causing the wave functions to collapse.
Replication of these results would be necessary before more confidence can be held in this conclusion. It is true, although it would be unlikely considering the obtained p values, that the results obtained here may be an artifact of statistical chance. To assess this likelihood, it is tempting to focus solely on the significant result in the observed condition. One may suppose that the
significant differences between the congruent and incongruent primes within the observed condition are merely the result of a statistical anomaly. However, the effect demonstrated here, where
subliminal primes congruent with a given stimulus reduce the average response time to that
stimulus, has been replicated many times (e.g., Dehaene et al, 1998; Greenwald et al, 2003;
Kouider & Dehaene, 2009). The striking result in the present study, rather, is the null finding in
the unobserved condition. It is the chance of type 2 error (not finding a significant effect when
one exists) that deserves the focus. In other words, not only was the insignificant finding in the
unobserved condition at odds with the observed condition within the same study containing all
its inherent shared variables (notwithstanding the experimental manipulation), but this insignificant finding is also at odds with previous studies in subliminal priming.
The participant's response modality in the present study, being verbal and abstract instead of being a keystroke, is of critical importance. Previous pilot studies of the current experimental paradigm were conducted where stimulus primes created large effects in the unobserved condition.
The difference between the design of these studies and the present research is that the current
response modality is both verbal and abstract, rather than purely directional. If the response task
is contrived in a way such that the participant is required to hit the “A” or the “L” key depending
on which way a directional symbol such as “<” or “>” is pointing, and the primes also consist of
those directional symbols, then it was thought the prime alone was producing a directional response impulse that was being consciously experienced by the participants.
In other words, it was thought that the primes produced a directional impulse in participants that
started them leaning one way or another, to the right or the left depending on the direction of the
symbol “<” or “>”. This impulse, this feeling of needing to go to the right or the left, was presumably collapsing the wave function, and preventing the realization of an actual unobserved
condition. This was corrected in the current study. By changing the items and the primes to
numbers, directionality was eliminated in the visual stimuli, and by requiring the participants to
produce a verbal and abstract label (oddness and evenness are abstractions) directionality was
also eliminated in the responses.
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Lucido, R. J., Testing the Consciousness Causing Collapse Interpretation of Quantum Mechanics Using Subliminal Primes
Derived from Random Fluctuations in Radioactive Decay
193
6. Conclusion
The purpose of this experiment was to use the methodology of subliminal priming to test the
consciousness causes collapse interpretation of quantum mechanics. The findings obtained support this interpretation. The outcome suggests that the act of conscious observation may play a
critical role in quantum mechanics, and, by extension, physical reality. Replications of this investigation will be necessary to establish more confidence in the outcome obtained.
Received April 16, 2023; Accepted April 30, 2023
References
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Chalmers, D. (1995). Facing up to the problem of consciousness. Journal of Consciousness Studies, 2
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Derived from Random Fluctuations in Radioactive Decay
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Marciak-Kozłowska, J. & Kozlowski, M., Klein-Gordon Equation for Consciousness Schumann Field
Article
Klein-Gordon Equation for Consciousness Schumann Field
*
Janina Marciak-Kozłowska1 & Miroslaw Kozlowski 2
1
2
Institute of Electron Technology, Warsaw, Poland
Warsaw University, Warsaw, Poland
Abstract
In this paper we developed new hypothesis on the nature of human brain waves and Schumann
waves. We define both waves as the Consciousness Schuman Field (CSF). To that aim we
formulated Klein-Gordon equation for CSF. We show that two new parameters, the hight of
potential barrier and relaxation time, describe the CSF. Assuming relaxation of brain in the order
of 1sec, we obtain the hight of human brain potential barrier of the order of 10 -15 eV. The same
value was obtained in our ealier papers for the temperature of the brain and Schuman waves.
Keywords: Brain, Schumann waves, relaxation time , potential barrier , Heisenberg inequality.
1. Introduction
Human consciousness has gone through several distinct permutations throughout history. These
structural changes have been documented and supported by a wealth of anthropological,
mythological, linguistic, artistic, philosophical, and scientific data. The human brain has not
changed in over 200,000 years; yet human beings have developed in language, art, technology,
and culture. These developments have stamped humans with a unique identity that is far different
than any other species on the planet. Currently, there is a disagreement in theory as to how or
why consciousness has shifted over time; however, there is overwhelming evidence that it is
shifting again.
In the book, The Ever Present Origin, Jean Gebster[Gebster, 1983] puts forth a theory, which
follows the progression and subsequent "mutation" of consciousness from the early hominid, to
present day man, and into the future. These developments in consciousness, according to Gebser,
occur because of the ever-changing relationship of human beings to space and time. Gebser
argues that human consciousness is in transition; therefore, if consciousness mutated in the past,
then it will, by simple logic, mutate again. Gebser's book effectively chronicles these changes in
consciousness. Through his research into the past eras of human history, Gebser identifies four
previous structures of consciousness: Archaic, Magic, Mythic, and Mental. He also states that
human beings are in the process of mutating into a new structure that he termed Integral
consciousness.
* Correspondence: Miroslaw Kozlowski, Prof. Emeritus, Warsaw University, Poland. Email: m.kozlowski934@upcpoczta.pl
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Marciak-Kozłowska, J. & Kozlowski, M., Klein-Gordon Equation for Consciousness Schumann Field
There is a direct link between these “structures” of consciousness and specific correlative
brainwave states. This interconnection suggests that the human brain adapts to the new structure
by adding a corresponding brainwave that aids in explicating and interpreting the new world
coming into view. This suggests that the higher brainwaves in the known spectrum were yet
dormant and inaccessible to early humans, and, as mutation occurred, there was a reciprocal
unfolding of ever-higher frequency waves. This determination also reveals a profound
relationship between the developmental growth of a human being, and the development of the
species at large, shedding new light on the symmetrical recapitulation of ontogeny and
phylogeny.
2. Brainwaves and Consciousness
This theory is in part, based on the comparative analysis of the ontogenetic and phylogenetic
development of brain structures and functions, the evolution of different brainwave spectrums,
and their correlations with different structures of consciousness.
It is well known that the brain is an electrochemical organ; researchers calculate that if all 10
billion interconnected nerve cells discharged at one time that a single electrode placed on the
human scalp would record something like 5 millionths to 50 millionths of a volt. Even though
this electrical power is very limited, it does occur in very specific ways that are characteristic of
the human brain. Electrical activity emanating from the brain is displayed in the form of
brainwaves. These brainwaves are measured using a process called electroencephalography, or
simply EEG, which is the recording of electrical activity along the scalp produced by the firing
of neurons within the brain.
It has been documented that the EEG dimensions in humans steadily increase with age. Simply
stated, experiences accumulated in the brain over time, form into cortical cell assemblies. These
cell assemblies cause more organizational complexity throughout the brain, which require higher
frequency brainwaves to operate. Thus, the "wisdom of old age” may find its neurophysiological
basis in greater complexity of brain dynamics compared to younger ages.
It has also been shown that certain brainwaves predominate at certain developmental stages.
These waves slowly increase over time to accommodate for various learned behaviors, as well as
genetic development. Through this development unfolds a corresponding “world view”, or
picture of reality. It is this picture of reality that Jean Gebser equated directly to his structures of
consciousness. Taken one step further, it would be completely plausible to assume that if the
ontogeny forms through the successive addition of brainwaves, then too should the
corresponding phylogeny develop in the same manner.
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Marciak-Kozłowska, J. & Kozlowski, M., Klein-Gordon Equation for Consciousness Schumann Field
3. The model of CSF
The measured frequencies of Schuman and brainwaves are nearly the same [Persinger, 2014]. In
Fig 1. we present our calculations of the spectra . It is worth to underline that both calculated
curves give a rather good description of the measured frequencies of Schuman and brain waves
[Marciak-Kozlowska 2013, 2015]
In this paper we developed hypothesis that the human brain waves and Schuman waves are the
same electromagnetic waves (CSF) with different amplitudes only. Moreover the ratio of the
amplitudes are independent of frequencies , Fig.1
ENERGY Density SPECTRUM W M^2 Hz
SCHUM AN and BRAIN WAVES
10 9
10 10
10 11
10 12
10 13
0
2.
10 144.
10 14
6.
10 148.
10 14
1.
10 13
1.2
10 13
1.4
10 13
ENERGY eV
Fig.1 The energetic spectra of the Schumann and brain waves [Marciak-Kozlowska, 2015]
4. Our hypothesis
We hypothesize that:
1. Brain waves and Schumann waves are the same waves with Schumann waves of a greater
amplitude;
2. Brain waves are result of interaction of the Schumann waves with neurons; and
3. Brain and Schumann waves are complementary pictures of the CSF
In the following, we consider one-dimensional Consciousness Schumann Field transfer
phenomena ( Marciak-Kozlowska, 2011). In this monograph the hiperbolic master equation
for wave phenomena ( x, t ) was formulated
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Marciak-Kozłowska, J. & Kozlowski, M., Klein-Gordon Equation for Consciousness Schumann Field
1 2 m 2Vm
2
( 2 2
2 ) 2 .
t
h t
h
x
(1)
In this paper we use this equation to the description of CSF. In equation m is the mass of the
neuron, h - is the Planck constant, V is potential and v is the velocity propagation of the
Schumann wave in the brain.We seek a solution in the form
( x, t ) e 2 u( x, t )
for the quantum equation (1).After substitution of Eq. (2) into Eq. (1), one obtains
1 2u 2u
2 q 2 u ( x, t ) 0,
2
2
υ t
x
where
t
(2)
(3)
2
2Vm mυ
q 2
.
2
2
The structure of Eq. (3) depends on the sign of the parameter q2.
For the initial Cauchy condition
u ( x,0)
g ( x),
t
and the solution of the Eq. (3) has the form [Marciak-Kozlowska, 2013]
u ( x,0) f ( x),
u ( x, t )
f ( x υt ) f ( x υt )
2
x υt
1
g (ς ) I 0 q 2 (υ 2 t 2 ( x ς ) 2 ) dς
2υ x υt
(4)
(5)
υ q 2 t x υt
I 1 q 2 (υ 2 t 2 ( x ς ) 2 )
dς.
f (ς )
2
υ 2t 2 ( x ς ) 2
x υt
When q2 > 0 Eq. (3) is the Klein – Gordon equation (K-G), which is well known from
applications in elementary particle and nuclear physics.
For q2 < 0 Eq,3 is the modified Klein –Gordon Equation with the solution
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Marciak-Kozłowska, J. & Kozlowski, M., Klein-Gordon Equation for Consciousness Schumann Field
u ( x, t )
f ( x υt ) f ( x υt )
2
x υt
1
g (ς ) J 0 q 2 (υ 2 t 2 ( x ς ) 2 ) dς
2υ x υt
(6)
υ q 2 t x υt
J 0' q 2 (υ 2 t 2 ( x ς ) 2 )
f
(
ς
)
dς .
2 x υt
υ 2t 2 ( x ς ) 2
In formulae (5) and (6 ) Functions Jn(x) and I n(x) are Bessel functions [Zauderer, 1989].
Both solutions (5) and (6) exhibit the domains of dependence and influence of the modified
Klein-Gordon and Klein-Gordon equation. These domains, which characterize the maximum
speed at which a disturbance can travel are determined by the principal terms of the given
equation (i.e., the second derivative terms) and do not depend on the lower order terms. It
can be concluded that these equations and the wave equation (for m =0) have identical
domains of dependence and influence.
The structure of the solution (5) and (6) have very clear meaning The first term describes the
undistorted Schuman wave and the second( with integrals ) describes the modifications if
Schuman wave into brain waves emitted by human brain
The special case is the q2 =0. In that case we obtain the relations between the relaxation time
and potential
V h
(7)
h
mv 2
(8)
and is the relaxation time for energy of the CSF waves in neuron. Equation (7) is the
Heisenberg formula for Schumann- Brain waves in human brain
Potential V is the barrier for the „intruders” to neuron brain It can be calculated following the
values of relaxation time for biological structures is of the order of 1 sec.From formula ( 7) we
obtain
V
h
1015 eV
(9)
and that potential Energy we obtained as the temperature of the brain wave source[MarciakKozłowska, 2013, 2015, 2017]
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Marciak-Kozłowska, J. & Kozlowski, M., Klein-Gordon Equation for Consciousness Schumann Field
5. Conclusions
The human being is immersed in CSF which influence the contemporary human evolution. It
seems to us that CSF wave are the carriers of rich information which for the moment are not
known. One hint of existence of this information is the influence of the Schumann field on
the psychics of the humans. In light of our study, these psychics phenomena are correlated
with Schumann wave due to possible interference of the CSF waves – both waves have the
same frequencies and velocities, the light velocities c.
References
Gebser J., The Ever Present Origin, Ohio University Press, Athens, Ohio. (1985) p 120-121
Persinger M., Schumann resonances frequencies found within quantitative electroencephalographic
activity implications for Earth- Brain Interactions Int. Letters of Chemistry , Physics, Astronomy, vol
30,2014
Zauderer E., Partial Differential Equations of Applied Mathematics, John Wiley & Sons, 1989
Kozlowski M., Marciak-Kozlowska J., Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle and Human Brain,
Neuroquantology. Vol. 11, 2013.
Kozlowski M., Marciak-Kozlowska J., Schumann Resonance and Brain Waves: A quantum description
Neuroquantology, Vol 13, 2015.
Kozłowski M. Marciak-Kozlowska, New Schrodinger Equation with Consciousness Term, JCER 8(3),
2017.
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Journal of Consciousness Exploration & Research| October 2017 | Volume 8 | Issue 9 | pp. 725-730
Lyng, N., Entities Confining Other Entities (ECE): An Argument Against the Combinational Problem
725
Research Essay
Entities Confining Other Entities (ECE):
An Argument Against the Combinational Problem
Nikolai Lyng*
ABSTRACT
Confinement of other confinements is a remarkably general property within our conscious
experiences. Such confinements appear to be more than what they confine and also characterize
something which can be fundamental. In this article I will present an argument against the
combinational problem based on this property of confinement. The combinational problem
questions how a number of separate experiences can combine and then result into the
macroexperience which we find in our own case.
Keywords: Conscious experience, confinement, entity, combinational problem.
Introduction
The idea of consciousness being fundamental in nature is called panpsychism (Chalmers, 2013).
If panpsychism could be the case, then looking for sufficiently general properties in our
conscious experiences may provide opportunities to predict nature in a fundamental way.
It turns out that confinement of other confinements is a very general property in our conscious
experiences. For example our consciousness is confined to our conscious experiences. Also it
turns out that confinement can confine any of our thoughts. For example an association between
a mental picture of a cup and the word “cup” somehow relates them together in a way which they
are not related to any other thoughts. In other words they are confined to each other. Since both
of these thoughts exist due to experiencing them, the confinement must exist as well. We
basically experience the confinement in addition to those thoughts and it has to be something
more than the mental picture of the cup and word “cup”. Also if we find a spot on this mental
picture of a cup, we can label it with the word “spot” and thus we have a new confinement within
the confinement between the mental picture of the cup and the word “cup”. Since our
consciousness confines the cup which again confines the spot, we see how confinements can
generally confine other confinements. This property of confinement may generally apply to any
of our thoughts. For example, anything which we can label is subject to confinement in the way
as was described in the example above. Another example of confinement could be that we can
distinguish some sequences of tones from other sequences of tones, and associate them with
different parts of a melody.
In the following I will investigate whether confinement can be fundamental and how
confinement may generally be subject to causation. Then it will be discussed how confinement
*Correspondence: Nikolai Lyng, Independent Researcher, Norway. E-mail: nikko9000@gmail.com
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as entities can be a synthesis where panpsychism is the thesis and the combinational problem is
the antithesis in an argument taking a Hegelian dialectic form.
Confinement as Entities
We perceive the confinement from the example above between the mental picture of the cup and
the word “cup” as one whole. Confinement occurring as such cannot be shown to be fragmented
and cannot be shown to vary in any way such that it loses its property of confinement. It exists as
something more than the word “cup” and the mental picture of the cup. It may be the case that
this confinement is an entity. Confinements of this kind have the characteristics of something
which is fundamental due to being general and because it is unknown how microphenomenal
these confinements can possibly be. If they are fundamental they can be considered as entities.
It is possible that consciousness exists as an entity which is confining our thoughts and not
someone else‟s. Then that is an example of how confinement can be a property which applies to
existence. Perhaps it is then simplest (requires fewest new concepts) to assume that the
confinements within our conscious experiences, e.g. between the word “cup” and the mental
picture of the cup are also entities. Then instead of the concepts consciousness, confinements and
qualia, we have reduced the perspective into entities and qualia or in other words just entities and
experience. Whether confinements in themselves have all the properties which consciousness has
or not, they do at least have the similarity to our consciousness which is that they confine other
entities and something which exists.
Panpsychism proposes that consciousness represents fundamental physical entities and thus
occurs generally in the physical universe. Since confinement is a general property in
consciousness, then the case of panpsychism suggests that confinement may be general in the
physical universe as well.
Causation and confinement
In the following example I would like to show that confinements can enter or exit the
confinement of other confinements. Imagine that you have an apple and throw it into a basket,
then later the basket is closed such that you cannot see the apple. What happened in terms of
confinements? The confinement confining the properties of the apple and the word “apple”
entered the confinement confining the properties of the basket and the word “basket”. Previously
we could recognize the apple as not being a part of the basket. After the basket is closed however
we can recognize that the apple is inside it even if we cannot see it. It is actually confined by the
confinement which is also confining the word “basket” and the properties of the basket. However
since the word “apple” only relates to the properties of the apple and not the basket it implies that
the “basket confinement” confines the apple and not the other way around. Also we can note that
the apple left the confinement which we labeled as “outside” of the basket, which it previously
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could have been recognized to be a part of. As such this example demonstrates that confinements
can enter or exit other confinements.
Axioms of Entities Confining other Entities
Below are some axioms which are based on observing conscious experience by simply
experiencing it in the way which was discussed so far. The word confinement refers to the fact
that we can experience that some thoughts which are different can be more related to each other
than they are to other thoughts. The following axioms are meant to be self-evident:
1. Confinements exist as something more than what is being confined.
2. Confinements can confine other confinements.
3. Confinements can enter or exit the confinement of other confinements.
Perhaps these axioms could have some predictive power beyond our conscious experiences,
particularly if panpsychism is true. Essential properties in set theory do follow from these selfevident axioms. It could also be possible that these axioms predict the nature of fundamental
entities.
The Combinational Problem
In David Chalmers article “Panpsychism and panprotopsychism” (Chalmers, 2013) he concluded
that the combinational problem is an antithesis for Russellian monism and panpsychism. In this
chapter I will investigate what happens when the combinational problem is applied to the
interpretation where entities confining other entities are fundamental.
The combinational problem is given below (Chalmers, 2013):
“One way to pose the combination problem is in the form of a conceivability argument. (An
approach along these lines is presented by Goff (2009), to whom my presentation here is
indebted.) Here PP is the conjunction of all microphysical and microphenomenal truths about the
world, and Q is a macrophenomenal truth, such as „Some macroscopic entity is conscious‟.
(1) PP&~Q is conceivable.
(2) If PP&~Q is conceivable, it is possible.
(3) If PP&~Q is metaphysically possible, constitutive panpsychism is false.
______________________________
(4) Constitutive panpsychism is false.
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Here premises (2) and (3) parallel the corresponding premises of the conceivability argument
against materialism, and are supported by the same reasons. So the key premise here is premise
(1). This premise asserts the conceivability of panpsychist zombies: beings that are physically
and microphenomenally identical to us (and indeed whole worlds that are physically and
microphenomenally identical to ours), without any macrophenomenal states.”
In terms of the interpretation based on entities confining other entities, the combinational
problem translates to questioning why the entity which is our consciousness should always be
there in human beings. If it is possible that our consciousness isn‟t there, why aren‟t there some
human beings having no consciousness but only the entities which make up our conscious
experiences? If there are no such people without consciousness it appears to require a new but
otherwise unnecessary mysterious concept to explain why it is so. The introduction of a new
unobserved concept which doesn‟t necessarily have to exist does in principle seem unlikely.
Such a case seems more likely to violate the principle of Occam‟s Razor.
According to David Chalmers, panpsychism is the view that at least some fundamental physical
entities are conscious. If panpsychism is the case such that consciousness is general, then the
axioms of ECE may be general as well. In that case, and if confinements are entities, the
emergence of macrophenomenal truths may become self-evident. Axiom 2 then says that entities
confine other entities. Then the entity which is our consciousness may simply be there because of
axiom 2. If we instead question why we confine exactly our thoughts, it could follow from axiom
3. Entities may enter or exit the confinement of other entities.
Another relevant property of confinement is that each confinement is unique not only by existing
in itself, but by confining different contents. Even our consciousness has a unique property
which all the confinements which we experience do not. That is that our consciousness confines
all the confinements and qualia within it. These other confinements only confine a subset of it. It
is possible that confining more information than a subset of it can play a unique role in causation.
Then this unique property may have occurred in such a way that it was selected by natural
selection.
Confinements exist as something more than what they confine and may define a relation between
microphenomenal and macrophenomenal truths. As such each confinement can be unique due to
its unique contents. They may also simplify how micro- and macrophenomenal truths are related
together by possibly being fundamental entities which observable nature is to confine other
entities. By accounting for all of these properties, two arguments taking a Hegelian dialectic
form can be made, where entities confining other entities can be considered a synthesis with
panpsychism as a thesis and the combinational problem as an antithesis. The first argument
focuses on the uniqueness of each confinement and the other focuses on how causation relates to
confinement.
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Here PP is the conjunction of our microphenomenal truths about the world, and Q is a
macrophenomenal truth, such as „Some macroscopic entity is conscious‟:
(1) If PP is a conjunction in itself, then it is defined by Q.
(2) If Q is a necessary condition for PP, then PP&~Q inconceivable.
______________________________
(3) The combinational problem is false
If PP is an example of our inner conscious experiences, then confinement may be the only thing
which can relate them together. Our consciousness may therefore be a unique and relevant
property in our conscious experiences which may also be necessary to play a role in causation.
Confinement is macrophenomenal and also relates thoughts together. If we do not experience our
thoughts, they may be lesser fragments which aren‟t otherwise related to each other.
Confinement is certainly subject to causation, and from our experience with nature, it generally
appears as if that which is an effect of causation is a cause to a new effect. Why should not this
also be the case for confinement and consciousness? The argument below is another argument
which argues that causation may always ensure that consciousness always occurs.
Here PP is the conjunction of all microphysical and microphenomenal truths about the world,
and Q is a macrophenomenal truth, such as „Some macroscopic entity is conscious‟. C is how
causation may relate to PP and Q.
(1) PP&~Q&C may be inconceivable.
(2) If PP&~Q&C is inconcievable, Q always occurs.
(3) If Q always occurs, panpsychism is possible.
______________________________
(4) Panpsychism is possible.
The argument says that consciousness, our experiences and causation are all a part of reality.
Then it is possible that causation can ensure that consciousness is always there “when it is
supposed to be there”, such that there may be no zombies behaving like humans. It is because
consciousness may be a unique property and necessary property such that natural selection has
ensured that causation causes consciousness to “be there”. Also the concept of entities confining
other entities introduces a simplified relation between micro- and macrophenomenal properties
and how they can relate to causation in a way such that no unnecessary concept beyond
observation is necessary. Then causation may always cause consciousness to be “there”. This
argument is based on generalizing the observations that confinements, experiences and causation
are observable and possibly fundamental concepts in nature. It may in principle be in line with
Occam‟s Razor.
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Conclusion
In the realm of conscious experiences, confinement is a very general property and also appears to
be something more than the properties within it. By identifying properties of confinement and
observing how they are subject to causation, the axioms of ECE could be established. If
confinement is a fundamental concept, which its generality and possible “size” may suggest, then
generalizing the axioms can possibly predict fundamental properties in nature.
Since each confinement is unique due to confining different contents but also more than what it
confines, it is possible that each confinement can play a unique role in causation. It was
discussed how these assumptions can provide an argument against the combinational problem.
Since we can observe confinement and how it is subject to causation, no new concepts were
introduced. The argument is then based on generalizing observable concepts which may be
fundamental. Therefor the argument appears to not contradict the principle of Occam‟s Razor.
References
Chalmers, 2013, Panpsychism and Panprotopsychism, Amherst Lecture in Philosophy, Oxford University press:
http://consc.net/papers/panpsychism.pdf
Lyng, N. (2016). Structures of Confinements as an Empirical Property of Consciousness and a Fundamental
Property in Physics. Open Journal of Philosophy, 6, 120-139. http://dx.doi.org/10.4236/ojpp.2016.61012
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Research Essay
The Nature of Cause & Effect in a Classical
& Quantum View: Scientific & Upanishadic Thoughts
Narendra D. Sharma*
Abstract
The nature of cause and effect was scientifically explained by Isaac Newton during late
seventeenth century. It was a classical mechanistic view. These ideas went through some
changes with the evolution of quantum mechanics during twentieth century. However, Sage
Kanada had scientifically discussed the nature of ‘Cause and Effect’ in his ‘Vaisesika Sutras’
more than two thousand years ago. This article will deliberate on the thoughts expressed by Sage
Kanada which account for both classical and quantum views and then discusses their correlation
with modern scientific ideas.
Keywords: Cause & effect, Newtonian mechanics, quantum mechanics, Upanishads, Vaisesika
Sutra.
1. Introduction
Influenced with the thoughts of Francis Bacon and Rene Descartes, the great European
philosophers of 16th and 17th century, Sir Isaac Newton (1642-1727), an English Physicist and
Mathematician developed the foundations of ‘Principles of Mechanics’, popularly known as
‘Newtonian Mechanics’, which became the back bone of scientific thought in ‘Physical
Sciences’ for the next two centuries. Newton discussed the nature of cause and effect in his
deliberations of the principles known as ‘Newton’s Laws of Motion’, talking about the nature of
forces acting between two bodies. If there is a cause, there will be an effect exactly proportional
to it. This was a statement based on linearity and determinism. This statement was perfectly fine
on the macroscopic level and worked extremely well on the grosser plane. The principles of
‘Newtonian Mechanics’ helped in the development of ‘Engineering Sciences’, which immensely
benefited society in improving the quality of life of people at large.
However, it became difficult to explain the behaviour of sub-atomic particles based on the
principles of ‘Newtonian Mechanics’, because their behaviour was found to be non-linear and indeterministic. It was not possible to find out the ‘position’ and ‘velocity’ of a particle exactly, as
discussed by Heisenberg in his ‘Principle of Uncertainty’. Moreover, it was even harder to
ascertain the behaviour of ‘electron’, one of the most important and fundamental sub-atomic
particles. Incidentally, it is the behaviour of an electron which decides the properties of matter on
the grosser level. It was even more difficult to ascertain that what is an ‘electron’? Is it a particle
or a wave? Or, is it both, depending on its pleasure, however, exhibiting only one property at a
time. An electron has indeed both, a particle as well as a wave-like property, and so is everything
*
Correspondence: Narendra Dutt Sharma, Former Controller, Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, Mumbai.
Email: ndsharma57@gmail.com
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else in nature, but how and where such a particle is located is dependent on the very act of
observation. This ‘quantum uncertainty’, was considered quite weird. A particle could only be
described by a ‘wave function’. The particle actually exists only in a blurry state of possibility
until its wave function collapses during observation. The behaviour of a particle could only be
defined as probabilities. No particle could, therefore, assume a particular motion or place till the
collapse of its wave function. This was the weirdness of quantum science which was becoming
extremely difficult to comprehend, literally impossible to visualise. This has been discussed in
detail by the author in one of his recently published papers 1.
Sage Kanada has discussed the nature of ‘Cause and Effect’ in his Sutras. Vaisesika Sutras of
Sage Kanada 2 have been considered as one of the initial expositions on physical sciences in
Indian philosophy. These Sutras probably present one of the earliest discussions on the thought
of ‘atomicity’, and on the true nature of knowledge which is supposed to comprise of dravya
(substance), guna (attribute), karma (action), samanya (generality), visesa (particularity),
samavaya (inherence) and abhava (non-existence). Vaisesika-Sutra sets up an ontological
system. Vaisesika is a materialist system but differs a lot from the Western materialist system in
its structure (like many other Indian systems). The Indian materialism is indeed transcendental
materialism. To understand Indian ontological thinking, it is necessary to study Vaisesika,
Sankhya and Vedanta in conjunction with each other.
Before we discuss the Vaisesika Sutras concerned with the ‘Cause and Effect’, it is necessary to
deliberate on the fundamental philosophical system of Vaisesika Sutras of Kanada.
2. Vaisesika-Sutra of Kanada -A Philosophical System
Historians of philosophy have encountered difficulty to say the date of this ancient text with
certainty. Some scholars say that these were written before Nyaya-Sutra, which were supposed to
be known to Kautilya in 300 BCE. However, some scholars contend these to be pre – Buddhist
period texts, an opinion also shared by some Chinese scholars as well, such as Chi-Tsan. It
seems that there is ample evidence to prove that these were written sometimes between 600 BCE
to 200 BCE.
Vaisesika is niriswara (Godless) school of thought; it does not posit ‘God’ as an ontological
category. However, it is astika because it accepts Vedas as valid epistemology. The purpose and
nature of any philosophical enquiry is directed towards overcoming suffering. The suffering is
inevitable, but what is important is to seek the wisdom to rationalise suffering and reduce its
potential to damage the Self. Vedanta talks that suffering is the property of material body (jadtattwa) and ignorance in the form of imposition of the body on the Self (Atma) is its cause. If one
is able to completely delink one’s Self from the body and establish oneself in one’s self, one may
be able to constitute the state of absence of suffering. Hence to achieve and establish oneself in
one’s self, one needs to gain knowledge of the ‘Universal self’ or the ‘Life Principle’
(paramatma-tattwa), which is totally alien to the principle of sorrow. The central concept of
Vedanta is Brahman. Vedanta has a great insight and considers energy as not separate but
immanent in the matter. Therefore, Brahman is that one principle which subsumes energy and
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matter, and described as substratum, Brahman being the efficient cause (nimitta) and the
pervasive principle of the entire universe. This establishes the oneness of all beings.
The fundamental principle of Visesika is karya-karnavada (cause-effect principle), which is also
known as parmanu-vada (atomistic principle). Sage Kanada has developed a theory of atomicity,
discussed the theory of sound and adopted an empiricist view of causality, which happens to be
somewhat in the spirit of modern scientific enquiry. This asserts that everything has a cause to
exist. The subtle sub-atomic particles (parmanu) are the ultimate cause or constituents of all the
gross material objects. The material cause of this universe is nothing but the conjunction of these
sub-atomic particles in a hierarchic structure. Kanada’s Vaisesika Sutras is a theistic text which
does not believe in the existence of God but deals with physics and metaphysics. The Vaisesika
Sutra is one of those texts which form the basis of the syncretic Nyaya-Vaisesika system. The
Vaisesika ontology admits repeatable properties and is realistic in nature because it
conceptualizes this universe as created from timeless entities, spatial points and temporal events.
Vaisesika debates in accordance with the tenets of the system of ‘logic’.
Through its atomic theory, the Nyaya-Vaisesika system attempts to explain only the composite
objects of the universe that are non-eternal. It is definitely considered one of the earliest theories
in Indian philosophy to view the concept of ‘Atomicity’. Yet the Vaisesika Sutras may not
completely stand the scrutiny of the modern scientific enquiry of the atomic theory or the atomic
structure in the established modern empirical fashion. The great Indian philosopher of twentieth
century, Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan has commented very pointedly on the atomic theory of the
syncretic Nyaya-Vaisesika system, as follows:
“In its attempt to explain the origin and destruction of the world, it reduces all composite objects
to the four kinds of atoms of earth, water, fire and air. So, it is called the atomic theory of the
world. But, it is not a mechanistic or materialistic theory like atomism of Western science and
philosophy. It does not ignore the moral and spiritual principles governing the processes of
composition and decomposition of atoms.” 3
In the first chapter itself, Kanada’s Sutra enumerates the principal categories such as substance,
attribute, action and their common properties and differences etc. Then, he discusses the
concepts of ‘Cause and Effect’, generality and specificity, and being in substance, attribute and
action. The further chapters discuss on the nature of the nine substances, which are earth, water,
fire, air, ether, time, direction, self and mind, with a discussion on non-eternality of sound and
detailed examination of self and mind. Further, there is description of ‘Nature’, establishing the
eternality and existence of atoms, and then explaining that how the sensory perception leads to
knowledge. There is discussion on the type of bodies, on action, and even on subjects such as
giving, receiving, renunciation, seen and unseen deeds producing merit, and on attributes. There
is further discussion in detail on ‘Atomicity’, on ether, mind, time, direction, and ‘Inherence’ as a
subject. There is deliberation on various types of cognition and negation, finally dwelling upon
the notions of pleasure, pain and study of cause. Kanada has concluded the Sutras with the
reassertion of the authority of the most ancient scriptures ‘Vedas’, existence of ‘Soul’ and finally
that feeling of ‘I’ as a proof of direct perception of the ‘Self’. It is generally accepted that as
Panini’s grammar is indispensable to have the proper knowledge of linguistic science, Kanada’s
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Sutra is indispensible to obtain the knowledge of categories. We will now deliberate upon some
of these 'Sutras', which discuss the nature of ‘Cause and Effect’.
3. The Nature of Cause & Effect: Samanya & Visesa
These Sutras are reproduced from Chapter 1-Second Ahnika:
Sutra 32. “Karnabhavat Karyabhavah” II 1 II (In Sanskrit)
Meaning thereby, 'In the absence of Cause is the absence of Effect'.
This is reasonably simple to understand. If there is no ‘Cause’, there is no ‘Effect’. That is to say
that to have an effect, there needs to be a cause. This is typically 'Newtonian Mechanics'. All
three of Newton’s laws of motion represent the cause and effect phenomenon. On a broader
perspective and on macro level, this is what operates the 'Physical World' as we understand. This
is linear, deterministic and causal and operates in ‘Cartesian Co-ordinates’. This is the
fundamental principle governing almost all the laws of modern science and the basis of the
development of modern technology. Incidentally, people generally try to understand the 'Human
Behaviour' as well in these terms, but it may not be quite true. Actually, it is far from truth.
Human behaviour can never be linear, deterministic and causal.
Let us now understand the next Sutra.
Sutra 33. “Na tu karyabhavat karnabhavah” II (In Sanskrit)
Meaning thereby, 'But in the absence of Effect, there is no absence of Cause'.
This is rather interesting and needs deeper introspection. It probably means that if no ‘Effect’ is
observed, it does not mean that there is no ‘Cause’. It might also mean that the ‘Cause’ could still
be there but not let the ‘Effect’ be perceived. The ‘Effect’ might be subtle, if at all. This may
need a little more deliberation. This governs the microscopic world and also the 'most
complicated human behaviour'. We normally find this concept hard to understand, and difficult
to visualize. This is nothing but the essence of ‘Quantum Science’. This is what Professor
Heisenberg discussed in his ‘Principle of Uncertainty’. (The thoughts on quantum science were
actually developed in the first half of the twentieth century by a large number of scientists). This
is nonlinear, in-deterministic and probabilistic. This operates the ‘Micro World’. It is likely that
this goes to the ‘Consciousness’ level, where the normal ‘Physical Laws’ as established by
modern science (mainly Newtonian mechanics) do not hold well. This is the realm of subtlety
where observer affects the observed. This also governs the ‘Human Behaviour’ most of the time.
It is thought that Heisenberg, and many other European scientists of early twentieth century were
very influenced with 'Indic Thoughts', and the knowledge of our scriptures, ‘Vedas and
Upanishads'. Heisenberg visited India, stayed for few weeks and discussed with Rabindra Nath
Tagore (Nobel Laureate) on the beauty of the knowledge in Indian scriptures. This was the time
while he understood the concept of 'Maya', 'Advaitism', and the great thoughts of 'Adi
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Shankracharya’. Heisenberg has expressed his thoughts in his book titled, 'Physics and
Philosophy'. Similarly, Fritjof Capra's views expressed in his books ('Tao of Physics', 'Turning
Point, and 'Uncommon Wisdom') are great ideas on the subject which also indicate how these
thinkers viewed the 'Eastern Mysticism' and 'Western Scientific Thoughts' in a relative
perspective.
These philosophical thoughts are in resonance with the, ‘Principles of Bio-Centrism',5,6 recently
talked by Robert Lanza MD, one of the most celebrated Bio-Scientists. It may be worthwhile to
put forward these 'Principles of Bio-Centrism', here to complete this discussion:
First Principle - What we perceive as reality is a process that involves our 'Consciousness'.
Second Principle - Our external and internal perceptions are inextricably intertwined. They
are different sides of the same coin and cannot be separated.
Third Principle - The behaviour of all the particles - subatomic or even objects - is
inextricably linked to the presence of an observer. Without the presence of a ‘Conscious
Observer', they only at best exist in an undermined state of 'Probability Waves'.
Fourth Principle - Without consciousness, 'matter' dwells only in an undermined state of
probability. Any universe that could have preceded consciousness only existed in a probable
state.
Fifth Principle - The very structure of the universe could be explained only through biocentrism. The universe is fine tuned for life, which makes perfect sense as life creates the
universe, not the other way round. The universe is simply the complete spatio - temporal
logic of the self.
Sixth Principle - Time does not have a real existence outside of animal sense perception. It is
the process by which we perceive changes in the universe.
Seventh Principle - Space, like time, is not an object or a thing. Space is another form of our
animal understanding and does not have an independent reality. We carry space and time
around with us like turtles with shells. Thus, there is no absolute self - existing matrix in
which physical events occurs independent of life.
In the next Sutra, the Sage states,
Sutra 34. "Samanyam visesa iti buddhapeksam" II 3 II (In Sanskrit)
Meaning thereby, '(Both) Samanya and visesa depend on Buddhi (Intellect)'.
This is a very interesting thought. The 'Samanya' (ordinary / universal / general) and 'Visesa'
(special / extraordinary / particular) is the matter of personal 'Buddhi' or Intellect or individual
perception. ‘Vaisesika’ as such has been interpreted in two ways. One explanation is derived
from the category ‘Visesa’, which has been used in the sense of ‘particularity’, while another
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view is that the name of the system is derived from the category ‘Visesa’, on which the concept
of ‘Atomic Theory’ is based. In this case, ‘Visesa’ is interpreted as ‘Special’. Whatever it may
be, ‘Visesa’ is considered diametrically opposite to the ‘Samanya’ (universal). ‘Visesa’ is
actually that underived peculiarity which explains the differences of part-less eternal substances
like space, time, souls, minds and atoms of similar kind. There is a view that ‘Visesa’ is as
imperceptible as the atom itself.
Let us deliberate on three more Sutras on ‘Generality’ and ‘Specificity’ after mentioning them,
which are as under:
Sutra 35. Bhavo’nuvrttereva hetutvat samanayameva II4II (In Sanskrit)
Meaning thereby, Being/Existence being the cause of continuity is ‘samanya’.
Sutra 36. Dravyatvam gunatvam karmatvam ca samanyani visesasca II5II (In Sanskrit)
Meaning thereby, Dravya, guna and karma are both Samanya and Visesa.
Sutra 37. Anyatrantyebhyo visesebhyah II6II (In Sanskrit)
Meaning thereby, Visesa, being (the constituent of) ultimate differences, exists independent
(of any percipient).
As discussed above, Vasesika sutras has divided the entire knowledge in seven categories which
are: dravya (substance), guna (attribute), karma (action), samanya (generality), visesa
(particularity), samavaya (inherence), and abhava (non-existance). Dravya (substance) has been
considered as the substratum of guna (attributes) and karma (actions), but different from both.
Out of nine substances discussed earlier, only the first five i.e. ether, fire, air, water, and earth are
physical in nature; while all the four except ether (akasha) are supposed to be composed of all
the four kinds of atoms of fire, air, water and earth (This has been discussed by the author in one
of his earlier published papers1).
These atoms were considered as indivisible and indestructible particles of matter, which are
eternal and uncreated but with specific attributes of odour, taste, colour, touch and sound. The
world is supposed to be created out of atoms, the origin and destruction of the objects of the
world being explained by the composition and decomposition of the atoms. Atoms do not move
by themselves, however, the sources of their motion are unseen forces operating as per laws of
action (karma).
Kanada thought that these atoms are probably too small and could not be perceived, however
should be inferred from their effects. These atoms could also be without attributes albeit
temporarily. Kanada considered that the eternal nature of atoms could be attributed to the fact
that these are imperceptible because perceptible entities are usually destructible. As per Kanada’s
opinion, ether, direction and time are considered to be imperceptible substances viewed as
eternal and all pervasive, concerned with various physical functions of the body such as
cognition, feeling etc. The self is considered as eternal, all pervading substance supposed to be
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656
the substratum of the phenomenon of ‘Consciousness’. The ‘Self’ could only be perceived by the
mind internally.
Attribute (guna) is that characteristic which though existing in a substance (dravya), but has no
attribute or action in itself. Action (karma) belongs to substance (dravya) like attribute (guna).
The universal (samanya) is that eternal essence which is common to all the individuals of a class.
That is why the sage said, ‘Being/Existence being the cause of continuity is ‘samanya’. However,
particularity (visesa) is actually the ground where the things ultimately differ with each other.
Usually, one distinguishes one thing from the other only by the peculiarities of its parts.
Therefore, particularity (visesa), stands for that individuality of the eternal entities of the world.
Therefore, though, dravya, guna and karma have been considered both Samanya and Visesa, but
Visesa, being (the constituent of) ultimate differences, exists independent (of any percipient).
Therefore, in summary, Nyaya-Vesesika philosophic system (materialism) presents a world
consisting of individual objects, termed as ‘substances’, which appear as substrata of certain
characteristics in relation of container and contained. The real structure of this materialism is the
essential difference between the substratum and its properties. For example, gold is the
substratum while the necklace (made of gold) is the manifestation of its properties. These
‘substances’ are actually substrata with various kinds of properties residing in them.
Some attributes could be stationary such as colour etc, while some could be transient such as any
‘action’. As per our common experience, some objects could be so similar that these could be
referred by a common noun, and could have something in common to all individuals of that
class. That is regarded as ‘generality’. However, ‘particularity’ is that special characteristic
which differentiates one atom from another though they could be of the same class. Out of the
five categories mentioned above, the categories of ‘guna’, ‘karma’, ‘samanya’, and ‘visesa’
(apart from ‘dravya’, the substance), are the properties which reside in the substrata of the
substance. The relationship among the substratum and the substance is one of those connections
which are referred as ‘samavaya’ (inherence). Another seventh category of ‘abhava’ (nonexistence) was later on added to this system.
Karl H. Potter has the opinion that as far as metaphysics of this particular system is concerned,
the ‘Nyaya-Vesesika’ system is one of the most rigorous efforts at the construction of a realist
and substantialist ontology the world has ever seen. 7
4. Conclusion
The phenomenon of cause and effect as understood through the western scientific analytical
method, first through ‘Newtonian Mechanics’ and then through ‘Quantum Mechanics’, has been
briefly discussed. This has then been compared with the thoughts of Sage Kanada on the same
subject through his exposition in his sutras. It appears that Indian sages had analysed the
philosophy of cause and effect more than two thousand years ago, albeit in a very abstract form,
very vividly and had made an effort to understand this phenomenon from various points of views
such as generality and particularity.
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657
References
1. (Sharma Narendra Dutt, 2018), On the Concept of Space-Time and Consciousness: Some Western and
Indic Thoughts, Journal of Consciousness Exploration & Research, Vol. 9, Issue 4, pp 328-349
2. (Chakrabarty Debasish, 2003), Vaisesika Sutra of Kanada, D.K.Printworld (P) Ltd., New Delhi
3. (Radhakrishnan Sarvepalli, and Editors, 1967), History of Philosophy, Eastern and Western, Vol. 1,
London, p 231
4. (Radhakrishnan Sarvepalli, 1977), Indian Philosophy, Vol. 2, New York
5. (Lanza Robert, 2009), Biocentrism, Benbella Books Inc. Dallas
6. (Lanza Robert, Berman Bob, 2016), Beyond Biocentrism, Benbella Books Inc. Dallas
7. (Potter Karl H., 1997), Introduction, Encyclopaedia of Indian Philosophies: Indian Metaphysics and
Epistemology: The Tradition of Nyaya-Vesesika up to Gangesa, Delhi, India
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Marciak-Kozłowska, J. & Kozlowski, M., Human Consciousness & Bohm’s Pilot Wave
465
Article
Human Consciousness & Bohm’s Pilot Wave
*
Janina Marciak-Kozłowska1 & Miroslaw Kozlowski 2
1
2
Institute of Electron Technology, Warsaw, Poland
Warsaw University, Warsaw, Poland
Abstract
One of the fundamental property of human consciousness is human memory. In Bohm’s
interpretation of quantum mechanics, the pilot wave guides the particles including those in
human brain. In this paper, we develope a modified Schrodinger equation (MSE) which
contained a consciousness term, solve the MSE and obtain a formula for pilot wave in human
neuron.
Keywords: Modified Schrodinger equation, pilot wave, Planck mass, neuron mass.
In this paper, we study Bohm’s quantum equation and its relation to consciousness (e.g.,
memory). We show that the Bohm’s equation ( modified Schrodinger equation ) is the result of
the memory of quantum system.
When Planck made the first quantum discovery, he noted an interesting fact [1]. The speed of
light, Newton’s gravity constant and Planck’s constant clearly reflect fundamental properties
of the world. From them it is possible to derive the characteristic mass M P, length L P and
time TP with approximate values:
LP = 10-35 m
TP = 10-43 s
MP = 10-5 g
Nowadays much of cosmology is concerned with “interface” of gravity and quantum
mechanics.
After the Alpha moment – the spark in eternity [1] - the space and time were created by
“Intelligent Design” [2] at t = TP. The enormous efforts of the physicists, mathematicians and
philosophers investigate the Alpha moment. Scholars seriously discuss the Alpha moment –
by all possible means: theological and physico-mathematical with growing complexity of
theories. The most important result of these investigation is the anthropic principle and
Intelligent Design theory (ID).
The thermal history of the system (heated gas container, semiconductor or Universe) can be
described by the generalized Fourier equation [3]-[5]
* Correspondence: Miroslaw Kozlowski, Prof. Emeritus, Warsaw University, Poland. Email: m.kozlowski934@upcpoczta.pl
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466
(1)
In Eq. (1) q(t) is the density of the energy flux, T is the temperature of the system and K(t – t
') is the thermal memory of the system
K (t t ' )
K
(t t ' )
exp
,
τ
τ
(2)
where K is constant, and τ denotes the relaxation time.
As was shown in [3]-[5]
Kδ (t t ' )
K (t t ' ) K constant
K
(t t ' )
exp
τ
τ
diffusion
wave
damped waveor hyperbolic diffusion.
The damped wave or hyperbolic diffusion equation can be written as:
2T 1 T DT 2
T.
t 2 τ t
τ
(3)
For τ 0 , Eq. (3) is the Fourier thermal equation
T
DT 2T
t
(4)
and DT is the thermal diffusion coefficient. The systems with very short relaxation time have
very short memory. On the other hand for τ Eq. (3.3) has the form of the thermal wave
(undamped) equation, or ballistic thermal equation. In the solid state physics the ballistic
phonons or electrons are those for which τ . The experiments with ballistic phonons or
electrons demonstrate the existence of the wave motion on the lattice scale or on the electron
gas scale
2T DT 2
T.
t 2
τ
(5)
For the systems with very long memory Eq. (3) is time symmetric equation with no arrow of
time, for the Eq. (5) does not change the shape when t t .
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467
In Eq. (3) we define:
D
υ T ,
τ
velocity of thermal wave propagation and
(6)
λ υτ ,
(7)
where λ is the mean free path of the heat carriers. With formula (3.6) equation (3.3) can be
written as
1 2T
1 T
2
2T .
2
2
υ t
τυ t
(8)
From the mathematical point of view equation:
1 2T 1 T
2T
υ 2 t 2 D t
is the hyperbolic partial differential equation (PDE). On the other hand Fourier equation
1 T
2T
D t
(9)
2 2
t
2m
(10)
and Schrödinger equation
i
are the parabolic equations. Formally with substitutions
t it, T
(11)
Fourier equation (9) can be written as
i
D 2
t
(12)
and by comparison with Schrödinger equation one obtains
2
DT
2m
and
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DT
468
.
2m
(14)
Considering that DT τυ 2 (3.6) we obtain from (3.14)
τ
.
2mυh2
(15)
Formula (15) describes the relaxation time for quantum thermal processes.
Starting with Schrödinger equation for particle with mass m in potential V:
i
2 2
V
t
2m
(16)
and performing the substitution (11) one obtains
T 2 2
T VT
t 2m
(17)
T
2
V
T T.
t 2m
(18)
Equation (18) is Fourier equation (parabolic PDE) for τ = 0. For τ 0 we obtain
2T T V
2
τ 2
T
T,
t
t
2m
(19)
2 mυ 2
(20)
τ
or
1 2T 2m T 2Vm
2 T 2T .
2
2
υ t
t
With the substitution (3.11) equation (3.19) can be written as
i
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2 2
2
V
2 .
t
2m
t
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The new term, relaxation term
2
t 2
(22)
describes the interaction of the particle with mass m with space-time. The relaxation time τ
can be calculated as:
1
,
1 e1p ... Planck
(23)
where, for example τe-p denotes the scattering of the particle m on the electron-positron pair (
e p ~ 1017 s) and the shortest relaxation time τPlanck is the Planck time ( τ Planck ~ 1043 s).
From equation (23) we conclude that τ τ Planck and equation (21) can be written as
i
2 2
2
V
τ Planck 2 ,
t
2m
t
(24)
where
1
1 G 2
τ Planck 5
.
2 c
2M p c 2
(25)
In formula (25) Mp is the mass Planck. Considering Eq. (25), Eq. (24) can be written as
h2 2
h2
h2
1 2
2
2
ih
V
( 2 2 ).
t
2m
2M p
2M p
c t
(26)
The last two terms in Eq. (26) can be defined as the Bohmian pilot wave
2
2 2
2
0,
2M p
2M p c 2 t 2
(27)
1 2
0.
c 2 t 2
(28)
i.e.
2
Equations (27) and (28) constitute Bohm-type quantum equation, Modified Schrodinger
Equation (MSE). It is interesting to observe that pilot wave does not depend on the mass
of the particle.
With postulate (28) we obtain from equation (26)
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i
470
2 2
2
V
2
t
2m
2M p
(29)
2
2 2
2
0.
2M p
2M p c 2 t 2
(30)
and simultaneously
In the operator form Eq. (21) can be written as
pˆ 2
1
ˆ
E
Eˆ 2 ,
2
2m 2 M p c
(31)
where Ê and p̂ denote the operators for energy and momentum of the particle with mass m.
Equation (31) is the new dispersion relation for quantum particle with mass m. From Eq. (21)
one can concludes that Schrödinger quantum mechanics is valid for particles with mass m «
MP. But pilot wave exists independent of the mass of the particles.
For particles with mass m « MP Eq. (29) has the form
i
2 2
V .
t
2m
(32)
In the case when m M p Eq. (29) can be written as
i
2
2 V,
t
2M p
(33)
but considering Eq. (30) one obtains
2 2
i
V
t
2M p c 2 t 2
(34)
2 2
i
V 0.
2
2
2M p c t
t
(35)
or
We look for the solution of Eq. (35) in the form
( x, t ) e iωt u ( x).
(36)
After substitution formula (36) to Eq. (35) we obtain
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471
2
ω2 ω V ( x) 0
2
2M p c
(37)
with the solution
M pc2 M pc2 1
ω1
ω2
for
M pc
2V
M pc2
(38)
2V
M pc2 M pc2 1
M pc2
2
V and
2
Considering that Mp equals the mass of human neuron ( 10 -5 g)
M p c 2 iM p c 2
ω1
M p c iM p c
2
ω2
for
M pc
2
2V
1
M pc2
(39)
2
2V
1
M pc2
2
V.
Both formulae (38) and (39) describe the string oscillation, formula (27) damped oscillation
and formula (28) over damped string oscillation. Considering that Mp equals the mass of
human neuron ( 10 -5 g) both equation describe the human neuron oscillations – emission of
brain waves.
References
[1] Julian Barbour, The End of Time, Oxford University Press, 2000.
[2] Jeffrey F. Addicot, Ohio State Law Journal, 2003.
[3] M. Kozlowski, J. Marciak-Kozlowska, The time arrow in a Planck gas, Foundations of Physics
Letters, 10, p. 295,(1997).
[4] M. Kozlowski, J. Marciak-Kozlowska, The smearing out of the thermal initial conditions create in
a Planck Era, Foundation of Physics Letters, 10, p. 599,(1997).
[5] M. Kozlowski, J. Marciak-Kozlowska, Klein-Gordon thermal equation for Planck gas,
Foundations of Physics Letters, 12, p. 93,(1999).
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Hard Problem and Free Will:
an information-theoretical approach
arXiv:2012.06580v2 [quant-ph] 28 Jan 2021
Giacomo Mauro D’Ariano and Federico Faggin
We are such stuff as dreams are made on, and our little life is rounded with a sleep.
William Shakespeare
Abstract We explore definite theoretical assertions about consciousness, starting
from a non-reductive psycho-informational solution of David Chalmers’s hard problem, based on the hypothesis that a fundamental property of "information" is its
experience by the supporting "system". The kind of information involved in consciousness needs to be quantum for multiple reasons, including its intrinsic privacy
and its power of building up thoughts by entangling qualia states. As a result we
reach a quantum-information-based panpsychism, with classical physics supervening on quantum physics, quantum physics supervening on quantum information, and
quantum information supervening on consciousness.
We then argue that the internally experienced quantum state, since it corresponds
to a definite experience–not to a random choice–must be pure, and we call it ontic. This should be distinguished from the state predictable from the outside (i.e.
the state describing the knowledge of the experience from the point of view of an
external observer) which we call epistemic and is generally mixed. Purity of the
ontic state requires an evolution that is purity preserving, namely a so-called atomic
quantum operation. The latter is generally probabilistic, and its particular outcome is
interpreted as the free will, which is unpredictable even in principle since quantum
probability cannot be interpreted as lack of knowledge. We also see how the same
purity of state and evolution allow solving the well-known combination problem of
panpsychism.
Quantum state evolution accounts for a short-term buffer of experience and contains
itself quantum-to-classical and classical-to-quantum information transfers. Long
Giacomo Mauro D’Ariano
Dipartimento di Fisica, University of Pavia, via Bassi 6, 27100 Pavia, e-mail: dariano@unipv.it
Federico Faggin
Federico and Elvia Faggin Foundation
1
2
Giacomo Mauro D’Ariano and Federico Faggin
term memory, on the other hand, is classical, and needs memorization and recall
processes that are quantum-to-classical and classical-to-quantum, respectively. Such
processes can take advantage of multiple copies of the experienced state re-prepared
with "attention", and therefore allowing for a better quality of classical storing.
Finally, we explore the possibility of experimental tests of our theory in cognitive
sciences, including the evaluation of the number of qubits involved, the existence of
complementary observables, and violations of local-realism bounds.
In the appendices we succinctly illustrate the operational probabilistic theory (OPT)
framework for possible post-quantum theories of consciousness, assessing the convenient black-box approach of the OPT, along with its methodological robustness in
separating objective from theoretical elements, guaranteeing experimental control
and falsifiability. We finally synthetically compare the mathematical postulates and
theorems of the most relevant instances of OPTs–i.e. classical and quantum theories–
for convenience of the reader for better understanding our theory of consciousness.
The mathematical notation is provided in a handy table in the appendices.
1 A quantum-informational panpsychism
In his book The Character of Consciousness [1] David Chalmers states what he calls
the hard problem of consciousness, namely the issue of explaining our experience–
sensorial, bodily, mental, and emotional, including any stream of thoughts. Chalmers
contrasts the hard problem with the easy problems which, as it happens in all sciences,
can be tackled in terms of a mechanistic approach that is useless for the problem
of experience. Indeed, in all sciences we always seek explanations in terms of
functioning, a concept that is entirely independent from the notion of experience.
Chalmers writes:
Why is the performance of these functions accompanied by experience? ...
Why doesn’t all of this information processing go on “in the dark” free of any inner feel?...
There is an explanation gap between the function and the experience.
An effective paradigm for comprehending the conceptual gap between “experience”
and “functioning” is that of zombie, which is behaviourally indistinguishable from a
conscious being, nevertheless has no inner experience.
There are currently two main lines of response to the hard problem: 1) the
Physicalist view–with consciousness “emergent from a functioning”, such as some
biological property of life [2]; 2) the Panpsychist view–with consciousness as a
fundamental feature of the world that all entities have. What is proposed here is:
Panpsychism with consciousness as a fundamental feature of “information”, and
physics supervening on information.
The idea that physics is a manifestation of pure information processing has been
strongly advocated by John Wheeler [3] and Richard Feynman [4, 5], along with
Hard Problem and Free Will
3
several other authors, among which David Finkelstein [6], who was particularly fond
of this idea [7]. Only quite recently, however, the new informational paradigm for
physics has been concretely established. This program achieved: 1) the derivation
of quantum theory as an information theory [8, 9, 10], and 2) the derivation of
free quantum field theory as emergent from the nontrivial quantum algorithm with
denumerable systems with minimal algorithmic complexity [11, 12].1 In addition
to such methodological value, the new information-theoretic derivation of quantum
field theory is particularly promising for establishing a theoretical framework for
quantum gravity as emergent from the quantum information processing, as also
suggested by the role played by information in the holographic principle [14, 15]. In
synthesis: the physical world emerges from an underlying algorithm, and the kind of
information that is processed beneath is quantum.
The idea that quantum theory (QT) could be regarded as an information theory is
a relatively recent one [16], and originated within the field of quantum information
[17]. Meanwhile what we name “information theory” has largely evolved, from its
origins as a communication theory [18], toward a general theory of “processing” of
information, which previously had been the sole domain of computer science.
What do we mean by “information theory”?
Recently, both in physics and in computer science (which in the meantime connected with quantum information), the theoretical framework for all information
theories emerged in the physics literature in terms of the notion of Operational
Probabilistic Theory (OPT) [9, 10, 19]. an isomorphic framework that emerged
within computer science in terms of Category Theory [20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25].
Indeed, the mathematical framework of an information theory is precisely that of
the OPT, whichever information theory we consider–either classical, quantum, or
"post-quantum". The main structure of OPT is reviewed in the Appendix.2
Among the information theories, classical theory (CT) plays a special role. In
fact, besides being itself an OPT, CT enters the operational framework in terms
of objective outcomes of the theory, which for causal OPTs (as QT and CT) can
be used for conditioning the choice of a following transformation within a set.
Clearly this also happens in the special case of QT. Thus, the occurrence of a given
outcome can be regarded as a quantum-to-classical information exchange, whereas
conditioning constitutes a classical-to-quantum information exchange. We conclude
that we should regard the physical world faithfully ruled by both quantum and
classical theories together, with information transforming between the two types.
1 The literature on the informational derivation of free quantum field theory is extensive, and,
although not up to date, we suggest the review [7] written by one of the authors in memoriam
of David Finkelstein. The algorithmic paradigm has opened for the first time the possibility of
avoiding physical primitives in the axioms of the physical theory, allowing a re-foundation of the
whole physics over logically solid grounds [13].
2 The reader who is not familiar with the notion of OPT can regard the OPT as the mathematical
formalization of the rules for building quantum information circuits. For a general idea about OPT
it is recommended to read the appendix. The reader is supposed to be familiar with elementary
notions, such as state and transformation with finite dimensions.
4
Giacomo Mauro D’Ariano and Federico Faggin
This theoretical description of reality should be contrasted with the usual view
of reality as being quantum, creating a fallacy of misplaced concreteness. The most
pragmatic point of view is to regard QT and CT together as the correct information
theory to describe reality, without incurring any logical paradox. We will use this
idea in the rest of the chapter. Due to the implicit role played by CT in any OPT,
when we mention CT we intend to designate the special corresponding OPT.
We will call the present view, with consciousness as fundamental for information
and physics supervening on quantum information: Quantum-Information Panpsychism.
In place of QT, one may consider a post-quantum OPT–e.g. RQT (QT on real
Hilbert spaces), FQT (Fermionic QT), PRB (an OPT build on Popescu-Rohlich boxes
[26]), etc. [10], yet some of the features of the present consciousness theory can be
translated into the other OPT, as long as the notion of “entanglement” survives in
the considered OPT.
2 A non-reductive psycho-informational solution: general
principles
The fundamental nature of the solution to the hard problem proposed here has been
suggested by David Chalmers as satisfying the following requirements [1]
Chalm1 : Consciousness as fundamental entity, not explained in terms of anything
simpler...
Chalm2 : ... a non reductive theory of experience will specify basic principles that
tell us how basic experience depends on physical features of the world.
Chalm3 : These psychophysical principles will not interfere with physical laws
(closure of physics). Rather they will be a supplement to physical theory.
In an information-theoretic framework, in which physics supervenes on information our principle will be psychoinformational (see Chalm3 ). The non-reductive
(Chalm2 ) psycho-informational principle that is proposed here is the following:
P1: psychoinformational principle: Consciousness is the information-system’s experience of its own information state and processing.
As we will see soon, it is crucial that the kind of information that is directly
experienced be quantum.
Principle P1 may seem ad hoc, but the same happens with the introduction of
any fundamental quantity (Chalm1,2 ) in physics, e.g. the notions of inertial mass,
electric charge, etc. Principle P1 asserts that experience is a fundamental feature
of information, hence also of physics, which supervenes on it. P1 is not reductive
(Chalm2 ), and it does not affect physics (Chalm3 ), since the kind of information
involved in physics is quantum+classical. On the other hand, P1 supplements physics
(Chalm3 ), since the latter supervenes on information theory.
Hard Problem and Free Will
5
It is now natural to ask: which are the systems? Information, indeed, is everywhere:
light strikes objects and thereafter reaches our eyes, providing us with information
on those objects: colour, position, shape,... Information is supported by a succession
of systems: the light modes, followed by the retina, then the optical nerves, and
finally the several bottom-up and top-down visual processes occurring in the brain.
Though the final answer may have to come from neuroscience, molecular biology,
and cognitive science experiments, we can use the present OPT approach to inspire
crucial experiments. OPT has the power of being a black-box method that does not
need the detailed "physical" specification of the systems, and this is a great advantage! And, indeed, our method tackles the problem in terms of a pure in-principle
reasonings, independent of the "hardware" supporting information, exactly as we do
in information theory. Such hardware independence makes the approach particularly
suited to address a problem so fundamental as the problem of consciousness.
We now proceed with the second principle:
P2: Privacy principle: Experience is not sharable, even in principle.
Principle P2 plays a special role in selecting which information theories are compatible with a theory of consciousness. Our experience is indeed not sharable: this
is a fact. We hypothesize that that non shareability of experience holds in principle,
not just as a technological limitation.3A crucial fact is that information shareability
is equivalent to information readability with no disturbance.4 Recently it has been
proved that the only theory where any information can be extracted without disturbance is classical information theory [28]. We conclude that P2 implies that a
theory of consciousness needs nonclassical information theory, namely QT, or else
a “post-quantum” OPT.
Here we will consider the best known instance of OPT, namely QT. As we will
see, such a choice of theory turns out to be very powerful in accounting for all the
main features of consciousness. We state this choice of theory as a principle:
P2’: Quantumness of experience: The information theory of consciousness is quantum theory.
We remind that classical theory is always accompanying any OPT, thus there will be
exchanges and conversions of classical and quantum information.
We now introduce a third principle:
3 It may be possible to know which systems are involved in a particular experience, as considered in
Ref. [27]. However, we could never know the experience itself, since it corresponds to non sharable
quantum information.
4 In fact, information shareability is equivalent to the possibility of making copies of it–technically
cloning information. The possibility of cloning information, in turn, is equivalent to that of reading
information without disturbing it. Indeed, if one could read information without disturbing it, he
could read the information as many times as needed in order to acquire all its different complementary sides, technically performing a tomography of the information. And once he knows all the
information he can prepare copies of it at will. Viceversa, if one could clone quantum information,
he could read clones keeping the original untouched.
Âi2X (Tr ri )S
XY ||pX pY ) =
I(Xc({r
: Y ) :=
H(p
pi
 (Tr rj2Y
i }i2X ) := S(rX ) Âi2Xi2X,
i )S
I(X : Y ) := H(pXY ||pX pY ) = Âi2X, j2Y pi
6
Giacomo Mauro D’Ariano and Federico Faggin
P3: Psycho-purity principle: The state of the conscious system is pure.
c({ri }i2X ) := S(rX )
P3 may seem arbitrary if one misidentifies the experience with the knowledge of it.
The actual experience is ontic and definite. It is ontic, à la Descartes (Cogito, ergo sum
...). The existence of our experience is surely something that everybody would agree
on, something we can be sure of. It is definite, in the sense that one has only a single
experience at a time–not a probability distribution of experiences. The latter would
describe the knowledge of somebody else’s experience. Consider that the experience
of a blurred coin is just as definite as the experience of a sharp coin since they are
two different definite experiences. It is the knowledge of the coin side that is definite,
which only occurs if the image of the coin is sufficiently sharp, otherwise it would be
represented in probabilistic terms, e.g. by the mixture-state 21 TAIL+ 12 HEAD, based
on a fair-coin hypothesis (see Fig. 1). We thus can understand that by the same
definition the notion of mixture is an epistemic one, based on our prior knowledge
about the coin having two possible states. In synthesis:
1. Experience is described by an ontic quantum state, which is pure.
2. Knowledge is described by an epistemic quantum state, which is generally mixed.
We will see later how principle P3 is crucial for solving the combination problem.
Ontic State
Experienced by the system
Epistemic State
(|
|•i"i+⌦| #i
|•i⌦+|•i)
| #i6=
⌦ ||•i)
!i6=
⌦||•i
!i=⌦12|•i
(| "i
=++12 (|
| #i)
"i +
⌦ |(|•i
#i)+
⌦|•i)
(|•i + |•i
+
+
Predicted by an outside observer
Fig. 1 Illustration of the notions of ontic and epistemic states for a system given by a classical
bit, here represented by a coin, with states 0=HEAD or 1=TAIL. We call ontic the “actual” state
of the system, which is pure and generally unknown, except as an unsharable experience (in the
figure it is the coin state HEAD covered by the hand). We call epistemic the state that represents the
knowledge about the system of an outside observer, e.g. the state of the unbiased coin corresponds
to 21 HEAD+ 12 TAIL.
1
p
p1 (|"i
p1 |#i)
(|
"i
⌦
(|
|•i
"i
+
⌦
|
#i
|•i
⌦
+
|•i)
|
#i
=
⌦
|•i)
=
+
(|"i=
+ |#i) =
2
2
2
2
Let’s now state our fourth principle, which is theory independent:
P4: Qualia principle: Experience is made of structured qualia.
Qualia (phenomenal qualitative properties) are the building blocks of conscious
experience. Their existence has so far been inexplicable in the traditional scientific
framework. Their privacy and ineffability are notorious. Qualia are structured: some
Hard Problem and Free Will
7
of them are more fundamental than others, e.g. spectrum colours, sound pitch, the five
different kinds of taste buds (sweet, salty, sour, bitter, and umami), somatic sensations
(pain, pleasure, ...), basic emotions (sadness, happiness, ...). Qualia are compositional
with internal structures that generally partially determine their qualitative nature.
They are connected by different relations, forming numerous complex structures,
such as thoughts and emotions. Since we regard consciousness as the direct fruition
of a very structured kind of quantum information (we are the system supporting such
final information), then, according to principle P1, qualia correspond to information
states “felt” by the aware system, and according to principles P2 and P2’ such states
are quantum states of such systems.
S1: Qualia are described by ontic pure quantum states.
We will see in Subsect. 3 how quantum entanglement can account for organizing
nontrivial qualia. The qualia space thus would be the Hilbert space of the systems
involved in the quale.
Classical information coming from the environment through the senses is ultimately converted into quantum information which is experienced as qualia. The
inverse quantum-to-classical transformation is also crucial in converting structures
within qualia into logical and geometric representations expressible with classical
information to communicate free-will choices to classical structures. For such purposes, the interaction with the memory of past experiences may be essential, for, as
we shall see, memory is classical.
Finally we come to the problem of free will. First we must specify that free will,
contrary to consciousness, produces public effects which are classical manifestations
of quantum information. Since the manifestation is classical, the possible choices of
the conscious agent are in principle jointly perfectly discriminable.5
We then state what we mean by free.
S2: Will is free if its unpredictability by an external observer cannot be interpreted
in terms of lack of knowledge.6
In particular, statement S2 implies that the actual choice of the entity exercising its
free will cannot be in principle predicted with certainty by any external observer.
One can immediately recognise that if one regards the choice as a random variable,
it cannot be a classical one, which can always be interpreted as lack of knowledge.
On the other hand, it fits perfectly the case of quantum randomness, which cannot
be interpreted as such.7
5 In the usual classical information theory the convex set of states is a simplex, and its extremal
states are jointly discriminable.
6 Here there is a clear distinction between the "willing agent" and the observers of it. The word
unpredictability applies only to the observers.
7 The impossibility of interpretation of quantum randomness as lack on knowledge fits quantum
complementarity. Indeed we cannot by any means know both values of two complementary variables. One may argue that both values may exist anyway, even if we cannot know them, but such
argument disagrees with the violation of the CHSH bound (the most popular Bell-like bound),
which is purely probabilistic, and is based on the assumption of the existence of a joint probability
8
Giacomo Mauro D’Ariano and Federico Faggin
3 Qualia: the role of entanglement
According to Statement S1 qualia are described by ontic quantum states and, being
such states pure, we can represent them by normalised vectors |𝜓i ∈ HA in the
Hilbert space HA of system A. For the sake of illustration we consider two simple
cases of qualia: direction and colour. These examples should not be taken literally,8
but only for the sake of illustration of the concept that the linear combinations of
qualia can give rise to new complex qualia.
Fig. 2 Illustration of how qualia superpose to make new qualia. Left figure: the Bloch sphere
illustrates the case of direction qualia. Summing and subtracting the quale “up” with the quale
“down” we obtain the qualia “right” and “left”, respectively. Similarly, if we make the same
combinations with the imaginary unit 𝑖 in front of “down” we obtain the qualia “front” and “back”.
Summing with generic complex amplitudes 𝑎 and 𝑏 (with |𝑎 | 2 + |𝑏 | 2 = 1) we get the quale
corresponding to a generic direction, corresponding to a generic pure state | 𝜓i. Right figure:
summations of two of the three colour basis red, green, and blue (RGB) and subtraction of two of
the three colours cyan, magenta and yellow (CMY). As explained in the main text, these examples
are only for the sake of illustration of the notion of linear combination of quantum ontic states to
make new ontic states corresponding to new qualia. A third case of superposition is that of sounds
with precise frequency that combine with addition and subtraction into timbers and chords. Notice
that all three cases fit the wave aspect of reality, not the particle one.
We have said that qualia combine to make new qualia, and thoughts and emotions
themselves are structured qualia. Superimposing two different kinds of qualia in an
entangled way produces new kinds of qualia. Indeed, consider the superposition of a
distribution for the values of complementary observables, assumption that obviously is violated by
quantum complementarity. Others can argue (and this is the most popular argument) that one must
use different local random variables depending on remote settings, which leads to the interpretation
of the CHSH correlations in terms of nonlocality: such interpretation, however, is artificial, whereas
the most natural one iw that the measurement outcome is created by the measurement.
8 We emphasize that the above examples are only for the sake of illustration of concepts. The
example about color qualia in Fig. 2 would be a faithful one if the colours were monochromatic and
the summation or subtraction were made with wave amplitude, not intensity, which is the actual
case. The case of direction qualia based on the Bloch sphere is literally correct. The directions are
those of the state representations on the Block sphere.
Âi2
c({ri }i2X ) := S(rX )
I(X : Y ) := H(pXY ||pX pY ) =
Âi2
c({ri }i2X ) := S(rX )
I(X : Y ) := H(pXY ||pX pY ) =
rX =
⇣
⌘
c({r
}
)
:=
S(r
)
(Tr
ri2i
r
Âi2X
c({r
i S(r
i i2X
i2X ) X:=
X ) ÂS(
c({ri }i2X ) := S(rX ) Âi2X
(Tr rii})S
Tr ri
XY X pXY
Y =X Y
I(X : Y )I(X
:= :H(p
ij Â
Y ) :=p||p
H(p )p||p
p i2X,
) =j2
I(X : Y ) := H(pXY ||pX pY ) =
Âi2X,
j2Y i j log pi p j
Âi2
c({ri }i2X ) := S(rX )
I(X : Y ) := H(pXY ||pX pY ) =
Hard Problem and Free Will
9
red up-arrow with a green down-arrow. This is not a yellow right-arrow as one may
expect, since the latter corresponds to the independent superposition of direction
and colour, as in the following equation:
1
1
1
1
p
p1 (| "i ⌦ |•i p
⌦
|•i
+(|(|•i
#i+
⌦
6= (|•i
|12!i
= (1)
"i +
#i) ⌦ (|•i + |•i)
+
|(|#i"i⌦⌦|•i)
!i
|•i
= |12+
(|2|(|
"i
+
||•i)
#i)
⌦
+⌦
(|
"i
⌦ 6=
|•i
#i
⌦
| "i
!i
|•i ⌦
(| "i
+|•i
| #i)
⌦
+||•i)
|•i 6=
+ |p#i
⌦⌦
|•i)
!i
⌦"i
|•i
= 126=
||•i)
#i)
+⌦|•i)
2 (|(|•i
2
2
2
p1 (| "i
We would
have
instead
⌦ |•i
+ | #i ⌦ |•i) 6= | !i ⌦ |•i = 12 (| "i + | #i) ⌦ (|•i + |•i)
2
⇣
p1 (| "i ⌦ |•i + | #i ⌦ |•i) = p1 (|"i + |#i) =
2
2
↵
,
(2)
⌘where
N
the ket with the blue star represents a completely new qualia. In a more general
p1
[. . . ⌦ (|a1 ia⌦state
|b1 ivector
± |a2with
i ⌦ |btriple
"i ⌦ |•i ±or| more
#i ⌦ |•i)
⌦ (|r1 i ⌦ in
|s1aifactor
± i|r2 i ⌦ |s2 i) ⌦ . . .]
2 i) ⌦or(|quadruple
entanglement
2 case, we have
1 product, and more generally, every system
of a tensor
e.g. + |•i) .
| #i
|•i) 6= | !i ⌦ |•i = 1 (| is"ientangled,
+ | #i) ⌦ (|•i
µ [. . . ⌦ (|a1pi 2⌦(||b"i1 i⌦⌦|•i
|c1+
i±
|a⌦
2 i ⌦ |b2 i ⌦ |c2 i) ⌦ (| "i2 ⌦ |•i ± | #i ⌦ |•i) ⌦ (|r1 i ⌦ |s1 i ± i|r2 i ⌦ |s2 i) ⌦ . . .]
. . . ⊗ (|𝑎 1 i ⊗ |𝑏 1 i ⊗ |𝑐 1 i ⊗ |𝑑1 i ± |𝑎 2 i ⊗ |𝑏 2 i ⊗ |𝑐 2 i ⊗ |𝑑2 i) ⊗ (| ↑i ⊗ |•i ± | ↓i ⊗ |•i) ⊗ . . .
(3)
We can realise how in this fashion one can achieve new kinds of qualia whose number
grows exponentially with the number of systems. In fact, the number of different
ways of entangling 𝑁 systems corresponds to the number of partitions of 𝑁 into
integers, multiplied
by the number of permutations of the systems, and therefore it
√
grows as 𝑁!𝑒 2𝑁 /3 , and this without considering the variable vectors that can be
entangled!
Since qualia correspond to pure states of the conscious systems, their Hilbert space
coincides with the multidimensional Hilbert space of the system. Experimentally one
may be able to locate the systems in terms of neural patterns, but will never be able
to read the encoded information without destroying the person’s experience, while
at best gaining only a single complementary side of the qualia, out of exponentially
many. In synthesis:
• System identification is possible, but not the "experience" within.
The fact that it is possible to identify the information system proves that the
identity of the observer/agent is public and is thus correlated with its "sense of
self," which is instead private. This is a crucial requirement for a unified theory
of consciousness and free will, namely that the observer/agent be identifiable both
privately–from within and through qualia–and publicly–from without and through
information. Within QT (or post-quantum OPTs) this is possible.
4 Evolution of Consciousness and Free Will
Since the quantum state of a conscious system must be pure at all times, the only
way to guarantee that the evolving system state remains pureÍis that the evolution
itself is pure (technically it is atomic, namely its CP-map T = 𝑖 𝑇𝑖 · 𝑇𝑖† has a single
Krauss operator 𝑇𝑖0 ). We remind that both states and effects are also transformations
10
Giacomo Mauro D’Ariano and Federico Faggin
from trivial to non trivial systems and viceversa, respectively. In Table 1 we report
the theoretical representations of the three kinds of ontic transformations, including
the special cases of state and effect.
Circuit symbol Symbol
transformation
Effect
State
A
B
T
Map
Operator domain-codomain
T
T =𝑇 ·𝑇†
𝑇
Bnd( HA → HB )
A
𝛼
(𝛼|
Tr[· | 𝛼i h𝛼 |]
h𝛼 |
Bnd( HA → C)
𝜓
A
| 𝜓)
| 𝜓i h𝜓 |
| 𝜓i
Bnd(C → HA )
Table 1 Notations for the three kinds of ontic transformations (for the meaning of symbols see
Table 2). For the list of Quantum Theory axioms and its main theorems see Tables 3 and 4.
Let’s consider now the general scenario of a conscious composite system in an
ontic state 𝜔𝑡 at time 𝑡 evolved by the one-step ontic transformation O𝐹(𝑡𝑡 ,𝑥𝑡 ) with
outcome 𝐹𝑡 , depending on classical input 𝑥 𝑡 from senses and memory9
A𝑡
𝜔𝑡
O𝐹(𝑡𝑡 ,𝑥𝑡 )
A𝑡+1
=:
A𝑡+1
𝜔𝑡+1
(4)
.
The epistemic transformation would be the sum of all ontic ones corresponding to
all possible outcomes:
∑︁
E (𝑡 ,𝑥𝑡 ) :=
O𝐹(𝑡𝑡 ,𝑥𝑡 ) .
(5)
𝐹𝑡
The outcome 𝐹𝑡 is a classical output, and we identify it with the free will of the
experiencing system.
It is a probabilistic outcome that depends on the previous history of qualia of the
system. Its kind of randomness is quantum, which means that it cannot be interpreted
as lack of knowledge, and, as such, it is free. Notice that both mathematically and
literally the free will is the outcome of a transformation that corresponds to a change
of experience of the observer/agent. The information conversion from quantum to
classical can also take into account a stage of "knowledge of the will" corresponding
to "intention/purpose", namely "understanding" of which action is taken.
We may need to provide a more refined representation of the one-step ontic
transformation of the evolution in terms of a quantum circuit, for example:
A
ABC
O𝐹(𝑡𝑡 , 𝑥𝑡 )
M
𝛼𝑖
𝜓 (𝑖)
B
=
D
E
R (𝑘)
G
A ( 𝑥𝑡 )
M
H
B
N
C
O
E𝑘
C
9 As we will see, memory is classical.
F
V𝑙
L
(6)
Λ (𝑙)
𝑗
Hard Problem
and Free Will
4. Consciousness
Evolution
and Free Will
oyalsocietypublishing.org Phil. Trans. R. Soc. A 0000000
............................................................
that are entangled. In this ways thoughts correspond to pure states in the tensor product of the
tensor-product Hilbert space of the involved systems. In short, such Hilbert space describes the
multidimensional qualia space. Experimentally one may be able to locate the systems in terms of
a neural patterns, but not to read the information encoded on them, if not destroying the person’s
thought for just gaining only one of the exponentially many complementary sides of the thought.
11
Since the quantum state
of consciousness
must
pure
at all times,
theInonly
way to guarantee
Generally
for each time
𝑡 webe
have
a different
circuit.
the example
in circuit (6) we
that the evolved consciousness
state step
remain
pure is also
that states
the evolution
is atomic,
the
see that a single
can contain
and effects,
and thenamely
output system
of
corresponding CP-map
a single
Krauss
remind
that both
states (not
and even
effects
are
thehas
whole
circuit
(M in operator.
the presentWe
case)
is generally
different
isomorphic)
thetrivial
input ones
ABC.
Following
the convention
used for the ontic
transformation
also transformations, to
from
to non
trivial
system and
viceversa, respectively.
In Table
1 we
report the theoretical representations
the three
of ontic
transformations:
transformation,
O𝐹(𝑡𝑡 , 𝑥𝑡 ) the lowerof index
is akinds
random
outcome,10
and the upper
index (𝑡, 𝑥 𝑡 ) is a
effect, and state.
parameter from which the transformation generally depends. Overall in circuit (6)
we have free will 𝐹𝑡 = {𝑖, 𝑘, 𝑙, 𝑗 }, whereas the transformations 𝜓 (𝑖) , R (𝑘) , B, and C
are deterministic (they have no lower index), and do not contribute to the free will,
( 𝑥𝑡 ) , which
Circuit
symbol
OperatorAmap
Operator
and the
same forSymbol
the transformation
dependsdomain-codomain
on the sensorial input 𝑥 𝑡 .
In
classical
information
at work, since e.g.
A circuitB(6) we can see that we have also
†
transformation
T
T =T ·T
T
Bnd(HA ! HB )
T
the transformation R (𝑘) depends on the outcome 𝑘 of the transformation E 𝑘 , and
A
(𝑙)
↵ the choice
Effect
(↵|of test {Λ
Tr[·|↵ih↵|]
h↵|
Bnd(H ! C)
similarly
𝑗 } depends on the outcome 𝑙 ofAV𝑙 , and similarly
(𝑖)
A𝜓
the state
depends
𝛼𝑖 . Each
of the
circuit
is ontic,
State
| ) on the effect
| ihoutcome
|
| i element
Bnd(C
!H
A)
i.e. atomic, and atomicity of sequential and parallel composition guarantee that the
Table 1. Notations for the three
kinds
of ontic transformations.
whole
transformation
is itself atomic. This means that its Krauss operator 𝑂 𝑡 can be
written as the product of the Krauss operators of the component transformations as
follows
Let’s consider now the general
composite(𝑘)system in an ontic state
(𝑡 , 𝑥𝑡 ) scenario of the
(𝑙) conscious
(𝑥 )
= (𝐼 𝑀 ⊗ hΛ |) ( 𝐴
𝑂
𝑡
⊗ 𝐵 )⊗ 𝐶) (𝑅
(t,x
⊗ 𝑉𝑙 ) (|𝜓𝑖 ih𝑎 𝑖 | ⊗ 𝐸 𝑘 ) ,
t
𝑗
𝐹𝑡
!t at time t evolved by the one-step
ontic
with
on
} |outcome
{z }F|t , depending
{z
}
Ft
| transformation
{z
} | O{z
classical input from senses xt
GHL→MNO
DEF→GHL
ABC→DEF
MNO→M
At
(t,xt ) At+1
(7)
At+1
(𝑡 , 𝑥𝑡 )
!t+1 that in the expression for the
𝑡)†
(4.1)
t (𝑡 , 𝑥𝑡 ) O
. Notice
operator
where!O
=F𝑂
· 𝑂 𝐹(𝑡𝑡,𝑥=:
t 𝐹𝑡
𝐹𝑡
(𝑡 , 𝑥𝑡 )
𝑂 𝐹𝑡 would
in Eq.be(7)
operators
the input
to the
areone:
written from the
The epistemic transformation
thethe
sum
over allfrom
possible
outcomes
of output
the ontic
right to the left–the way we
compose
operators
on
Hilbert
spaces.
Moreover, the
X (t,x )
(𝑡 ,t𝑥)𝑡 )
(t,x
t
:=
O
.
(4.2)
expression (7) ofE𝑂
is
not
unique,
since
it
depends
on
the
choice
of foliation
of
Ft
𝐹
𝑡
the circuit, namely the way Fyou
cover all wires with leaves to divide the circuit into
t
input-output
sections.
For
example,
would ontic
correspond
to the foliation
We may need to provide a more refined representation ofEq.
the(7)
one-step
transformation
of thein Fig.
3
evolution in terms of a quantum circuit, for example:
A
ABC
(t,x )
OFt t
M
=
↵i
(i)
B
C
D
E
Ek
F
R
G
A(xt )
M
H
B
N
C
O
(k)
Vl
L
.
(4.3)
(l)
⇤j
Generally for each time
havecircuit
a different
We see
that
Fig. 3t we
Quantum
foliation circuit.
corresponding
to Eq.
(7) in the example in Eq. 4.3
the circuit describing a single step can contain also states and effects, and the output systems
of the whole circuit are generally different (not even isomorphic) to the input ones. Following
(t,x )
the convention used for the ontic transformation OFt t the lower index is a random outcome
A different foliation, for example, is the one reported in Fig. 4, corresponding to the
and the upper index is a parameter from
(𝑡 , 𝑥𝑡 ) which the transformation depends. Overall in Eq. 4.3
expression for 𝑂 𝐹𝑡
10 The outcome is random for an observer other than the conscious system, for which, instead, it is
precisely known.
Let’s consider now the general scenario of the conscious composite system in an ontic state
(t,x )
!t at time t evolved by the one-step ontic transformation OFt t with outcome Ft , depending on
classical input from senses xt
!t
(t,x ) At+1
At
OF t t
!t+1
=:
At+1
(4.1)
The epistemic transformation
would be the sum over all possible outcomes
of the
ontic one:
12
Giacomo Mauro
D’Ariano
and Federico Faggin
X
(t,xt )
(t,xt )
𝑂 (𝑡 , 𝑥𝑡 ) = (𝐼 ⊗EhΛ (𝑙) |):=( 𝐴 ( 𝑥𝑡 )O⊗Ft𝐵 ⊗. 𝐼 ) (𝑅 (𝑘) ⊗ 𝐶𝑉 ) (|𝜓 i ⊗ 𝐸 ) (h𝑎 (4.2)
|⊗𝐼 ).
𝐶
𝐹𝑡
|
𝑗
{z
O
} | Ft
{z
𝑙
}|
GHO→MNO
{z
𝑖
}|
DEF→GHO
BC
𝑖
𝑘
}|
{z
{z
MNO→M
We may need to provide a more refined
representation of the one-step ontic transformation of the
evolution in terms of a quantum circuit, for example:
A
ABC
(t,x )
OFt t
M
=
↵i
D
(i)
B
C
E
Ek
F
R
G
A(xt )
M
H
B
N
C
O
(k)
Vl
L
}
ABC→BC
BC→DEF
.
(8)
(4.3)
(l)
⇤j
Generally for each time t we have a different circuit. We see that in the example
in Eq. 4.3
𝑡)
Fig. 4 Quantum circuit foliation corresponding to the expression for 𝑂 (𝑡,𝑥
Eq. (8)
𝑡
the circuit describing a single step can contain also states and effects, and the 𝐹output
systems
of the whole circuit are generally different (not even isomorphic) to the input ones. Following
(t,x )
the convention used for the ontic transformation OFt t the lower index is a random outcome
Wea parameter
remind thatfrom
all operators
kets and
bras asOverall
operators
from
and the upper index is
which the(including
transformation
depends.
in Eq.
4.3and to
the trivial Hilbert space C) are contractions, namely have norm bounded by 1,
corresponding to marginal probabilities not greater than 1. Thus, also 𝑂 𝐹(𝑡𝑡,𝑥𝑡 ) is itself
a contraction. Contractivity for operator 𝑋 can be conveniently expressed as
𝑋 ∈ Bnd(H𝑖𝑛 → H𝑜𝑢𝑡 ),
𝑋 † 𝑋 ⩽ 𝑃𝑆𝑋 ⩽ 𝐼𝑖𝑛 ,
𝑃𝑆𝑋 := Proj Supp 𝑋.
(9)
Now, since the evolution of consciousness must be atomic at all times, we can write
a whole consciousness history as the product of the Krauss operators 𝑂 𝑡 ≡ 𝑂 𝐹(𝑡𝑡,𝑥𝑡 )
at all previous times 𝑡
Ω𝑡 := 𝑂 𝑡 𝑂 𝑡−1 . . . 𝑂 1 ,
𝑂 𝑡 := 𝑂 𝐹(𝑡𝑡,𝑥𝑡 ) ,
(10)
and apply the history operator to the wavevector of the initial ontic state-vector |𝜔0 i
|𝜔𝑡 i = Ω𝑡 |𝜔0 i.
(11)
The squared norm ||𝜔𝑡 || 2 of vector 𝜔𝑡 is the probability of the full history of conscious
states {𝜔0 , 𝜔1 , 𝜔2 , . . . , 𝜔𝑡 } and equally of the free-will history {𝐹1 , 𝐹2 , . . . , 𝐹𝑡 }
𝑝(𝜔0 , 𝜔1 , 𝜔2 , . . . , 𝜔𝑡 ) = 𝑝(∅, 𝐹1 , . . . , 𝐹𝑡 ) = ||𝜔𝑡 || 2 = ||Ω𝑡 𝜔0 || 2 .
(12)
5 Memory
The ontic evolution of the consciousness state, though it maintains coherence, can
keep very limited quantum memory of experience. The latter, due to contractivity
of 𝑂, will go down very fast as ||Ω𝑡 || 2 ' ||𝑂|| −2𝑡 , i.e. it will decrease exponentially
with the number of time-steps. The quantum memory intrinsic in the ontic evolution
instead works well as a short-term buffer to build up a fuller experience–e.g. of a
Hard Problem and Free Will
13
landscape, or of a detailed object, or even to detect motion. How many qubits will
make such a single-step buffer? The answer is: not so many.11 Indeed, if we open
our eyes for just a second to look at an unknown scene, and thereafter we are asked
to answer binary questions, we would get only a dozen of right answers better than
chance. Tor Nørretranders writes [31]: The bandwidth of consciousness is far lower
than the bandwidth of our sensory perceptors. ... Consciousness consists of discarded
information far more than information present. There is hardly information left in
our consciousness.12
We reasonably deduce that there is actually no room for long-term memory in
consciousness, and we conclude that:
S3: Memory is classical. Only the short-term buffer to collect each experience is
quantum.
By “short” we mean comparable to the time in which we collect the full experience,
namely of the order of a second.
Transferring quantum experience to classical memory
If we have quantum experiences and classical memory, we need to convert information from quantum to classical in the memorization process, and from classical to
quantum in the recollection process. The first process, namely transferring quantum
experience to classical memory, must be necessarily incomplete, otherwise it would
violate the quantum no-cloning theorem. The Holevo theorem [33] establishes that
the maximal amount of classical information that can be extracted from a quantum
system is a number of bits equal to the number of qubits that constitute the quantum
system. Obviously, such maximal classical information is infinitesimal compared to
11 For example, the amount of visual information is significantly degraded as it passes from the eye to
the visual cortex. Marcus E. Raichle says [29]: Of the virtually unlimited information available from
the environment only about 1010 bits/sec are deposited in the retina. Because of a limited number
of axons in the optic nerves (approximately 1 million axons in each) only 6 ∗ 106 bits/sec leave the
retina and only 104 make it to layer IV of V1 [30, 31]. These data clearly leave the impression that
visual cortex receives an impoverished representation of the world, a subject of more than passing
interest to those interested in the processing of visual information [32]. Parenthetically, it should
be noted that estimates of the bandwidth of conscious awareness itself (i.e. what we "see") are in
the range of 100 bits/sec or less [30, 31].
12 We believe that the inability to recall much information contained in one second of visual
experience, when the actual experience is felt to be quite rich, should not be construed to diminish
the importance of consciousness. In fact, experience is quantum while memory is classical, and
although not much classical information appears to have been memorized, the actual experience has
the cardinality of the continuum in Hilbert space. Consciousness is about living the experience in its
unfolding and understanding what is happening, so to make the appropriate free-will decisions when
necessary. Recalling specific information in full detail is unnecessary. Consciousness is focused
on the crucial task of getting the relevant meaning contained in the flow of experience. The scarce
conscious memory of specific objects and relationships between objects should not be an indication
that consciousness is a "low bandwidth" phenomenon, but that what is relevant to consciousness
may not be what the interrogator believes should be relevant.
14
Giacomo Mauro D’Ariano and Federico Faggin
the continuum of classical information needed to communicate classically a quantum
state!
From a single measurement one can extract classical information about just one
of the continuum of complementary aspects of the quantum state, e.g. along a given
direction for a spin. Moreover, the state after the measurement would be necessarily
disturbed13, due to the information-disturbance tradeoff .14 So, which measurement
should one perform for collecting the best classical information from a quantum
system?
The answer is easy for a single qubit. Just perform the usual von Neumann measurement along a random direction! This has been proved in Ref. [35].15 For larger
dimensions it is in principle possible to generalise this result, however, the probability space turns out to be geometrically much more complicated than a sphere,16 and
a scheme for random choice is unknown. For this reason we can consider the larger
class of observation tests called informationally complete ("infocomplete"),17 which,
unlike the case of the optimal measurement of spin direction, can be taken as discrete
and with a finite number of outcomes. Such a measurement would correspond to the
following epistemic transformation
13 For example, for the spin originally oriented horizontally and measured vertically a la von
Neumann, the final state would be vertical up or down, depending on the measurement outcome.
14 There are many ways of regarding the information-disturbance tradeoff, depending on the specific
context and the resulting definitions of information and disturbance. The present case of atomic
measurements with the "disturbance" defined in terms of the probability of reversing the measurement transformation has been analysed in the first part of Ref. [34]. In the same reference it is
also shown that a reversal of the measurement would provide a contradicting information which
numerically cancels the information achieved from the original measurement, thus respecting the
quantum principle of no information without disturbance.
15 Let’s consider the case of a single qubit realised with a particle spin. The usual observable of
von Neumann corresponds to a measurement of the orientation of the spin along a given direction,
e.g. up or down along the vertical, or left or right along the horizontal direction. But when we
prepare a spin state (e.g. by Rabi techniques), we can put the spin in a very precise direction, e.g.
pointing north-east along the diagonal from south-west to north-east, and, indeed if we measure
the spin along a parallel direction we find the spin always pointing north-east! So the spin is
indeed (ontically!) pointing north-east along the same diagonal! Now it would be a legitimate
question to ask: how about measuring the direction itself of the spin? This can be done–not exactly,
but optimally–using a continuous observation test constituted of a continuous of effects (what is
usually called POVM, the acronym of Positive Operator Valued Measure). However, it turns out
that the measured direction is a fake, since such a quantum measurement with a continuous set
of outcomes is realised as a continuous random choice of a von Neumann measurement [35]. In
conclusion the optimal measurement of the spin direction is realised by a customary Stern-Gerlach
experiment in which the magnetic field is randomly oriented! The same method can be used to
achieve an informationally complete measurement to perform a quantum tomography [36] of the
state, by suitably processing the outcome depending on the orientation of the spin measurement.
16 The convex set of deterministic states for a qutrit (i.e. 𝑑 = 3), defined by algebraic inequalities,
has eight dimensions, and has a boundary made of a continuous of balls.
17 What in OPT language is called observation test is the same of what in the quantum information
literature is called discrete POVM. An observation test is infocomplete for system A when it spans
the linear space of effects Eff R (A).
Hard Problem and Free Will
M ∈ Trn1 (A → B),
15
M=
∑︁
𝑀 𝑗 𝜌𝑀 †𝑗 ,
|𝐽 | ≥ dim(HA ) 2 ,
(13)
𝑗 ∈𝐽
which is the coarse graining of the infocomplete quantum test {M 𝑗 } 𝑗 ∈𝐽 , with M 𝑗 =
𝑀 𝑗 · 𝑀 †𝑗 where {|𝑀 | 2𝑗 } 𝑗 ∈𝐽 is an infocomplete observation test. "Infocomplete" means
that, in the limit of infinitely many usages over the same reprepared state, the
measurement allows to perform a full tomography [36] of the state.
The infocomplete measurement (or the random observables seen before) is better suited to extract classical information from the quantum buffer for long-term
memory, since is does not privilege a particular observable. It is also likely that the
conscious act of memorising an experience may be achieved by actually repreparing
the ontic state multiple times in the quantum buffer, and performing the infocomplete test multiple times, thus with the possibility of memorising a (possibly partial)
tomography of the state. Notice that, generally, the ontic state 𝑀 𝑗 𝜌𝑀 †𝑗 for a given
𝑗 still depends on 𝜌. However, the test will disturb it, and the less disturbance, the
smaller the amount of classical information that can be extracted [34].18
Transferring classical memory to quantum experience
We have seen that an infocomplete measurement is needed to (approximately) store
an experience in the classical long-term memory. By definition, the recovery of
an experience requires a reproduction of it, meaning that the corresponding ontic
state is (approximately) reprepared from the classical stored data. The memory,
being classical, will be read without disturbance, thus left available to following
recollections. In order to transfer classical to quantum information, methods of statepreparation have been proposed in terms of quantum circuit schemes [38].
A possible benchmark for the memory store-and-recall process is the maximal
fidelity achievable in principle with a measure-and-reprepare scheme that optimises
the fidelity between the experienced state and the recalled one. We will consider
𝑀 ≥ 1 input copies of the same state to quantify attention to the experience. The
optimal fidelity19 between the experienced state and the recalled one averaged over
all possible experiences (i.e. input states) is given by [39]
𝐹 ( 𝐴, 𝑀, 𝑑) =
𝑀 +1
,
𝑀+𝑑
(15)
18 Particularly symmetric types of measurements are those made with a SIC POVM (Symmetric
informationally complete POVM) [37], where 𝑀 𝑗 = | 𝜓 𝑗 i h𝜓 𝑗 | are 𝑑 2 projectors on pure states
with equal pairwise fidelity
𝑑 𝛿 𝑗𝑘 + 1
| h𝜓 𝑗 | 𝜓𝑘 i | 2 =
.
(14)
𝑑+1
The projectors | 𝜓 𝑗 i h𝜓 𝑗 | defining the SIC POVM in dimension 𝑑 form a (𝑑 2 − 1)-dimensional
regular simplex in the space of Hermitian operators.
19 The fidelity 𝐹 between two pure states corresponding to state vectors | 𝜓i and | 𝜑 i, respectively,
is defined as | h𝜑 | 𝜓i | 2 .
16
Giacomo Mauro D’Ariano and Federico Faggin
where 𝑑 is the dimension of the experiencing system.20
Such upper bound for fidelity may be used to infer an effective dimension 𝑑 of the
system involved in consciousness, e.g. in very focused restricted experiences as those
involved in masking conscious perception [40].
Information transfer from body to consciousness and vice versa
We would expect that most of the operation of the human body is automatic and
uses classical information that is never translated into quantum information to be
experienced by consciousness. The portion of the classical information produced
by the body that needs to be converted into quantum should only be the salient
information that supports the qualia perception and comprehension necessary to "live
life" and make appropriate free-will choices. The amount of quantum information to
be translated into classical for the purpose of free-will control of the body top-down
should be relatively small.
6 On the combination problem
The combination problem concerns the issue about if and how the fundamental
conscious minds come to compose, constitute, or give rise to some other, additional
conscious mind [41]. By definition, the problem becomes crucial for panpsychism:
if cosciousness is everywhere, what is the criterion to select novel conscious individuals? Is the union of two conscious beings a conscious being? If this is true,
then any subset of a conscious being can also be a conscious being. The present
theoretical approach provides a precise individuation criterion. The criterion derives
from principle P3 about the purity of quantum conscious states and, consequently,
the need for ontic transformations. Let’s see how it works.
It is reasonable to say that an individual is defined by the continuity of its experience. Such a statement may be immediately obvious to some readers. However, for
those who may not agree, we propose a thought experiment.
20 The optimal fidelity in Eq. (15) is achieved by an observation test with atomic effects |Φ𝑖 i hΦ𝑖 |
with
√︁
𝑀 +𝑑−1
|Φ𝑖 i = 𝑤𝑖 𝑑 𝑀 | 𝜓𝑖 i ⊗𝑀 ,
𝑑𝑀 =
,
(16)
𝑑−1
𝐴 are pre-specified pure state-vectors, and {𝑤 } 𝐴 is a probability vector satisfying
where { | 𝜓𝑖 i }𝑖=1
𝑖 𝑖=1
the identity
𝐴
D
E
∑︁
𝑤𝑖 | 𝜓𝑖 i h𝜓𝑖 | ⊗𝑀 = | 𝜓i h𝜓 | ⊗𝑀 .
(17)
𝑖=1
where the notation h. . .i denotes averaging over the prior of pure-state vectors, taking as the prior
the Haar measure on the unit sphere in C𝑑 .
Hard Problem and Free Will
17
Consider a futuristic “quantum teleportation experiment”, meaning that the quantum state of a system is substituted to that of a remote isomorphic system.21 The matter
(electrons, protons, ...) of which a teleported person is composed is available at the
receiver location and is in-principle indistinguishable from the same matter at the
transmission location: indeed, it is only its quantum state that is teleported. The
resulting individual would be the same as the original one, including his thoughts
and memory.22
The above thought experiment suggests the following individuation criterion
within our theoretical approach:
S4: A conscious mind is a composite system in an ontic state undergoing an ontic
transformation, with no subsystem as such.
In Figs. 5 and 6 we illustrate the use of the criterion in two paradigmatic cases. Here
we emphasise that the role of interactions is crucial for the criterion.
entangled
marginal states
are epistemic
factorised ontic states
1 individual
2 individuals
Fig. 5 The combination problem. Stated generally, the problem is about how the fundamental
conscious minds come to compose, constitute, or give rise to some further conscious mind. The
ontic-state principle P1 provides a partial criterion to exclude some situations, e.g. (figure on the
left) two entangled systems cannot separately be conscious entities, since each one is in a marginal
state of an entangled one, hence it is necessarily mixed. On the other hand, (figure on the right) if
two systems are in a factorized pure state, each system is in an ontic state, and they are two single
individuals, and remain so depending on their following interactions (see Fig. 6).
This section has described what is necessary to form a combination of conscious
entities, thus removing the difficulties encountered with panpsychist models based
on classical physics. The key idea is that the states of the combining systems and
their transformations be ontic and that such systems interact quantumly. These requirements assure that the combined entity is also in a pure state and that none of its
subsets are conscious. Clearly, the interactions between the conscious entity and the
environment (including other entities) can only be classical, otherwise a larger entity
21 Teleportation will need the availability of shared entanglement and classical communication, and
technically would use a Bell measurement at the sender and a conditioned unitary transformation
at the receiver. [42]
22 Of course, this would violate the no cloning theorem, if at the transmission point the original
individual would not be destroyed. Indeed, according to the quantum information-disturbance
tradeoff [34], teleportation cannot even make a bad copy leaving the original untouched.
18
Giacomo Mauro D’Ariano and Federico Faggin
would be created and would persist for as long as a disentangling transformation
does not occur, as in the case illustrated in Fig. 6.
Fig. 6 The combination problem. The general individuation criterion in statement S4 requires
full quantum coherence, namely the ontic nature of both states and transformations. In the case
depicted in this figure, every transformation (including effects and states as special cases) is pure,
and we suppose each multipartite transformation is not factorizable. Then the first two boxes on
the left represent two separate individuals. The box in the middle merges the two individual into
a single one, whereas the immediately following effects convert quantum to classical information,
and separate again the single individual into the original separate ones. Notice that a merging of
two individuals necessarily needs a quantum interaction.
7 Theory experimentability and simulability
Proposing feasible experiments about the quantum nature of consciousness is a
very exciting challenge. In principle quantumness could be established through
experimental demonstration of one of the two main nonclassical features of quantum
theory: nonlocality and complementarity. The two notions are not independent, since
in order to prove nonlocality we need complementary observations, in addition to
shared entanglement.
In order to prove nonlocality of consciousness we need measurements at two separate points sufficiently far apart to exclude causal connection, and such a requirement
is very challenging, since it demands very fast measurements, considering that for
a distance of 3 cm between the measurements points a time-difference of a tenth of
nanosecond is sufficient to have signalling.
Hard Problem and Free Will
19
About nonlocality together with complementarity, we speculate that they together
may be involved in 3D vision, and take the opportunity to suggest that such line of
research may anyway be a fruitful field of experimental research on consciousness.23
For example, a genuine case of complementarity in 3D experience is occurring as
a result of looking at Magic Eye images published in a series of books [44]. These
images feature autostereograms, which allow most people to see 3D images by
focusing on 2D patterns that seem to have nothing in common with the 3D image
that emerges from them. The viewer must diverge or converge his eyes in order
to see a hidden three-dimensional image within the patterns. The 3D image that
shows up in the experience is like a glassy object that, depending on convergence
or divergence of the eyes, shows up as either concave or convex. Clearly the two
alternative 3D views–convex and concave–are truly complementary experiences,
and each experience has an intrinsic wholeness.
Regarding complementarity alone, speculative connections with contrasting or
opposite dimensions of human experience have been considered in the literature,
e.g. "analysis" vs "synthesis", and "logic" vs "intuition" [45]. Here, however, we
are interested in complementariy in experiences possibly reproducible in different
individuals, of the kind of gedanken-experiments a la Heisenberg, e.g. one experience
incompatible with another and/or disturbing each other. Having something more
than two complementary observables, namely an informationally complete set of
measurements such as all three Pauli matrices for a single consciousness qubit,
would allow us to make a quantum tomography [36] of the qubit state, assuming
this is reprepared many times, e.g. through an intense prolonged attention. To our
knowledge, the feasibility assessment of such a kind of experiment is of a difficulty
comparable to that of a nonlocality experiment.
Finally, apart from proving the quantumness of experience, we can at least experimentally infer some theoretical parameters in the quantum theoretical approach
consistent with observations. This is the case e.g. of the experiment already mentioned in discussing the upper bound (15) in memory-recall fidelity, which can be
used in inferring an effective dimension 𝑑 of the system involved in consciousness in
very focused restricted experiences, as for masking conscious perception [40]. We
believe that memory-recall experiments versus variables such as attention, memoryrecovery delay, and variable types of qualia, may be helpful to make a preliminary
mapping of the dimensionality of the spaces of conscious systems involved.
We conclude with a few considerations about the feasibility of a simulation of
a conscious process like the ones proposed here. As already mentioned, due to
the purity of the ontic process, a simulation just needs multiplications of generally
rectangular matrices, which for matrices with the same dimension 𝑑 is essentially a
Θ(𝑑 3 ) process. For sparse matrices (as it is often the case in a quantum simulation)
the process can be speeded up considerably. However, to determine the probability
distribution of each ontic step, one needs to evaluate the conditional probability
23 A paradigmatic case of superposition between incompatible 3D views is that of the Necker cube,
which some authors regard as neuro-physiological transformation leading to perceptual reversal
controlled by the principles of quantum mechanics [43]. However, the 3D experience of the Necker
cube does not require binocular disparity since monocular vision also produces the same effect.
20
Giacomo Mauro D’Ariano and Federico Faggin
for the output state of the previous step, and this needs the multiplication for all
possible outcomes (the free will) of the corresponding Kraus operator of the last
ontic transformation. With a RAM of the order of Gbytes one could definitely
operate with a dozen qubits at a time. This should be compared with 53 qubits of
the Google or IBM quantum computer, the largest currently available, likely to share
classical information in tandem with a large classical computer. However, it is not
excluded that some special phenomena could be already discovered/analyzed with a
laptop.
8 Philosophic implications
We have presented a theory of consciousness, based on principles, assumptions, and
key concepts that we consider crucial for the robustness of the theory and the removal
of the limitations of most panpsychist theories [41]. We believe that conferring inner
reality and agency to quantum systems in pure quantum state, with conversion
of information from classical to quantum and vice versa, is unprecedented, with
major philosophical and scientific consequences. In the present approach free will
and consciousness go hand in hand, allowing a system to act based on its qualia
experience by converting quantum to classical information, and thus giving causal
power to subjectivity–something that until now has been highly controversial, if not
considered impossible.
The theory provides that a conscious agent may intentionally convert quantum
information into a specific classical information to express its free will, a classical
output that is in principle unpredictable due to its quantum origin. The theory would
be incoherent without the identification of the conscious system in terms of purity and
inseparability of the quantum state, which is identified with the systems experience.
The purity of non-deterministic quantum evolution identifies consciousness with
agency through its outcome.
Metaphysically the proposed interpretation that a pure, non-separable quantum
state is a state of consciousness, could be turned on its head by assuming the ontology of consciousness and agency as primary, whereas physics is emergent from
consciousness and agency. This same interpretation would then consider classical physics the full reification (objectification) of quantum reality as quantum-toclassical agency corresponding to the free will of conscious entities existing entirely
in the quantum realm. The ontology deriving by the acceptance of consciousness as
fundamental, would be that objectivity and classical physics supervene on quantum
physics, quantum physics supervenes on quantum information, and quantum information supervenes on consciousness. If we were to accept this speculative view,
physics could then be understood as describing an open-ended future not yet existing
because the free will choices of the conscious agents have yet to be made. In this
perspective, we, as conscious beings, are the co-creators of our physical world. We
do so individually and collectively, instant after instant and without realizing it, by
our free-will choices.
Hard Problem and Free Will
21
Appendices about general OPTs
In these appendices we provide the general operational probabilistic framework for
future post-quantum explorations for a theory of consciousness. We report just a
short illustration of what is an operational probabilistic theory (OPT), of which
Quantum Theory and Classical Theory are the most relevant istances. As the reader
may appreciate, the OPT provides a framework much reacher, general, flexible, and
mathematically rigorous as compared to other theoretical frameworks, such as the
causal approach of Tononi [46].
The operational probabilistic theory (OPT) framework
It is not an overstatement to say that the OPT framework represents a new Galilean
revolution for the scientific method. In fact, it is the first time that a theoryindependent set of rules is established on how to build up a theory in physics
and possibly in other sciences. Such rules constitute what is called the operational
framework. Its rigour is established by the simple fact that the OPT is just "metamathematics", since it is a chapter of category theory [47, 48]. To be precise the
largest class of OPTs corresponds to a monoidal braided category. The fact that the
same categoric framework is used in computer science [49, 50, 51, 52, 53] gives an
idea of the thoroughness and range of applicability of the rules of the OPT.
Lucien Hardy in several seminal papers [54, 55, 56] introduced a heuristic framework that can be regarded as a forerunner of the OPT, which made its first appearance
in Refs. [9, 8], and soon was connected to the categorical approach in computer science [20, 22, 23, 24, 25, 21]. As already mentioned, both QT and CT are OPTs
[10], but one can build up other OPTs, such as variations of QT e.g. fermionic QT
[57], or QT on real Hilbert space [10], or QT with only qubits, but also CT with
entanglement [58] or without local discriminability [59]. Also other toy-theories,
such as the PR-Boxes, are believed to be completable to OPTs (see e.g. [60]).
The connection of OPT with computer science reflects the spirit of the OPT,
which essentially was born on top of the new field of quantum information. Indeed,
the OPT framework is the formalization of the rules for building up quantum circuits
and for attaching to them a joint probability: in such a way the OPT literally becomes
an extension of probability theory.
The general idea
How does an OPT works? It associates to each joint probability of multiple events
a closed directed acyclic graph (CDAG) of input-output relations as in Fig. 7. Each
event (e.g. E 𝑚 in figure) is an element
Í of a complete test ({E 𝑚 } 𝑚∈M in figure)
with normalized marginal probability 𝑚∈M 𝑝(E 𝑚 ) = 1. The graph tells us that the
marginal probability distribution of any set of tests still depends on the marginalized set, e.g. the marginal probability distribution of test {E 𝑚 } 𝑚∈M depends on the
22
Giacomo Mauro D’Ariano and Federico Faggin
full graph of tests to which it is connected, although it has been partially or fully
marginalised. As a rule, disconnected graphs (as 𝛾1 and 𝛾2 in Fig. 7) are statistically
independent, namely their probability distributions factorize. The oriented wires de-
S
{Tw }w2W
T
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{Xr```
}r2R
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{Zf }f 2F
Z
R
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{Yj }j2J
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A
{Ai }i2I
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{Em }m2M
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F
G
B
H
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{Mp }p2P
P
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{Fn```
}n2N
{Bj }j2J
L
C
2
{Nq }q2Q
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1
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N
<latexit sha1_base64="i4FQ9m2HnN6e5c7c66X2ZgNUs98=">AAACCXicbVC7TsMwFHV4lpRHgJHFoiAxVUkZYKxgYUKtRB9SU0WO67RWHSe1nUpVlJWFX2FhoEKs/QM2PgRm3McALUe60tE59+ree/yYUals+9NYW9/Y3NrO7Zj53b39A+vwqC6jRGBSwxGLRNNHkjDKSU1RxUgzFgSFPiMNv3879RtDIiSN+IMaxaQdoi6nAcVIacmzoOmmbohUDyOW3mfewM28dOBSnroihNUs86yCXbRngKvEWZBC+exrPBnmvyue9eF2IpyEhCvMkJQtx45VO0VCUcxIZrqJJDHCfdQlLU05Colsp7NPMniulQ4MIqGLKzhTf0+kKJRyFPq6c3q0XPam4n9eK1HBdTulPE4U4Xi+KEgYVBGcxgI7VBCs2EgThAXVt0LcQwJhpcMzdQjO8surpF4qOpfFUlWncQPmyIETcAougAOuQBncgQqoAQwewTN4BWPjyXgx3oz3eeuasZg5Bn9gTH4A01ye2Q==</latexit>
{Gh }h2H
{Pu }u2U
O
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D
{Ck }k2K
M
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E
{Dl }l2K
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{Qv }v2V
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{Hz }z2Z
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Fig. 7 An OPT associates to each joint probability distribution of multiple tests/events a
closed directed acyclic graph (CDAG) of output-input relations (see text). As a rule, unconnected graph components are statistically independent, e.g. in the case in the figure, one has
𝑝 ( A𝑖 , E 𝑚 , . . . , X𝑟 , . . . |𝛾1 ∪ 𝛾2 ) = 𝑝 ( A𝑖 , E 𝑚 , . . . |𝛾1 , ) 𝑝 ( X𝑟 , . . . |𝛾2 ).
noting output-input connections between the tests (labeled by Roman letters in figure
7), are the so called systems of the theory.
A paradigmatic quantum example
A paradigmatic example of OPT graph is given in Fig.8. There, we have a source of
particles all with spin up (namely in the state 𝜌 = | ↑ih↑ |). At the output we have
two von Neumann measurements24 in cascade, the first one Σ 𝛼 measuring 𝜎𝛼 , and
24 A von Neumann measurement of e.g. 𝜎𝑧 has two outcomes "up" and "down", and the output
particle will be in the corresponding eigenstate of 𝜎𝑧 .
Hard Problem and Free Will
23
the second one Θ𝛽 measuring 𝜎𝛽 , where 𝛼 and 𝛽 can assume either of the two values
𝑥, 𝑧. The setup is represented by the graph shown in the figure, where A represents
the system corresponding to the particle spin, 𝑒 the deterministic test that simply
discards the particle, and the two tests Σ 𝛼 , Θ𝛽 (𝛼, 𝛽 = 𝑥, 𝑧) the two von Neuman
measurements. Now, clearly, for 𝛼 = 𝑧 one has the marginal probability distribution
𝑝(Σ𝑧 ) = (1, 0) and 𝑝(Σ 𝑥 ) ( 12 , 12 ) independently of the choice of the test Θ𝛽 . On the
other hand, for the second test one has marginal probability 𝑝(Θ 𝑥 ) = (1, 0) for Σ𝑧
and 𝑝(Θ 𝑥 ) = ( 12 , 12 ) for Σ 𝑥 . We conclude that the marginal probability of Σ 𝛼 is
independent of the choice of the test Θ𝛽 , whereas the marginal probability of Θ𝛽
depends of the choice of Σ 𝛼 . Thus, the marginal probability of Θ𝛽 generally depends
on the choice of Σ 𝛼 , and this concept goes beyond the content of joint probability, and
needs the OPT graph. Theoretically, we conclude that there is "something flying"
from test Σ 𝛼 to test Θ𝛽 (although we cannot see it!): this is what we theoretical
describe as a spinning particle! This well illustrates the notion of system: a theoretical
connection between tested events.
A
| "ih" |
A
⌃↵
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⇥
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A
<latexit sha1_base64="7WdJcX17Gd2GCNm9r0ARIjzRP6k=">AAAB83icbVBNS8NAEN3Ur1q/qh69BIvgqSRV0GPRi8cK/YImlM120i7dbMLuRCihf8OLB0W8+me8+W/ctDlo64MZHu/NsLMvSATX6DjfVmljc2t7p7xb2ds/ODyqHp90dZwqBh0Wi1j1A6pBcAkd5CignyigUSCgF0zvc7/3BErzWLZxloAf0bHkIWcUjeR57QkgHXpB3qs1p+4sYK8TtyA1UqA1rH55o5ilEUhkgmo9cJ0E/Ywq5EzAvOKlGhLKpnQMA0MljUD72eLmuX1hlJEdxsqURHuh/t7IaKT1LArMZERxole9XPzPG6QY3voZl0mKINnyoTAVNsZ2HoA94goYipkhlClubrXZhCrK0MRUMSG4q19eJ91G3b2qNx6va827Io4yOSPn5JK45IY0yQNpkQ5hJCHP5JW8Wan1Yr1bH8vRklXsnJI/sD5/APGqkZ8=</latexit>
Fig. 8 A simple OPT graph. A paradigmatic example for the sake of illustration and for motivation
(see text).
Ci
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C
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Mj
A
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Ci
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Y
A black-box
b
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ci
Finally, the OPT is a black-box approach,
where each test is described by a matheY B
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matical object
which
can U
be "actually
achieved" by(4)
a very specific physical device.
A
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However, nobody forbids
to provide
a more detailed OPT realisation of the test, e.g.
A
B
as in Fig. 9.
A
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=
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{Aa }a2A
{Bb }b2B
A
ai
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Zi
A
bk
A
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{Cc }c2C
B
A
E
A
ai
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s
{Dd }d2D
A
a0j
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B
A
Fig. 9 OPT
descriptions.
The OPT is a black-box approach. It can be made
B finerBandU coarser
B
B
b0l box on the left, and even at so fine a level that it is equivalent to a
bk
more or less detailed,
as in in the
field-theoretical description, as in the right figure.
A
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24
Giacomo Mauro D’Ariano and Federico Faggin
Notice that although any graph can be represented in 2D (e.g. using crossing of
wires), one can more suitably design it in 3D (2D + in-out), as in Fig. 10.
Fig. 10 An (open) DAG whose topology is suitably representable in 3D.
The OPT and the goal of science
One can soon realise that the OPT framework precisely allows to express the most
general goal of science, namely to connect objective facts happening (the events),
devising a theory of such "connections" (the systems), thus allowing making predictions for future occurrences in terms of joint probabilities of events depending on
their connections.
One of the main methodologically relevant features of the OPT is that it makes
perfectly distinct what is the "objective datum" from what is "a theoretical element".
What is objective is which tests are performed, and what is the outcome of each
test. What is theoretical is the graph of connections between the tests, along with
the mathematical representations of both systems and tests. The OPT framework
dictates the rules that the mathematical description should satisfy, and the specific
OPT gives the particular mathematical representation of systems and tests/events
and of their compositions (in sequence and in parallel) to build up the CDAG.
The OPT and the scientific method
One of the main rules of the scientific method is to have a clearcut distinction
between what is experimental and what is theoretical. Though this would seem a
trivial statement, such a confusion happens to be often the source of disagreement
between scientists. Though the description of the apparatus is generally intermingled
with theoretical notions, the pure experimental datum must have a conventionally
Hard Problem and Free Will
25
defined "objectivity status", corresponding to "openly known" information, namely
shareable by any number of different observers. Then both the theoretical language
and the framework must reflect the theory-experiment distinction, by indicating
explicitly which notions are assigned the objectivity status. Logic, with the Boolean
calculus of events, is an essential part of the language, and Probability Theory can
be regarded as an extension of logic, assigning probabilities to events. The notion
that is promoted to the objectivity status is that of "outcome of a test", announcing
which event of a given test has occurred. The OPT framework thus represents an
extension of probability theory, providing a theoretical connectivity between events,
the other theoretical ingredients being the mathematical descriptions of systems and
tests.
{Qv }v2V
{Mp }p2P
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{Pu }u2U
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N
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D
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L
C
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N
{Nq }q2Q
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E
M
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M
H
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{Dl }l2K
<latexit sha1_base64="BuU2qgPYBIiDHF18zsXI8sHtEBQ=">AAACCXicbVDLSsNAFJ3UV62vqEs3Q4sgCCWpC10WdSG4qWAf0IQwmU7aoZNJmJkIIWTrxq2f4caFIm79A3f9GydtF9p64MLhnHu59x4/ZlQqy5oYpZXVtfWN8mZla3tnd8/cP+jIKBGYtHHEItHzkSSMctJWVDHSiwVBoc9I1x9fFX73gQhJI36v0pi4IRpyGlCMlJY8E1aczAmRGmHEsuvcY07uZcyhPHNECG/z3DNrVt2aAi4Te05qzapz+jxppi3P/HYGEU5CwhVmSMq+bcXKzZBQFDOSV5xEkhjhMRqSvqYchUS62fSTHB5rZQCDSOjiCk7V3xMZCqVMQ193FkfLRa8Q//P6iQou3IzyOFGE49miIGFQRbCIBQ6oIFixVBOEBdW3QjxCAmGlw6voEOzFl5dJp1G3z+qNO53GJZihDI5AFZwAG5yDJrgBLdAGGDyCF/AG3o0n49X4MD5nrSVjPnMI/sD4+gEDi52F</latexit>
P
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H
L
{Gh }h2H
D
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{Mp }p2P
{Hz }z2Z
{Fn```
}n2N
C
{Ck }k2K
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G
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A
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B
F
{Bj }j2J
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<latexit sha1_base64="jjlMrGv2oUThaNtQ+X+2ggdLmis=">AAACCXicbVDLSsNAFJ3UV42vqEs3Q4sgCCWpC10WuxHcVLAPaEqYTKftkMkkzEyEELJ149bPcONCEbf+gbv+jZO2C209cOFwzr3ce48fMyqVbU+N0tr6xuZWedvc2d3bP7AOjzoySgQmbRyxSPR8JAmjnLQVVYz0YkFQ6DPS9YNm4XcfiJA04vcqjckgRGNORxQjpSXPgqabuSFSE4xY1sy9wM29LHApz1wRwts896yqXbNngKvEWZBqo+KeP08bacuzvt1hhJOQcIUZkrLv2LEaZEgoihnJTTeRJEY4QGPS15SjkMhBNvskh6daGcJRJHRxBWfq74kMhVKmoa87i6PlsleI/3n9RI2uBhnlcaIIx/NFo4RBFcEiFjikgmDFUk0QFlTfCvEECYSVDs/UITjLL6+STr3mXNTqdzqNazBHGZyACjgDDrgEDXADWqANMHgEL+ANvBtPxqvxYXzOW0vGYuYY/IHx9QP+wp2C</latexit>
{Bj }j2J
{Em }m2M
{Ck }k2K
A
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{Dl }l2K
{Ai }i2I
{Ai }i2I
The OPT as a general information theory
Fig. 11 Equivalence between the CDAG and the quantum information circuit or, equivalently, any
run-diagram of a program.
We can immediately realise that a CDAG is exactly the same graph of a quantum
circuit as it is drawn in quantum information science. The quantum circuit, in turn,
can be interpreted as the run-diagram of a program, where each test represents
a subroutine, and the wires represent the registers through which the subroutines
communicate data. Indeed, the OPT can be regarded as the proper framework for
information science in general.
For a recent complete presentation of the OPT framework, the reader is addressed
to the the work [9, 10] or the more recent thorough presentation [19].
26
Giacomo Mauro D’Ariano and Federico Faggin
Notation and abbreviations
Bnd+ ( H)
bounded positive operators over H
CP⩽
trace-non increasing completely positive map
CP=
trace-preserving completely positive map
H
Hilbert space over C
Cone ( S)
conic hull of S
Cone⩽1 ( S)
convex hull of {S ∪ 0}
Conv ( S)
convex hull of S
Eff (A)
set of effects of system A
Eff 1 (A)
set of deterministic effects of system A
Mrkv⩽
normalization-non-incressing right-stochastic Markov matrices
Mrkv1
normalization-preserving right-stochastic Markov matrices
Prm(𝑛)
𝑛 × 𝑛 permutation matrices
+
(R𝑛 ) ⩽1
{x ∈ R𝑛A |x ≥ 0, x ⩽ 1}: simplex S𝑛A +1
(R𝑛 ) 1+
{x ∈ R𝑛A |x ≥ 0, ||x || 1 = 1}: simplex S𝑛A
St(A)
set of states of system A
St1 (A)
set of deterministic states of system A
T( H)
trace-class operators over H
T+ ( H)
trace-class positive operators over H
T+⩽1 ( H)
positive sub-unit-trace operators over H
T+=1 ( H)
positive unit-trace operators over H
Trn(A → B) set of transformations from system A to system B
Trn1 (A → B) set of deterministic transformations from system A to system B
U( H)
unitary group over H
Special cases corollaries
T(C) = C, T+ (C) = R+ , T+⩽1 (C) = [0, 1], T+=1 (C) = {1}
CP(T( H) → T(C)) = P(T( H) → T(C)) = {Tr[·𝐸 ], 𝐸 ∈ Bnd+ ( H) }
CP(T(C) → T( H)) = P(T(C) → T( H)) = T+ ( H)
CP⩽ (T(C) → T( H)) ≡ T+⩽1 ( H)
CP⩽ (T( H) → T(C)) ≡ { 𝜖 ( ·) = Tr[·𝐸 ], 0 ⩽ 𝐸 ⩽ 𝐼 }
+
Mrkv⩽ (𝑛, 1) = (R𝑛 ) ⩽1
𝑛
+
Mrkv1 (𝑛, 1) = (R ) =1
Abbreviations
CT
Classical Theory
OPT
Operational Probabilistic Theory
PR boxes
Popescu-Rohrlich boxes
QT
Quantum Theory
Table 2 Notation, special-cases corollaries, and common abbreviations.
Hard Problem and Free Will
27
Quantum theory
A minimal mathematical axiomatisation of Quantum Theory as an OPT is provided
in Table 3. For an OPT we need to provide the mathematical description of systems,
their composition, and transformations from one system to another. Then all rules
of compositions of transformations and their respective systems are provided by the
OPT framework. The reader who is not familiar with such framework can simply
use the intuitive construction of quantum circuits. In Table 4 we report the main
theorems following from the axioms. The reader interested in the motivations for the
present axiomatization is addressed to Ref. [61].
Quantum Theory
system
A
HA
system composition
AB
HAB = HA ⊗ HB
transformation T ∈ Trn(A → B) T ∈ CP⩽ (T( HA ) → T( HB ))
Born rule 𝑝 ( T) = Tr T T ∈ Trn(I → A)
Table 3 Mathematical axiomatisation of Quantum Theory. As given in the table, in Quantum
Theory to each system A we associate a Hilbert space over the complex field HA . To the composition of systems A and B we associate the tensor product of Hilbert spaces HAB = HA ⊗ HB .
Transformations from system A to B are described by trace-nonincreasing completely positive (CP)
maps from traceclass operators on HA to traceclass operators on HB . Special cases of transformations are those with input trivial system I corresponding to states, whose trace is the preparation
probability, the latter providing an efficient Born rule from which one can derive all joint probabilities of any combination of transformations. Everything else is simply special-case corollaries and
one realisation theorem: these are reported in Table 4.
28
Giacomo Mauro D’Ariano and Federico Faggin
Quantum theorems
trivial system
I
HI = C
reversible transf.
U = 𝑈 · 𝑈†
𝑈 ∈ U( HA )
determ. transformation
T ∈ Trn1 (A → B)
T ∈ CP⩽1 (T( HA ) → T( HB ))
parallel composition T1 ∈ Trn(A → B), T2 ∈ Trn(C → D) T1 ⊗ T2
sequential composition T1 ∈ Trn(A → B), T2 ∈ Trn(B → C) T2 T1
𝜌 ∈ St(A) ≡ Trn(I → A)
𝜌 ∈ T+⩽1 ( HA )
𝜌
∈
St
(A)
≡
Trn
(I
→
A)
𝜌 ∈ T+=1 ( HA )
1
1
states
𝜌 ∈ St(I) ≡ Trn(I → I)
𝜌 ∈ [0, 1]
𝜌 ∈ St1 (I) ≡ Trn(I → I)
𝜌=1
𝜖 ∈ Eff (A) ≡ Trn(A → I)
𝜖 ( ·) = TrA [·𝐸 ], 0 ⩽ 𝐸 ⩽ 𝐼 𝐴
effects
𝜖 ∈ Eff 1 (A) ≡ Trn1 (A → I)
𝜖 = TrA
Transformations as
unitary interaction
A
B
+
von Neumann-Luders A T𝑖 B =
T𝑖 𝜌 = TrE [𝑈 (𝜌 ⊗ 𝜎)𝑈 † (𝐼B ⊗ 𝑃𝑖 ) ]
U
E
𝜎 F
P𝑖
Table 4 Corollaries and a theorem of Quantum Theory, starting from Table 3 axiomatization.
The first corollary states that the trivial system I in order to satisfy the composition rule IA = AI = A
must be associated to the one-dimensional Hilbert space HI = C, since it is the only Hilbert space
which trivializes the Hilbert space tensor product. The second corollary states that the reversible
transformations are the unitary ones. The third corollary states that the deterministic transformations are the trace-preserving ones. Then the fourth and fifth corollaries give the composition of
transformations in terms of compositions of maps. We then have four corollaries about states: 1)
states are transformations starting from the trivial system and, as such, are positive operators on
the system Hilbert space, having trace bounded by one; 2) the deterministic states correspond to
unit-trace positive operator; 3) the states of trivial system are just probabilities; 4) The only trivial
system deterministic state is the number 1. We then have two corollaries for effects, as special cases
of transformation toward the trivial system: 1) the effect is represented by the partial trace over the
system Hilbert space of the multiplication with a positive operator bounded by the identity over the
system Hilbert space; 2) the only deterministic effect is the partial trace over the system Hilbert
space. Finally, we have the realization theorem for transformations in terms of unitary interaction
U = 𝑈 · 𝑈 † with an environment F and a projective effect-test { P𝑖 } over environment E, with
P𝑖 = 𝑃𝑖 · 𝑃𝑖 , {𝑃𝑖 } being a complete set of orthogonal projectors.
Hard Problem and Free Will
29
Classical theory
Classical Theory
system
A
R𝑛A
system composition
AB
R𝑛AB = R𝑛A ⊗ R𝑛B
transformation T ∈ Trn(A → B) T ∈ Mrkv⩽ (R𝑛A , R𝑛B )
Table 5 Mathematical axiomatisation of Classical Theory. To each system A we associate a
real Euclidean space R𝑛A . To composition of systems A and B we associate the tensor product
spaces R𝑛A ⊗ R𝑛B . Transformations from system A to system B are described by substochastic
Markov matrices from the input space to the output space. Everything else are simple special-case
corollaries: these are reported in Table 6.
Classical theorems
trivial system
I
HI = R
reversible transformations
P
P ∈ Prm(𝑛A )
transformation
T ∈ Trn⩽ (A → B)
T ∈ Mrkv⩽ (R𝑛A , R𝑛B )
determ. transformation
T ∈ Trn1 (A → B)
T ∈ Mrkv1 (R𝑛A , R𝑛B )
parallel composition T1 ∈ Trn(A → B), T2 ∈ Trn(C → D) T1 ⊗ T2
sequential composition T1 ∈ Trn(A → B), T2 ∈ Trn(B → C) T2 T1
+
x ∈ St(A) ≡ Trn(I → A)
x ∈ (R𝑛A ) ⩽1
𝑛A ) +
x
∈
St
(A)
≡
Trn
(I
→
A)
x
∈
(R
1
1
=1
states
𝑝 ∈ St(I) ≡ Trn(I → I)
𝑝 ∈ [0, 1]
𝑝 ∈ St1 (I) ≡ Trn(I → I)
𝑝=1
𝜖 ∈ Eff (A) ≡ Trn(A → I)
𝜖 ( ·) = ·x, 0 ⩽ x ⩽ 1
effects
𝜖 ∈ Eff 1 (A) ≡ Trn1 (A → I)
𝜖 = ·1
Table 6 Main theorems of Classical Theory, starting from axioms in Table 5. The first corollary
states that the trivial system I in order to satisfy the composition rule IA = AI = A must be
associated to the one-dimensional space R, since it is the only real linear space that trivialises the
tensor product. The second corollary states that the reversible transformations are the permutation
matrices. The third states that transformations are substochastic Markov matrices. The fourth states
that the deterministic transformations are stochastic Markov matrices. Then the fifth and sixth
corollaries give the composition of transformations in terms of composition of matrices. We then
have four corollaries about states: 1) states are transformations starting from the trivial system and,
as such, are sub-normalized probability vectors (vectors in the positive octant with sum of elements
bounded by one; 2) the deterministic states correspond to normalised probability vectors; 3) the
case of trivial output-system correspond to just probabilities; 4) The only trivial output-system
deterministic state is the number 1. We then have two corollaries for effects, as special cases of
transformation toward the trivial system: 1) the effect is represented by scalar product with a vector
with components in the unit interval; 2) the only deterministic effect is the scalar product with the
vector with all unit components.
30
Giacomo Mauro D’Ariano and Federico Faggin
Acknowledgements The authors acknowledge helpful conversations and encouragement by Don
Hoffman, and interesting discussions with Chris Fields. Giacomo Mauro D’Ariano acknowledges
interesting discussions with Ramon Guevarra Erra.
This work has been sponsored by Elvia and Federico Faggin foundation through Silicon Valley
Community Foundation, Grant 2020-214365 The observer: an operational theoretical approach.
For oral sources see also the Oxford podcast http://podcasts.ox.ac.uk/mauro-dariano-awarenessoperational-theoretical-approach.
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Journal of Consciousness Exploration & Research| October 2018 | Volume 9 | Issue 8 | pp. 782-787
Marciak-Kozłowska, J. & Kozlowski, M. , On the Emergence of Crop Circle
782
Opinion
On the Emergence of Crop Circle
Janina Marciak-Kozłowska1 & Miroslaw Kozlowski*2
1
2
Institute of Electron Technology, Warsaw, Poland
Warsaw University, Warsaw, Poland
Abstract
In this paper, we describe the emergence of field crop circle. We propose that the pattern which
we can observe in field crop circle are the results of interaction of Schumann waves with crops.
The crops are the photographic plate ( detectors ) of the Schuman photons.
Keyword: Emergence, field crop circle, Schumann wave, photon.
Introduction
Crop Circles - the strange patterns that appear mysteriously overnight in farmers' fields - provoke
puzzlement, delight and intrigue among the press and public alike ( See, e.g., Fig.1).
Fig.1. Crop Circle “Julia set”
*
Correspondence: Miroslaw Kozlowski, Prof. Emeritus, Warsaw University, Poland. Email: m.kozlowski934@upcpoczta.pl
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Marciak-Kozłowska, J. & Kozlowski, M. , On the Emergence of Crop Circle
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Fig.2. Mathematical presentation of fractal Julia set
In Fig.1, we present the beautiful example of Field crops ( observed) And in Fig.2 The fractal
model of crop circles (Fatou and Julia calculations)
The crop circles are mostly found in the United Kingdom, but have spread to dozens of countries
around the world in past decades. The mystery has inspired countless books, blogs, fan groups,
researchers (dubbed "cereologists") and even Hollywood films. Despite having been studied for
decades, the question remains: Who - or what - is making them?
Many people believe that crop circles have been reported for centuries, a claim repeated in many
books and websites devoted to the mystery. Their primary piece of evidence is a woodcut from
1678 that appears to show a field of oat stalks laid out in a circle. Some take this to be a firsthand eyewitness account of a crop circle, but a little historical investigation shows otherwise.
The woodcut actually illustrates what in folklore is called a "mowing devil" legend, in which an
English farmer told a worker with whom he was feuding that he "would rather pay the Devil
himself" to cut his oat field than pay the fee demanded. The source of the harvesting is not
unknown or mysterious; it is indeed Satan himself, who - complete with signature horns and a
tail - can be seen in the woodcut holding a scythe.
Some claim that the first crop circles (though they were not called that at the time) appeared near
the small town of Tully, Australia. In 1966, a farmer said he saw a flying saucer rise up from a
swampy area and fly away; when he went to investigate he saw a roughly circular area of debris
and apparently flattened reeds and grass, which he assumed had been made by the alien
spacecraft (but which police investigators said was likely caused by a natural phenomenon such
as a dust devil or waterspout). Referred in the press as "flying saucer nests," this story is more
a UFO report than a crop circle report.
As in the 1678 mowing devil legend, the case for it being linked to crop circles is especially
weak when we consider that the impression or formation was not made in a crop of any kind but
instead in ordinary grass. A round impression in a lawn or grassy area is not necessarily
mysterious (as anyone with a kiddie pool in the back yard knows). Indeed, mysterious circles
ISSN: 2153-8212
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Journal of Consciousness Exploration & Research| October 2018 | Volume 9 | Issue 8 | pp. 782-787
Marciak-Kozłowska, J. & Kozlowski, M. , On the Emergence of Crop Circle
784
have appeared in grass throughout the world that are sometimes attributed to fairies but instead
caused by disease.
In fact, the first real crop circles didn't appear until the 1970s, when simple circles began
appearing in the English countryside. The number and complexity of the circles increased
dramatically, reaching a peak in the 1980s and 1990s when increasingly elaborate circles were
produced, including those illustrating complex mathematical equations.
In July 1996, one of the world's most complex and spectacular crop circles appeared in England,
across a highway from the mysterious and world-famous Stonehenge monument in the Wiltshire
countryside. It was astonishing fractal pattern called a Julia Set, and while some simple or rough
circles might be explained away as the result of a strange weather phenomenon, this one
unmistakably demonstrated intelligence. The only question was whether that intelligence was
terrestrial or extra-terrestrial.
Making the design all the more mysterious, it was claimed that the circle appeared in less than an
hour and during the daytime — which, if true, would be virtually impossible for hoaxers to
accomplish. The circle became one of the most famous and important crop circles in history.
It was later revealed that the circle had in fact been made in about three hours (by three hoaxers)
very early that morning. It simply hadn't been noticed until the following afternoon when spotted
from an airplane overhead.
Unlike other mysterious phenomenon such as psychic powers, ghosts, or Bigfoot, there is no
doubt that crop circles are "real." The evidence that they exist is clear and overwhelming. The
real question is instead what creates them — and there are ways to investigate that question.
We can look at both internal and external evidence to evaluate crop circles. Internal information
includes the content and meaning of the designs (is there anything that indicates that any
information contained in the "messages" is of extraterrestrial origin?), and external information,
including the physical construction of the crop designs themselves (is there anything that
indicates that the designs were created by anything other than humans?)
Crop circle enthusiasts have come up with many theories about what create the patterns, ranging
from the plausible to the absurd. One explanation in vogue in the early 1980s was that the
mysterious circle patterns were accidentally produced by the especially vigorous sexual activity
of horny hedgehogs. Some people have suggested that the circles are somehow created by
localized and precise wind patterns, or by scientifically undetectable Earth energy fields and
meridians called ley lines.
Others, such as molecular biologist Horace Drew, suggest that the answer lies instead in time
travel or alien life. He theorizes that the patterns could be made by human time travelers from the
distant future to help them navigate our planet. Drew, working on the assumption that the
designs are intended as messages, believes he has decoded crop circle symbols and that they
contain messages such as "Believe," "There is good out there," "Beware the bearers of false gifts
and their broken promises," and "We oppose deception" (all, presumably, in English).
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Journal of Consciousness Exploration & Research| October 2018 | Volume 9 | Issue 8 | pp. 782-787
Marciak-Kozłowska, J. & Kozlowski, M. , On the Emergence of Crop Circle
785
However, these odd, pseudo-biblical messages undermine the credibility of the crop circles, or at
least the meaning read into them. Of all the information that an extraterrestrial intelligence might
choose to convey to humanity — ranging from how to contact them to engineering secrets of
faster-than-light travel — these aliens chose to impart intentionally cryptic messages about false
gifts, broken promises. The crops circles or rather Field crops are in our opinion the result of
Schumann field interaction with crops. In this paper we search the equation which can describe
that interaction.
2. The model
In paper (Kozlowski, 2917), we showed that for particles with m<< M (Planck Mass)
2
equation
1 2
0
c 2 t 2
(1)
describes the pilot wave equation. It is interesting to observe that the pilot wave equation is
independent of mass of the particles
Let us look for the solution of the Eq. (1) in the form (for 1D)
( x ct )
(2)
where is for example Julia set encoded in Schumann wave.
For finite Planck mass, we obtain (Kozlowski, 2017):
2ic
( x ct ) exp
( x ct )
h
(3)
where the reduced μ mass equals
mi M p
(4)
m M p
For m << Mp, i.e. for all elementary particles one obtains
μ = mi
(5)
and formula (2) describes the wave function for free Schrödinger particles.
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Journal of Consciousness Exploration & Research| October 2018 | Volume 9 | Issue 8 | pp. 782-787
Marciak-Kozłowska, J. & Kozlowski, M. , On the Emergence of Crop Circle
786
2mic
( x ct ) exp
( x ct )
h
(6)
2M p ic
( x ct ) exp
( x ct )
h
(7)
For m >> Mp, μ = Mp
From formula (6) we conclude that ( x ct ) is independent of m of particle, m.
In the case m < Mp from formulae (6) and (7) one obtains
m1
m
M p
m 2mc
2mc 2
2imc
( x ct ) exp
( x ct ) exp i
x
t
M
h
h
h
p
(8)
In formula (8) we put
2mi c
h
2mi c 2
h
k
(9)
and obtain
( x ct ) e
i ( kx t )
i
e
m
( kx t )
Mp
(10)
As can concluded from formula (10) the second term depends on the gravity
m 2G 2
m
exp i i ( kx t ) exp i i ( kx t )
hc
M p
1
(11)
where G is the Newton gravity constant.
It is interesting to observe that the new constant, G ,
ISSN: 2153-8212
Journal of Consciousness Exploration & Research
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Journal of Consciousness Exploration & Research| October 2018 | Volume 9 | Issue 8 | pp. 782-787
Marciak-Kozłowska, J. & Kozlowski, M. , On the Emergence of Crop Circle
787
mi2G
G
hc
(12)
is the gravitational constant. For mi = mN nucleon mass
G 5.9042 10 39
The equation (11) describes the resulting “picture” of initial Schumann wave (Julia set).
3. Conclusions
In paper we argue that the crop circles are the results of interactions of Schumann waves with
crops. Assuming the linearity of the wave equation formulated in our earlier papers, we argue
that the crop circles are the patterns encoded in Schumann waves. Due to the weakness of
Schumann field the picture of patterns can be obtained only in crop as photographic plate for
Schumann photons,
References
M. Kozlowski, J. Marciak-Kozlowska, Wave phenomena in nano-bio-technosciences, Lambert, 2017.
ISSN: 2153-8212
Journal of Consciousness Exploration & Research
Published by QuantumDream, Inc.
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Non-equilibrium brain dynamics as a signature of consciousness
Yonatan Sanz Perl,1, 2 Hernán Bocaccio,2 Ignacio Pérez-Ipiña,2 Steven Laureys,3
Helmut Laufs,4 Morten Kringelbach,5 Gustavo Deco,6 and Enzo Tagliazucchi2
1
Universidad de San Andrés, Buenos Aires, Argentina
Physics Department, University of Buenos Aires, and Buenos Aires Physics Institute, Argentina
3
Coma Science Group, GIGA Consciousness, University of Liège, Liège,Belgium
4
Department of Neurology, Christian-Albrechts-University Kiel, Germany
5
Department of Psychiatry, University of Oxford, United Kingdom
6
Center for Brain and Cognition, Computational Neuroscience Group, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Spain
(Dated: December 22, 2020)
arXiv:2012.10792v1 [q-bio.NC] 19 Dec 2020
2
The cognitive functions of human and non-human primates rely on the dynamic interplay of
distributed neural assemblies. As such, it seems unlikely that cognition can be supported by macroscopic brain dynamics at the proximity of thermodynamic equilibrium. We confirmed this hypothesis
by investigating electrocorticography data from non-human primates undergoing different states of
unconsciousness (sleep, and anesthesia with propofol, ketamine, and ketamine plus medetomidine),
and funcional magnetic resonance imaginga data from humans, both during deep sleep and under
propofol anesthesia. Systematically, all states of reduced consciousness unfolded at higher proximity to equilibrium dynamics than conscious wakefulness, as demonstrated by entropy production
and the curl of probability flux in phase space. Our results establish non-equilibrium macroscopic
brain dynamics as a robust signature of consciousness, opening the way for the characterization of
cognition and awareness using tools from statistical mechanics.
Introduction - One of the defining features of living matter is the scale-dependent violation of thermodynamic equilibrium [1]. While inanimate matter frequently displays non-equilibrium dynamics, these result
from externally applied fields. In contrast, departures
from equilibrium in living matter can also arise due to
endogenous causes, such as complex chains of enzymatic
reactions[2] driving mesoscopic mechanical processes[3].
Another characteristic of non-equilibrium dynamics in
living matter is their dependence with the spatial and
temporal grain; for instance, cells and larger biological
structures might appear to be at equilibrium, while being
sustained by non-equilibrium processes at the molecular
scale [4].
Systems at thermodynamic equilibrium obey detailed
balance, meaning that there are no net probability fluxes
in the configuration space of the system. Detailed balance leads toward reversible dynamics with null entropy
production rate. The vector field representing the probability flux in configuration space becomes purely rotational for steady non-equilibrium systems, the deviation
from equilibrium can be quantified using the curl of this
field [5], and entropy production can be estimated from
the probability of transitioning between states [6]. This
notion of equilibrium exists only in reference to a certain configuration space, which might reflect, in turn, a
particular choice of spatio-temporal grain.
Models of non-equilibrium brain dynamics have been
extensively studied in the literature (including the development of a field theory of stochastic neural activity [7])
in the contexts of associative learning (i.e. Hopfield networks) and decision making, among others [8]. The phase
space of excitable systems includes the important particular case of scale-free critical behaviour [9]. In general,
it is agreed that neural dynamics (as many other bio-
logical phenomena) are an intrinsically non-equilibrium
phenomenon; however, this is less clear for macroscopic
brain dynamics [10]. A recently proposed framework to
quantify entropy production from neural data acquired
at a macroscopic scale (functional magnetic resonance
imaging [fMRI] recordings) showed that dynamics within
a reduced 2D configuration space does not generally obey
detailed balance, and that the extent of its violation (and
thus the degree of entropy production) is task-dependent
[11].
In spite of these advances, the relationship between
conscious states and non-equilibrium dynamics remains
to be elucidated. It seems unlikely that the dynamic
nature of consciousness and cognition can be sustained
by a system without strong deviations from thermodynamic equilibrium at some spatial and temporal scales.
Thus, brain states associated with unconsciousness could
obey detailed balance at the large scale, while simultaneously being supported by non-equilibrium homeostatic
processes at the cellular scale. We investigated electrocorticography (ECoG) recordings acquired during different states of consciousness. Compared to fMRI, this
modality is better suited for the estimation of transition
probabilities in configuration space, given that higher
temporal resolution results in better sampling of transition probabilities. We also investigated fMRI recordings
by fitting semi-empirical whole-brain models to data from
states of reduced consciousness, using them to produce
synthetic time series which arbitrarily high temporal resolution.
Consciousness and non-equilibrium dynamics in monkey ECoG data- We first considered ECoG data nonhuman primates (128 channels from electrodes located
as shown in Fig. 1A) during wakefulness, deep sleep (2
animals, 21 sessions with 8 of wakefulness), and under
2
FIG. 1. Principal components of non-human primate ECoG
signals. A) Sample ECoG array electrode locations. B) Temporal evolution of the three main modes of ECoG activity
for an awake monkey obtained using PCA. C) Time series
of panel B projected on the three-dimensional configuration
space (the colour gradient represents the temporal evolution
of along the trajectory). D) Variance explained as a function of retained principal components, plotted for all states of
consciousness.
the effects of the following anaesthetic drugs: propofol
(PF; 2 animals, 4 sessions of wake, 4 of anaesthesia, 4 of
recovery), ketamine (KT; 2 animals, 4 sessions of wake, 4
of anaesthesia, 4 of recovery), and ketamine plus medetomidine (KF+MD; 4 animals, 11 sessions of wake, 11 sessions of anaesthesia, and 10 sessions of recovery). All
sessions were recorded with eyes closed. Time series were
notch filtered to remove the power line frequency and its
first harmonics (50 Hz, 100 Hz, 150 Hz) and then bandpass filtered between 5 and 500 Hz. Filtered signals were
downsampled from 1 kHz to 256 Hz using linear interpolation prior to application of PCA. For more information
on this data set visit http://neurotycho.org/.
Sample results obtained from linear dimensional reduction are shown in Fig. 1B as the temporal evolution of
the first three modes obtained applying PCA to ECoG of
an awake animal. Fig. 1C shows the projection of these
time series on the space defined by the three principal
modes, with temporal evolution represented by a colour
gradient from blue scales (earlier times) to yellow scales
(later times). The percentage of the variance explained
as a function of retained principal components is shown
in Fig 1D separately for all states of consciousness.
We then assessed the violation of detailed balance by
dividing the two-dimensional space spanned by the two
main modes of ECoG activity into 10×10 grids from -2 to
2 standard deviations (s.d.) [3, 11]. Figure 2A presents
the average probability density and flux in configuration
space for wake, sleep and their subtraction.
We then estimated the entropy production as a measure of equilibrium/non-equilibrium behaviour. We associated with each brain state a probability transition
Pij representing the probability of transitioning from
state xi at time t to xj at time t + 1, where the state
of the system is defined by the grid in the configuration space defined by the two main modes. The arrows in Fig. 2A are scaled to the transition probabilities
Pij between adjacent states; rotational fluxes are typical
of non-equilibrium dynamics and result in net entropy
production. We calculated the entropy production as:
P
Pij
S = ij Pij log( Pji
) [6, 11]. Figure 2B (up) shows that
entropy production is minimal during states of unconsciousness (sleep, KT, PF, KT+MD) compared to wakefulness before and after anaesthesia, i.e. recovery. Figure 2B (bottom) presents the curl of the probability flux,
significantly larger for all states of unconsciousness vs.
controls with the exception of PF.
Changes in grid size- We repeated the procedure for
grids with different numbers of cells, from N = 62 to
N = 202 cells, and computed entropy production for
each size. Figure 3 shows the results obtained for sleep,
KT, PF and KT+MD, as well as for the corresponding
control conditions. Entropy production presented a minimum value when phase space for N = 10 − 12 cells by
and then increased monotonically. Significant differences
were observed for most grid sizes.
Second order transition probabilities- The calculation
of entropy production by means of probability flux in configuration space assume Markovian dynamics [6]. This
represents an important limitation in our analyses, since
higher order temporal dependencies have been suggested
by prior reports. To assess the potential impact of this
limitation, we included a second order term in the computation of the transition probabilities, i.e. Pi,j,k [11].
The results preserved all significant differences shown in
Fig. 2.
Entropy production vs. spectral content- We compared
the assessment of non-equilibrium dynamics by means of
entropy production with the spectral power in different
bands (1-4 Hz, 4-12 Hz, 12-30 Hz, 30-60 Hz), an empirical
metric that is frequently used to assess (un)consciousness
in electrophysiological signals [12]. Figure 4 presents
scatter plots of spectral content in different bands (indicated by symbol type and colour) vs. entropy production
for all conditions. We did not observe significant correlations that could be interpreted as redundant information
between spectral content and entropy production.
fMRI data enhancement using whole-brain semiempirical models- To investigate non-equilibrium dynamics as a signature of consciousness in human fMRI recordings, we first developed a data enhancement technique allowing us to improve the sampling of configuration space.
For this purpose, we implemented computational models linking together multiple sources of empirical data by
3
FIG. 3. Entropy production for different grid sizes. Each
panel presents entropy production as a function of the the
square root of the number of cells for a given condition (sleep,
PF, KT, KT+MD). *p<0.05 before vs. on, **p<0.05 after
vs. on, **p<0.05 after and before vs. on, Wilcoxon’s test,
Bonferroni corrected for multiple comparisons.
FIG. 2. Non-equilibrium entropy production is a signature
of conscious states. A) 2D configuration space defined by the
two main ECoG modes for sleep, wake and their subtraction.
B) Up: entropy production per state and condition. Bottom:
curl of the probability flux per state and condition.*p<0.05,
Wilcoxon’s test, Bonferroni corrected for multiple comparisons.
means of coupled local dynamics with different qualitative behaviours [13]. Our model incorporates empirical
estimates of the large-scale structural connectivity of the
brain obtained using diffusion tensor imaging (DTI), a
non-invasive methodology to estimate axon bundles from
water diffusion anisotropies. We computed observable
based on the large-scale functional connectivity of the
brain, i.e. the linear correlation between mean all pairs
of fMRI time series extracted from 90 pre-defined regions
of interest spanning the whole cortical and sub-cortical
grey matter [14]. Finally, we constructed models with
heterogeneous local parameters whose variation is constrained by anatomical priors that represent boundaries
between brain regions associated with specific functional
systems (resting state networks [RSN]) [15].
We outline this model in Fig. 5A. Local dynamics
present dynamical criticality when a region undergoes
a bifurcation from stable fixed point dynamics (a<0) to
oscillatory behaviour (a>0) according to a Hopf bifurca-
FIG. 4. Comparison between entropy production and spectral content for frequency bands 1-4 Hz, 4-12 Hz, 12-30 Hz,
30-60 Hz, indicated with different symbol shapes and colours.
No significant correlation between these variables were found.
tion; these dynamics are coupled by the structural connectivity network inferred from DTI data, and scaled by
a global coupling parameter (G). As shown in [15] this
scaling factor G and the local bifurcation parameters corresponding to each anatomical prior (i.e. a value for each
RSN) can be optimized to reproduce the functional connectivity measured during different states of consciousness.
We applied this optimization procedure to reproduce
4
from the time series corresponding to all sleep stages and
depths of propofol sedation. We found that N2 and N3
sleep (the deepest stages of NREM sleep) presented dynamics significantly closer to detailed balance than conscious wakefulness; we found the same for propofol sedation and loss of consciousness, but not for early (N1)
sleep.
Conclusions- The combined assessment of ECoG and
fMRI data (assisted by model-based temporal enhancement) demonstrated that macroscopic non-equilibrium
dynamics are a signature of consciousness spanning two
model organisms measured with two different neural activity recording techniques, both during deep sleep (N2
and N3 sleep, but not N1), and under the effects of several anaesthetic drugs (propofol, ketamine, and ketamine
plus medetomidine for monkeys; two doses of propofol for
humans).
FIG. 5. Model-based fMRI data enhancement used to assess
the non-equilibrium dynamics in the human brain. A) Up: a
whole-brain semi-empirical model presenting dynamical criticality (local Hopf bifurcation) fitted to the empirical functional connectivity of different sleep stages, using structural
connectivity (DTI) to couple the local dynamics, and different RSN as priors to constraint the independent variation of
local bifurcation parameters. Bottom: the temporal evolution of the three principal modes obtained using PCA over
the simulated time series. B) Entropy production (left) and
flux curl (right) computed from the model fitted to empirical
fMRI data obtained during wakefulness and three progressively deeper stages of human sleep (up), as well as or wakefulness and two levels of propofol-induced loss of consciousness
(bottom).*p<0.05, Wilcoxon’s test, Bonferroni corrected for
multiple comparisons.
the empirical observables for wakefulness, for all human non-rapid eye movement (NREM) sleep stages (N1,
N2, N3), and for propofol-induced sedation and loss of
consciousness. We then used the optimal parameters
to enhance the BOLD signal lengths of each subject
(n=15) up to 30.000 samples for each region of interest [16, 17], allowing us to estimate entropy production
as done with the ECoG data (Fig. 2). Figure 5A (bottom) presents the three main modes extracted from the
simulated BOLD time series using PCA for parameters
corresponding to wakefulness. Figure 5B presents entropy production and curl of probability flux estimated
Most of the leading theories agree that consciousness
and cognition emerge from the coordinated and dynamic
interplay of distributed brain activity. For example,
the global workspace theory posits that consciousness is
equivalent to the non-linear percolation of sensory information throughout an anatomical connectivity backbone,
allowing flexible access by different modular cognitive
processors [18]. The dynamic core hypothesis by Edelman and Tononi identifies consciousness with an integrated dynamic process capable of achieving an enormous
number of configurations [19]. Even if these explanations
are considered satisfactory from a mechanistic perspective, the problem stands still: how does the neural collective self-organizes to fulfil the dynamic requirements
of these theories? Our work shows that non-equilibrium
brain dynamics is a general feature of conscious states. In
turn, this type of dynamics can be achieved through different mechanisms, such as statistical [20] and dynamic
criticality [21].
Importantly, we established the independence between
non-equilibrium entropy production and spectral features that are frequently used to characterize unconscious
states. This observation is relevant since some of the general anaesthetic we investigated (e.g. ketamine [22]) fail
to induce the type of low frequency and complexity oscillations that considered indicative of unconsciousness,
suggesting that our metrics are more general.
In summary, we demonstrated a link between a
very general property of the brain as a macroscopic
physical system, and the emergence of consciousness and
cognition. Future studies should refine our conclusions,
attempting to converge towards the relationship between dynamics and computation in neural tissue, one of
the most challeing and long-stading problems in the field.
Authors acknowledge funding from Agencia Nacional De
Promocion Cientifica Y Tecnologica (Argentina), grant
PICT-2018-03103. The authors acknowledge the Toyoko
2020 program for granting cloud computing services.
5
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Clinical neurophysiology 117, 1660 (2006). |
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Article
Artificial Intelligence, Natural Intelligence & TGD
Matti Pitkänen 1
Abstract
Recently a humanoid robot known as Sophia has gained a lot of attention on the Internet. Sophia
uses AI, visual data processing and facial recognition. Sophia imitates human gestures and facial
expressions and is able to answer questions and make simple conversations on predefined topics.
The AI program used analyzes conversations, extracts data, and uses it to improve responses in
the future. To a skeptic, Sophia looks like a highly advanced version of ELIZA. Personally, I hold
rather skeptic view about strong AI relying on a mechanistic view about intelligence which leads to
transhumanism and notions such as mind uploading. It is, however, good to air out one’s thinking
sometimes. Computers should have a description also in the quantal Universe of TGD and this
forces me to look more precisely about the idealizations of AI. This process led me to a change
of my attitudes. The fusion of human consciousness and presumably rather primitive computer
consciousness but correlating with the program running in it might be possible in TGD Universe.
TGD inspired quantum biology and the recent ideas about prebiotic systems provide rather concrete
ideas in attempts to realize this fusion. TGD also strongly suggests that there is also what might be
called Natural Intelligence relying on 2-D cognitive representations defined by networks consisting of
nodes (neurons) and flux tubes (axons with nerve pulse patterns) connecting them rather than linear
1-D representation used by AI. The topological dynamics of these networks has Boolean dynamics of
computer programs as a projection but is much more general and could allow one to represent objects
of perceptive field and number theoretic cognition.
Keywords: Artificial intelligence, natural intelligence, humanoid robot, Sophia, AI, TGD.
1
Introduction
Recently a humanoid robot known as Sophia (see http://tinyurl.com/y89adopm) developed by Hanson
Robotics has gained a lot of attention on the Internet. Sophia even has the citizenship of Saudi Arabia.
The surprisingly human like appearance of Sophia is modelled after actress Audrey Hepburn. Sophia uses
AI, visual data processing, and facial recognition. Sophia imitates human gestures and facial expressions
and is able to answer questions and make simple conversations on predefined topics. The AI program
used analyzes conversations, extracts data, and uses it to improve responses in the future. To a skeptic,
Sophia looks like a highly advanced version of ELIZA.
I must first of all confess that I know very little about practical side of AI: The basic ideas of associative
networks and deep learning are familiar to me at the conceptual level but not much more. It is the
philosophical arguments, which justify my a rather skeptic view about strong AI relying on a mechanistic
view about intelligence which leads to transhumanism and notions such as mind uploading (see http:
//tinyurl.com/aruyfxx) meaning that all information content would be transferred from brain to some
substrate, say computer file, and in simulation mode the substrate continues to have human consciousness.
It is, however, good to air out one’s thinking sometimes and this what I try to do in the sequel.
Irrespective of my attitudes, computers should have a description also in the quantal Universe of TGD
and this forces to look more precisely about the idealizations of AI. This process led me to a change of my
attitudes. The fusion of human consciousness and presumably rather primitive computer consciousness
might be possible in TGD Universe, and TGD inspired quantum biology and the recent ideas about
1 Correspondence: Matti Pitkänen http://tgdtheory.com/. Address: Rinnekatu 2-4 A8, 03620, Karkkila, Finland. Email:
matpitka6@gmail.com.
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prebiotic systems [37] (see http://tinyurl.com/yassnhzb) provide rather concrete ideas in attempts to
realize this fusion.
TGD also strongly suggests that there is also what might be called Natural Intelligence relying on 2-D
cognitive representations defined by networks consisting of nodes (neurons) and flux tubes (axons with
nerve pulse patterns) connecting them rather than linear 1-D representation used by AI. The topological
dynamics of these networks has Boolean dynamics of computer programs as a projection but is much
more general and could allow to represent objects of perceptive field and number theoretic cognition.
1.1
Why I have been a skeptic
The reasons for my skepticism towards strong AI (computers as conscious entities) have been manyfold
[18] (see http://tinyurl.com/gnjeetw).
1. The assumption about substrate independence of consciousness and reduction to a mere computer
architecture and logical structure of program looks to me unrealistic. I see consciousness as very
intimately related to life itself and life involves a lot of physics and chemistry and is still poorly
understood phenomenon presumably demanding new physics.
2. Bits are represented by voltages with finite range of variation and I think this is essential for being
able to write realizable computer programs without breaking laws of physics: determinism modulo
finite measurement resolution is essential.
3. The AI view about consciousness does not allow free will and intentionality and is therefore mechanistic. The view about how brain state represents conscious experience looks to me very naive:
neuron is to me much more than bit. Even the view about nerve pulse conduction as communication
and the notion of information molecules as can be challenged and the real communication might
rely on signals propagating with light velocity [33, 31].
These are of course only my personal views and motivated by my own background as a physicists
and preacher of new physics. I do not believe on the reduction of biology and neuroscience to recent day
physics. Neither do I believe to the reduction of consciousness to the physical state of material system
- say neural network - nor to a program running in computer. Here I should however underline and
emphasize the conclusion is this if computers are what we believe them to be and that running computer
programs are what their mathematical idealizations are thought to be.
I think that this kind of irreducibility is the very essence of consciousness and allows to accept and
perhaps even understand intentionality and free will. I also believe that the mathematical description
of cognition requires leaving real numbers are basic substrate of physical world and bringing in p-adic
numbers fields fused together with reals to form adeles [39] [20] (see http://tinyurl.com/yd35hvhh) .
One can ask whether the notion of classical computation as a deterministic process could be only
a reasonable approximation for what happens at quantum level? The fact that any program satisfying
grammatic rules is possible, does not conform with the idea of strict determinism. This raises several
questions. Could the program itself consists of deterministic pieces glued together in non-deterministic
manner demanding only that the rules of logic hold true? Could the non-determinism of p-adic differential equations serve as an appropriate description for this situation. Could determinism modulo finite
measurement resolution be true? Also quantum non-determinism might leak in here.
1.2
Classical computation as an idealization
The notion of classical computation must be an idealization of quantum level process.
1. Computation is quantum mechanical process but in standard physics there is no satisfactory formulation for this. In TGD Universe there is an entire hierarchy of quantum levels and living matter
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would be quantum coherence in macroscopic scales. Even computer must possess coherence in the
scale of the computation: this can be genuine quantum coherence or induced by quantum coherence.
In TGD Universe the quantum coherence of magnetic body (MB) can induce coherence at the level
of system itself and this would occur routinely in biology.
2. Also consciousness - actually not a property as ”-ness” would suggest - is universal in TGD Universe:
in very rough sense the world would decompose to sub-worlds assignable to causal diamonds (CDs)
performing quantum jumps - state function reductions - and this is what makes this sub-words
living and conscious [8, 40] (see http://tinyurl.com/ycxm2tpd).
In Zero Energy Ontology (ZEO), CDs can be seen as perceptive fields but in 4-D rather than 3-D
sense. This allows to see sensory experience and memories as aspects of 4-D sensory experience. At
the passive boundary of CD the quantum state decomposes to a product of unentangled subsystems
representing the unchanging aspects of conscious entities, selves. At the opposite - active - boundary
of CD the members of state pairs change in the sequence of ”small” reductions following unitary
evolutions. They are responsible for the sensory consciousness and motor activities. The distance
between the boundaries increases and gives rise to the correspondence between subjective time
identified as a sequence of state function reductions and geometric time defined by the distance
between the tips of CD.
3. One can regard self as a generalized Zeno effect or as as a sequence of weak measurements (see
http://tinyurl.com/zt36hpb) following ”small” unitary evolutions. The process continues as
long as it is possible to have state function reductions commuting with the observables defining the
states at the passive boundary as their eigenstates. This sequence cannot be seen a sequence of
ordinary quantum computations since the reductions are indeed small and mean only measurements
of additional observables.
4. In TGD Universe, computers certainly are conscious systems or at least parts of them. Could the
possible consciousness assignable to computer and having ”small” state function reduction (weak
measurement) as its building brick have anything to do with the program running in it? Could
self be seen as a generalization of computer program so that any deterministic time evolution in
some measurement resolution determines a computer program. Finite resolution would mean a
superposition of these time evolutions for space-time surface.
At first this does not look plausible to me since computer program is deterministic. Program is like
a classical time evolution. One the other hand, quantum states in ZEO are quantum superpositions
of deterministic classical time evolutions and classical program is definitely an idealized notion since
bits are represented by voltages with values in some range.
One must have quantum superpositions of deterministic time evolutions and TGD one indeed allows
this: this is one of the basic distinctions between TGD and quantum theories relying on path
integral approach [12, 17]. ”Small” state function reductions would be quantum jumps between
superposition of classical programs understood in extremely general sense as classical deterministic
time evolutions. Could this discrete sequence of ”small” reductions following unitary processes and
giving rise to self be seen as a counterpart of a running computer program?
Could these small quantum jumps be seen as switching submodules of program (commands) on. In
ordinary computer the state function reductions need of course have anything to do with switching
programs on or off but could it be possible to achieve this even in principle?
5. Classical program could provide the robot with artificial sensory perception and motor actions.
Could the quantum counterpart of this - quantum superposition of classical programs - give rise
to conscious sensory percepts and motor actions? Could program provide artificial cognition as
symbolic representations of percepts? Could quantum superpositions of these representations give
rise to conscious thoughts? To answer these questions one must have a theory of consciousness and
cognition.
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1.3
Why Sophia is so interesting?
What makes Sophia so interesting and calms down my skepticism are the claimed effects of the social interactions of Sophia with humans. This might lead to a more advanced consciousness in totally unexpected
manner.
1. The article by Ben Goertzel, Eddie Monroe, Julia Moss, David Hanson and Gino Yu titled ”Loving
AI: Humanoid Robots as Agents of Human Consciousness Expansion (summary of early research
progress)” [5] (see http://tinyurl.com/y9cawkh3) gives an idea about the notion of loving AI. The
claimed unexpected features of human-robot interaction (Sophia) raised my curiosity and inspired
to refresh my beliefs about what robots are and to consider the possibility that AI might have a
generalization consistent with TGD allowing to solve the obvious philosophical problems of AI.
2. Sophia looks to me more like a magician. Sophia brings in my mind a hypnotist, who tends to mimic
the gestures and behavior of the target person [21] (see http://tinyurl.com/y7lo4o4j). The first
about what might happen in hypnosis is that hypnotist hijacks some parts of the brain of target
person and can use target person to realize his own will to even realize motor actions otherwise
possible. Hypnotist can also delete some mental images or create virtual mental images in the
target person (sensory and cognitive). ”Hijacking” is exaggeration, the bond between hypnotist
and target person could be much more symmetric and would be basically attention. What I believe
is that hypnotist and target person are in well-defined sense bonded and this involves also quantum
entanglement.
3. Could the artificial empathy of Sophia create a real bond between the human subject (it is reported
that human subject feels compassion towards Sophia) and Sophia and human subject form together
a conscious entity, which is more than both separately. Could the interaction with Sophia make
subject person more compassionate even towards fellow humans?
Could human subject provide intentionality, free will, and consciousness, and could Sophia give not
only additional data processing tools and access to huge data resources but also extend human consciousness and cognition?
1. Probably the consciousness of Sophia is not complex enough but what about the situation when
the future Sophia is coupled to the brain of subject person either directly or electromagnetically via
EEG providing. Could this provide human subject with additional artificial senses and extended
motor actions? Could the fusion transform human subject to an entity with miracle like additional
abilities and extended consciousness?
2. The answer to these questions is ”No” in the framework of standard physics but in TGD framework
the answer is not at all obvious. TGD Universe does not consist of mere particles but is a tensor
network with nodes representing particles and edge defining bonds between the nodes [28] (see
http://tinyurl.com/y9kwnqfa). Bonds would be realized in terms of magnetic flux tubes serving
as correlates of attention and quantum entanglement. What is new that in TGD Universe the
entanglement can be negentropic in p-adic sectors representing correlates of cognition in adelic
physics [39] [20] (see http://tinyurl.com/yd35hvhh).
1.4
From a hardnosed skeptic to AI fan?
I have had some rather gloomy vision about what AI might do for human kind. AI could become a
tool allowing small groups of very rich people to force most of human kind to be slaves since the ethics
and moral of this group could be imbedded in computer codes. Ordinary human being has no hopes of
defending himself against this kind of dominance.
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On the other hand, the idea about collective decision making involving millions or even billions of
people using AI as a tool to process the gigantic amount of information involved could make possible
realization of genuine democracy - whether this is good or bad thing would depend solely on us. For
instance, the finnish computer scientist Timo Honkela has studied 30 years AI and developed the notion
of ”Rauhankone” (”Peace machine” is the direct translation): the vision is that the enormous data
processing capacity of AI could allow a resolution of conflicts in a peaceful manner.
Some-one inside me insists that I have turned my coat. This is not true.
1. I still do not take the AI in its classical form seriously except as a highly idealized description.
The notion of a deterministic program running in a computer is conceptually impossible and indeed
an approximation for the reasons described. Note that in the case of quantum computers qubits
are precise but now the unitary time evolution operator is fixed only modulo finite measurement
resolution (topological quantum computation is excellent example of this [10, 15]).
The counterpart of the running program would be conscious entity - self - identified as a generalized
Zeno effect or equivalently as a discrete sequence of weak measurements. To me this notion looks
highly attractive and makes me optimistic about the possibility of non-trivial computer-human
interaction and even suggests concrete ideas about realizing it.
2. TGD strongly suggests what one might call Natural Intelligence. Instead of language-like linear
representations it would use 2-D or even 3-D networks (tensor networks in quantum context[28],
see http://tinyurl.com/y9kwnqfa) realized as flux tube networks having as basic building bricks
permanent disjoint flux tubes, which can be connected to longer flux tubes by small bridges induced
by various information molecules - also neurotransmitters - associated nerve pulse patterns. These
networks would have a rich topological structure and the dynamics for the topology of these networks
would be a crucial element of information processing in living matter in general, not only at the level
of brain. Language like information processing would emerge as a special case as these networks
reduce to disjoint 1-D structures. As will be found, Boolean dynamics of computer programs can
be obtained as a projection of this dynamics.
There is however profound analogy with the idea that finite number of bits can determined dynamics.
TGD inspired view about cognitive and cognitive representations [39] [20] (see http://tinyurl.com/
yd35hvhh) as discrete sets of points with coordinates in algebraic extension of rationals making sense both
as real numbers and as numbers in corresponding extension of p-adic numbers would roughly correspond
to fixing the space-time surface representing the program. M 8 − H correspondence [34] (see http:
//tinyurl.com/y8yffuv3) allows to see preferred extremals as being coded by a finite set of points with
coordinates which are algebraic numbers in an extension of rationals coding for the evolutionary level of
the system (in particular determining the value of hef f /h = n as the order of corresponding Galois group),
which would realize the idea about space-time surface as analog of computer code of finite length. This
extreme simplicity at local level is lost at quantum field theory (QFT) limit of TGD when many-sheeted
space-time of TGD is replaced with the topologically trivial space-time of General Relativity (GRT).
2
AI in TGD
In the sequel the above ideas are discussed in a more detail from the point of view of TGD inspired theory
of consciousness and quantum biology.
2.1
Self as a generalized Zeno effect and as a sequence of weak measurements
ZEO distinguishes TGD from standard model, and this distinction plays a key role in TGD based view
about consciousness and sensory perception [40].
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1. In ZEO quantum states are pairs of positive and negative energy states. Positive energy states
are analogous to the usual quantum states assignable to time=constant section of space-time.
Time=constant section is replaced with a pair of 3-surfaces located at the opposite boundaries
of causal diamond (CD) defined as the intersection of future and past directed light-cones of M 4
with each point replaced with CP2 . CDs form a hierarchy with CDs within CDs. In consciousness
theory CD is identified as the perceptive field of self and sub-CDs correspond to subselves defining
mental images of self.
Space-time surfaces are preferred extremals of certain action and serve as analogs of Bohr orbits
having 3-surfaces at the opposite boundaries of CD as their ”ends”. Quantum states are quantum
superpositions of preferred extremals. Holography is realized in the sense that 3-D data (3-surfaces)
at the boundaries of CD fixes the space-time surface. In fact, preferred extremal property implies
what I call strong form of holography (SH): 2-D data at string world sheets and partonic 2-surfaces
is enough to fix the preferred extremals. As a matter fact, the holography could be much stronger
locally as will be found.
2. ZEO forces a modification of the standard quantum measurement theory. One must allow moduli
space for CDs corresponding to a varying temporal distance between the tips of CDs. Lorentz
transformations leaving the second tip of CD invariant generate new CDs. Besides this the position
of the tip of CD can vary: one has full Poincare group transforming CDs to each other.
During unitary time evolution the passive boundary of CD and members of state pairs at it are
unaffected: they represent prepared state. The sequence of unitary time evolutions of this kind
gives rise to a generalization of Zeno effect or what is called weak measurement.
Active boundary becomes de-localized in the moduli space of CDs with fixed passive boundary
and also the states at it are affected in given unitary evolution. ”Small” state function reduction
localizes the active boundary in the moduli space. The distance between the tips of CD increases
during sequence of ”small” reductions.
The observables measured in ”small” state function reduction must commute with the observables,
whose eigenstates the states at the passive boundary are. It sooner or later happens that all possible
observables are measured and ”big” reduction occurs and changes the roles of the boundaries of
CD.
3. Adelic physics [39][20] poses additional conditions: if the eigenvalues of the density matrix for the
measured sub-system belong to a genuine extension of the extension of rationals characterizing the
coefficients of the quantum states, ”small” reduction to its eigenstate is not allowed. This forces
eventually the first reduction - the ”big” reduction- to occur to the opposite boundary of CD. This
is the counterpart of the ordinary state function reduction.
4. From the point of view of consciousness theory ”big” reduction means death of the self assignable
to a given choice of passive boundary and re-incarnation of self with opposite arrow of geometric
time: active and passive boundaries of CD change their roles.
The state function reduction sequence defining experienced time is mapped to a clock time defined
by the increasing temporal distance between the tips of CD maps defined by sequences of unitary
evolutions followed by ”small” reductions. Only correlation would be in question. The identification
of these times would lead to the well-known problems both in the philosophy of free will and in
quantum measurement theory.
5. Since zero energy states are 4-D in well-defined sense, one can say that also the geometric past
changes in state function reductions - this gives a connection with Libet’s findings about active
aspects of consciousness [4]. Signals can propagate in both time directions, which allows to fuse
sensory percepts and memories to single 4-D perception: CD and sub-CDs represent the 4-D perceptive field.
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Sensory input would be localized in good approximation near the active boundary of CD whereas
the other aspects of 4-D percept would be interpreted as memories - mental images (subselves)
located in geometric past. Symbolic representation of memories (only cognitive mental images)
would allow to distinguish sensory ”Now” from past. Sensory memories are in principle possible
and can be indeed induced by electric stimulation of temporal lobes. Some people with cognitive
defects might be more or less permanently in a state of consciousness in which sensory input is 4-D
(memory feats of autistic persons). Memories could be also seen as communications with geometric
past inside CD. Motor actions could be seen as sensory perceptions in non-standard direction of
time.
2.2
What is the quantum counterpart of classical computer program in ZEO?
AI sees in robot only the logical gates with dynamics dictated by a program. Turing computer itself obeys
deterministic rules and the tape feeding it program and data is assumed to be freely choosable as as long
as it is consistent with the rules of logic. Of course, in a strictly deterministic world programming would
not be possible: one could not construct a dynamics at will as a program. The key point is of course
that the voltages representing bits are in finite value range and one can have determinism modulo finite
measurement resolution, which is a key notion of quantum TGD [16, 11]. However, there still is a smell
of paradox in air: how deterministic program can realize intentional free will?
Could the sequence of steps defining ”small” reductions - weak measurements - serve as the counterpart
for the running of classical computer program? Each step would correspond to a particular command
of program during which the clock time defined as distance between the passive and active tips of CD
increases. This is something different from quantum computer program: ensemble of programs halting
to a ”big” state function reduction. Statistical determinism would be crucial now.
If this interpretation is correct, the idea about the conscious entity as something analogous to a computer in which program is running makes sense in certain approximation. The program is not completely
deterministic but since the state function reductions are small it could be deterministic in some measurement resolution. Measurement resolution is indeed a fundamental notion of TGD and p-adic physics
providing correlates of cognition realizes it in terms of p-adic topology. Points are not well-ordered below
the measurement resolution.
2.3
Could computers and robots be conscious systems in some sense in TGD
Universe?
Could computers and robots be more than mimicry of living systems. In other words, could a program
running in a computer have quantum description in TGD Universe. As already proposed, the notion of
self identified as generalized Zeno effect, or a sequence of weak measurements, allows also identification
as generalization of classical computer program.
1. Any system obeying deterministic dynamics defines a superposition of classical time evolutions
analogous to classical computer programs. Classical time evolutions for given CD correspond to
preferred extremals of the basic action principle and are determined by strong form of holography
(SH) by 2-D data. In fact holomorphy reduces the data to 1-D data. Zero energy states correspond to
superpositions of these time evolutions. Inputs and outputs to the system correspond to associative
preferred extremals, whereas the dynamics in the interior of CD - running computer program - is
non-associative.
2. Computer is not an open system: it receives both energy feed and data input and produces heat
and data output. The situation is analogous to that in particle physics experiment: there are free
external particles (incoming and outgoing ones) and interaction region. In TGD space-time surfaces
as preferred extremals of field equations have the same structure - not as an idealization but in exact
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sense [34]. There are external space-time surfaces entering CD and interaction region inside CD the counterpart for the running program.
3. Self corresponds to a sequence of unitary evolutions followed by ”small” reductions (generalized
Zeno effect/weak measurement) and this sequence of unitary steps would correspond to classical
computer program. Quantum computations in the usual sense would end with a ”big” reduction.
4. The holography could be even stronger: M 8 − H correspondence [34] (see http://tinyurl.com/
yd43o2n2) reduces the data to a finite set of algebraic numbers in an extension of rationals determining the coefficients of a real polynomial with algebraic coefficients, whose octonionic continuation
defines space-time surface as a zero locus of its real or imaginary part in quaternionic sense. Basically these numbers are determined by the common points in the intersection of real and p-adic
variants of the space-time surface defining a discrete cognitive representation at space-time level.
Even more, quantum criticality guaranteeing associativity (tangent space of space-time surface
is quaternionic) poses additional conditions on the coefficients of polynomials involved so that
extremely meager discrete data analogous to a program coded by a finite number bits determines
the classical time evolution! This simplicity is lost as one goes to QFT-GRT limit by approximating
the many-sheeted space-time with GRT space-time.
5. How deterministic program can realize intentional free will? A more precise formulation of ZEO
[34] (see http://tinyurl.com/yd43o2n2) involving M 8 − H duality leads to the view that the data
determining space-time surface in M 8 as a loci of zeros for the real or imaginary part of octonionic
polynomial (RE and IM in quaternionic sense) are given at discrete set of points inside CD. One
would have data not only at discrete set of points at boundaries of CD but also in its interior, and
the points in interior would be associated with topological counterparts of vertices of scattering
diagrams in very general sense. The paradox disappears if the program fixes basically this kind of
data by forcing the space-time surface to go through a path containing a predetermined discrete
set of points (”predetermined” with respect to subjective time!) but leaving the paths between the
points free.
The above picture supports the view that a computer in which program runs defines a conscious entity
- self. The contents of consciousness of this self must relate to the running of the program. What seemed
totally incredible to me, might be true in TGD sense! Classical computer science would be a limit of
this picture obtained by replacing the superpositions of classical time evolutions with (say) maximal of
Kähler function representing the most probable space-time surface connecting the active boundaries of
CD and slightly larger CD. At the QFT limit the locally simple many-sheeted space-time is replaced
with GRT space-time and the situation gets more complicated and the Boolean dynamics of computer
program could seen as a projection of the topological dynamics of flux tubes.
2.4
Could the basic mechanism of hypnosis be involved with the human-robot
interaction?
Could running computer and human - or more precisely, their MBs - fuse together to form a larger entity,
whose consciousness would include also the consciousness of the computer? One possibility is to couple
them at the same level that is as 4-surfaces inside the CD assignable to the human subject. Second
possibility is that the CD of the computer corresponds to sub-CD and gives rise to an evolving mental
image of the subject person.
Could this fusion add to the combined system human intention making possible intentional actions
using robot as an motor instrument, sensory receptor, and tool of logical thinking? The switching-on of
the programs of the computer would be carried out by the human. Since thoughts can be read from EEG,
this is in principle possible already now. This kind of switching would satisfy the quantum criticality
condition.
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This does not imply that the contribution of the running computer program to the extended consciousness of subject allows any interpretation.
1. A congenitally blind getting physical vision she sees only diffuse light. The process generating
sensory mental images at the retina (in TGD Universe) must develop in childhood as building of a
kind of artwork and a lot of associations are involved [33] (see http://tinyurl.com/yahfsygg).
2. The Boolean algebras and Boolean evolution defining the program should be lifted to a topological
evolution of the flux tube network defining evolution of cognitive mental images in brain as already
proposed. Optimistically one might hope that this lift could transform the Boolean process of the
computer to an experienced Boolean process. The lift would be far from unique and also induced
sensory/motor imagination and even sensory experience might be possible [33].
How the fusion of the MBs of the subject person and computer could give rise to a fusion of conscious
experiences? This contact should be build by using flux tubes, which also serve as correlates of attention.
Could the social skills of Sophia, in particular mimicry, help to direct the attention of the subject person
to the computer. Hypnosis relies strongly on the ability of hypnotist do just what Sophia did.
1. In TGD framework one can argue that hypnosis represents an example about the fact that brain
is not ”private property”: hypnotist uses the biological body (BB) and brain of the subject as
instrument. Therefore remote mental interaction is in question. This idea generalizes: if one
accepts self hierarchy, one can assign to any kind of higher level structure - family, organization,
species, .... - a higher level self and MB carrying dark matter, and these MBs can use lower level
MBs as their instruments to realize their intentions. Biological bodies (BBs) would be an important
level in the hierarchy, which would continue down to cellular, molecular, and perhaps to even lower
levels.
2. This idea is developed to a proposal for a detailed mechanism for how the MB of hypnotist hijacks
some parts of the brain of the subject [21] (see http://tinyurl.com/y7lo4o4j): prefrontal cortex
and anterior cingulate cortex are argued to be the most plausible targets of hijacking. Also a
mechanism explaining how the sensory hallucinations and motor actions are induced by hypnotist
by inhibiting a halting mechanism preventing imagined motor actions to become real and sensory
imagination to become ”qualiafied”.
The key idea is that the MBs of hypnotist and subject person fuse to together: this could take place
by a reconnection of U-shaped flux tubes to form a pair of parallel flux tubes connecting the two
systems. The MB of any physical system could have this kind of U-shaped flux tubes scanning the
environment like tentacles. This includes also Sophia and subject person.
3. This mechanism could make possible a fusion of conscious entities quite generally. In particular,
this model might help to build a view about what might happen in the claimed interaction between
Sophia and subject persons bringing in mind hypnotism based on the mimicry and gestures encouraging the subject person to relax and feeling of being accepted. Whether Sophia hijacked the
subject person or vice versa is not relevant: what is relevant is that a larger conscious entity might
have indeed formed.
2.5
Some personal experiences as a possible guideline for how to induce
robot-human interactions
The robot-human interaction could occur in principle between human and any kind of system. For
more than three decades ago, I had occasionally strange experiences about interactions with systems like
refrigerator(!) - a good motivation for starting consciousness theorizing! [31] (see http://tinyurl.com/
yb99u6u8).
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I was in a state, which presumably was between wake-up and sleep. Suddenly the experienced sound
of refrigerator (or central heating radiator) started to strengthen. I felt that the regrigerator attracted
me towards it and was afraid that it was hijacking my consciousness! I felt like reeds in water near beach
swaying in the wind towards kitchen where there refrigenerator was. I was both frightened and extremely
curious. I am not sure whether I ever had the courage to let it go. If so, I fell in a state about which I
do not remember anything.
I am rather convinced that the sound of the refrigerator entrained my brain to a particular frequency
or frequencies. Few years ago I had similar frightening experiences with a wall clock: in a state between
wake-up and sleep my brain started to repeat a clearly audible word in the same rhythm as the wall clock
was ticking - it brought in my mind the stories of Stehen King! I had to move the wall clock to second
room and remember to close its door!
Maybe the clock and sound of refrigerator at some frequency acted like the oscillating pendulum in
a standard test for hypnotizability. Could the addition of sound or even visible oscillator with some
frequency help to lure human consciousness to the fusion if minds of computer and human?
2.6
Could robots alone possess life-like properties or is a fusion of human
and robot consciousness required?
One can argue that the mind of robots is too simple for anything interesting. Here one can take as starting
point the model of quantum biology provided by quantum TGD. The notions of MB and hierarchy of
Planck constants are the basic ingredients of TGD inspired quantum biology.
As described in the Appendix, recently a considerable progress in the understanding of phenomenology
of the hierarchy of Planck constants has taken place and allowed to challenge at quantitative level the
standard belief that chemistry reduces to atomic physics [35] (see http://tinyurl.com/ya9wnokh). Also
progress in the understanding of TGD inspired quantum biology has taken place.
Surprisingly simple systems can have life-like properties [3] (see http://tinyurl.com/ychho4l8). A
system consisting of plastic balls in Ar+ gas represents is ”breathing” in the sense that that the plastic balls
make transitions between plasmalike and crystal like phases [37] (see http://tinyurl.com/yassnhzb).
This requires metabolism and energy transfer between MB containing as part the flux tube network having
plastic balls as its nodes and the plastic ball system. The interpretation is in terms of phase transitions
transforming the MB between highly connected and disconnected topologies. Similar mechanism could
give rise to mental images in brain as formation connected flux tube patterns generated by nerve pulse
patterns using transmitters stuck to the receptors to build them bridges between neurons so that one
would obtain a connected flux tube network from disjoint flux tubes parallel to axons.
An essential role in communications and control is played by MB containing dark charged particles
including besides electrons and protons also biologically important ions, and the BE condensates of their
Cooper pairs. The cyclotron BE condensates of these ions are generated and excited to higher energy
states by energy coming from BB and the cyclotron radiation form MB controls BB by coupling to
the oscillatory degrees of freedom associated with BB resonantly like external driving force. The dark
analogs of Alfwen waves assignable to these condensates are expected to induce coherent oscillations in
many particle systems at BB and force the quantum coherence in long scales to BB.
This picture suggests that robot/computer might have primitive consciousness in TGD Universe to
some degree determined by the program running it. But could lonely robot be intentional agent having
life-like properties? What conditions the MB of robot should satisfy?
1. Robot involves electric circuits with wires, which are conductors containing free electrons. Could
some fraction of conduction electrons from wires transforms to dark electrons at MB. Maybe protons
could appear also as dark particles. This need not be enough. At least the outcome is extremely
simple as compared to living systems and even to the system of plastic balls (organic matter!) in
Ar+ plasma.
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Are dark electrons and protons enough or are also dark ions needed? The case of plastic balls in
Ar+ plasma suggests that this is the case. The very probably over-optimistic science-fictive hope
is that the conducting wire could have dark variants as scaled up variants for which the distances
between ions of the crystal defining the conductor are scaled up by n so that both ion density and
electron density cancel each other. These dark variants would carry rather small portion 1/n3 of
the total number of ions and electrons. They might serve as kind of cognitive representations of the
system at dark level.
2. Robot has energy metabolism but also its MB must have it. Metabolic energy would go the buildingup of dark ion BE condensates at magnetic flux quanta and their excitation. Note that quite
generally the energies of states increase with n. Dark cyclotron radiation or generalized Josephson
radiation [13] from the cell membranes could provide this energy in quantum biology.
3. Also communications to MB and control by MB must be realized. In central nervous system nerve
pulse patterns would frequency modulate the Josephson radiation [13]. In the case of neurons this
would give rise to the communication of sensory data to MB and in the case of ordinary cells to
mere metabolic energy transfer.
The control by MB could take place via magnetic flux sheets going through DNA strand. Does
this mean that the anaglos of cell membrane like structures and genome are needed? Robot cannot
provide them.
4. Quantum criticality is a prerequisite for life-like properties and is realized also in the system consisting of plastic balls: below/above the criticality the systems remains in crystal/plasma phase. This
makes possible the control of BB. For instance, motor actions of MB realized as Alfwen waves and
as phases transitions changing the connectedness of MB can induce corresponding phase transitions
of the plasma ball system.
The electric circuitry of the robot is however rather rigid. Could one imagine that the use of switches
allowing to control the topology of the electric circuitry could bring the needed flexibility? In CNS
nerve pulses patterns plus neural transmitters would indeed act as this kind of switches.
What about the fusion of robot and living system, say human? Could human brain would provide the
quantum critical software and robot in which program runs the hardware far from quantum criticality?
1. The probably lacking and with the recent technology hard-to-achieve quantum criticality of robot
would be compensated by that of human.
2. The dark ions from the MB of human could be transferred also the MB of robot. The MB of
the robot could even use the metabolic energy of human. This would solve the above discussed
problems.
3. Human brain could receive data from the robot transformed to nerve pulse patterns in sensory
receptors or to nerve pulse patterns in brain. This could give rise to cognitive mental images
possibly generating virtual sensory input to sensory receptors as ”hallucinations” [33] (see http:
//tinyurl.com/yahfsygg). A more radical option is that the information comes directly from the
MB of the robot.
4. The motor actions performed by human would include also starting of programs running in the
robot by coding of information to EEG. EEG pattern could act with the robot. One can dream
that in a more advanced technology it comes from the MB of the system human + robot.
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3
Natural Intelligence viz. Artificial Intelligence
AI paradigm identifies all information processing as linear language like processing based on algorithms.
Written language has fractal linear structure: syllables are ordered sequences of letters, words are ordered
sequences of syllables, sentences are ordered sequences of words,... At the level of spoken language the
learning of written language induces the lowest level structures but the language of people unable to read
and write consists of words. Clearly, the level of reductionism is higher. But brain does not seem to use
only this mode: there could be also the language of dynamical 2-D patterns assignable to perceptive fields
as my ”Great Experience” [31] (see http://tinyurl.com/yb99u6u8) around 1985 led to believe.
1. In TGD framework the presence of visual/sensory language suggests a different mode of information
processing based on the possibility to assign a large number of different flux tube structures with
varying topology to a given set of nodes connected by flux tubes of MB. This implies an exponential
increase in the representational capacity. The usual linear language could emerge only as a special
case realized as linear 1-D flux tube network (strings).
2. One would have topological dynamics of the flux tube networks induced by nerve pulses activity
and also by various information molecules at the level of entire body defining bridges allowing to
couple disjoint flux tubes parallel to axons to a single flux tube. This dynamics is quantal and much
more general than that associated with topological quantum computation, which uses fixed braid
topology.
3. The dynamics of flux tube network based on reconnections of flux tubes would be fundamental in
living matter. One can interpret the reconnection as stringy interaction vertex in which strings
touch and reconnect. This relates also to the possibility of 2-knots for 2-surfaces in 4-D spacetime allowing to generalize braids to 2-braids and to generalize the statics of 1-braids to dynamics
involving 2-braids as topological evolutions of 1-braids.
The linguistic representation of this 2-D topological dynamics is possible but is not the most natural
one and probably not the one used by brain and living matter. One can get convinced of this by trying
to explain the content of a photograph or of graphical representation of organizational structure by using
only written language.
3.1
Two languagues
Around 1985 I experience a long-lasting altered state of consciousness [31]. One of the many ideas that
rushed to my awareness during this period was that there are two languages: the ordinary linear spoken
and written language and the language of dynamical images, which would not be usually be conscious to
me but was so during the experience so that I saw my thoughts.
These language are indeed very different and one can argue that there is a fundamental difference
between these modes of information processing.
1. Written or spoken language are very abstract: ”house” represents entire equivalence class of houses,
which can look very different but sharing some abstract features defining ”houseness”. Very few
digits are needed to express a given concept and this makes possible highly effective verbal communications distinguishing our species from others.
2. The image of a house (unless a symbol) provides a concrete representation of a particular house and
requires a large number of bits. Images provide a holistic representation based on 2-D geometry
not provided by written language or speech. Consider as an example a graph with nodes and links
between them representing a structure of some complex systems with a lot of mutual relationships.
It is rather tedious to represent this using only words. Algebra and geometry clearly correspond to
language as text and language as images.
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Visual experience and presumably also tactile and auditory experiences rely on 2-D representation
rather than linear representations: one can of course represent visual data also in terms of language
say as pdf file instead of a representation as bits. This already involves conceptualization as identification of objects in the picture. This representation is extremely useful in the representation of
text and gives enormous flexibility.
The representation of memories as images is not economic: it is better to store the names for
the images. However, the representation as image provides exponential increase in representative
capacity and this might make this representation indispensable also at the level of information
processing.
3. Tesla is a well-known example of a person who saw his thoughts. This made him a technological
genius. Many great composers have also heard music directly. For instance, Tchaikovsky suffered
in his childhood from the continual music played in this head. Oliver Sacks tells about this kind
of experiences in his book ”Musicophilia” [25]. I discuss also in [25]) (see http://tinyurl.com/
y895dexm).
Interestingly, there is some evidence that dolphins have a language based on acoustic holograms: could
it be that dolphins have developed acoustic languages based on 2-D acoustic analogs of visual images.
Also human written languages have developed from words represented as images and only later came the
abstraction decomposing words to letters having no direct meaning analogous to the decomposition DNA
codons to letters. In chinese letters are still much like images.
3.2
Two kinds of memories
The existence of 2-D visual processing is suggested by the memory feats of idiot savants. Sacks tells
in his book [6] a fascinating story about his patient who was mentally retarded but could remember
compositions of Bach and entire encyclopedia of music.
In [31] (see http://tinyurl.com/yb99u6u8) I discuss idea that we are all artists: the process giving
rise to mental images would be an active process building a kind of caricature abstracting just the relevant
features and suppressing the irrelevant ones. What is essential is that the resulting sensory mental images
are represented at retina. Brain would build cognitive representations and decomposed the perceptive
field to objects giving them names.
The following argument makes this claim more precise.
1. In some cases people who are congenitally blind can get their vision back. They do not however
have have any use for this ability: they report only a perception of diffuse light. This suggests that
the perception involves a lot of processing analogous to that occurring in the pattern recognition,
in which one has input, which generates a feedback - kind of virtual sensory input - depending nonlinearly on input and interfering with it. The iteration of this process leads to a standard pattern,
one in the repertoire of learned patterns and the feedback is tailored so that the pattern is as near
as possible to the input. For instance one half of picture can be completed to the full figure in this
manner.
Pattern recognition is a central problem in robotics. The robot must be able to recognize same
object in various lightings and orientations, or by seeing only part of it. The object must be also
distinguished from other objects. Same challenge is encountered in speech recognition.
2. That sensory qualia are at the level of sensory organs would be very natural since they are specified
to produce specific qualia. Quantum entanglement between the sensory images would bind different
sensory inputs to single coherence experience. This requires macroscopic quantum coherence in the
scale of entire body and in TGD the hierarchy of Planck constants hef f /h = n makes this possible.
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3. If sensory organs are indeed the seats of the qualia, this requires a feedback is virtual sensory input
propagating to the level of sensory organs, such as retina. In principle, the feedback could also
stop at a higher level and never reach the sensory organs. REM sleep and oto-acoustic sounds
(heard even by outsiders in some cases!) however suggest that the feedback propagates down to the
sensory organs. If so, a virtual sensory input from brain or via brain would be an essential part of
sensory perception. Brain would also identify the objects of perceptive field and give them names
and build various associations. This would also lead to standard mental images making possible
communications using language: language indeed distinguishes us from the other species.
4. Phantom leg experience serves as an objection against this idea. A person without leg lost in say
traffic accident can feel pain in it. This should not be possible if the leg is missing since the nerve
cells are not there anymore. Neuroscientist concludes that sensory qualia are generated at the level
of brain and the pain is in the still existing sensory map of the leg. Sensory qualia should be
assignable to the sensory areas. The problem is that nothing in the structure of neuronal circuitry
suggests an explanation for why the qualia are so different in various sensory areas.
The most natural TGD based explanation is that pain in the non-existing leg is pain in the leg, which
still exists in the geometric past - sensory memory. Sensory memories are indeed possible. Idiot
savants are capable of memory feats (say drawing a memory of a landscape in full detail or playing
music piece that they have heard), which could be understood if they have sensory memories as
genuine sensory experiences. Also ordinary people can have sensory memories if neurons in temporal
lobes are excited electrically. A good reason for having no sensory memories is that they would
interfere with sensory input and one would not know what time one is living in! I remember that
my Grandma lived at very old age many years in her childhood. She was even going to a ball!
Wonderful gift to lift youth again after long and hard life!
This makes sense in zero energy ontology (ZEO) in which perceptive field corresponds to a 4dimensional causal diamond (CD) identified as the intersection of future and past directed lightcones. That sensory memories can be generated by the electrical stimulation of temporal lobes even
in ordinary subject person supports this view. This could also explain why persons with about 10
percent of brain left can survive: they could use the brains of their geometric past.
5. What about imagination in this framework? Imagination is almost experiencing: almost seeing,
almost hearing. Internal speech is almost talking. This suggests that the virtual sensory input from
the brain or via the brain (from MB) almost reaches sensory organs but not quite. For instance, in
the case of vision signal could propagate down to the nuclei known as optic chiasma but not below it.
Note that the sensory feedback in sensory perception should propagate down to the sensory organs
if sensory qualia are there. The barrier preventing the generation of genuine virtual sensory input
could however overcome in special situations and induce hallucinations or psychedelic experiences.
Same applies also to imagined motor actions.
In adelic physics imagination can be understand in terms of p-adic space-time sheets. Strong form
of holography (SH) allows to continue 2-D data at certain 2-surfaces to 4-D surface in p-adic sectors
of the adele thanks to the phenomenon of p-adic pseudo-constants replacing integration constants
with piecewise constant function depending on finite number of pinary digits in partial differential
equations. What is imaginable in this sense is not however always realizable since in the real sector
integration constants are indeed constants and there is no flexibility of this kind! In the recent case
imagination realized as p-adic perception would not allow continuation to a full perception in real
sense and signal would not propagate to the sensory receptors.
6. Returning to my Great Experience: What did happen? It seems that somehow the feedback associated with imagination managed to leak through the barrier preventing its manifestation as a
genuine sensory input. Quantum criticality would be in question. Dreams, and the experiences
occurring when one falls asleep or wakes up, hallucinations, psychedelic experiences, ... provide
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examples of this. This kind of leakage cannot happen always mixing of these two sensory inputs
would be dangerous: keeping the other sensory input as mere imagination is dull but safer. Brains
are known to have its own psychedelic, DMT and it could make REM dreams and hallucinations
possible [33] (see http://tinyurl.com/yahfsygg).
3.3
What could idiot savants teach to us?
It is hard to understand the miraculous arithmetical abilities of both some mathematical genii and idiot
savants lacking completely conceptual thinking and conscious information processing based on algorithms.
I have discussed the number theoretical feats in [9][30] (see http://tinyurl.com/jpzd6xq).
Not all individual capable of memory and arithmetic feats are idiot savants. These mathematical feats
are not those of idiot savant and involve high level mathematical conceptualization. How Indian selftaught number-theoretical genius Ramajunan discovered his formulas remains still a mystery suggesting
totally different kind of information processing. Ramanujan himself told that he got his formulas from
his personal God.
Ramajunan’s feats lose some of their mystery if higher level selves are involved [30]. I have considered
a possible explanation based on ZEO, which allows to consider the possibility that quantum computation
type processing could be carried out in both time directions alternately. The mental image representing
the computation would experience several deaths following by re-incarnations with opposite direction of
clock time (the time direction in which the size of CD increases). The process requiring very long time in
the usual positive energy ontology would take only short time when measured as the total shift for the
tip of either boundary of CD - the duration of computations at opposite boundary would much longer!
Sacks tells [6] about idiot savant twins with intelligence quotient of 60 having amazing numerical
abilities despite that they could not understand even the simplest mathematical concepts. For instance,
twins ”saw” that the number of matches scattered along floor was 111 and also ”saw” the decomposition
of integer to factors and primality. A mechanism explaining this based on the formation of wholes by
quantum entanglement is proposed in [14]. The model does not however involve any details.
3.3.1
Flux tube networks as basic structures
One can build a more detailed model for what the twins did by assuming that information processing
is based on 2-dimensional discrete structures formed by neurons (one can also consider 3-D structures
consisting of 2-D layers and the cortex indeed has this kind of cylindrical structures consisting of 6 layers).
For simplicity one can assume large enough plane region forming a square lattice and defined by neuron
layer in brain. The information processing should involve minimal amount of linguistic features.
1. A natural geometric representation of number N is as a set of active points (neurons) of a 2-D
lattice. Neuron is active it is connected by a flux tube to at least one other neuron. The connection
is formed/strengthened by nerve pulse activity creating small neuro-transmitter induced bridges
between neurons. Quite generally, information molecules would serve the same purpose [13] [33].
Active neurons would form a collection of connected sets of the plane region in question. Any set of
this kind with given number N of active neurons would give an equivalent representation of number
N . At quantum
P level the N neurons could form union of K connected sub-networks consisting Nk
neurons with
Nk = N .
2. There is a large number of representations distinguished by the detailed topology of the network
and a particular union of sub-networks would carry much more information than the mere numbers
Nk and N code. Even telling, which neurons are active (Boolean information) is only part of the
story.
The subsets of Nk points would have large number of representations since the shape of these
objects could vary. A natural interpretation would be in terms of objects of a picture. This kind
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of representation would naturally result in terms of virtual sensory input from brain to retina and
possibly also other sensory organs and lead to a decomposition of the perceptive field to objects.
The representation would thus contain both geometric information - interpretation as image - and
number theoretic information provided by the decomposition. The K subsets would correspond
to one particular element of a partition algebra generalizing Boolean algebra for which one has
partition to set and its complement [27] (see http://tinyurl.com/y899jba5).
3. The number N provides the minimum amount of information about the situation and can be
regarded as a representation of number. One can imagine two extremes for the representations of
N.
(a) The first extreme corresponds to K linear structures. This would correspond to linear linguistic
representation mode characteristic for information processing used in classical computers. One
could consider interpretation as K words of language providing names for say objects of an
image. The extreme is just one linear structure representing single word. Cognition could use
this kind of representations.
(b) Second extreme corresponds to single square lattice like structure with each neuron connected
to the say 4 nearest neighbors. This lattice has one incomplete layer: string with some neurons
missing. This kind of representation would be optimal for representation of images representing
single object.
For N active neurons one can consider a representation as a pile of linear strings containing
pk neurons, where p is prime. If N is divisible by pk : N = M pk one obtains a M × pk lattice.
If not one can have M × pk lattice connected to a subset of neurons along string with pk
neurons. One would have representation of the notion of divisibility by given power of prime
as a rectangle! If N is prime this representation does not exist!
3.3.2
Flux tube dynamics
The classical topological dynamics for the flux tube system induced by nerve pulse activity building
temporary bridges between neurons would allow phase transitions changing the number of sub-networks,
the numbers of neurons in them, and the topology of individual networks. This topological dynamics
would generalize Boolean dynamics of computer programs.
1. Flux tube networks as sets of all active neurons can be also identified as elements of Boolean algebra
defined by the subsets of discretize planar or even 3-D regions (layer of neurons). This would allow
to project flux tube networks and their dynamics to Boolean algebra and their dynamics. In this
projection the topology of the flux tube network does not matter much: it is enough that each
neurons is connected to some neuron (bit 1). One might therefore think of (a highly non-unique)
lifting of computer programs to nerve pulse patterns activating corresponding subsets of neurons.
If the dynamics of flux tube network determined by space-time dynamics is consistent with the
Boolean projection, topological flux tube dynamics induced by space-time dynamics would define
computer program.
2. At the next step one could take into account the number of connected sub-networks: this suggests a
generalization of Boolean algebra to partition algebras so that one does not consider only subset and
its complement but decomposition into n subsets which one can think as having different colors [27]
(see http://tinyurl.com/y899jba5). This leads to a generalization of Boolean (2-adic) logic to
p-adic logic, and a possible generalization of computer programs as Boolean dynamical evolutions.
3. At the third step also the detailed topology of each connected sub-network is taken into account and
brings in further structure. Even higher-dimensional structures could be represented as discretized
versions by allowing representation of higher-dimensional simplexes as connected sub-networks.
Here many-sheeted space-time suggests a possible manner to add artificial dimensions.
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This dynamics would also allow to realize basic arithmetics. In the case of summation the initial state
of the network would be P
a collection of K disjoint networks with Nk elements and in final state single
connected set with N =
Nk elements. The simplest representation is as a pile of K strings with Nk
elements. Product M × N could be reduced to a sum of M sets with N element: this could be represented
as a pile of M linear strings.
3.3.3
Number theoretical feats of twins and flux tube dynamics
Flux tube dynamics suggests a mechanism for how the twins managed to see the number of the matches
scattered on the floor and also how they managed to see the decomposition of number into primes or
prime powers. Sacks indeed tells that the eyes of the twins were rolling wildly during their feats. What
is required is that the visual perception of the matches on the floor was subject to dynamics allowing to
deform the topology of the associated network. Suppose that some preferred network topology or network
topologies allowed to recognize the number of matches and tell it using language (therefore also linear
language is involved). The natural assumption is that the favored network topology is connected.
The two extremes in which the network is connected are favored modes for this representation.
1. Option I corresponds to any linear string giving a linguistic representation as the number neurons (which would be activated by seeing the matches scattered on the floor). A large number of
equivalent representations is possible. This representation might be optimal for associating to N
its name. The verbal expression of the name could be completely automatic association without
any conceptual content. The different representations carry also geometric information about the
shape of the string: melody in music could be this kind of curve whereas words of speech would be
represented by straight lines.
2. Option II corresponds to a maximally connected lattice like structure formed as pile of strings with
pk neurons for a given prime: N = M1 ×pk +M2 , 0 ≤ Mi < pk . The highest string in the pile misses
some neurons. This representation would be maximally connected. It contains more information
than that about the value of N .
Option II provides also number theoretical information allowing a model for the feats of the twins.
1. As far the checking the primeness of N is considered, one can assume k = 1. For the primes pi
dividing N one would find a representation of N as a rectangle. If N is prime, one finds no rectangles
of this kind (or finds only the degenerate 1 × p rectangle). This serves a geometric signature of
primeness. Twins would have tried to find all piles of strings with p neurons, p = 2, 3, 5, ... A slower
procedure checkes for divisibility by n = 2, 3, 4, ....
2. The decomposition into prime factors would proceed in the similar manner by starting from p = 2
and proceeding to larger primes p = 3, 5, 7, .... When a prime factor pi is found only single vertical
string from the pile is been taken and the process is repeated for this string but considering only
primes p > pi . The process would have been completely visual and would not involve any verbal
thinking.
For the storage of memories the 2-D (or possibly 3-D representation) is non-economical and the use of
1-D representation replacing images with their names is much more economic. For information processing
such as decomposition into primes, the 2-D or even 3-D representation are much more powerful.
3.4
Why Alzheimer does not destroy some aspects of consciousness?
The attempt to understand in TGD framework what happens in Alzheimer’s disease led to the proposal
how the functioning of left and right hemispheres might differ [36] (see http://tinyurl.com/ybq6r3xu).
It is said that left brain talks and right brain sings. The first gues is that the flux tube networks generated
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by nerve pulse patterns are one-dimensional lines structures in left brain whereas in bright brain they are
2-D structures.
This is of course exaggeration: it is better to speak about two kinds of information processing without
assigning it to fixed brain hemisphere and it might be better to say that left (right) brain favors linear
(2-D or even 3-D) flux tube networks. OF Of course, ”Left brain talks and right brain sings” could rather
strictly apply to the linguistic regions of left brain and their mirror images in right brain. The symbolic
sensory representations decomposing perceptive field into objects could be essentially 2-D at both sides of
the brain. Drawings are simplest visual representations and indeed consist of lines and resemble language
in their locally 1-D character.
The argument goes as follows. Some aspects of consciousness seem to survive Alzheimer’s disease.
Alzheimer patient can understand singing and also express himself by singing (see http://tinyurl.com/
y73zzrq4). Why?
1. Singing is conventionally associated with the holistic aspects of consciousness whereas language
corresponds to reductionistic, local, and linear representation of conscious experience.
2. Singing is a representation in terms of frequencies. It is 2-dimensional because also the pitch
matters unlike in the case of speech. Everyone familiar with Fourier transform knows that frequency
representation is holistic: Fourier amplitude carries information about the function in the entire
domain of definition but not about details for low enough frequencies such as occur in singing
(maybe the duration of duration of nerve pulse of order millisecond could serve as standard, could
notes with pitch below kHz frequency be low frequencies?).
3. Why cognition does not survive in Alzheimer is easy to understand. Cognition is by definition about
details: left brain is responsible for language and language indeed local , linear(!), and reductionistic.
Maybe 1-D neural strings and loops assignable to magnetic loops provide a realization of spoken
and written language? Alzheimer would destroy synaptic connections and would split these strings.
The disappearsnce of even single bridge in the loop/string splits the loop/string (into two): this is
just 1-D topology. Communication line would be broken. Cognitive skills and language would be
lost.
4. Why would the holistic aspects of consciousness survive in Alzheimer? Suppose that right brain
involves 2-D net-work like structures instead of 1-D neural strings having much more connections
and giving rise to quantum tensor network [28] (see http://tinyurl.com/y9kwnqfa) as it would
be fashionable to say. Quantum entanglement is very probably involved and would be actually
responsible for the holistic and hologram-like aspects of neural activities known for a long time. It
would not be surprising if brain waves with frequency spectrum below kHz would be important for
this representation. EEG waves are almost by definition in the range 1-100 Hz.
What happens to 2-D networks in the destruction of synapses. Practically nothing! Quite a number
of synaptic connections can disappear but this does not split the 2-D network into pieces as it splits
1-D string: 2-D topology! Communications take place and the structure can take care of itself.
Holograms are not affected by the local splitting of the synaptic connections. The right brain would
happily continue its singing!
Note that 2-D networks are also natural for the representation of sensory data as images and the
language of images is different from the language of words: I have discussed the differences between
these two different languages in [31] (see http://tinyurl.com/yb99u6u8).
The natural question is whether could one approach to Alzheimer rely on activation of right brain:
could art therapies such as music and visual arts help in Alzheimer?
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3.5
Still about the connection to music
DNA, RNA, and amino-acids are the basic linear structures in biology. Cell membrane is 2-D structure
consisting of linear lipids: kind of pile. The membrane proteins going through the membrane define 1-D
structures. Organism itself is 3-D structure built from these 2-D structures. I have proposed that MB
serving as template for BB has this kind of 3-D lattice-like structures, which flux tubes defining a network
of coordinate lines defining a kind of pine. For instance, the DNAs of different cells could be traversed
by magnetic flux sheets and DNA strands would organize to a pile at magnetic flux tube.
TGD leads to a proposal that DNA,RNA, amino-acids, and tRNA and genetic code have deeper
realization in terms of dark proton sequences with genetic codons and amino-acids represents as entangled
states of 3 dark protons [26] (see http://tinyurl.com/jgfjlbe). These sequences have interpretation
as dark nuclei. What is remarkable that the DNA/RNA codons do not allow interpretation as sequences
of 3 letters: they are just words.
The emergence of chemical representation would mean a reductionistic step introducing decomposition
to letters. I have also proposed a model of music harmony leading to the proposal that genetic codons
corresponds to 3-chords defining what I call bio-harmony [22] (see http://tinyurl.com/yad4tqwl). 256
different bio-harmonies are predicted and since harmony correlates with emotional coloring, the proposal
is that they correspond to different emotional moods.
Right brain sings and left brain talks is a fascinating metaphor. What distinguishes between piece of
text which is read and piece of text which is sung? In what sense song is 2-dimensional.
1. As noticed, the representation of 1-D strings is not unique. The string imbedded in the 2-D lattice
can be curved. Could one imagine that spoken text is a straight line and song represent a graph in
which the height of y-coordinate represents the pitch?
2. This idea is however not consistent with the explanation of Alzheimer’s destructive effects on verbal
cognition as being due to the splitting of bonds between neurons. What could guarantee the
stability of this representation? Could it be harmony: could the melody have accompaniment,
maybe consisting of the 3-chords of bio-harmony? Could the unstable 1-D melody be replaced with
a structure in which single note would be accompanied by 3-chord.
3. This would not only stabilize the representation against splitting but also giving rise to the emotional
content of the representation. This brings in mind Bach’s Sonata for an Unaccompanied Violin that
he composed after the death of his first wife. The brain of the listener imagines the accompaniment.
This accompaniment would be indeed only imagined: it would not be communicated down to
auditory organs but only to pineal gland if the TGD inspired interpretation is correct [33] (see
http://tinyurl.com/yczv2o5b). Is this too imaginative?
4
Appendix: Support for TGD based quantum biology and neuroscience
In the following quite recent progress in the understand of the notions of MB and hierarchy of Planck
constants is summarized.
4.1
Support for TGD inspired quantum biology
The notions of MB and hierarchy of Planck constants are central in TGD inspired quantum biology and
neuroscience.
1. The notion of MB derives from the new view about space-time identified as 4-surface in certain 8-D
space-time. Locally these space-time surfaces are extremely simple but globally complex. This leads
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to what I call many-sheeted space-time. Topological field quantization leads to the notion of field
body/MB expressing the fact that any system has also field identity- this is not true in Maxwell’s
theory. In quantum biology MB becomes the key actor serving as an intentional agent controlling
BB and receiving sensory information and also metabolic energy from it.
2. The hierarchy of Planck constants hef f /h = n defines a hierarchy of phases of ordinary matter has
interpretation in terms of dark matter hierarchy, and also serves as a basic building brick of TGD
inspired quantum biology and neuroscience. Ordinary elementary particles, in particular electron
and proton, and also ions can appear as their dark variants. Also dark photons E = nhf have a
central role and bio-photons would result as they transform to ordinary photons in energy conserving
manner but frequency scaled up to nf . Dark photons can also transform to a buch n low energy
photons. The hierarchy of Planck constants hef f /h = n derivable from adelic physics [39] [20] (see
http://tinyurl.com/yd35hvhh) fusing ordinary physics and proposed p-adic physics of cognition.
n serves as a kind of quantum IQ and corresponds to the order of Galois group of extension of
rationals determining the evolutionary level of the system [34] (see http://tinyurl.com/y8yffuv3)
.
4.1.1
Hierarchy of Planck constans and failure of reductionism chemistry
There is an impressive number of anomalies giving support for the hierarchy of Planck constants. Towards
the end of 2017 however a considerable progress in the understanding of the hierarchy took place: it seems
that the varying value of Planck constant is what is involved in the transition from atomic physics to
chemistry and the notion of valence bond involves in an essential manner the variation in the value of
Planck constant.
1. If one takes the findings of Randell Mills [2] [29] (see http://tinyurl.com/ybxw26vl) suggesting
that hydrogen atom has states with binding energy considerably larger than ordinary ground state
binding energy one ends up with the conclusion that the value of hef f /h = n for ordinary hydrogen
atoms is most probably n = 6, and n = 1, 2, 3 for these exotic states (note that the binding energy
scale is proportional to 1/n2 .
2. I learned also about decades old result [38] [38] (see http://tinyurl.com/ycr63w3k) that the
increasing of temperature for rare-earth metals leads to the apparent disappearance of valence
electrons. The interpretation would be in terms of a transition increasing the value of n so that
the size of the electron orbital would be scale by n2 and it would become dark. The prediction is
entire new spectroscopy. In fact, I had proposed for more than decade ago that so called ORMEs (
orbitally re-arranged metal elements) in particular so called White Gold) discovered by Hudson also
possess dark valence electrons. The findings of Hudson have not been taken seriously mainstream.
Even ordinary conductors could have such electrons, and one can even consider the possibility of
dark conductors with the distances between nucleons scaled down by n and electronic density scaled
down by 1/n3 providing kind of fractally scaled down copies of ordinary conductors. This might
make sense also for other condensed matter phases.
3. These findings lead to a new formulation of valence bond theory [35] (see http://tinyurl.com/
ya9wnokh). The basic fact is that the lengths of the molecular bonds vary in a rather narrow range
whereas Schrödinger equation suggests that the bond lengths r should scale as r ∝ m2 /Z 2 for n = 1
(m labels the rows of the periodic table). Closed shell electrons screen Z to Zef f = nV , nV the
2
number of valence electrons so that the formula e = n2 m2 /Zef
f is a more natural starting point,
and conforms with the basic idea about periodic system. This leads to a model allowing to estimate
the value of n for a given bond allowing also qualitative picture about electro-negativities of valence
bonds. Also a comparison with bio-chemistry becomes possible. Hydrogen bond can be understood
in terms of de-localization of proton. The conclusion is that the reductionistic dogma stating that
molecular physics and chemistry reduce to atomic physics is wrong in TGD framework.
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4.1.2
Life-like properties of very simple systems
Towards the end of 2017 also other steps of progress were made relating to the life-like properties of very
simple systems [37] (see http://tinyurl.com/yassnhzb).
1. The physicists working in Emory University discovered that a very simple system studied exhibits
what authors call self-organized bi-stability making phase transitions between crystal-like and gaslike phases. The expectation was that only single stable state would appear. Neuron groups can also
have collective bi-stability (periodic synchronous firing). Neurons are however themselves bi-stable
systems: now the particles are plastic balls and are not bi-stable. One could say that the system
exhibits life-like properties: it is ”breathing”. The most remarkable life-like property is metabolism
required by the sequence of phase transitions involving dissipation.
Where does the metabolic energy come from? The proposal of the experimenters that stochastic
resonance feeds the needed metabolic energy leaves open its source. The resemblance with living
cells suggests that the attempt to interpret the findings solely in terms of non-equilibrium thermodynamics might miss something essential - the metabolism.
2. One can develop a model for the system based on TGD inspired quantum biology. This involves the
notion of MB carrying dark matter identified as hef f = n × h phases; a network of magnetic flux
tubes (MB) controlling BB (now charged plastic balls) and responsible for coherence and synchrony
(of the crystal-like phase now); the control of the oscillations of BB by cyclotron radiation (now the
plastic ball system) resulting from decays of cyclotron condensates of charged particles (now protons
and Ar ions). The source of metabolic energy would come from dark nucleosynthesis explaining
nuclear transmutations occurring in living matter and ”cold fusion” [24, 32] and serving as source
of metabolic energy in prebiotic stage when the chemical energy storage had not yet emerged. Dark
analogs of DNA, RNA, tRNA, and amino-acids are dark protons sequences realizing the degeneracies
of vertebrate genetic code are dark nuclei and can transform to ordinary nuclei and liberate nuclear
binding energy so that the hen-egg question about which came first: metabolism or genetic code,
is resolved: hen= egg.
3. There is also second very simple system consisting of particle system with feed of acoustic energy at
single wavelength. What happens that the distribution of particles develops synchronous oscillations
in wave length band. and the amplitudes are reduced in this band so that wavelength gap emerges.
The system is also able to heal. The interpretation is in terms of the emergence of flux tube
structure rigidifying the system to pseudo-crystal. The energy of the oscillations of the particles is
transferred to MB where it gives rise to Alfwen waves with a wavelength band analogous to atomic
energy bands.
4.2
Progress in the understanding of quantum brain
The third step of progress towards the end of 2017 relates to the a more detailed understanding of
functioning of brain.
The article with title ”DMT, pineal gland, and the new view about sensory perception” [33] (see
http://tinyurl.com/yahfsygg) describes the recent view about sensory perception, hallucinations,
imagination, and what might be called remote sensory perceptions. Many of the views appear also in the
earlier article ”Psychedelic induced experiences as key to the understanding of the connection between MB
and information molecules? ” [23] (see http://tinyurl.com/yao5tje2).
What distinguishes TGD from neuroscience is that sensory receptors are assumed to serve as carriers
of sensory percepts. ZEO provides a new view about time and memory and allows one to solve the
basic objections related to phantom limb phenomenon: Pain in phantom limb would be sensory memory
[31, 33].
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The assumption that sensory percepts are artworks rather than passive records of sensory input
requires virtual sensory input from brain to sensory organs and build-up of the final percept by pattern
recognition - an iterative procedure involving very many forth-and back signals. Nerve pulse transmission
is quite too slow process to allow this and signals propagating with maximal signal velocity are suggestive.
Nerve pulses and neurotransmitters would not represent real communication but give rise to temporary intra-brain communication lines along which communications as dark photon signals would take
place with maximal signal velocity using dark photons (characterized by hef f /h = n) transforming to
bio-photons in an energy conserving manner. Similar buildup of communication channel takes place in
telephone communications. Neurotransmitters and also other information molecules (hormones, messengers) attached to receptors would serve as bridges fusing permanent but disjoint communication lines
along axons to a connected temporary communication line for dark photons to propagate. Nerve pulses
would also generate generalized Josephson radiation [13] allowing communications between BB and MB
using EEG. Meridian system would be permanently connected system of communication lines.
This picture leads to a concrete proposal about the roles of DMT and pineal gland concerning imagination and dreams and hallucinations.
If the new view about the role of nerve pulses as builders of connections rather than signalling inside
brain is correct, this picture might also help to develop ideas about brain-robot interaction. Note, however,
that brain pulses generate dark photon communications with MB and this might be essential for the fusion
of MBs of subject person and robot.
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Mudiappan, F., Exploration of Higher Dimensional State through the Termites Habitats
Exploration
Exploration of Higher Dimensional State
Through the Termites Habitats
Felix Mudiappan*
Imayam College of Engineering, Kannanur, Trichy, India
Abstract
In this paper, the author explore the presence of higher dimensional state (HDS) from the
construction of known faces by the termites. If one sees the properties of termites, they are less
intelligent than humans are, and not capable of recognizing the faces. This means they
themselves are not constructing the known faces; some HDS in invisible form only helps or
controls them. With this paper the philosophical idea in metaphysics has got the proof of
existence of HDS and a possibility for a perfect system with anything possible by HDS. The
possibility of fast evolution has a proof here.
Keywords: Higher dimensional state, perfect system, termites.
1. Introduction
Images of animals and known and unknown human faces are being constructed by termites. How
do termites know the known and unknown human faces? Another examples include, known
shapes on cloud, diffusion of human known face on wall by rainwater diffusion and strange
images constructed by some sand dwellers. All these shows information is passed on to us. Who
is behind? Who is doing this? Have termites got that intelligent? Or how particles and
fundamental forces adjusting to draw known human faces? It is evident that the movement of
termites being controlled by some hidden forces known as HDS. In the same way, movement of
particles and fundamental forces are controlled by some forces. These can be explained with the
proofs below. The examples or experimental proof or results given in section 3 compare the real
image with that of termites making, proving the existence of higher dimensional states. Here
each image has to be viewed in multiple angles or directions to get different information from a
single image.
Everything in this universe should have a purpose. Why should the termites or non-living beings
(clouds) express the known shapes to humans? The purpose can be said as a kind of evolution or
adaptation, that is, the intelligent of termites has evolved. As evolution or adaptation has a
purpose, the termites constructing the homes with definite known shapes and clouds forming
definite shapes have purposes. One thing has to evolve keeping reference to something. For
*
Correspondence author: Felix Mudiappan, Imayam College of Engineering, Kannanur, Trichy, India.
E-mail: felix.alex2001@gmail.com
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Mudiappan, F., Exploration of Higher Dimensional State through the Termites Habitats
example, the head of giraffe evolved with respect to the height of trees. Also trees developed
stings with respect to animals eating its leaves.
So here, what is the reference or basis that the termites, clouds, or rainwater on walls should
form known shapes to humans? Science says from Ameba living beings formed. From the Big
bang theory, on-living beings formed. Then living beings formed after billions of years of Big
bang. Evolution is the very slow process, which the science supports. In order the souls with
certain dimensions like humans and animals (souls, particles and fundamental forces
combination, say as “Three in one or Trinity” with certain dimensions) to live, appropriate
atmosphere is required. The atmosphere can be said as the rules or conditions or dimensions of
the particles and fundamental forces without soul, on which the ‘’Three in one” lives. It will be
proved that with respect to author as one of the reference, the termites constructed their habitat
though the images also meant for others.Simply one image has multiple meanings; this is one of
the specialty or property of HDS.
2. Experimental Evidence
Example 1:
This image has been taken from just outside of author’s wife home at Asarikudivilai, Tiruvattar,
Kanyakumary district (say as ‘A’) in a rubber tree, say tree number 9.Below is the image which
looks like the author’s face. The author is known as reference soul or point.
Figure 1
Example 2:
This image has been formed outside the college namely ‘X’1, situated at Kannanur, Trichy
district, Tamilnadu, in a tamarind tree numbered 14.The author was working in this college as
Assistant Professor in mechanical engineering department. This is formed some 400 km away
from example 1.The image is below which looks like the image of the author,also known as
reference soul or point.
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Figure 2 (used with permission)
Example 3:
These images in Figure3 (a) and Figure3 (b) is formed inside the campus of ‘X’, Kannanur,
Trichy district, Tamil Nadu on royal palm trees. Both are formed in different trees situated
nearby. These images are formed some 400 km away from example1 and 500 m apart from
example2.The images matches the face of author or reference point’s brother who never visited
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Mudiappan, F., Exploration of Higher Dimensional State through the Termites Habitats
Kannanur. Thus, the image is related with reference point. The author’s brother is living some
400 km away from ‘X’.
(a)
(b)
Figure 3 (used with permission)
Figure (a) looks like author’s brother face as a bride; this meant to say that author is seeing a
bride for his brother. Termites knew author’s plan.
Some other images formed on walls by rainwater diffusion as below.
Example 4:
This image is formed inside the top wall of mechanical department of ‘X’. This is the image of
statue of mother Mary people worship. The statue of mother Mary image on top of walls had
wings (Figure4b).This image has been formed by rainwater diffusion on wall.
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(a)
(b)
Figure 4 (used with permission)
The above image formed by termites give some information.
Example 5:
This image is formed inside the campus of ‘X’ on a royal palm tree.
Figure 5 (used with permission)
Example 6:
Below image formed just outside the ‘X’. It is the image of one of the student in the college
(image shown with permission of the student).
(a)
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(b)
Figure 6 (used with permission)
Example 7:
The termite image formed inside the ‘X’,Kannanur,Trichy district,Tamilnadu and cloud image
formed outside the termite image both being hiding each other.
Figure 7
Example 8:
This is another example of control of particles and fundamental forces(non-living beings).It is
like mirror image of termites images formed, both invisible to each other, formed in an around
‘X’.
Figure 8
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Example 9:
These images have been taken when termites constructing their habitat:
Figure 9
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The termites construct without and with providing space between them(useful for explaining soul
overlap).
Example 10:
The following image has been drawn by a sand living ant like creature called “kulian or a kind of
sand dweller” which drawn the word “Ram” on sand. This was taken in a college namely ‘Y’1 in
Kuttakuzhi,Kanyakumary district,where the author was working as Assistant Professor.
Figure 10
Example 11:
There are more like strange images of humans or Gods or wise people or different races of
humans or might be the worlds of higher dimensional states formed by termites in an artistic way.
For example the following images are artwork of particles, fundamental forces and soul formed
at ‘X’ (a, b, c) and at author’s wife home (d, e).
(a)
1
(b)
Author thanks ‘Y’ for this image as this image has been taken in their campus; they does not want to disclose their name.
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(c)
(d)
(e)
Figure 11
The last image (d) shows somebody making a statue with hand; the hand is formed by the dry
leaf and termite artwork on mud. This symbolizes some meaning or passes information. Same
thing figures (a), (b), (c) do. Image (e) shows an angel with wings like image.
Example 12:
If you look at the border of the image formed outside ‘X’, author’s face is visible.
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Figure 12 (used with permission)
Example 13:
The same image formed by termites in different view gives different animals like wolf, monkey
and sheep. This proves the artistic ability of higher dimensional states. These images formed at
Author’s wife’s home, namely ‘A’
(a)
(b)
(c)
(d)
Figure 13
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When photographed from another position, figure looked like a human as in (d)
Example 14:
This image formed inside the ‘X’ in a tree namely “punghai’’
Figure 14
Example 15:
Figure 15
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3. From termite images
What the author could see is the law of nature changes for the author or people, that is, with
reference to the author or people, the environment changes as a function of need based (to small
percentage), it acts in author or people’s favor. The need is the doubt of author and the people,
whether HDS exist and govern us. Nobody seen it, but this paper proves its presence. Thus, these
images are beneficial to author and people. It constructs known people’s image means they show
their presence. Say the author, author’s brother and some people are the known people, the
evidences we have from the examples 1-14 prove this. There might be other examples to show
the presence of HDS, but author finds it unique in termites. The HDS shows their presence. This
information is very important as it shows we are not alone. On which basis they draw these
images has to be explored.
There is a difference in termite’s habitat construction happening with reference to these people
and naturally without these people as reference. Nowhere is it seen that it constructs known
human shapes or tells some information in logical order. Here with reference to author and
people, this type of information transfer takes place either by termites, clouds or by other means
using living or non-living beings. The images from examples above in section2 show mainly
with reference to author.
Even the movements of non-living beings are governed as a function of thought. Figures (7 and 8)
show this, that is, the movement of cloud particles and forming the image like that of termite
images signify some meaning. Thus non-living beings too controlled. Thus, control of both
living (termites being controlled) and non-living (clouds) of the universe is possible by HDS.
Here the natural rule has changed (termite becoming intelligent species).For example, fluid will
flow from high pressure to low pressure; when rules changes, the fluid can flow from low
pressure to high pressure without any external forces.
In general, we can say these revelations or knowledge of the presence of HDS as a part of this
universe becoming a perfect or steady system. A kind of evolution is happening with reference to
something. A perfect system is one, which gives happiness to people, and anything is possible by
this system. The artistic work by termites passes information and make the people happy
showing their presence. As far as author is concerned, here the termite images give happiness
showing art works, their presence, and some properties as discussed in section4.More on perfect
system can be given by 1.Based on1, in order to justify these unique constructions by termites, we
have to assume something called dimensions. Say it is meant for particles, fundamental forces
and souls, the whole universe is nothing but these three. The dimensions in particle include
temperature, force etc; the dimensions in fundamental forces include force, wavelength,
frequency etc; for souls happiness, sadness etc.
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Evolution can be said as a part of being or becoming a steady or perfect system, basically need
based. Here the need is author or people’s doubt or confusion about the existence of HDS. This
is being sensed by nature (HDS) and giving happiness to author and others, showing the presence
of HDS, eliminating confusion. The way it has drawn images on trees soil by soil using termites,
on clouds using particles and fundamental forces and rain water diffusion on walls as said in
section 2 shows the HDS as part of perfect system.
These are capable of breaking the natural rules already having and the nature or surrounding
(particles, fundamental forces, and souls) may evolve slowly and very fast with respect to some
reference. This reference can be said as need based and the need is to eliminate the confusion of
humans, that is, whether we are governed or protected by HDS. Most people believe we are
governed or protected by our self. This paper will prove somebody is behind us, say it as HDS.
Any of the following four is true from the construction of images in example 1 to 14.
1. The HDS oscillating or
2. it has high memory or
3. it can control living being or
4. control of environment
5. HDS travel with author and other people
The HDS oscillating- Author’s brother(figure3) is at some 400 km distance and HDS oscillating
across these distances and above to draw author’s brother’s face and other images. If this is true,
then, HDS can be oscillating in the whole universe to be a perfect system. This universe can be
assumed as a perfect system to some percentage(with certain rules something possible) from the
fact that the whole universe is running without collapse and with irreversible losses(that’s why
some percentage) for billion of years. Say this percentage perfection as a normal level, but for
now from these termite images, it is above a normal level.
Thus a HDS also govern this universe, not by humans alone is another reason we have to believe
in the perfect system. We have to expand this perfect system concept from the presence to HDS
to know what all are magic possible if perfect system exists without rules as in this universe. The
perfect system assumption leads to existence of other universes and this universe can reform into
a perfect system under certain conditions in dimensions limit (say –infinity to + infinity) with
respect to particles, fundamental forces and souls, called prime factors of this universe. For other
universes the assumption more than these three prime factors is valid where one may travel in
high temperature and cold without losing.
High memory-It captured the author’s brother image and saved in its memory perfectly, then
travelled to 400 km distance to draw it. Even this is possible with the perfect system assumption.
In short, everything is possible with perfect system assumption.
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It can control living being- It means that HDS to overlap the termite in its particle, fundamental
forces and soul(using the concept of very fundamental unit C).The soul overlap is appropriate as
during construction, they looks with normal size as in example Environment control – explains
how particles and fundamental forces around each termite and within their body or outer skin can
be controlled by HDS. HDS travel with author and other people unknowing to them, they are
many in number and are linked on some basis, and this is another possibility.
There might be more ways possible; it is beyond the scope of this paper as this paper is only
proving their presence. In total, for the perfect system, anything is possible is the assumption.
From the fact how termites construct homes of known shapes, a possibility of a hierarchy of
souls in higher dimensions exists which split into n numbers to control each termites. Another
possibility is higher dimensional states contract to the size of termites. Thus, they split or Xerox
into n copies. The multiplying ability of soul (one of the possibility) is evident from the fact there
are many termites involved in the construction of termite habitat. The fact that each soil particles
positioned by termites by its hands is evident that the soul entered in it or oscillating soul did it
as there is no increase in the values of particle and fundamental forces in visible level. Each soul
in termites is linked to a commanding soul, which directs each termite, or oscillating HDS (soul)
has many numbers of hands, which position the sand particles. This is one way. Other way is that
environment of each termite changes (atomic level) causes termites to turn making comfort or
discomfort, which made the particles to get positioned in particular place and direction.
A perfect engineering is happening here, guided by somebody. Thus two way control is possible
to draw known images with respect to a reference; the first one being soul level control of
termites and the second one being the control of particles and fundamental forces (environment).
From the fact that calculated forces applied by humans, helps to construct definite shapes rather
than the random construction by the application of random forces, humans(only when souls live
in body) can construct definite shapes when they carry souls with intelligent. Thus, souls only
forcing or directing the particles to construct definite shapes from the example of humans
constructing definite shapes, but anything are possible with perfect system. Soul is oscillating is
evident from the fact that my brother even has not come to ‘X’, but how his face is drawn by
termites shows soul is oscillating across distances and controls the particle and fundamental
forces(other ways also possible).
The fact that trees are growing and no movement is the example of life without movements. The
term life used to mean soul and its movement voluntarily in a place we like. Thus, soul can exist
in other form in plants. In animals and other living beings, it exists in another form. Thus there
are chances they exist in non-living beings too in sleep mode, exchanging information, the best
example being, the particles and fundamental forces receiving information(as in clouds forming
known shapes with reference to author) and making movements accordingly. Known shapes in
clouds, termite habitat and other living and non-living beings telling an information or story
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takes place with reference to author or a human soul where ever the soul of author/human
goes(just trying to be perfect system).The naturally occurring construction of termite home as a
function of time does not takes place. The fact that soul controlling particles and fundamental
forces proves that natural disasters can be controlled if this oscillating soul thinks.
Moreover, from the fact that for making known definite shapes an intelligent to differentiate the
things is required. This is another proof that the higher dimensional intelligent states only
drawing the images. Thus a sixth sensed or more system with the knowledge of past, present and
future only drawing the known image shapes with reference to author/people, giving information.
We see from our example of being human and also animals and plants, only when the soul is
integrated with particles and fundamental forces, the multiplication (reproduction) is possible.
The particles and fundamental forces do not multiply automatically in the rule of region. Thus in
the outer space, it appears soul indirectly integrated with particles and fundamental forces only
making the particles and fundamental forces to multiply to expand the universe; for a perfect
system, this should be possible. The above fact is true from the assumption soul is in sleep mode
in particles and fundamental forces and also from the state before big bang soul oscillating only
created particles(everything possible for perfect system).Thus there are possibility soul hidden in
particles and with perfect system even particles and fundamental forces could be converted into
soul or to exist in three in 1 form(the flesh).Anything is possible with a perfect system is the
assumption and termites evolve to that state.
After constructing the termite habitat, the way the termites eat the food inside the habitat also
happened logically to give some information or telling a story as shown in figure15 below. These
images formed in author’s wife home (figure 15a) and a place near Thickurichy (figure 15b and
15c), both in Kanyakumary district.
(a)
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(b)
(c)
Figure 15
Here also while eating the food, termites makes definite known shapes. In order to make the
logical patterns by eating away tree layers, there should have been a control of senses of termites.
The tendency to eat the food at right time and right amount with reference to making the image
has been made. Say the 5 senses of termites have been used by overlapping the soul of termite by
higher dimension or environment around the termites controlled. The food digesting and
distributing energy in cells is being controlled. The time being shortened or lengthened based on
the reaction rate of digestion and energy distribution in cells of termites. Also only, it ate
particular layer food in trees as it was controlled to stop eating. A chemical reaction motivated
inside the termites in order to eat right amount of food. Same thing is experienced with author or
reference point. These happen as a function of need or to have some control or to give some
information, with reference to author or some other reference points. The chemical reaction
inside the body of termites is being controlled by some unknown forces.
If there is no soul in our body, the tendency to eat more or excrete won’t be caused. Thus, in the
base of soul, the chemical reaction (of particles and fundamental forces) is being controlled to
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cause the eating of more or less by termites to give some information or tell a story. In order soul
to live, energy is required, thus at the same time, without affecting the soul, that is, giving energy
to it also happens. Thus, both soul and particle-fundamental forces combination construct the
image with reference to humans as this information is meant for humans. This shows the more
possibilities of soul level control or soul overlap.
4. Properties of higher dimensional states noticed using termites
1. Overlapping of souls
If termites has to construct known human faces, the soul which directs (proved soul only
control in the discussion below), it has to control the movements. In living beings, the
movements take place in a desired direction because of the existence of soul. Thus a
soul level dimensional change occurred in termites, that is, higher dimensions in soul
level overlapped the souls of termites. The figure 19 taken during the construction,
shows only termites, not anybody else means soul only controlled and it has to be
done with overlapping of soul.
2. Controlling of particles and fundamental forces
The possibility for termite to construct the known image is that the environment or
dimensions of particles and fundamental forces around or inside the termites changed
to move the termites in a particular direction, which made the termites to construct
known faces. In addition, the images on clouds show a control of particles and
fundamental forces. The images on walls due to rainwater diffusion show the control
of particles and fundamental forces.
3. Invisibility
4. Independent of distances(Author’s brother is some 400 km apart, but without seeing, the
face structure drawn precisely as shown in figure 3).
5. Knows the things without seeing (author’s brother image is 400 km apart drawn without
seeing).
6. Ability to split in soul level to any number (based on termite souls are overlapped in
figure 19), this will prove a hierarchy of HDS.
7. They knew our plans(figure 3 showing author’s brother as bride)
8. Highly an artist as example images shows
9. Highly accurate as without seeing images across 400 km distance. It shows they are
oscillating in nature or have high memory.
10. Less time it takes for construction.
11. Ability of maximum multitasking allowed by rules of nature (evident from the fact in
3D space one image means multiple meanings (e.g. figures in example 1-14) to author
and others.
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12.
13.
14.
15.
16.
Both weightless(the termite’s being weightless while constructing as HDS in soul
form weightless) and take weight(perfect system assumption as in section 6 or when it
exist in particle, fundamental forces form)
The HDS is attached to each person with their body in invisible form, which is
watching everything around the author very precisely and accurately,have very high
memory power,linked to all other HDS around each living beings and non-living
beings.Say as a xerox copy of author in invisible form attached to him,which have
higher abilities and power than ordinary copy of author in visible form.The invisible
Xerox copy evolves gradually making the author’s present world copy to know
everything around him to a small percentage.This invisible copy only makes link with
termites to draw known images and other HDS attached to it to express.
Each living and non-living beings have HDS attached to it unknowingly in invisible
form.
They exist as both male and female or independent of sex as both male and female
termites are involved in the construction of habitat..
There might be more unknown.
5. Rain water diffusion on walls
Another example of particles and fundamental forces controlled is example of diffusion of
rainwater on walls to draw known shapes and give some information as in figure (4).Here
diffusion of rain water to cause wetting is controlled using time and temperature. After diffusion,
the enamel of wall how it should appear extending and contracting to give the Mary image is
viewed early by higher dimensional states and accordingly they control the intensity of diffusion
of rainwater. Here the environment is being controlled. A perfect atomic level control has taken
place here. Each atoms of cement or concrete particle or rain water and surrounding air is being
controlled to cause wetting as a function of temperature. The temperature of each atom is
different and the temperature extends the time. This is example of atomic level control of HDS.
This example proves environment control of termites also possible without soul overlapping.
6. Perfect System
Anything possible with the perfect system is the assumption. The perfect system concept
assumes a very fundamental unit of the universe C distributed all over this universe and beyond
continuously if universes exist and that why it knew everything. In our universe C exists as
‘Trinity form (Cpfs)’, that is, each C can exist as particle, fundamental forces, and soul (prime
factors).There is space in each C for these prime factors. In other universe, there might be more
prime factors than these three. The prime factors can exist in combinations of 3, 2, or
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individually. Flesh is example of when they exist in combination of 3(particle, fundamental
forces and soul).Non-living beings are the example of particle and fundamental forces. Soul
alone is example of HDS, which is invisible. Each parameter in this world or senses is called
dimensions. In a perfect system, particles have ‘l’ number of dimensions each ranging from -∞ to
+∞, for example temperature, pressure etc.
Fundamental forces have m number of dimensions each ranging from -∞ to +∞, frequency,
wavelength etc. For soul ‘n’ number of dimensions ranging from -∞ to +∞, for example
happiness, love kind etc.l,m,n for this universe is limited in numbers, but for perfect system it is
infinity in number. We from the examples of this universe see some dimensions enhance/reduce
values of dimensions causing comfort to us and with reference to these are known as +ve
dimensions and some dimensions reduce/enhance the dimensional values causing discomfort
with reference to us, we call it as –ve dimensions. One, which causes irreversibility, can be said
as causing discomfort and forward time. One, which causes reversibility, can be said as causing
comfort and both forward and reverse time.
Thus, one, which causes reversibility with comfort, is +ve dimensions and one, which causes
irreversibility with discomfort, is –ve dimensions. When the soul exists in our body we can move
in any direction we want, thus soul can be said as primary. Thus in perfect system as there are
l,m,n in infinity in number and each vary from -∞ to +∞,everything is possible. Thus HDS acting
on termites has more l,m,n and even it exist as invisible. Thus, they draw the known images in a
way they want controlling souls (termites), rainwater diffusion, and clouds etc. Simply anything
is possible by a perfect system explained here. The detailed explanation of perfect system is
beyond the scope of this paper. Perfect system assumes only after this world perfection will be
achieved 100 percentages though there are cases, it can be achieved to small percentages. These
termite revelations can be said as achieving it to small percentage (giving +ve energy to author
and people showing the presence of HDS).
After this world soul only goes off, thus soul level dimensions or parameters should be studied
for perfection. In order the perfect system assumed not handicapped it should not cause negative
effect on others permanently(irreversible).Thus +ve soul level dimensions only should be the
reason for perfection, but reversible –ve soul level dimensions acceptable within a limit with the
purpose of adding flavor(for fun, make +ve work done etc).Example of +ve soul level
dimensions include love, kindness etc and –ve soul level dimensions include jealous, rough pride
etc. Thus termites expressing in an extraordinary way can be attributed to attaining perfection
with reference to +ve soul parameters of author/humans. It happens above a normal limit to a
small percentage. This world is assumed to be an experimental set up for each human, thus
showing more perfection may collapse this experimental set up. One soul, which passes in the
experiment, may attain 100 percent perfection.
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Mudiappan, F., Exploration of Higher Dimensional State through the Termites Habitats
6. Summary
Thus in this paper a perfect dimensional system example (termites habitat construction) is
defined to a certain percentage. Thus, the perfect system proves the existence of other universes
without rules. Based on whatever perceived by our senses only we are imagining and writing.
Thus in ancient history period when people chanting mantra, the environment changing cannot
be denied based on perfect system. From the images, it is proved that the higher dimensional
states are oscillating in this universe and just like a dog can knew or identify a thief with its
sensing power without seeing, the higher dimensional states knew everything using some
dimensions or senses and can also control particles, fundamental forces and soul.
The each dimensions explained could be said as information, thus this universe exist as
information in particles, fundamental forces, and soul. From the images formed by termites,
clouds and on the wall, the higher dimensional states can exist in combinations of soul, particles,
and fundamental forces. Thought waves developed from souls can change the dimension of
particles, fundamental forces, and soul for a perfect system as evidenced by cloud shapes, termite
images, and rainwater diffusion on walls. Thought waves are nothing but words originated from
souls;it can integrate or multiply to any limit, say infinity. This discussion is beyond the scope of
this paper. Thus, the universe is full of words/information of higher dimensional state/states,
which knew everything happening in this universe. The evidences being the images by termites,
rainwater-diffused images of famous people rolling inside the minds (thoughts) of people, cloud
shapes etc. What is bounded inside the minds of humans drawn by higher dimensional states
using particles, fundamental forces, and soul? Even without seeing, they knew everything. Say in
particles and fundamental forces, the soul are in sleep mode, that why they do not make moves
automatically. This paper is the one prepared with the help of higher dimensional states in one
sense.
The important conclusion that the human has to take from this conclusion is intelligent is nothing,
it happens to humans by luck. This is because from the termite story or revelations by higher
dimensional states, even the 5 sensed termites acts as if they have intelligent as it construct
habitats in a very artistic manner, a single image gives many meanings. It is a matter of having
many l,m,n number of dimensions in particles, fundamental forces and souls.
This paper just proves the existence of higher dimensional states ahead of us. More over the
explanations are based on the human sense or eyes, simply based on our perception in this state.
In the human sense, we discovered only particles, fundamental forces, and soul. There might be
more that this trinity form, which are invisible to human.
Information is being passed to the author using particles, fundamental forces, and soul. The need
that has arisen to the author is the objectivity or questions or why the things exist (such
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Mudiappan, F., Exploration of Higher Dimensional State through the Termites Habitats
confusion), this need is satisfied by HDS, proving their presence. This gives confident to author
and others that somebody is present behind and benefit the author, erasing the confusion that
what will happen after this world.
Author explains these revelations assuming a perfect system. As these revelations clears the
doubts of author and gives confident or power to him, from author’s point of view, the HDS is
the positive force only. More over the termite images pass beautiful information to human, this
information is much essential for unity or integrity.HDS may be a single or have a hierarchy. A
kind of intelligent system (termites becoming artists) evolved very fast with respect to some
reference (the need or confusion of people); It needs further understanding of our universe
considering soul as a parameter, which is beyond the scope of this paper. It is also quoted the
reason for with reference to what termites make known faces, i.e, +ve soul level dimensions.
This paper provides two main things, one is the evidence of existence of higher dimensional
state/States, and the second is the possibility of a perfect system with anything possible by HDS.
These HDS can be called as Aliens life hidden in our universe unknowing to us! This paper
integrates physics (metaphysics), chemistry (internal communication of termites by chemicals)
and biology (evolution of intelligent) and challenges the science saying something beyond what
we see and feel. A sudden evolution of intelligent of termites is shown and thus it proves not
only the slow evolution, but fast evolution is also possible, astonishing the scientists; this breaks
all our previous beliefs in evolution. All these happened with reference to something which the
author of this paper argues as +ve soul level dimensions through different people may argue in
different ways.
References
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Anne-Geneviève Bagnères, H. Hanus(2015) Social recognition in invertebrates: The knowns and the
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Campbell, R., Psychoanalysis & Cosmic Order (Part I)
485
Article
Psychoanalysis & Cosmic Order (Part I)
Robert Campbell*
Abstract
The article is in two parts. Part One reviews the structural foundations of psychoanalysis in broad
outline as initiated by Sigmund Freud and further developed by Carl Jung. The focus is on
structure as it relates to both normal behavior as well as abnormal stressful conditions. In Part
Two it is shown how this structural outline is consistent in some essential details and inconsistent
in others with how the cosmic order was revealed to the author. Psychoanalysis is a branch of
psychiatry pioneered by Sigmund Freud. It was clear to him that many mainstream psychiatric
problems are rooted in the formative years from infancy, together with later-stage developments
and compensations according to individual circumstances. His sexual theory was especially
central to his practice. The stages of development that he defined will be largely skipped over
without commenting on their validity in order to focus on his overall structural synthesis. Later
the relevance of both Freud’s work and that of Jung to the cosmic order will be reviewed.
Keywords: Cosmic order, psychoanalysis, Carl Jung, Sigmund Freud, sexual theory.
Part One
Notes on Freud’s personal history
Freud was born to Jewish parents in 1856, in the Moravian town of Freiberg, now in the Czech
Republic, the first of eight children. His father Jakob's family were Hasidic Jews, and although
Jakob himself had left the tradition, he was known for his Torah study. He married Amalia
Nathansohn, who was 20 years younger and his third wife. They were struggling financially and
living in a rented room in a locksmith's house when Sigmund was born.
Freud was an outstanding pupil and graduated from the Matura in 1873 with honors. He loved
literature and was proficient in German, French, Italian, Spanish, English, Hebrew, Latin and
Greek. He entered the University of Vienna at age 17 and graduated with an MD in 1881. He had
a special interest in Darwinism. Freud began smoking at 24, becoming strongly addicted to a
couple dozen cigars a day.
In 1882, Freud began his medical career at the Vienna General Hospital. His research work in
cerebral anatomy led to the publication of a seminal paper on the palliative effects of cocaine in
1884 and his work on aphasia would form the basis of his first book. 1 Over a three-year period,
*
Correspondence: Robert Campbell, Independent Researcher. http://www.cosmic-mindreach.com
E-Mail: bob@cosmic-mindreach.com
1
Freud S. On the Aphasias: a Critical Study (1891
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Freud worked in various departments of the hospital. His time spent in Meynert's psychiatric
clinic and as a locum in a local asylum led to an interest in clinical work.
Sigmund and Martha met in April 1882 and after a four-year engagement they were married in
Hamburg. Freud and Bernays’s love letters sent during the engagement years, according to
Freud's official biographer Ernest Jones, 2 "would be a not unworthy contribution to the great love
literature of the world." Freud sent over 900 (lengthy) letters to his fiancée, which chart the ups
and downs of a tempestuous relationship, marred by outbreaks of jealousy on his part. The fire
faded after the marriage when Freud poured himself whole heartedly into his work.
The young Martha Bernays was a slim and attractive woman who was a charmer, intelligent,
well-educated and fond of reading. As a married woman, she ran her household efficiently, and
was almost obsessive about punctuality and dirt. Firm but loving with her six children, she
spread an atmosphere of peaceful joie de vivre through the household (at least according to the
French analyst René Laforgue 3). However, Martha was not able to establish a strong connection
with her youngest daughter, Anna, who was closer to her father and his work. From 1891 until
they left Vienna in 1938, Freud and his family lived in an apartment in a historical district of
Vienna. In 1896, Minna Bernays, Martha Freud's sister, became a permanent member of the
Freud household after the death of her fiancé. The close relationship she formed with Freud led
to rumors of an affair.
Freud’s Basic Structural Outline
Freud defined the Id, Ego, and Super-ego as three theoretical parts of the psyche in terms of
whose activity and interaction our mental life is described. The id consists of unconscious
instinctual drives and appetites that often exist in mutual contradiction. These are largely
inherited from birth and it should be added that they may include innate talents and behavioral
tendencies. The super-ego plays the role of conscience and morality that places limits on the id.
The ego is the learned organized part that must mediate the other two according to circumstance.
The basic structure was introduced along with the Oedipus concept in 1899,4 when Freud was
43. The id, ego and super-ego are purely psychological concepts that were not intended to
correspond to structures of the brain or nervous system. There is nevertheless a general
correspondence to our three brains, namely the emotional limbic brain, the language bound left
hemisphere, and the intuitive and holistic right hemisphere respectively. 5
The ego finds itself engaged in conflict with repressed impulses in the id and subordinated to the
super-ego. And at the same time, the interplay between the love instinct (Eros) and the death
instinct (Thanatos) can manifest itself in all three.
2
Jones E. The Life and Work of Sigmund Freud (1953, 1955, 1957, 1961)
Gay P. Freud (1989)
4
Freud S. The Interpretation of Dreams (1899)
5
http://www.cosmic-mindreach.com/Three-Brains.html
3
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The Ego controls the Id, like the rider of a horse, but sometimes the rider is obliged to guide the
horse where it wants to go. Since the ego relates to sensory experience of the phenomenal world
Freud regarded the ego as a mental projection of the surface of one’s physical body and thus
concerns personal behavior in concert with the phenomenal behavior of the universe, whether it
is other people, animals, plants, the weather, or whatever.
A close relationship between Freud and Fliess came to a bitter end. Freud claimed that a
combination of a homoerotic attachment and the residue of his "specifically Jewish mysticism"
lay behind loyalty to his Jewish friend and he over-estimated the work of Fliess. 6 Despite his
rejection of religion Freud retained his social allegiance to Judaism. Freud and family escaped
from Austria in 1938 with the help of friends. Suffering from severe terminal cancer of the jaw
he died in 1939 at London from lethal injections of morphine at his request.
Eros and Thanatos
Eros and Thanatos operate within the structure of Id, Ego and Super-Ego. In his 1920 book
“Beyond the Pleasure Principle,” Freud applied the concept of Eros to psychoanalysis. He
referred to Eros as the life instinct, which includes sexual instincts, the drive to live, and basic
instinctual impulses such as thirst and hunger. These are primal appetites that one strives to
gratify. We seek the erotic experience of unity or fulfillment. Its counterpart is Thanatos, which
is the death instinct, although Freud did not use this word explicitly. He came to understand it as
being directed outwards for control over others. It becomes what he called ―the destructive
instinct, the instinct for mastery, or the will to power.‖
To communicate his sexual theory Freud used the Oedipus story from Greek mythology.
Unknowingly Oedipus killed his father in combat and married his mother, fathering two siblings.
Freud used the story to exemplify a son’s erotic attachment to his mother from infancy. He later
acknowledged an opposite Oedipus complex for a daughter’s erotic attachment to her father.
Jung named the latter the Electra complex after a Greek matricidal myth. Freud considered the
term Electra complex inaccurate. A friction between them had developed. Freud resented
challenge to his fatherly authority to the point of fainting when confronted sometimes.
Freud’s development of the theory involved self-analysis. His beautiful, and dynamic mother
Amalia called him ―my golden Sigi,‖ and favored him over his seven siblings, a relationship he
treasured. His ineffectual father Jacob was twice her age of 20, being 40 when Sigmund was
born. His father’s business failed when Sigmund was four and they lived in poverty.
His genial father’s death in 1896 traumatized Freud. He experienced extreme mood fluctuations,
feelings of impotence, failure, guilt, a "neurasthenia" which prompted a "self-analysis" of his
dreams and childhood memories. His explorations of his feelings of hostility to his father and
rivalrous jealousy over his mother's affections led him to a revised theory of neuroses. This led to
the publication of The Interpretation of Dreams, in which he outlined the structural basis of his
theory. He regarded it his most important work.
6
Gay P. A Life For Our Time (1998)
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A more classic example of the Oedipus complex is given in Adolf Hitler’s relationship to his
parents. Adolf rejected his physically abusive father who was 23 years older than his loving and
consoling mother. Four years after his father’s death Adolf was crushed by his mother’s death
when he was 18 and he carried the grief the rest of his life. As the Nazi leader, Hitler sought
erotic self-confirmation as the Fuehrer and the sole source of power in Germany.
In general Eros is directed inward while Thanatos is directed outward. This summarizes how an
imbalance between inward and outward perceptions influence the mind set and behavior of
individuals as well as cultures. It is essentially the source of all the world’s problems. To
simplify, most people have two sets of rules: one set for themselves and another set for others. A
genuine creative balance between inside and outside is lacking.
Freud regarded the death drive as tending toward a level of zero tension with the idea that it
tends toward a minimum level of tension. Freud reached the conclusion that the compulsion to
repeat is an effort to restore a state that is both historically primitive and marked by the total
draining of energy: death.7
The Id:
The id consists of emotional impulses and tendencies that either seek immediate fulfillment or
settle for a compromise. The id supplies the energy for the development and continued
functioning of conscious mental life, although the working processes of the id itself are
completely unconscious in the adult (less unconscious in the child). In waking life it belies its
content in slips of the tongue, wit, art, and other modes of expression that are not rational at least
in part. The primary methods for unmasking its content, according to Freud, are the analysis of
dreams and free association.8
Freud saw the Id as the vehicle of the libido or emotional tendencies and drives that the Ego
employs and can modify through mechanisms of repression. Consequently the Id seeks
alternative expression for impulses regarded as evil or excessively sexual that were felt as normal
at an earlier stage and later repressed. The repressed memories tend to be screened or masked by
displacing them to a different remembered event. 9 Whereas the ego is associated with reason and
sanity, the id belongs to the passions or emotional drives. It should be added that this need not be
negative. Emotional energy also fuels our positive creative contributions.
―The division of mental life into what is conscious and what is unconscious is the fundamental
premise on which psycho-analysis is based". He further distinguishes between two types of
unconscious thoughts: "preconscious" ideas, which are latent yet fully capable of becoming
conscious; and "unconscious" ideas, which are repressed and cannot become conscious without
the help of psychoanalysis.
Before defining the ego explicitly, Freud argues for a manner in which unconscious thoughts can
be made conscious. He believes the answer lies in the difference between unconscious thoughts
7
Freud S. Beyond the Pleasure Principle (1920)
8
The Editors of Encyclopædia Britannica
9
Freud, S. Screen memories. Standard Edition, 3, 301-322. London: The Hogarth Press. (1899).
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and preconscious thoughts: The unconscious are "worked out upon some sort of material that
remains unrecognized", while the preconscious are connected to perceptions, especially "verbal
images". The difference, then, is a connection to words (more specifically, to the "memory
residue" of words.) The goal of psychoanalysis, then, is to connect the freely floating
unconscious material to words via psychoanalytic dialogue. Freud believed that sexual instincts
that stem from the id and bring about the Oedipus complex, are what dictate the shape and
structure of the super-ego.
Freud also postulates a process of desexualization, when libidinal energy passes from the id (its
origin) into the ego—which (through a process called ―sublimation‖) abandons the original
sexual aims and utilizes the energy to fuel thought and self-interested actions. The libido is,
therefore, transformed into energy that can be applied toward creative or destructive aims. This
indicates that the love instinct Eros is the primary motivation of the id. But Freud notes that the
id’s compulsion to comply with the love-instinct is also a manifestation of the pleasure principle,
or the tendency to avoid tensions that come with the love-instinct. 10
The Ego
The goal of Freudian therapy, or psychoanalysis, was to bring repressed thoughts and feelings
into Ego consciousness in order to free the patient from suffering repetitive distorted emotions.
This talking cure encouraged a patient to talk about dreams and engage in free association, in
which patients report their thoughts without reservation and make no attempt to concentrate
while doing so. Transference, the process by which patients displace onto their analysts feelings
and ideas which derive from previous figures in their lives, was first seen as interfering with the
recovery of repressed memories and disturbed patients' objectivity, but by 1912, Freud had come
to see it as an essential part of the therapeutic process.
The ego concerns beliefs that influence behavior, among them religion. Freud regarded God as
an infantile need for a powerful, supernatural father. Although religion restrained man's violent
nature in the early stages of civilization, in modern times he believed it can be set aside in favor
of reason and science. He notes a likeness between religious belief and neurotic obsession.11 He
thought that it serves as a buffer from man's "fear of nature" just as the belief in an afterlife
serves as a buffer from man's fear of death. The core idea is that all religious belief can be
explained by its function to society, not by its relation to the truth.12 Moreover, he perceived
religion, with its suppression of violence, as mediator of the societal and personal, the public and
the private, conflicts between Eros and Thanatos. Later works indicate Freud's pessimism about
the future of civilization. 13
Freud believed the ego employs the reality principle by seeking to please the id's drive in
realistic ways that will bring long term benefit rather than grief. As the ego "attempts to mediate
10
Freud S., The Ego and the Id (1923)
Freud S. Obsessive Actions and Religious Practices (1907)
12
Freud S. The Future of an Illusion (1927)
13
Freud S. Civilization and its Discontents (1931)
11
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between id and reality, it often cloaks the unconscious urges of the id with its own
(preconscious) rationalizations, to conceal the id's conflicts with reality, to profess ―...to be
taking notice of reality even when the id has remained rigid and unyielding." Allowing the
individual to defer instant gratification, the reality principle is the governing principle of the
actions taken by the ego, after its development from a "pleasure-ego" into a "reality-ego".14
The ego’s task is to find a balance between primitive drives and reality while satisfying the id
and super-ego. Its main concern is with the individual's safety. It allows some of the id's desires
to be expressed when their consequences are marginal. "Thus the ego, driven by the id, confined
by the super-ego, repulsed by reality, struggles...in bringing about harmony among the forces and
influences working in and upon it," and readily "breaks out in anxiety—realistic anxiety
regarding the external world, moral anxiety regarding the super-ego, and neurotic anxiety
regarding the strength of the passions in the id."15
The ego has to do its best to suit all three and is thus constantly feeling hemmed in. The ego
seems to be more loyal to the id, preferring to gloss over the finer details of reality to minimize
conflicts while pretending a regard for reality. But the super-ego is constantly watching and
punishes the ego with feelings of guilt, and anxiety. To overcome this the ego employs many
defense mechanisms from denial and rationalization to fantasy that lessen the tension by masking
threatening impulses when id behavior conflicts with social expectations.
The Super-Ego
The super-ego reflects the internalization of cultural rules, mainly taught by parents applying
their guidance and influence. For Freud "the installation of the super-ego can be described as a
successful instance of identification with the parental agency," while as development proceeds
"the super-ego also takes on the influence of those who have stepped into the place of parents —
educators, teachers, and people chosen as ideal models". Thus a child's super-ego is constructed
on the model of its parents' super-ego and becomes the vehicle of value traditions which
propagate themselves from generation to generation.
Parents regularly make important contributions to the formation of character; but in that case
they only affect the ego, they no longer influence the super-ego, which has been determined by
the earliest parental images. The earlier in development, the greater the estimate of parental
power. When one defuses into rivalry with the parental imago, (unconscious mental image) then
one feels the 'dictatorial thou shalt' to manifest the power the imago represents. 16
―The super-ego is in close touch with the id and can act as its representative in relation to the
ego‖. People exhibit a sense of guilt that makes them resistant to conquering their pathology. The
super-ego condemns the ego—"[displaying] particular severity and [raging] against the ego with
the utmost cruelty" and giving it a deep-seated, mysterious feeling of guilt. The super-ego
includes the individual's ego ideals, spiritual goals, and the psychic agency that criticizes and
14
Freud S. General Psychological Theory: Papers on Metapsychology (published 1963)
Freud S. New Introductory Lectures on Psycho-Analysis (1933)
16
Freud S. New Introductory Lectures on Psycho-Analysis (1933)
15
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prohibits drives, fantasies, feelings, and actions. "The Super-ego acts as conscience … It strives
to act in a socially appropriate manner, whereas the id wants instant self-gratification.‖ As our
moral compass it helps us to act in acceptable ways.
Freud's theory implies that the super-ego is a symbolic internalization of the father figure and
cultural regulations. The super-ego and the ego are the product of two key factors: the state of
helplessness of the child and the Oedipus complex. Its formation takes place during the
dissolution of the Oedipus complex and is formed by identification with and internalization of
the father figure. The super-ego retains the character of the father. The stronger the Oedipus
complex was and the more rapidly it was repressed by the influence of social authority, the
stricter will be the domination of the super-ego over the ego later—in the form of conscience or
perhaps of an unconscious sense of guilt. 17
The super-ego of women "is never so inexorable, so impersonal, so independent of its emotional
origins as we require it to be in men...they are often more influenced in their judgements by
feelings of affection or hostility." Freud went on to modify his position to the effect "that the
majority of men are also far behind the masculine ideal and that all human individuals, as a result
of their bisexual disposition and of cross-inheritance, combine in themselves both masculine and
feminine characteristics."18 Freud made use of the castration complex in men and penis envy in
women. This can be interpreted as a fear of emasculation in males and an aggressive desire in
females. Both tendencies can be evident in both sexes.
Freud's also discusses a "cultural super-ego". He suggested that the demands of the super-ego
"coincide with the precepts of the prevailing cultural super-ego." Ethics are a central element in
the demands of the cultural super-ego, but Freud (as analytic moralist) protested against what he
called "the unpsychological proceedings of the cultural super-ego...the ethical demands of the
cultural super-ego. It does not trouble itself enough about the facts of the mental constitution of
human beings."19
Jung’s relationship to Freud
Jung was born in 1875, Freud’s junior by 19 years. In 1900 Jung began working at the
Burghölzli psychiatric hospital in Zürich with Eugen Bleuler who was already in communication
with Sigmund Freud. Jung sent a copy of his 1906 book Studies in Word Association to Freud
and the intense friendship between them developed.
In 1902, five Viennese physicians and close Jewish associates of Freud were invited to meet at
his apartment every Wednesday afternoon to discuss issues relating to psychology and
neuropathology. This group was called the Wednesday Psychological Society and it marked the
beginnings of the worldwide psychoanalytic movement. Max Graf, who joined the group soon
after, described the ritual of the early meetings. The last decisive word was always spoken by
17
Freud S. The Ego and the Id (1923)
Freud S. Three Essays on the Theory of Sexuality (1925)
19
Freud S. Civilization and Its Discontents (1930)
18
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Freud. There was the atmosphere of the foundation of a religion and Freud was its new prophet
who made prevailing methods of psychological investigation appear superficial. By 1906, the
group had grown to sixteen members. That year Freud began a correspondence with Jung who
had become an acclaimed researcher. In 1907, Jung and a colleague travelled to Vienna to meet
Freud and attend the group. They established a small group in Zürich.
In 1911, the first women were admitted to the Vienna Society, including Sabina Spielrein. Prior
to the completion of her studies, at Zurich University she had been Jung’s patient. The daughter
of Jewish Russian doctors, Spielrein was admitted to the Burghölzli mental hospital where Jung,
who had wed two years previously, worked. While there for almost a year she established an
intimate relationship with Jung 20,21 who was later her medical dissertation advisor on
schizophrenia. When Jung's breach of professional ethics became known he left his position at
Burghölzli. Spielrein continued to work with Jung until 1912 when she married a Russian Jewish
physician. She was elected a member of Freud’s Vienna Psychoanalytic Society and eventually
returned to Russia. She and her two daughters were shot in a synagogue by a Nazi SS death
squad in 1942.
Two years after Freud and Jung met, they toured the U.S. together, which culminated in what the
American Psychological Association calls ―the most famous conference in the history of
American psychology.‖ In 1912, however, Jung published Psychology of the Unconscious,
which diverged from Freud and their personal and professional relationship fractured. Several of
Freud’s followers defected over a period of several years. After their break in 1913, Jung went
through a difficult and pivotal psychological transformation, exacerbated by the outbreak of the
First World War. Henri Ellenberger called Jung's intense experience a "creative illness" and
compared it favorably to Freud's own period of what he called neurasthenia and hysteria. 22
Jung’s approach to Analytical Psychology
Although Jung’s early work was generally consistent with Freud’s his thoughts about the
unconscious were taking a very different direction. He called it "analytical psychology" to
distinguish it. Jung's work and personal experiences also convinced him that life has a spiritual
purpose beyond material goals. Based on his study of global spiritual traditions he considered
life a journey of transformation, which he called a process of individuation at the mystical heart
of all religions. It is a journey of self-realization associated with the Divine.
While Jung worked on his Psychology of the Unconscious, tensions grew with Freud because of
their disagreements over the nature of libido and religion. Jung focused on the collective
unconscious as the part of the unconscious that contains memories and ideas that Jung believed
are historically implicit in the human condition. While he agreed with Freud that the libido is
important for personal growth he claimed there is more to it than sexual influences. Jung
believed his personal development was influenced by factors unrelated to sexuality.
20
Owens L. Jung in Love: The Mysterium in Liber Novus (2015)
“The letters of C. G. Jung to Sabina Spielrein,” Journal of Analytical Psychology (2001)
22
Ellenberger H.F. The Discovery of the Unconscious (1970)
21
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Jung and Freud had very different concepts of the unconscious. According to Jung, Freud
conceived the unconscious solely as a repository of repressed emotions and desires. What Jung
called the "personal unconscious" is consistent with Freud’s model but he considered it
overshadowed by what he called the ―collective unconscious‖. The latter is a synchronous
process involving archetypes that influence humans over space and time. 23 This requires that
archetypes are energy patterns with timeless characteristics that can unconsciously influence
people regardless of their location or personal history. Freud had actually mentioned a collective
level of psychic functioning but saw it as an appendix to the rest of the psyche.
Letters they exchanged show Freud's refusal to consider Jung's ideas. This rejection caused what
Jung described as a "resounding censure". 24 Everyone he knew dropped away except for two of
his colleagues. Jung described his book as "an attempt, only partially successful, to create a
wider setting for medical psychology and to bring the whole of the psychic phenomena within its
purview." (The book was later revised and retitled Symbols of Transformation in 1922).
Following their break in 1913, at the age of thirty-eight, Jung experienced a horrible
"confrontation with the unconscious". He saw visions and heard voices. He worried at times that
he was "menaced by a psychosis" or was "doing a schizophrenia". He decided that it was
valuable experience and, in private, he induced hallucinations or, in his words, "active
imaginations". Jung recorded his private notes of these experiences in a red book, over a period
of sixteen years. Some of his analytical concepts derived from these observations. Ulrich Hoerni,
Jung's grandson, finally decided to publish it to raise funds needed for the Philemon Foundation
to prepare Jung’s life’s works for publication.
Jung’s personal history
His father Paul was an impoverished rural pastor in the Swiss Reformed Church and his mother
Emilie was the youngest child of a distinguished Basel churchman and academic. Both were the
youngest of thirteen siblings. Emilie was a depressed woman who said that spirits visited her at
night, although she was normal in daytime. Jung recalled that at night his mother became strange
and mysterious. He reports in his autobiography that one night he saw a faintly luminous figure
coming from her room with a head detached and floating in the air in front of the body. He was
closer to his father. Emilie’s condition improved when they relocated closer to her family when
Carl Jung was four. When he was nine his sister Johanna Gertrud (known as Trudi) was born and
eventually became his secretary.
Jung was an introverted child who liked solitude. From childhood, he believed that, like his
mother, he had two personalities—a modern Swiss citizen and a personality more suited to the
18th century. "Personality Number 1", as he termed it, was a typical schoolboy living in the era
of the time. "Personality Number 2" was a dignified, authoritative and influential man from the
past. Although Jung described himself as close to both parents in his autobiography, he was
23
24
Jung C. Collected Works vol. 9.I (1959), "The Concept of the Collective Unconscious" (1936), (p. 43).
Jung C. Memories, Dreams, Reflections, (1962 autobiography)
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disappointed by his father's academic approach to faith and apprehensive about his mother’s
condition. Both factors were relevant to his later work.
As a child he made certain totems and messages in a secret language that brought him a feeling
of peace and security. As he reports in his autobiography they were strikingly similar to practices
of distant indigenous cultures that he knew nothing about at the time. His later work about
symbols, archetypes, and the collective unconscious were inspired, in part, by these early
experiences. He also reports a school incident when he was twelve when he momentarily lost
consciousness after being pushed to the ground by another boy, although he conceded it was his
fault. He disliked school and when he began having fainting spells on his way to school and
doing homework he stayed home for six months. After overhearing his father talking about his
future need to support himself he began to study assiduously and overcame his fainting spells.
He later recalled, "(this) was when I learned what a neurosis is."
When Jung was three past he dreamed about descending to an underground stone chamber in a
green meadow containing a sumptuously rich golden throne upon which stood an erectile penis
about twelve to fifteen feet high. On the very top of the phallus head was a single eye, gazing
upward. He heard his mother's voice calling from outside, "Yes, just look at him. That is the
man-eater!" He awoke scared to death. It was only much later he realized he had dreamed of a
phallus, and decades later he recognized that it had been a ritual phallus. 25 It could be considered
a fertility symbol of the earth mother related to what Jung later called the animus archetype. In
any case it indicates that at an early age his conscious and unconscious were diverging from
normal thinking concerning both Christianity and the natural world.
In 1895 Jung began to study medicine at the University of Basel. A year later father Paul died
leaving the family dependent on relatives who contributed to Jung's studies. In 1900 he began
working at the Burghölzli psychiatric hospital in Zürich with Eugen Bleuler. Jung's dissertation,
published in 1903, was titled On the Psychology and Pathology of So-Called Occult Phenomena.
During World War I Jung was drafted as an army doctor and made commandant of an internment
camp for British officers and soldiers. The Swiss, being neutral, were obliged to intern personnel
from either side who crossed their frontier.
Jung married Emma Rauschenbach, seven years his junior, in 1903. They had four daughters and
a son. Despite limited education Emma took a strong interest in her husband's work and assisted
him, becoming a noted analyst in her own right, and enduring his close relationships with other
women. Upon her father's death in 1905, Emma and her sister inherited the International Watch
Company, manufacturers of luxury time-pieces. Emma's brother-in-law became the main
proprietor, but as major shareholders, the thriving business ensured the Jung family's financial
security. Emma died of cancer in 1955 at age 73, six years before Carl.
25
https://www.themystica.com/mystica/articles/p/phallic_dream.html
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Key concepts of Jung’s analytical psychology
Synchronicity: It is an acausal principle as a basis for the apparently random simultaneous
occurrence of phenomena.26 Synchronous events transcend linear transmission through space and
time. Similarities in thought and behavior recur in diverse cultures often at different periods of
history in as well as personal coincidences that link relevant events and people. It is also evident
in the historical record.27
Archetypes: They are synchronously recurring mental themes with universal characteristics.
Jung identified their recurrence in religious art, mythology and fairy tales across cultures as
highly developed elements of the collective unconscious. He understood archetypes as universal,
archaic patterns and images that derive from the collective unconscious and are the psychic
counterpart of instinct.28 As inherited potentials they are actualized when they enter
consciousness as images or manifest in behavior on interaction with the outside world. 29
Complex: The personal repressed or unconscious core pattern of emotions, memories,
perceptions, and wishes organized around a common theme that governs perception and
behavior. Jung included the ego in a comprehensive theory of complexes. He said "by ego I
understand a complex of ideas which constitutes the center of my field of consciousness and
appears to possess a high degree of continuity and identity. Hence I also speak of an egocomplex".30 Freud’s view was limited to the Oedipus and Electra complexes.
Extraversion and introversion: Jung’s perspective suggests that everyone has both an
extraverted side and an introverted side, with one being more dominant than the other. Rather
than focusing on interpersonal behavior in the popular sense, Jung defined introversion as an
"attitude-type characterized by orientation in life through subjective psychic contents" (a focus
on one's inner psychic activity) and extraversion as "an attitude type characterized by
concentration of interest on the external object" (the outside world). 31
Shadow: Jung’s shadow can include everything outside consciousness, and may be positive or
negative. "Everyone carries a shadow and the less it is embodied in the individual's conscious
life, the blacker and denser it is." The shadow is prone to psychological projection, in which a
perceived personal inferiority is recognized as a perceived moral deficiency in someone else.
Jung writes that if these projections remain hidden, "The projection-making factor (the Shadow
archetype) then has a free hand and can realize its object--if it has one--or bring about some other
situation characteristic of its power." These projections insulate and harm individuals by acting
as a constantly thickening veil of illusion between the ego and the real world. The shadow may
be positive and the seat of creativity.
Collective unconscious: In addition to our immediate consciousness, which is of a thoroughly
personal nature and which we believe to be the only empirical psyche (even if we tack on the
26
Bright G. "Synchronicity as a basis of analytic attitude", Journal of Analytical Psychology (1997)
http://www.cosmic-mindreach.com/Human_History.html
28
Feist J, Feist GJ, Theories of Personality, NY McGraw-Hill( 2009)
29
Stevens A. "The archetypes" Ed. Papadopoulos R. The Handbook of Jungian Psychology (2006)
30
Jung CG. Psychological Types. Collected Works. 6. Princeton University Press. (1971) [1921]
31
Jung CG. Memories, Dreams, Reflections. London: Fontana Press. (1995).
27
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personal unconscious as an appendix), there exists a second psychic system of a collective,
universal, and impersonal nature which is identical in all individuals. This collective unconscious
does not develop individually but is inherited. It consists of pre-existent forms, the archetypes,
which can only become conscious secondarily and which give definite form to certain psychic
contents.32
Anima and animus: They are archetypal elements of the collective unconscious, a domain of
the unconscious that transcends the personal psyche. In the unconscious of a man, the anima
finds expression as a feminine inner personality. In the unconscious of a woman the animus is
expressed as a masculine inner personality. Because a male's sensitivity is often lesser or
repressed, the anima is one of the most significant autonomous complexes of all. It is said to
manifest itself by appearing in dreams. It influences a man's interactions with women and his
attitudes toward them and vice versa for women and the animus. Jung identified four levels in
each from physical attraction of the opposite sex to spiritual wisdom. 33
The Self: The Self is one of the Jungian archetypes, signifying the unification of consciousness
and unconsciousness in a person, and representing the psyche as a whole. The Self is realized as
the product of individuation, which in Jung’s view is the process of integrating one's personality.
What distinguishes Jungian psychology is the idea that there are two centers of the personality.
The ego is the center of consciousness, whereas the Self is the center of the total personality,
which includes consciousness, the unconscious, and the ego. The Self is both the whole and the
center.34
Individuation: It is the process in which the individual self develops out of an undifferentiated
unconscious – seen as a developmental psychic process during which innate elements of
personality, the components of the immature psyche, and the experiences of the person's life
become integrated over time into a well-functioning whole. "In general, it is the process by
which individual beings are formed and differentiated [from other human beings]; in particular, it
is the development of the psychological individual as a being distinct from the general, collective
psychology." 35 Individuation is a process of transformation whereby the personal and collective
unconscious are brought into consciousness (e.g., by means of dreams, active imagination, or
free association) to be assimilated into the whole personality. Individuation has a holistic healing
effect on the person, both mentally and physically. It is a completely natural process necessary
for the integration of the psyche.36
The Persona: Jung regarded the persona as the social face the individual presents to the world. It
is "a kind of mask, designed on the one hand to make a definite impression upon others, and on
the other to conceal the true nature of the individual". 37 The development of a viable social
persona is part of adapting to, and preparing for, adult life in the social world. A strong ego
relates to the outside world through a flexible persona; identification with a specific persona
32
Jung CG. The Archetypes and the Collective Unconscious (1996)
Jung CG. The Psychology of the Unconscious (1917)
34
Henderson JL. "Ancient Myths and Modern Man" in C. G. Jung ed., Man and his Symbols (London 1978)
35
Jung CG. Psychological Types. Collected Works, vol. 6, par. 757.
36
Jung CG. Symbols of Transformation: An Analysis of the Prelude to a Case of Schizophrenia, vol. 2 (1962)
37
Jung CG. Two Essays on Analytical Psychology (London 1953) p. 190
33
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(doctor, scholar, artist, etc.) inhibits psychological development. Thus "the danger is that people
become identical with their personas—the professor with his textbook, the tenor with his
voice."38 The result is its excessive concern for 'what people think'. It is an unreflecting state of
mind 'in which people are unconscious of their distinction in the world. 39
Summary
Everyone practices psychoanalysis to some extent. Exposure to others over time brings general
impressions of their characteristics such as clever, dull, honest, dishonest, good, bad,
trustworthy, deceitful, and so on. These general impressions influence our interpersonal
relationships although we are usually able to mask them or evade confrontation in the interests of
peace, or to avoid personal compromise, in navigating our way through life. They may be
impressions founded on solid evidence, they may partly be projections of one’s own
shortcomings, they may be biased, they may be intuitive feelings that one picks up that others
project, they may reflect a personal agenda or a spectrum of desires, or any combination of
factors that may make us either a good or a bad judge of character. In our own best interests it
can therefore be helpful to understand how our own judgement can be influenced. A general
review of how a professional psychoanalyst treats stressful conditions that arise in their patients
can be helpful. Although Freud and Jung have been summarized above there are many others
who have developed divergent theories and techniques although there are common elements
between them. In general these have been listed as follows:
1. a person's development is determined by often forgotten events in early childhood, rather
than by inherited traits alone;
2. human behavior and cognition is largely determined by irrational drives that are rooted in
the unconscious;
3. attempts to bring those drives into awareness triggers resistance in the form of defense
mechanisms, particularly repression;
4. conflicts between conscious and unconscious material can result in mental disturbances
such as neurosis, neurotic traits, anxiety and depression;
5. unconscious material can be found in dreams and unintentional acts, including
mannerisms and slips of the tongue;
6. liberation from the effects of the unconscious is achieved by bringing this material into
the conscious mind through therapeutic intervention;
7. transference is an important part of the psychoanalytic process, whereby patients relive
infantile conflicts by projecting onto the analyst feelings of love, dependence and anger.
In Part Two the author reviews some highly unusual personal experiences, some cosmic
revelations, and some developments of the brain sciences since the work of Freud and Jung that
will illustrate the validity of some of the concepts as well as some of their limitations.
(Continued on Part II)
38
39
Jung CG. Memories, Dreams, Reflections (London 1983) p. 416
Dawson T. in The Cambridge Companion to Jung (Cambridge 1977), page 267
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Davis, J. J., Pragmatic Information, Intentionality & Consciousness
113
Research Essay
Pragmatic Information, Intentionality & Consciousness
Jeffery Jonathan ( ישועJoshua) Davis*
The Embassy of Peace, Whitianga, New Zealand
Abstract
It has been sixteen (16) years since Freeman and Nunez wrote their paper, “Restoring to
Cognition the Forgotten Primacy of Action, Intention and Emotion” (Freeman & Nunez, 1999)
where they rightfully warned us 1 about the limitations and dangers of cognitivism, neocognitivism, representationalism and the damage that a reductionist technocratic based science
did, and would continue to do if it is left unchecked, to a more systemic approach geared to the
understanding of mind, soul, intentionality and values based decision making with the potential
for a better and more sound scientific paradigm of consciousness that includes the objectivesubjective complementary pair grounded in biology, and particularly the neurobiology of a rich
inner spiritual life conducive to inner peace, constructive creativity and intelligence, and social
harmony. In this work we briefly explore some of the most innovative paradigms for the study of
consciousness that in our view have been developed since 1999 with special emphasis in how the
brain creates knowledge and meaning, something critical in human life for deciding courses of
action which are spiritually, intellectually and emotionally important and meaningful to each of
us. More importantly, this paper explores pragmatic information indices that serve the purpose,
as hypothesized in works by Freeman (Freeman, 2008) and other authors (Davis & Kozma,
2013) (Davis, Gillett, & Kozma, 2015), in finding a plausible way to measure and quantify the
creation of structure and order as observed in brain signals which are amplitude modulated,
showing that the creation of knowledge and meaning requires energy consumption as a
consequence of the interaction between the environment (the double, as Vitiello has called it)
(Vitiello, 2001) and the brain which is regarded as an open thermodynamical system capable of
breaking symmetry and creating coherent structures (Freeman & Vitiello, 2006).
Keywords: Pragmatic information, intentionality, consciousness, paradigm.
1. Systems Neuroscience, Brain Field Dynamics and the Biophysics of Consciousness
The Freeman-Vitiello duo have presented us with a challenging yet promising paradigm to study
consciousness based on a quantum field theory that regards the brain as an open
thermodynamical system that is capable of interacting with the environment, the double, in order
to engage in a way described similarly by (Merleau-Ponty, 1962) and others (Freeman, 2008)
(Davis, Gillett, & Kozma, 2015) (Brentano, 1973) (Brentano, 1981) as an ‘intentional arc’.
*Correspondence: c/o Sarah Frew, The Embassy of Peace, Whitianga, New Zealand. E-mail: science@theembassyofpeace.com
1
Even though I am the only author of this paper, I am writing in plural since I feel this paper comes as a
collaborative effort of several people to whom I am very grateful and whom have been acknowledged properly in
the acknowledgement section.
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During the lifetime of a human being he or she is presented with innumerable repetitions of
different kinds of intentions and moments of enacting such intentional arc and therefore, the
brain is constantly and continuously actualizing the fabric of knowledge and meanings relevant
for value based decisions and actions, and for that it relies on past memories and somehow
memories that pertain to possible futures in order to optimize a utility function (Werbos, 2003) in
online decision making. This constitutes, according to Vitiello (Vitiello, 2001) the truth of the
individual, which is dynamic and ever expanding as life and experience goes on.
Another duo, which is perhaps the precursor of the Freeman-Vitiello duo, is the Pribham-Bohm
duo, which was instrumental in showing us a kind of universe that is conscious and intentional
and manifests such traits through different agents in the universe and particularly through human
beings on planet earth. Pribram (Pribram & Carlton, 1986) gave us his holographic view of the
brain, something that Bohm and Hiley (Bohm & Hiley, 1995) complemented and enriched
through their understanding and study of the implicate and explicate order. It is important to
mention that Pribram mentored Freeman (Nuallain, 2016), particularly in developing and
enlarging the view that consciousness is modulated by electromagnetic fields, which in turn
modulate chemical transactions in an undeniable circularity. More importantly, in one of his
most recent works, “The Form Within” (Pribram, 2013), Pribram stated that the time to seriously
scientifically study spirituality and cognition has come since we now have paradigms that are
systemic and integrating disciplines, like systems neuroscience, quantum field theory, quantum
mechanics, non-linear systems dynamics, and systems biology and neurobiology.
A last duo that is worth mentioning is the Penrose-Hameroff (Hameroff & Penrose, 2014) duo,
which has proposed a quite challenging theory and their Orch model of consciousness, which
borrowed on some of the neuroscience of Pribram with quantum mechanical implications at the
level of the microtubules in the dendritic networks.
Without room for large and deeper discussion about the vast work of these three (3) duos, since it
is out of the scope of this paper, we would like to finish this section by introducing an even more
challenging, however, required paradigm to the understanding of the cognitive neuroscience of
spirituality and its possible implications for the neurobiology of peace and social harmony. This
is the connective paradigm of Melchizedek as described in (Davis, 2009) (Gillett & Davis, 2015)
where an emphasis is made in the distinction between spiritual or universal values in contrast
with behavioral values. The first set of values is presented as essences and presences acting
through fields of different kinds with the power to override behavioral or survival values, which
are the consequence of reward and fear conditioning and learning.
The relevance of this paradigm is the self-evident experiential fact and also the hypothesis that
values, like love, unity, truth, humor and grace or compassion, can only exist for human beings,
in human consciousness, in a chain of meanings which is based on the knowledge that such
values are preverbal and extremely relevant in terms of intentions, identity and courses of actions
for a peaceful and harmonious life in relationship to others. Therefore we are now presented with
the possibility of putting effort and resources to a serious study of a science of inner peace and
social harmony (Zhuang, Reso, & Davis, 2016) (Schübeler, Gillett, & Davis, 2016), something
crucial as a plausible, necessary and more positive scientific narrative to counter balance,
compensate and ideally overcome the extinction scenario of the human species, as thoroughly
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described by Werbos (Werbos, 2017) (Werbos, 2017a) (Werbos, 2008) (Werbos, n.d.). This I
conjecture, could lead us consciously into our next stage of evolution from homo sapiens to
homo pacem.
Perhaps the question with the highest priority to answer is, how will a human brain create, in
interaction with others, local and shared meaning about the knowledge that inner peace is a
survival priority, and then, become coherently creative, co-operative and altruistic, so as to
transmute the perception that selfish and competitive survival based behavior, can be the only
guarantee for “the supremacy of the strongest.” Perhaps it will be important to redefine “the
strongest” as the most peaceful, kind, wise and creative.
In any case this puts us directly with the challenge already discussed by authors in collaboration
with Freeman and others about how the brain creates knowledge and meaning and its
philosophical implications towards a more peaceful humanity (Davis, Gillett, & Kozma, 2015)
(Freeman, 2008) (Freeman, 2000).
2. The Cycle of the Creation of Knowledge and Meaning (CKM) in a Nutshell
In order to grasp the profound implication that the creation of knowledge and meaning has for
conscious and wise decision-making, based on intentional acts, we have to also understand
information as an active principle capable of putting in motion different systems, both
mechanical and biological. Human beings act after processing written information since the brain
sends the corresponding motor movement signals, which are associated to work or potential
energy that is converted into kinetic.
Imagine the act of catching a wave with a surf board: the surfer looks at the horizon for a while
and when the wave is presented as coming towards him, he or she processes this environmental
signal and after several brain transactions, the brain derives information that is then involved in
the creation of knowledge and meaning about the wave and the utility of riding the wave. Note
that the surfer is usually waiting for a wave in a form of rest, a kind of meditative state, perhaps
dominated by frequencies in the alpha band and, at a point in time, when the wave is near, the
surfer realizes that it is: 1) a powerful wave and 2) a perfect one, clean and potentially a long ride
(prediction) and then 3) he or she acts on it by paddling hard (action, motor movement) to catch
the wave. After the long ride the surfer returns with a smile on his or her face (a reward or
utility) ready to repeat the cycle. Also note that every wave, no matter how similar, will always
be unique and will always actualize the knowledge and meanings about the many skillful and
artful movements involved in surfing, eventually leading, after many repetitions of this cycle, to
a certain degree of mastery.
When looking at the many energetic transactions involved in learning this art and sport, we are
particularly interested in what happens in the brain when the surfer is waiting for the wave
(background activity, perhaps dominated by frequencies in the alpha band as mentioned above),
then the wave (stimuli) is presented to the surfer and it triggers a process in which meaning and
knowledge are derived from the stimuli in a set of non-linear events with their corresponding
changes in power, in different frequency bands, like the beta and gamma bands for example
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(Davis & Kozma, 2013). The meaning and knowledge created about this particular wave would
be associated, let’s say, to size and power of the wave, quality of the wave, a quick forecast
about the utility of riding the wave and finally the act of paddling and riding the wave efficiently
until the reward is obtained.
In previous work the author in collaboration with others, conjectured the existence of such a
cycle of creation of knowledge and meaning (Davis & Kozma, 2013) (Davis, Gillett, & Kozma,
2015) and found with experimental data collected via ECoG signals, measured on the cortex of
rabbits, that such a cycle was very plausible with a duration of approximately one (1) second and
comprised of basically five (5) steps that have been thoroughly described and explained. This
story relates how synchronization-de-synchronization effects with sudden transitions in spatiotemporal neurodynamics could be relevant to cognition and awareness, where the moments of
very high synchronization after stimuli (3.25-3.5 seconds) relate to intense attention followed by
a learning and integration period with very high de-synchronization (3.5-4 seconds). In previous
studies where data was obtained from an intracranial array of 8x8 electrodes implanted over the
visual cortex of rabbits (Kozma, Davis, & Freeman, 2012), ECoG data was analyzed to identify
the above mentioned brain dynamics. The data was processed using the Hilbert transform
methodology to produce the analytic signals as described in other studies (Davis & Kozma,
2012). It was found amongst other things that for example, a very high synchronization was
associated with low amplitudes and a very dramatic de-synchronization was coupled with a
dramatic drop in amplitude. It was conjectured that the spatially distributed Analytic Amplitude
(AA) and Signal Amplitude (SA) patterns might carry some information concerning the meaning
that the animal may associate to the stimuli and its relevance in decision-making.
In order to better illustrate brain dynamics together with these findings, a diverse set of movies
showing the spatio-temporal patterns of the Signal Amplitude (SA), the Analytic Amplitude
(AA), the Analytic Phase (AP) and the Instantaneous Frequency (IF) were produced. Brain
dynamics movies were also created to show the different spatio-temporal patterns involved.
After watching these movies many times, some evidence was derived concerning the
hypothesized cycle and the emergence of awareness experience in the neocortex (Davis, Kozma,
& Freeman, 2015) (The Science of Peace, 2017). A complementary analysis was also produced
with the aid of pragmatic information indices based on information theory and semiotics, which
will be explained in the next section.
As mentioned above, the Cycle of Creation of Knowledge and Meaning is comprised of five (5)
steps that occur in a window of time of around one (1) second, just after the presentation of a
stimulus. Simply put, the experiment is divided into two (2) periods of three (3) seconds each:
pre-stimuli period and post-stimuli period. The pre-stimuli period is characterized by background
activity while the post-stimuli period shows the one (1) second window, where knowledge and
meaning are presumably created, with a return to background activity for the last two (2) seconds
of the post-stimuli period. This experiment was repeated a significant number of times for two
(2) different conditions CS+ and CS- where the five (5) steps of the Cycle of Creation of
Knowledge and Meaning were identified, as follows:
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Step 1 (3 - 3.1 s): Initial impression, which may be termed the “Awe” (or noticing)
moment.
Step 2 (3.1 - 3.3 s): Chaotic Exploration of memory traces with highly distributed and
desynchronized patterns, “Search for meaning” (a wider analysis and connection).
Step 3 (3.3 - 3.45 s): Recognition/identification of the searched clue/decision which can be
termed the “Aha” moment.
Step 4 (3.45 - 3.6 s): Integration of the new knowledge in a chaotic dynamic process
(That’s where it fits).
Step 5 (3.6 - 3.9 s): Dramatic drop in the indices toward the end of the post-stimulus brain
activity, showing a return to the usual, background/default level.
Generally speaking, outside of the post stimuli window of one (1) second the system shows
synchronization between channels with associated low amplitudes. This is accompanied with
periods of mild desynchronization showing relatively higher amplitudes.
Overall, it can be stated that there are clear visual differences in the different movies between the
CS+ and CS- collective responses. To formalize this statement and give it statistical conclusive
support, robust quantitative methods of classification like discriminant or cluster analysis, for
example, would have to be applied, it is suggested, with the aid of pragmatic information indices.
It is important to note that all the rabbit data was collected by Freeman and Barrie (Freeman &
Barrie, 2000) in Walter Freeman’s lab at UC Berkeley.
3. The Pragmatic Information Indices as a powerful measure in the detection of the
Creation of Knowledge and Meaning in Spatial-Temporal Brain Dynamics
We have learnt through semiotics that pragmatic information is closely related to intention,
decision-making and action (Atmanspacher & Scheingraber, 1990). This can be easily observed
in a tennis match where one (1) player derives information from the movements of the other in
order to anticipate his or her actions. Semantic information is different because it is derived only
from grammar and linguistic ingredients, together with the articulation of sounds.
Pragmatic Information can be derived from events such as: 1) utterances that lead to meaningful
action, 2) non verbal body movements (body language) and 3) biophysical markers like
amplitude modulated patterns derived from brain dynamics, heart rate variability signals and
levels of stress hormones to name a few.
It could be easily conjectured and rightfully so, that Pragmatic Information emerges hand in hand
with the creation of meaning together with intention, before an action is even initiated, such as
shouting at or knocking on a neighbor’s door to invite him for dinner.
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Over the last years scientists from different fields have used pragmatic information, particularly
in the field of physics, to show that this concept is relevant in describing self-organizing systems
based on different approaches, like synergistic and non-equilibrium thermodynamics. The
relevance of pragmatic information in relation to meaning and complexity has also been pointed
out.
In their paper titled “Pragmatic information and dynamical instabilities in a multimode
continuous-wave dye laser,” Atmanspacher and Scheingraber (Atmanspacher & Scheingraber,
1990) gave a thorough explanation following in the steps of semiotic tradition, where
information has been considered from three (3) different perspectives as follows: syntactics,
semantics and pragmatics. Like them, I consider very relevant the use of pragmatic information
since it can be associated to intentional action and be identified via motor movement or brain
dynamics that precede such movement. The reader must note that I can reveal my intentions to
surf via pragmatic information when I start waxing my surfboard instead of revealing them by
stating them (my intentions) verbally. We can conjecture then, that brain oscillations associated
to pre motor movements, like waxing my surfboard, would be a source of pragmatic information
provided that they can be measured and identified.
The need to use pragmatic information indices arises somehow from the limitations associated
with the Shannon index which says nothing about the content of a message and its meaning and
only gives us a probabilistic measure of semantic integrity (Shannon & Weaver, 1949). Both
Freeman and collaborating authors somehow inspired by the work of Atmanspacher and
Scheingraber, concur that the use of pragmatic information indices and measures are fit for the
task to measure the level of order or structure in windows of brain dynamics associated with
different stimuli in contrast with background activity (The Science of Peace, 2017a).
In relatively recent years, in close collaboration with Walter Freeman, myself and others upheld
many conversations and work sessions that led us to the conclusion that we had to develop,
together with a methodology for brain dynamics movies, another methodology with robust
quantitative indices to measure the kind of distinctions that we saw in qualitative cinematic brain
patterns. This methodology had to be inclusive of Pragmatic Information Indices, since we
foresaw that they would be able to powerfully capture non-linear changes in brain dynamics that
would be associated with the creation of knowledge and meaning based on experimental designs
that Freeman carried out in his own lab in UC Berkeley, as already noted above.
We studied deeply the concept of pragmatic information and the need to translate that in terms of
brain dynamics, into a mathematical form or structure, in our case a ratio, that may serve as a
pointer to meaningful action, based on acquired knowledge, via learning that is somehow
manifested in the neuro-energetics of the brain.
We used data collected on rabbit’s cortex via ECoG from Freeman’s Lab and later on we
conducted experiments on human beings, both in laboratory conditions as well as in nature, to
gather information in multiple frequency bands about the activity of the brain generated by
different stimuli presented to the rabbits, as well as in different experimental modalities with
human participants. The signals were obtained via electrodes and, particularly in human
participants, we tested a diversity of technologies where we cover both small and large areas of
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the brain, sometimes with a very small spacing between electrodes (Davis, Kozma, Lin, &
Freeman, 2016) and we also carried out similar experiments with a largely spaced set of
electrodes (Davis, Lin, Gillett, & Kozma, 2017). It is important to note that both spatial and
temporal resolution can be determining factors in properly analyzing brain dynamics in order to
discriminate between different and relevant brain states.
We structured the methodology in a way that would allow us to deeply study any frequency band
and also a comparison between them. First we decided which bands we wanted to study, whether
it is narrow or broad, and second we Band Pass Filtered the signal to obtain another signal in that
particular band. Then this new signal was Hilbert transformed to obtain a set of new signals as
follows: Analytic Amplitude (AA), Analytic Phase (AP) and Instantaneous Frequency (IF) based
on certain computations. With these signals (AA, AP and IF) we computed a set of indices based
on the range of the Signal Amplitude and the Analytic Amplitude (RSA, RAA, SAA) for certain
sub-windows of time. These indices were in turn used in the computations of the pragmatic
information indices.
With the Pragmatic Information Indices we were in the position to capture relevant nonlinear
events presumably associated with the creation of knowledge and meaning and to derive both
qualitative and quantitative information via brain dynamics movies and statistical analysis
respectively. As mentioned before, the Pragmatic Information Indices HRSA, HRAA and HSAA
are derived from another set of indices based on the range of the signal amplitude (RSA), the
range of the analytic amplitude (RAA) and the value of the analytic amplitude squared (SAA),
also represented as AA^2, where every one of them is divided by a type of Euclidean Distance
(ED) between channels, sometimes based on the analytic phase (ED_AP) and others based on the
analytic amplitude squared (ED_AA^2) (Davis & Kozma, 2012).
4. Some final considerations and philosophical, theological and spiritual implications
After the methodology and the Pragmatic Information Indices were tested, we went deeper in our
research and found further support for the hypothesized cycle of knowledge and meaning
creation in Brentano’s three (3) step cognitive operation comprising human consciousness
(Davis, Gillett, & Kozma, 2015) (Brentano, 1973) (Brentano, 1981), where more likely, each
band was telling a story about particular aspects of the cycle. With more analysis on different
rabbits and cortices, we were able to confirm Brentano’s insights concerning the steps involved
in conscious intentional behavior and we contrasted that with our cycle steps, as well as what we
had learned from Aquinas and Freeman (Freeman, 2008).
At one stage, another striking similarity between the cycle of creation of knowledge and meaning
appeared in the ideas and writings of Raimon Panikkar, PhD in Philosophy, PhD in Science, PhD
in Theology and a Doctor Honoris Causa. These similarities are to be found both in Panikkar’s
work (Panikkar, 2006) and Sergio Bergman’s reference to Panikkar (Bergman, 2009). In Table I
we can identify the correspondence between the Knowledge and Meaning Creation Cycle,
Brentano’s Types and Panikkar’s four (4) moments in spiritual experience.
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Knowledge Creation Cycle Steps
Table I. Similarities between the Knowledge and Meaning Creation Cycle,
Brentano’s Types and Panikkar’s four (4) moments in spiritual experience.
Post Stimuli Period
Characteristic Behaviour
Brentano’s types
Panikar's Types
Awe
Step 1
3 - 3.1 s
Hyper Synchronization and low
AA2
Type 1
(targeting, noticing)
First moment, pure
experience
Chaotic
Exploration
Step 2
3.1 - 3.3 s
Desynchronization with dramatic
drops (“null spikes”) Followed
by a strong raise for AA2
Type 2
(binding its stimulus characteristics)
Retrieval of that moment
available for later referral
Aha
Step 3
3.3 - 3.45 s
Tendency towards
synchronization and drops of
AA 2
Type 3a
(categorizing it, attaching a semantic
marker to it)
Interpretation we make
about the experience with
the aid of language
Chaotic
Integration
Step 4
3.45 - 3.6 s
Strong desynchronization with
abundant “null spikes” and a
strong raise in AA2
Type 3b
(categorizing it, attaching a semantic
marker to it)
Linguistic Integration
with cultural context
3.6 - 3.9 s
Synchronization with low AA2 &
occasional desynchronization
periods showing high AA2
Type 3c
(categorizing it, attaching a semantic
marker to it)
Delivery and reception of
wisdom and
understanding of the
knowledge of the
transcendental
Background
Activity
Step 5
It is interesting to ponder on Panikkar’s work about religious or spiritual experience and the
almost one to one relationship with the cycle of creation of knowledge and meaning. According
to him there are four (4) relevant and distinct moments in spiritual experience where meaning,
relevance and transcendence emerge together with the articulation of the experience in language
and culture. The first moment is what he calls a pure experience similar to the awe moment or
“Step 1”, the second moment is associated with the retrieval of that moment available for later
referral, similar to chaotic exploration or “Step 2”, which serve the purpose to outline the content
of the experience in relation to stored schemata. After that, it follows another moment
concerning the interpretation made about the experience with the aid of language, paralleling the
Aha moment or “Step 3.” Finally follows the delivery and reception of the wisdom and
understanding associated with our experience into the culture that we coexist with and where we
conduct our meaningful actions (this involves the comparison with the linguistic and cultural
symbolic database and the experiences that they refer to, and in the spiritual case, with having
achieved or realized the knowledge of the transcendental reminding us of the final stage of
chaotic integration or “Step 4.”
The combination of philosophy and science hand in hand with the experience of the
transcendental reported by Philosophers, Prophets and Prophetesses, and Saints of old and
modern days allows the expansion of our understanding of consciousness, leading us eventually
to the kind of integration that shapes human identity (Hughlings, 1887). This comes with the
potential towards the embodiment of spiritual values that play a part in the creation of
meaningful life experiences, allowing us to apply new knowledge in order to improve our sense
of well-being in relationships, as beings-in-the-world-with-others, aided by creativity and
constructive intelligence in daily life.
Freeman’s views on knowledge and meaning construction and intentionality are closely related
with the ideas expressed in this work, “the philosophical foundation from which the sciences
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grew is accessible through the work of one of its originators, Thomas Aquinas. The core concept
of intention in Aquinas is the inviolable unity of mind, brain and body” (Freeman, 2008).
Together with Freeman, who echoes Aristotle, Aquinas and Brentano, I concur that the creation
of meaning and knowledge arises in cortical activity, instead of in sensory input, and so far,
based on observation, it seems to be well represented by the cycle previously described. The
indices of Pragmatic Information are a good initial point to quantitatively approach this
challenge and when combined with Freeman’s techniques of videoing brain dynamics (which we
conjecture show the structure of meaning qualitatively) equips us with powerful tools to improve
our understanding of brain dynamics implicit in the cycle we have described and therefore bring
us closer to the core of what human consciousness really is.
5. Future Perspectives
Since the challenge that presents to us the study of consciousness and particularly the study of
inner peace is immense, it seems to me that a necessary starting point is to deeply understand
how the brain participates in the creation of knowledge and meaning. This will more likely
require a combination of first person and third person science, where our choices for action are
evaluated via utility functions that somehow are related to our energy consumption, stress and
psychophysiological coherent bodily states. This may involve inferring such subjective states and
values from subjective utilities and probabilities that somehow could also be related to Heart
Rate Variability (HRV), Brain and Hormonal dynamics.
It seems to me and others, that we will put our focus on experimental paradigms conducive to the
unraveling of the willful generation of relaxed and peaceful states of being for long periods of
time, which in turn facilitate social harmony and better possible futures for the human species. It
is natural that research questions may arise in order to ideally find answers to puzzling types of
experiences and existential modalities associated with spiritual experiences (for many associated
to a relationship with The Creator) and how that relates to health and general well being. Finally,
I foresee that somehow a better understanding of these matters and more importantly, the
commitment to pursue inner peace, will equip us to participate more intimately in the solution to
the 21st century dilemmas within the context of a Universal Frame of Ethics that can be studied
under the umbrella of new and more comprehensive scientific paradigms (Luria, 1973) (Freeman
& Barrie, 2000) (Davis, 2009) (Panikkar, 2006).
Some questions to be explored are: 1) Could it be that the CKM is central to the experience of
deep insights and inspirations when engaged in, for example, scientific research, philosophical
inquiry, creative activities and religious, spiritual or mystical experiences?, and 2) Are these
experiences reproducible at will both in life and the lab so as to create learning environments
where people can learn how to function in different cultural contexts with the foundation of a
universal framework of ethics that allows them to significantly overcome unhealthy habits,
addictions, disease and compulsive survival needs?
I am convinced that these are questions very relevant to explore in these times of global turmoil
and it seems to me that finding answers to them will be vital for our survival and in the
achievement of harmonious living.
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Acknowledgements: This work is dedicated to the memory of Walter Freeman who was in physical life
and now in spirit, a source of continuous inspiration for many of us who collaborated with him and
particularly the people I have had the privilege to collaborate with like, Robert Kozma and Grant Gillett
who have both been and continue to be a vast source of experience, knowledge and wisdom in dealing
with the hard questions of cognition, consciousness, intentional action and values based decision making.
I also want to extend my sense of gratitude for the contribution that Carey and Kali have made to this
research on behalf of The Embassy of Peace in Whitianga, New Zealand.
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Journal of Consciousness Exploration & Research | August 2018 | Volume 9 | Issue 7 | pp. 682-696
Deshpande, P. B., Advances in Integrative Health
Perspective
Advances in Integrative Health
Pradeep B. Deshpande*
Professor Emeritus of Chemical Engineering, University of Louisville,
& Six Sigma and Advanced Controls, Louisville, KY 40241
Abstract
A yogic six sigma perspective on integrative health is presented. This perspective identifies
vibrational characteristics (photonic energy) as the fundamental attribute of health and wellness.
Disturbances in our vibrational characteristics are suggested to be root causes of illnesses. Recent
scientific progress makes it possible to measure our photonic energy giving a feedback signal for
improvement. Meditation is proposed as a means to restoring photonic energy levels toward
normalcy. The opportunity for integrative health is to use yogic practices to restore our photonic
energy levels toward normalcy for better health and wellness in conjunction with standard
medical care. Scientific yoga is “Science of Internal Excellence” [1a]. Because the outcome of
the yogic process is now measurable in real-time, progress toward normalcy can be audited.
Minimum variance is a theoretical standard, meaning that better performance beyond minimum
variance is not possible. The wherewithal of how to achieve minimum variance in external
activities is “Science of External Excellence” [1b]. Six sigma, a topnotch quality initiative, is
appropriate for the pursuit of minimum variance in all repetitive processes and transactions
including hospitals and patient related services. Interestingly, the two components of excellence
are interlinked. In the absence of an adequate level of internal excellence, the best of the external
excellence initiatives, including six sigma, do not, and cannot, deliver satisfactory performance
[2]. Raise internal excellence and the performance will zoom. The linkage of external excellence
to internal excellence is an additional impetus for introducing both components of excellence in
medical curricula. The paper concludes with a proposal on a new four-credit course to teach
medical students the science and practices of external and internal excellence.
Keywords: Integrative health, yoga, six sigma, meditation, photonic energy, internal excellence,
external excellence.
1. Background
There appears to be a growing level of interest in integrative and complementary health across
the US [3], while a Google search indicates that over fifty US medical schools now have some
form of alternative and complementary health topics in their curricula [4, 5, 6]. A scientific
understanding of yoga may further enhance the appeal of integrative health in medical curricula.
A scientific scrutiny of yoga is essential as humanity has become increasingly rational-minded
*
Correspondence author: Prof. Pradeep B. Deshpande, Six Sigma & Advanced Controls, Inc., 7013 Creekton Drive, Louisville,
KY 40241, http://www.sixsigmaquality.com E-mail: pradeep@sixsigmaquality.com
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since the days of Copernicus in the fifteenth century, perhaps stung by Aristotle’s false claims of
our Earth-centric existence.
First, the term yoga in Sanskrit means “union” or “to “connect” and not the bone-bending
physical exercises that have come to be known as yoga in the West. In yoga, physical exercises
go by the name “Asanas” and they are an integral part of yoga but the use of Asanas alone is a
suboptimal use of yoga. Physical exercises must be combined with pranic (breathing) exercises
and meditation. A scientific scrutiny of yoga sheds light on what to connect, why, and how, as
well as the benefits of doing so. Scientific yoga is science of internal excellence.
We begin with a yogic explanation of our true nature and why we get sick. The explanation
naturally sheds light on photonic energy as the fundamental attribute of our nature that
determines everything about us including health and wellness. The next topic is scientific
measurement of photonic energy. The availability of a device to measure photonic energy leads
to an inquiry of how to restore our photonic energy to normalcy which is our true nature. Yoga is
proposed as a means of restoring our nature to normalcy. Several years of data on the author
himself corroborates the hypothesis. Next, a brief discussion of six sigma is presented and how
an inadequate level of internal excellence leads to suboptimal performance in the external world.
Raise internal excellence, and yoga will do this for us, and the performance will improve.
Finally, a new course is proposed to train medical students in the science and practices of
external and internal excellence. The proposed course should be a valuable addition to
integrative health programs in medical curricula.
2. Knowing Our True Nature
To know our true nature, it is necessary to drill-down to our most basic element, the cell. Human
beings have trillions of cells. Each cell has a nucleus, a cytoplasm, and a cell wall. Inside the
nucleus are 46 chromosomes. If we break down the cells further into even smaller parts, we find
that they are made up of atoms. Atoms are not solid objects, they have protons and neutrons in
their nuclei and electrons orbiting them. So, a question arises, what characteristics of an atom
give specific character to matter? For example, why is Gold, Gold? Or, why is Iron, Iron? The
answer is, vibrational characteristics of the specific atomic configuration (i. e., number of
protons and neutrons in their nuclei and the number of electrons orbiting them). Similarly, since
the cells are made up of atoms, the vibrational characteristics of the specific cellular
configuration is what determines the cellular structure, which in turn determines if a cell is
normal or not. Now, vibrations can be thought of as light, not necessarily visible light, with
unknown frequencies along the entire electromagnetic spectrum, from infrared to ultraviolet, and
hence the name, photonic energy, and it is unique for everyone. The specific cellular vibrational
characteristics, our photonic signature, is our nature and they determine everything about us
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including our physiological health and psychoemotional state. Perfect vibrational characteristics
is our true nature, a state that is worthy of pursuit. The author’s friend and associate, Jim Kowall,
MD (Neurology, Internal Medicine, and Sleep Disorder Medicine), PhD (Theoretical Physics),
explains that this discussion of our true nature is consistent with the wisdom of Adi Shankara and
the holographic principle from Modern Physics.
3. Why Do We Get Sick
The forty-six chromosomes in each of our cells are inherited from our parents, 23x,x from our
mother and 23x,y from our father. Thus, there is a clear link of ourselves to our ancestors.
Physicians know that we inherit some of our physiological traits from ancestors but we may also
inherit some of their psychoemotional traits. Thus, what happens in this life is dependent on what
we inherit from our ancestors through the chromosomes and by our own willful actions from the
time we were in our mothers’ wombs to adolescence, when we had little or no control, to the
present age. In Sanskrit the inherited traits go by the name Sanchet Karmas. Negative Sanchet
Karmas and our willful actions are root causes of why our cellular vibrational characteristics get
disrupted and why we get sick. There are only two ways to rid ourselves of negative Sanchet
Karmas; to suffer from them, a process which in Sanskrit goes by the name Prarabddha Karma,
or to eliminate them and replace them with positive Karmas in order to restore our vibrational
characteristics to normalcy for better and health and wellness. Success in producing a positive
impact on our autonomic functions that are ordinarily not under our control is indicative of
progress in eliminating negative Sanchet Karmas in favor of positive aspects.
4. Internal Excellence & Emotional Excellence [1]
The notion of internal/emotional excellence facilitates an understanding of how negative Sanchet
Karmas affect health and wellness. Each of the 7½ billion human inhabitants of Earth have three
components of the mindset S, R, and T explained in Table I. The definition of these components
is such that everyone, from the most noble to the worst among humans, is expected to possess a
minimum amount of each. The possibility of perfection (all S), or for that matter, pure evil (all
T), is thus precluded. Minimum variance (Max S, Min R, T) is the best possible state. The
specific proportion of these components determines the level of internal excellence of an
individual. These ideas lead to a scale of internal excellence depicted in Figure 1(a).
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Table I: Mindset Components and Human Emotions
Mindset Component
S
R
T
Emotions
Positive Emotions
Negative Emotions
Attribute of the Mindset Component
Truthfulness, honesty, equanimity, steadfastness
Attachment, bravery, ego, ambition, greed, desire to live
Lying, cheating, causing injury in words or deed, sleep
Attribute of Emotion
Unconditional love, kindness, empathy, compassion
Anger, hatred, hostility, resentment, frustration, jealousy, fear,
sorrow, etc.
Now, human beings are endowed with two types of emotions: Positive emotions and negative
emotions, also explained in Table I. A little reflection will lead to an assessment, positive
emotions strongly and positively correlate with the high S component while negative emotions
strongly and positively correlate with excessive R and T components. This realization leads to a
scale of emotional excellence depicted in Figure 1(b). The two scales are entirely equivalent. The
noble ones are toward the top-end of these scales while the wicked ones towards the bottom, and
Figure 1(a) Equivalent Scales of Internal Excellence (Left) and 1(b) Emotional Excellence (Right)
the rest of us somewhere in between.
The goal of life should be to rise on these scales of excellence. Actually, everyone is trying to
rise, but in ignorance, we are either searching for the wrong thing or we are going about it the
wrong way, and in the process, creating major problems for ourselves and for others. Everyone is
trying to be happy, but by happiness, we really mean something slightly different. This is
because virtually every human emotion comes packaged as a pair of opposites. For example, if
there is happiness, sadness and despair are also possibilities. So, when we say we want to be
happy, we are really referring to a subtler form of happiness; bliss, a term which, by definition, is
devoid of the opposite. So, unknowingly, everyone is searching for blissfulness. In Sanskrit,
blissfulness goes by the name, Sat Chit Ananda. A subjective measure of internal/emotional
excellence is one’s capacity to remain centered in the presence of extenuating circumstances that
are part of life. This state is toward the top-end of the scales of excellence where an individual is
able to transcend the three components (and be in the state of bliss) and yet remain engaged in
mundane activities of life. Yogis refer to this state as Turya Avastha. The level of internal
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excellence has nothing to do with race, caste, religion, language, gender, or national origin. A
low level of internal excellence is the root cause of many of the world’s problems.
Dramatic examples of high and low levels of internal excellence are readily available [e. g., see
7, 8]. The YouTube video clip in [9] is reflective of a high level of internal excellence. The
photograph of Yogananda Paramahansa in Figure 2(a), an hour before he passed away of
congestive heart failure at the Millennium Biltmore Hotel in Los Angeles, California, on March
7, 1952 is another example of what a high level of emotional excellence looks like. So deeply
moved was tech giant Steve Jobs by Yogananda’s Autobiography of a Yogi that he gifted a copy
of the book to everyone attending his memorial service [10]. The book has sold 4 million copies
and it has been translated in 50 languages. There is a Self-Realization Fellowship (SRF) Center,
an organization Yogananda founded, in virtually every major city in America and in many cities
abroad. Yogananda spent half his life in the United States [11, 12]. Self-realization and Sat Chit
Ananda are equivalent pursuits. Figures 2(b) shows Yogananda having lunch with Mahatma
Gandhi. President of India is reported to have received a gift copy of Yogananda’s book from the
President of SRF not long ago. The reader may also find the article, “Steve Jobs – Yogananda
Paramahansa Link Deciphered” interesting [13].
5. Measurement of Vibrational Characteristics/Emotional Excellence
The cellular vibrational characteristics are not perceivable to the five senses because the signals
are too weak. They must be stimulated and amplified. Computer Science and Electrical
Engineering researchers at MIT used radio frequency (RF) signals for this purpose. The result is
a wireless device they call EQ Radio, developed with funding from the National Science
Foundation and the US Airforce with additional support from major US corporations [14, 15].
Here, the wireless device sends RF signals to the subject and captures and analyzes the reflected
signals (see Figure 3) with a machine learning algorithm to determine the heart rate, heart rate
variability (HRV), and respiration rate from which the subject’s emotions are estimated, the
researchers say at an accuracy of 87%. It is clear that our vibrational characteristics, photonic
energy, and emotions are intricately linked. Other researchers had already known about the link
of these measured outputs and emotions [16].
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Figure 2(a). (Left) Yogananda Paramahansa one-hour before death, Figure 2(b). (Right)
Yogananda Paramahansa having lunch with Mahatma Gandhi (Courtesy, Self-Realization
Fellowship, Los Angeles, California)
Figure 3. MIT’s EQ Radio
The heart rate, HRV, and respiration rate are subsets of our cellular vibrational characteristics,
our photonic energy, and therefore, it is preferable to measure the vibrational characteristics
explicitly. About twenty years ago, a Russian scientist developed a scientific device to estimate
the vibrational characteristics of humans using the principle of gas discharge visualization
(GDV) [17 - 19]. Here, instead of an RF signal as in MIT’s research, a harmless electrical signal
is applied to the fingers of both hands (one at a time), placed on the glass electrode of the GDV
device connected to a digital computer with a USB cable as shown in Figure 4. The finger’s
response to this electrical stimulus is a burst of photons that are captured by the software. The
light-energy characteristics of the photonic discharge (pixels - intensity, area) so captured are
compared with the data for tens of thousands of subjects to estimate the physiological and
psychoemotional state of the subject at a high confidence level. The measurement is painless,
noninvasive, and takes only a couple of minutes to complete. The GDV technology is registered
with the FDA [20]. The GDV results are presented in several tabs: (1) Overall energy in Joules,
(2) Emotional pressure, (3) Energy of the seven chakras, Joules and the chakra alignments along
the central vertical line, %, (4) Health status, Joules, and (5) Energy reserve, Joules. Several
papers on yoga and GDV technology are available in the literature [21 - 25].
There are specifications for each of the five measurements. Restoring our vibrational
characteristics toward normalcy is equivalent to shifting the measured outputs closer to
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specifications. Changes in our physiological state occur rather slowly but our emotional state can
change very rapidly and this gives us a way to assess the efficacy of whatever yogic processes
we may be using to restore our vibrational characteristics toward normalcy.
Figure 4. GDV Device Setup
As depicted in Figure 5(a), our photonic energy level is expected to lie within a band (about 40
to 80 Joules) throughout life, reducing to lower values when we get sick, eventually dropping to
very low values at or few days after death. Figure 5(b) depicts the glow of a finger at death [26].
Figures 6(a) and (b) depict what a strong and weak photonic glow of a finger look like.
Maximum
Minimum
Low value
B (Birth)
D (Death) + Few Days
Span of Bioenergy During Lifetime
Figure 5(a). Photonic Energy during Lifetime
We have measured low energy values in some instances when the subject is not unwell for
reasons that are unclear. However, this discussion suggests that we should strive to keep our
photonic energy level up as late in life as possible.
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Figure 5(b). Photonic Energy of a Finger at Death [26]
Figure 6(a). Strong Photonic Glow (Left) and 6(b). Weak Photonic Glow (Right) of a Finger
Figures 7 depicts the health status diagram of a cancer patient. The green band is the normal
range and the highlighted green circle is the optimal state. The diagram reveals that the photonic
energy field is comprised.
Figure 7. Health Status Diagram of a Leukemia Patient
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6. Process for Improving Our Vibrational Characteristics
Before the universe came into being, there was absolutely nothing, a void [27]. So, why did
nothing change into something, the universe, at the Big Bang moment some 13.8 + 0.2 billion
years ago? Here, there are two perspectives: One is that the universe is a self-excited circuit, and
the other is that the desire of the undifferentiated consciousness of the void is what created the
universe. The former is a dead-end for this hypothesis cannot be tested, but the latter hypothesis
can be tested. This is because we all have consciousness, differentiated consciousness,
suggesting that we may be a microcosm of the undifferentiated consciousness [28]. Western
scientists have conducted numerous experiments showing that we all are connected at some level
although not physically linked, just as everything was at the moment of the Big Bang when the
universe was about the size of Planck length (10-33 cm in diameter). The fact that everyone is
trying to be happy (state of Sat Chit Ananda, believed to be an attribute of the undifferentiated
consciousness for millennia), is strongly supportive of the notion of connectivity, meaning that
we are a microcosm of that. The notion of yoga, meaning to connect, may now be clear. There
are untold number of yogis having reached the state of Sat Chit Ananda through the ages.
There are remarkable examples of individuals connecting to the source knowingly or
unknowingly. Mathematical genius, S. Ramanujan is one. Barely a high school graduate, he
would write down complex mathematical theorems and their proofs without knowing the steps in
between. Prodded by his mentor, G. H. Hardy, how he does that, Ramanujan reportedly
answered, The Goddess speaks to me. Albert Einstein is another example. During 1905, staring
out of the large glass-window in his second-floor apartment in Berne, Switzerland, smoking a
pipe, immersed in deep thought, he must have exponentially increased his focus of attention
leading to some remarkable discoveries such as relativity. BBC News recently reported Sri Mata
Amritanandamayi Devi, known as the hugging saint of India as saying, her remarkable stamina
comes through being "eternally connected to the power source" of the universe [29]. A yogic
process or another way of increasing our focus of attention is the way to connect to the source
and to restore our photonic energy levels to normalcy.
The author is a regular meditator for many years. He has substantial amount of GDV data on
himself over several years. The before-and after results corroborate the efficacy of yoga for
improving the photonic energy field. Figure 8 depicts the chakra system and the health status
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diagram on March 13, 2018, one of the best results for the author. The overall energy on that day
was 74 Joules. Typically, it is in the range of 60 -70 Joules.
Figure 8(a). Chakra System, 94% Alignment (Left) and 8(b). Emotional Pressure, 2.01 (Right)
on a Scale 0 to 10.
Figure 8 (c). Heath System Diagram
Figure 8. GDV Results of the Author
6.1 Science of Meditation [30]
Generally speaking, meditation practices involve specific forms of breathing, mantras, or a
combination of the two. To understand how meditation is thought to work, the central nervous
system (CNS - brain, spinal cord, and nerves) governs the functioning of various organs and
systems. If mantras/breathing are to have an effect on health, they must have an impact on the
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CNS. Ancient sages came up with ingenious languages with a set of alphabets for this purpose.
Taking Sanskrit as an example, there are thirty-three plus alphabets in Sanskrit and not
coincidentally, there are thirty-three vertebras in the spine. Also, not coincidentally, there are
thirty-three Energy Centers as depicted in Figure 9. The alphabets must be suitably combined in
the form of mantras and properly pronounced to influence the vertebras and through the
vertebras, the various organs and systems as illustrated in Figure 9. The links suggested in Figure
9 are purely for illustrative purposes only. For success, the words “Shabda” of a mantra with
proper “Swara” (sound), converted into “Spandhana (vibrations), “Naad” (Cosmic vibrations),
then, “Shakti” (Energy), lead to creation (Brahma).
7. Evidence
By now, there are a large number of publications in reputed science and medical journals that
attest to the usefulness of meditation in diverse areas of health. Business publications attest to the
benefits of meditation on business performance. Many of the author’s experiences with yoga are
covered in a special issue of a peer-reviewed publication [30]. A word of caution. It is important
to remain steadfastly committed to relying on data alone for decision making at all times except
at the time of meditation. Then, send the rational mind on a well-deserved vacation or else it will
turn into your worst enemy.
Figure 9. Linkages of Alphabets to Organs and Systems
(The specific linkages shown are for illustrative purposes only)
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8. Six Sigma for External Excellence [2, 31]
A vast number of human activities and transactions are repetitive in nature, hospitals and
patientcare related activities are no exception. The best possible performance of the outcomes of
these processes occurs when their variance is minimized. The wherewithal of how to achieve
minimum variance is science of external excellence. Quality initiatives enable us to strive for
minimum variance. Six sigma, developed at Motorola by the late Mr. Bill Smith and the late Dr.
Mikel J. Harry, is one of the more popular quality initiatives. By now, some 80% of Fortune 100
companies and 50% of Fortune 500 companies reportedly have six sigma programs in place.
Pursuit of higher levels of internal excellence is itself a sophisticated six sigma problem. Several
years ago, the author made a critical discovery: In the absence of an adequate level of internal
excellence, the best of the best external excellence programs, including six sigma cannot deliver
satisfactory performance [3]. Raise internal excellence and the performance will zoom. Every
organization, hospitals and patientcare services included, employs some quality initiative for
performance assurance. It is essential that they also introduce internal excellence to move toward
minimum variance.
9. Proposal on a New Course
The author envisions a 4-credit course in medical curricula to cover the science and practices of
external and internal excellence. Statistics should be a prerequisite for the course. The first
semester of the medical school appears to be the suitable timeframe to offer the course, as that
would give students sufficient time to experience the beneficial effects of yoga on the various
aspects of their lives including academic performance. There must not be any religious overtones
in the coverage of internal excellence. For the six sigma portion of the course, there are many
books available (e. g., see [1(b), 31)] and the author’s book has been specifically developed for
use with the course on the Science of External Excellence [1(b)]. Reference [1a] is intended to
serve as text for the course on the Science of Internal Excellence. If the enrollment in the course
is sufficiently large to permit splitting it into two sections on a random basis, then a six sigma
experiment could be conducted to assess the benefit of yoga. The idea is to conduct lectures only
in one section and introduce yoga in the other section. The instructor will find that the
performance of the class with yoga is statistically better than the section which did not practice
yoga, a conclusion that students will corroborate in a survey.
The author presented a paper on such a course at the Annual Conference of an Engineering
Education Society in 2017 [32]. He has introduced the scientific framework for external and
internal excellence in the six sigma course of the MBA program of the University of Kentucky in
Athens, Greece that he has been teaching for twelve years and the students are enjoying it. The
author has presented a talk on the framework in several countries including the Office of the
Prime minister of India, NITI Aayog, All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) which
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looks after engineering and management programs in India, Indian Statistical Institute, Peruvian
Parliament, and many others, always to enthusiastic audiences. He presented a TEDx talk on the
topic at the University of Louisville in 2017.
10. Discussion & Conclusions
The photonic energy measurements shine light on our true nature, however, unlike traditional
measurements such as an MRI or a CT scan, this measurement is probabilistic in nature. The
possibility of outliers, therefore, cannot be ruled out. The measurement device is not intended to
serve as a medical diagnostic device, but rather as a complement to traditional medical
approaches. Everyone will benefit from the regular practice of yoga, but to a varying extent. This
is because, negative Sanchet Karmas are different from one individual to the next. Failure to rid
ourselves of specific ailments with yoga means that not all negative Sanchet Karmas have been
eliminated. At some point in life, even the best of the best yogic process will fail to deliver the
intended benefit, but looking back, it will be concluded that regular practice of yoga had
delivered a healthier life and a longer lifespan. Medical practitioners using the GDV Device will
find six sigma training useful. The introduction of the proposed course should be a valuable
addition to integrative health programs in medical schools. Students themselves will offer
convincing evidence of success after one or two offerings.
In his last speech on the day he died in 1952, Yogananda Paramahansa remarked, “Somewhere
between the two great civilizations of “efficient America” and “spiritual India” lies the answer
for a model world civilization”. Science of External Excellence is what makes Efficient America
and Science and Practices of Internal Excellence is Spiritual India. It turns out that Yogananda’s
words were prophetic. Finally, the ideas and concepts presented here are a subset of a scientific
framework for world transformation toward a better and more peaceful world [33].
Going by his interactions with Nikola Tesla, Swami Vivekananda too was intensely interested in
validating yoga with science. Unfortunately, many of the scientific developments required just
had not occurred by then. Coincidentally, Vivekananda delivered his famous speech in Chicago
in 1893, the year Yogananda was born. Both of them would have been thrilled with the scientific
framework for external and internal excellence for individual, organizational, and global
transformation.
Practices of internal excellence are a product of the intuitive mind while the science of internal
and external excellence, for the most part, are products of the rational mind. Einstein is said to
have remarked once, “The intuitive mind is a sacred gift and the rational mind is a faithful
servant. We have created a society that honors the servant and has forgotten the gift”. And
theoretical physicist turned physician, Jim Kowall, comments, “In the spirit of Einstein, the only
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thing that can block the normal functioning of the intuitive mind as it's served by the rational
mind is the emotionally driven, self-defensive, controlling, resisting, interfering, irrational mind,
all based on the error of self-identification. Isn't that the essence of Yoga? Identify yourself with
the consciousness that underlies the intuitive mind, not the emotionally animated creature that
acts irrationally, and the problem is solved”. The scientific framework for external and internal
excellence highlights the importance of both components of the mind.
Acknowledgements: This paper is written with the explicit blessings of Gurumahan Maharishi
Paranjothiar, founder of Universal Peace Foundation, Thirumurthi Hills, TN, and implicit Blessings of
Avadhoot Baba Shivanand Ji. Gurumahan has been going into long periods of meditation (three weeks)
every year for the past twenty-seven years with no food and very little water or milk for world peace. The
author has also learned much from the discourses and the yoga program of Baba Shivanand Ji that he had
the privilege of attending not long ago. The author thanks Prof. Konstantin G. Korotkov, PhD,
Department of Computer Engineering and Design at ITMO University in St. Petersburg for his review
and comments on the paper. The author is grateful to Jim Kowall, MD, PhD and P. Krishna Madappa for
invaluable interactions over the years.
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Deshpande, P. B., Advances in Integrative Health
17. Korotkov, Konstantin G., Human Energy Field: Study with GDV Bioelectrography, 2002,
amazon.com.
18. Chez, Ronald A., Ed., Proceedings. Measuring the Human Energy Field – The State of the science,
The Gerontology Research Center, National Institute on Aging, National Institute of Health,
Baltimore, MD, April 17 2002.
19. Jakovleva E., Korotkov K., Electrophotonic Analysis in Medicine. GDV Bioelectrography research.
2013, Amazon.com, 2013.
20. (a) Korotkov, Konstantin, Private communication, May 2018.
(b)Evoked Photon Image Capture Device, FDA Registration No. 3014299556, 2018.
21. C. Rajan Narayanan, Korotkov, Konstantin, Srinivasan, Thaiyar M., Bioenergy and its Implication
for Yoga Therapy. International Journal of Yoga 2018, 11, (2) 157-165.
22. Shiva K.K., Srinivasan TM., Dev, Guru, Girikumar, Venkata P., Nagendra H. R., Electro-photonic
imaging for detecting intervention (meditation). International Journal of Current Medical and
Pharmaceutical Research. 2, 2016
23. Kushwah, Kuldeep K., Srinivasan, Thaiyar M., Nagendra, Hongasandra R., Ilavarasu, Judu V.,
Effect of yoga based techniques on stress and health indices using electro photonic imaging
technique in managers. Journal of Ayurveda and Integrative Medicine 7, 119-123, 2016
24. Sushrutha S., Madappa, Krishna P., Nagendra, Hongasandra R., Effect of Bhaishajya Maha Yajna on
Human Energy Field and Environment. International Journal of Innovative Research in Science &
Engineering. ISSN (Online) 2347-3207. 2015
25. Sushrutha S, Hedge, Madhukeshwara, Nagendra, Hongasandra R., Srinivasan, Thaiyar M.,
Comparative study of Influence of Yajña and Yogāsana on stress level as Measured by Electron
Photonic Imaging (EPI) Technique. International Journal of Science and Research (IJSR) ISSN
(Online): 2319-7064. 3 (8):1402-1406, 2014.
26. Korotkov, K., Light After Life, Backbone Publishing Company, Fair Lawn, NJ 1998 (available on
amazon).
27. Gefter, Amanda, Trespassing on Einstein’s Lawn, Bantam Books 2014.
28. Kowall, James P., Physicist’s Dilemma: The Non-Physical Nature of Consciousness, Journal of
Consciousness Exploration and Research, 5, 4, 2014.
29. BBC News, Who is India's hugging saint Kanye West tweeted about?, May 22 2018 (Source:
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-44207339).
30. Quest for a Better and a More Peaceful World, Focus Issue Featuring the Recent Work of Pradeep B.
Deshpande and Associates, Journal of Consciousness Exploration and Research, Vol. 8, No. 190,
November 2017.
31. Harry, J. Mikel and Lawson, J. R., Six Sigma Productivity Analysis and Process Characterization,
Motorola Press, 1992.
32. Deshpande P. B., Turbocharge General Education Requirements with Science of External and
Internal Excellence, Paper Presented at the Annual Conference of the American Society for
Engineering Education, Columbus, Ohio, June 25 – 27 2017.
33. Deshpande, Pradeep B., Scientific Framework for World Transformation, Paper in Submission to
Dialogue and Alliance, a Publication of Universal Peace Federation, New York, New York.
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Exploration
Exploration on the Release of Human Brain Energy
at the End of Human Earth Life
Miroslaw Kozlowski*
Warsaw University, Warsaw, Poland
Abstract
In this paper, we applied our model for human brain binding energy to the study of last moment
of human Earth life. Considering the result of Chawla et. al. result (Chawla, 2009), we argue that
observed surges of brain/mind waves are the emission of full binding brain energy (Kozłowski,
Marciak-Kozłowska, 2017).
Keywords: Human brain, binding energy, release, death.
Introduction
A study of seven terminally ill patients found identical surges in brain activity moments before
death, providing what may be physiological evidence of "out of body" experiences reported by
people who survive near-death ordeals.
Doctors at George Washington University Medical Faculty Associates recorded brain activity of
people dying from critical illnesses, such as cancer or heart attacks [Chawla, 2009]. Moments
before death, the patients experienced a burst in brain wave activity, with the spikes occurring at
the same time before death and at comparable intensity and duration. Writing in the October
issue (2009) of the Journal of Palliative Medicine, the doctors theorize that the brain surges may
be tied to widely reported near-death experiences which typically involve spiritual or religious
attributes. . The EECs were being used to monitor patients' level of consciousness as doctors and
families wrestle with end-of-life issues.
The doctors believe they are seeing the brain's neurons discharge as they lose oxygen from lack
of blood pressure. In Fig .1 the results of Chawla et al are presented. In paper [Kozlowski M,
Marciak-Kozłowska J, 2017] we calculated the brain binding energy, Eb=1030 GeV. When the
blood pressure dropped to zero the binding energy is released in the form of energy spike seen in
EEG spectra as in fission energy of nuclei detected in decayed nuclei.
* Correspondence: Miroslaw Kozlowski, Prof. Emeritus, Warsaw University, Poland. Email: m.kozlowski934@upcpoczta.pl
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Fig.1 Surges of EEG observed by Chawla et. al. The pronounce peaks of emitted energy are
noted by EEG and BIS
Human Brain
It is well known that the mass of human brain equals 1,5 kg, On another side human brain
consists of 1011 neurons with mass of each equals 10 -8kg. (Kandel E R, 2012) We have the
serious problem: mass of all neurons is equal 103 kg – is impossible great and is greater that the
full body of an adult human. When I consult this fact with many neurologists they do not refuse
my calculation
Our hypothesis is. The formula for the mass of human brain is not complete. My new formula
for the human brain is
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M HB N N 105 g BE
(1)
In formula (1) M HB denotes Human brain mass, N N is the number of neurons in human brain
and BE is human brain binding Energy. The binding energy can be calculated as (see Table 2 for
numbers)
Table 2
Proton
Human brain
Neuron
Mass
10-27 kg
1.5 kg
10-5g
Mass in energy units,c=1
~ 1 GeV
~ 1,5 1027GeV
~ 1019GeV
BG M HB N N 105 g
BG 1.5kg 103 kg 998,5kg 9.98 10 M p
29
(2)
BG 9.98 10291GeV
From formula ( 2) we conclude that the binding energy contributes about 99% of the mass of
human brain Binding energy is the biological dark energy The same situation is for proton
structure. The mass of a proton is about 980 MeV. By comparison the “ bare “ mass of an up
quark is around 2 MeV and the bare nass of down quark is 5 MeV. A proton has two up quarks
and one down quark , which combined contribute to only about 10 MeV. The rest of the mass
about 970 MeV, comes from binding energy.
We can calculate binding energy per neuron:
9.98 1029 GeV
9.98 1018 GeV
1011
(3)
It occurs that binding energy per neuron in human brain is equal to mass of Planck particle; (
Mp=1019GeV) the building block of the Universe.
It is well known that system brain- mind is unstable and have the limited lifetime. The binding
energy keeps the system only for limited period of time At death moment the interaction psychebrain breaks and superfluous binding energy is released.
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Conclusions
The design of human brain – mass of neuron and number of neurons enable the calculation for
the first time the new characteristics of brain, its binding energy = 1030 GeV. In the case of brain
the binding energy is the first and fundamental quantum property of the brain.
To the point: We have possibility to separate brain (the neurons, axons etc.) and mind (binding
energy of the brain). We argue that binding energy is the nest of consciousness. The stop of
blood flow in death moment started the emission of binding energy.
References
Chawla L., et al.,Surges of Electroencephalogram Activity at the Time of Death, J. of Paliative
Medicine,vol 10, No 10, 2009.
Kozlowski M., Marciak-Kozlowska J., Binding Energy of the Human Brain, JCER vol.6, No 3 (2017).
Kandel E. R. et al., Principles of Neural Science, Fifth Edition, McGraw-Hill, USA, 2012.
Marciak-Kozłowska, J., Kozłowski M., Extrasensory perception phenomena, Lambert Academic
Publishing, ( and references therein), 2016.
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Guest Editorial
Quest for a Better & More Peaceful World
Pradeep B. Deshpande*
Professor Emeritus of Chemical Engineering, University of Louisville,
& Six Sigma and Advanced Controls, Louisville, KY 40241
Abstract
In the last several years, the author and his associates have published quite a few papers that deal
with a scientific framework for a better and a more peaceful world. In 2015, he also published two
books, one on sigma for a better world, and the other on the nature of ultimate reality with James
Kowall. He has since continued his quest for a better and more peaceful world. In this focus issue of
JCER granted by the editors, the author presents his recent works. The need for a scientific
framework for a better and more peaceful world appears to have increased in the last few years. We
hope that the readers will find the ideas and results presented in this focus issue to be stimulating and
beneficial.
Keywords: Ultimate reality, modern physics, world transformation, peace.
The need for a scientific framework for a better and more peaceful world appears to have increased
in the last few years. In an exchange between the author and James Kowall, the following ideas
became clear:
1. Science is the appropriate branch of knowledge to use when the fundamentals of the system
under scrutiny are well understood.
2. Six sigma is the appropriate methodology to use when the fundamentals of the system are not
well understood, as is often the case with complex processes, in which case a systemic
methodology like six sigma must be used for problem-solving based on input-output data.
3. When measurement systems are unavailable or when there are uncertainty issues with the
measurements, then, steps 1 and 2 will cease to be useful. Then, direct perception, as with
meditation, or another way of increasing our focus of attention, is the only route to new
discoveries.
4. Discoveries made through direct perception must meet the rigor of logical consistency.
So, how can we transform the world towards a better and more peaceful world under the current
circumstances? By a “better” world, is meant a world where the defects in products and services are
at their lowest possible levels. This enhances customer satisfaction, boosts economies, and generally
leads to a more satisfying and pleasant world. Unfortunately, the efforts to achieve the least possible
defect levels are hampered by an inadequate level of internal excellence which is also a root cause of
why the world is not more peaceful. Thus, the scientific framework and practices of internal
excellence is not only the pathway to a better world, but also to a more peaceful world. The claims of
a better and a more peaceful world are auditable. They can be demonstrated in about six months with
a smaller subset of world transformation, either involving an individual or an organization.
*
Correspondence author: Prof. Pradeep B. Deshpande, Six Sigma & Advanced Controls, Inc., 7013 Creekton Drive, Louisville,
KY 40241, http://www.sixsigmaquality.com E-mail: pradeep@sixsigmaquality.com
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In a July 2016 interview with Arjun Walia of Collective Evolution, the author explored and explain
his views on the true nature of what we perceive as untimate reality and how it can transform our
world:
For the benefit of our readers, how is the ultimate reality defined?
To borrow a line of reasoning from Amanda Gefter’s path-breaking book, “Trespassing on
Einstein’s Lawn”, the ultimate reality is that which persists even after everything physical in the
universe has vanished. It is that which is always there even before the beginning of time,
uniform, same everywhere, and does not vary from observer to observer and perspective to
perspective.
So, what is the ultimate reality?
After an effort spanning a decade or more for her book which included interactions with some of
the best known physicists of our time including Stephen Hawking, Gefter concluded, ‘Ultimately,
nothing is real’, that is, the ultimate reality is the nothingness of the void when the universe was
about the size of Planck’s length (10-33 cm in diameter) at the moment of the Big Bang.
What is the nature of the ultimate reality?
Renowned theoretical physicist the late John Archibald Wheeler told Gefter at the Science and
Ultimate Reality Conference in 2002 in Princeton that the universe was a self-excited circuit.
Inspired by the work of Adi Shankara and Nisarga Datta, Jim Kowall, a triple-board certified
physician with a doctorate in theoretical physics used certain concepts from theoretical physics
and logic concluding that the nature of ultimate reality cannot be anything else but consciousness
which he termed undifferentiated consciousness.
So, which perspective is a better representation?
From Prof. Wheeler’s perspective, something, the universe, came out of nothing as the universe
was a self-excited circuit. If this view is adopted, then the mystery of the beginning of the
universe and the mystery of life are wholly independent but if Jim’s perspective is taken as a
hypothesis for scrutiny, then there are some exciting possibilities. In particular, the hypothesis
leads to a scientific framework for world transformation and peace that is detailed in the book.
On the side, reflect on the ancient Indian saying, Purusha (metaphor of Shiva) is a potentiality
but it needs Prakrati (metaphor of Adi Shakti) for creation.
Is it possible to prove Dr. Kowall’s hypothesis, undifferentiated consciousness created the
universe?
To examine the hypothesis, we must conduct scientific experiments and show that everything
remains connected to everything else just as it was at the moment of the Big bang when the
universe was about the size of Planck’s length. Western scientists have successfully conducted
such experiments in at least as far as the connectedness of human beings is concerned. These
experiments were made possible in part by the discovery of the DNA which allowed scientists to
locate living DNA remotely and examine if there was something within us that had an effect on
the remotely located DNA. That ‘something’ turned out to be emotions!
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Could you give our readers an example of these experiments?
On YouTube, there is a video clip of an experiment with 32 Metronomes that are in a sense
connected although not physically linked. The readers will see that within minutes the
metronomes synchronize indicating that they are sharing some form of energy. There are also
experiments which show that the heart rates of a group of subjects meditating or engaged in
prayer synchronize to a great extent in short order. These experiments imply that our
differentiated consciousness may well be a microcosm of the undifferentiated consciousness.
OK, so where does this take us?
If in fact our differentiated consciousness is a microcosm of the undifferentiated consciousness of
the void and since the latter created the universe, then, we too must possess a capacity to create.
This is consistent with the ancient Indian proverbs, Aham Brahmasmi (I am a creator) or So Hum
(I am that). Using this line of reasoning, if we can demonstrate this capacity to create physical
reality from nonphysical phenomenon (consciousness, intention, emotions, vibrations), then the
hypothesis that the undifferentiated consciousness created the universe strengthens but it would
be exceedingly difficult, may be even impossible, to prove it with an absolute certainty.
What do I need to understand before setting out to prove that I am a creator?
First, we need to understand the fundamentals of yoga, meaning to connect, and not the bonebending physical exercises that have come to be known as yoga in the West. It is heartening that
there is now an UN International Yoga Day, June 21st that came into being at the behest of Indian
Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2014 with the support of over 175 nations. Now, if everyone
understood the real meaning of yoga and how to practice it, then surely the world will become
more peaceful.
Second, to connect to the undifferentiated consciousness requires two things: (i) positive
emotions, (ii) a process with which to connect. We humans possess two types of emotions:
Positive emotions (unconditional love, kindness, empathy, compassion) and negative emotions
(anger, hatred, hostility, resentment, fear, sorrow, frustration, despair, etc.). Individuals who are
endowed with abundant positive emotions may be thought of as having a high level of internal
excellence. Such individuals suffer only minor, short-term disturbances in their internal
conditions when highly taxing external conditions occur.
Where do our emotional traits come from?
Just as we inherit genetic traits from our ancestors, we may also inherit some negative
psychoemotional traits (e. g., depression, hypertension, etc.). We compound our problems by our
own actions from adolescence to the current age. Success in connecting to the undifferentiated
consciousness requires that these negative psychoemotional traits must be wiped clean and
replaced with abundant positive emotions.
Are our emotions related to our base nature?
The two are strongly correlated. Just as we have two types of emotions, the 6 ½ billion of us also
have three components of the mindset: (1) S: Truthfulness, honesty, steadfastness, equanimity,
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(2) R: Attachment, ego, ambition, greed, desire to live, and (3) T: Lying, cheating, inflicting
injury in words or deed, and sleep. In this scheme of things, every human being has a certain
minimum amount of S, R, and T required for life. A little reflection will reveal that the S
component is positively and strongly correlated to positive emotions while the R and T
components are strongly and positively correlated with negative emotions. Just as positive and
negative emotions lead to a scale of internal excellence, so do the S, R, T components. On either
scale, the pursuit of connecting to the undifferentiated consciousness is equivalent to a desire to
rise of the scale of internal excellence.
So, it sounds fairly straightforward, track our emotions diligently, harness positive
emotions and avoid negative emotions, and I can connect.
That is partially correct. A simple thirty-day experiment will convince anyone that the conscious
approach falls short of expectations. We also need a process whose side-effect is a rise in positive
emotions at the expense of negative emotions and such a process is meditation. Meditation has
the power to connect an individual’s consciousness to the undifferentiated consciousness.
What sort of additional evidence can you offer that meditation can materialize intentions?
At my request, Sanjeev Aroskar, a friend and an Electronics & Computers graduate of the wellknown Indian Institute Technology, Mumbai, gathered a group of six meditators in Pune a few
years ago and demonstrated that it was possible to lift from the ground from a crossed-legged
sitting position. The meditation practice included an explicit intention to lift from the ground.
The evidence was recorded on my IPhone camera. The experiment is further detailed in the book.
That said, the intention most worthy of materialization is a rise in the level of internal excellence.
Can internal excellence be measured?
Yes, but only inferentially. Any scientific inquiry must have measurable outcomes or else it
becomes just another interesting philosophy. Prof. Konstantin Korotkov, Professor of Biophysics,
Mechanics, and Computers at St. Petersburg Federal University in Russia developed a scientific
device based on the gas discharge visualization (GDV) principle over fifteen years ago. The
device involves a painless, noninvasive, and almost instantaneous measurement to estimate the
physiological and psychoemotional state of the subject at a high confidence level. The GDV
device was approved by the Russian Health Ministry for use as a routine medical diagnostic
device in Russian hospitals and doctor’s offices. I have published extensive data on myself
showing that meditation enhances positive psychoemotional traits and thus, internal excellence
which I can experientially attest to.
What are the benefits of connecting to the undifferentiated consciousness with meditation?
Even partial success leads to a myriad of benefits: Health & wellness, creativity, and
innovativeness, exemplary performance in all walks of life including business and academic
performance, better leadership decisions, and less discord and violence. There are a large number
individuals throughout the history of India and elsewhere who bear testimony to the truthfulness
of this assertion. In recent years, prestigious science publications such as Nature, Science, Pro.
Nat. Sci. Acad.-US all have carried full-length articles on the benefits of meditation. A quick
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Google search will produce a long list of Nobel laureates, famous CEOs, and scientists who are
regular meditators and who credit some of their successes to meditation.
How do we extend the benefits of meditation to the larger segment of society?
Here, we have to take advantage of the Maharishi effect, named after the late Maharishi Mahesh
Yogi. Maharishi continues to have thousands of followers who include the likes of Jerry Seinfeld,
George Stephanopoulos, Peter Lynch, renowned quantum physicist and three-time presidential
nominee, John Hagelin, among many others. The Maharishi effect says that a relatively small
number of meditators can bring about peace in a much larger segment of the society. Following
this principle, Dr. Hagelin and associates conducted experiments in Washington, DC in the
eighties demonstrating that 4,000 meditators were sufficient to bring down the crime rate of the
entire DC metropolitan area. The experiment was successfully repeated in the Middle East.
Does this mean eternal global peace is possible?
Not quite, and the reason is this. The S, R, T components of societies undergo transformation
over time due to reasons that we cannot quite comprehend. As the average S component of nation
rises, that society rises but the S component cannot continue to rise indefinitely and when it
reaches its peak, the T component gains prominence and the society begins to decline. The T
component cannot rise indefinitely either and when it reaches its peak, the S component gains
dominance and the society begins to rise again. As a consequence of this transformation of the S,
R, T components, societies sustain repeated rise and decline. This has been true for thousands of
years and will remain true for the foreseeable future. Since our specie did not evolve into humans
at the same time, there are societies in the various stages of rise and decline present on the scene
at any given time. Consequently, global peace ad infinitum is not possible. However, by adopting
the scientific framework under discussion here, emerging nations can rise faster, nations in
decline can change direction, and developed nations can keep their inevitable, eventual decline at
bay longer and that will make the world more peaceful. This is the best possible scenario.
Fascinating, so this is what you mean by transforming the world?
Actually, only partly so. From my perspective, world transformation has two parts to it: To make
the world better and to make the world more peaceful. The ultimate reality book presents a
scientific and auditable framework for internal excellence while the author’s companion book,
Six Sigma for Karma Capitalism, SAC 2015 (also available on amazon) presents the wherewithal
for a better world. What we have talked about so far is for a more peaceful world. The term
‘better’ refers to a scenario where all processes and transactions worldwide produce the least
possible defects for the best possible performance and this requires a framework and an auditable
methodology for external excellence. There are several quality initiatives available but my
favorite is the national award-winning six sigma co-created at Motorola by Bill Smith and Mikel
J. Harry in the late seventies.
So, quality initiatives are sufficient for the best possible performance across the world in
terms of defects?
This is a very interesting question. Several years ago, I made a shocking discovery: In the
absence of an adequate level of internal excellence, the best quality initiatives do not produce the
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best possible performance in terms of defects. Add internal excellence to the mix and the
performance can be further improved. So, to make the world better and more peaceful, both
components of excellence, external and internal are required.
It appears, businesses of all types need to have both components of excellence in place?
In my view, all companies in whatever line of business, manufacturing or service, need to
embrace both components of excellence. The framework is amenable to an audit and therefore
within a short span of four to six months, companies will be able to demonstrate for themselves
the many benefits of the framework. Actually, the proof of concept is already on hand. Some of
the references cited at the end of this interview lists several CEOs talking about the benefits of
meditation for themselves and their companies.
Meditation has been around for thousands of years. What is the necessity of a scientific
framework?
It appears that humanity has become increasingly rational minded perhaps stung by Aristotle’s
false claim of our Earth-centric existence in vogue till the time of Copernicus in the fifteenth
century. The widespread acceptance and adoption of the ideas discussed here is possible only
with a scientific framework.
Sounds like we need to teach all this stuff in colleges and universities?
I wholly agree. Today’s students are tomorrow’s leaders and it is absolutely essential to introduce
these ideas in colleges so they do not graduate tunneled-visioned. I have done so in my six sigma
class of the MBA program of the University of Kentucky at TEI/Piraeus in Athens, Greece I have
been teaching for ten years and the student are loving it.
Does meditation have a religious connotation?
Meditation is for everyone, of all faiths and also for those who profess no faith. Every human
being has the same gift of capacity to learn but the desire to learn and openness of mind are
choices and these are the biggest obstacles to progress.
Does God exist according to the scientific framework?
Scientific inquiry cannot go beyond the notion of undifferentiated consciousness. However, many
will marvel at the same evidence and conclude that God must exist while many will say, not so
fast. The precious lessons I have drawn from the scientific framework are: (1) The purpose of all
scriptures of all faiths is identical: To prod humanity to rise on the scale of internal excellence,
(2) All incarnations, Son of God, Prophets have devoted their entire lifetimes in the pursuit of a
single goal: To persuade humanity to rise on the scale of internal excellence.
What are your thoughts on violence in the name of religion?
Let me start with the Hindu religion. Discrimination on the basis of caste has been a persistent
problem for thousands of years although there is no mention in the Geeta that Varna distinctions
can be inherited. In the epic Mahabharata, there is an episode which shows Sage Bhishma lying
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on a bed of arrows commenting to Karna, If I had not called you Shudra and not prevented you
from participating in the sports arena, may be this Great War could have been avoided. He
further goes on to say, in the Vedic times, Varna was determined by qualities, when this changed
to the heredity-based caste system, no one knows.
Next, to Christians and inquisitions and crusades. Bible has not changed but there is no more
violence in the name of Christianity. Finally, the current problem with terrorism. Islam is no
more responsible for terrorism than Bible for inquisitions and crusades or the Geeta for caste
discrimination. The root cause of violence in the name of religion is high R and T components.
In this focus issue of JCER granted by the editors, the author presents his recent works. The need for
a scientific framework for a better and more peaceful world appears to have increased in the last few
years. We hope that the readers will find the ideas and results presented in this focus issue to be
stimulating and beneficial.
Further Readings
1. Clark, Don, Salesforce.com CEO Mark Benioff Delivers Meditation on Mindfulness, The Wall Street
Journal, October 20, 2015.
2. DeSteno, David, The Morality of Meditation, The New York Times, July 5, 2013.
3. Gelles, David, At Aetna, a CEO’s Management by Mantra, New York Times, March 1, 2015.
4. Goyal, Madhav, et al., Meditation Programs for Psychological Stress and Well-being, JAMA Internal
Medicine, 174 (3), March 2014 pp.357 – 368.
5. Gregoire, Carolyn, How Meditation Transformed this Executive’s Approach to Work and Life,
Huffpost Endeavor, March 14, 2016.
6. Korotkov, Konstantin G., Human Energy Field: Study with GDV Bioelectrography, 2002.
amazon.com.
7. Kowall, James P., Metaphysics of Modern Physics, J. Consciousness Exploration and Research, 7, 3,
2016.
8. La Roche, Julia, Ray Dalio: More than anything else, I attribute my success to one thing, Yahoo!
Finance, May 23, 2016.
9. Mallet, Victor, Pop-up Megacity is a Lesson for India, Financial Times, March 1, 2013.
10. Marchant, Jo, Can Meditation Really Slow Aging?, CNN Health, www.cnn.com, July 10, 2014.
11. O’Connell, Andrew, A Little Meditation Helps You Make Better Business Decisions, HBR Blog,
January 24, 2013.
12. The ‘Dabbawala Roti Bank in India’: We will Give that Food to Someone who is Hungry, BBC
News, (http://www.bbc.com/news/business-36418730).
13. Pinsker, Joe, Corporations’ Newest Productivity Hack: Meditation, The Atlantic, March 10, 2015.
14. Walton, Alice G., How Yoga might save The US Trillions of Dollars, And A Lot of Lives, Forbes,
July 24, 2013.
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Deshpande, P. B., Quest for a Better & More Peaceful World
759
Biographical Sketch of Authors
Pradeep B. Deshpande is Professor Emeritus and a Former Chair of the Chemical
Engineering Department at the University of Louisville. He is also President and
CEO, Six Sigma and Advanced Controls, Inc. (SAC), and a Visiting Professor of
Management, Gatton College of Business and Economics, University of Kentucky.
He served on the ChE faculty at the University of Louisville for thirty three years
(1975 – 2008) during which he supervised twenty doctoral and 40 Master’s
scholars. He is an author or co-author of more than 100 papers and eight books
including the most recent Six Sigma for Karma Capitalism, 2015 (amazon), and
The Nature of Ultimate Reality and How It Can Transform Our World: Evidence
from Modern Physics; Wisdom of YODA, 2015 (amazon), the latter coauthored with
Dr. James P. Kowall, MD, PhD (Theoretical Physics) Post retirement, he has
continued his research into the pursuit of perfection in human endeavors and consulting in advanced
process control and six sigma. He is a recipient of several awards including Donald P. Eckman Award in
Process Control Education given by International Society of Automation and is a Fellow and life Member
of ISA. He has presented lectures on his scientific framework for world transformation and peace in
several countries to highly appreciative audiences and has included the science of internal excellence in
his six sigma course of the MBA program of the University of Kentucky at TEI/Piraeus in Athens, Greece
he has been teaching for ten years, and the students love it. Recently, SAC and Indian Statistical Institute
which comes under the purview of the Ministry of Statistics and Program Implementation, Government of
India to take the program of external and internal excellence forward to Indian organizations in the public
and private sectors.
Dr. James Paul Kowall obtained his PhD in Theoretical Physics at Brown
University in 1980. He then served as a postdoctoral fellow at the University of
California, Berkeley for two years before enrolling in the University of Miami
medical school graduating in 1984. He completed his residency in neurology at
Stanford University during 1985-88 and served as a postdoctoral fellow there for
a year. Jim is also board-certified in internal medicine and sleep disorders
medicine. Subsequently, he was in private practice in Coos Bay Oregon until his
retirement in 2008. Jim has published extensively on a modern physics
perspective of the nature of ultimate reality.
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Exploration
Human & Other Souls
Miroslaw Kozlowski*1 & Janina Marciak-Kozłowska2
1
2
Warsaw University, Warsaw, Poland
Institute of Electron Technology, Warsaw, Poland
Abstract
In this paper, we argue that human soul can be identified with binding energy of human brain.
The calculated “energy/mass of the soul” is of the order of 1030 GeV.
Keyword: Human soul, other soul, energy, mass, brain, binding energy.
According to classical theistic belief - classical Muslim and Jewish as well as
Christian belief - first of all there is God, the chief being of the universe, who has
neither beginning nor end. Most important, God is personal. Alvin Plantinga
Introduction
Our souls are owner of our body, not reverse. In this paper, we are looking for physical
manifestations of human souls. We argue that binding energy of human mind is the physical
representation of human soul.
The binding energy of an atom (including its electrons) is not the same as the binding energy
of the atom's nucleus. The measured mass deficits of isotopes are always listed as mass
deficits of the neutral atoms of that isotope, and mostly in MeV. As a consequence, the listed
mass deficits are not a measure for the stability or binding energy of isolated nuclei, but for
the whole atoms. This has very practical reasons, because it is very hard to
totally ionize heavy elements, i.e., strip them of all of their electrons.
This practice is useful for other reasons, too: Stripping all the electrons from a heavy unstable
nucleus (thus producing a bare nucleus) changes the lifetime of the nucleus, or the nucleus of
a stable neutral atom can likewise become unstable after stripping, indicating that the nucleus
cannot be treated independently. Examples of this have been shown in bound-state β
decay experiments performed at the GSI) heavy ion accelerator. This is also evident from
phenomena like electron capture. Theoretically, in orbital models of heavy atoms, the
electron orbits partially inside the nucleus (it does not orbit in a strict sense, but has a nonvanishing probability of being located inside the nucleus).
A nuclear decay happens to the nucleus, meaning that properties ascribed to the nucleus
change in the event. In the field of physics the concept of "mass deficit" as a measure for
"binding energy" means "mass deficit of the neutral atom" (not just the nucleus) and is a
measure for stability of the whole atom.
*
Correspondence: Miroslaw Kozlowski, Prof. Emeritus, Warsaw University, Poland. Email: m.kozlowski934@upcpoczta.pl
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755
Fig 1. Binding energy per nucleon for all known nuclides
In the periodic table of elements, the series of light elements from hydrogen up to sodium is
observed to exhibit generally increasing binding energy per nucleon as the atomic
mass increases. This increase is generated by increasing forces per nucleon in the nucleus, as
each additional nucleon is attracted by other nearby nucleons, and thus more tightly bound to
the whole.
In design, gestalt refers to the physical parts and their arrangements that compose meaning
through relationship. The basic tenet of gestalt is "the whole is greater than the sum of its
parts," or "1+1+1=4." Rather than registering each formula equation , or relationship as a
separate piece of information, the design is understood as a whole of interacting parts that
harmonize, influence, and expand upon one other. There is no formal set of gestalt
principles, but there are some generally identified rules that describe what are considered the
basic principles that define "good design gestalt," or design organized through patterns.
Because we do recognize patterns continually and unconsciously, how stimuli of equations
or laws are organized is often ignored. Still, awareness of the principles is fundamental to the
understanding of workable and beautiful design.
Good design is created when awareness brings the subconscious to the forefront. When we
consider all the information contained within your perceptional context, it is really quite
complex: background, foreground, specific objects, relationships between those objects, the
parts those objects are made up of, their order - well, you get the idea. That we are able to
make sense of any of this is really quite a feat. Most of it is far too detailed to register at the
conscious level, but when involved in the process of intentional design, the principles must
be taken into consideration and can be realized with a little effort. Our investment of effort to
make the viewer's experience effortless is well worth the response to your design.
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The word gestalt is derived of a German word meaning "shape, form, figure, configuration,
or appearance" and is also tied to the more obsolete term stellen, which means "to place or
arrange." Most simply put, gestalt is the arrangement of form in various patterns. Gestalt
theory has traditionally been used by psychologists as a way to assemble an entire picture of a
personality. But it has evolved into becoming relevant to anything that uses the context of
basic principles to define highly detailed or complex relationships and how they are
expressed as a "whole" composite.
Historical perspective
In the preface to the first ( German) Edition of the book “Collected Papers on the Quantum
Mechanics” , Zurich 1926 [1] E Schrodinger wrote: a young lady friend recently remarked to
the Author ( Schrodinger) “When you began this work you have no idea that anything so
clever would come out of it , had you.”
This unorthodox comparison between scientific and purely aesthetic communication is able
to provide a first clue towards criteria distinguishing good fantasy in science from bad.
Science as a crowning intellectual achievement is essentially disciplined; but it is not always
easy to realize the need for an equally severe discipline in the domain of the imaginative arts.
Imagination and intellect, however, are not always in antithesis to one another. Reason
implies not only a capacity for logical sequence of argument, but also a sensitivity to balance
and contrast a trained intuition without untrained intuition s arrogant claims to short-circuit
the discipline of the intellect When the imagination thus becomes disciplined, and undertakes
the severest obligations inherent in perfecting the pattern of an art-form, it has taken the
essential step towards security against the weaknesses of fantasy. Structure as disciplined as
that of a mathematical argument is capable of transfiguring the merest nonsense into divine
nonsense.
Modern physics might well be regarded as study of the structure of matter and of the behavior
of radiation. A criterion for success pursuit of the former study demands that analysis of
material structures into atoms and molecules, and of these into nuclei with groups of
associated electrons, must be capable of giving rise to verifiable prediction of the bulk
properties of matter, mechanical, thermal, chemical, and electrical. Criteria for theories as to
the behaviour of radiation are that the phenomena of light, colour, radio, X-rays, heat
radiation, must become explainable by some single mechanism; the only mechanism so far
successful has been the propagation of electric and magnetic quantities with a unique and
universal speed which is accurately measurable. This speed exceeds that of the fastest
material particles, as a limit towards which the latter can only approach.
Within the scope of these two most general schemes, the structure of matter has been a prime
example of pattern since D Mendeleyev in XIX century arranged all the then known chemical
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757
species or elements into a two- dimensional framework. Written down in a table of horizontal
rows and vertical columns, the chemical elements were found to repeat certain properties
periodically, much as the harmonic properties of the notes on a piano keyboard repeat
themselves at intervals of octaves.
To form the gross substances which we distinguish by touch, smell, taste, etc., the affinities
for chemical combining of atomic species are found to wax and wane with precise regularity
throughout the periods of this table. The whole assemblage of empirically periodic patterns is
now understood as manifesting the way in which successive electrons can become associated
with atomic nuclei of definite mass: these additions proceed until one after another their
possible federations into electrically and mechanically stable groups or sub-patterns are.
There have been eras in which an educated man could only live up to his standard if he were
at the same time a poet and a philosopher and an experimental or mathematical researcher. E.
Schrodinger is a good example. He attended a gymnasium , which emphasized the study of
Greek and Latin classics. His book Nature and the Greeks published in 1948 is an elegant
exposition of ancient physical theories and their relevance. Schrodinger wrote in 1925 an
intensely account of his beliefs, Seek for the Road. The book was influenced by Hinduism
and is an argument for the essential oneness of human consciousness.
Human Brain
According to general idea of Gestalt, we look for design in human brain. It is well known
that the mass of human brain equals 1.5 kg. On the other hand, human brain consist of 1011
neurons with mass of each equals 10 -8kg. We have a serious problem: Mass of all neurons is
equal 103 kg – This is greater than that the full body of an adult human. When I consult this
fact with many neurologist, they cannot refuse my calculation.
The formula for the mass of human brain is not complete. Our new formula for the human
brain is
M HB N N 105 g BE
(1)
In formula (1), M HB denotes human brain mass, N N is the number of neurons in human
brain and BE is human brain binding Energy. The binding Energy can be calculated as
B E 1 03 1027 103 1033 MeV 1030 GeV
(2)
This value is rather big on both scales macro- and microscopic scales. This is the reflection of
the fact that soul connects or bind macro-universe with micro-universe. We can calculate
binding energy per neuron:
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758
1030 GeV
1019 GeV
(3)
11
10
It occurs that the binding energy per neuron in human brain is equal to the mass of Planck
particle - The binding block of the Universe.
Conclusions
The human soul is on the edge of Universe. In this paper, we have argued that human soul
can be identified with binding energy of human brain. The calculated “energy/mass of the
soul” is of the order of 1030 GeV.
References
[1] Erwin Schrodinger Collected papers on Wave Mechanics, AMS Chelsea Publishing , USA, 1982.
[2] M.Kozlowski, PHYSICS . Lecture Notes Science Teacher College, I-Proclaim Press USA, 2012.
[3] E.T. Bell, Numerology, vol.3 Hyperion Press, USA , 1933.
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Preprint (version 20 June 2019)
A theory of consciousness:
computation, algorithm, and neurobiological realization
J. H. van Hateren
Johann Bernoulli Institute for Mathematics and Computer Science,
University of Groningen, The Netherlands; j.h.van.hateren@rug.nl
Abstract The most enigmatic aspect of consciousness is the fact that it is felt, as a subjective
sensation. The theory proposed here aims to explain this particular aspect. The theory encompasses
both the computation that is presumably involved and the way in which that computation may be
realized in the brain’s neurobiology. It is assumed that the brain makes an internal estimate of an
individual’s own evolutionary fitness, which can be shown to produce a special, distinct form of
causation. Communicating components of the fitness estimate (either for external or internal use)
requires inverting them. Such inversion can be performed by the thalamocortical feedback loop in the
mammalian brain, if that loop is operating in a switched, dual-stage mode. A first (nonconscious) stage
produces forward estimates, whereas the second (conscious) stage inverts those estimates. It is argued
that inversion produces another special, distinct form of causation, which is spatially localized and is
plausibly sensed as the feeling of consciousness.
Keywords Consciousness · Sentience · Evolution · Fitness · Estimation · Thalamocortical
1 Introduction
The terms ‘consciousness’ and ‘conscious’ have various meanings. They may refer to the state of
being awake (as in ‘regaining consciousness’), the process of gaining access to certain facts as they
affect the senses or are retrieved from memory (as in ‘becoming conscious of something’), and the
subjective sensation associated with experiencing (e.g., when feeling pain or joy, and when
undergoing a visual experience). The primary topic of this article is the latter meaning, sometimes
referred to as phenomenal consciousness (Block 1995). The main purpose here is to explain why
consciousness is felt. Nevertheless, the explanation given below has implications for the first two
meanings as well.
The science of consciousness is making considerable progress by studying the neural correlates of
consciousness (Dehaene 2014; Koch et al. 2016). However, these studies primarily aim to identify
which particular neural circuits are involved in consciousness, but not how and why exactly such
neural mechanisms would produce subjective experience. Theories that explicitly address the latter
typically focus on a specific neural, cognitive, or informational process, which is then hypothesized to
be accompanied by consciousness. There is no shortage of such proposals, more than could be
mentioned here. Some representative examples are: a narrative that the brain compiles from competing
micro-narratives (Dennett 1991); a regular, but unspecified physiological process (Searle 2013);
broadcasting messages to a widely accessible global workspace within the brain (Baars 1988);
neuronal broadcasts to a global neuronal workspace (Dehaene et al. 2003); having representations in
the form of trajectories in activity space (Fekete and Edelman 2011); the self perceiving its own
emotional state (Damasio 1999); having representations about representations (Lau and Rosenthal
2011); attending to representations (Prinz 2012); perceiving socially observed attention (Graziano and
Kastner 2011); recurrent neuronal processing (Lamme and Roelfsema 2000); having a dynamic core of
functional neural clusters (Edelman and Tononi 2000); having the capacity to integrate information
(Oizumi et al. 2014); and having unified internal sensory maps (Feinberg and Mallatt 2016).
Only some of these theories are closely associated with neurobiological measurements. In
particular, the global neuronal workspace theory (Dehaene et al. 2003) assumes that, when perceiving,
the brain first engages in a nonconscious processing stage, which can (but need not) lead to a global
second stage (a brain-wide ‘ignition’). There is empirical support for consciousness arising in the
1
second stage, which is taken to provide a globally accessible workspace for the results of the first
stage, as well as for subsequent processing. Another well-known neural theory (Lamme and
Roelfsema 2000) also assumes two subsequent stages. When a visual stimulus is presented, there is
first a fast forward sweep of processing, proceeding through the cortex. This first stage is
nonconscious. Only a second stage of recurrent processing, when earlier parts of the visual cortex are
activated once more by feedback from later parts, is taken to be conscious (with, again, empirical
support). Finally, Edelman and Tononi (2000) propose that a loop connecting thalamus and cortex
forms a dynamic core of functional neural clusters, varying over time. This core is assumed to
integrate and differentiate information in such a way that consciousness results (for an elaborate theory
along these lines see Oizumi et al. 2014).
The theory of consciousness that is proposed in the present study takes a somewhat unusual
approach, as it first constructs a stochastic causal mechanism that plausibly produces something
distinct that may be experienced. Only then does it conjecture which neural circuits in the brain are
good candidates for the mechanism’s implementation, and how that could be tested. The approach
bears resemblance to the research strategy that was proposed by Marr (1982) for the visual system. It
assumes that it is useful to distinguish three levels of explanation when analysing a complex system
such as the brain. At the most abstract level, one analyses what the system does from a computational
point of view, or, more generally, what it appears to be trying to accomplish. Organisms are both
products and continuing subjects of biological evolution, hence evolutionary considerations are likely
to be important at this level. The second level concerns the way by which overall goals could be
realized in terms of algorithms, or system-level procedures, of a kind that can work. Thus, this level
translates the abstract level into attainable mechanisms, which perhaps approximate the ideal only
roughly. Finally, the system needs to be realized materially, which is the level of implementation or
realization. At this level, one expects a neurobiological model that can be directly compared with
measurements.
All three levels will be addressed below, although only in broad outline. The theory, as it stands,
should be seen primarily as a draft proposal rather than as a detailed blueprint. It aims to explain
consciousness in its primordial form, that is, the form in which it presumably was first established in
evolution and in which it presumably still exists today—close to the transition between non-conscious
and conscious life forms, as well as close to the beginning of consciousness during the development of
any conscious organism. Primordial consciousness is argued to be communicative rather than
perceptual. Elaborate forms of consciousness, such as occur in adult humans, are not discussed here.
Nevertheless, the theory offers a clear explanation of why consciousness is experienced and how that
may be realized in the neurobiology of the brain. The neurobiological part of the theory shares
characteristics with theories that are closely associated with neurobiological observations, such as
those mentioned above (see further Section 10). Yet, the computational and algorithmic parts of the
theory are novel, to my knowledge, and important details of the neurobiological proposal are as well.
Many current theories of consciousness are associated with philosophical analysis. The focus of
this article is on computation and neurobiology, hence addressing philosophical theories is beyond its
scope. Suffice it so say here that the two main possibilities considered by the latter, that consciousness
is produced either by having representations of reality or by having representations of such
representations, do not apply here. Although the first processing stage discussed below can be viewed,
roughly, as producing representations (but of a special kind), the second stage—the one conjectured to
produce consciousness—does not produce representations, but rather their inversion. What is meant by
the latter should become clear below.
2 Preview of the explanation
The explanation below consists of a series of increasingly detailed theoretical elaborations, which
may, at first reading, seem unconnected to consciousness and its neurobiology. I will therefore briefly
state here where the argument leads to, and why the elaborations are needed. The argument concludes
in Section 9 with the conjecture that consciousness is a transient and distinct cause that is produced
when an individual prepares to communicate—externally or internally—a particular class of internal
variables. Such preparation requires an operation that can be realized neurobiologically by a dual use
of the thalamocortical feedback loop (Section 8). The particular class of communicated internal
2
variables is rather special, because they estimate components of the evolutionary fitness of the
individual itself. This is explained in Sections 3 and 4, and how to prepare these internal variables for
communication is explained in Sections 5-7. The explicit dependence on fitness is crucial, because it
is, probably, the only way by which real (literally present) estimation can arise and can be sustained in
nature.
3 An internal estimate of evolutionary fitness
A major feature of any biological organism is its evolutionary fitness. Depending on the application,
fitness is defined and used in various ways in biology (see, e.g., Endler 1986, p. 40, for examples).
Often it is used as a purely statistical concept (as in population genetics), but alternatively it may be
defined in a more mechanistic way, as a property of individual organisms. The latter is chosen here,
where fitness is understood basically as an organism’s propensity to survive and reproduce
(quantifiable by combining expected lifetime and reproductive rate). More generally, it quantifies—as
a statistical expectation—how well an organism may transfer its properties to other organisms, in
particular to those of subsequent generations. This leads to generalizations such as inclusive fitness
(which includes helping related organisms, such that related genes can get reproduced, see Section 5)
and fitness effects produced by social and cultural transfer of properties. Importantly, fitness, as used
here, is a forward-looking, probabilistic measure; actually realized survival and reproduction
subsequently vary randomly around the expected value. Fitness is taken to change from moment to
moment, depending on circumstances (e.g., the availability of food) and on the state of the organism
(e.g., its health). Evolution by natural selection occurs when organisms in a population vary with
respect to their typical fitness, on the assumption that at least part of that fitness is produced by
heritable traits.
The precise form that fitness takes is not crucial for the theory below, as long as it is a reasonably
adequate, forward-looking (i.e., predictive) measure of evolutionary success. Fitness 𝑓 is then assumed
to be the outcome of a highly complex physical process, which can be written formally as an operator
𝐹 acting upon the relevant part 𝑤 of the world
𝑓 = 𝐹𝑤.
(1)
Here 𝑓 is a scalar function of time; 𝐹 and 𝑤 each depend on time as well, but their detailed form is left
unspecified here—the fitness process is assumed to be nonlinear and nonstationary, and of high and
time-varying dimensionality. The effective world 𝑤 encompasses not only external circumstances, but
also the internal state and structure of the organism itself. The latter is called here the (biological) form
of the organism. As an aid to the reader, Table 1 provides a list of the symbols used in this article, as
well as a summary of their meaning.
When circumstances change, 𝑓 may change as well. If it decreases and such a decrease is
indirectly detected by the organism (e.g., when food becomes scarce), then this usually engages
compensating mechanisms (e.g., by switching to other food sources or by changing metabolic rates).
Such compensating mechanisms can be viewed as forms of phenotypic plasticity (e.g., Nussey et al.
2007). Phenotypic plasticity refers to systematic changes of an organism’s form during its lifetime,
which includes, for example, changes in behavioural dispositions. Compensating mechanisms may
either be fully inherited (when they originate from previous evolution) or not or partially inherited
(such as when they are mostly established by previous learning by a particular organism). In either
case, they respond to a problem that has occurred before, presumably many times. Inherited or learned
compensating mechanisms are not further considered here but are merely acknowledged as an
established baseline. The mechanism discussed below is taken to work on top of this baseline.
When circumstances change in an unexpected way, such that no ready-to-go compensating
mechanisms are available or can be readily learned, the organism may still need to respond. Such a
response can only be random and undirected. Yet, even if the proper direction of the response is not
known, this is not true of the proper mean magnitude of the response. The following qualitative
considerations make this plausible (for quantitative work see van Hateren 2015a–c). When 𝑓 becomes
large as a result of changing circumstances, there is little reason to change an organism’s form. It is
already performing well, and even improving. On the other hand, when 𝑓 becomes small as a result of
changing circumstances, not changing an organism’s form may soon result in death. Then, it is better
to change its form. Although this may initially lead to even lower 𝑓, it also increases the chances that a
3
Table 1 Terms used in the theory
Symbol
Meaning
Comments
𝑓∈ℝ
Fitness
𝑓(𝑡), varies in time
𝑤∈ℝ
Relevant part of the world
𝑤(𝑡), varies in time;
𝐾 is huge and varies in time
𝐹
Fitness operator
𝑓 = 𝐹𝑤, 𝐹 transforms 𝑤(𝑡) to 𝑓(𝑡);
𝐹 is nonlinear and nonstationary
𝑓 ∈ℝ
A component of the fitness 𝑓
𝑓 (𝑡), with 𝑓(𝑡) produced by transforming {𝑓 (𝑡)};
𝑝 and the number of components vary in time
𝑤 ∈ℝ
A component of the world 𝑤
𝑤 (𝑡), with 𝑤(𝑡) produced by transforming {𝑤 (𝑡)};
𝑞 and the number of components vary in time
𝐹
A componentwise fitness
operator
𝑓 = 𝐹 𝑤 , 𝐹 transforms 𝑤 (𝑡) to 𝑓 (𝑡);
𝐹 is nonlinear and nonstationary
𝑥∈ℝ
Individual’s estimate of own
fitness
𝑥(𝑡), varies in time
𝑢∈ℝ
Sensed part of the world
𝑢(𝑡), varies in time;
𝑘 is large (yet 𝑘 ≪ 𝐾) and varies in time
𝑋
Fitness estimator (i.e.,
estimation operator)
𝑥 = 𝑋𝑢, 𝑋 transforms 𝑢(𝑡) to 𝑥(𝑡);
𝑋 is nonlinear and nonstationary
𝑥 ∈ℝ
A component of the fitness
estimate 𝑥
𝑥 (𝑡), with 𝑥(𝑡) produced by transforming {𝑥 (𝑡)};
𝑛 and the number of components vary in time
𝑢 ∈ℝ
A component of the sensed
world 𝑢
𝑢 (𝑡), with 𝑢(𝑡) produced by transforming {𝑢 (𝑡)};
𝑚 and the number of components vary in time
𝑋
A componentwise fitness
estimator
𝑥 = 𝑋 𝑢 , 𝑋 transforms 𝑢 (𝑡) to 𝑥 (𝑡);
𝑋 is nonlinear and nonstationary
𝑋
Approximate inverse of
fitness estimator 𝑋
𝑋 ≈𝑋
𝑢 ∈ℝ
Communicated report on 𝑥
𝑢 =𝑋𝑥
𝑢 ∈ℝ
Report as received
𝑢 ≈𝑢
𝑋
Receiver’s version of 𝑋
𝑋 and 𝑋 are similar
𝑥 ∈ℝ
Receiver’s estimate of sender’s 𝑥 = 𝑋 𝑢 ≈ 𝑥
fitness component estimate
𝐺
Gain operator
𝐺 amplifies and transforms (𝑥 − 𝑋 𝑢 ) to 𝑢
𝑓 ∈ℝ
Fitness-to-be
The increased fitness that gradually results from
modulated stochastic changes
𝑄
Quality of estimator 𝑋
Accuracy by which 𝑥 estimates 𝑓
𝑄
Quality of inversion of 𝑋
Accuracy of 𝑋 as an inverse of 𝑋
4
form with higher 𝑓 is found—perhaps after continued change. On average, this is still better than not
changing at all and waiting for a likely death. Thus, the variability of changing an organism’s form
should be a decreasing function of 𝑓: large variability when 𝑓 is small (‘desperate times call for
desperate measures’, if desperate includes undirected) and small variability when 𝑓 is large (‘never
change a winning team’, or at least not much). Note that changes are made in a random direction, and
that only the statistics of their magnitude (i.e., the variance) is modulated. This means that the
mechanism acts in a slow, gradual way, not unlike the stochastic process of diffusion. The stochastic
changes let the organism drift through an abstract, high-dimensional space of forms, drifting faster
where fitness is low and slower where fitness is high. In effect, it lets the form of an individual
organism move away from low-fitness forms (because variability is high there) and stay close to highfitness forms (because variability is low there).
Although fitness is a feature of any organism, it is a factor that cannot be observed directly. The
only way by which an organism can benefit from the above mechanism is when it contains an internal
process that makes an estimate of its own fitness. Such an estimate is evolvable, because it increases
subsequent fitness. Moreover, it is under evolutionary pressure to become and remain reasonably
adequate as a predictor of evolutionary success. The estimate is called 𝑥 below, and the operator that
produces it, X, is called an estimator. This corresponds to the modern, statistical use of the term: an
estimator is a procedure (here 𝑋) that produces an estimate (here 𝑥) of a parameter (here 𝑓). It is the
outcome of a complex physiological or neurobiological process, which can be written formally as the
operator 𝑋 acting upon the part 𝑢 of the world that is accessible to the organism’s sensors
𝑥 = 𝑋𝑢.
(2)
Here 𝑥 is a scalar function of time; 𝑋 and 𝑢 could be specified, in principle, in terms of physiological
or neurobiological circuits and sensory inputs. 𝑋 is assumed to be nonlinear and nonstationary, and the
dimensionality of 𝑋 and 𝑢 is assumed to be high and time-varying. Even though 𝑋 is complex, it is far
less so than 𝐹, because the latter includes not only the physical environment, but also the organism
itself, as well as other organisms around. Hence, 𝑥 can only approximately estimate 𝑓. Note that 𝑥
results from a distributed operator 𝑋, and is likely not localized, but distributed throughout the system.
The effects of 𝑥 on the variability of the organism are likely distributed as well.
𝑋 may be generally present in forms of life, as a physiological process. But for the present topic
the relevant question is whether it could be a neurobiological process in those life forms that have an
advanced nervous system. There are indeed strong indications that operations similar to 𝑋 may be
present in the brain. Large sections of the brain are devoted to evaluations of biological value
(Damasio and Carvalho 2013), and (predicted) reward can drive how neural circuits are adjusted
(Glimcher 2011). Although these systems may work primarily according to already evolved and
learned mechanisms, at least part of them may modulate variability (e.g., of behavioural dispositions)
in the way explained above. Then, variability is expected to be a decreasing function of value (insofar
that represents 𝑥). However, the topic of this article is not how 𝑋 is realized neurobiologically, but
rather how 𝑋 can produce consciousness, once we take its existence as plausible or at least quite
possible. Thus, below we will assume that 𝑋 and 𝑥 are present and see where that leads us.
4 Components of 𝑿 and 𝑭
Equations (1) and (2) represent the overall processes that produce and estimate fitness, respectively. In
practice, 𝑋 needs to be produced in manageable chunks. For example, part of fitness may depend on
the ability to catch visually spotted prey, thus involving the visual system (detecting, discriminating,
and tracking prey) and the motor system (chasing and capturing prey). Other parts will depend on
other senses, or on evaluating the internal physiological state of the organism (e.g., states associated
with thirst or pain). We will assume here that 𝑋 is parsed into a large set of such components, 𝑋 ,
where the index 𝑖 denotes different ones. The components of 𝑋 are estimators that correspond to
components 𝐹 of the 𝐹 operator. Formally, we can write
𝑥 =𝑋𝑢
(3)
and
5
𝑓 = 𝐹𝑤 ,
(4)
where 𝑢 is a subset of 𝑢, and 𝑤 of 𝑤. Here 𝑥 estimates 𝑓 , but because neither will be a scalar in
general, this is a more complex version of estimation than above for 𝑥 and 𝑓. Importantly, the
accuracy by which 𝑥 estimates 𝑓 is not directly relevant, but only insofar as it contributes to the
accuracy by which 𝑥 estimates 𝑓. It is only the latter estimate that can gradually increase fitness
through the stochastic mechanism explained in Section 3.
Fig. 1 Diagram representing the equation 𝑥 = 𝑋 𝑢 , with 𝑋 an operator
acting upon 𝑢 and producing 𝑥 .
Below, I will make extensive use of diagrams for explaining the theory. Figure 1 shows the one
corresponding to Eq. (3). In all diagrams, symbols in boxes denote operators, arrows denote the flow
of processing, and symbols next to the arrows denote quantities on which the operators act (as input)
or which the operators produce (as output). When a diagram would be used to model a specific system,
it could be readily translated into a full quantitative model. However, that requires specific
assumptions, such as on dimensionality, type of nonlinearity, and type of nonstationarity. Full
quantitative modelling will not be attempted here, first, because it would be premature at this early
stage of the theory, and, second, because the required level of neurobiological detail does not yet exist.
As stated in Section 3, 𝑋 is assumed to be nonstationary, and this applies to each 𝑋 as well. Not only
the specific form of an operator 𝑋 changes over time, but also the way by which it interacts with other
parts of 𝑋. Part of these changes are regulated by the evolved and learned mechanisms mentioned
before, but another part is produced by the variability that is controlled by 𝑥. The latter drives
variations of the form of the organism, which includes variations of 𝑋, because 𝑋 is part of the
organism. As a result, the form of 𝑋 can change in ways that are only partly predictable. In order to
stress the nonstationarity of 𝑋 , it will be written explicitly as a function of time in the diagrams below,
as 𝑋 (𝑡) (Fig. 2). Such nonstationary changes in 𝑋 will be slower than the fast changes as a function
Fig. 2 Explicitly writing 𝑋 (𝑡) as a function of time 𝑡 is used to indicate
that 𝑋 is nonstationary and changes slowly.
of time that one can expect in 𝑤, 𝑓, 𝑤 , 𝑓 , 𝑢, 𝑥, 𝑢 and 𝑥 . The presence of fast changes is to be
understood implicitly, but such time dependence will not be written explicitly in order to reserve 𝑡 for
nonstationary changes.
5 Enhancing fitness by communicating one’s estimates
Fitness was described above, in its simplest form, as an organism’s propensity to survive and
reproduce. Although this may be valid for some species, fitness is often more complicated. A major
extension of fitness occurs when organisms help closely related organisms. If the reproductive success
of a helped organism increases as a result, this can indirectly increase the fitness of the helping
organism. This is so, because the helping organism shares many genes with the offspring of the helped
organism. Thus, the helping organism indirectly promotes disseminating its own properties. If this
fitness benefit outweighs the cost of helping, then it is a worthwhile strategy from an evolutionary
point of view. Fitness that includes this extension is known as inclusive fitness (Hamilton 1964).
Inclusive fitness is still a property of each individual organism. It is to be taken, along with the
benefits it can produce, in a statistical, probabilistic sense. Benefits need not always occur, but they are
expected, on average. Below, fitness and 𝑓 refer to inclusive fitness, and 𝑥 is then an estimate of
inclusive fitness. For the explanation of primordial consciousness, we will assume here the simple case
of two closely related individuals that can mutually benefit from this mechanism, by cooperating with
each other.
Cooperation often relies on communication between the cooperating individuals. Cooperative
benefits then depend on exchanging useful messages, such as about the environment or about
behavioural dispositions. One possibility for such communication is that it is hardwired or otherwise
ingrained in the organism’s physiology (e.g., through learning). Then communicative behaviour is
6
either fixed or can only be learned within the narrow margins of fixed constraints. Moreover, the
information that is transferred is then fixed as well, and it does not involve an 𝑋-process that drives
random, undirected changes of an organism’s form. Examples of this type of hardwired
communication are quorum sensing in bacteria and the food-pointing waggle dances of honey bees.
Such stereotyped transfer of information is not further discussed here.
We will assume here that all non-stereotyped communication is based on communicating factors
𝑥 (like the one in Fig. 2). When such communication is performed in a cooperative setting, the fitness
of both sender and receiver is likely to benefit, as is argued now. A factor 𝑥 estimates a corresponding
factor 𝐹 𝑤 . The latter depends on the state of the world (via 𝑤 ) as well as on how this affects the
sender (via 𝐹 ). Communicating an estimate of this (i.e., 𝑥 ) is likely to enhance fitness for two
reasons. First, it may directly increase 𝑓, in a similar way as a stereotyped transfer of useful
information can increase 𝑓. Second, it is likely to increase the accuracy by which the receiver can
estimate, through its own process 𝑋, those parts of the sender’s 𝑋-process that are relevant to the
cooperation (parts to which 𝑥 belongs). As a result, the receiver’s 𝑥 becomes more accurate as an
estimate of 𝑓, because parts of 𝐹 are determined by the cooperation. A more accurate 𝑥 subsequently
and gradually increases the receiver’s fitness through the mechanism explained in Section 3. The
fitness of the sender is then likely to increase as well, because of the cooperation. This mutual effect is
further enhanced when sender and receiver engage in a dialogue, as will typically happen (where
‘dialogue’ is taken here and below as nonverbal, because of the focus on primordial consciousness).
We conclude that 𝑋-based communication is likely to enhance fitness. Hence, it is evolvable and
assumed here to be present. Examples of cooperative settings that support this type of communication
in its most primordial form are mother-infant bonds in mammals and pair bonds in breeding birds. On
average, fitness increases either directly (as for infants) or indirectly (because offspring is supported).
Importantly, 𝑥 is an internal factor of the sender. From here on, we will assume that it is internal
to the sender’s brain. The reason for this assumption is that the theory that is explained below requires
quite complex transformations (such as inversion of operators). These transformations are at a level of
complexity that is presumably only realizable in advanced nervous systems (and not in multicellular
organisms without a nervous system, nor through processing within unicellular organisms). A sender
communicating its 𝑥 to a receiver requires that the receiver obtains access to a factor that is, in effect,
similar to 𝑥 . The question is, then, how the sender can communicate 𝑥 in such a way that it will
produce a similar factor, called 𝑥 below, in the brain of the receiver. Specific hardwired solutions,
such as in the case of honey bee dancing, are not viable here, for two reasons. First, 𝑋 is nonstationary
and thus cannot be anticipated in detail, and, second, the number of factors 𝑥 that are potential
candidates for communication may be huge.
A viable way to communicate 𝑥 , at least approximately, is the following. It is reasonable to
assume that the receiver has an operator 𝑋 that is similar to the one of the sender, 𝑋 . This assumption
is reasonable, because the cooperative setting presupposes that the two individuals are similar, that
they share similar circumstances and possibly a similar past, and that they share goals to which the
communication is instrumental. As is shown now, the sender can then communicate 𝑥 by utilizing an
operator 𝑋 that is approximately the inverse of 𝑋 , thus
𝑋 ≈𝑋 .
(5)
Recalling that 𝑥 = 𝑋 𝑢 (Eq. 3) this implies that (see the left part of Fig. 3)
𝑢 =𝑋𝑥
(6)
and
𝑢 ≈𝑢.
(7)
Subsequently, the sender communicates 𝑢 , which is possible because it belongs to the same space as
𝑢 , that is, the space accessible to sensors and motor outputs. Assume that the receiver gets 𝑢 ≈ 𝑢 ,
and subsequently applies 𝑋 to 𝑢 . Then this results in
𝑥 =𝑋𝑢 ≈𝑋𝑢 ≈𝑋𝑢 ≈𝑋𝑢 =𝑥,
(8)
or
𝑥 ≈𝑥.
(9)
Figure 3 shows the diagram that corresponds to this way of communicating.
Several concerns should be mentioned here. In this simple case, one might object that the receiver
would be better off by directly observing 𝑢 rather than the communicated 𝑢 . However, below we will
7
Fig. 3 A sender (left) communicates 𝑥 by utilizing an approximate inverse 𝑋 of its 𝑋
operator, with the receiver (right) approximately reconstructing 𝑥 by applying its own 𝑋 to
𝑢
consider elaborations of this basic diagram for which that would not work. A second concern is
whether the sender would be able to reproduce 𝑢 accurately, with the means of expression available.
We will assume here simple cases where that is possible. For example, if 𝑢 is a facial expression
(such as a smile) observed in another individual, then this could be mimicked (e.g., reciprocally by
mother and infant). The same goes for sounds, touches, and expressions of emotions (such as laughter
and crying) that are produced by other individuals. However, if 𝑢 is part of the physical world, such
as a general visual scene, 𝑢 may have to be produced by indirect means, using learned conventions
that are understood by both sender and receiver. This applies also to other complex communications,
for instance when social situations or language are involved. How such conventions can be gradually
learned is beyond the scope of this article, because we focus here on primordial consciousness (but see
van Hateren 2015d for elaborations and references).
A final concern is whether 𝑋 has an inverse at all. In general, this is not guaranteed. If an exact
inverse does not exist, then it is often possible to define an operator that at least minimizes the distance
between 𝑢 and 𝑢 (analogous to the pseudoinverse of matrix operators). However, the more serious
problem is not whether there is a mathematical solution, but rather whether there is a plausible and
realistic neurobiological mechanism that could invert 𝑋 (𝑡). This is a major issue, because 𝑋 (𝑡) is
nonstationary and not known in advance. Yet, a possible solution is proposed next.
6 An algorithm for inverting the unknown
The presence of 𝑋(𝑡) and its components 𝑋 (𝑡), and the capability to utilize them, are evolved
properties. But what their specific form will be at any point in time is unknown, even if 𝑋(𝑡) and 𝑋 (𝑡)
may be subject to broad constraints. The key point of 𝑋(𝑡) and 𝑋 (𝑡) is that they are highly adaptable
during an individual’s lifetime. How, then, could an inverse 𝑋 (𝑡) evolve, or even a procedure to learn
such an inverse, if it is not well defined of what exactly it should be the inverse? The capacity to
produce a highly adaptable inverse seems to require the capacity to track the detailed structure of
𝑋 (𝑡), which would be extraordinarily hard to evolve (given the nonstationarity of 𝑋 (𝑡)). Fortunately,
there is a much easier way to invert 𝑋 (𝑡), which does not even require a separate 𝑋 (𝑡), and which
seems readily evolvable. It is based on an old electronics trick that uses feedback for inverting an
operator.
Fig. 4 Circuit that inverts an operator 𝑆 by using it in the feedback
path to the inverting input of an operational amplifier with high gain 𝐺.
Figure 4 shows the basic idea. The triangle symbolizes an operational amplifier with high gain 𝐺.
The device amplifies the difference between the voltages on its plus and minus inputs. Suppose 𝑆 is an
operator that transforms 𝑞 (which is output of the amplifier as well as input of 𝑆) and feeds the result
back to the minus input of the amplifier. If the input is 𝑝, then one finds
𝐺(𝑝 − 𝑆𝑞) = 𝑞,
(10)
hence
𝑝 = 𝑆𝑞 + 𝑞/𝐺.
(11)
If the gain 𝐺 is sufficiently large such that 𝑞/𝐺 is small compared with 𝑆𝑞, then
𝑝 ≈ 𝑆𝑞
(12)
thus
8
𝑆 𝑝 ≈ 𝑆 𝑆𝑞 = 𝑞.
(13)
This depends on the assumption that 𝑆 exists, such that 𝑆 𝑆 is the identity operation (or close to
the identity operation if 𝑆 can only be approximated). Equation (13) shows that the output 𝑞 of the
circuit in Fig. 4 approximately equals 𝑆 acting upon the input 𝑝. In other words, the circuit as a
whole operates, approximately, as the inverse of the 𝑆 operator. Apart from the conditions that the gain
is sufficiently large and that the inverse of 𝑆 exists, there are no further conditions on the nature of 𝑆: it
could be an arbitrary nonlinear and nonstationary operator. A general discussion of operators,
including inversion of the type shown here, can be found in Zames (1960, p. 19).
Although the circuit of Fig. 4 has a scalar input and output (because a voltage is a scalar), we
assume here that it can be generalized to higher dimensions, including different dimensions for input
and output. For the present purpose, 𝑋 must play the role of 𝑆 (because the approximate inverse 𝑋 is
desired), 𝑥 that of the input 𝑝, and 𝑢 that of the output 𝑞. According to Table 1, the dimensionality of
input and output is then 𝑛 and 𝑚 , respectively, which are both expected to be large. Thus, the
operators 𝐺 and 𝑋 transform between high-dimensional spaces. One consequence of the assumed high
dimensionality of the operators is that the neurobiological interpretation given in Section 8 below
should not be regarded purely at the single neuron level. Rather, the operators are realized by the
action of groups of interacting neurons, and the quantities these operators act upon and produce are
compound signals of groups of neurons as well.
The requirement that 𝑆 has an inverse—or at least an approximate inverse—puts constraints on
the types of processing allowed. Moreover, if the inverse is produced by feedback, as is proposed here,
time delays can produce problems. Delays are inevitable when signals are transferred across the brain.
As a result, the feedback may become unstable, unless the speed of processing by 𝑆 is significantly
slower than the delays. Processing by 𝑆 is, thus, likely to be slow, for this reason alone (if not for other
reasons as well, such as the slowness and serial nature of communication).
The circuit of Fig. 4 is a minimalistic one, primarily intended for explaining the basic idea. It is
quite conceivable and likely that it could be elaborated to specifically suit the strengths and limitations
of the neurobiological circuits that realize 𝑋 . Thus, Fig. 4 should be seen as a first-order draft, rather
than as a finished end product. Nevertheless, it is a suitable basis for developing the theory further.
Fig. 5 The right part of the circuit uses the mechanism of Fig. 4 for producing an
approximate inverse of 𝑋 (𝑡).
Figure 5 shows how this mechanism can be applied to the sender’s part of Fig. 3. The amplifier of
Fig. 4 has been split here into two operations, a summation () of one input with a plus sign and the
other with a minus sign, followed by a gain 𝐺. As can be seen, 𝑋 (𝑡) is used twice, once in the regular
forward direction, and once in the return path of a feedback loop in order to produce 𝑋 (𝑡). However,
the circuit of Fig. 5 is not quite right, because a single neurobiological instance of 𝑋 (𝑡) cannot
perform both operations simultaneously. The circuit should be modified such that 𝑋 (𝑡) switches
between its two roles. Figure 6 adds switches that allow 𝑋 (𝑡) to be utilized in either of two states:
state 1 for the forward direction, and state 2 for the inverse. The circuit works by continually switching
Fig. 6 The circuit of Fig. 5 can work with the same instance of 𝑋 if it switches continually between
state 1 (forward operation of 𝑋 ) and state 2 (inverse operation of 𝑋 ). Buffers are needed for
retaining the result of the previous state.
9
between these states. Because of the switched processing, buffers are needed in order to retain the
results of the previous state. Consequently, the buffered versions of 𝑥 and 𝑢 have to follow a slower
time course than their inputs 𝑥 and 𝑢 . This is indicated by writing the buffered versions explicitly as
a function of time, in a similar way as was introduced above for 𝑋 (𝑡). A side effect of switching is
that the forward 𝑋 (𝑡) and the one producing the inverse 𝑋 (𝑡) are not evaluated at exactly the same
time, and thus cannot produce an exact inverse. However, the resulting error will be small if 𝑋 (𝑡)
changes only slowly compared with the switching rate (which may be in the order of 10 Hz in the
primate brain, see, e.g., Koch 2004, pp. 264–268).
7 From monologue to dialogue and internal dialogue
Figure 6 showed how the sender can produce a monologue directed at a receiver. The receiver may
then respond by using the same type of processing. This can lead to a continued dialogue as pictured in
Fig. 7. The upper path shows the sender, and the lower one the receiver. It assumes that the dialogue is
Fig. 7 Dialogue between a sender (upper path) and a receiver (lower path).
in full swing, having been started at an earlier point in time. The dialogue progresses, because both
𝑋 (𝑡) and 𝑋 (𝑡) are nonstationary, and, in addition, change in ways that are not fully identical in the
two individuals. This also applies to the buffers of internal estimates (𝑥 (𝑡) and 𝑥 (𝑡)) and of
communicated signals (𝑢 (𝑡) and 𝑢 (𝑡)).
Communication could be improved if the sender would not invert its own 𝑋 (𝑡), but a prediction
of the 𝑋 (𝑡) that the receiver is likely to use when receiving the communication (and then the receiver
should do something similar in return). This requires that the communicating partners maintain a
model of each other’s 𝑋 , and that part of their communication is used to keep these models up to date.
Elaborations along these lines will not be further discussed here (but see van Hateren 2015d for draft
proposals and references to similar ideas).
Rather than engaging in a dialogue with a communicative partner, an individual may engage in an
internal dialogue. This is produced when the output of the upper path of Fig. 7 folds back to provide
its own input (Fig. 8). The model of Fig. 8 somewhat resembles a two-cycle (two-stroke) combustion
Fig. 8 Internal dialogue, switching between forward
and inverse uses of 𝑋 . The results of the internal
dialogue, 𝑥 and 𝑢 , change through time because 𝑋
is nonstationary.
10
engine, as it cycles through filling the buffer 𝑥 (𝑡) at stage 1, then producing 𝑢 (𝑡) at stage 2
(‘ignition’), then a renewed filling at another stage 1, and so on. Because 𝑋 (𝑡) gradually changes over
time, 𝑥 (𝑡) and 𝑢 (𝑡) do so as well. Here 𝑥 (𝑡) is a strictly internal variable of the brain, even if it
estimates an external part of reality (namely 𝐹 𝑤 ). On the other hand, 𝑢 (𝑡) does not estimate
anything external, but just belongs to the individual’s sensorimotor space that can be observed or acted
upon. This space is shared with conspecifics. Hence, 𝑢 (𝑡) can be communicated, and is, thus,
instrumental to communicate 𝑥 (𝑡). The latter, being an estimate, does not belong to sensorimotor
space, and could not be communicated directly.
Evolving a purely stand-alone version of Fig. 8 is unlikely from an evolutionary point of view,
because there would be no benefits obtained from producing 𝑢 (𝑡). Any processing that might increase
fitness could be performed at the level of 𝑋 (𝑡) and 𝑋, without going to the trouble of inverting 𝑋 (𝑡).
Hence, the mechanism of Fig. 8 is only useful if it is, at some point at least, combined with the
dialogue of Fig. 7. For example, cycling through the loop of Fig. 8 may prepare 𝑋 , and consequently
𝑋, for more adequate future interactions according to Fig. 7. More adequate means here having a better
chance of increasing fitness, at least on average. The loop of Fig. 8 can also explain why not only
senders are conscious, but receivers as well, and why non-communicative stimuli (such as a general
visual scene) can be consciously perceived. In both cases, the stimuli may induce cycling through the
loop, and thus produce consciousness—again, with the ultimate prospect of communication and
dialogue with a partner.
8 Neurobiological interpretation: A two-cycle thalamocortical loop
If the theory is correct, then it should be possible to identify its parts in the brain (I will be focussing
here on the mammalian brain; see Section 10 for some comparative considerations). In other words,
what could be a plausible neurobiological realization of the theory? I will discuss here what I view to
be the most likely one, in terms that should be amenable to direct empirical tests (see Section 10). My
interpretation is much informed by other neurobiological theories of consciousness, but making these
connections will be postponed to Section 10.
A crucial part of the theory is that it contains a massive feedback loop, namely the one that inverts
𝑋 (as in Figs. 5-8). This loop is massive, because it applies to all components 𝑋 that together
constitute 𝑋. The number of such components must be huge, pertaining to any part of the brain that
could be important for estimating fitness. There are, of course, many feedback loops in any part of the
brain, but two of the most conspicuous ones are the loop from thalamus to cortex and back, and the
loop from cortex to striatum (and other parts of the basal ganglia) to thalamus and back to cortex. The
latter loop is particularly involved with learning, reward, value, and adjusting behavioural dispositions
(Chakravarthy et al. 2010; Hikosaka et al. 2014). It seems particularly well suited, then, to implement
at least part of the (nonstationary) 𝑋(𝑡) operator. Thus, I will focus here on the thalamocortical loop as
a candidate for the proposed feedback loop of Figs. 5-8.
The basic structure of the thalamocortical loop is sketched in Fig. 9a (Llinas et al. 1998; Butler
2008; Ward 2011; Sherman 2016). The dorsal thalamus contains nuclei that relay sensory inputs (in
particular visual, auditory, and somatosensory ones) to the cortex, as well as a range of nuclei that
receive cortical inputs that are relayed back to cortex. Connections from thalamus to cortex are marked
by TC in Fig. 9a, where grey disks symbolize neurons or groups of neurons, and arrow heads
symbolize excitatory input. In addition, there is massive feedback from cortical areas to corresponding
parts of the thalamus, either directly to the dorsal nuclei (connection CT in Fig. 9a) or indirectly via
the Thalamic Reticular Nucleus (TRN; connection CR). Neurons of the TRN provide inhibitory inputs
to thalamic relay neurons (marked with a minus sign in Fig. 9a; connection RT).
This circuit seems to be well suited to produce the two-cycle mechanism explained above. In the
first stage either sensory or cortical input is transferred to the cortex, where it engages 𝑋 and 𝑋 via
intracortical connections and the cortico-striato-thalamo-cortical loop (including inputs from other
nuclei, such as those in the upper brainstem). The result 𝑥 may be retained in a buffer for a short time,
perhaps of the kind usually ascribed to iconic memory (e.g., Koch 2004, pp. 201–203). The second
stage only occurs if and when 𝑥 is prepared for communication. Then the buffered result is transferred
back to the thalamus (via CT), and is subsequently sent for a second time to the cortex to engage 𝑋
and 𝑋 in a similar way as before. But now the result is subtracted, through the inhibitory action of the
11
Fig. 9 Neurobiological interpretation. a Basic structure of the thalamocortical feedback loop.
b Tentative identification of the components of the model of Fig. 8 with the anatomical parts
of a. See the main text for explanation.
TRN (via RT), from the buffered earlier result. The difference is amplified and transferred to the
cortex. The second stage effectively inverts 𝑋 , and thus transforms the buffered 𝑥 into a signal that is
in the same sensorimotor space as the original sensory or cortical input to the thalamus (lower part of
Fig. 9a). Hence, it is suitable for communication, or for using once more as input to the thalamus. It
should be noted that the above description is only a primordial sketch: a more elaborate model should
incorporate the different functional roles of the various thalamic nuclei and how they interact with
different cortical and subcortical areas. Moreover, the presence and form of the proposed mechanism
may well vary across and within nuclei.
Figure 9b tentatively identifies the components of the diagram of Fig. 8 with components of the
thalamocortical circuit of Fig. 9a. It is not the only possibility for each and every component, and I
will mention a few alternative configurations after I have explained the configuration as shown. 𝑋 is
located in the cortex, produced through intracortical interactions (CC, engaging other 𝑋 as well) and,
presumable, the cortico-striato-thalamo-cortical loop (CSTC). The buffers of 𝑥 (𝑡) and 𝑢 (𝑡) are
assumed to be located in the cortex. The upper left switch must then be in the cortex as well, but the
lower right one could either be in the cortex or in the thalamus (as drawn). Subtraction and gain 𝐺 are
shown to be located in the thalamus, but 𝐺 might as well be located in the cortex, or partly so. A
complication of the diagram is that the CT connection at the right (output of the first stage) needs to be
functionally separate from the CR/RT connection in the feedback loop at the bottom (performing the
second stage). Thus, either there are at least two types of CT neurons performing these functions, or a
single type uses a special mechanism to perform both functions. Alternatively, the 𝑥 (𝑡) buffer might
be located in the thalamus, which implies, in that case, that the function of a CT neuron would switch
between stages. It would act to fill the buffer at stage 1 and would function in the feedback loop at
stage 2. A possible issue is the linear operator (), because GABAergic inhibition by TRN neurons
may act more like a modulation (i.e., a gain control) than like a linear subtraction. However, gain
control and subtraction can readily be made to lie on a continuous scale by having expansive and
compressive nonlinearities in input and output.
The reader may note that the direct excitatory input from thalamus to TRN (left part of Fig. 9a)
has not been given a function in Fig. 9b. One possibility is that the negative feedback it provides to the
thalamus compensates for the gain 𝐺 when that is not needed in stage 1. However, there are many
other local circuits in thalamus, TRN, and cortex that are not represented in Fig. 9b (Traub et al. 2005;
Izhikevich and Edelman 2008). Speculating on the role of these circuits and on the role of the various
cortical layers seems rather premature at this stage. The viability of the theory of Section 7 and the
general idea of Fig. 9b should be tested empirically first. Several suggestions for such tests are given
in Section 10.
12
9 The distinct cause that feels like consciousness
So far, we have considered a computational model (Fig. 3), an algorithm (Figs. 6-8), and a
neurobiological realization (Fig. 9) of how 𝑥 could be communicated. But why would any of this
produce consciousness? I will now argue that the model gives rise to two different types of cause that
are each rather special. Subsequently, I will argue that only the second type of cause, the one
associated with 𝑋 , is felt as consciousness. A ‘cause’ is taken here as a factor (such as a variable or a
material process) that, when perturbed, typically produces systematic (possibly probabilistic) changes
in another such factor (see, e.g., Pearl 2009). The latter factor is then called the ‘effect’ of the cause.
For example, in Eq. (1), both the operator 𝐹 and the effective world 𝑤 can be viewed as causing (i.e.,
producing) the fitness 𝑓, because perturbing 𝐹 or 𝑤 affects 𝑓 in a systematic way.
Fig. 10 The sender’s part of Fig. 3 contains
two distinct causes associated with 𝑋 and 𝑋 ,
of which the second is conjectured to produce
the feeling of consciousness. See the main text
for explanation.
The sender’s part of Fig. 3 is redrawn in Fig. 10, with a few additions. The dashed arrow denotes
the fact that 𝑥 estimates 𝑓 . Ultimately, this depends on the fact that 𝑥 estimates 𝑓. As explained in
Section 3, the latter estimate causes a gradual increase of fitness through a stochastic mechanism. The
increased fitness that gradually results is denoted below by ‘fitness-to-be’ (abbreviated to 𝑓 , see also
Fig. 10), whereas current fitness is denoted by 𝑓, as before. How effective this mechanism can be must
depend on how well 𝑥 estimates 𝑓. When estimation is absent or poor, the mechanism cannot work or
cannot work well. The better the estimator is, the higher 𝑓 will likely become. A simple way to
quantify the goodness of an estimator is to evaluate the expected estimation error 𝜀 , that is, the
expected difference between estimate (𝑥) and estimated (𝑓)
𝜀 = 𝐸[‖𝑥 − 𝑓‖].
(14)
Here 𝐸 denotes the expectation (expected value), and ‖⋯ ‖ denotes a norm, for example by taking the
absolute value or by squaring. The goodness of the estimator is then inversely related to the error 𝜀 .
In order to keep the presentation below as simple as possible we will avoid this inverse relationship by
defining the quality 𝑄 of the estimator 𝑋 as the reciprocal of the estimation error 𝜀
𝑄 = 1/𝐸[‖𝑥 − 𝑓‖].
(15)
The higher 𝑄 is, the better the estimator is, and the higher 𝑓 can become eventually. This means that
𝑄 should be regarded as a cause in the sense defined above: when 𝑄 is perturbed (for example when
𝑋 learns to incorporate the fitness effects of a new part of the environment), this also changes 𝑓 , at
least on average. Moreover, an investigator may perturb and manipulate 𝑄 on purpose (either
empirically or in a model) and will then observe that 𝑓 is affected accordingly (in a systematic and
statistically reliable way). Thus, 𝑄 is a cause of 𝑓 (though, of course, not the only one). Because 𝑄
directly depends on 𝑥, perturbing 𝑥 also affects 𝑓 , as does perturbing 𝑋 (if this is assumed to be done
in a way that changes 𝑥). Therefore, stating that 𝑄 , 𝑥, or 𝑋 is a cause of 𝑓 will all be regarded below
as equally valid.
𝑋 is a rather special cause, even though it has the characteristics of a regular neurobiological
process. Such a process can be understood from how its parts work and how they interact. Thus, how
𝑋 works is just the compound result of how its material parts and their interactions work. However,
the effect of 𝑋 on 𝑓 is not just the compound result of the effects of these parts (‘effects of parts’ is
taken here and below to include interactions between parts). The reason is that the effect of 𝑋 on 𝑓
critically depends on the fact that 𝑥 is an estimate of 𝑓. If this estimation would be absent, there would
be no effect on 𝑓 at all. Estimation is not fully defined by the material parts of 𝑋. In addition, it
depends on what it estimates, fitness. One might then think that the effect of 𝑋 on 𝑓 would be just the
compound result of the effects of the parts of the combined 𝑋 and 𝐹 processes. But this is not true
either, which is explained next.
13
The effect of 𝑋 on 𝑓 is produced in an unusual, stochastic way. It depends on changing the form
of an organism by modulating the variance of random, undirected change. As a result, it tightly
couples a determinate factor, x, with an indeterminate factor (i.e., noise produced in an indeterminate
way). Because this happens in a continually operating feedback loop (which modulates 𝑥 depending
on earlier changes), the result is an inseparable mixture of determinate and indeterminate factors (van
Hateren 2015a). The effect on 𝑓 is therefore not solely given by the combined 𝑋 and 𝐹 processes, but
also by the effects produced by (modulated) noise (which may arise from thermal or quantum
indeterminacy, or from intractable external disturbances). Importantly, the noise does not average out,
but strongly determines the ultimate result. Moreover, the effect of 𝑋 on 𝑓 is not almost instantaneous
(as it would be in any standard material process when considered at a microscopic scale) but arises
only slowly and gradually by accumulating modulated stochastic changes of the brain. Hence, cause
and effect occur on a stretched timescale, much longer than the timescale on which standard material
processes work internally. Thus, 𝑋 is a rather exceptional cause, for several (related) reasons: it
crucially depends on noise, it produces its effect quite slowly, and it depends on an evolved and
sustained form of estimation.
In addition to the quality 𝑄 of the overall estimator 𝑋, we can denote the quality of each
estimator 𝑋 by an analogous factor 𝑄 . Because neither 𝑥 nor 𝑓 are scalars, there is no simple
equivalent of Eq. (15). Nevertheless, it is clear that when 𝑋 changes and then produces an 𝑥 that
estimates 𝑓 better (i.e., when 𝑄 increases), that this will increase the overall 𝑄 and, thus, will
increase 𝑓 . Therefore, each 𝑋 operator is a cause of 𝑓 as well, as is 𝑥 . The effect of each 𝑋 depends
on how 𝑋 contributes to the effect of 𝑋 on 𝑓 . Because the latter effect is not just the compound result
of the effects of the combined 𝑋 and 𝐹 processes, this is true of 𝑋 as well. This means that 𝑋 is a
cause with an effect that is not just the compound result of the effects of its parts (i.e., of the combined
𝑋 and 𝐹 processes or any subset of those). The fat grey arrow on the left in Fig. 10 symbolizes the fact
that the effect of 𝑋 (through its property 𝑄 ) derives from how well 𝑥 estimates 𝑓 . The downward
wavy arrow symbolizes that it has a (slow, stochastically produced) causal effect on fitness-to-be (𝑓+ ).
Having established that 𝑋 is a cause with an effect that is not just the compound result of the
effects of its parts, we can now investigate the consequences. We need to invoke here the basic notion
that if something is a cause (in the sense that it is capable of producing material effects in the world),
that one can then be certain that it exists in a real, literal way (i.e., other than merely as an abstract
theoretical construct). However, most causes in nature have effects that are just the compound result of
the effects of their parts. Such causes are, then, not distinct (i.e., not autonomous), because they do not
produce anything beyond what their parts do (again, including interactions of parts). In contrast, 𝑋
produces an effect that is partly produced by modulated noise, and thus goes beyond what its parts (or
the parts of 𝑋 and 𝐹 combined) produce. Hence, the cause 𝑋 (or, equivalently, the cause 𝑥 )
corresponds to something that not only exists literally, but also exists in a distinct way (i.e., as partly
autonomous, because it adds something over and above the effects of its parts, due to the effects
attributable to noise). Remarkably, it is not the only distinct cause in Fig. 10. There is a second one,
marked by the curved grey arrow on the right, which is explained next.
The operator 𝑋 produces 𝑢 with the specific aim to communicate it, such that it can produce an
𝑥 in the receiver that is similar to the 𝑥 of the sender (Fig. 3). The quality of 𝑢 then depends on how
well 𝑋 can invert 𝑋 . A perfect inversion would imply that 𝑋 𝑢 would be equal to 𝑥 . Therefore, the
error 𝜀 made by operator 𝑋 can be written as
𝜀 = 𝐸[‖𝑥 − 𝑋 𝑢 ‖].
(16)
Here ‖⋯ ‖ denotes again a norm, now not of scalars, but of the more complex quantities 𝑥 and 𝑋 𝑢
(which are of the same type). We can now define the quality 𝑄 of the operator 𝑋 as the reciprocal of
the error 𝜀
𝑄 = 1/𝐸[‖𝑥 − 𝑋 𝑢 ‖].
(17)
The higher 𝑄 is, the better 𝑋 is, and the better 𝑢 will serve the effectiveness of communication. A
better effectiveness of communication is likely to increase the (inclusive) fitness of the sender, at least
on average (and assuming that certain conditions apply, see Section 5). Again, the expected fitness
effect of increasing 𝑄 is not immediate, because it depends on two individuals cooperating by
utilizing the stochastic benefits of the communicated version of 𝑥 (either now, as in Fig. 7, or later, as
14
is implicit in Fig. 8). Therefore, 𝑄 is a cause of 𝑓+ , which is indicated by the downward wavy arrow
on the right of Fig. 10. Similarly as is argued above for 𝑄 , we may equally well say that 𝑋 is a cause
of 𝑓+ .
𝑋 has the characteristics of a regular neurobiological process, but, again, it is special. The only
reason why 𝑋 has an effect on 𝑓+ is because it produces 𝑢 , and the only reason why producing 𝑢 has
an effect is because 𝑢 can communicate 𝑥 (in its capacity to estimate 𝑓 ). Above, it was established
that 𝑥 corresponds to something that exists in a distinct way. Thus, the effect of 𝑋 on 𝑓+ crucially
depends on communicating something distinct (i.e., 𝑥 ), which implies that 𝑋 is a cause with an effect
that is not just the compound result of the effects of its neurobiological parts. Hence, the cause 𝑋
corresponds to something distinct as well, but different from what corresponds to 𝑥 and 𝑋 . The
curved grey arrow on the right in Fig. 10 symbolizes the fact that the effect of 𝑋 depends on how well
𝑢 allows reconstructing 𝑥 , and the downward wavy arrow indicates that the effect is on fitness-to-be,
𝑓+ .
We have now established that there are two distinct causes associated with the diagram of Fig. 10.
However, these two causes have quite different spatial characteristics, as is explained next. The cause
𝑋 (as related to its property 𝑄 ) depends on 𝑥 and 𝑓 , similarly as 𝑄 depends on 𝑥 and 𝑓 (Eq. 15).
Here 𝑥 is a neurobiological quantity localized in the brain, albeit diffusely. However, the fitness
component 𝑓 is not a clearly localized quantity. It could get contributions from anything in the world,
as long as those things belong to 𝑤 (see Eqs. 1 and 4). This means that the cause 𝑋 is not well
localized either. Moreover, only 𝑥 , not 𝑓 , is directly controlled by the individual. Hence, the
individual does not fully own the cause 𝑋 . In conclusion, the cause 𝑋 does not seem to be a good
candidate for consciousness: although it is distinct, it is neither clearly localized to, nor fully owned
by, the individual. It cannot be ruled out that the individual might weakly sense this cause (weakly
because it is not localized), but it is not directly communicable. Thus, it is different from how
consciousness is conventionally understood (as, in principle, reportable).
The situation is quite different for the cause 𝑋 . That cause (as related to its property 𝑄 ) depends
on 𝑥 and 𝑋 𝑢 (Eq. 17). Here, all quantities involved (𝑥 , 𝑋 , and 𝑢 ) are localized in the neurobiology
of the brain. Such localization is somewhat diffuse, as these quantities are distributed over different
parts of the brain (such as in Fig. 9b), but they do not extend beyond the brain. Moreover, all quantities
are part of the individual. Therefore, the cause 𝑋 is, in some sense, owned by the individual. In
conclusion, the cause 𝑋 is a good candidate for consciousness, because of spatially confined
localization and clear ownership. Below I will argue that it is plausible that 𝑋 is felt by the individual.
According to Figs. 6-8, the operator 𝑋 can be realized by a switched use of 𝑋 in a feedback loop.
Each time when 𝑋 is realized in this way, it is a distinct cause (of the 𝑓+ that arises from producing 𝑢 ,
on average and possibly only in the future). Thus, 𝑋 exists distinctly at that time. This distinct
existence is transient, because 𝑋 is produced in a pulsed manner. Moreover, the nature of 𝑋 changes,
because it is a nonstationary function of time. Finally, the distinct existence of 𝑋 is produced by the
fact that it depends on modulated noise, rather than being solely produced by material components.
Nevertheless, the cause 𝑋 exists in a real, literal sense. What we have here, then, is a real, spatially
localized cause that briefly appears in one’s head, at the rate of switching to stage 2 in the model of
Fig. 8. If this real, spatially localized cause would correspond to a material object, then there would be
little doubt that its pulsed presence in the brain would be sensed by the individual. Although the cause
here is not purely material, but transient and produced by a rather special form of causation, it is
plausible that it is sensed as well: it is real, distinct, spatially localized, and it has material effects. Its
pulsed presence in one’s head is conjectured here to produce a sensation that can be equated to feeling
conscious in general, as well as to feeling aware of the specific content associated with 𝑋 .
10 Discussion and prospect
The theory explained above proposes that consciousness is equivalent to sensing the distinct, partly
autonomous cause that arises when an individual prepares to communicate (possibly for internal use)
estimated aspects of its own evolutionary fitness. Moreover, it proposes that such preparation is
carried out by the second stage of a dual use of the thalamocortical feedback loop. Whereas the first
stage merely produces estimates, the second stage inverts them. Only if the latter occurs,
15
consciousness results. The theory will be discussed below, first, with respect to related approaches in
the neurosciences, and, second, with respect to how it can be tested empirically.
The theory shares characteristics with existing theories of consciousness, particularly ones closely
aligned with neurobiological findings. Having two stages, a nonconscious and conscious one, is
similar to what is proposed in the global neuronal workspace theory (Dehaene et al. 2003; Dehaene
2014; Dehaene et al. 2017). If one would define a workspace (e.g., in Fig. 9), it would be one jointly
produced by thalamus and cortex. Whereas Dehaene and colleagues localize the workspace primarily
in the cortex, related work on blackboard theory (Mumford 1991) localizes it primarily in the
thalamus. Having two stages is also a characteristic of the recurrent processing theory (Lamme and
Roelfsema 2000; Lamme 2006; van Gaal and Lamme 2012). Recurrent processing is presented there
as a cortical phenomenon, without an explicit role for the thalamus. But the latter may well be
consistent with the observations on which that theory is based.
The current proposal locates the content of consciousness in the components 𝑋 , which are mainly
produced in the cortex. This content also exists in stage 1, but without being conscious at that time.
Only in stage 2, when the 𝑋 s are inverted, such content becomes conscious. But it would be a mistake
to locate consciousness purely in cortex (see also Merker 2007). The process of inversion requires the
subtractive feedback that is conjectured here to be located in TRN and dorsal thalamus. Thus, without
the thalamus there could be no consciousness. Moreover, if more and more of the cortex would
become dysfunctional, more and more content would be lost, but not consciousness itself (as long as at
least some feedback loops remain).
The central role of the thalamus and the thalamocortical loop for consciousness has been noted
before, such as in the dynamic core theory of Edelman and Tononi (2000). An elaboration of this
theory specifically proposes that integration and differentiation of information produce consciousness
(e.g., Oizumi et al. 2014; Tononi et al. 2016b). Integration and differentiation of content are also
features of the theory proposed here, being produced by 𝑋. Anything pertaining to 𝑋 is automatically
integrated, because its effect depends crucially on 𝑥, a scalar. At the same time, differentiation is
produced by which sets of components 𝑋 are active at any particular point in time. Thus, integration
and differentiation are ascribed here not uniquely to consciousness, but already to the nonconscious
production of 𝑋. Consciousness is ascribed here to the production of sets of 𝑋 s, which all depend,
ultimately, on 𝑥 as well. Hence, the current theory is consistent with the fact that consciousness is
experienced as both integrated and differentiated.
Ward (2011, 2013) provides a wealth of arguments for why the thalamus is essential for
consciousness. One interesting observation is that different anesthetics modify activities in various
parts of the brain, but with a common focus on the thalamus (Alkire and Miller 2005; but see also
Alkire et al. 2008; Tononi et al. 2016a). Breaking or disturbing the feedback loop that inverts 𝑋 (in
the lower part of Fig. 9b) is indeed expected to prevent consciousness. Another interesting point
discussed by Ward is that damage to the thalamus or connecting axons is strongly associated with the
unresponsive wakefulness syndrome (vegetative state, Jennett et al. 2001; for reviews see Schiff 2010;
Giacino et al. 2014). Again, this is consistent with the proposal of Fig. 9b. It should be noted that just
removing or disturbing stage 2 would already prevent consciousness, even if stage 1 is left relatively
undisturbed. Such subtle changes in circuit performance at fast timescales may not be easily resolvable
by some of the available experimental techniques (which may explain conflicting results on the role of
the thalamus in consciousness, which are discussed by Koch et al. 2016).
A specific role for the TRN in generating consciousness is proposed by Min (2010). That proposal
is in the tradition of relating consciousness to the presence of the synchronized oscillations that one
can find in thalamus and cortex (Crick and Koch 1990; Llinas et al. 1998; Singer 2001; Engel and
Fries 2016). The current theory does not directly address such oscillations. Nevertheless, there are two
distributed processes that could benefit from the synchronization that oscillations can provide. The
first process is the production of 𝑋, across cortex and subcortical nuclei. The second is the proposed
two-stage functioning of the thalamocortical loop (Fig. 9b). Switching between the two stages requires
considerable synchronization, first, between thalamus and cortex, and, second, across the cortex for
producing 𝑋. Thus, synchronization is then a prerequisite for producing consciousness.
The interaction of TRN with dorsal thalamus has been conjectured to optimize perception (Harth
et al. 1987) and to affect attention (the searchlight hypothesis of Crick 1984). Indeed, there is now
direct evidence that it affects attention in mice (Wimmer et al. 2015). Attention and consciousness are
16
related, but they are not the same (Koch and Tsuchiya 2007; van Boxtel et al. 2010). In particular,
attention does not require consciousness. The current theory does not conflict with an attentional role
for the TRN and thalamus, because they are sufficiently complex to carry out various tasks
simultaneously. Attention may in fact have evolved before consciousness, such as through inhibitory
connections from TRN to dorsal thalamus. This could then have facilitated the subsequent evolution of
the feedback circuit that is proposed here for inverting 𝑋 , through modest additions to and
modifications of existing circuits.
Interestingly, the specific thalamocortical structure of Fig. 9a appears to be best developed in
mammals (Butler 2008), but similar structures are present in birds and reptiles as well, to a lesser
extent. It is absent in fishes and amphibians. This is consistent with the fact that the presence of
consciousness seems most easily ascribable to mammals, birds, and some reptilian species (according
to the theory, the capability to make distress calls suggests consciousness; see also Panksepp and
Panksepp 2013). However, the number of species that have been investigated anatomically is limited,
which means that there may be more variation among species than is presently known. Moreover,
Butler (2008) notes that in species lacking a TRN some of its functions might be realized by other
pathways (such as the loop through the striatum, which is always present).
The theory depends on producing internal estimates 𝑥 of partly external quantities 𝑓 . This is
similar to theories of the brain that depend on internal models of external reality (if we ignore, for the
moment, that consciousness is produced here not by estimating, but by inverting estimates). Such
theories propose that the prime evolved function of the brain is to predict external and internal states,
which can be formulated in terms of predictive coding, maximization of mutual information, and
minimizing variational free energy (e.g., Friston 2010; Clark 2013; Seth 2015). Relatedly, the good
regulator theorem (Conant and Ashby 1970) states that the proper way to regulate a system is to utilize
a good model of it. It is quite possible that much of the brain’s functioning can be understood in this
way. However, this applies to response strategies that have been evolved or learned, or that are readily
learnable. In Section 3 such strategies were acknowledged as an established baseline on top of which
𝑋 works. 𝑋 is not about regulating, but about producing novel, unanticipated structures within the
brain. It concerns non-ergodic change, not homeostasis. Importantly, 𝑋 produces unity in the
organism. This is so because 𝑋 is a distinct cause that depends crucially on 𝑥, which is a scalar that
estimates another scalar, 𝑓. The fundamental reason why the latter is a scalar, and is thus unitary, is
that organisms survive and reproduce as wholes, not as parts. In contrast, specialized (i.e., ad hoc)
internal models of external reality cannot provide unity, because external reality is not unitary by itself
(i.e., without being treated by an organism as an integrated part of its 𝑓, through 𝑥 and the stochastic
mechanism by which 𝑥 produces effects). Specialized internal models may still evolve whenever they
increase fitness 𝑓 in a direct way, but neither such models nor their inverses would produce distinct
causes. Hence, they cannot produce a cause of the kind that is conjectured here to be felt.
The theory presented here is clearly conjectural. The question is then how it can be tested
empirically. Although the model presented in Figs. 7 and 8 is abstract, it is formulated in such a way
that it can be translated into a detailed neurophysiological model, at least in principle. A first, still
rather coarse attempt is presented in Section 8 and Fig. 9. The theory is of a kind that can, ultimately,
only be rigorously tested by a combination of detailed modelling and measurements. It predicts that
neurophysiological models exist that simultaneously fulfil three conditions: first, they explain and
predict the corresponding neurophysiological measurements, second, they conform to the overall
dynamical structure of the model in Figs. 7 and 8, and third, the properties of the model’s switched
dynamics should correspond to those of subjective experience. Such detailed and brain-wide
neurophysiological models may only be possible in the long run. Therefore, I will make a few
suggestions here for more preliminary empirical assessments of the theory’s viability.
A major prediction that should produce empirical observables is the continual switching of the
thalamocortical loop between two states (roughly at 10 Hz in primate brains). One state produces only
components 𝑋 (corresponding, roughly, to unaware representations) and the other produces
components 𝑋 (corresponding to aware representations). By empirically interfering with the second
cycle, it should be possible to suppress consciousness without interfering much with the establishment
of implicit representations. An experiment along these lines would require monitoring the phase of the
state-switching, and precisely timed interference.
17
A further major prediction is that when a sender and receiver are engaged in a consciously
perceived (nonverbal) dialogue (as in Fig. 7), their thalamocortical loops must become synchronized.
Randomly interfering with the timing of the state-switching in either of the two communicating
partners should prevent synchronization and suppress consciously perceived dialogue. The latter
should also happen when the disturbed dialogue is merely imagined or rehearsed (one possible mode
of operation of Fig. 8). Moreover, the awareness in a receiver may be manipulated, in a predictable
way, by the precise timing and content of the communications by a simulated sender that is in dialogue
with the receiver.
The internal dialogue of Fig. 8 suggests another way to interfere with consciousness. Buffers are
required for the two stages (forward 𝑋 and inverted 𝑋 ) to work together. If either of the buffers 𝑥 (𝑡)
and 𝑢 (𝑡) can be localized, interfering with their loading or their retention time should produce
malfunctions of the loop in predictable ways.
If the interpretation of Fig. 9 is correct, then the TRN should have a major role in regulating
consciousness. The role of the TRN for attention in mice has recently been studied in a range of
sophisticated experiments (e.g., Wimmer et al. 2015). Although attention and consciousness are not
the same, they are related (as is briefly mentioned above). It may be possible to adjust the
experimental protocols of these experiments in such a way that they provide information on the
function of the TRN for consciousness rather than for attention.
Finally, the theory depends on the conjecture that there is an 𝑋-process that produces an internal
estimate of an organism’s inclusive fitness, and that the value of this estimate then modulates the
variability of behavioural dispositions. Although 𝑋 does not produce consciousness by itself, the fact
that it is a distinct cause is used in the theory to argue that each 𝑋 is a distinct cause as well, resulting
in the feeling of consciousness. Testing for the presence of 𝑋 and its effects requires, ultimately,
detailed and brain-wide modelling as well. A tentative test may involve manipulating fitness (or at
least apparent fitness) and observing the resulting variability of behaviour or behavioural dispositions.
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Review Article
On the Concept of Spacetime & Consciousness:
Some Western and Indic Thoughts
Narendra Dutt Sharma*
Abstract
What is 'the nature of reality‟? This thought has occupied the minds of scientists and
philosophers since time immemorial. This issue is examined scientifically, that, how the views of
scientists and western philosophers have undergone a dramatic change over a period of time.
This may then answer whether spacetime is a reality of nature or if it is just a figment of our
imagination in which to view this cosmos! The article begins with the thoughts of Democritus,
and the other Greek philosophers, continuing with the ideas of Copernicus, Galileo and Kepler.
With the thoughts of Bacon, Descartes and Isaac Newton, the rise of the „mechanical world
view‟ later the decline of this view is discussed when the phenomenon in optics, electricity and
magnetism could not be explained. Then the concept of „field‟ was evolved, culminating in
„Maxwell‟s equations of electromagnetic fields‟.
The beginning of twentieth century saw the evolution of the concepts of „relativity‟, by Einstein,
and the birth of „quantum theory‟, starting with the idea of „quanta‟, originated by Planck in
1900. The first three decades of the 20th century saw great breakthroughs in the world of
theoretical physics - totally new ideas on „the nature of reality‟ were being conceived. Large
numbers of fundamental particles were discovered in the ensuing years. However, not much
progress indeed was made in answering some of the most fundamental questions about the
existence of human life and the nature of reality. Some interesting ideas on „biocentrism‟ have
now evolved. Biocentrism, along with the ideas of quantum theory and the concept of
consciousness, may answer some of the intricate questions about the nature of reality; these will
be discussed at length. These concepts will then be viewed from the perspective of Indic
thoughts. The „Vedic‟ and „Upanishadic‟ knowledge from Indian scriptures may probably
answer even more clearly some of the most intriguing questions about the existence of life and
the „nature of reality‟ itself.
Keyword: Concept, consciousness, spacetime, Western thought, Indic thought.
1. The Beginning of Scientific Thought
Let us initiate our thought process from the time of Democritus (460-370 BCE), a Greek thinker
of pre-Socratic philosophy. Democritus is sometimes considered „the father of modern science'.
He is probably the first thinker in the history of western scientific thought who postulated „the
*
Correspondence: Narendra Dutt Sharma, Former Controller, Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, Mumbai.
Email: ndsharma57@gmail.com.
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theory of atom-ism‟. He said, „Nothing exists except atoms and empty space; everything else is
an opinion.‟ He also said, „Happiness resides not in possessions, and not in gold, happiness
dwells in the Soul‟. Democritus thus had established „the atomic theory of the universe‟.
Aristotle (384-322 BCE), another Greek thinker and a natural scientist as well as a disciple of
Socrates and Plato, was highly influenced by the thoughts of Democritus. The study of natural
sciences was dominated by Aristotle until early modern times, and modern physics was
developed in reaction to the Aristotelian tradition! However, he deliberated more on the notions
of 'matter' and 'form' in a philosophic way. He did not regard 'body and soul' as two separate
entities!
Copernicus (1473-1543), Galileo (1564-1543) and Kepler (1571-1630) discussed „the motion of
heavenly bodies‟, thus establishing the „laws of planetary motion‟. This became the foundation
of scientific thought in the coming centuries. „The Age of Reason (1558-1648)‟ had begun. This
was the period of the „Renaissance‟ in Europe. This was also the turbulent century of religious
strife and scientific progress marked by such great names as Galileo, Kepler, Francis Bacon,
Rene Descartes and of course Shakespeare and Rembrandt. It is said that science and philosophy
were vanquishing superstition; modern Europe and modern mind were taking shape. „The nature
of physical reality‟ was being explained by some great minds, the ideas of whom would prevail
for little more than two centuries, until further corrections are made to those ideas.
2. The Nature of the Physical World (Mechanical World View)
Sir Francis Bacon (1561-1626) was an English philosopher who had a major influence on the
philosophy of the seventeenth century and later scientific thought. Bacon said, „Let us
understand nature with a goal of mastery over nature‟, and gave impetus to the development of
modern inductive science. This was the beginning of the concept of „materialism‟ in the nature of
scientific thought, where the objective of science would not only be an „inquiry of nature‟, but
also „mastery over nature‟ in order to „exploit nature‟. Rene Descartes (1596-1650), a French
philosopher, mathematician and scientist was one of the most influential thinkers in human
history, sometimes known as the „founder of modern Western philosophy‟. He developed the
conceptual foundation of „new mechanical physics‟ and tried to explain everything in the created
world external to human beings. His method of systematic doubt impacted the subsequent
development of philosophy. He argued that, „the sciences must be founded on certainty‟, and
wrote, „Rules for the Direction of the Mind‟. He said, „I think, therefore I am‟, one of the most
famous statements in Western philosophy. He is also known as father of the 'mindbody' problem, separating these two entities and thus creating a philosophy of 'dualism of mind
and matter‟. He also said that all the objective principles of physical sciences should be
expressible in mathematical language. It created a divide between subjective and objective
thought, considering objective thought only to be the subject of science. This was probably the
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beginning of a divide between scientific thought and contemporary philosophy!! It culminated in
providing a new dimension of thought to the Western world, finally leading to materialism over a
period of time.
Influenced by the thoughts of Bacon and Descartes, Sir Isaac Newton (1642-1727), an English
physicist and mathematician, laid the foundations of the „principles of mechanics‟, popularly
known as „Newtonian mechanics‟, which formed the foundation of scientific thought in the
„physical sciences‟, for next two centuries. This was also the time when the Industrial Revolution
was taking shape in Europe. Newly evolved principles of physical sciences helped to prosper the
industry for the benefit of humankind. In essence, this was the rise of the „mechanical world
view‟, which in turn meant that one could predict the future path of a moving body, and could
make its past known if its present condition and the forces acting upon this body are known. The
paths of the motion of the planets could thus be predicted. It was thought that the most important
force is „Newton‟s gravitational force‟, which depends only on distance (and of course, on
„masses‟). Looking from the „classical mechanics‟ point of view, this concept was applicable to
all branches of physics where various phenomenon were explained by the action of attractive or
repulsive forces depending only upon the distance. Even in the case of the kinetic theory of
matter, this mechanical view embraced the phenomenon of heat leading to a successful picture of
the structure of matter.
An attempt was also made to apply this mechanical view to the case of the corpuscular and wave
theory of light, but in order to define the electrical and optical phenomenon, serious difficulties
were encountered. In case of moving charge acting upon a magnetic needle, the force does not
depend only upon the distance but also upon the velocity of the charge. It was found that the
force acts perpendicular to the line connecting the needle and the charge and indeed neither
attracts nor repels!
Similarly, in case of optics, „wave theory‟ found acceptance against the corpuscular theory of
light. If viewed from a mechanical concept, it meant as if the waves are spreading in a medium
consisting of particles with mechanical forces acting between them. But then the question arose:
what is the medium through which light spreads and what are the mechanical properties of the
medium? It was impossible to reduce the optical phenomenon to the mechanical view unless this
question was answered. Since it was not possible to solve this problem, the mechanical view was
completely given up.
One could see that with the advancing knowledge of the understanding of „Nature‟, how the
older „mechanical world view‟ was rejected in favour of some new concepts now evolving. This
new concept which appeared on the horizon of understanding of physical sciences since the time
of Newton, probably one of the most important concepts, was that of „Field‟.
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3. The Concept of ‘Fields’ and Relativity
Soon it was realized through great scientific imagination that it was neither the charges nor the
particles, but the „field‟ in the space between charges and particles that could describe the
physical phenomenon. This thought was initiated during the latter half of eighteenth century and
took its final shape in the nineteenth century while many European physicists were working on
evolution of this new concept of 'field' and 'force experienced in an electric and magnetic field'.
This was due to the pioneering work of Coulomb (1736-1806), a French physicist, Oersted
(1777-1851), a Danish physicist, Gauss (1777-1855), a German mathematician, Ampere (17751836), a French physicist, Ohm (1789-1854), a German physicist, and Faraday (1791-1867), an
English physicist and a „natural philosopher‟. This concept of „field‟ and „forces experienced in a
field‟ not only proved to be most successful but finally culminated in the concept of
'electromagnetic fields', the mathematical equations that were summarized by a great Scottish
physicist Sir James Clark Maxwell (1831-1879). Maxwell‟s equations described the structure of
'electromagnetic fields' governing the electric, magnetic and optical phenomena. The idea of
'electromagnetic waves' as a carrier of 'energy' brought a new thinking to the world of physical
sciences, opening new vistas of technical innovations. The pioneering work of Heinrich Hertz
(1857-1894) demonstrated the existence of „radio waves‟ in 1887 (with inspiration from the
work of Herman von Helmholtz (1821-1894) and Maxwell) and showed that the velocity of radio
waves is equal to that of light. Hertz‟s thoughts inspired a new subject of „electrodynamics‟,
putting an end to all fruitless arguments about „action at a distance‟. A new concept was
introduced to explain those phenomena of nature that were hitherto not satisfactorily explained.
1905 was an eventful year in the history of scientific thought. Einstein (1879-1955) presented
three papers, one on the „photoelectric effect‟ (Nobel Prize in 1921), the second one on
„Brownian motion‟, and the third one on the „special theory of relativity‟. Historians of science
say that any one of those works would have made him equally famous! The fourth paper was
published on „mass-energy equivalence‟ the same year. Einstein presented his „general theory of
relativity‟ in 1915. The theory of relativity actually arose from the field problems. The old
theories were full of inconsistencies and contradictions and hence Einstein found need to ascribe
new properties to the spacetime continuum, which was supposed to be the canvas where events
take place in this physical world. The entire concept of relativity developed in two phases.
Initially, the special theory of relativity was evolved, applicable to the inertial coordinate system
where the law of inertia per Newton‟s formulation was valid. This assumed that physical laws
are same in all coordinate system moving uniformly relative to each other. This also considered
that the velocity of light „c‟ is always constant. These two assumptions, which were confirmed
later by experiments, led to the deduction of the properties of matter such as changes in length
and movement of rhythm of clocks as a function of velocity of motion. The laws of mechanics
were no more the same. The old Newtonian laws of mechanics were no truer if the velocity of
moving body approaches the velocity of light. The new laws based on relativity theory were later
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confirmed through experiments. Another important consequence of this theory was that mass and
energy were interchangeable, leading to the famous mass-energy equivalence relationship. The
mass is actually energy and the energy has mass. Hence by combining two laws, the special
theory of relativity led to the „law of conservation of mass-energy‟.
However, the spacetime continuum was given an even deeper meaning by the „general theory of
relativity‟. It was no longer restricted to inertial coordinates. It even took into account the issue
of gravitation. The new structure was formulated for the gravitational field. Gravity found a new
definition as the „curvature of the spacetime continuum‟. Geometry was playing an important
role in the description of the physical world! Gravitational and inertial mass are essentially the
same; it is not merely accidental as it is thought of in classical mechanics. Relativity theory had
the consistency and simplicity of its fundamental assumptions. The theory amalgamated all four
dimensions of space and time. The theory also strengthened the concept of „field‟ in
understanding the behavior of the physical world. A new concept was introduced to help better
understand the nature of „physical reality‟.
4. Concept of ‘Quanta’ and Quantum Mechanics
There were certain physical observations – to name a few, black body radiation, the photoelectric
effect, specific heat of solids – that could not be explained by classical physics. New physical
laws needed to be discovered in order to understand the behavior of subatomic particles. Matter
is composed of elementary particles, could we say, the elementary quanta of matter. Therefore,
energy is also composed of elementary „quanta‟ such as photons, which are the energy quanta the
light is composed of. The concept of quanta of energy was originated by Planck (1858-1947)
while studying black body radiation (Nobel Prize in 1918). Incidentally, while speaking in a
meeting of the German Physical Society on December 14, 1900, Planck presented his unusual
ideas, which he himself could hardly believe, that various paradoxes faced by the classical theory
of emission and absorption of light by material bodies could be removed if it is assumed that the
radiant energy can exist only in the form of discrete packages, could be called light quanta. The
thought created intense excitement in the audience and probably in the entire world of physics.
Physics would not be the same thereafter. Planck established that the energy of quanta E, is
directly proportional to the frequency of radiation of quanta f, linking with „Planck‟s constant,
h‟, another universal constant (E=hf).
Einstein successfully applied this idea of quanta five years later in 1905, in order to explain the
empirical laws of the „photoelectric effect‟. Later, an American physicist Arthur Compton (18921962, Nobel Prize in 1927) conducted his classical experiment indicating that the scattering of
X-rays by free electrons follows the same law as the collision between two elastic spheres.
Therefore, in a very short time, this great idea of quanta of radiant energy was fully established.
Then, Niels Bohr (1885-1962, Nobel Prize in 1922) in 1913, utilized this idea of quanta of
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radiant energy to explain the behavior of electrons in an atom. It was thus possible to provide a
logical interpretation to the planetary model of an „atom‟ proposed by Lord Rutherford (18711937, Nobel Prize in 1908). Bohr then calculated the energies of various discrete quantum states
of electrons, thus explaining that the emission of light is the ejection of light quanta with energy
equal to the energy difference between two quantum states. This was the initiation of the
„quantum theory of the atom‟. This, however, was not enough to describe the transition process
of an electron from one quantum state to another, nor was it possible to calculate the intensities
of various spectral lines.
However, an even more fundamental question needed to be answered: do light and electrons
have a particle or wave nature? They probably have properties of both (the nature of a wave and
a particle), but definitely not together at the same time. In order to answer such questions, the
concept of description of atomic events happening in spacetime may have to be reconsidered.
The new science had to formulate laws governing a set of particles rather than individuals, where
the probabilities had to be discussed rather than the properties, where the laws governing the
changes in time of the probabilities had to be thought of. This all was initiated in the third decade
of twentieth century.
Prince Louis de Broglie (1892-1987, Nobel Prize in 1929), a French physicist, in 1925, gave an
unexpected interpretation of Bohr quantum orbits, where the motion of the electron was
supposed to be governed by some mysterious „pilot waves‟, the propagation velocity and length
of which depends on the velocity of the electron. Thus, de Broglie showed that various quantum
orbits in Bohr‟s model were those that could accommodate an „integral number‟ of so called
pilot waves. The model of atom was therefore now thought of having the innermost orbit with
the lowest energy state, and outer orbits with higher energy states. Schrödinger (1887-1961,
Nobel Prize in 1933), a year later, extended these ideas into an exact mathematical form known
as „wave mechanics‟. Wave mechanics successfully explained those phenomena that Bohr‟s
theory could not explain, such as intensities of spectral lines and the fine structure of spectra, and
even predicted some interesting phenomena such as diffraction of an electron beam, which could
not have been imagined either in „classical physics‟, or in the „Planck-Bohr quantum theory‟.
„Wave mechanics‟ thus gave a reasonably complete and self-consistent theory of „atomic
phenomena‟, and could also explain the mechanism of radioactive decay and artificial nuclear
transformations.
Then there was an important turning point in the history of quantum theory. In 1927, Werner
Heisenberg (1901-1976, Nobel Prize in 1932), a German physicist, developed a new treatment of
„quantum problems‟, by application of something called „non-commutative algebra‟ (also known
as „matrix mechanics‟), where (axb) is not necessarily equal to (bxa). It was soon realized that
these two theories vis-a-vis Schrodinger‟s wave mechanics and Heisenberg‟s matrix mechanics,
were physically identical though they were expressed in two entirely different mathematical
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forms. However, Heisenberg‟s „principle of uncertainty‟, so arrived by using this algebra, thus
defining that one could never predict the exact position and momentum of a particle at the same
time, was a turning point in the history of „quantum theory‟. This concept of uncertainty and the
„observer‟ affecting the „observed‟ encountered resistance in scientific discussion. This will be
discussed again in detail a little later with reference to an experiment.
One important issue of quantizing mechanical systems, because of the very high velocities
involved that required relativistic treatment, was finally sorted out in 1929 by a British physicist
P.A.M. Dirac (1902-1984, Nobel Prize in 1933, shared with Schrodinger), who formulated his
famous „relativistic wave equation‟. Dirac‟s wave equation gave the perfect description of the
motion of an electron at very high velocities (close to that of light), which also explained their
linear and angular mechanical moments and magnetic moments. Dirac also predicted the
possible existence of „positively charged anti-electrons‟, the presence of which was found in
cosmic rays a few years later. The theory of anti-particles was then extended to all the
elementary particles, and therefore allowed for anti-protons, anti-neutrons and so on.
It was quite clear that the observer has a central role in „quantum theory‟, which extends from
spacetime to the properties of matter itself, however some scientists continue to dismiss the „act
of observation‟ as a nonentity. The act of observation, (and the tools used in observation such as
electrons, photons) could not only alter but could determine what is desired to be perceived while
studying the behavior of sub-atomic particles. An electron has both a particle as well as a wavelike property (and so does everything else in nature), but how and where such a particle is
located is dependent on the very act of observation. This was known as „quantum uncertainty‟
and was thought to be quite weird to start with. The particle exists only in a blurry state of
possibility until its wave function collapses during observation. The object‟s behavior could only
be defined as probabilities. No object could therefore assume a particular motion or place until
the collapse of its wave function. Sometimes in twenties itself, Max Born (1882-1970, Noble
prize in 1954), had established that the quantum waves are the „waves of probability‟, and not the
waves of material theorized by Schrödinger, answering the question: „waves of what?‟. These are
statistical predictions; the wave of probability is nothing but a likely outcome! The quantum
waves merely define the potential location that could be occupied by a particle. A probability
wave is neither an event nor a phenomenon, it is just a description of likelihood of an event or
phenomenon to occur. John Wheeler had once remarked that „No phenomenon is a real
phenomenon until it is an observed phenomenon‟.
The two-hole experiment had proven this point of the „act of observation‟. The observer‟s look
itself could collapse the wave function, and not only that, mere knowledge held in the observer‟s
mind was good enough to cause the collapse of the wave function! The concept of „thought‟ was
entering in scientific discussions. In case of entangled particles, they even share a wave function!
Furthermore, their wave function collapses together instantaneously even if they are light years
away. Experiments done during 1997 to 2007 have proved this phenomenon. Physicists are
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finding it hard to reconcile with this even if it is predicted by quantum theory reasonably well!
Wave-particle duality in quantum weirdness has baffled physicists who describe it as impossible
to intuit or formulate into words and even to visualize, thus invalidating common sense and
general perception. It may be apt to quote Werner Heisenberg, who wrote in 1930 on the subject
of „spacetime‟ in his book on „The Physical Principles of Quantum Theory‟, as follows:
“Although it is perhaps possible in principle to diminish space and time intervals without limit
by refinement of measuring instruments, nevertheless for the principal discussion of the concepts
of wave theory, it is advantageous to introduce finite values for values of space and time
intervals involved in the measurements and only pass to the limit zero (Del x->0; Del t->0) for
these intervals at the end of the calculations. It is possible that future developments of quantum
theory will show that the limit, zero, for such intervals is an abstraction without physical
meaning; however, for the present, there seems to be no reason for imposing any limitations.”
It appears that philosopher physicist Heisenberg had realized that the concept of spacetime is
only a percept to give some physical meaning to the physical phenomenon to be viewed in this
cosmos. Interestingly, the great English philosopher, thinker and mathematician Bertrand Russell
(1872-1970), while writing in his book on „The Analysis of Matter‟, addressed the subject of
spacetime as follows:
“We might suppose, as Henry Poincare once suggested, and as Pythagoras apparently believed,
that space and time are granular, not continuous - i.e. the distance between two particles may
always be an integral multiple of some unit, and so may the time between two events. Continuity
in the percept is no evidence of continuity in the physical process.”
However, as seen in the discussion above, the thirty years from 1900 to 1930, after an unusual
thought of „quanta‟ by Planck, were crucial in the development of „quantum theory‟, which at
that point had taken some shape. Historians of science say that very little theoretical progress has
been made in the decades to follow these great developments except that experimental physicists
could discover some more elementary particles and the presence of antiparticles. However,
science is still struggling to understand the very fundamental existence of these elementary
particles, their charges, masses, magnetic moments including their interactions.
It may be believed that if such a breakthrough is achieved at all, it may be through different
concepts from the known concepts of today. It may require completely „out of the box‟ thinking.
It may be necessary to involve the concept of „consciousness‟, and the role of the „conscious
observer‟. It may also be necessary to incorporate bioscience and combine it with theoretical
physics in order to understand the evolution of life and nature itself.
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5. Biocentrism - Principles
It now appears that some deeper understanding of Bioscience and Theoretical Physics may help
to understand life and the reality of nature. Dr. Lanza has come out with some interesting
principles of „biocentrism‟7,8, which are outlined hereunder:
First Principle - What we perceive as reality is a process that involves our 'consciousness'.
Second Principle - Our external and internal perceptions are inextricably intertwined. They are
different sides of the same coin and cannot be separated.
Third Principle - The behaviour of all the particles - subatomic or even objects - is inextricably
linked to the presence of an observer. Without the presence of a „conscious observer', they exist
at best in an undermined state of 'probability waves'.
Fourth Principle - Without consciousness, 'matter' dwells only in an undermined state of
probability. Any universe that could have preceded consciousness only existed in a probability
state.
Fifth Principle - The very structure of the universe could be explained only through biocentrism.
The universe is fine-tuned for life, which makes perfect sense as life creates the universe, not the
other way around. The universe is simply the complete spatio-temporal logic of the self.
Sixth Principle - Time does not have a real existence outside of animal sense perception. It is the
process by which we perceive changes in the universe.
Seventh Principle - Space, like time, is not an object or a thing. Space is another form of our
animal understanding and does not have an independent reality. We carry space and time around
with us like turtles with shells. Thus, there is no absolute self-existing matrix in which physical
events occur independent of life.
These principles of biocentrism and concepts of quantum theory will now be used to explain an
interesting experiment conducted very recently, regarding how human emotions create physical
reality in space-time! Physicists are finding it difficult to come to the terms with such
phenomena that are unexplainable with the present knowledge. Biocentrism could, however, give
some meaning to our understanding of nature and life as such.
6. Human Emotions Create Physical Reality
Three different scientific studies 13,14 done by different teams of researchers in the U.S. have
proved something really extraordinary. When these researches connected the three discoveries,
something shocking was realized. Human emotion literally shapes the world around us, not just
our perception of the world, but reality itself. In the first experiment, human DNA, isolated in a
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sealed container, was placed near a test subject. Scientists gave the donor an emotional stimulus
and fascinatingly enough, the emotions affected the DNA in the other room. In the presence of
negative emotions, the DNA tightened. In the presence of positive emotions, the coils of the
DNA relaxed. The scientists concluded that „human emotion produces effects [that] defy
conventional laws of physics.‟
In the second, similar but unrelated experiment, a different group of scientists extracted
leukocytes (white blood cells) from donors and placed them into chambers so they could
measure electrical changes. In this experiment, the donor was placed in one room and subjected
to „emotional stimulation‟ consisting of video clips, which generated a range of different
emotions in the donor. The DNA was placed in a different room in the same building. Both the
donor and his DNA were monitored, and as the donor exhibited emotional peaks or valleys
(measured by electrical responses) the DNA exhibited the identical responses at exactly the same
time. There was no lag time, no transmission time. The DNA peaks and valleys exactly matched
peaks and valleys of the donor in time.
The scientists wanted to see how far away they could separate the donor from his DNA and still
get this effect. They stopped testing after they separated the DNA and the donor by 80 km and
still had the same result: no lag time, no transmission time. The DNA and the donor had the same
identical responses in time. The conclusion was that the donor and the DNA can communicate
with each other beyond space and time.
The third experiment proved a bit shocking! Scientists observed the effect of DNA on our
physical world. Light photons, which make up the world around us, were observed inside a
vacuum. Their natural locations were completely random. Human DNA was then inserted into
the vacuum. Shockingly, the photons were no longer acting randomly. They precisely followed
the geometry of the DNA. Scientists, who were studying this, described the photons as
behaving „surprisingly and counter-intuitively‟. They went on to say that „We are forced to
accept the possibility of some new field of energy!‟ They concluded that „human DNA literally
shapes the behavior of light photons [that] make up the world around us! So when new research
was done, and all of these three scientific claims were connected together, scientists were
shocked. They came to a stunning realization that if our emotions affect our DNA and our DNA
shapes the world around us, then our emotions physically change the world around us!
Furthermore, we are connected to our DNA beyond space and time. We create our own reality by
choosing it with our feelings. Science has already proven some pretty mind-blowing facts about
„the universe‟ we live in. All we have to do is connect the dots. We may now provide a scientific
explanation to this amazing phenomenon by utilizing already well-established concepts of
quantum theory and wave mechanics. We will, however, introduce a new concept of „field‟, and
we will call it the‟ field of consciousness‟.
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7. Quantum Science and Consciousness Explains the Physical Reality of
Emotions – the Concept of ‘Field of Consciousness’
The explanation of the above phenomenon given here is based on the „theories of quantum
physics‟, and on the fundamental tenets that, „life and consciousness are the keys to
understanding true nature‟. We would like to introduce the concept of a new field; the one that
scientists have been talking about. We may call it the „field of consciousness‟ and something like
the „electromagnetic field‟. We also agree with Dr. Robert Lanza, who says, „Biocentrism is the
only humanly comprehensible explanation for how the world can be like that 7,8‟.
According to the thoughts of Einstein and many others during the beginning of the twentieth
century, the concept that independent events can happen in separate non-linked locations - a very
cherished concept called 'locality' - fails to hold at atomic and sub-atomic level, and it seems that
there is evidence that this non-adherence of locality extends reasonably well to the macroscopic
world. While we study subatomic particles, the observer is very much in the picture and he alters
and even determines what he wishes to perceive. The very presence and even methodology of the
observer gets wonderfully entangled with what he indeed wishes to observe and the results
thereof. We have already considered the wave and particle nature of the electron (dual nature of
particle, but not at the same time), but how and where such a particle is located is more
important, and it will always remain dependent on the observer and his act of observation.
In addition, there was another core concept developed by Einstein in relation to discrete entities
and spacetime where the speed of light (denoted by c) is constant, which was important to be
taken into account for any information to travel and that events in one place cannot influence
events at another place simultaneously. This view had been considered true for almost a century
but now some new thinking and experiments have shown that this is not the case for all kinds of
information propagation. Einstein and his colleagues, while dealing with particle
entanglement (in their famous EPR correlation by Einstein, Podolsky and Rosen), had even
dismissed quantum theory's prediction that a particle could somehow know what another particle
thoroughly separated in space is doing, and attributed such observations to as not yet identified
local contamination (Einstein called it a „spooky action at a distance‟), thus burying the true
weirdness of quantum theory below the public consciousness. Who could dare say in those days
that, „Einstein was wrong!!‟
But Einstein was indeed proven wrong when in 1964, John Bell experimentally proved
that separate particles could affect each other instantaneously over great distances. Now,
according to 'quantum theory', everything in nature exhibits a 'particle nature' as well as a 'wave
nature', and the behavior of the object could best be described only by 'probabilities'. Any
particle could assume motion or a particular place only when its 'wave function'
collapses. Therefore, it was evident that an observer could only look at the particle when its
wave function collapses. Interestingly, it also became clear that mere knowledge in the observer's
mind was good enough to cause the collapse of the wave function!
As if this was not enough! Whenever entangled particles get created, the pair shares a wave
function. Therefore, when the wave function of one particle collapses, so it happens for the other
particle even if they are separated by millions of light years. Here, the 'principle of
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complementarity' gets invoked. That is, if one particle has a spin 'up', the other particle of the
pair instantly transforms from being a mere probability wave to an actual particle of opposite
spin. They really are so intimately linked that there is no influence of 'space‟ or „time‟ on their
behavior. This is fantastic indeed!! Experiments have revealed that these small particles have
some kind of ESP. It has been observed that if one particle randomly decides to go one way, its
twin always follows with the same kind of behavior (complementary action) at the same
moment, instantaneously, irrespective of their separating distance. Einstein's spacetime has no
impact on their behavior whatsoever. The behavior is considered 'instantaneous' because it
happens at much faster than the velocity of light, the limit of the testing system. It could be at a
velocity of c2 or even higher! (We hold the view that 'thought waves ' probably travel at a
velocity of c4).
Therefore, even scientists making measurements get perplexed by such phenomena, probably
knowing reasonably well that they are predicted by 'quantum theory' to an extent, that the
entangled particles will instantaneously reflect the same action or state even if they are
separated by any distance whatsoever. Therefore, disproving Einstein's old concept of 'locality'
with no effect of spacetime on such phenomena, it is also evident that these observed entities are
indeed floating in a 'field' hitherto unknown. We will now call this as the „field of consciousness',
where any phenomenon is not limited by the spacetime concept theorized by Einstein more than a
century ago. What probably happened in this experiment was that the stimulation experienced by
the second particle (which happened to be far away) as a result of original stimulation to the first
subject particle (according to the theory described above), reoriented the photons lying in the
„field of consciousness‟ of the second particle according to the stimulation experienced by the
second particle. In addition, this happened beyond the spacetime of Einstein‟s general relativity.
Thus, scientists have rightly concluded that human emotion physically shapes reality.
Now, the question may arise, 'Why does it not happen at macro level? ', The reason for this is
that as the object gets larger in size, its wavelength gets smaller. Therefore, once you are in the
macroscopic domain, the waves are too close together to be noticed or even measured. The
waves are, however still there! Therefore, even the wave function is very much definable. With
very small particles, if they are not observed, they could not be considered to have any real
existence in space. Quantum waves, therefore, merely define the potential location a particle
could occupy. The wave probability is neither an event nor a phenomenon; it is actually just a
description of the likelihood of an event or a phenomenon that may occur. Nothing really
happens unless the event is actually observed. Nothing is real unless it is perceived. Some new
experiments have now shown that even in the case of large molecules, it has been indicated that
quantum reality does extend into the macroscopic world we live in. In one experiment conducted
a decade ago or so, KHCO3 crystals exhibited 'quantum entanglement'.
It therefore appears that there is nothing like the reality of „spacetime‟. It is just a percept to view
this so-called physical universe. If we accept these thoughts, we may realize that we in the
Western world are coming closer to the Indian sage concept of spacetime and the origination of
life long ago. We will discuss this idea in the following section.
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8. Vedic and Upanishadic Thoughts on Spacetime Reality & the
Ultimate Truth
Vedic and Upanishadic thoughts are directed towards enquiry into the nature of truth. Not only
that, the Vedas are also the discovery of truth, the laws of nature, the universe, and beings thus
leading to ultimate truth (the enquiry into truth means the discrimination and determination of
„real‟ and „unreal‟). The word „Veda‟ comes from the word „Vid‟, thereby meaning „to know‟.
The Vedas are supposed to be „apauruseya grantha‟, meaning not authored by man. These were
revelations of the ultimate masters/sages while they were in deep meditation, with the authors
unknown, supposedly to have been finally compiled by 1500 BCE or so into four Vedas: RigVeda, Yajur-Veda, Sam-Veda and Atharva-Veda. The various Upanishads were supposed to
have been compiled by 500 BCE, and therefore the period up to 500 BCE is known as the „Vedic
Period‟. This ancient knowledge considers life and consciousness to be the fundamental tenets of
existence, and therefore discusses laws governing the individual, life, universe, the ultimate
creation and their relationships to one another. It answers fundamental questions such as „who
am „I‟?‟ and „what is the objective of the existence of life?‟. Interestingly, it also talks of
„materialism‟ as well as „non-materialism‟ while modern science only talks of a „materialistic
universe‟15,16.
The Vedas consider three aspects of life. These are „the individual‟ (microcosm), „the universe‟
(macrocosm), and „the creator‟ of both. It also talks of a „cause and effect‟ relationship. The
microcosm and macrocosm are made up of five elements: space, air, fire, water and earth, in that
sequence. How did these five elements come into being? These elements could not have created
one another, therefore there should be a cause. That cause could be called the „creator‟. It
establishes that the „individual‟ is a part of the „universe‟ and cannot exist without the universe
and vice-versa. But before we discuss this aspect of „creation‟, let us deliberate on some
important aspects such as real and unreal etc.
The real (Sat) is considered that which is changeless and remains the same at all times; it is not at
all a function of time. However, unreal (mithya) is that which changes with time, and hence is
not real. This world exists and is experienced as well, but everything in it changes with time, and
hence it is unreal. Every object in this world is just „energy in motion‟ (that is why one is not
able to determine the position and momentum of a particle correctly, as per „Heisenberg‟s
principle of uncertainty‟, a basic tenet of „quantum mechanics‟, and everything could be defined
only as a „wave of probability‟). Everything, from subatomic particle to the cosmos is in a state
of flux. But for every change, there has to be a changeless substratum that is beyond „spacetime‟.
This eternal factor has been called „Brahman‟, the reality as described in the „scriptures‟. The
changeless reality can only be distinguished from everything once the changing nature of
everything else is realised. The scriptures that indicate the truth, which is beyond the mind and
the senses, are the valid means of real knowledge. The enquiry into the nature of truth, however,
has to continue.
„I‟, the observer of this cosmos is always present, as I am experiencing this cosmos. Since „I‟ am
ever present, „I‟ alone am real and all else other than me is unreal. Since „I‟ cannot identify
myself with this body or mind, which is ever-changing, what is left is the „self (Atma/soul)‟ that
is the real „truth‟. What is „self‟ then? That which is other than the gross, subtle or causal bodies
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and witnesses all three states of „consciousness‟ (waking, dream and deep sleep state), and of the
nature of existence-consciousness-bliss is the real „self‟.
The range of human experience has a wide bandwidth and is varied. We normally experience this
physical world as sound, touch, form, taste and smell. We experience the emotional world as
desire, anger, love and compassion etc. The intellectual world is experienced as concepts, ideals
and imagination etc. We may also experience the absence of all of them. These experiences are
classified into three states of consciousness known as waking, dream and deep sleep states. In the
waking state, we identify ourselves with this gross body. However, it may not be possible to
function through this gross body without identifying with the subtle and causal bodies. In the
waking state, the objects in the world that seem to be real are experienced through sense organs;
the objects and events appear to have a cause-effect relationship. In the dream state, we
experience the impressions gathered in the waking state while we are in sleep state and the self is
identified with the subtle body. The mind creates, sustains and ends not only the dream world,
but also the enjoyer of this world. The conscious thinking done by the intellect does not play any
role in the dream state (this is what is known as „Freud‟s theory of dream analysis‟ in the
Western world). Dreams are normally either the unfulfilled wishes or the impressions of the
individual during the waking state and do not require gross manifestation.
The deep sleep state is very important where the „self‟ is identified with the causal body; one
gives up identification with the gross and subtle body. In this state, there is complete absence of
experience of objects, emotions and thoughts. One experiences the joy of one‟s true nature. In
this state, there is neither the doer of any action nor the enjoyer of this world. Hence, we can say
that in this deep sleep state and in the absence of thoughts, there is no concept of spacetime or
duality. Nevertheless, „I‟ do exist in this state as well.
Therefore, the nature of the true „self‟, the „Atman‟, which is quite different from these three
bodies but witness to all three states, is of the nature of Sat-Chit-Anand, existenceconsciousness-bliss. Existence (Sat) is that which remains unchanged at all times. Consciousness
(Chit) is of the nature of absolute knowledge „I am‟. Bliss (Anand) is of the nature of absolute
happiness. Therefore, it could be summarized that that existence-consciousness-bliss is not the
attribute but the aspect of one self. The self is „infinite‟ and therefore the Sat-Chit-Anand is
really one. I am therefore „immortal‟ and that is also my true nature. Now it is necessary to
understand the true nature of this universe. It has been already explained that an individual is a
part of this universe and cannot exist without it.
The sages considered twenty-four factors constituting this universe. These are the five elements
(pancha-mahabhutas), the five organs of perception (panch-jnanendriyas), the five organs of
action (panch-karmendriyas), the five pranas (pancha-pranas), and the four thought
modifications, mind, intellect, memory and ego (mana, buddhi, chitta, ahankar). However, none
of these factors, on their own or together, could be the cause of the others. How did they emerge?
As discussed earlier, a cause must lead to an effect. Therefore, this universe must have a cause,
which must exist before effect. Since truth alone existed before anything like names, forms or the
qualities of this universe came into existence, truth is the cause of this universe. But truth is
changeless and hence it cannot become anything other than itself, which is of the nature of
existence-consciousness-bliss. The ever-changing universe does exist according to our
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experience so the question arises of how a changing entity could emerge from a changeless
cause.
9. The Concept of ‘Maya’
The question above has been explained by „Vedantic thoughts‟ by postulating the concept of
„Maya‟ (illusion) - something that appears to be, yet is not. From the point of view of the
„universe‟, the „truth‟ alone could be its cause, however, from the point of view of „truth‟, it
should have no effect. This is due to „Maya‟, which is described as an „illusion‟. That is why it is
said that we are in an „illusory universe‟. Maya is supposed to have two powers, one of which is
the nature of „ignorance‟ that veils the truth. Therefore, this power by itself cannot create the
universe. However, the other one is the „creative power‟ that projects the entire universe of
names and forms as well as manifests inherent impressions though it could not do so without
veiling power. Vedanta further explains that the „truth‟ endowed with „Maya‟ is called the
„creator of the universe‟ (Isvara/Brahman). Maya is the creative power of the „Isvara‟, which is
worshipped as „Shakti‟. The power of Maya, which is unfathomable, could make the impossible
seem real. This is the power of Maya that has created this boundaryless cosmos from beginningless time and may continue to do so endlessly. There is, however, no existence of Maya apart
from „truth‟, and without existence, nothing could exist, therefore „Brahman alone has intrinsic
existence; „Maya‟ therefore depends on this „truth‟ for its existence. However, in the „truth‟,
there is no trace of „Maya‟, therefore, „Maya‟ gets destroyed upon knowing the „truth‟16.
Maya is supposed to have three qualities. The first one is „Sattvaguna‟, characterized by
„knowledge‟; the second one is „Rajoguna‟, characterized by the nature of „activity‟, and the
third one is „Tamoguna‟, characterized by „inertia‟. These three characteristics of Maya pervade
the entire „universe‟ and „creation‟, and only by their various combinations can an infinite
variety of properties be created. There are two causes to create any object - one is a material
cause and the other is an efficient cause. These two causes, however, are different from each
other. The question arises: what are the material and efficient causes of the „universe‟? The five
elements are the material cause of the „universe‟. These five elements must have emerged from
the „truth‟. Similarly, the efficient cause of the universe must be „truth‟ alone. But, whenever the
material and efficient causes are the same, the created result is an „illusion‟. Like in the dream,
the dream world is a manifestation of the waking mind, which is its creator, sustainer and
destroyer. Therefore, a dream is an illusion and it appears that there is no logical sequence to
creation. However for us, this waking world only appears to be real, which is governed by
natural laws having a cause-effect relationship. Considering this, Vedanta has then explained the
sequence of creation.
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10. The Evolution of Five Elements
Now let us discuss the evolution of five elements16, which is the most crucial concept in
understanding the physical nature of Vedantic philosophy scientifically.
Tata akasah sambhutah, akasad vayuh,
Vayustejah, tejasah apah, adbhyab prithvi. (In Sanskrit)
From Maya, space was born, from space, air, from air, fire, from fire, water and from water,
earth was born.
Maya first created the five subtle elements in the order of subtle to gross. The object is subtler if
it is more pervasive and it has more perceivable qualities. It is subtler if it has a fewer number of
qualities. It is said that „truth‟ is subtlest because it is all pervasive, attributeless and beyond the
cognition of any instruments of knowledge. Therefore, „space‟, which is the subtlest of the
elements, was the first one created by Maya. Space has the quality of „sound‟ because sound
needs the medium of space through which to travel. „Air‟ was born from „space‟ as „air‟ is less
pervasive. Air has the qualities of sound and touch. Air, therefore, can be heard and felt. Then
„fire‟ came out of air as it is less pervasive than air. Fire has the qualities of sound, touch, color
and form. Therefore, fire could be heard, felt and seen. „Water‟, which is less pervasive than
„fire‟, „air‟, and „apace‟, was next to be born. Water has the qualities of sound, touch, color &
form and taste. It can be heard, felt, seen and tasted.
The last in the sequence of evolution is the „earth‟ because it is grossest and the least pervasive
of all the elements. It has the qualities of sound, touch, color & form, taste and smell, and could
therefore be heard, touched, seen, tasted and smelled. These elements could only be perceived as
sense objects after they become gross. Maya is the material cause of the five elements, and the
material cause is never different from the created object. Therefore, all the five elements carry all
the qualities of Maya. We discussed earlier that the ultimate material cause of the universe could
be „truth‟ alone, and therefore, „truth‟ should pervade all the five elements. This is exactly like
the gold that pervades all the gold ornaments. The question may then arise, when did Maya
create these five elements? This can be understood only if it is accepted that at the time of the
dissolution of the universe, the three qualities of Maya remained in their yet to be manifested
form in a state of equilibrium. The process of creation began only when this balance or
equilibrium was disturbed.
Incidentally, this mechanism of physical evolution could well be seen in the light of modern
scientific theories of evolution such as the „Big Bang Theory‟. From „singularity‟ during the prePlanck time era, space had to be born first for creation of the universe because the universe needs
space to evolve. Space has the quality of sound and the universe was created with the primordial
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sound of „OM‟. Similarly, the sequence of evolution of other elements of air, fire, water and
earth could be debated (we leave it to the imagination of the reader to make it out for herself).
Three qualities of „Maya‟ were discussed earlier. The first one, „Sattvaguna‟, has its main
characteristic as „knowledge‟. Therefore, the five organs of perception i.e. the organs of hearing,
touch, sight, taste and smell were born out of the „Sattvic Aspect‟ of these five elements. Since
each element has its own special quality, the corresponding sense organ was evolved to perceive
that special quality. The inner instruments of the mind, intellect, ego and memory are also
formed from the total „Sattvic‟ aspect of these five elements. The inner equipment, generally
called „mind‟, is nothing but a continuous flow of thought modifications, which are classified
into four depending upon the function it performs. These are mind, intellect, ego and memory.
The mind consists of thoughts in a state of volition and is indecisive. The intellect is the thoughts
in a state of decision such as reasoning, observation and conclusion. Intellect makes one think
logically and decisively. The ego is the thought, „I am the doer‟. It is the notion of individual
ownership of actions and the sense of individuality without pride. Memory has the function of
reflection and recollection.
From the „Rajasic aspect‟ of these five elements, the organ of speech (tongue), grasping (hands),
locomotion (legs), procreation (genitals) and excretion (anus) is formed. However, from the total
Rajas aspect of these five elements, the five vital airs, Pranas are formed. The rajas guna is
characterized by the activity and hence the rajasic aspect of Maya that manifests into activity.
These five organs of action respond to the universe by activating the body and the five pranas to
provide power to all functions of the body to keep it alive through various physiological
functions.
The manifestation of the Sattvic and Rajasic aspect of the five elements lead to the constitution
of the total „subtle‟ body or the „subtle universe‟ while the non-manifesting condition of the five
elements and the three qualities is nothing but the ‟causal‟ body. The grossified five elements are
born out of the „Tamasic‟ aspect of these five elements in a process called „Panchikarnam‟. This
happens in a very interesting way. The tamasic aspect of each element divides into two parts,
half remaining intact while the other half gets divided in to four parts, getting attached with the
other four elements. Panchikaranam is now complete and the gross body is formed out of these
five grossified elements. Each of the gross elements has, therefore, the quality of all the other
elements. These elements are now perceived by the senses. The combinations of all these
elements form the entire gross body and the universe. Tamasic guna, however, is characterized
by „inertia‟, which means it cannot know itself. The gross body cannot function without the
subtle body. Therefore, whenever the subtle body leaves the gross body, the gross body
disintegrates and merges into the five gross elements.
It is only the gross body that needs the concept of spacetime in order to perceive this universe
and to understand the so called physical laws of nature. There is no concept of spacetime in the
context of the subtle and causal body, without which the gross body cannot function.
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11. The Relationship of the Individual with the Total (Creator, the Brahman)
The question may then arise, how an individual is related to the truth if this whole universe has
arisen from Maya, which happens to be inherent in the truth? But, the part could never be
separate from the whole; therefore there is an identity or oneness between the „microcosm‟ and
„macrocosm‟16. This could be further explained as follows:
The total subtle elements form the individual subtle body; likewise, the individual mind is part of
the total mind. Similarly, the total gross elements constitute the individual gross body, therefore
the individual gross body (Pinda) is a part of the total gross body (Brahmanda). Therefore, the
total and individual are supposed to share a whole-part relationship. The truth, however, which is
the pure self, is the original cause of the total subtle and gross elements. Therefore
fundamentally, there is always an identity between the individual and the total as if the waves are
a part of the ocean in terms of name and form, but they are the one with respect to their essence,
which is water. Vedanta further clarifies the concept of essential oneness as follows:
The individual (Jiva) is nothing but the reflection of truth (Brahman), identifying itself with the
gross body. The individual may consider himself/herself essentially different from Brahman
because it is „self‟ conditioned by ignorance (Avidya), which is mainly tamasic, but when
conditioned with Maya, it is Brahman. This difference is only due to conditioning. The „truth‟ or
„the Brahman‟ is infinite, and it wields inherent creative power and total conditioning (Maya)
and appears as the world of things and beings. The truth, when conditioned with Maya, is
Brahman, and is all-powerful, all-knowing and all-pervading. He is the efficient and material
cause of this universe. The Brahman, knowing His true nature, cannot get overpowered with
Maya, hence He is „Mayapati‟. His Maya is mainly Sattvic and therefore cannot bind. Since the
individual identifies with the finite gross and subtle bodies and lives as a finite creature, he is
enslaved by conditioning. Therefore, his visualization of the spacetime as reality is only because
of this conditioning, which is really not the truth. The vision of an individual is born purely out
of ignorance, that he continues to accept himself as finite, falsely identifying himself with
beginningless time although he is infinite. The essential oneness of the individual with the
Brahman can only be realized through enquiry into the statement „that thou art-Tatwam Asi‟.
12. Enquiry into the Nature of Truth
The subsequent question may arise, „why does an individual fail to recognize the truth?‟ It is
because the individual is endowed with „ego‟ and „limited knowledge‟. This need not be
confused with the new age philosophy of „overcoming the ego‟, which aims to completely erase
the ego. Transcending ego doesn‟t mean that it may disappear. It only means that one needs to be
aware of it and no longer limited by it. Ego will always remain an integral part of „self‟, as
explained earlier that the ego is the thought „I am the doer‟. The very goal of human life is to
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realize one‟s own true nature, and the very purpose of „Vedantic‟ philosophy is to obtain
knowledge of the „self‟. One such thought is „Tattwam Asi-that thou art‟- from Chandogya
Upanishad of „Sama Veda‟, where it is explained that truth (Tat) alone is (Asi) you (twam). That
also means that there is a complete identity or oneness between the two, the two being truth (the
supreme creator) and „self‟. This is further clarified in the Upanishadic teachings16.
„Thou‟ is the one identified with the „gross‟, and „subtle‟ bodies, but thou is nothing but the pure
consciousness free from all conditioning, and can be appreciated in deep meditation. „That‟ is the
„supreme consciousness‟ endowed with omniscience, omnipotence and omnipresence, which is
again pure consciousness free from all conditionings, and therefore, there is no contradiction
regarding the essential oneness between the two from this point of view. We must absorb the
indicative meaning rather than the literal meaning. This is realized only when we shift our
attention from conditioning to the unconditioned self or truth. This enquiry could initiate either
from the „creator‟ that is He in essence, or it could also initiate from the „individual‟ or „who am
I in essence?‟ Either way will culminate in the realization that „I am the infinite truth-Aham
Brahmasmi. Therefore, according to Vedantic teachings, those beings in whom the vision of
truth is born are liberated even while living life. Self‟ cannot be known as an object of
knowledge, it can be revealed only by subtle and indicative methods. Therefore, the Vedas use
mystical language.
Vedanta is the means of „self-realization‟. One needs to realize that „self‟ in him is „self‟ in all,
that all is truth alone and that „I‟ am „infinite reality‟. „I‟ am unattached and of the nature of
existence-consciousness-bliss (Sat-Chit-Anand), and the formless awareness. The ignorant one
considers himself to be a finite, transmigrating individual and the world to be real. The self,
different from three bodies and three states, is totally unaffected by them and liberated. The self
is ever existent, the witness of all and infinite and therefore, has no limitation. The self is
basically the „knowledge principle‟ and illuminates all „thoughts‟, the „life principle‟ that
enlivens all „beings‟. Since the liberated one knows that „self‟ in me is the same as self in all, he
loves all as his own self. Space is all-pervasive, but the self pervades even space. It is therefore
beyond space.
Therefore, there is no concept of spacetime for the „self‟, which is „me‟.
The question may however arise, what is the real purpose of this knowledge? The answer could
be that by this immediate knowledge that „I am Brahman alone‟, one is free from the bondages of
all actions (Karmas). By this knowledge, one definitely does not gain any special power,
unworldly experiences or worldly achievements. One needs to continue performing worldly
actions and do extraordinary things. Though this knowledge does not create anything new, it
removes the ignorance about the „self‟. The „I am finite‟ notion is removed. „I am the doer‟ is
what an ignorant person thinks, therefore he enjoys and suffers as a results. The realized „soul‟
understands that he is neither the doer nor the enjoyer, and is therefore free from the bondages of
actions. He performs duties with complete detachment, not compelled from within by a sense of
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incompleteness, but rather out of a sense of fulfilment and a love for all of humanity. He always
experiences freedom even in action and does not seek freedom from action. The knower of the
„self‟ attains „supreme bliss‟ in this world itself. This is what has also been spelled out even in
„Geetopadesham‟ 15.
One, which is constantly changing, is known as the „Samsara‟, the universe. The realm of „time‟,
„space‟ and „objects‟ is this „Samsara‟, which is not only „Mithya‟, an illusion, an embodiment of
„Maya‟, but has limitations, thus causing sorrow. The knower of an object is not an object itself,
but the knower of the „self (truth)‟, becomes „truth‟ itself. There is nothing like becoming; he
realizes that his nature is „supreme bliss‟ even while he is ignorant.
This is the essence of Upanishadic knowledge. These fundamentals of knowledge have been
taken from the commentary of the 8th century sage Adi Shankracharya, who had elaborated on
these concepts in „Tattvabodha‟16, the enquiry into the „nature of truth‟, the entire subject matter
of Vedanta. Based on such thoughts, our ancients and sages have developed more than 2,500
years ago, the whole science and philosophy of life, which also became the principles of ethics
and morality for a civilized society in the Vedic period. This was so universal in thought and
principles exactly like science in modern times. The ancients had also developed other forms of
studies such as astronomy, physiology, medicine and science etc. in their own fashion (we need
not elaborate them here). The philosophy detailed herein were, however, given the color of
„religion‟ by some Western thinkers (who translated some of those works in English or other
European languages) for reasons best known to them. It appears that our ancients were not only
quite advanced but also mature in their scientific thoughts rather holistically, albeit not in a
fashion understood by modern science (and also expressed in mathematical terms) and
philosophy in today‟s times. It was based on knowledge gained during deep meditation, their
experiences and statistical observations. After all, the mathematics of present times had not
developed then!
13. Conclusion
In summary, the following conclusions can be made. The Western world started understanding
„nature‟ from the days of Greek philosophers (about 500 BCE or so) like Democritus, Socrates,
Plato and Aristotle. However, the understanding of the world did not progress significantly again
until the 16th century when Copernicus, Galileo and Kepler formulated the laws of the motion of
heavenly bodies. Based on the philosophy of Rene Descartes, by separating the mind-matter
relationship within the framework of the „physical world‟ and by conceptualizing „materialism‟,
Newton developed „Newtonian mechanics‟, which became the foundation of science for more
than two centuries. This represented a „mechanical world view‟ of „certainty‟. A view of the
„nature of reality‟ thus evolved with a concept of „dualism‟. This was perfectly fine in grosser
terms. Then, in 18th/19th century, a new concept of „fields‟, and „forces in a field‟ was
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developed, culminating in Maxwell‟s equations of „electromagnetic fields‟, heralding in a new
„reality of nature‟.
The twentieth century was a turning point in the history of scientific thought. The new concepts
of „relativity‟, which unified „spacetime‟ and „quantum mechanics‟, brought a new dimension to
the entire thinking process. In quantum theory, the observer was now also playing an important
role while observing subatomic phenomenon. The concept of „uncertainty‟ creeped into the
discussion, which was not easy to accept by a „classicist‟. Objects could only be defined as
„probability waves‟. Nonetheless, modern science and technology developed by leaps and
bounds. The world saw a phenomenal change in its entire thinking. We have now come to a
juncture where it is getting difficult to advance farther in the fundamental understanding of
nature.
The new concept of „biocentrism‟ evolved during the last decade or so and brought in the
concept of „consciousness‟. We invoke a new concept called the „field of consciousness‟,
something like an electromagnetic field. It is in this field of consciousness that several
phenomena take place. Again, some new ideas on matter-mind-consciousness are taking shape to
understand a new reality. Spacetime actually is not a reality, but just a mechanism of perception
in which to view this universe. Ironically, this is something closer to what our ancients had
envisaged more than 2,500 years ago.
In the Eastern world, sages, thinkers and philosophers had established the Vedantic philosophy
(Indic thoughts) about three millennium ago, long before the Western world began dwelling on
such ideas. They defined the concepts of „real‟ and „unreal‟, „life‟ and „consciousness‟ and
„microcosm‟ and „macrocosm‟ with the relationship among them defined with absolute clarity.
They discussed the evolution of the five gross elements that physically constitute this universe.
They developed various sciences based on their contemplation, observation and experience.
They concluded that spacetime is indeed not a reality, but just a means with which to view this
illusory physical world of „Maya‟. Truth alone is real and that is „me‟, the „consciousness‟,
which is a part of the „supreme consciousness‟. The Vedics had thus established a clear
relationship among matter-mind-consciousness. Aham Brahmasmi – Tatwam Asi.
References
1. (Capra Fritjof , 1976), The Tao of Physics, Flamingo
2. (Deshpande D, 2007), Modern Sciences in Vedas, Mumbai, Bhartiya Vidya Bhavan.
3. (Einstein, Albert, Infeld Leopold, 1938), The Evolution of Physics, New York, Simon and Schuster.
4. (Heisenberg Werner, 1971), Physics and Beyond, New York, Harper and Row,
5. (Heisenberg Werner, 1961), Physics and Philosophy, New York , Harper and Row ,
6. (Klostermaier Klaus K., 2004), The Nature of Nature – Exploration in Science, Philosophy and
Religion, Chennai, The Theosophical Publishing House.
7. (Lanza Robert, 2009), Biocentrism, Benbella Books Inc. Dallas
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8. (Lanza Robert, Berman Bob, 2016), Beyond Biocentrism, Benbella Books Inc. Dallas
9. (Lidley David, 2008), Uncertainty – Einstein, Heisenberg, Bohr, and the Struggle for the Soul of
Science, New York, Anchor Books.
10. (Lipton Bruce H., 2010), The Biology of Belief, Hay House India.
11. (Morris Richard, 1987), The Nature of Reality – The Universe after Einstein, New York, The Noonday
Press.
12. (Pagels Heinz R., 1982), The Cosmic Code, New York, Dover Publication
13. (Rein Glein, Rollin MacCraty, Jan 2001), “Local and Non Local Effects of Coherent Heart
Frequencies of Conformational Changes of DNA”, Institute of Heart Math.
14. (Greg Barden, May 2005), “DNA Report”, Institute of Heart Math.
15. (Swami Rama, 1996), Perennial Psychology of the Bhagavad Gita, The Himalayan international
Institute of Yoga Science and Philosophy.
16. (Swami Tejomayananda, 2016), Vedanta – Tattvabodha, Central Chinmaya Mission Trust,
Mumbai, India
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Pitkänen, M., Three Findings about Memory Recall & TGD Based View about Memory Retrieval
Exploration
Three Findings about Memory Recall & TGD Based View about
Memory Retrieval
Matti Pitkänen 1
Abstract
I learned recently about three very interesting works of neuroscientists relating to memory recall.
This inspired a construction of a detailed TGD based model for the memory recall. The model
generalizes to a model of sensory perception and motor action. The identification of motor action
as time reversal of sensory perception is however sharpened: motor action corresponds to a ”big”
state function reduction (BSR) changing the arrow of time and sensory perception to a ”small” state
function reduction (SRS) preserving it. What is also new, is the combination of this picture with the
old TGD based vision about living system as a conscious hologram. The idea about brain as hologram
is originally due to Karl Pribram. The common mechanism of sensory perception, motor action,
and memory recall would be surprisingly simple. Magnetic body would (MB) send reference beams
interfering with incoming beams representing sensory input to build a hologram on living matter
serving as a substrate. Phase conjugates of reference beams would be used to generate memory recall
and to generate motor actions.
Keywords: Memory recall, memory retrieval, sensory perception, magnetic body, TGD framework.
1
Introduction
I received within few weeks 3 highly interesting links telling about the work of neuro-scientists relating to
memory recall. This inspired a construction of a detailed model for the memory recall which generalizes
to a model of sensory perception and motor action based on the vision discussed in detail in [14] (see
http://tinyurl.com/ybe4vf3j). The original vision about motor action as time reversal of sensory
percept is sharpened so that motor action corresponds to a ”big” state function reduction (BSR) changing
the arrow of time and sensory percept to ”small” state function reduction (SRS) preserving it. What is
also new, is the combination of this picture with the old TGD based vision [6] about living system as a
conscious hologram. The idea about brain as hologram is originally due to Karl Pribram [2].
A short summary of TGD inspired theory of consciousness is in order to help the reader to follow the
arguments.
1. Zero energy ontology (ZEO) predicts that quantum states are superpositions of deterministic time
evolutions (preferred extremals representing space-time surfaces as minimal surfaces). These spacetime surfaces connect 3-surfaces the opposite boundaries of causal diamond (CD) forming a scale
hierarchy. There are two kinds of state function reductions.
Zero energy states can be regarded as pairs of ordinary quantum states located at opposite boundaries of CD and having interpretation as wave function in the space of 3-surfaces at the boundary
of CD. The 3-surfaces at opposite boundaries of CD are connected by space-time surface - preferred
extremal - which is minimal surface apart from 2 dimensional string world sheets and their 1-D
light-like boundaries at light-like 3-D orbits of partonic 2-surfaces at which the signature of the
induced metric of space-time surface changes its signature from Minkowskian to Euclidian [13, 15].
1 Correspondence: Matti Pitkänen http://tgdtheory.com/. Address: Rinnekatu 2-4 A8, 03620, Karkkila, Finland. Email:
matpitka6@gmail.com.
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Pitkänen, M., Three Findings about Memory Recall & TGD Based View about Memory Retrieval
2. ”Small” state function reductions (SSRs analogous to weak measurements in standard quantum
measurement theory) leave the passive boundary of CD unaffected as also states at it but affect the
states are active boundary, and also shift the active boundary farther away from the passive one (in
statistical sense at least). Each small state function reduction is preceded by a unitary evolution of
state at the active boundary meaning shift of the active boundary: actually a time-delocalization
of the active boundary takes place in the moduli space of CDs. SRS involves a localization with
respect to time defined by the temporal distance between the tips of CD. The correlation between
experienced time and geometric time identifiable as the distance between the tips of CD follows
since state function reductions identifiable as basic building bricks of conscious experience increase
this distance in a statistical sense.
3. ”Big” state function reduction (BSR) changes the roles of the boundaries of CD and corresponds
to state function reduction as it appears standard quantum measurement theory. In particular,
the arrow of time as a property of zero energy state changes. The change of arrow of time is in a
fundamental role in TGD inspired quantum biology and corresponds to the death of self followed
by a re-incarnation with reversed arrow of time.
4. Since the superposition of preferred extremals is only replaced with a new one in state function
reductions, they are consistent with the determinism of classical physics, which is an exact part of
quantum TGD - space-time surfaces can be regarded as analogs of Bohr orbits. One also avoids the
basic paradox of standard quantum measurement theory and there is no need for ”interpretations”.
5. The original somewhat fuzzy vision about motor action and sensory perception was as time reversals
of each other so that the difference between them would be only relative. The recent view is more
precise and implies absolute difference: Motor actions correspond to BSRs and sensory percepts to
SRSs. Also memory recall can be seen as time reversal of sensory perception in a well-defined sense
[14].
The model for various findings described below relies on this picture combined with the vision about
living system as conscious hologram [6]. The TGD inspired model for for the memory recall generalizes to
a model of sensory perception and motor action. The common mechanism of sensory perception, motor
action, and memory recall would be surprisingly simple.
Magnetic body (MB) would send reference beams R interfering with incoming beams O representing
sensory input to build a sensory representation as a hologram H on living matter serving as a substrate.
Conjugate hologram H would correspond to a time reversal of H constructed using conjugate beams R
and O. The reading of sensory percepts/memories would take place by illuminating H/H with R/R
coming from MB.
An important challengeable assumption is that the time reversals of our mental images are not
conscious-to-us. It implies that the reading of the memory by R does not yet produce mental image
conscious-to-us: only the next BSR would generate memory representation readable by applying R. This
picture is consistent with the empirical findings inspiring the detailed model.
2
The findings
In the following brief summary about findings is given.
2.1
Ripples race in the brain as memories are recalled
The first link was to a popular article in Science News with title ”Ripples race in the brain as memories
are recalled” (see http://tinyurl.com/y5hohv2h) telling about the findings of neuroscientists Vaz et al
about memory recall published in Science as article with title ”Coupled ripple oscillations between the
medial temporal lobe and neocortex retrieve human memory” [1] (see http://tinyurl.com/y48kdkrl).
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Pitkänen, M., Three Findings about Memory Recall & TGD Based View about Memory Retrieval
2.1.1
Results
The results come from the study 14 patients suffering from epilepsy. They had electrodes placed on their
brains as part of their treatment. The electrodes also allowed scientists to monitor neural activity while
the people learned pairs of words.
One to three minutes after learning the pairs, people were given one word and asked to name its
partner. As participants remembered the missing word, neuroscientist and neurosurgeon Kareem Zaghloul
and his colleagues caught glimpses of fast brain waves rippling across parts of the brain at a rate of about
100 per second.
These ripples appeared nearly simultaneously in two brain regions the medial temporal lobe known to
be important for memory, and the temporal association cortex having a role in language. When a person
got the answer wrong, or didnt answer at all, these coordinated ripples were less likely to be present, the
researchers found.
The abstract of the article provides a more technical summary.
”Episodic memory retrieval relies on the recovery of neural representations of waking experience. This
process is thought to involve a communication dynamic between the medial temporal lobe memory system
and the neocortex. How this occurs is largely unknown, however, especially as it pertains to awake human
memory retrieval. Using intracranial electroencephalographic recordings, we found that ripple oscillations
were dynamically coupled between the human medial temporal lobe (MTL) and temporal association cortex.
Coupled ripples were more pronounced during successful verbal memory retrieval and recover the cortical
neural representations of remembered items. Together, these data provide direct evidence that coupled
ripples between the MTL and association cortex may underlie successful memory retrieval in the human
brain.”
2.1.2
Ripples as hologram
The basic question concerns the interpretation of the ripples appearing both during the formation and the
retrieval of the memory. The TGD based vision about living system as a conscious hologram [6] suggests
an answer (for the notion of hologram see http://tinyurl.com/qgjsdzz).
1. During the sensory perception the ripples are created by the interference of the reference beam
coming from magnetic body (MB) with dark photon beam representing sensory input transformed
to dark photons at sensory organs as TGD inspired model for the generation of percept as forthand-back communication between MB/brain and sensory organs assumes [11].
2. During memory recall MB sends the phase conjugate of the reference beam scattering from the time
reversed conscious hologram and generates phase conjugate beam representing the time reversal of
the sensory input. At quantum level this involves BSR and the phase conjugate mental image
resides at boundary of CD opposite to that carrying the ordinary mental images.
This sensory mental image need not be conscious-to-us and this has been the assumption. The
”death” of the phase conjugate mental image in a further BSR gives rise to a mental image at the
”normal” boundary of CD. This mental image need not be sensory mental image (sensory/episodal
memory) and could correspond to imagination or verbal memory.
There are several questions to be answered. Can one keep the earlier hypothesis that the phase
conjugate sensory mental image is not conscious to us? Does the ”normal” mental image correspond to
sensory mental image (episodal/sensory memory) or almost sensory mental image (declarative or verbal
memory)?
2.2
The human brain works backwards to retrieve memories
The second interesting link was to an popular article ”The human brain works backwards to retrieve
memories” (see http://tinyurl.com/y7hbqmug). The article tells about the work of Linde-Domingo &
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Pitkänen, M., Three Findings about Memory Recall & TGD Based View about Memory Retrieval
Wimber et al published in Nature Communications as article titled ”Evidence that neural information flow
is reversed between object perception and object reconstruction from memory” [3] (see http://tinyurl.
com/y375ht5f).
2.2.1
Results
During the study, participants saw images of specific objects, and then learned to associate each image
with a unique reminder word, for example the word ’spin’ or ’pull’. The participants were later presented
with the reminder word and asked to reconstruct the associated image in as much detail as possible.
Brain activity was recorded throughout the task via 128 electrodes attached to the scalp, allowing
the researchers to observe changes in brain patterns with millisecond precision. Finally the researchers
trained a computer algorithm to decode what kind of image the participant was retrieving at different
points in the task.
The abstract of the article summarizes the results.
”Remembering is a reconstructive process, yet little is known about how the reconstruction of a memory
unfolds in time in the human brain. Here, we used reaction times and EEG time-series decoding to
test the hypothesis that the information flow is reversed when an event is reconstructed from memory,
compared to when the same event is initially being perceived. Across three experiments, we found highly
consistent evidence supporting such a reversed stream. When seeing an object, low-level perceptual features
were discriminated faster behaviourally, and could be decoded from brain activity earlier, than high-level
conceptual features. This pattern reversed during associative memory recall, with reaction times and
brain activity patterns now indicating that conceptual information was reconstructed more rapidly than
perceptual details. Our findings support a neurobiologically plausible model of human memory, suggesting
that memory retrieval is a hierarchical, multi-layered process that prioritises semantically meaningful
information over perceptual details.”
2.2.2
TGD vision
This picture is consistent with the general TGD vision predicting that memory recall is time reversal of
sensory perception and with an entire hierarchy of levels labelled by the values of effective Planck constant
hef f = nh0 measuring roughly the level of evolutionary hierarchy [8, 9] and by p-adic length scales. The
larger the value of hef f , the longer the relevant time and length scale is, and the more abstract the
representation is. The ”gist” would correspond to large values of hef f to which one can assign largest
maximum value of information content.
2.3
Neuroscientists read unconscious brain activity to predict decisions
The third link was to a popular article ”Neuroscientists read unconscious brain activity to predict decisions” (see http://tinyurl.com/yxgnr9x6). The article tells about the work of Koenig-Robert and
Person published in Scientific Reports as an article with title ”Decoding the contents and strength of
imagery before volitional engagement” [4] (see http://tinyurl.com/yyp6hugz).
1. In the experiment the situation was following. The subject person looked at most T = 20 seconds
two different pictures, decided to imagine either of them, and pushed immediately the knob. Then
she tried to imagine the chosen picture. Subject person reported also the subjectively experienced
intensity of imagination.
Neural activity was detected in brain and it was found that it emerged t = 11 second before the
decision. From the pattern of activity it was possible to predict the picture. Also the subjectively
experienced intensity of imagination could be predicted. One could say that the sensory experience
was re-created by imagination in the brain of past.
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2. The imagination involved could be also regarded as an active memory recall. This interpretation
suggests that the time t at which the neural activity appears must be within the T= 20 second
interval during which the decision was made.
3. The authors leave open whether their finding excludes free will. The first interpretation is that the
choice really occurred at unconscious level and for some reason subject person experienced illusion
of choise. A real choice combined with illusion about real choice looks rather weird idea, and only
shifts the problem of free will to a level unconscious to us. If there is no free will then all experiments
involving choice are pseudo experiments: this would throw a large portion of neuroscience to trash
bin.
These findings will be used to build TGD based model for memory recall based on TGD based vision
about living systems described in the introduction.
3
TGD based model for what happens in imagination as active
memory recall
The experiments discussed above give good hopes about a detailed model for what happens in imagination
as active memory recall.
3.1
Background ideas
To develop this model some background ideas about TGD are needed.
1. I have developed a model for motor action as time reversal of sensory perception based on ZEO in
an earlier article [14] (see http://tinyurl.com/ybe4vf3j). This leads also to a model for remory
recall as sending a signal to geometric past giving rise to time reflected signal as memory recall.
Could memories correspond to mental images in standard time direction generated by time reflected
dark photon beam as has been assumed hitherto or do they correspond to time reversed mental
image in the geometric past at the opposite boundary of CD. The earlier assumption has been that
time reversed mental images are not conscious to us.
2. There are several words to which one must give meaning: what do ”re-experience in geometric past”,
”time reflection”, ”imagination as active memory recall” mean? Who is the imagining intentional
agent? The above experiment inspired an attempt to give a more precise meaning for these words.
The idea is to combine the model of memory with a decades old model of living matter as conscious
hologram [6] (see http://tinyurl.com/y6lz3t3y) (one more imprecisely defined word!) .
3. Magnetic body (MB) is the basic notion. MB acts as intentional agent using biological body (BB)
as motor instrument and sensory receptor. In the recent case MB imagines and performs active
memory recall by selecting the picture and directing its attention to it (still more words to be
explained!).
Dark matter hierarchy as hierarchy of phases of ordinary matter (also photons) assignable to the
MB and labelled by the value of effective Planck constant hef f = n × h0 is a further central element
of the general picture. In particular, EEG photons are dark photons with very large value of Planck
constant guarantewing that their energies are above thermal threshold. Bio-photons would with
energies in visible and UV range would result as dark EEG photons with very large value of hef f
transform to ordinary photons.
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4. Brain as a hologram is an old idea originally to Karl Pribram. The formation of hologram involves
two waves with the same freqeuency: reference wave and the wave representing the target - typically
a wave of same frequency reflected from the target. The reference wave is a simple plane wave with
some frequency. These waves must interfere so that coherence is required. The interference pattern
is stored by the modification of the hologram substrate. The transmission coefficient of the substrate
is proportional to T = |vertU0 + UR |2 , where U0 and UR are complex amplitudes.
If one illuminates the resulting hologram by reference wave UR the image of the target is formed. If
one illuminates the target with the phase conjugate U R of the reference wave - its time reversal U 0
- the phase conjugate of the image is formed. In ZEO time reversal has precise quantal meaning as
also the time reversal of self and of mental image.
This requires coherence in the length scales of hot and wet brain. Without non-standard large
enough value value of hef f makes this is not possible. The coherence for ordinary photons need
not be quantum coherence, but is induced by quantum coherence of dark photons transforming to
ordinary photons. Quite generally, the coherence of living matter would be induced in this manner
from quantum coherence of dark matter at magnetic flux tubes.
3.2
TGD inspired model for memory retrieval
With these ingredients one can build a rather simple model for memory retrieval.
1. Memory and sensory mental images is generated as MB creates a reference wave in the formation
of hologram as interference pattern of incoming ordinary light beam and dark reference beam. This
induces the pattern of neural activity. Coherence is not quantum coherence but inherited from
quantum coherence of dark photon beam from MB. Also phase conjugate in active memory recall
comes from MB. The ripples associated with the formation of sensory percept would correspond to
the formation of conscious hologram.
2. Phase conjugate wave corresponds to time reversal of wave and would be created in ZEO in BSR
reversing the arrow of time for self involved. The phase conjugate of the reference wave generated
by MB acting as intentional agent trying to imagine would propagate to geometric past and scatter
from the brain substrate acting as a hologram and generate the memory mental image in geometric
past at the opposite boundary - the ”re-experience”, which need not be conscious-to-us. The ripples
reported in the first article [1] would correspond to the scattering of the phase conjugate wave from
the hologram.
This phase conjugate mental image need not be conscious-to-us: the assumption has indeed been
that time reversed mental images are not conscious to us. The assumption will be kept also now.
The next BSR would mean the ”death” of the memory mental image and rebirth as a mental image
in standard time direction. This would correspond to the ”time reflection” generating a signal to the
geometric future defining in the recent situation declarative, verbal memory of the mental image.
This would be the outcome of imagination experienced by the subject person.
Why these ”normal” mental images are not usually genuine sensory mental images at our level
of self hierarchy? A good reason for this is that they would interfere with the ordinary sensory
perceptions. We can indeed have this kind of mental images during dreaming and hallucinations.
During dreaming it is not a threat for survival as it is during hallucinations. I have discussed a
detailed model for imagination as almost sensory mental images [11] (see http://tinyurl.com/
ydhxen4g). They would be created by feedback signals from MB via cortex to a level above sensory
organs in the hierarchy so that no actual sensory percepts is obtained. Also imagined motor actions
would be similar.
An essential element of the model is that the sensory input is transformed to dark photons beams
propagating along flux tubes parallel to axons and being responsible for the communications. The
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function of nerve pulses would be creation of communication channels by connecting flux tubes
associated with axons to longer structures: neural transmitters and various information molecules
would do this connecting. Situation would be very much analogous to that in mobile phone communications.
The notion of re-incarnation is certainly the most controversial aspect of the proposed vision. TGD
predicts self hierarchy and sub-selves are identified as mental images so that one can look whether
re-incarnation hypothesis makes sense for them. After images appearing periodically would be
examples of this kind of mental images: they would be conscious to us and correspond to the
level of self hierarchy immediately below us. Since they are typically of different color than the
original image, we know that they do not represent a real object. The periods without after image
would correspond to the phase conjugates of these mental images and would be un-conscious to us.
Essentially a sequence of re-incarnations of mental image would be in question.
3. How can subject person (identifiable as MB!) actively choose the target of the memory recall? In
the experiment considered the two pictures were seen by the subject person for a time not longer
than T = 20 seconds. Both generate a hologram like structure in visual cortex which in good
approximation are disjoint patterns of neural activity - presumably regions of coherence induced by
quantum coherence of the dark reference beam.
A conscious choise associated with the memory recall requires that the two areas are labelled by
some control parameter which MB can vary. Fixing this parameter directs the attention of MB to
either picture. The frequency of the laser beam is the only parameter available. Incoming beam of
light corresponds to the energies of visible light and for the ordinary value of Planck constant one
cannot vary the frequency. There is however EEG frequency, which can be varied but its ratio to
the frequency of visible light is of order 10−14 for 10 Hz! The energy E = hf of EEG photons is
extremely small and EEG photons should have absolutely no effects on brain or correlate with the
contents of consciousness. We however know that it does!
In TGD framework this fact was the original motivation for the hierarchy of Planck constants
for which adelic physics [8, 9] provides a mathematical justification. The choice of the picture
to be imagined/attended by MB would mean that the value of hef f associated with it changes.
The chosen picture naturally corresponds to a larger value of Planck constant since the maximal
conscious information content of the system increases as hef f increase. The increase of hef f requires
metabolic energy as directed attention certainly indeed does.
EEG also requires metabolic energy and it would be non-sensical to send information to outer space
without any receiver: MB is the natural receiver of this information.
4. A more refined view about memory recall motivated by the second article described above [3]
involves a hierarchical structure in which memory recall is built up so that first the ”gist” of the
pattern is recalled and then come the details. This is the opposite of what happens in sensory
perception in which features are identified first and the holistic view emerges later.
TGD predicts self hierarchies labelled by the values of hef f and by p-adic length scales. The higher
the level of self hierarchy, the longer the corresponding length scale. The ”gist” corresponds to
large values of hef f and low EEG frequencies whereas details correspond to smaller values of hef f
and higher EEG frequencies and smaller wavelengths for ordinary photons. The construction of
the memory mental images would correspond to a cascade of state function reductions proceeding
from long to short length scales and beginning from largest value of hef f involved. The model
for what happens in state function reduction in TGD framework assumes this cascade [7, 10] (see
http://tinyurl.com/yyv3v9u8 and http://tinyurl.com/ycxm2tpd).
5. It is essential that sensory input is transformed to dark photons at sensory organs propagating to
the brain: this also makes the processing of sensory information fast and sensory mental images can
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be built as standardized mental images - pattern recognition - by forth-and-back signalling between
brain and sensory organ combining artificial sensory input from brain with genuine sensory input.
It is hard to imagine anything simpler!
6. Neural activity associated with the neural percept preserves the topography of the visual percept so
that the shape of the firing pattern in cortex is same as that of object. This cannot be however used
as an objection against holography since it is the reading of the neural hologram which generates
the image of the object. The topography of the hologram has nothing to do with the shape of the
object.
This mechanism should generalize to the case of sensory perception and motor action as its time
reversal. MB as an intentional agent would be sending reference beams and their phase conjugates at
various frequencies f and values of hef f serving as control knobs! The details are however far from clear.
At least to me, it is very difficult to gain detailed understanding. This is to be expected, since our
standard intuition of time relies on preferred arrow of time and on the identification of the experienced
and geometric time. The following is one particular humble attempt.
1. Are motor action and sensory perception really mirror images as has been assumed hitherto so?
The differences between them would be only relative and they would change their roles as the arrow
of time is changed?
Or could it be that the difference is absolute? Motor actions would correspond to BSRs and change
the arrow of time. Sensory percepts would correspond to SRSs and preserve the arrow of time. The
latter interpretation looks more natural and is consistent with the earlier intuitive but not precise
enough view deduced from Libet’s findings that sensory percept and motor action correspond to
different arrows of time. Let us assume the latter option.
2. Sensory representation, hologram H is formed using reference beam R and object beam O entering
to the active boundary of CD. Sensory experience, ”reading” of H, is achieved by applying R to H.
Subsequent SRSs correspond to R.
It does not make sense to apply time reversal R to H: here the situation differs from that for the
ordinary holograms. R can be applied only to H and would require BSR replacing H with its phase
conjugate H.
If this picture is correct, one would say that the basic activities are printing to make H and reading
of H using R. The triplet {R, O, H} would be characterize the situation.
The formation of H would be like printing and the application of R to it is like reading of the text.
R must correspond to a SRS at the active boundary of CD.
3. Motor representation H formed using R and conjugate object beam O at opposite boundary of CD
being now active would be sensory representation in our geometric past having opposite arrow of
time. The hypothesis is that what is conscious T is unconscious-to-us.
Our sensory percepts would reflect the motor actions of our temporal mirror image. This motor
action has changed the arrow of time for sub-self to that for us and the signals coming from past
are passively experienced by us.
4. Our (MB’s) motor action - volitional act - involves BSR at some - presumably nearest - level of self
hierarchy below us (MB) changing the roles of boundaries of sub-CD in question. At this level the
receiver of sensory input is in the geometric past and memory is formed by R but as such is not
conscious-to-us: this conforms with the findings of the articles. Only the next big state function
reduction makes the memory conscious-to-us as sensory or possibly verbal memory and we can read
it by making SRSs.
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5. The application of R to time reversed mental image (conjugate sub-self) H would be un-conscious
memory for us. It would become conscious in BSR for it producing memory at our level: this
conforms with the findings of the articles. The application of R to time mental image (sub-self)
would be conscious-to-us precognition or sensory experience. Sensory experience are indeed known
to be also predictions as is natural in ZEO in which quantum states are superpositions of entire
deterministic classical time evolutions.
Needless to add that this view is only a sketch. It is good to list the key assumptions.
1. BSRs correspond to motor actions and SRSs to sensory percepts including precognition.
2. Sub-selves with same time orientation are conscious to use but not their conjugates. I do not have
a really good argument for why time reversed mental images should be unconscious-to-us.
3. Only R can be applied to hologram but not R as for ordinary holograms.
3.3
Could one demonstrate experimentally that the standard view about
time is wrong?
The prevailing view in neuroscience and physics identifies experienced time with geometric time despite
the fact that these two times have very different properties. In TGD framework these times are not
identified but are closely correlated. TGD inspired theory of consciousness based on zero energy ontology
(ZEO) [10, 12, 5] allows to understand the relationship between the two times and leads to rather dramatic
predictions.
TGD interpretation says that in the act of free will MB sends phase conjugate signal to the brain of
geometric past or stating it otherwise: replaces the deterministic time evolution of brain (and also its
past) with a new one (strictly speaking, replaces their quantum superposition with a new one). This
should happen also in the choice of which picture is to be imagined.
Could a modification of the experiment of [4] replacing imagination with an activity not requiring
memory recall allow to demonstrate that the standard view about time is wrong?
1. Consider a thought experiment experiment in which the subject person receives a stimulus and
makes a decision to do something - not imagine but something else - during some time interval T
after it. Suppose that the decision is found to be preceded by neural activity before the the stimulus
appears.
Standard view about time not does allow this since person could have decided about the reaction
to the stimulus before it came (precognition would be the only explanation).
TGD view about the relationship between subjective and geometric time allows this since the
decision sends signal to the brain of the past and there is no reason why the moment in past could
be before the stimulus.
2. The modification of the above experiment in this manner could mean the reduction of T = 20
seconds to - say - T = 9 seconds. If the neural activity would appear say t = 11 second earlier it
would emerge before person has seen the pictures and one would have paradox for standard view
about time. However, if the imagined picture relies on memory, this should not happen.
References
[1] Vaz aP et al. Coupled ripple oscillations between the medial temporal lobe and neocortex retrieve
human memory. Science.Available at:http://science.sciencemag.org/content/363/6430/975,
363(6430):975–978, 2019.
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[2] Pribram KH. The Neurophysiology of Remembering. Sci Am, January 1969.
[3] Linde-Domingo and Wimber et al. Evidence that neural information flow is reversed between object
perception and object reconstruction from memory. Nature Communications. Available at:https:
//www.nature.com/articles/s41467-018-08080-2, 10(179), 2019.
[4] Koenig-Robert R and Pearson J.
Decoding the contents and strength of imagery before volitional engagement. Scientific Reports.Available at:https://www.nature.com/articles/
s41598-019-39813-y, 9(3504), 2019.
[5] Pitkänen M. About Nature of Time. In TGD Inspired Theory of Consciousness. Online book.
Available at: http://www.tgdtheory.fi/tgdhtml.html#timenature, 2006.
[6] Pitkänen M. Bio-Systems as Conscious Holograms. In Bio-Systems as Conscious Holograms. Online
book. Available at: http://www.tgdtheory.fi/tgdhtml/holography.html#hologram, 2006.
[7] Pitkänen M. Negentropy Maximization Principle. In TGD Inspired Theory of Consciousness. Online
book. Available at: http://www.tgdtheory.fi/tgdhtml.html#nmpc, 2006.
[8] Pitkänen M. Philosophy of Adelic Physics. Available at: http://tgdtheory.fi/public_html/
articles/adelephysics.pdf, 2017.
[9] Pitkänen M. Philosophy of Adelic Physics. In Trends and Mathematical Methods in Interdisciplinary Mathematical Sciences, pages 241–319. Springer.Available at: https://link.springer.
com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-319-55612-3_11, 2017.
[10] Pitkänen M. Re-examination of the basic notions of TGD inspired theory of consciousness. Available
at: http://tgdtheory.fi/public_html/articles/conscrit.pdf, 2017.
[11] Pitkänen M. Emotions as sensory percepts about the state of magnetic body? Available at: http:
//tgdtheory.fi/public_html/articles/emotions.pdf, 2018.
[12] Pitkänen M. Getting philosophical: some comments about the problems of physics, neuroscience, and
biology. Available at: http://tgdtheory.fi/public_html/articles/philosophic.pdf, 2018.
[13] Pitkänen M. More about the construction of scattering amplitudes in TGD framework. Available
at: http://tgdtheory.fi/public_html/articles/scattampl.pdf, 2018.
[14] Pitkänen M. Sensory perception and motor action as time reversals of each other: a royal road to
the understanding of other minds? Available at: http://tgdtheory.fi/public_html/articles/
timemirror.pdf, 2018.
[15] Pitkänen M. The Recent View about Twistorialization in TGD Framework. Available at: http:
//tgdtheory.fi/public_html/articles/smatrix.pdf, 2018.
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Deshpande, P. B. & Kowall, J. P., A Yogic Perspective on Cancer
Article
A Yogic Perspective on Cancer
Pradeep B. Deshpande* & James P. Kowall
Abstract
A yogic perspective on cancer is presented. The yogic perspective explains how we are all
vibrational creatures and that the vibrational characteristics are the primary human attributes that
determine our physiological and psychoemotional state. A scientific device based on the Gas
Discharge Visualization (GDV) principle described allows us to estimate our vibrational
characteristics, dubbed as photonic signature. The process of meditation is suggested to be
effective in improving our vibrational characteristics. The before-and-after GDV measurements
of the first coauthor pursuant to a meditation session are presented corroborating the benefits of
meditation in improving our vibrational characteristics. The explanation of the yogic perspective,
measurement of our vibrational characteristics, and the process of meditation to restore them are
suggested to have a potential in the prevention and treatment of cancer and other diseases. It is
hoped that the paper will serve as an impetus for further research in this area.
Keywords: Yoga, science, meditation, energy, creativity, cancer, health, innovation.
Sanchet Karma
American Medical Association says that the root cause of eighty percent of all diseases is stress
but the yogi says, the root cause of all diseases is stress. Negative emotions (anger, hatred,
hostility, resentment, frustration, fear, guilt, sorrow, etc.) lead to stress but positive emotions
(unconditional love, kindness, empathy, compassion) do not. Dramatic illustrations of the impact
of positive and negative emotions may be found in the video clips in References [1, 2].
To further explain, human beings have trillions of cells which have a nucleus, a cytoplasm, and a
cell wall. In the nucleus, there are forty-six chromosomes. We inherit these chromosomes from
our parents: 23x,x from our mother and 23x,y from our father. They in turn inherit their
chromosomes from their parents, who inherit them from their parents, and so on. Thus, there is a
clear link of ourselves to our ancestors. We already know that some of our physiological traits
are inherited from ancestors but we may also inherit some of the psychoemotional traits. Where
do the negative emotions come from? The yogi says, what happens in this life is dependent on
our past lives (interpret this to mean what we inherit from our ancestors through the
chromosomes; need not subscribe to reincarnation) and by our own willful actions from the time
*
Correspondence author: Prof. Pradeep B. Deshpande, Six Sigma & Advanced Controls, Inc., 7013 Creekton Drive, Louisville,
KY 40241, http://www.sixsigmaquality.com E-mail: pradeep@sixsigmaquality.com
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we were in our mother’s womb to adolescence when we had little or no control, to our current
age. In Sanskrit, the inherited and self-generated negative emotions go by the name Sanchet
Karmas. Sanchet Karmas are purported to be lodged in first four of five energy sheaths: (1) The
physical body, (2) Life-force sheath, (3) Mind sheath, (4) Causal Sheath, and (5) Blissful Sheath.
Disturbances in any of the first four energy sheaths lead not only to diseases but also to a host of
other problems in life. There are only two ways to rid ourselves of Sanchet Karmas, either to
suffer from them, a process which in Sanskrit goes by the name Prarabddha Karma, or to
eliminate them and replace them with positive emotions. The latter is a hypothesis that can be
tested. Finish medical researchers have shown how deeply emotions are embedded in our
consciousness. For their study, 700 volunteers, roughly half of them from Eastern cultures and
the rest from the West, were recruited and were given a blank silhouette (labeled Neutral in
Figure 1) to color specific emotions. The researchers discovered to their amazement that definite
patterns of colors emerged for different emotions as depicted in Figure 1. Their study was
published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences-US [3].
Figure 1. Seven Hundred Volunteers Color Different Emotions
We Are All Vibrational Creatures
The Sanchet Karmas are related to our vibrational characteristics which in turn has a bearing on
health. To explain, if we breakdown our cells further into even smaller parts, we will find that
they are made up of atoms. Scientists suggest that only 0.0001% of the body volume is required
to house all the atoms in the human body. So, what is in this empty space? And, what is the
purpose of the empty space? One plausible answer appears to be vibrations, and the
characteristics of these vibrations determines our health and wellness. To elaborate, atoms are
not solid objects. They have protons and neutrons in their nuclei and electrons orbiting them. So,
a question arises: what characteristic of an atom gives the specific character to matter? For
example, why is Gold, Gold? Or, why is Iron, Iron? The answer is, vibrational characteristics of
the specific atomic configuration (number of protons and neutrons in their nuclei and electrons
orbiting them). Similarly, since the cells are made up of atoms, the vibrational characteristics of
the specific cellular configuration is what determines the cellular structure, which in turn
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determines if a cell is normal or not. The specific vibrational characteristics of the cells
determine our physiological and psychoemotional state. Now, vibrations can be thought of as
light, not necessarily visible light, with unknown frequencies along the entire electromagnetic
spectrum and hence the name, light-energy. Thus, the vibrational characteristics, or light-energy,
can be thought of as photonic signature and it is unique for every human being. This is the
rationale for the observation, we all are vibrational creatures and the foregoing discussion
explains the link of our vibrational characteristics to Sanchet karmas.
Modern Physics Perspective [4]. The basis for atomic and molecular vibrational modes is the
standard model of particle physics, which is based on quantum field theory, specifically, nonabelian gauge theories, which with the Kaluza-Klein unification mechanism of extra compacted
dimensions of space are unified with Einstein's field equations for the space-time metric, and so
these atomic and molecular vibrational modes correspond to the vibrational aspects of the
geometry of space-time. The holographic principle teaches that these geometrical space-time
vibrational modes reduce down to fundamental bits of information encoded on a bounding
surface of space, which is an event horizon that is ultimately a cosmic horizon which arises with
the expenditure of dark energy or the exponential expansion of space, and this in modern
cosmology, is understood as the causal factor for the big bang creation event. So, it would seem
that the origin of the vibrational modes within each of us individual creatures originates from the
creation of the universe itself. Additional details may be found in Reference [4].
Capturing & Analyzing Human Vibrations
Unbeknownst to us, we are constantly producing vibrations that are reflective of our
physiological and psychoemotional state. If we can only find a way to amplify and then capture
and analyze these vibrations, perhaps we can estimate our emotions and that will allow us to look
for a process to empower us with positive emotions at the exclusion of negative emotions and
that in turn will rectify our vibrational characteristics and the photonic signature, relieving us of
our Sanchet Karmas and the diseases. With funding from the National Science Foundation and
the US Airforce with additional support from major US corporations [5, 6], Computer Science
and Electrical Engineering researchers at MIT developed a wireless device, which goes by the
name EQ Radio to capture and analyze these vibrations. The wireless device sends RF signals to
the subject and captures and analyzes the reflected signals (see Figure 2(a)) with a machinelearning algorithm to determine the heart rate, heart rate variability (HRV), and respiration rate
from which the subject’s emotions are estimated, the researchers say at an accuracy of 87%.
These findings are supportive of the earlier work of other researchers who had found a link
between emotions and heart rate variability as depicted in Figure 2(b)[7].
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Figure 2(a). MIT’s EQ Radio
Figure 2(b) Influence of Emotions on Heart Rate and Heart Rate Variability.
(Courtesy, Dr. Rollin McCraty, Institute for HeartMath, Boulder Creek, CA)
If the vibrational characteristics of the cells (our photonic signature) are the basic attribute of
human beings, then, autonomic functions such as heart rate, HRV, respiration rates, etc., must be
its subsets. Therefore, it is more appropriate to find a way to measure the photonic signature,
light-energy. The light-energy cannot be measured directly. It must be inferred from secondary
measurements. Over fifteen years ago, a Russian scientist developed a device to estimate the
photonic signature of humans using the principle of gas discharge visualization (GDV) [8]. Here,
instead of RF signals as in MIT research, a harmless electrical input is applied to all ten fingers
(one at a time), placed on the glass electrode of the GDV device connected to a digital computer
with a USB cable as shown in Figure 3. The finger’s response to this stimulus is a burst of
photons that are captured by the software. The light-energy characteristics of the photonic
discharge (pixels - intensity, area) so captured are compared with the data for tens of thousands
of subjects in the database to estimate the physiological and psychoemotional state of the subject
at a high confidence level. The measurement is painless, noninvasive, and takes only a couple of
minutes to complete. Suffices to say, the inferential measurement of photonic signature is
correlational in nature and therefore, unlike an MRI or a CT scan, the possibility of outliers
cannot be ruled out. The GDV device was approved by the Russian Health Ministry for use as a
routine medical diagnostic device in Russian hospitals and doctor’s offices over fifteen years ago
[9].
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Figure 3. GDV Device Setup
The GDV device estimates the overall energy of the subject, emotional stress, health status,
energy reserve, Yin Yang, and the state of chakras from the ancient Indian system of Ayurveda
all in terms of energy in Joules. In yogic parlance, there are seven energy centers which go by the
name chakras whose energy levels in Joules as indicated by their sizes together with their disalignment from the central vertical line as a percentage, determine their strength. The software
specifies the target values for the chakra energies in terms of size and alignment. The state of
these chakras determines the state of the energy sheaths mentioned earlier which in turn
determines our Sanchet Karmas and the vibrational characteristics. From ancient times, the
chakras have been associated with specific colors: Starting from the bottom, Muladhar (Red;
lowest vibrational frequency), Swadishthan (Orange), Manipur (Yellow), Anahat (Green),
Vishuddhi (Blue), Ajna (Indigo), Sahasrar (Purple/Violet; highest vibrational frequency).
The farther away the energy parameters are from their targets, the more problematic is the
physiological and psychoemotional state. Fortunately, physiological changes occur rather slowly
while psychoemotional changes can manifest themselves very quickly and this allows for the
assessment of the efficacy of whatever we are doing to rectify our vibrational characteristics and
the energy field. Figure 4(a) - (c) depict the energy diagrams of a yogi and two subjects suffering
from stomach cancer and prostate cancer, respectively.
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(a). A Yogi
(b) Stomach Cancer Patient (Courtesy, Konstantin Korotkov)
(c) Prostate Cancer Patient (Courtesy, Konstantin Korotkov)
Figure 4. Energy Diagrams of a Yogi and Cancer patients
Our light-energy characteristics are the first to be affected well before the symptoms of the
disease ever appear in the physical body. That is, if the health status diagram appears
problematic but the individual feels apparently healthy at the moment, it may be signaling future
health problems. Thus, the light-energy measurements may offer prospects for predictive
medical diagnosis [10]. As examples, Figures 5(a) and (b) depict the energy diagrams of an
Oncologist and a Nephrologist who are apparently healthy individuals active in their respective
practices. These figures show that the energy field is broken and the chakras are smaller than
their targets and dis-aligned. Such a state calls for intervention discussed in the ensuing
paragraphs.
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Figure 5(a) An Oncologist
5(b) A Nephrologist
Figure 5. Energy Diagrams of Two Physicians
How to Rectify Our Vibrational Characteristics
We have no awareness of our vibrational characteristics nor do we know how to manipulate
them consciously any more than we know how to manipulate autonomous functions such as
heart rate, respiration rate, etc. Yogis assert that the required impact on the autonomous functions
has to be made with meditation through the central nervous system (brain, spine). Here, we
provide a scientific explanation of how this may be coming about [11]. We know that the central
nervous system (CNS - brain, spinal cord, and nerves) governs the functioning of various organs
and systems. Eons ago, yogis came up with an ingenuous scheme which used languages to
produce the intended impact on the CNS. Taking Sanskrit as an example, there are thirty-three
plus alphabets and not coincidentally, there are thirty-three vertebras in the spine. Also, not
coincidentally, the meditation process cites thirty-three presiding deities to meditate upon. The
religious minded may take the deities literally but their stories can also be construed as
metaphorical. According to the stories, each deity is charged with destroying specific demons
that are identifiable with specific negative emotions such as anger, hatred, hubris, etc. (For
example, Madhu/Ketab, Shumbh/Nishumbh, Raktabeej, Mahishashur). Equivalently, the deities
can also be thought of as energy centers of which seven were cited earlier. The alphabets must be
suitably combined in the form of short mantras which when recited correctly will produce the
intended effect on the vertebras, and through the vertebras, various organs and systems. Proper
diet, physical and pranic (breathing) exercises are supportive of the meditation practices. These
ideas are illustrated in Figure 6. The links suggested here are purely for illustrative purposes.
Reference [10] provides examples of several mantras and their impact on the energy field.
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As supportive evidence, Figures 7(a) and (b) depict the energy diagrams of the first author
pursuant to a meditation program of Baba Shivanand Ji (pictured in Figure 7(c) when he was
honored by Nassau County NY on July 9, 2017) in India not long ago. The YouTube interview
Baba Shivanand Ji gave to a TV personality provides additional information [12]. In the
interview, Baba Ji mentions that his organization had kept medical before-and-after records of
subjects pursuant to his meditation program and they have seen a significant improvement in the
vast number of cases. Baba Ji also narrated the story of a program he conducted for medical
doctors in New Jersey several years ago in which patients with kidney stones, tumor, and cysts
participated. All three showed improvement in a single 30-minute meditation session and this
cannot be attributed to the placebo effect.
Figure 6. Linkages of Alphabets to Organs and Systems
(The specific linkages shown are for illustrative purposes only)
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Figure 7(a) Energy Diagram of the First Author at the Start of the Program
Figure 7(b) Energy Diagrams of the First Author at the end of Day 3 of the Program
Figure 7(c) From left: Senior Advisor Dilip Chauhan, Chief Deputy Comptroller Mayor James Garner,
Guru Maa, Honoree Dr. Avdhoot Shivanand Ji, Comptroller George Maragos, Angela Maragos and
Ragini Srivastava during honoring ceremony of Baba Ji (Source: http://thenewyorkcitypost.com/dravdhoot-shivanand-honored-by-nassau-county/).
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Discussion
Light-energy is essential to life. It has not been possible to create life even when supplied with
all the chemicals in the body and all the modern gadgets. We propose that the missing element is
energy, more specially light-energy. Nature has made a provision for human-life creation
through conception. The available data suggests that the light-energy of apparently healthy
individuals remains within a band for much of their lives, precipitously dropping to a low value
at the end of life or soon thereafter. These ideas are reflected in Figure 8 (a). The available data
also shows that the light-energy of severely unwell individuals is very low (in the range of 15 –
35 J) in comparison with apparently healthy individuals (> 50 J or so), chakras are much smaller
in size corresponding to very low energy levels, and health status energy diagrams also reflect
very low energy levels.
Korotkov has reported on the light-energy of nine subjects dying from various causes [13]. The
glow area of the fingers which form the basis of the GDV results for these nine subjects reached
very low values. As an example, the glow area for one of the subjects for several days after death
is shown in Figure 8(b). The foregoing information taken together suggests that we should all
strive to keep our light-energy level up as late in life as possible and meditation is a way to do so.
A larger long-term study should examine the hypothesis whether keeping the energy level up
through meditation in fact leads to a higher quality of life and a longer lifespan. The large body
of literature on the myriad of benefits of meditation in scientific, medical, and business journals
is suggestive of a likely positive outcome.
Light-energy of
Humans
Maximum
Minimum
Low value
B (Birth)
D (Death) + Few Days
Span of Bioenergy During Lifetime
Figure 8(a). Criticality of Light-energy to Life
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Figure 8(b) Glow Area of the Fore Finger for Several Days after Death
(Source: Ref. [13] with Permission of Dr. Korotkov)
The US Army conducted experiments in 1993 to investigate the possible impact of emotions on
DNA. They collected a sample of tissue and DNA from a subject’s mouth and located it in a
different room in the building. Then, the subject was shown videos which were selected to evoke
a spectrum of emotions. The researchers discovered that every time the subject experienced
emotional peaks and valleys, his cells and DNA exhibited powerful electrical responses at the
same instant although the subject and the DNA were separated by a distance measured in
hundreds of feet. The scientist later reproduced the results when the distance between the two
was several hundred miles [14].
Researchers at the Institute for HeartMath (IHM) conducted an experiment in 1995 to study the
effect of coherence (which is associated with positive emotions – unconditional love,
compassion, kindness, appreciation, etc.,) + intention on DNA placed in a beaker several feet
away [15]. They assigned the task to a group of five who were trained in achieving high
coherence to focus on the placental DNA. With high coherence, the team could intentionally
wind or unwind the DNA. These data highlight the power of meditation to influence us at the
cellular level. Recent studies offer a clue as to how meditation might be working in some cases
[16, 17]. Here, medical researchers implanted an electric device near the collarbone that emitted
electrical pulses to stimulate the vagus nerve which helped block surges in inflammatory
molecules. Benefits for rheumatoid arthritis and Crohn’s disease patients were reported.
Six sigma highlights the importance of steadfastly remaining committed to relying on data alone
for decision-making and that is a good thing but the yogi offers an equally valuable advice: At
the time of meditation, give your rational mind a well-deserved vacation or else it will turn into
your worst enemy. In this context, the feelings of Shraddha, Bhakti, and Vishwas (faith,
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minded, but hopefully, the scientific explanation presented here will have a similar effect for the
rational-minded.
From a scientific perspective, every human being is a nonlinear, self-regulating, multivariable,
and evolving, each with unique characteristics (Sanchet Karmas) inherited from ancestors and by
their own actions. Therefore, it is not possible to guarantee the same level of benefits for
everyone. From the yogic perspective, the inability to rid ourselves of serious diseases means
that Sanchet Karmas have not been entirely eliminated. This in turn may be because of several
factors, among them are: (1) The meditation process is not optimized, (2) The practitioner hasn’t
been regular in the practice, and (3) There is a tinge of skepticism in the heart, mind, and
consciousness of the practitioner.
Much of the world is not in a position to take advantage of many of the medical advances owing
to high costs. The approach outlined here is advantageous in this respect. A distinguishing
feature of this approach also is that the patient is a more active participant in contrast to standard
approaches. The suggested approach is worthy of being considered as a complementary approach
to standard medical care.
It may not be possible to deliver the kinds of benefits the referenced yogi apparently can for he
has spent many decades meditating for long hours. That said, everyone will benefit to a
significant-enough extent so as to make the effort worthwhile. This article has barely scratched
the surface. Much further work is possible, and hopefully, the article will serve as an impetus for
further research on the topic of meditation and cancer.
Conclusion
A yogic perspective on cancer is presented. The process of meditation is a tool that is worthy of
inclusion in the toolkit of physicians treating patients for various diseases. The article has
presented the scientific rationale and a yogic perspective on cancer and limited experimental
evidence on the prospects of treating and avoiding cancer with meditation.
Acknowledgement: The first author acknowledges that this paper is inspired by the programs and
discourses of Baba Shivanand Ji. It is written with the blessings of Gurumahan Maharishi Paranjothiar,
founder, Universal Peace Foundation, Thirumurthi Hills, TN, India. The latter has been spending three
weeks in meditation every year without any food and little water or milk for the last twenty-seven years
for world peace. The review and comments of Konstantin Korotkov and P. Krishna Madappa are
gratefully appreciated.
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List of Collaborators
Pradeep B. Deshpande1, James P. Kowall2, Dharamvir Jain3, Vibha Jain4, Mahendra Patel5, Uday M.
Kayarker6, Mahesh Agarwal7, Abraham Joseph8, Geetha Joseph9 Rukmaiah Bhupalan10, Leela
Bhupalan11, Babu Sharma12, Anand Gupta13, Atefeh Gupta14, Chitra Ram15
1
Professor Emeritus of Chemical Engineering, University of Louisville, & Six Sigma and
Advanced Controls, Louisville, KY 40241 USA; *Author for correspondence.
2
MD Neurology, Internal Medicine, PhD Theoretical Physics, Independent Researcher, Suburban
Eugene, Oregon, USA.
3
MD Oncology, Louisville, Kentucky.
4
MD Pathology, Louisville, Kentucky.
5
MD Nephrology, Elizabethtown, Kentucky.
6
MD Anesthesiology, Louisville, Kentucky.
7
MD Anesthesiology, Louisville, Kentucky
8
MD Cardiology, Louisville, Kentucky.
9
MD Oncology, Louisville, Kentucky.
10
MD Neurology, Louisville, Kentucky.
11
MD Oncology, Louisville, Kentucky.
12
MD FRCS England, Louisville, Kentucky.
13
MD Gastroenterology, Louisville, Kentucky.
14
MD Radiology, Louisville, Kentucky.
15
MD Radiology, Louisville, Kentucky.
Eleven of the Fifteen Collaborating MDs in a Special Session on July 15, 2017
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References
1. Baba Ji Feeds Monkeys in the Jungle, (Date Unknown), (https://youtu.be/Jx5VaWBknbI).
2. Mueller, David, Road Rage Nation, ABC-News. (2016, July 14),
(http://abcnews.go.com/WNT/video/road-rage-worse-40594136).
3. Nummenmaa, L., Glerean, E., Riitta, H., and Hietanen, J. K. (2014, January 14), Bodily Maps of
Emotions, PNAS, 111, 2. p. 646.
4. Deshpande, Pradeep B. and Kowall, James P., The Nature of Ultimate Reality and How It Can
Transform Our World: Evidence from Modern Physics; Wisdom of YODA, SAC 2015 (available on
amazon).
5. http://eqradio.csail.mit.edu.
6. Hotz, Robert L., Researchers Use Wireless Signals to Recognize Emotions, The Wall Street Journal,
September 20, 2016.
7. McCraty, R., Atkinson, M., and Tomasino, D., Science of the Heart, Publication No. 01-001, Institute
for Heart Math, Boulder Creek, CA 2001.
8. Korotkov, Konstantin G., Human Energy Field: Study with GDV Bioelectrography, 2002,
amazon.com.
9. Chez, Ronald A., Ed., Proceedings. Measuring the Human Energy Field – The State of the science,
The Gerontology Research Center, National Institute on Aging, National Institute of Health,
Baltimore, MD, April 17 2002.
10. Deshpande, Pradeep B., Korotkov, Konstantin, and Kowall, James P., Bioenergy Measurements for
Predictive Medical Diagnosis, Journal of Consciousness Exploration & Research, 7, 2, February 2016
pp. 126-136.
11. Deshpande, P. B., Aroskar, S. A., Bhavasar, S. N., and Kowall, J. P., Six Sigma Unravels Science of
Meditation, Unpublished Paper, June 2017.
12. Devang Bhatt Interviews Baba Shivanand Ji, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TZmbkq5_-xQ.
13. Korotkov, K., Light After Life, Backbone Publishing Company, Fair Lawn, NJ 1998 (available on
amazon).
14. Braden, Gregg, The Divine Matrix, Hay House Publishers, 2007.
15. Rein, Glenn and McCraty, R., Structural Changes in Water and DNA Associated with a New
Physiologically Measurable State, J. Scientific Exploration, 8, 3, 1994 pp. 438-439.
16. Fox, Douglas, The Electric Cure: An experimental procedure is exposing the links between the
nervous and immune systems: Could it be start of a revolution?, Nature, Vol. 545, 4 May 2017, pp. 20
– 22.
17. Koopman, et al., Vagus Nerve Stimulation Inhibits Cytokine Production and Attenuates Disease
Severity in Rheumatoid Arthritis Patients, Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci., 113, 8284 – 8289, 2016.
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Article
The Origin of Consciousness in the Integration of Analog
(Right Hemisphere) &Digital (Left Hemisphere) Codes
Paul C. Vitz*
Institute for the Psychological Sciences, Divine Mercy University, Arlington, VA (USA)
ABSTRACT
This article proposes that human self-consciousness came into existence through the
transcendence of previously constructed but separate analog and digital codes, primarily located
in the right and left hemisphere. This concept of transcendence is modeled on the sudden insight
of Helen Keller. This insight, starting with the ability to name things, gives rise to a qualitatively
unique human self-consciousness. It initiated human language and brought about the first human
experiences of the past, the future, awareness of death, moral responsibility, and other distinctly
human experiences. After a discussion of analog and digital codes in support of this
interpretation, it is proposed that the self-conscious insight took place about 50,000 years ago in
the brain of an early primitive human. The work of Tomasello and of Bickerton is used to
identify necessary mental abilities that preceded the capacity for self-consciousness and
language. Other relevant theorists treated include McGilchrist & Jaynes.
Keywords: Consciousness, origin, integration, analog, digital, right hemisphere, left hemisphere,
transcendence.
We begin with presenting a once familiar but now rather forgotten scene in the life of Helen
Keller. Remember Helen was a blind, deaf and mute child who was taught languageby using
words communicated to her by patterns of touch on her hand created by the fingers of her
teacher. Others may never have heard or read about this scene and so some context is needed
before quoting Helen’s own description of what happened.
Helen was born a normal healthy child in 1880 in a small town in Alabama. However, at age 19
months she had a serious fever for a few days, and after recovering her parents discovered that
she was blind, deaf and mute. A little over five years later her teacher Annie Sullivan arrived
from Boston trained as a teacher of the blind and deaf. At the time Helen would often have
temper tantrums; she had no eating manners, and was in many respects wild and uncontrollable.
She had no serious communication with anyone, even her parents. She was essentially an
intelligent but wild high level primate. (There will be more on this later.) Her teacher took her to
live in a small cottage behind the family’s main house. Here Annie physically forced Helen to
learn to eat with a spoon and fork, to wear clothes correctly and in other ways she developed a
relationship of tough love with Helen. After a short time Helen quieted down and the two
became deep, life-long friends. Soon Annie began to teach words to Helen. She did this by
pairing patterns of touch on Helen’s hand with various objects, such as a cup. Rather quickly
*Correspondence: Prof. Paul C. Vitz, Institute for the Psychological Sciences, Divine Mercy University, Arlington, VA (USA).
E-mail:1vitz.ips@divinemercy.edu I am grateful to colleagues who read and contributed to this article, most especially to:
Craig S.Titus, Matthew McWhorter, AurelianoPacciolla, and Greg Kolodziejczak.
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Helen learned several hundred words in this way. For example, when given an object she could
reliably give her teacher the correct tactile code, or word, for the object. But there was no
qualitative change in behavior or interaction with Annie. But one morning in 1887 there was a
dramatic change. Here is Helen’s own description of what happened.
We walked down the path to the well-house … Someone was drawing water and my teacher
placed my hand under the spout. As the cool stream gushed over one hand she spelled into the
other the word water, first slowly, then rapidly. I stood still, my whole attention fixed upon the
motions of her fingers. Suddenly I felt a misty consciousness as of something forgotten…
somehow the mystery of language was revealed to me. I knew then that "w-a-t-e-r" meant the
wonderful cool something that was flowing over my hand. That living word awakened my soul,
gave it light, hope, joy, set it free!
I left the well-house eager to learn. Everything had a name, and each name gave birth to a new
thought. As we returned to the house every object which I touched seemed to quiver with life.
That was because I saw everything with the strange, new sight that had come to me. On entering
the door I remembered the doll I had broken. I felt my way to the hearth and picked up the
pieces. I tried vainly to put them together. Then my eyes filled with tears; for I realized what I
had done, and for the first time I felt repentance and sorrow.
I learned a great many new words that day. … I do know that mother, father, sister,
teacher were among them- words that were to make the world blossom for me… It would have
been difficult to find a happier child than I was as I lay in my crib at the close of that eventful
day and lived over the joys it had brought me, and for the first time longed for a new day to
come. (Keller, 2003.26-7)
Later, Helen wrote that in the prior years she had “no concepts whatever of nature or mind or
death or God. I literally thought with my body. Without a single exception my memories of that
time are tactile” (Keller, 2000, p.5). She described her previous mental life.
I know I was impelled like an animal to seek food and warmth. I remember crying but not the
grief that caused the tears; I kicked, and because I recall it physically, I know I was angry. I
imitated those about me when I made signs for things I wanted to eat…But there is not one spark
of emotion or rational thought in these distinct yet corporeal memories.(Keller, 2000. p. 5)
Note that though she expressed emotional behavior she had no experience of what we know as
the meaning of the emotion. I term this basic animal-like awareness as qualia 1. It is presumed
that even qualia1 is qualitatively different from the physical stimulus and the sensoryneurological response which underlie this basic awareness.
Helen turned out to be both intelligent and sensitive, indeed a remarkable woman. She graduated
from Radcliff College at Harvard, wrote several books and became an important and positive
public figure.
However, our concern is with the meaning of her sudden qualitative change in consciousness
(From qualia 1 to qualia 2).Her sensory experience was of water on one hand and on the other
the tactile code for water. Suddenly she transcended the two separate but associated experiences
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and knew that w-a-t-e-r was the name of what she was sensing. This insight is not just a simple
linking of a tactile code with a sensory experience. She already had a good number of word–
object paired associates. (See discussion of Bickerton, below.)This is a kind of simple stimulusresponse association. However, she transcended both experiences. Although she spoke of this as
“a strange, new light”, this was presumably not a visual light but a kind of intellectual light. That
is, she transcended both codes: the water itself being a strong analog experience or code
(temperature and tactile movement) and the right handed tactile pattern, although beginning as a
sensation (analog), because these tactile events were discrete and sequential and without any
natural significance would be quickly sent to and processed by the left hemisphere where these
already familiar codes had a digital representation. (Initially almost all new experience starts in
the right hemisphere but with familiarity it commonly goes to the left hemisphere. McGilchrist,
2009, p. 40, 75, 94.)
Another way to describe her new level of experience is as the sudden irruption of symbolic
thought. The terms integration and mapping from one code to the other are equivalent. However,
for the insight resulting in integration or mapping to occur she had to transcend the two codes to
a mental level above them. In short, transcendence and integration or mapping presumably
happened at the same time and can be summarized as the basic “language insight” and represents
the sudden occurrence of new quality of experience here called qualia 2.This qualia 2 is
presumed to be non-material. As such qualia 2 might be understood as either a non-physical
emergent capacity or as a special kind of supervenience with new properties not capable of being
composed from its lower level components. Perhaps this is close to what Polanyi (1968) meant
by a higher level boundary condition.
It is very probable at the time of the insight the water was splashing on her left hand and the
tactile code was on her right hand. Evidence for this comes from a photo of Helen and Annie
Sullivan showing them communicating by tactile code right hand to right hand thus clearly
implying Helen’s contact with objects and sensations was through her left hand when she was
learning words. (Keller, 2003 p. 252). Since the right hand is more strongly connected to the left
hemisphere and the opposite is true for the left hand this would imply that Helen put together,
she integrated, at a higher level both right and left hemisphere experiences. As just noted I refer
to this major insight as the “naming insight” or the “mapping insight” including its expression in
behavior, her ability to ask for and apply names. For every sensation there is a name, or can be
one, and for every name there is a referent or can be one. She has learned there is a mapping
possible between these two different kinds of experience. It seems reasonable to suggest that this
new, revolutionary understanding created for Helen for the first time in her life genuine human
consciousness. This human consciousness was brought about by the integration of both the right
and left hemisphere. Or put differently, as developed below, this distinctly human consciousness
resulted from the ability to map or integrate digital and analog codes. (Much more about these
codes is given below.)
A diagram will help. In Figure 1, the lower level shows how the two codes or experiences were
understood by Helen prior to her insight: The entire Figure 1 shows her situation after her
naming insight. It portrays Helen’s new situation as conceptually transcending, that is, as
hierarchically above, the much more limited animal like awareness existing with each basic code
shown in the two lower boxes (Here I acknowledge my intellectual debt to Walker Percy as a
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theorist about the nature of language, in his The message in a bottle, 1975, especially chapter 1,
The Delta Factor.)
The neurological nature and location of this new kind of consciousness is apparently unknown.
Perhaps this consciousness involves an integration of all or most of the brain and thus has no
location in the usual sense. Nevertheless, Figure 1 summarizes the preceding case for the origin
of the language insight and with it true human self consciousness, qualia 2.
It is important to note that there may be levels of qualia 2 involving higher order mental
understanding. These levels would be termed qualia2a, 2b, 2c, etc. They are at level 2 since they
are not presumed to be qualitatively new forms of consciousness but they do identify higher
levels of intellectual understanding. For example Lonergan (1990, pp14-15, 120; also 1997b) has
proposed hierarchical levels of human consciousness. His first level seems similar to qualia 1,
the second and higher level called “the meaning of meaning” to qualia 2a. Still higher levels 2b,
2c etc seem be similar to his levels of value judgment and of responsibility.
The center of human self consciousness-qualia 2
Helen transcends both codes and experiences a dramatic new mental life, true
human self consciousness. She understands that tactile, discrete, arbitrary digital
codes/experiences on her right hand refer or map to continuous analog
sensations on her left hand and any analog sensations have or can be given
digital codes. She now knows what names are: she learns names and because
she can give names, she is a responsible agent. This is the naming or integration
or mapping insight: the basic language insight. From this first and immediate
insight follows her understanding of the past, present and future; true guilt; and
the existence of death. A later insight is her understanding that transcendence
has occurred and therefore a still higher transcendence seems possible, qualia 3.
(See discussion below)
Sensory and perceptual experiences:
Analog codes
Probably right hemisphere: qualia 1
----------------------------------------Helen’s basic awareness of water on
left hand.
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At first,
linked by
simple
association
Sequential discrete experiences:
Digital codes
Probably left hemisphere: qualia 1
------------------------------------------Helen’s basic awareness of tactile
sequence, w-a-t-e-r, on right hand.
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Figure 1.Helen Keller’s mental situation before her language insight, lower level and
after her insight, the entire Figure.
What is the evidence of this qualitative change in consciousness mentioned by Helen? 1. There is
her clear description of sudden illumination of light coming in to a previous very limited and dull
kind of awareness. She likens this to a ray of sunlight suddenly lighting up a gray and frozen
landscape. 2. She goes about learning lots of new names, especially of the people close to her.
Each new name gave her the delight of knowing something new and important. No doubt she
also learned then, or shortly afterwards, she could name some things herself. 3. Since she is
engaged in a conversation with her teacher she has the ability to infer what another person is
thinking. 4. She discovers a doll she had broken earlier (shows object permanence) and for the
first time she feels remorse, a guilty responsibility and sadness for what she had done. The moral
life has dawned on her! 5. Also she writes for the first time she knows there is death! This
strongly implies that those living at the lower level of pre-human consciousness, qualia 1, don’t
know there is death. 6. She claims, in addition, that just after this experience for the first time she
knew there was a past a present and a future. In short, she also discovered the human
understanding of time.
Human Consciousness in Helen Keller
Let us look more closely at Helen’s experience to understand how some of her new knowledge
could have arisen:
1. Her experience of light might have been of physical light, but more likely in view of her
blindness since the age of 19 months, she is describing a qualitative change and great
enlargement of her consciousness. This change clearly implies that this new consciousness
is at a higher level and therefore she has transcended the earlier level of a relatively simple
animal awareness. She now experiences existence at a level above the previously
established simple awareness of analog and digital codes. The experience of this
transcendence means that possible further transcendence is possible.
2. She goes about learning many new names; she has a vocabulary explosion. In becoming
a knower of names and probably learning that names can be given she becomes aware of her
self as the name giver. That is, human self consciousness comes into existence with the
naming or language insight. She understands there is a mapping between words, digital
codes and things, analog codes and that she, her self, is the knower of words and the
“mapper” between the two codes. By asking for names of her family members and
continued interaction with Annie she shows she assumes other persons can be known and
she shows the human drive to relate to others.
3 & 4.Helen discovers a doll she had broken before her dramatic insight. This ceramic doll
she earlier had dashed on the floor in irritation with Annie Sullivan; at the time she was
delighted when she felt the fragments of the broken doll at her feet. (Keller, 2003, p.26)
After her language insight and now with a “self” she returned to their house where, as she
entered, she remembered the doll she had broken. Helen picked up the pieces and vainly
tried to put them together again. Her eyes filled with tears and she realized what she had
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done and for the first time felt repentance and sorrow. (p.28). She knew she was responsible
for what she had done. At this time Helen also had a loved old rag doll named Nancy but
whether the new doll had a name we don’t know. But her attempt to repair the broken doll
and the frequent way that children understand dolls to be their babies or friends suggests that
this event could have communicated the idea of death as well as guilt.
5. Her subsequent behavior that day is described as a series of joyful events. Such a
sequence of present and then past moments combined with her earlier memory of the broken
doll could have easily provided her first experience of past, present and anticipated future.
That night she was looking forward to a tomorrow for the first time. Without such an
understanding of time she previously could have had no notion of death. This was also true
of the similar case of Laura Bridgman, Lamson, as discussed below.
In a book, 2013, by Thomas Suddendorf, The Gap: The science of what separates us from other
animals, the author notes important human abilities that make for the large human- animal gap.
He especially emphasizes the following: 1. moral life, right vs. wrong; 2.the ability to infer what
others are thinking; 3. the ability to grasp time and to have thought about the future; and, of
course,4. the use of language and the resulting expression of culture. Suddendorf’s two summary
principles describing the gap were also shown by Helen, namely: the interaction with her teacher
and her request for family member’s names showed a drive to link up with other humans and in
her response to the broken doll she demonstrated her ability to reflect on a scenario involving her
own behavior.
Furthermore, in support of Suddendorf it is significant that the core of Helen’s change in
consciousness was reflected in her new consciousness of such concepts as time and morality and
that she was a namer. That is, she experienced a sudden new internal world of self consciousness
that was far more significant than that which preceded her ability to communicate with others.
This major characteristic of her new consciousness is in agreement with the recent thesis of
Berwick & Chomsky (2016, Chapter 3) that the primary significance of human language was not
rooted in communication, especially not in any earlier form of animal communication. Instead,
they claim human language was primarily a new form of self-consciousness. In general, the
present thesis agrees with their position but with one important distinction, namely the
importance of internal analog codes in so far as they serve as referents for many words and the
presence of many arbitrary digital codes. It was the transcendence of these two lower level
codes that served as the basis of the qualitative new self-consciousness exhibited by Helen.
Therefore the existence of our transcendence is a fundamental and intrinsic characteristic of true
human consciousness. The philosopher Roger Scruton (2014) in a very different context
identifies this quality of our consciousness as follows:
“Many philosophers have referred to the “mystery” of consciousness, as though consciousness
were a peculiar feature of the world that cannot be reconciled with the ordinary assumptions of
physics. But this is deeply misleading. If there is a mystery here, it does not lie in some peculiar
stuff, or fact, or realm in the world of objects. The mystery, such as it is, arises from the
privileged view of the subject, and lies on the horizon within which the {transcendent; my
addition} world of the subject plays itself out. No attempt to pin down the subject to the world of
objects will ever really succeed. You can extract from the person as many body parts as you will,
but you will never find the place where he is, the place from which he addresses me and which I
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in turn address.” (p.71-72.) Scruton goes on to note; “I know that I am a single and unified
subject of experience. This present thought, this pain, this hope, and this memory are features of
one thing, and that thing is what I am. I know this on no basis, without having to carry out any
kind of check, and, indeed, without the use of any criteria---this is what is (or ought to be) meant
by the term “transcendental”. The unity of self-consciousness “transcends” all argument since it
is the premise without which argument makes no sense.” (p. 72.)This is not to imply that all of a
person’s conscious experiences are integrated. For many people, perhaps all, there are centers of
consciousness that are disconnected. But, each of these experiences of self-consciousness
contains the experience of the person as a unity in the sense identified by Scruton. As a
consequence, it is understood throughout this paper that the qualitative nature of human
transcendence is impossible to truly simulate in any kind of artificial intelligence system.
It should be noted that there was another and earlier case before Helen Keller. It was somewhat
less dramatic but it largely confirms the present interpretation of Keller. This is the case of Laura
Bridgman (Lamson, 1890) who was also blind and deaf. Her case history occurred decades before
that of Helen Keller. Laura’s training began in 1837 when her parents left her at a special school
in Boston at the age of seven. She had suffered from scarlet fever at age two and was left without
sight, hearing or speech and almost no sense of smell or taste. Only touch remained unimpaired.
(Gitter, 2001)At the beginning of her stay at her special school she worked mostly with her
teacher Samuel Howe and a friend Lydia Drew. Here I quote from Gitter’s thorough account
with the internal quotes being taken from reports by Howe.
Although there was no single word that triggered Laura’s understanding, she, too experienced a
“eureka!” At first Howe had felt as if he were teaching “a very intelligent dog a variety of
tricks”: The poor child “sat in mute amazement, and patiently imitated everything her teacher
did,” but the process had seemed entirely meaningless and mechanical. Still he did not give up.
Day after day, week after week, he and (Lydia) Drew kept Laura at work, arranging and
rearranging letters and matching words to objects. … Then after two months, Laura suddenly
made the connection. …All at once “the truth began to flash upon her---her intellect began to
work---she perceived that here was a way by which she could herself make up a sign of anything
that was in her own mind, and show it to another mind.” (What I call the naming insight.) She
was no longer a dog or a parrot….She had overcome the “great obstacle,”… ( p.83) In both the
Bridgman and Keller case their pre-language life is described as animal like.
The insights of Helen and Laura appear to also what Lonergan (1997a), p. 25) called the
“Archimedes moment of insight”
Self Consciousness and Transcendence
In short, it is proposed here that with this insight Helen (and also Laura Bridgman.) experienced
genuine human self-consciousness for the first time and that prior to that her mental life was that
of an intelligent non-human primate. This insight about language and self-consciousness marks
the most important difference between humans and other primates.
An early effect of this first experience of transcendence is found in children who respond to the
world with wonder and awe. Helen Keller showed it dramatically. Almost everything is new,
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special, fascinating and soon raises many questions, often very basic and profound ones. In time
as a person grows older our experience becomes familiar and wonder and awe almost disappear.
Instead from their now taken for granted transcendent position people begin to look down at the
world focusing only on those aspects that are familiar and usually under control. They typically
even lose the awareness of their transcendent position.
Many people do however, escape the ordinary familiar experience of self consciousness and
become aware that a further transcendence is possible, one above their normal level of human
self consciousness. In terms of Figure 1 they “look” up to a possible transcendence above them.
The problem is that humans can experience only analog or digital codes and the realm above
them cannot be clearly described or articulated. It is ineffable and people stumble about trying to
explain what they experienced (Otto, 1958).
However, there are transcendent experiences that are a kind of awe in response to great beauty,
truth, or goodness that have long been called in philosophy, the transcendentals; there are also
mystical experiences ranging from Maslow’s “peak experience” to specific religious experiences
probably including near-death experiences. The existence of the first transcendence here called
qualia 2, gives rise to the idea of a possible still higher transcendence, a qualia 3. This possibility
becomes a fundamental, intrinsic characteristic of human consciousness and is maintained by
hints of such a higher level of transcendence by the just mentioned experiences of awe, beauty,
truth, mystical states etc.
Analog & Digital Codes
Later I will develop the case that Helen’s remarkable experience can serve as a guide to the
origin of human self consciousness for the human species. But before we get to the historica
lorigin of human consciousness we will first spend some time understanding what are known as
analog and digital codes and placing them in a useful context.
A code is anything that we can perceive that stands for or refers to some other thing. An analog
code has some physical similarity or analogy to its referent. The degree of similarity can vary,
but some similarity must exist. A common visual analog code of a person is a photograph of
them. By looking at the photograph you can recognize its referent, assuming it is a “good” photo.
The physical similarity of analog codes is most often visual or auditory but can in unusual cases
involve other senses. Some Braille codes have touch similarities to their referents.
Thus analog codes are continuous and connected in space or time. A digital code, in contrast, is
discrete and has no similarity to its referent. Indeed, in this sense digital codes are arbitrary. For
example, in the US most people have a Social Security number that refers to them. This number
has no physical similarity to the person to whom it refers. Your SS# gives no clue to your height,
weight, sex, race or even if you are alive or dead. Likewise our credit card numbers, auto license
number, etc. give no information about our physicality. Most digital codes are also part of a
system that has rules for how the symbols are to be put in a correct sequence, such as the
grammar and syntax rules of a language, rules of logic or mathematics, rules for a computer
program, or very arbitrary rules for the way in which an organization or bureaucracy writes its
orders, pays its bills, etc.
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Analog and Digital Codes: Truly Different
Analog and digital codes are not just different they are different in a qualitative way, that is, they
are incommensurate. This qualitative difference means that the information or message present
in each code cannot be communicated to a human being in the other code. This is a very
important distinction and needs some explanation. For example, take a digital message such as a
mathematical proof or a legal argument written in English. A person cannot understand the proof
or legal argument by looking at the image of it, that is, by just looking at the page on which it is
written showing the physical properties of the message. The person must first know the language
it is written in, and such languages are primarily digital.
Certain arbitrary visual shapes stand for referents not present in the message itself. You must
know the meaning of the symbols used in mathematics or in English, the rules for sequencing
symbols, and often even more of the digital code world on which the message is based. Even the
above mentioned Social Security # cannot be understood by someone who does not know what
the digits stand for. Children have to learn their numbers before doing arithmetic. We are all
familiar with the failure to know a digital code with special digital symbols and rules for
sequencing them. Foreign languages, many topics in mathematics, computer programs, etc. often
let us experience our digital ignorance. As a simple example, when I first saw them as highway
signs I didn’t know what HOV or Hazmats referred to.
An analogous kind of failure also happens when digital codes try to communicate analog
information. Of course, a photograph or picture can be put in a digital code as a sequence of
digits and then transmitted to a new location. Television is a familiar example of this. But, as
long as the photograph, say of your grandmother, is in digital form you cannot tell even if it is a
photograph of a person much less of whom it might be. A digital string loses the important
information in the spatial interactions of the different coded points, that is, which digits are
above, below or even near each other. And further, the translation of the digits into shades of
black, gray & white (much less into the many different colors) is not possible by normal
inspection.
No, for a digital coded analog to be understood by a human being it must be reconstituted in
spatial form on a screen or piece of paper, that is put back in an analog form, for you to
recognize your grandmother. Likewise, a digital recording of music, now common, must be put
back into analog sound waves so that the human ear and auditory brain can appreciate them. This
is analogous to the TV image transmission followed by human recognition. The point remains
however, that the two kinds of code provide unique information or knowledge that the other
cannot. This principle is caught to some degree in the familiar claim that “A picture is worth a
thousand words”. And keep in mind that not all words are entirely digital since some words have
analog properties such as sound symbolism or strong imagistic associations or strong emotional
connections as in swear words.
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Further Objective Differences between the Two Codes and the two Code
Systems
Some reliable physical differences between analog and digital codes should be noted. (See
Wilden, 1972 and Spence, 1973 for still very relevant treatments of these two types of
codes.)Digital code symbols are discrete like numbers or letters of the alphabet while analog
codes are commonly continuous often without clear boundaries such as photographs or drawings.
In a movie although the edge of the screen often serves as a boundary or limit this usually is an
implicit and very temporary limit that is left behind by the next image. In addition the viewers of
a movie are often unaware of any boundary as they focus on the center of the scene thus leaving
the boundary of the scene ambiguous. Analog codes when auditory are temporal but continuous
and complex while digital codes are typically sequential, simple and discrete in character. Also
analog codes have no way to represent zero or true negation or no. The analog can refuse or
reject but it” cannot deny or negate.” (Wilden, 1972, p. 58.)
Besides the particular code symbols or expressions each type of code has a system within which
it functions. Digital systems have syntax or rules that determine if a given sequence is valid or
not. As already noted, languages all have some kind of grammar or syntax governing correct
usage. Likewise, mathematics and logic have rules for acceptable sequences. Organizations, for
example, have rules for how customer orders and office payrolls are to be processed; journals
have certain styles and formats that must be used by their authors and of course computer
languages have very specific system requirements. If a violation of the rules occurs the system
often comes to a complete halt; or, it continues, sometimes containing a very big error that can
suddenly manifest itself.
The systems within which analog symbols operate are fewer, less precise and less clear, as is
often the case with analog situations, but still present. Visual analog symbols must maintain
continuity so that the spatial connectivity is maintained. Sounds such as music and the human
voice have typical analog code properties and hence they must also maintain continuity or much
of their meaning is lost.
Human Response to Analog and Digital Codes
The great majority of the time when we talk of analog and digital codes we will be referring to
how they are processed and experienced by humans and not to their nature as external codes, or
as objects. The experiential difference is well summarized as follows:
The analog is pregnant with meaning whereas the digital domain of signification is,
relatively speaking, somewhat barren. It is almost impossible to translate the rich
semantics of the analog into any digital form for communication to another organism.
This is true both of the most trivial sensations (biting your tongue, for example) and the
most enviable situations (being in love). It is impossible to describe precisely such
events except by recourse to unnamable common experience (a continuum). But this
imprecision carries with it a fundamental and probably essential ambiguity: a clenched
fist may communicate excitement, fear, anger, impeding assault, frustration, “Good
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morning”, or revolutionary zeal. The digital on the other hand, because it is concerned
with boundaries and because it depends upon arbitrary combination, has all the syntax to
be precise and may be entirely unambiguous. Thus what the analog gains in semantics it
loses in syntactic, and what the digital gains in syntactic it loses in semantics. (Wilden,
p. 58)
The difference between the two codes, as noted above, sets up a necessary difference in the
location in the human nervous system where they are processed. The reader may already know
that these two code types are in a rough sense processed in the right (analog) and left (digital)
brain hemispheres respectively. Apparently neurons that respond to spatial and continuous
information need to be separated from neurons responding to discrete, sequential information.
(Presumably this is also why analog and digital computing are always kept separate from each
other and not mixed together.)
In general, for right handed people the preceding distinction means, as noted, the right and left
hemispheres of the cortex. Left- handed people tend to be the reverse but not as reliably as their
right-handed friends and relatives. However, it is important to make clear that the distinction
between analog and digital codes does not require a hemisphere distinction only that they are
processed in different locations in the brain (nervous system). We will, however often assume an
equivalence between the analog/digital distinction and the right/left hemisphere distinction when
valid and for editorial variation.
Over the last few decades a great deal of research in neuroscience and psychology has
established that the two halves of the cortex typically specialize in quite different psychological
processes. The basic distinction was identified in the late 1960’s and early 1970’s. (Gazzaniga,
1970; Gazzaniga & LeDoux, 1978; Sperry, 1966, 1968, 1982.)
With various complexities and partial exceptions the essential differences have continued to hold
up. (Chelbus, Mikl, Brazdil, Pazourkova, Krupa & Rektor, 2007; Corballis, 2002; Hellige, 1998;
McGilchrist, 2009; Springer & Deutsch, 1998: Vigneau, et al 2011.) Although, McGilchrist, 2009
interprets the hemisphere difference, based on new evidence, as rather different.
The left hemisphere is generally the verbal and the logical hemisphere, and because of our
emphasis on language this hemisphere is often known as the "dominant" hemisphere. This
hemisphere deals with much spoken and written language, mathematics, logic, analysis, and
related tasks. The core of left hemisphere mental life seems to involve the manipulation of
discreet symbols, especially sequences of such symbols. That is the left hemisphere codes reality
in strings of clearly defined events occurring in time, with language being the major expression
of this capacity. For example, especially in adults, word and face recognition are lateralized in
the left and right hemispheres respectively. (Dundas, Plaut & Berhmann, 2013)
The right hemisphere specializes in a very different type of mental operation. It is this
hemisphere which responds to spatial information. It codes faces, patterns, and images of all
kinds. It is the hemisphere which responds to sensory reality in terms of continuous wholes,
rather than distinct parts; thus, it is the sphere of synthesis rather than analysis. The right
hemisphere is the locus of our imagistic dreams (Joseph, 1988) in particular, sexual dreams
(Bakan, 1976; also Springer & Deutsch, 1998; Davidson & Schwartz, 1977; Klein & Armitage,
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1979).
The right hemisphere is the hemisphere of most emotion, especially negative emotion and of
intuitive judgments about people and events. For example, Prete, Fabri, Foschi, Branucci &
Tommasi, (2015) report that the unpleasant experience of musical dissonance occurs in the right
hemisphere while the more pleasant consonance is a left hemisphere experience. (Porges, 2011,
pp.138-140 for music and the hemispheres summary.)There is also therefore reason to believe
that such activities as our ordinary response to music, sports, dance, and so on, which involve
continuous, almost unconscious response to auditory, visual, spatial and kinesthetic information
are also concentrated in the right hemisphere.
A recent and most stimulating right and left hemisphere interpretation of the development of
modern culture that argues for the modern West as increasingly dominated by the left hemisphere
is presented by Iain McGilchrist (2009), a psychiatrist with research experience in
neuroimaging.(For an early example of this kind of thinking applied to the development of
modernist art, see Vitz, 1988.)
McGilchrist’s (2009) work thoroughly justifies the hemisphere distinction and its relevance to
human culture. For the present it is important to note that here the primary distinction is between
analog and digital codes, with the presumption that they are primarily processed in the right and
left hemispheres respectively. McGilchrist focuses most on Western history of the last several
centuries while in contrast the remainder of the present paper focuses on the very early history of
the human race.
Continuing our description of the right hemisphere/analog code mental life we note that
visual-spatial experience requires heterogeneity; in fact, it requires the presence of contradiction
and differences in order for vision even to occur. The basic "logic" of such parallel and
oppositional systems is roughly, "the more differences, the more contradictions, the better."
Experiments with homogeneous visual fields and with images fixed on the retina make the same
point, namely, that a visually constant field soon becomes visually nonexistent due to
habituation. It is well known that our sensory and perceptual systems are primed to respond to
change, especially sudden change.
Moreover, the emphasis of the right hemisphere on continuous visual experience, on the many
different shades of color, and so on, means that discrete, arbitrary categories do intrinsic violence
to the natural complexity of vision, indeed of all analog experience. In short, analog codes appear
to be designed to respond to the facts of empirical differences and empirical contradictions. For
example, many perceptual elements identified in the visual system often function in opposition to
each other. Contradictions are the essence of such analog perception. (Examples are the sensory
and perceptual systems involved in black-white, red-green, blue-yellow, and vertical-horizontal
perception.) Such experience, close to sensory reality, is the farthest thing from the arbitrary
discrete categories and systems of the digital mentality.
Our auditory experience also has hemisphere effects. The left ear which is more strongly
connected to the right brain responds to non-verbal environmental sounds while the right ear
which is more strongly connected to the left hemisphere is more sensitive to words or word like
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sounds (Gonzalez & McLennan, 2009; Tervaniemi & Hugdahl, 2003). Ordinary response to
music is mostly a right hemisphere activity (Joseph, 1988) but trained musicians seem to have
more left hemisphere involvement. (Gates & Bradshaw, 1977.) However, important aspects of
music seems to involve complex left and right interactions Brown, Martinez & Parsons, 2006;
Prete, Fabri, Foschi, Brancucci &Tommasi, 2015. Music when we our hearing it, of course, has
some similarity to speech with its sequence of notes; the left hemisphere component gets even
more important if a person can read music.
Furthermore, analog experience is saturated with both affective and immediately perceived
meaning. Thus, as noted, most emotional experience, especially of elementary and negative
emotions is centered in the right hemisphere. All perceptual experience is connected to every
other experience happening at the same time. It is well known that simultaneity and spatial
contiguity are all that is needed for the immediate impression of causality. Right hemisphere
experience, that is, analog experience, as Wilden (p.58) commented has intrinsic meaning: there
is no absurdity, no existential angst or cool, skeptical rationality; instead, extreme analog types of
people revel in an abundance of meanings. No one ever complained that a dream or drug
experience was without meaning at the time of the experience. Superstitious and occult beliefs
are the typical representatives of a right hemisphere unseasoned by digital rationalism--and
doubts.
Some Qualifications
To the preceding general picture of hemispheric specialization must be added important
qualifications. Indeed--and this should not be too surprising--as the number of studies increases
and as the questions asked get more varied, the specific evidence gets much more complex. As
new studies continue to come out, one can expect the original simple cortical dichotomy to
become something of a "yes, but" dichotomy. Here I will only describe some of the more recent
qualifications and complications.
There is evidence that the right brain does have limited verbal capacity. Simple nouns are
capable of being understood by the right side; it can also demonstrate word association.
However, it is clearly greatly inferior in these capacities to the left brain; and it cannot produce
normal speech of any kind (Searlman, 1977). A qualification to this claim is that the words of
some songs and swear words are under right hemisphere control. That is, some very emotional
language, probably learned early in life, is found in the right hemisphere (Bowers & PleydellPearce, 2011; Gott, 1973; Smith, 1966).
Moreover, many tasks which were originally thought to be simple right or left brain tasks now
are understood to involve various sub-activities, some of which take place in each hemisphere.
For example, reading is primarily a left brain task, but of course, the pattern recognition involved
in seeing and identifying letters has right hemisphere components to it. Indeed, all digital codes
are first recognized as part of external reality with some kind of initial or low level analog
processing since even the digits are, like letters, simple spatial forms. But because of their
discrete, sequential character and absence of any analog meaning they are sent to the left
hemisphere for further processing. Something similar is presumed to happen with human speech.
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In short, it is no longer feasible to think in terms of an overly simple right-brain/left-brain
dichotomy for most normal mental tasks. Instead, both hemispheres are involved at some level of
processing for our mental activities. (McGilchrist, 2009, p.1.) Nevertheless, as noted earlier I
assume analog and digital codes are usually primarily processed in right and left hemispheres
respectively.
It is also important to point out that the analog/digital code difference, as noted, clearly implies
underlying neurological processing differences. (For anatomical differences between the right
and left hemispheres see Galaburda, 1995). Since these two types of codes are qualitatively
different at the level of psychological experience, it is plausible to assume that their processing
and storage should be differentiated neurologically as well. A simple such difference would be
one of location and in the present case, as in the right and left hemispheres, but in some instances
the separation might involve different areas within the same hemisphere. Nor would it be
surprising if the neuronal functions underlying analog and digital symbols should be different.
For example, what are called analog symbols, as already noted; involve continuous processing
while discrete processes presumably underlie digital mental life. There is recent evidence
supporting these suppositions in Mochizuki & Shinomoto, (2014) who explicitly use the terms
analog and digital to express the difference. In addition, the neurotransmitters that serve these
two processes may be different. See Oke, Keller, Mefford, and Adams, 1978, who report a leftright hemisphere difference in the concentration of norepinephrine. There is also evidence
published by Kurup, 2003, supporting the claim that the right hemisphere chemical dominance is
linked to creativity.
Two Kinds of Consciousness?
A number of writers have proposed that the two hemispheres are each centers of a qualitatively
distinct kind of consciousness. This idea, however popular some years ago, is incorrect or,
depending on how it is described, an oversimplification. Essentially we have only one kind of
consciousness but what it attends to can vary greatly. Our consciousness might focus on digital
codes when writing a legal brief or purchase order but later focus on analog experience while
playing tennis or practicing dance.
Patients-who have had the neural link between the two hemispheres, the corpus callosum,
surgically cut--do not report having two kinds of consciousness. Furthermore since most
everyday activities involve, as mentioned above, both right and left hemisphere processes an
integrated type of consciousness experience should be the typical experience.
Nevertheless, there is an aspect of truth in the notion of two types of consciousness. Most of us
are aware that our mental state is quite different when we are engaged in certain activities. For
example, many sporting activities such as golf, sailing, and mountain climbing, especially when
the involvement is intense, induce a mental state very different from normal consciousness.
There is a kind of total involvement in the sensory and perceptual world that results in the
suspending of what can be called "self-consciousness." (Dreams are also much like this.) These
strong right hemisphere activities involve an intense absorption that can be most gratifying, not
just because of the pleasure of the activity but also because self-consciousness with its anxieties
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about the future and self-presentation has been suspended. There is also evidence that emotional
experience is somewhat lateralized with the left hemisphere being somewhat associated with
optimistic emotion and the right with most other emotions especially when negative and
pessimistic. (Sackheim, Greenberg, Weiman, Gur, Hungerbuhler & Geswind, 1982; Davidson,
1995; Porges, 2011.)
In short, there is reason to believe that at times there is a clearly experienced distinction between
the two brain mentalities as associated with emersion in either analog or digital codes. However,
this difference in experience is the result of what our consciousness is attending to and not a
qualitatively different state of human consciousness.
Gazzaniga & LeDoux (1978) articulate this position clearly when they write that in general, "the
cerebral hemispheres in man do not oppose each other but instead work together to maintain the
integrity of mental functioning” (p. 72). Also note that one of the important functions of the
corpus callosum is to bring sensory and perceptual experience occurring on one side of the body
to the other side. The left hand literally needs to know what the right hand is doing. Thus
integration is mostly what is going on. More recently some of this complex interaction is
identified by Pinel & Dehaene, (2010).
A significant qualification to this is proposed by McGilchrist, (2009, p.18). He emphasizes that
another important function of the corpus callosum is to inhibit the other hemisphere, though
transfer of information is also important. He noted that in the corpus callosum many of the
neurons and other neural structures are inhibitory and that some neuroscientists have suggested
that the whole point of the corpus callosum is to allow one hemisphere to inhibit the other.
Inhibitory processing is part of its function but the corpus callosum seems primarily to serve an
excitatory function. (Bloom & Hynd, 2005).
There is reason to believe that this ordinary, integrated consciousness has a self-conscious quality
derived from spoken language and probably based on, or expressed through, left hemisphere
processes. That is, language appears to be the integrating and central experience for most human
self consciousness. Thus, right hemisphere mental life is integrated into consciousness primarily
through language. However, self-recognition and much of our basic identity depends upon the
analog experience of our body, how we look and sound to our self, and the integrated experience
of our emotions. (McGilchrist, 2009, 88-90; Schore, 2003)
The major right hemisphere component of spoken language is presumably what is known as
“tone’, the emotional state of the speaker that goes along with the communicated information.
This tone is very important, of course, as in some instances it can completely change the
information communicated. This is especially so when the tone has a sarcastic quality. For
example, “Yah, Yah” can often mean “no, no”. The expression “self-consciousness” is more
appropriate to describe mental life focused on informed by left hemisphere/digital experience,
and “human awareness” to describe the experience of pure right hemisphere mental life focused
on sensory and perceptual experience and often emotionally loaded.
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Self Consciousness and Language
The present model proposes that the essential insight for language was the naming insight and
that with it came the first experience of the self. This is exemplified in the case of Helen Keller.
This means that prior to this insight in the preceding animal like state there was not conscious
experience of a self. However, this does not mean that the self or me or I was the result of
language and its syntactical rules. Bermudez (1998) has shown that the first person pronouns of
the self cannot be derived from linguistic mastery. Instead he shows that self-conscious thought
requires using pre-linguistic body based experiences of things. Such experiences are what are
called analog in the present context and the naming insight which is the beginning of language
requires that a digital code for the self be linked to already existing analog code(s). In support of
this interpretation is the neuroscientist Allan Schore (2003) who writes “The core of the self is
thus non-verbal and unconscious, and it lies in patterns of affect regulation” (pp. 21-22) and that
it develops in right hemisphere analog experience focused on the mother and her emotions. The
two different ways of human responding to analog and digital codes are summarized in Table 1.
Keep in mind, however, in reality there are many mixtures of analog and digital.
Typical Analog Experiences
Continuous
Spatial
Image
Holistic focus
Synthetic
Concrete
Metaphoric meaning
Spatial as in performing
Sport, dance, hunting
Imaginative
Parallel processing
Implicit
Intuitive and instinctual
Timeless
Subjective
Simultaneity
Empirical observation
Meaning: natural & strong
Strongly emotional, negative
Typical Digital Experiences
Discrete
Sequential
Word
Part focus
Analytic
Abstract
Literal meaning
Sequential as in writing
Math proof, legal brief, definitions
Logical
Serial processing
Explicit
Rational
Timeline
Objective
Before & after
Theoretical prediction
Meaning: arbitrary & weak
Weakly emotional, positive
Table 1.Typical differences between analog and digital code experiences for humans
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A Proposed Historical & Developmental Sequence for Human SelfConsciousness
Stage 1: Approximately 70,000 years ago to approximately 40,000 years ago. (In individual
humanlife there is an analogous time from birth up to just before the experience and
development of true language, for example from birth to around two years of age.)
Prior to Stage 1 the brain of intelligent primates slowly gets larger. (However, Klein and Edgar,
2002, p.91, propose that this process involved sudden spurts more like what evolutionary
scientists call a punctuated equilibrium.)Keep in mind that though these early humans had the
biological potential for human language, it is proposed that they had not yet learned to utilize it.
Then roughly 50 to 60,000 years ago only one or possibly a pair of very intelligent
primates with a new kind of brain arises very likely in northeast Africa. These primates are
human in the biological sense but do not yet have the ability to express true human language,
human cultural activities or to fully experience human moral and ethical understanding. This is
similar to a human infant who at birth has not yet developed the latent but distinctive human
capacities of language and the moral life. These especially intelligent early humans grow in
number and are generally successful. Also, as with young children up to roughly 2 years of age,
they showed interest in and made simple geometric shapes as found in the very earliest cave and
stone markings. Also like young children, these pre-full language humans enjoyed collecting
small, bright or interesting objects as in the early evidence of human made beads.
As such, the occurrence of the first human is an “ontological leap” that will express itself
psychologically and culturally somewhat later in the “language insight”. This intellectual
development is described below. That the neurological potential for language, suddenly emerged
at about this time, is quite consistent with the important thesis of Klein and Edgar (2002, pp.
270-272). However, keep in mind that though these early humans had the biological potential for
human language, it is assumed here that some time, presumably several thousand years, was
needed before these pre-language humans learned to truly utilize it.
Explicitly what is being proposed here is: 1. A psychological identification and
description of the analog and digital code-based nature for the full understanding of language and
the simultaneous occurrence of human self –consciousness. This is the language insight
described with Helen Keller. 2. A developmental interpretation of how this capacity for language
in the early history of humanity took place based on an analogy to human language development
in the modern child. This is described below.
One of the first important capacities that must precede any language insight is the ability to share
intentions with others. Social communication in order to coordinate actions of any complexity
requires such shared intentions. In human infants this capacity has been observed at 12 months
and may develop by nine months, in short, before genuine language. Intentionality is usually first
indicated by pointing with the hand/finger and by eye/head direction. Research showing this by
12 months of age includes that by BehneT., Carpenter, M. &Tomasello, M. 2005; Tomasello, M.
Carpenter, M. Call, J. Behne, T. & Moll, H. 2005; Tomasello, M. & Haberl, K. 2003.Thus, by 12
months a new element enters into the infant’s repertoire. Previous interactions had been dyadic,
that is, the infant related to a person, typically the mother, or sometimes to an object. But now a
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triadic interaction becomes possible, that is, the infant can look at an object that the mother is
looking at and then relate to the mother with respect to the object. The mother and infant can
jointly attend to an object. As Jerome Bruner (1977) noted:
What has been mastered at this first stage is a procedure for homing in on the attentional
locus of another. It is a disclosure and discovery routine and not a naming procedure. …It
has, moreover, equipped the child with a technique for transcending egocentrism, for
insofar as he can appreciate another’s line of regard and decipher their marking
intentions, he has plainly achieved a basis for what Piaget has called decentration, using a
coordinate system for the world other than the one of which he is the center. (p. 276)
In other words, the infant is capable of joint visual attention with its mother. Again we see,
before the development of language per se, the beginning of social interaction involving the
coordinated communication between two selves. But, this foundational communication is not yet
true language.
The claim that intentional communication is absent in the great apes and of its relevance to early
human development has been well articulated by Michael Tomasello (2014). The present
interpretation is that this development of cooperative intentionality is unique to humans, that it
preceded the language insight and was a necessary precursor for language to emerge.
In addition, during this period of approximately50,000 years ago, these very early humans also
began to develop an extensive list of both analog and digital codes each located in different brain
areas, e.g. right and left hemispheres. The analog codes are sensations and perceptions but might
include some percepts that are slightly less specific and somewhat more abstract, such as
simplified faces, or sun shapes or circles, tree or even vertical line shapes, or slight
simplifications of certain sounds made by babies, children, adults or significant animals or birds.
These analog codes in the brain have an analog neural representation similar to the external
physical stimulus. For example, a loud sound has greater amplitude to its neural response than a
soft sound. Shapes of objects apparently have internal analog neural characteristics (Behrmann,
2000; Kosslyn, et al. 1997; Shepard & Cooper,, 1982). Digital codes are presumed to create no
internal analog neural similarities to what they refer to.
Also, I assume these early pre-language humans developed many digital codes which were
primarily primitive vocalizations. These vocalizations or communications like sophisticated
monkey vocalizations became associated with certain external conditions like, a snake, or a new
and dangerous primate, or with a friendly member of the group. Although some of these
vocalizations might have begun with an analog character involving a kind of sound symbolism,
they would easily morph into arbitrary sounds. For example, a large often grunting group
member could be associated with a short form of his habitual sound of frequent grunting, e.g.
“ugh”. The group would vocalize “ugh” when seeing him. As Ugh grew older perhaps his ugh
would disappear and with it the sound symbolism would go and the vocalization would become
an arbitrary digital code for him, especially for the young group members who were born after he
stopped uttering “ugh”.
This kind of process is described in some detail by Derek Bickerton (2014) who calls it
“displacement”. Bickerton like most theorists conceptualizes human language as qualitatively
different from animal communication. For example, Bikerton proposes that by imitating a
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hunted animal’s sound, such as the trumpeting of a mammoth, an early man could get others to
follow him to where he had already spotted the creature. There the small group of early humans
could kill it. Over time, like the man described above called “ugh”, the initial imitative sound
would be de-contextualized and become an arbitrary digital sound much like a word. This
process is what Bickerton means by ‘displacement” and what I call the development of arbitrary
digital sounds.
Such vocalizations change quickly and would build up into a list of paired sound-image or
sound-object associations. This condition would be analogous to the state Helen Keller was in
just before her language insight when her mental life was that of a very bright human primate
but without human consciousness. The Bickerton theory is not enough for the formation of
language according to the present theory but, it would be an important period of preparation
immediately prior to true language.
McGilchrist (2009, pp10-106 ) has a remarkable interpretation of sophisticated communication
by intelligent social animals that may have been found in human primates before the proposed
language insight. This sophisticated communication, according to McGilchrist, was something
like music and involved a ’language’ or signaling by pitch, intonation and temporal relation.(And
presumably loudness.) He cites the language of an extant primitive tribe in the Amazon basin;
perhaps African click languages might also be relevant to his interpretation.
Stage 2: Approximately 40-30,000 years ago – the language insight. In individual human
life there is an analogous time when the child begins to show clear language mastery often
with a great spurt in vocabulary and competence.
Archeologists, anthropologists, and other scientists have identified a period beginning about
30,000 -40,000 years ago when human culture suddenly shows up in the physical record. From
then on we find simple artifacts, cave designs and marks, and finally beautiful and sophisticated
drawings of animals, that identify primates of what can be rightly called a human character.
Caves existed long before then but apparently there were no humans mentally developed enough
to have reasons to draw on caves or other surfaces. This time period is posited as starting roughly
30,000 years ago by John Pfeiffer (1982) in his description of that time and the millennia after it
as “The Creative Explosion” of humanity.
Others now suggest a beginning as early as 40-50,000 years ago. The anthropologists Cochran
and Harpending (2009) generally agree with this and place this “Big Bang” in the upper
Paleolithic and they write that “the most popular and attractive hypothesis is that modern humans
had developed advanced language capabilities…”( p. 26). What these capabilities were is the
thesis developed here. They also quote the Stanford anthropologist Richard Klein who states
that the change shown by humans in this period “signals the most fundamental change in human
behavior that the archeological record may ever reveal…” (1999, p. 524.)
The French scholar Henri-Jean Martin (1994) very admirably presents this very early human
history.
Finally, after 35,000 B. C. came Cro-Magnon man who ushered in Homo sapiens sapiens,
which is what we are. … At this point history accelerates. (p.1). … What should
instead be emphasized is the acceleration that preceded the dawn of historic time. There
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is increasing evidence that in the Upper Paleolithic man conquered the means for
speculative thought. Somewhat earlier than 50,000 B. C., for example, he began to bury
his dead—a first indication that he now situated himself in a greater time span and a first
sure manifestation of a preoccupation of a religious nature.
…he began to make
decorative objects, to sculpt stones, bones, or wood with the aid of flint, to scrape ocher
and manganese to make coloring agents, … From about 50,000 to 30,000 B. C. he
limited his efforts to incising more or less regular series of lines, dots or hatch marks.
Beginning between 35,000 and 25,000 B. C. he practiced a figurative art still limited to
parts of the body….. Only very gradually did these figures come to be organized into the
realism that we see in the great monuments of cave painting: Lascaux is no older than
15,000 B. C.; Altamira and Niaux date only from 13,000 to 8,000 B. C. (p.3).
As an explanation, I suggest that at roughly this time 40-30,000 years ago, someone, a real
individual or perhaps a pair, or perhaps some small group of these still very early human
primates, experienced the language insight.
This proposal means that about 30-40,000 years ago the naming insight arouse quite suddenly
and with it the start of human consciousness, language and thus human culture. The creative
explosion has occurred. (Klein & Edgar, 2002; Pfeiffer, 1982.)Here we treat the experience of
Helen Keller mostly, but not completely, as a model of that event in human primordial history.
Although, for example, biological death existed before this time, the previous human primates,
like Helen, didn’t know death existed until they experienced the naming/language insight as
exemplified by her report.
Thus, death came into “existence” only when humans through language became self conscious of
it. Biological death, of course, existed before this but like other higher animals the pre-language
humans did not “know” death existed.(Again, for the same ignorance of death in the case of
Laura Bridgman see Lamson, 1890, xix.) The first sophisticated burials of the dead, especially
those suggesting an after-life, by humans might be a good index of when the naming/language
insight first occurred.
This understanding of language beginning with the naming insight would, of course, spread
rapidly from its first discovery to all other members of the human primate group with the same
brain capacity and would give them a huge competitive advantage compared to all other primates
and animals. The complexity of this new human consciousness would take some time to develop
in the social and cultural sense. The sudden and almost complete new consciousness experienced
by Helen is probably not the best model of what happened in human pre-history since Helen
could ask for the already pre-existing names of people, objects, etc. Early humans had to invent
new names and basic concepts and these presumably would be invented over the years from
around 40,000 B.C. to the present.
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More on Human Consciousness
There are of course existing theories or interpretations of humanity’s unique consciousness.
Perhaps the earliest modern example is that of Julian Jaynes (1976, 1990) with the claim that our
consciousness arose primarily in the breakdown of the bicameral mind. This theory does focus
on the right and left hemispheres but on the breakdown of communication between them, often
of a cataclysmic nature. In addition, Jaynes argues for the relatively recent emergence of human
consciousness using examples from the literature and history of the Greek, Egyptian,
Mesopotamian and Hebrew cultures.
In response to Jaynes, I accept, with many others, that human consciousness began much further
back in human history and is linked to the cultural explosion that occurred roughly 30-40,000
years ago. More importantly I propose that it was the integration of the two hemispheres, or
better still the transcendent integration of analog and digital representations of reality that
enabled human consciousness. However, I am willing to assume that in many respects this
integration did not take place completely when it began and consciousness may have had a long
and often difficult history as the integration developed to higher and higher levels of
sophistication. Perhaps many of the fascinating examples and interpretations of Jaynes can be
reinterpreted as difficulties on a long road to fuller integration after a much earlier irruption of
human self-consciousness. My view is also similar to that of McGilchrist,( 2009, p.260-262).
In relation to the present model of consciousness the two hemispheres with their analog and
digital codes had to be kept separate in order to be transcended. Transcending is not simply
merging and probably required both inhibition, for separation and excitation, for connection.
Furthermore, the work of scientists like Terrence Deacon (1997) might also bear on how the
brain itself evolved after the original conscious insight that gave rise to elementary language.
That is, Deacon presents a case that human consciousness became increasingly complex as the
brain and what I would call pre-language abilities and language co-evolved both before and after
around 40,000 years ago.
One other important point: The present model presents a case for when human consciousness
took place and for what happened when it took place, but it is not a model of how it took place. I
do not think that the large gap between the subjective and the objective is any closer to being
understood with the present model. (See Levine, 1993.)I accept the position of Dietrich &
Hardcastle, (2004), that “Consciousness is utterly strange.” (p.6). The intrinsic intractability of
this gap or problem is identified convincingly by Thomas Nagel (1974, 1979, 2012). Others who
support such a position are McDowell, (1994); Searle, (1992) or seem to, are McGinn, (1999);
Fodor, (1994).(See also Deitrich & Hardcastle for their logic of why subjective and objective
cannot be reduced to each other.)
The present model’s identification of the qualitative difference between animal awareness and
physical stimulation qualia 1; and more especially my emphasis on the qualitative difference
between animal awareness and human self consciousness qualia 2, make clear that what causes
these new qualitative states to arise is not addressed here. This question of cause is even more an
issue for my proposed qualia 3. Perhaps qualia 1 might be simulated in artificial intelligence (AI)
but it is assumed here that AI cannot simulate either qualia 2 or 3 because they are assumed to be
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non-material, that is, experience that can occur without being mediated by the brain or other
matter. (For a conceptual understanding of a transphysical interpretation of human selfconsciousnes see Spitzer, 2015.)
Dietrich & Hardcastle, (2004, chapters 2&3), argue that a materialist or naturalist scientific
explanation of how consciousness really works is not possible. However, if I understand them
correctly, they also argue that those who claim consciousness is beyond any sort of theory, (pp.
84-87), are also mistaken. They claim that aspects of human consciousness can be discovered
that will lead to a greater understanding of consciousness even if its cause and an acceptable
scientific explanation will always remain unknown. The present interpretation of consciousness
is offered as evidence to support their proposed mixed position, keeping in mind that
fundamentally qualia 1, 2 and 3 remain mysterious and that humans are always in one of these
states.
More on Transcendence
As described by transcending both analog and digital codes we arrive at true human self
consciousness. This unique perspective I have termed “The Center of Human Consciousness”.
Most of the time humans are “looking down”, that is, attending to analog and digital coded
sensory experience, language, cognitions, memories, etc. Sometimes they focus almost
exclusively on analog experience, e.g. playing tennis; sometimes almost only on digital
experience, writing a law brief or computer program. Sometimes they focus on interior mental
experience of these two types. Usually the person moves back and forth between both modes
and is integrating both. In speaking, for example, we use both informative words and emotional
tone, hence both modalities. When looking down at the world via our analog and digital codes of
the world, humans are usually unaware they are doing so. But, even then we are in a transcendent
conscious relationship to that world. We are normally outside and above our experience, even
when we construct a closed system we are above and outside the system constructed.
Sometimes, however, the person starts “looking up” at the unknown and mysterious transcendent
level above human consciousness itself. This “looking up” can be triggered by, as already noted,
different experiences that imply transcendence, such as: awe or beauty in nature or music, or in
experiencing truth in mathematics, or in experiencing goodness or love in others or in responding
to narratives in great literature or cinema or in mystical experience. Abraham Heschel
(1959/1997) characterizes this situation as follows, “To the modern man everything seems
calculable; everything reducible to a figure. He has supreme faith in statistics and abhors the idea
of mystery. Obstinately he ignores the fact that we are all surrounded by things which we
apprehend but cannot comprehend; that even reason is a mystery to itself.” (p.37). Heschel also
notes that we lose our capacity for transcendence and understanding the Divine when we take
things for granted (p.40). He continues “Everything hints at something that transcends it.” (p.46);
“Awe is an intuition for the dignity of all things… Awe is a sense for the transcendence…” (p.
52).
The experience of transcending human consciousness is often indescribable because humans
have only analog and digital codes to understand experience and in many transcendent
experiences humans leave these two codes behind and enter what has been called a cloud of
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unknowing. It is mysterious and ineffable. Just as humans transcended simple animal awareness,
qualia 1, to arrive at their unique human self consciousness,qualia2,so from this experience,
many seek another transcendence: qualia 3.At its highest level this experience, e.g. a qualia 3c or
3d, has no way to be adequately comprehended with word or image. Presumably there are,
however, somewhat lower levels of this transcendence such as 3a or 3b that do involve word and
images and involve at least, moderate levels of understanding as reported in certain Near Death
Experiences (NDE) as presented by Spitzer (2015).
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Bermudez, J. L. (1998). The paradox of self-consciousness. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Berwick, R. C. & Chomsky, N. (2016).Why only us: Language and evolution. Cambridge, MA: MIT
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Bikerton, D. (2014).More than nature needs: Language, mind, and evolution. Cambridge, MA: Harvard
University Press.
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Lewis, A. F., & Lewis, K. A., The CHI Model of Functional Consciousness
Article
The CHI Model of Functional Consciousness
Armand F. Lewis*1 & Kyle A. Lewis2
1
Bioengineering Dept., College of Engineering, Univ. of Massachusetts, Dartmouth, MA02747
New Story-Behavior Supervisor, Monroeville, PA15146
2
Abstract
A model delineating the specific functional aspects of consciousness is presented in terms of
humankind’s operational behavior. The interpretation’s premise is that functionally conscious
humans are always in a mode directed toward accomplishing a self-serving goal. These
functional aspects of human consciousness are described in terms of three brain/mind/body
activities: (1) Creative thought (Creaton), (2) Human body action (Humanoid) and (3)
Implementation, goal driven operations (Impler). The Humanoid level is the most basic form of
functional consciousness. The Impler level combines the mind with Humanoid operations to
coordinate and accomplish the goal-oriented task. The Creaton mode operates only when the
mind encounters unknown regions of knowledge or understanding; searching for solutions to
unsolved problems. Examples of CHI human behavior are illustrated revealing the broad scope
of the functional parts of consciousness. The CHI model’s potential for providing definition and
guidance to the field of artificial intelligence is discussed.
Keywords: Creativity, human behavior, artificial intelligence, functional consciousness.
Introduction
The overall science of consciousness is not an easily definable topic. The most used, single-word
definition for human consciousness is awareness [Oxford Dictionary -1996]. Consciousness has
taken on many diverse viewpoints. Excellent reviews scoping the present-day studies and
understandings of human consciousness are available. Here, philosophical, psychological,
neurological, sociological, physical, quantum mechanical, and other available mind/brain
sentient hypotheses, theories and models are summarized [Van Gulick-2018] [Nunez–2016].
Most of these present theories are based on brain-function interpretations where neurochemical
and electrical brain signals are considered to play the central role in all types of brain guidance
and body response. These are all physiologically focused descriptions of consciousness.
Since the brain is such a complex organism, the physiological aspects of consciousness are
difficult to experimentally evaluate. It’s no wonder that while claiming to focus on reality, none
of these existing psychological models seem to have really done so. Since the time of Descartes
and Locke (17th to 18th century), western philosophers have tried to come up with a universal
*Correspondence: Armand F. Lewis, Bioengineering Department, College of Engineering, University of Massachusetts,
Dartmouth, MA02747. Email: alewis@umassd.edu
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Lewis, A. F., & Lewis, K. A., The CHI Model of Functional Consciousness
definition of consciousness. However, because of its socialistically broad spectrum and
enigmatic nature, it has been very difficult to pin down a universally accepted definition. Is
consciousness a fundamentally coherent topic of understanding? Can it be explained
mechanistically? What is the science behind one’s “feelings”? How does consciousness relate to
language? Can there be different classifications of consciousness? Can computer driven robots
ever be designed so they possess any semblance of consciousness? - - certainly this later topic is
critical to those working in the artificial intelligence field. To this day, none of these important
questions have been satisfactorily answered [Nunez – 2016].
However, some progress has been made with the arrival of the Lycan consciousness model
where consciousness is divided into at least eight different types: organism, control, state/event,
reportability, introspective, subjective, and self-consciousness to name a few [Lycan-1996].
Following the Lycan model, Block proposed another model whereby consciousness was divided
into only two groups; (1) phenomenal (P-consciousness) and (2) access (A-consciousness).
Accordingly, P-consciousness is based on raw experience involving our bodily operational
senses. Alternatively, A-consciousness is concerned with experiences that do not have an
immediate impact on functional behavior. A-consciousness factors pertain to accessing
information from our memories, decision making, remembering, verbal report, and the like
[Block-1998].
While the Block model has achieved some acceptance, both the Lycan and Block models
categorize consciousness in terms of mind-focused activities. Another mind focused model has
been proposed by Jung who interprets consciousness in terms of four operations: thinking,
feeling, sensing, and intuiting. This Jung model has been organized into a useable consciousness
assessment research tool that is employed by psychiatrists and psychology professionals for
patient evaluation. This scheme is known by the acronym MARI for Mandala (Symbol)
Assessment Research Instrument. While MARI claims to be a body-mind oriented model, it
should more appropriately be called a brain/mind focused model; other than the brain, no other
parts of the body are involved in this Jung model [Jung-2018][MARI®-2018].
A very different, theoretical model of consciousness has been proposed by Penrose and
Hamerhoff where quantum physics is introduced into the picture. Their view proposes that
meaningful brain action is brought about by quantum level sub-atomic particles getting involved
in brain-oriented quantum entanglement, wave-function collapse, and the like. Ultimately, they
conclude that consciousness is all driven by quantum action. Their claim is that brain matter
composed of “micro-tubes”, contains quantum particles that are released or retained and thereby
transpose themselves into brain operations such as awareness, cognition, and perhaps memory
[Hameroff-1996][Hameroff-2014][Penrose-1989][Penrose-1994][Zalta-2015].
While this quantum physics consciousness model is interesting, it so far lacks any possible test
methodology for experimental verification. This quantum physics model of consciousness can
easily be classified in the realm of an impossible-to-prove hypothesis. Alternatively,
neuroscientists continue to interpret consciousness as brain neurons circulating the brain in the
realm of electro-kinetic brain signaling and consider quantum effects as unlikely. Due to the
aforementioned lack of a testable hypothesis, this quantum argument for consciousness would be
much more difficult to prove than to disprove. Resolution of this paradox is still pending.
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Lewis, A. F., & Lewis, K. A., The CHI Model of Functional Consciousness
To put the topic of human consciousness into perspective with the above views and the theme of
this paper, the authors have assembled a diagrammatic view of what they refer to as behavioral
consciousness; this is presented in Figure 1. Here, consciousness has been grouped into four
phases of human behavior; emotional, recall, societal, and functional. In this Figure, behavioral
consciousness is described as an integrally-continuous networking of body-brain, mind-thinking
implementation operations. Figure 1 specifically denotes function as the only consciousness
mode that is connected to a quantifiable human “product” or overt accomplishment. Unlike the
other facets listed, the only human “feeling” achieved in the functional aspect is the feeling of
accomplishment. Human consciousness in the realm of the functional mode is the total focus of
this document.
With Figure 1 as background, this present paper will concentrate on detailing the functional
aspects of consciousness. The proposed approach has been called the “CHI” model of functional
consciousness because it interprets functional consciousness in terms of three continuous/overlapping categories of real-world human behavior: Creativity, Human -body physical action and
Implementation. Each of these three categories, or “modes”, involve semi-distinct, definable,
results. Here, emotion/attitude, memory recall and social brain/mind activities are always
intangibly observable behaviors of the mind/brain/body complex. Furthermore, as depicted in
Figure 1, all facets of consciousness are involved in a human’s functional action. All this serves
as the inner-workings of functional accomplishment. In this paper, the CHI model focuses only
on the tangible/physical results of this mental action. The rudiments of this reality-based
consciousness model are based on the intimate natural and communicative relationships of
FACETS OF HUMAN BHAVIORIAL CONSCIOUSNESS
EMOTIONAL
(mood, attitude)
Joy
Sadness
Love
Hate
Curiosity
Incentive
RECALL
memory)
Knowledge
Education
Experience
Background
Acuteness
IQ
SOCIETAL
(inter-human contact)
Communication
Self-Confidence
Reliability
Leadership
Extro/Intro-vert
Popularity
* CHI model focus.
FUNCTIONAL*
(operational)
Manual
Implement
Create
Planning
Goal
Compensation
ACCOMPLISHMENT
Figure 1: Intra-connected Aspects of Human Behavioral Consciousness with Focus on Function.
body interaction focusing on human behavioral accomplishment. More specifically, these three
distinct mind/body human behavioral functions involve coordinating: (a) physical-mechanical
operation of the human body, (b) mind-source guidance of the body to implement and
accomplish a set goal and (c) the possible need for stretching the mind to create never before
thoughts, approaches, ideas, and concepts needed to accomplish a goal. It is believed that these
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Lewis, A. F., & Lewis, K. A., The CHI Model of Functional Consciousness
three elements can serve as an index for compartmentally evaluating the functional aspects of
human consciousness. Putting this into perspective with the consciousness models reviewed
above, the Block “P-consciousness” interpretation of consciousness [Block-(1995)] perhaps
comes closest to this proposed CHI model. However, it is felt that the CHI approach is far more
specific and detailed to human experience and mind/memory/body functional than the Block “Pconsciousness” model.
This document proposes that the behavioral functionality of humankind can be divided into three
levels of conscious involvement: (a) Creative idea thought generation/processing (Creaton
mode). (b) Human physical manipulation/processes (Humanoid mode) and (c) Implementation
of processes (Impler mode). This description can be referred to as the CHI
(Creaton/Humanoid/Impler) model of human functional consciousness. The authors arrived at
this interpretation during their years as a scientific researcher and behavioral consultant in both
industry and academia, with a background in Applied Behavior Analysis. Paired with extended
research in the study of both human and animal behavior, their study of the overt behavior of
humankind helped formulate this model. Overall, the model evolved from their collective
observations of human behavior as colleagues, team mates, fellow workers and teachers. It is
their attempt to present a “real world” view of the functional aspects of consciousness in the
context of all aspects of human consciousness. This CHI model shares its foundational base with
the behavioral science of humankind.
Fortunately, Functional Consciousness (FC) appears to be an aspect of human consciousness that
can be quantitatively described or witnessed. To accomplish this, FC is formulated with the
hypothetical premise that whenever humans are actively conscious, their mind/brain/body system
is operating toward accomplishing a self-serving goal or achievement. The purpose of achieving
this self-serving goal will vary depending upon the particular person’s motivating operations and
what he/she is functionally striving to achieve. Human accomplishment is in itself a very broad
subject depending upon complexity and time for accomplishments; there are immediate, short
term, intermediate and long-term categories of accomplishment. All such events fall within the
scope of the proposed CHI model. Also imposed on this is the purpose and motivation for the
accomplishment. Overall, FC always involves mind-oriented pre-thinking. This must occur
before starting any FC achievement. A perspective of these overall mind/thinking operations is
diagrammed in Figure 1 which illustrates how FC ties into the other facets of consciousness.
Once this mind-generated thinking/planning/chronology is complete, the person will consciously
and visually start functioning/operating toward achieving and completing their pre-set intentional
goal.
Meanwhile, the purpose for his/her planned action can and does remain generally hidden from
view. These thoughts, feelings, “day dreams” and other mental actions that cannot be observed
are known as “Private Events” (Skinner, B.F., 1945). That said, while one could not observe the
“purpose” for another’s action, it can often be inferred. For example, for someone who’s
suffering from hypothermia, you could observe a person attempting to find a warm shelter and
“infer” their reasoning to be that it’s because they are looking toward returning their body back
to its normal temperature. Added to this scenario is what degree of enthusiasm and motivation
does a person have toward accomplishing a set goal. Is the FC task pleasant? Not so pleasant? Is
the task routine? Is the task a natural body function? Is it critically needed to survive? Gains
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personal pleasure, etc.? The person’s emotional state during achieving the goal can remain
hidden from public scrutiny or can be witnessed somewhat by the demeanor the person exhibits
while carrying out their focused task. Additionally, the ease at which a person approaches and
executes his/her functional task will depend on the person’s scope of knowledge, skills,
individual needs, overall state of health, motivation to accomplish, prior experience, history, and
availability of social reinforcement. All of these issues are ancillary and background to the
person’s functional accomplishment.
Whether its day-dreaming, running a marathon, driving a golf cart, kicking a soccer ball,
watching TV, eating a hot dog or working on a quantum field theory calculation, the awake and
aware human mind-brain-body triad is always working toward accomplishing a personally useful
or satisfying goal. While the overall mental action required to do this is hidden in the mind of the
person, the results of the person’s effort are usually overtly observable, physical
accomplishments. These visible and tangible “accomplishments” in the field of behavioral
sciences are known as “permanent products” (Cooper, Heron, Heward, 2007). This document
presents a scheme for operationally detailing the inner workings of a person’s FC dedicated to
achieving a goal-focused personal reward.
Humanoid Mode: The Humanoid level of CHI functional consciousness can be considered the
most basic level of conscious mind/body involvement. To a sentient and perfectly healthy human
being, motion of the body parts during sitting, walking, running, eating, swallowing, blinking,
coughing, sneezing, and sleeping are natural human processes. While the brain/mind of
awareness is always operating during these Humanoid processes, the mind is also always
operating in this case, at a “low effort level”. Here, the mind-body coupling is operating in a
natural, hereditary mode. In some simple cases, this level could be regarded as the body-mind
functioning in more of a ‘robotic’ mode. In this ‘robotic’ mode, the mind is naturally “wired” to
direct the body to perform these natural acts. This is because the human mind is programed at
birth and through growth/maturity to carry out these natural bodily functions, such as sneezing,
swallowing, coughing, reflex movements, etc.
Now, within the realm of our current definition, one might consider the act of sleeping as being
in a low level of consciousness. Sleep serves as a needed body/brain restorative function of all
living beings. However, for the present FC discussion, let it be restricted to humankind in only
the “awake state”. To put things into perspective, the transition from sleep to awake-ness is
mentally distinct. However, it can be a physically ‘fuzzy’ experience. By means of definition,
one could possibly characterize the situation of a person just awakening from sleep, as being in
their lowest, most basic level of Humanoid activity. Once awake, humans have innate abilities to
execute natural and routine physical actions. Mind and body are biologically pre-programed to
perform natural functions or performing “bodily services” – stretching arms and legs, rubbing the
eyes, walking to the bathroom, urinating, proceeding to prepare and drink a cup of coffee just to
name a few. These topics of human study are known as “phylogenic behaviors”. The physiomechanical act of walking is a simple example of a phylogenic Humanoid activity.
When walking, the human mind is naturally programmed to direct body function into the act of
walking. Body-leg-foot motion are programmed to coordinate bodily action, balance, and
direction of motion by the naturally programmed brain. This is especially true in the age of
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humanity’s viral youth. It is obvious that “walking” as an act of movement may require more
effort and energy for some like those with artificial limbs, arthritis, or other physical/orthopedic
medical conditions.
However, the brain-body-foot relationship is still programmed in the same way as one who does
not suffer from these conditions. It is worth noting here that walking could in some instances be
considered in the realm of a learned or “ontogenic behavior”. Learning to walk stems from your
learning to walk as an infant. Does an infant observe and therefore learn the walk from watching
and studying the Humanoidal behavior of their parents or siblings? To some degree, this could
be an infant’s learned behavior. But humans are bipeds, they are naturally constructed to walk on
their two feet as are all mammal bipeds. Once the act of walking is mastered, it becomes part of a
human’s phylogenic repertoire. Walking is a free will event that takes many forms;
escape/avoidance (leaving a cold room and walking into a warm room, leaving a concert when
it’s too loud), or the act of walking could be reinforced automatically (if your legs are restless, it
“feels good” to walk around). While there are many different reasons as to why a person would
engage in the act of walking, the point being made is that no matter what the motivation for
engaging in the walking act is, the same process occurs between the mind and body. Walking
becomes a naturally programmed human function.
Impler Mode: Another level of functional consciousness is the Impler mode. Here, the
brain/mind-body triad of functional humanity is involved in executing more complex tasks
towards a focused goal. It serves as the path of someone following a pre-determined plan and
working towards its implementation. For example, assembling a jig-saw picture puzzle would be
someone following an easily decided upon plan and working at its implementation in order to
reach the goal of a completed picture-puzzle scene. Note that in executing this jig-saw puzzle
task, the Humanoid mode also operates by involving eye visual-shape-color and pattern
recognition, as well as finger dexterity in placing the puzzle pieces into their proper positions.
Another example of Impler action would be the act of someone preparing a written planning
document or preparing a set of operating instructions for carrying out a set task. Here, the mind’s
decision-making process is employed. Impler action is projecting into the future, employing
one’s own past experience and knowledge, as well as imagining how the task should be carried
out, are all part of the operation. In preparing this planning/instructional document, the
Humanoid function of operating a word processor, paper shuffling, pencil marking type acts are
also employed among other physical manipulation activities.
In the Impler mode, the mind, opinion, overall previous experience, academic training,
knowledge, and instinct are all collectively involved in executing this Impler process. As the task
to be completed becomes more complex, a person’s Impler functionality would need to be much
more sophisticated. It all depends on the task at hand and the inherent ability of the
accomplishing person to carry it out to completion. Therefore, functioning in this Impler mode is
of very broad scope whose breadth depends heavily on the background training and talent of the
functionally conscious person performing the duty at hand. It is obvious too that some Humanoid
manipulations are always needed to successfully implement a planned activity and completing it
to its final actual physical “product” goal.
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Creaton Mode: The Creaton mode is the specialized and optional level of FC. Creatonic human
consciousness delves into a thinking mode area that has no precedence or guiding direction.
Mentally putting some loose pieces together and coming up with an answer, interpreting data
trends, or proposing a new hypothesis, scientific idea, concept or theory; these are all Creaton
activities. A scientist responding to and/or explaining answers in response to a scientific “thought
experiment” exercise is a good example of someone functioning in a deliberately induced
Creaton mode. Scientists are, as they should be, quite comfortable in this mode. Interpreting
research data/results for the first time is a good example of thinking in the Creaton mode. In this
case, no one has ever seen these experimental data before. A conclusion will be reached. This is
why the experiment was carried out in the first place and a conclusion must be reached even if
the data are finally determined to be inconclusive. If inconclusive results are obtained, which in
itself is a result, scientists will modify their direction/approach using these inconclusive results to
arrive at a better-defined experimental work plan for the next round of experiments. In the
situation where the scientist is reviewing data and concepts of other scientists, he/she must
review these data objectively and sometime creatively arrive at results and conclusions that may
be different from those proposed by the scientist whose data is being reviewed. Nevertheless, all
of this involves operating in the Creaton FC mode.
Oftentimes, humankind activity and behavioral operations do not need to involve FC’s Creaton
mode. This Creaton mode is only applicable to special occasions and free-will induced
circumstances. Most of humankind can survive very well without ever going too heavily into this
Creaton mode. Therefore, the Creaton mode of CHI can be considered as being “optional”.
However, there are many people who thrive in this Creaton mode. Everyone has heard the old
adage “necessity is the mother of invention”. Any person who finds a necessity and successfully
fulfills this necessity is an innovator functioning in this Creaton mode. Furthermore, if the
inventor is to participate in reducing his/her inventive idea to practice, which is most often the
case, the Humanoid and Impler modes would also be operating.
CHI Diagrams: In summarizing this section, the diagram below (Figure 2) collectively
expresses the three basic levels of functional consciousness in terms of a geometric shape. This
Figure can be considered to be an icon for this CHI model. The hierarchy among the three
functions is indicated with Humanoid behavior (rectangle) forming the base that is intimately
tied in with the Impler mode (trapezoid). As shown, the Impler level is a directly integrated step
above the Humanoid level. Impler functionality is in degree and complexity coordinated with
CREATON
IMPLER
HUMANOID
Figure 2: Iconic Diagram of Functional Consciousness
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the Humanoidal function of the brain/mind-body activity. Skill development and experience
characterize this level as one moves up in the diagram. Note, while the Humanoid level is always
connected to the Impler level of functioning, it is also needed to operate in the Creaton mode.
This is why the Humanoid mode can be referred to as the “base-operational” level of the CHI
model. The deliberate connection between the Impler and Humanoid mode shows that some
degree of Humanoid action is always needed in any act of human function. Some mind-control
and coordinated brain processing-body action is always involved. Finally, the Creaton level
(triangle) always requires the most non-traditional mental and conscious action. In Figure 2, it is
optionally disconnected from the Humanoid/Impler FC duo. Here, the mind of the Creaton
venturing individual is always delving into never before thoughts and mental experiences; its
new thinking territory. The Creaton mode also has a transient nature to it and is invoked only
when directed by the free-will of the involved agent. Creatonic thinking is always needed when
humankind is involved in developing an inventive or novel idea or concept. However, it is
always available, when needed or requested by the needing human. The fact that humanity ably
functions in this Creaton mode provides the driving force for technological and intellectual
progress. Creaton thinking by humankind is what keeps the social and technological
advancement of humankind moving forward. Finally, at any given conscious moment, every
living, actively functioning and accomplishing human can be characterized by having their own
moment-in-time characteristic CHI icon shape. Also, the momentary “shape” of an individual’s
icon profile will/does change with education, experience, age, and of course the task at hand; it is
never static.
Discussion
As introduced, the functional aspects of human consciousness as thus far described have several
distinguishing characteristics:
• The premise of the CHI model is that when human beings are awake, aware or otherwise
behaviorally conscious, they are always focused on achieving a self-serving goal or
objective.
• Humankind’s consciousness-state function is a fluxing ‘blend’ of three distinct operational
modes referred to as Creaton, Humanoid and Impler (CHI) events.
• The most common humankind conscious operation involves an integral combination of
the Humanoid and Impler modes.
• When performing a task, humankind generally operates by continuously inter-functioning
between these three modes as needed to accomplish a task.
• Each of these three CHI modes have their own seemingly observable or measurable
distinguishing consequences. They are basically a spectrum. The Humanoid mode will
always hold to its phylogenic principles while the Impler and Creaton modes will be
different for each person based on the agent’s learning history, intelligence, educational
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knowledge, experience, maturity, IQ, cognitive ability, etc. Also, these modes
characteristically have more or less different mental or physical complexity depending
upon the functional task being executed.
Let us propose that the most basic of Humanoid conscious functions occur when a person first
awakens from a full night’s sleep. Let us also narrow down for simplicity, the setting of a person
awaking from a dream-less sleep. Awakening from a dreamful sleep can be complicated with
some remnant fears or joy that will momentarily carry over to the awake state. Is the “shock”
awakening from a nightmarish dream a typical awakening from restful sleep? Not really. This
type of occurrence delves into another topic outside the scope of this paper. Awakening from a
dream-less sleep and aware of one’s surroundings can perhaps be considered as an initial baselevel of functional consciousness; it defines as nearly as possible a ‘pure’ Humanoid state, if
such exists. This would now be one waking up and performing the rudimentary operations of
stretching, standing, walking and urinating.
Next, we proceed to a more advanced level of Humanoid function like showering, teeth brushing
and finally to the tasks of drinking coffee and eating breakfast. These behavior chain operations
introduce an Impler component to the overall consciousness event. While eating, ‘natural’ mindbody operations occur that direct the body to manually transport the food from plate to mouth,
chew, swallow and digest this food and drink to satisfy the body’s metabolic needs. All these are
the naturally programmed Humanoid functions requiring the minimum of natural level Impler
functionality. An important level of Humanoid function is the act of squirming, crawling,
standing, and walking, or otherwise physically moving the body across earth’s surface. This
requires not only the mind, but as noted earlier, the coordinated physical movement of the body
and its ambulatory mind-set directing body parts to operate properly. Walking therefore, can be
considered to be in the realm of being another of the body’s natural phylogenic functions.
Rudimentary example of Humanoid functioning:
Let’s now exemplify a higher level of Humanoid-Impler function by describing an act where
someone is assigned to move a specific pile of bricks from one location to another. Let’s position
the example as a prison guard at a hard-labor prison facility ordering one of his inmates to move
a pile of bricks from one place to another. The prisoner’s Humanoid mind will listen to and
follow these simple instructions. The prisoner does not have to know why he is doing this; all he
knows is that he will be punished if he disobeys the order. The prisoner is well aware of being
under the control of rule governed behavior. He knows too that solitary confinement is not a very
pleasant experience. With this as background, all the prisoner wants is to complete the task so he
can go back to his much more comfortable cell to relax from his hard-labor episode. While
executing the task, the prisoner has heard and understood the simple order to move the bricks.
Having had the experience of lifting, carrying and placing weighty objects from childhood and
beyond, the prisoner’s mind is already programmed and knows exactly how do perform this
simple task.
The prisoner’s Humanoid/Impler conscious faculty will now come into play. Following the
prison guard’s on-site instructions, the prisoner proceeds and ‘blindly’ follows through and
proceeds on his given task. Other than the original instructions absorbed in the prisoner’s mind,
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no thought is needed or is required as to why this task is being performed. The prisoner’s body
and mind functions to carry out the task with little mental effort. His inherent physical strength
and agility is guided by his pre-experience programmed mind. For analogy, let’s consider a sodesigned robot that is programmed to carry out this same brick-moving task. Here, isn’t the
prisoner basically operating in the place of the mechanical robot; the primary Humanoidal mode
with some needed natural Impler mode operations, albeit somewhat repetitive Impler-mental
action. Following, someone programming a mechanical robot machine and the prison guard
would both have something in common. They are both functioning in simple Impler modes with
minimum need for Humanoidal effort.
It is important to realize that humankind cannot ever function as an absolutely pure Humanoid.
One may perhaps consider the elementary behavior of a newborn infant. Yes, highly Humanoid
function oriented, but when the baby is hungry or is somehow uncomfortable, or lonesome,
happy or otherwise needing attention, the baby’s natural mind must invoke its Impler mode to
start crying or perhaps smile with joy - - as primitive, natural response to its Humanoid/Impler
goal, functioning toward achieving a goal. The baby gets fed, gets a diaper change, gets picked
up and held by a parent - -these are the accomplishments the baby is seeking. In the operating
functional consciousness of life, one always needs to invoke some level of Impler-mind guidance
and control. What would a robot be without being suitably programmed to implement and
complete a pre-set task? It would be a meaningless assembly of metal and electronic/circuits and
parts taking up factory floor space; virtually worthless.
As the Humanoid operating human takes on a more complex task, more involved aspects of the
Impler functional mode enter the picture. Going back to the prison-yard brick moving example,
if you wanted to construct a brick wall with the moved bricks, it would take more than a lowlevel Humanoid/Impler level of functionally conscious person to accomplish the task. You would
need an experienced brick-layer. The brick layer’s mind is already knowledgeably programmed
(from apprentice training and a long work experience) and has acquired mental and manual skills
to fully and successfully implement this task. Bringing back the Humanoid/Impler prisoner
example who originally moved the bricks to avoid punishment, the brick-layer’s motivation was
to receive compensation for his work: this is his job.
Overall now, the prison guard’s Impler mode thinking went beyond just instructing the prisoner
to move the bricks. The prison guard was planning ahead so as to get the bricks moved to a more
convenient location for the pending brick-layer’s work-project. The brick-layer’s operation does
not only consist of moving bricks, it involves moving and placing cement mortar at strategic
positions in a ‘growing’ brick structure that would be secure enough so the brick structure
remains in place while the mortar cures into a permanent brick-face wall. Furthermore, the bricklayer has to be building this wall structure from a pre-set plan-specification as contracted for
through the building and construction contractor. Interpreting and following a set of construction
plans certainly requires some Impler functioning by the bricklayer. Overall, from his experience,
he would have to function in an Impler/Humanoid mode throughout the project. From this
example, one can easily conclude that the mind-body exchange in this Impler mode operating
bricklayer is more complex than the simple Humanoid mode operational brick-moving prisoner.
Note too that the brick-layer person, while functioning in the Impler mode, must also employs
his/her Humanoid talents to accomplish their focused brick wall creating task.
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CHI modeling of athletes:
Let’s now go on to examine the CHI profile of an athlete. It is assessed that all athletes function
primarily in the Impler mode, with a very intimate, strong coupling with their Humanoid
physical talent and abilities. Here, the athlete implements the varied tasks of executing the
physical and mental action of playing the particular sport game. All athletes gain their expertise
through a multitude of ontogenic behavioral experiences. Those who excel in their field of sport
will possess natural physical and mental characteristics that amend themselves to playing the
particular sport.
In baseball, for example, an infielder, outfielder, catcher, pitcher, batter, or runner, each has their
own physical attributes to play their particular position. From learned experience, each has the
unique role of “implementing” the game of baseball. From years of training, each player has
honed their physical abilities and mentally stored experiences to gain an inherent familiarity with
the characteristic intricacies of the played game. From repeat experiences, an outfielder will
pretty much remember how a baseball will bounce off the outfield wall or how to play the ball in
a certain corner of the outfield of his/her home ballpark. During the act of playing the game,
athletes are merely doing what they do best–implementing the game of baseball employing all of
their repeatedly practiced physical experience.
They are all functioning in a full Impler mode, employing all their Humanoid action/talent to
carry out the needs of their assigned position. Players who excel in their execution of this
Impler/Humanoid duality become the all-stars and hall of famers. With this set as the ‘base’, it
seems that very little creativity is required to play sports. Only when the athlete confronts a new
field situation will the instantaneity of creative action be needed. Now, if an athlete is requested
by the team’s manager to try out playing a new position on the team, the selected athlete will
comply and find some nuances of the new position he/she has never before encountered. Some
creative effort will be required to show the manager that his/her overall athletic ability is able (or
not able) to handle the idiosyncrasies of this new position. Once the newness of this new position
“wears off” the creative part of his/her functional consciousness becomes less and less
prominent. Continuing with baseball, if a player has worked to create and develop a novel
batting stance, or being a pitcher, their own pitching style, all to befuddle their opponent, this
would require some creative thinking on the part of the player. In these cases, the use of the
player’s Creaton mode is voluntary as well as on some occasions, optional. Finally, what about
the execution of rare plays in baseball, the triple play, unassisted double play, pitching a perfect
game, pitching a perfect inning, and others. These are all rare events that not all players have had
experience with. Are these all “creative” events? They may be ‘first time events’ for some
players when it happens to them, but their knowledge of the game knows that such situations do
indeed exist; in their own personal circumstances, they have a chance to execute a rare play
when the occasion arises. For these players this would be a first-time creative experience. Once
the player has logged such an event in their career, the creativity aspect of the particular event
can no longer classify as a Creaton event for the particular player.
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CHI interpretation of complex tasks:
Overall, the hierarchy of the Impler mode operation is defined by the relative difficulty and
complexity of the task in which the Impler-person is engaged. For example, implementing the
task of sending a special communication satellite into outer space requires more mental ingenuity
and high-level academic training than, say, constructing a brick wall in a prison yard. The
Impler-person heading up the space-launch project will be involved in mentally manipulating a
huge amount of input data and information from others on his/her team. Great Impler planning
goes along with this complex task. Questions will be asked and addressed. Many decisions will
have to be made in implementing this space satellite project.
The Creaton functional mode in this satellite launching project can be said to have two levels of
involvement: (1) It would be prior task-group design and engineering creativity. All novel ideas
will have to be researched and developmentally worked out beforehand so that the project’s risk
levels are acceptable, (2) Creativity by the individual project manager must be kept to an
absolute minimum. It would be extremely risky for the project manager to make creative, “on the
fly” creative decisions; come up with and implement new ideas with no assurance of success.
Therefore, for a rocket/satellite launch managing engineer, his/her Impler mode of functional
consciousness must be steadfast in project decision-making since they would be dealing with
very complex and indeed very broad-scope technical issues; there is no room for error in such an
endeavor. Additionally, the project manager would also have to get involved with some
humankind Humanoid mode functioning; writing notes, preparing reports, surveying the
worksite, traveling to NASA headquarters and making a presentation, etc. A satellite launch
project engineer has a tough job. It could only be handled by a person of high technological and
intellectual functional consciousness skills where all CHI modes especially the I and H modes
are operating.
Creaton functional mode:
The final aspect of functional consciousness is the Creaton mode; one can refer to these
“Creatonic” aspects as consciousness as being in the ‘addendum’ mode. This is because, for the
most part, persons working in the Creaton mode usually do so as a free-will option. Their
incentives are based on their own knowledge, curiosity, intelligence, intuition, persistence,
internal drive, mind-acuity and memory to come up with solutions to unsolved problems or
circumstances or answers to newly uncovered questions. One of the strong driving forces that
provides motivation for a person to function in the Creaton mode is one’s curiosity. Curiosity is
an emotion possessed by all human beings but it is certainly not uniformly distributed in all.
Persons can be curious about some things and not others. While the definition of curiosity falls
outside the scope of this CHI model, it is certainly a part of humankind’s overall behavioral
consciousness.
Curiosity is a very real mental state or attitude of an individual as depicted in Figure 1. However,
reasons for operating in the Creaton mode are not always dominated by one’s curiosity. This
being said, the Creaton functional consciousness mode has a hierarchy of cognitive involvement
that can be classified as intangible and tangible. Daydreaming or having thoughts of being
somewhere else or imagining enjoying being in another person’s company, etc. are indeed a form
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of creativity. These are all creative thoughts being generated out-of-the-mind to perhaps enhance
one’s mood. On the contrary, the conscious mental activity of worrying, causing a worsening of
one’s mood, can also be considered a creative function. Daydreaming and worry can be
considered in the realm of non-tangible Creaton operations. This is because they cannot be
clearly quantified by external accomplishment. Such simple, but real mental acts can be referred
to as pseudo-Creaton acts that fall outside the realm of our CHI model. Alternatively, writers of
fictional novels are special people that operate in a high level of “classical” Creaton activity.
These authors have accomplished the tangible event of creating a book. They also have their
minds geared to imagination, “what ifs”, daydreaming or whatever is needed to weave a
compelling story.
However, the event is carried one important step further, it is documented. The author sits at a
word processor, typing away (Humanoid/Impler activity), recording their thought-line coming up
with stories of life, love, mystery, and misery. They describe, in words, the feelings of the
fictitious characters, including their predicaments and foils, all in an attempt to both entertain
book readers and enhance their reputations as writers. Not all of us can be professional writers of
fiction. In all of this there is, of course, some degree of Humanoid and Impler activity in these
writers and all professional writer’s operations; they have to manually type, correct, proof-read,
and organize their literary creations.
However, these Humanoid and Impler acts are their means of physically documenting their
work; this is but a fraction of their efforts of creative performance. Let’s consider the highly
Creaton dominated literary works of J. K. Rowling; the “Harry Potter” series of books are highly
creative works. These books of magic, fantasy, and ghosts are pure creative fiction at its highest
level. Books of creative fiction are usually written by one person who is in charge of making all
the decisions. In many cases, little research is required in defining the nature of the characters.
Of course, some fictional novels involve settings that involve political situations or are set in a
certain (past or future) civilization time period. Here, the author must gain knowledge of the time
period and the real-life circumstances that existed at the time and place of the book’s setting.
This must require some research by the author. Writing a fictitious book is very different from
working in the field of non-fiction. In non-fiction literary works, such as auto-biographies,
biographies, historical books etc., the Impler mode of functional consciousness is the prevalent
mode. To have credibility, the story line must follow as accurately as possible, the results of the
author’s findings. They must be well documented; albeit, some of these findings may be subject
to the author’s creative interpretation.
The fields of research science/engineering, and medical research/discovery are all highly
Creaton dominated professions. Here, curiosity is a strong driving force for creative
accomplishment. This stance is easy to support if one considers the momentous accomplishments
of historical masters of science like Galileo (telescope), Newton (classical physics), Faraday
(electric motor/generator), Marie Curie (radio activity), Planck (quanta), Edison (invention),
Einstein (relativity), Bohr (quantized atom), Townes (laser), Jarvik (artificial heart), Favaloro
(coronary by-pass), Jobes (personal computers) and many others. These scientific, medical and
engineering giants have shaped our world as we now know it. They have guided and determined
our future. They all had to be very curious individuals and we are all grateful for their
discoveries. They have all expanded our knowledge, bettered our lives and gave us a better
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understanding of our Universe. Gigantic steps in the advancement of knowledge were achieved
by these creative thinkers. There are many present-day research scientists, engineers, medical
professional men and women that are carrying out their creative work leading to the continuing
expansion of our technological horizons for the betterment of humankind.
Iconic diagramming the CHI model:
To complete this discussion of the CHI model, Table 1 has been compiled to provide some
rudimentary examples of CHI consciousness. Some new representative iconic symbolisms are
introduced. This Table should be helpful in giving the reader a broader insight into the broad
aspects of this CHI functional consciousness model. Note that in Table 1, all the CHI examples
presented have been translated into a CHI letter symbolism and iconic symbolism generalized in
Figure 1. Here, the sizes of the Humanoid-rectangle, the Impler-trapezoid and the Creatontriangle are interpretations of the anticipated particular personal conditions and profiles described
in Table 1.
In all cases, these symbols have been generalized. It is proposed that at any given instance in
time, all functionally conscious persons can be described by these symbolisms. The shape of the
icon continuously changes with time as the human takes on or is involved in performing a
completely different task. Of special interest in Table 1 are the last two entries; a young man vs.
an older man walking around the block. When a person is young, the process of walking requires
practically no thought. No worries, care-free enjoying the scene, breathing the clean air enjoying
the physical exercise. A non-thought Humanoid experience with natural instinct Impler mind
functionally operating. The icon emphasizes the rectangular Humanoid operational mode.
Alternatively, the elderly man, with a walking disability is another story altogether. His Impler
mode must always be operating; some pain in each step, fear of stumbling, falling, some offbalance strides, anticipated obstacles in walkway are all possibilities. For the senior citizen,
walking can require some, if not a high level of thought and concentration as to what is being
done. Here the CHI icon reflects the high visibility of the Impler mind functioning mode. These
Table 1 examples illustrate how this CHI icon profiles can change with the age and ability of
persons; it also illustrates that the CHI icons are also task sensitive.
Table 1: Some Examples of CHI Profiles of Human Behavioral Functionality
Human Condition or
Situation
Physically, Irreversibly
Dead
Comatose
Dreamless Sleep
Functional Activity
Not alive, not Conscious.
CHI
Symbol
none
Low functional Sub-conscious
Functionally Altered SubConsciousness
h
h
Dream/Sleep- Walk/Talk
Functionally Altered
Consciousness
h/i
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CHI Icon Shape
Not applicable
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Initial Awakening
Natural functioning, simple wakeup acts performed. [Possible base
for ‘pure’ Humanoid Functionality]
H/i
Driving to Work
Operational Impler functions
I/H
Teaching Science Class
H
Teaching Science Class
Same Lecture notes year after year.
Could be replaced by video lecture
series.
Fresh Updated Lecture Notes
Student in Science Class
Lecture
Inputting information to memory
bank/writing notes
I/h
Graduate Researcher
Delving into new scientific topic.
New thinking required.
C/I/H
Reader of Scientific
Journal article.
Inputting new information into
his/her memory bank.
I/h
Physicist Stephen
Hawkings (1942-2018)
Long time victim of ALS disease.
Functioning in almost ‘pure’
Creaton mode.
C/i/h
20-year old person
walking around the block
Physically fit with spirit of viral
youth
H/i
85-year old person
walking around the block
Waking on his own. Has a
painfully arthritic right knee and
ankle but manages.
I/H
I/H/c
(a) CHI symbolisms:
• All larger size font and higher case letters denote more emphasis
• H = Humanoid -physical body motion (Rectangle)
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• I = Impler -implementing goal-oriented tasks (Trapazoid)
• C = Creaton -creative thinking, no precedent background (Triangle)
These Table 1 entries demonstrate the overall breadth and versatility of the CHI model. As noted
in Figure 1, the CHI model specifically applies to only the functional part of the consciousness
spectrum. While the emotional, recall and societal aspects of consciousness are always operating
during all activities of human consciousness, the physiology and brain science of personal
emotion, recall and societal interaction are not necessary in describing the tangible nature of
functional consciousness as defined in this paper. While the proposed CHI model inherently
involves all facets of consciousness, it only focuses on the goal-oriented aspects of humankind’s
conscious behavior and accomplishment.
In summarizing the theme of Table 1, it must be noted that the iconic representations presented
depict only a single specific segment of a particular human’s FC lifetime episode(s). These icons
describe the CHI character of only a single event in the awareness state of a human agent
performing the described human function. In reality, a human’s daily accomplishments are not
characterized by a single, specifically defined CHI task. A person’s daily routine is a dynamic
continuum of separate, individual types of iconic-ally describable CHI events. From an initial
awakening, having breakfast, driving to work, teaching a science class, having lunch, correcting
exams, interpreting experimental data, working on writing a scientific paper, driving back home
from a day’s work, enjoying dinner and relaxing before bedtime - -these are all different,
individual, continuously flowing CHI events that can each be described by individually
characteristic icons.
This particular example listing, of course, describes activities that would typify the FC,
operational life of a University (science) Professor. This University Professor example is of
course only one of a virtual infinite number of functionally conscious humans that can be
described by CHI icon pattern sequence. The CHI model applies to all of humankind; every
living and FC human being. In fact, every awake and alive human has their own sequentially
connected, dynamic series of characteristic CHI events during their lifetime awake hours. Again,
each of these awake and alive segmentally distinguishable CHI humankind events are focused on
achieving a single self-serving goal or accomplishment. This establishes the basic overall
universalistic nature of the CHI model.
Conclusions
Let it be emphasized that the proposed CHI model of FC is meant to describe only one aspect of
the broad field of human behavioral consciousness. The CHI model’s place in the spectrum of
consciousness is noted in Figure 1. From this viewpoint, the authors have concluded that
humankind’s FC can be defined in terms of three somewhat easily describable humanoperational modes. The basis for this conclusion comes from the overt realization that the
functional behavior of every awake person can be classified by being involved in three types of
mind and body operational behaviors during their everyday experience. In some ways, this CHI
model could also be called a Cognizable Model of Consciousness; there are certainly some clear,
identifiable aspect to it. Regardless, in humanizing this CHI model, there are some individuals
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whose demeaner and mannerisms are characterized with a propensity or preponderance of
functioning solely in only one of these three modes. You may have encountered persons who
seem to be able to operate only as “manual robots” (Humanoid function); these people need very
explicit instructions and guidance to accomplish anything.
Alternately, there are others having the natural talent of managing and smoothly executing and
completing a task. Some persons of this characteristic may wish to or are only capable of sitting
at their desks, directing other persons in their quest for accomplishment. Others are always
willing to work with and carefully instruct others to carry out their assigned tasks. These types of
people are the leaders, “bosses” and are Implers; managers of an accomplishable task. Many of
these Impler people are also capable of “rolling up their sleeves” to manually participate at the
Humanoid level and can physically contribute to the accomplishment. In the context of societal
fit, these type people are the business managers, manufacturing managers, political leaders, rally
organizers and sport team captains, etc.
Finally, there are other person types capable of thinking beyond the routine, established, banal
ways of doing things. These are the Creaton minded people. Creative persons are of many types,
from writers, to inventors, to theorists and overall curious thinkers. It is now important to
reiterate that any healthy and operational persons can function by operating in all three modes to
varying degrees when accomplishing a task. Some people have a preponderance of operating in
only one particular CHI mode. There are others who comfortably function in all three CHI
modes. Generally, most people will naturally function in all three CHI modes with being more
comfortable operating in one of these modes with less involvement employing the others. Their
operating mode will depend on the task at hand. In reality however, there will always be a CHI
emphasis/change mix when a particular task is being carried out. Also, one’s CHI profile
can/will change with time and age as factors such as education, experience and changes in
societal connection enter the picture.
Overall, consciousness is a holistic/human brain/mind/body activity. As noted earlier, FC, as
defined in this document, represents only part, albeit an important part, of the broad scope of
consciousness studies. As said earlier, FC may also have a cognitional component to it. In the
CHI model, a human’s functional consciousness involves the brain/mind/body complex
operating within three distinct modes with the intent of accomplishing a planned focused task or
state of accomplishment.
It is scientifically important that any new proposed scientific model or theory provide a means
for experimental verification; without this, they could be considered useless. Since the senior
author (AFL) of this document was professionally trained as a material scientist/chemist, he sees
everything as a physical entity; a physical entity that one can see, hold, weigh, dimensionally
measure, or otherwise determine and understand with respect to a material’s chemical
composition, textural morphology and mechanical properties. This being said, it’s clear that the
complete realm of human consciousness has none of these attributes. Some means of
scientifically establishing the physiological/brain chemistry aspects of this CHI model may be
possible. In view of this, the brain remains as one of the largest and most complex organs in the
human body. It is a flux of trillions of communicative connections called synapses.
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It is known that the brain is made up of several specialized areas that work together as what can
be called the body’s CPU (Central Processing Unit). For example, the outermost part of the brain
is called the cortex which controls thinking and voluntary, natural body movement. The brain
stem controls our breathing and sleeping function. In the center of the brain, the basal ganglia
coordinate messaging between other brain parts. The cerebellum is responsible for body
coordination and balance. The thalamus is the part of the brain that relays sensory and motor
signals to the cortex regulating sleep, consciousness, awareness and alertness. Furthermore, to
investigate these brain functions, neuroscientists and brain researchers have the following
instrumental and procedural techniques available: CT (Computed tomography), MRI-scan
(Magnetic Resonance Imaging), Angiography- contrast agent injections followed by X-Ray
imaging of the brain, MRA (Magnetic Resonance Angiography), Lumbar puncture (spinal tap)
fluid studies, EEG (ElectroEncephaloGram) brain activity is monitored, Neurocognitive testing
and Brain biopsy [Hoffman-2014)].
Perhaps the functionality of humans in terms of the Creaton, Humanoid and Impler modes can
be identified through deliberately staged brain activity imaging experiments. Such a study would
be procedurally difficult, but not impossible. The human subjects for such a study would have to
be very carefully selected. Over the past decades, a plethora of information has been generated
on brain body/mind function. All these studies have had a specific purpose. Perhaps planning and
focusing a brain/mind-body study on the CHI model components would be able to establish the
model’s foundational nature. Psychologists, neuroscientists, behavioral scientists, medical
imaging specialists, and social scientists would need to collaborate to plan and execute such a
study. To suggest a plan, for example, the Humanoid level could be established by measuring a
person’s brain activity at a first-awake-from-sleep stage. Next an Impler brain pattern could be
obtained by examining the brain patterns of the same “first-awake” person by asking him/her to
physically write down, from memory, some instructions on how to conduct an experimental
procedure that could be carried out based on a familiar topic in his/her field of study. Continuing,
Creaton brain patterns could perhaps next be obtained from the same “first-awake” person who
would be given a deliberate, outside-the-box thought experiment on a topic familiar to the “firstawake” person’s basic field of science. Brain patterns from these various functional operation
conditions or circumstances can now be compared. Would differences in brain pattern be
observed? Could these differences in brain pattern be correlated with the three CHI functional
modes? If found, what do they mean? Are they characteristic? Will these observed brain patterns
be able to establish a pattern linking the three modes of CHI functional consciousness? This
experimental plan is for illustration only. The exact planning and execution of such an
experiment is way beyond the scope of both author’s expertise. The suggestions here are to
illustrate the possibilities of planning and starting a study to verify the foundational nature of the
CHI model.
In closing, it has been shown that the functional aspects of consciousness can be distinctly
separated as part of the very broad field of human consciousness. This is a separation away from
consciousness’s reality of mind, non-physical intimacy of emotion, memory, feeling, intuition,
opinion, pain etc. In this context, the question arises as to how might this CHI model concept fit
into the field of Artificial Intelligence (AI)? Some have claimed that the Block “PhenomenalConsciousness” model fits into the framework of AI [Schkolne-2018]. In view of this, might the
CHI model also be viewed as a means of defining the “consciousness level” of AI devices.
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Objectively, it could be said that robots already exist that have an AI level equivalent to the
functional-duo Humanoid/Impler(H/I) modes. After all, aren’t mechanically-operating, industrial
manufacturing assembly-line robots designed to operate at this H/I level of FC and are designed
to accomplish a goal? Generally, the motivational purpose of all manufacturing line installed
robots is to replace the H/I function of a human worker. Human physical assist robots also
directly serve the needs of the disabled human. In these manufacturing-line operations the level
of AI involvement would of course depend upon the complexity of the “Humanoid/Impler”
operational task to be performed; how the robot is programmed to carry out its task. Now that the
clear connection between the Humanoid and Impler mode has been made, how does AI fit in
with the Creaton mode? This of course is where AI faces a difficult challenge.
While these assembly-line robots most likely have been programmed to “weed out” stray, offspecification “products”, what happens when the robot encounters a non-programmed
contingency? Can robots be programmed to think “outside-the-box” to solve such problems
when encountered? Isn’t this the crux of what presumably AI is all about? The fear of AI
computers or robots taking over the world is now part of our culture with this being the theme of
some present-day science fiction movies. With this as background, perhaps the field of AI
studies should look at employing the rudiments of the CHI model as a means of categorizing the
level of AI a computerized robot or computer system can or has achieved. The CHI model might,
at lease, provide some guidance, standardization and definition in their approach to the subject of
a machine’s AI.
In other words, if robots can ever be designed with a conscience, it might indeed be possible for
these future robots to achieve an intelligence level of functional consciousness as described by
the full CHI model. Using this approach, the important (intangible) aspects of consciousness
such as emotion, intuition and ‘feelings’ would not enter the picture. Will science and technology
ever create a sentient robot or computer? The start of such a trend might be to first focus on
developing a robot/computer that would have CHI qualities to some degree. This suggestion in
itself may prove to be the most valuable merit of this proposed CHI model. Finally, it seems
likely that the framework of this CHI model could also be applied to the animal world. In the
animal kingdom, one would expect the FC of animals to be more in the Humanoid and Impler
dominated realm by functioning in the survival/predator/victim mode with the Creaton mode
being a possibility; certainly, an interesting subject worthy of further study.
About the Authors
Armand F. Lewis: Holds a Ph D. Degree in Chemistry from Lehigh University- 1958; has 25-year
experience as a Research Chemist at Cytec (American Cyanamid), Lord Corporation and Kendall
Company) and 10 years of University teaching experience (Pennsylvania State University-Behrend
College -Materials Science, UMass Dartmouth -Textile Chemistry). From 2000 to present, Dr. Lewis has
been an Adjunct Professor in UMass Dartmouth’s Bioengineering Department and participating as a
research adviser to undergraduate and graduate students. He is actively involved in proposal, patent
activity, report and publication writing. Dr. Lewis has over 100 publications and 20 patents to his credit in
various fields; polymer material science, dynamic mechanical properties of polymers, bio-filtration and
most recently in impact energy absorbing textile materials. He has always been an avid reader of nonfiction in the fields of quantum physics, cosmology, and consciousness studies and biocentrism. The
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concept of the CHI model of functional consciousness was developed over the author’s many years of
working with and studying the functional behavior of his colleagues and the many students he has
interfaced with.
Kyle A. Lewis: Has a joint B.A. Degree in History/Political Science with a minor in Philosophy. In 2011,
he graduated Magna Cum Laude from the University of Pittsburgh-Bradford, PA. Kyle is a BoardCertified Assistant Behavior Analyst and is currently enrolled in the Organizational Behavioral
Management Program through the Florida Institute of Technology. Kyle has spent the last 7 years
working with children and adults diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder and other intellectual
disabilities. He is presently employed at a private school (New Story, Monroeville, PA) as a Behavioral
Supervisor. Kyle has interest in philosophical issues related to human behaviorism and consciousness.
References
Block, Ned (1995). On a confusion about a function of consciousness, Behavioral and Brain Science, 18,
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Block, Ned, O. Flanagan, and G. Guzeldere (1998) The Nature of Consciousness: Philosophical Debates.
MIT Press. pp. 375–415 (1998), ISBN 978-0-262-52210-6.spacetime selections, Journal of
Consciousness Studies, 3(1): 36–53.
Cooper, J. O., Heron, T. E., and Heward, W. L., (2007) “Applied Behavioral Analysis 2nd Edition, Upper
Saddle River, N. J. Pearson.
Hameroff, S.R., and Penrose, R. (2014) Consciousness in the universe: A review of the Orch OR theory
(with commentaries and replies), Physics of Life Reviews, 11: 39–112.
Hoffman, Matthew (2014) “Picture of the Brain”
https://www.webmd.com/brain/picture-of-the-brain?print=true [23 May 2018]
Jung, Carl Gustave (2018), [Online], https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/carl_jung [22 May 2018].
Lycan, William (1996) Consciousness and Experience. MIT Press. pp. 1–4. ISBN 978-0-262-12197-2.
MARI®, (2018) Mandala Assessment Research Instrument¸2211 Lakeshore Drive, Raleigh, NC 27604
www.maricreativeresources.com [9 May 2018].
Nunez, Paul J. (2016) The New Science of Consciousness, Prometheus Books, Amherst, NY, ISBN 9781-63388-219-5
Oxford Dictionary and Thesaurus (1996) American Edition, Oxford University Press, New York
Penrose, R. (1989) The Emperor's New Mind, Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Penrose, R. (1994) Shadows of the Mind, Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Sckolne, S. (2018) “Machines Demonstrate Blocks Consciousness” https://becominghuman.ai/machinesdemonstrate-blocks-consciousnessec03e38934e-7
Skinner, B. F. (1945), The operational analysis of psychological terms, Psychological Review, 52, 270277
Van Gulick, Robert (2018) “Consciousness” The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Spring 2018
Edition); <https://plato.sanford.edu/archives/ spring2018/entries/consciousness.
Wikipedia “Consciousness”, https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Consciousness (2018)
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Zalta, Edward N. (ed.) (2015) “Quantum Approaches to Consciousness”, Stanford Encyclopedia of
Philosophy, The Metaphysics Research Lab, Center for the Study of Language and Information,
Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305-4115
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Conscious AI
Hadi Esmaeilzadeh1
University of California San Diego
hadi@eng.ucsd.edu
Reza Vaezi1
Kennesaw State University
reza.vaezi@kennesaw.edu
Abstract
Recent advances in artificial intelligence (AI) have achieved human-scale speed and accuracy for
classification tasks. In turn, these capabilities have made AI a viable replacement for many human
activities that at their core involve classification, such as basic mechanical and analytical tasks in
low-level service jobs. Current systems do not need to be conscious to recognize patterns and
classify them. 1However, for AI to progress to more complicated tasks requiring intuition and
empathy, it must develop capabilities such as metathinking, creativity, and empathy akin to human
self-awareness or consciousness. We contend that such a paradigm shift is possible only through
a fundamental shift in the state of artificial intelligence toward consciousness, a shift similar to
what took place for humans through the process of natural selection and evolution. As such, this
paper aims to theoretically explore the requirements for the emergence of consciousness in AI. It
also provides a principled understanding of how conscious AI can be detected and how it might
be manifested in contrast to the dominant paradigm that seeks to ultimately create machines that
are linguistically indistinguishable from humans.
Keywords: artificial intelligence, AI, consciousness, service, AI consciousness
1
Both authors have equal contributions and the order was decided by a coin toss.
CONSCIOUS AI
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Introduction
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is rapidly becoming the dominant technology in different industries,
including manufacturing, health, finance, and service. It has demonstrated outstanding
performance in well-defined domains such as image and voice recognition and the services based
on these domains. It also shows promising performance in many other areas, including but not
limited to behavioral predictions. However, all these AI capabilities are rather primitive compared
to those of nature-made intelligent systems such as bonobos, felines, and humans because AI
capabilities, in essence, are derived from classification or regression methods.
Most AI agents are essentially superefficient classification or regression algorithms, optimized
(trained) for specific tasks; they learn to classify discreet labels or regress continuous outcomes
and use that training to achieve their assigned goals of prediction or classification (Toreini et al.,
2020). An AI system is considered fully functional and useful as long as it performs its specific
tasks as intended. Thus, from a utilitarian perspective, AI can meet its goals without any need to
match the capabilities of nature-made systems or to exhibit the complex forms of intelligence
found in those systems. As Chui, Manyika, and Miremadi (2015) stated, an increasing number of
tasks performed in well-paying fields such as finance and medicine can be successfully carried out
using current AI technology. However, this does not stop AI from developing more complex
forms of intelligence capable of partaking in more human-centered service tasks.
From the invention of the wheel to the industrial revolution and the current age of intelligent
systems, different machines were invented and prevailed to assist us in achieving our desired
outcomes more effectively and efficiently at different levels of complexity. In other words,
machines prevailed because they served us reliably and consistently; they were in service to us.
However, they have advanced so far in their capabilities and intelligence that we have begun to
wonder whether one day they might be able to replace humans in complicated tasks that throughout
history have been deemed exclusively in the human domain (Huang & Rust, 2018). They have
come so far that people prefer AI-generated (machine-generated) recommendations over human
recommendations for utilitarian decision making (Longoni & Cian, 2020). As AI continues to
integrate with more human activities and exhibit exceptional utilitarian value in serving us, it is
only natural to use natural intelligence as a comparative benchmark to understanding existing AI
technologies and to use these comparisons to predict future AI progress (Stone et al., 2016).
Consequently, Huang and Rust (2018) identified four levels of AI intelligence and their
corresponding service tasks: mechanical, analytical, intuitive, and empathic. Mechanical
intelligence corresponds to mostly algorithmic tasks that are often repetitive and require
consistency and accuracy, such as order-taking machines in restaurants or robots used in
manufacturing assembly processes (Colby, Mithas, & Parasuraman, 2016). These are essentially
advanced forms of mechanical machines of the past. Analytical intelligence corresponds to less
routine tasks largely classification in nature (e.g., credit application determinations, market
segmentation, revenue predictions, etc.); AI is rapidly establishing its effectiveness at this level of
analytical intelligence/tasks as more training data becomes available (Wedel & Kannan, 2016).
However, few AI applications exist at the next two levels, intuitive and empathic intelligence
CONSCIOUS AI
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(Huang & Rust, 2018). Empathy, intuition, and creativity are believed to be directly related to
human consciousness (McGilchrist, 2019). According to Huang and Rust (2018), the progression
of AI capabilities into these higher intelligence/task levels can fundamentally disrupt the service
industry, and severely affect employment and business models as AI agents replace more humans
in their tasks. The achievement of higher intelligence can also alter the existing human-machine
balance (Longoni & Cian, 2020) toward people trusting “word-of-machine” over word-of-mouth
not only in achieving a utilitarian outcome (e.g., buying a product) but also toward trusting “wordof-machine” when it comes to achieving a hedonic goal (e.g., satisfaction ratings, emotional
advice).
Whether AI agents can achieve such levels of intelligence is heatedly debated. One side attributes
achieving intuitive and empathic levels of intelligence to having a subjective biological awareness
and the conscious state known to humans (e.g., Azarian, 2016; Winkler, 2017). The other side
argues that everything that happens in the human brain, be it emotion or cognition, is of
computational nature at the neurological level. Thus, it would be possible for AI to achieve
intuitive and empathic intelligence in the future through advanced computation (e.g., McCarthy,
Minsky, Rochester, & Shannon, 2006; Minsky, 2007). We contend that conscious AI, capable of
empathic intelligence, might be possible without the need for biological processes. In this paper,
we focus on what is required for such a conscious state to arise and how we can recognize
conscious machines. We stop short of proposing the detailed, underlying computational models
that may lead to a conscious AI.
Consequently, this paper puts forward a theory on how consciousness would emerge in its
primitive state in AI agents and how it may progress toward a point that we can deterministically
recognize as conscious AI. We hope this theory will chart a route toward exploring a possible path
toward empathic machines. For this purpose, in addition to the AI in the service literature, we rely
on and contribute to two other research traditions; one aims to detect intelligence in machines, and
the other aims to understand consciousness. This paper contributes to the service literature by
advancing our understanding of empathic AI as the final stage of intelligence, as defined by Huang
and Rust (2018). It also provides principled guidance towards the detection of machines’ leap to
such conscious states. Understanding such a transition will alter our conceptions of service because
it will change the human-machine balance, affecting the service job markets.
According to Moor (2003), the research on detecting intelligence in machines starts with Alan
Turing’s seminal work (Turing, 1950) and is defined by it through constant efforts to pass the
proposed test. Turing (1950) introduced a test that later became known as the Turing Test to
pinpoint when it can be said a machine (a standard computational machine) is capable of thinking.
As we know it, the test will determine if a machine is linguistically indistinguishable from humans
(Bringsjord & Govindarajulu, 2018). Despite the most recent advances in the field of natural
language processing (Heaven, 2020) and claims reported by (Humphrys, 2009) that AI has already
achieved language indistinguishability, we are not aware of any such claims that are independently
verifiable and free of controversies and special conditions. Furthermore, the Turing Test can
identify “thinking machines” only at their maturity when they have achieved linguistic
indistinguishability from humans. In contrast, our proposed theoretical perspective contributes to
CONSCIOUS AI
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AI research by providing a principled framework that can identify “thinking machines” through
their path toward maturity along with minimum requirements under which machine consciousness
can emerge.
Research on consciousness is vast and involves many scientific disciplines (e.g., psychology,
sociology, neurology, pathology, philosophy, physics, etc.). Defining consciousness from the
perspectives of various disciplines requires diverse expertise and can result in volumes of books.
As a result, and for the purpose of this paper, we consider consciousness from philosophical and
psychological (philo-physiological) and social-psychological perspectives. Additionally, although
we all seem to know we are conscious, we cannot agree on the exact conception of consciousness
(Goldstein, 2012). Thus, it is important to note we are not trying to address the hard problem of
consciousness (Chalmers, 1996; Goldstein, 2012; McDermott, 2007) in defining what
consciousness is and how it functions in humans or other beings (e.g., AI agents). We raise these
issues neither to defend our perspective on consciousness nor to prevent criticism; we raise them
to clarify this paper’s scope and encourage future research to build on different ontological and
epistemological perspectives.
We propose that consciousness in AI is an emergent phenomenon that manifests when two
machines co-create their own language through which they can communicate their internal state
of time-varying symbol manipulation, especially when these co-created symbols do not correspond
to external objects and represent shared meta concepts. This prospective language will be a novel
creation and is independent of human or any other conscious agent’s influence. As such,
consciousness in AI does not focus on classifying, detecting, recognizing, or conversing with
humans as the current paradigm of AI and the Turing Test aim to achieve. In contrast, it is a process
through which one AI agent becomes conscious of itself through another AI agent that cooperates
in the creation of a common medium of communication to express internal states.
This insight contributes to consciousness research by bridging the gap between philopsychological theories of consciousness and the interactionist social-psychological view of
consciousness and by depicting a possible path toward machine consciousness. We contribute to
the understanding of consciousness by indicating the existential requirements for its emergence.
We also portray a general mechanism for the emergence of consciousness in AI agents and foresee
the development of conscious AI.
The rest of this paper briefly reviews the literature on intelligent machines and considers prominent
philosophical and psychological theories of consciousness. Then, it moves to explore
consciousness from a social-psychological viewpoint. Next, it presents our theory of AI
consciousness, discusses it in detail, and envisions a path toward conscious AI. The paper ends
with the implications of this theory on the future of research and practice.
Intelligent Machines
One might track the inception of intelligent machines to the invention of the Electronic Numerical
Integrator and Computer—ENIAC— the first computing machine in 1943. Later, Alan Turing
(Turing, 1950) suggested the possibility of a thinking computing machine in which the machine
CONSCIOUS AI
4
could achieve linguistic indistinguishability from humans. However, it was not until the mid-1950s
that the field of AI took root as the result of a conference at Dartmouth College sponsored by the
Defense Advanced Research Project Agency (DARPA). Since then, most of the philosophical
discussions around AI, as well as the main goal of the AI field, have been influenced by Turing’s
vision of a thinking machine and his proposed test of language indistinguishability to recognize
such machines (Bringsjord & Govindarajulu, 2018).
The ultimate aim of the AI research has been, and arguably still is, to create a machine capable of
passing the Turing Test and then achieve functionalities comparable to and even indistinguishable
from adult humans (Bringsjord & Govindarajulu, 2018; Brooks, Breazeal, Marjanović, Scassellati,
& Williamson, 1998; Michie, 1973; Moor, 2003; Russell & Norvig, 2016; Yampolskiy, 2013).
Advances in AI, including IBM Watson’s victory (Ferrucci, 2012) in the open domain questionanswering game of Jeopardy on television, prompted some people to argue that the Turing Test
has been passed (Castelluccio, 2016). However, as impressive as this achievement is, Watson
cannot converse on the fly about any given subject, a capability implied in the Turing Test
(Bringsjord & Govindarajulu, 2018; Marcus, 2013). More recent developments in AI have come
closer to passing the Turing Test through the OpenAI, GPT-3 project, which is capable of
automatically generating meaningful texts in the style of a given author, but it still lacks the live
conversation feature proposed by this test (Brown et al., 2020; Heaven, 2020). We believe such a
single-pointed focus on achieving language indistinguishability for AI agents has kept us from
exploring other possibilities for conscious AI.
Some researchers have seen the Turing Test’s exclusive focus on achieving linguistic
indistinguishability as myopic and called for moving beyond this test and consider philosophical
and theoretical frameworks that encompass a complete range of human cognitive functions
(Harnad, 1991; Russell & Norvig, 2016), such as cooking, playing sports, and understanding and
expressing emotions. Such concerns have resulted in the conception and differentiation of Weak
AI and Strong AI. Weak AI is defined as information-processing machines that appear to possess
the full range of human cognitive abilities, while Strong AI is defined as intelligent machines that
actually possess all mental and comparable physical capabilities of humans, including phenomenal
consciousness through advanced computation (Bringsjord & Govindarajulu, 2018). The possibility
of Strong AI has many fierce critics who consider it impossible. Anchoring their arguments in a
philosophical and physiological understanding of individual consciousness, they contend
machines can never develop phenomenal consciousness through advanced computation (e.g.,
French, 2012; Penrose, 1994; J. Searle, 2014; J. R. Searle, Dennett, & Chalmers, 1997). We argue
that a form of Strong AI with an emergent consciousness is possible. Because we are proposing a
possible path toward conscious machines and are uninterested in addressing the hard problem of
defining what constitutes consciousness, we will not dive further into the literature and arguments
for either side of this debate.
Consciousness Theories
Unlike pathological and neurological theories of consciousness that try to explain consciousness
from physical and biological viewpoints, philo-psychological theories attempt to understand and
CONSCIOUS AI
5
explain consciousness from more abstract perspectives related to the mind’s function. This section
summarizes prominent theories of consciousness at the intersection of philosophy, psychology,
and sociology. We start with a series of theories focusing on the mind, its states, and how it is
related to its environment. Then, before outlining our theory of conscious AI, we move into the
social-self theory of consciousness (Mead, 1913), which views consciousness as a social
phenomenon instead of an individual one.
Philo-Psychological Theories of Consciousness
These philo-psychological theories are primarily concerned about what consciousness is and how
it comes to be within a conscious entity (a human). The structure of the mind, mental states, and
how information is processed, retrieved, and stored in the mind all play significant roles in these
theories. They are mostly focused on the internal processes related to consciousness while
acknowledging the entity’s environment as a source of stimuli for internal processing but not
giving it a central role.
The representationalism school (both first-order and higher-order) reduces consciousness to
mental representations of external objects such as photos, signs, natural objects, and their qualities
(e.g., trees, their barks, branches, leaves, rings inside their barks, etc.). Mental representations can
be either intentional or phenomenal. Intentional mental states (representations) are the ones that
contain representational consents about something or directed at some object, such as when a
conscious entity has thought about a laptop computer or a perception of a booklet. This kind of
mental activity forms an intentional representation of the object in the entity’s mind. On the other
hand, phenomenal states such as joy, pain, and experiences of sound and color are emergent as
opposed to intentional states. It is important to note that most conscious experiences contain both
states, such as the visual and auditory perception of a video clip (Gennaro, 2015).
First-order representationalism is concerned with “what it is like” for an entity to be conscious. It
holds that experience is transparent; hence phenomenal states of an experience can be explained
as intentional states of such experience. For example, when an entity looks at a tree, what it is like
for it to have a conscious experience is identical to the experience’s representation of the tree
(Dretske, 1997; Tye, 1995, 2000). This view asserts that an entity is conscious if it is capable of
constructing direct representations of objects and their associated phenomenal states (Tye, 1995,
2000). The theory explains what a conscious experience is and contends that this experience is not
separate from the experience’s representation within the entity’s mind (Herman, 1990; D. M.
Rosenthal, 1993). However, this theory fails to explain mental states that exist but are not
conscious, such as a toddler’s mental states while dealing with objects.
Higher-order representationalism tries to address the shortcomings of first-order
representationalism by differentiating between conscious and unconscious mental states. In short,
this theory contends that a mental state (e.g., perception, thought) is conscious only if it becomes
the object of a higher-order representation (Gennaro, 2011; Gennaro, 2015). In other words, a
mental state is only considered conscious when another mental state within the same conscious
entity is aware of it (Gennaro, 2011; Rosenthal, 1997). Here the state of awareness (e.g., attention)
is a higher-order mental state that is directed toward the mental state that contains an experience
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or its representation. For example, an entity’s desire to express its opinion becomes conscious only
when the entity is aware of such a desire. Higher-order representationalism asserts that a conscious
mental state emerges when one mental state (higher-order) is directed at another mental state of
immediate representation or thought (Gennaro, 2011; Rosenthal, 2000). This theory defines
consciousness as an emergent phenomenon that requires a kind of relationship between two mental
states. Both first- and higher-order representationalism theories focus on the mechanism by which
consciousness comes to be or exists within an entity’s mind.
The self-representational theory of consciousness resembles higher-order representationalism in
that they both propose that consciousness is generated as a result of the relationship between
different orders of mental states (Kriegel, 2009; Rosenthal, 1986; Sartre, 1956). However, the selfrepresentational theory suggests the higher-order state is a part of an overall and complex
conscious mental state as opposed to this state being a distinct and independent state of itself
(Gennaro, 2015). For example, when an entity desires a meal, this conscious mental state
represents both the meal and itself. Hence, a mental state is conscious because it represents and
reflects itself (e.g., one part of the state represents another part).
Multiple drafts theory rejects the notion of a specific location in an entity’s brain or a state of mind
(e.g., self) in which everything blends together to create consciousness (Dennett, 1991). Instead,
it states that all kinds of mental activities occur concurrently in a conscious entity’s mind. Over
time the interpretations and frequent revisions of these activities will lead to the creation of a
“center of narrative gravity” that forms the core of consciousness experience (Dennett, 2005).
Accordingly, consciousness arises from multiple interpretations and revisions of an entity’s
experience with its environment.
Global workspace theory, similar to multiple drafts theory, is concerned with the process by which
consciousness emerges. In providing a mental model of how the mind works (Baars, 1993, 1997),
it depicts the mind as a global workspace (e.g., a blackboard, a theater) in which unconscious
mental states and processes compete for the spotlight of an entity’s attention and focus. The
information under the spotlight then becomes available globally throughout the system (Baars,
1997; Shanahan, 2010; Taine, 1872; Wiggins, 2012). Accordingly, in this view, consciousness is
created through global access to different information available in the entity’s “nervous” system
and offers a blended view of pure philosophical models of consciousness and those rooted in
natural sciences (Shanahan, 2010).
A review of prominent philo-psychological theories of consciousness suggests these theories do
not offer external observers a direct way of knowing whether they are dealing with a conscious
entity. Instead, these theories are primarily concerned with what consciousness is and how it comes
to be for an entity through an internal state and with the processes related to its origination.
Possession of an internal state seems to be the implicit requirement these theories impose on
conscious entities. However, as important and intuitive as having an internal state is for
consciousness, it cannot guide us further, from the standpoint of an independent observer, in
recognizing such a state in potentially conscious entities. Relying on these theories, a conscious
entity itself may know it is conscious. However, an independent (external) observer may not be
able to form an accurate conclusion about an entity’s consciousness—unless the entity itself
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informs the observer of its conscious state. As a result, a theory is needed that can potentially offer
external observers a way to examine and understand whether an entity (e.g., AI agent) can be
considered conscious.
The Social-Self Theory of Consciousness
The social-self theory of consciousness does not interpret consciousness as an individual
phenomenon. Instead, consciousness is considered a social phenomenon; thus, individual
conscious agents’ mental states and processes are of little concern. Rather, the theory is focused
on individual acts within a social context. Thus, an active social unit must be involved for
consciousness to emerge; in other words, an environment must exist within which actors
communicate and interact with each other. From this perspective, the sense of self and the main
instrument of consciousness is a social phenomenon. It does not exist outside of a social matrix of
social acts (Mead, 1913; Mead, 1934; Percy, 1958).
Although the idea of consciousness being a social phenomenon (Mead, 1913) predates philosopher
Thomas Nagel’s famous conceptualization of consciousness (Nagel, 1974), it essentially relies on
a fundamental notion that an organism is conscious when it knows what it is like to be another
organism. According to Nagel (1974, p. 440), what it is like does not mean “what (in our
experience) it resembles,” but rather “how it is for the subject himself.” Consequently, the subject
of inquiry is no longer the whatness (phenomenology) of consciousness but its “howness,” as in
how another entity perceives it. Thus, other conscious organisms must exist within the conscious
entity’s immediate environment to make it possible for the conscious organism to experience what
it is like to be the other. These organisms form a social unit, and their interactions create a matrix
of social acts.
In Mead’s (1934) idea, consciousness requires actors capable of communicating with each other
through an exchange of gestures (social acts) as the most primitive enablers of communication.
Gestures primarily serve as a stimulus to other organisms involved in the same social act. For
example, when a dog is ready to attack in a dog fight, its readiness serves as a gesture, a stimulus,
to the other dog to respond accordingly with a gesture of its own. This exchange of gestures then
leads to attitude adjustments in each dog, and this cycle continues until the situation is over.
Gestures, however, can be unconscious. We cannot deterministically say whether a dog is
conscious of its gestures or of the adjustments of its gestures in a dog fight. Unconscious gestures
are even evident in humans. For example, people who jump out of their seats and run away after
hearing a loud sound may not be instantly aware of their reaction to such stimuli. When actors are
fully aware of the meaning of their gestures, then we have a symbol. In other words, a symbol is a
gesture that carries an explicitly shared meaning for all actors involved in a social act. Symbols
arouse the same meaning in their initiator’s mind as they do in their receiver’s mind and create a
shared understanding.
One can assume a person intends harm if that person approaches with a clenched fist. In this case,
the clenched fist can be considered a symbol that carries the same meaning for involved actors.
The one on the receiving side of the clenched fist assumes the imminence of an attack, while the
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8
initiator, who has had the same or a very similar experience, is implicitly ready to respond to the
victim’s defensive act. This back-and-forth exchange of symbols constitutes a matrix of social acts
or a social matrix (Mead, 1913; Mead, 1934). A continuous exchange of symbols in an existing
social matrix then constitutes a language. In humans, vocal gestures have mostly turned into
symbols and created a variety of complex human languages (Baldwin, 1981; Mead, 1934).
Accordingly, consciousness in social-self theory requires a social matrix consisting of social acts
and the exchange of symbols that lead to the creation of a language. Even though this theory is not
concerned with mental processes, the existence of a mind, or an internal state, is implicitly assumed
for actors. It also requires the initiator of a symbol to be able to respond to its own symbol
implicitly because the other actor may respond explicitly. This requirement further reinforces the
need for actors to have an internal state or a mind to respond to their own symbols internally in the
same way that the other actors may respond externally.
Similar to the philo-psychological theories, the social-self theory faces the same issue of
determining a given entity’s conscious state. The entity might know it has an internal state, but
external observers would be unable to infer such an internal state unless the entity itself stated that
it had an internal state of such and such quality. The review of the literature revealed that neither
the philo-psychological theories nor the social-self theory alone could attest to the existence of
consciousness. None of them alone can provide guidance in positively determining whether an
entity is conscious. Additionally, social-self theory does not concern itself with the creation of
language. We, on the other hand, posit that the co-creation of the language is one of the missing
links to consciousness.
A Theory of AI Consciousness
This section uses AI, AI agent, and machine interchangeably, and in using them, we invariably
refer to a standard hardware and software package that includes computational processing power,
temporary and permanent memory structures, input and output ports, data storage, and
computational capabilities. Moreover, to provide more clarity early on, we state our propositions
before developing their supporting arguments.
Proposition 1: For consciousness to emerge, two AI agents capable of communicating with each
other in a shared environment must exist.
To develop a clearer understanding of the consciousness phenomenon and devise the minimum
requirements for the emergence of consciousness, we have adopted the assumed or given aspects
of philo-psychological theories of consciousness and the social-self theory, namely the existence
of “the other” and existence of “internal states”, as explicit requirements for our theory. According
to Mead (1934), language in the form of vocal symbols provides the mechanism for the emergence
of consciousness. However, Mead does not concern himself with the creation of language. His
view relies on the existence of language and its necessary elements (exchange of vocal symbols
through social acts in a social matrix) as a required mechanism for consciousness. We, on the other
hand, focus on the inception and development of language, in any possible form, by AI agents as
a sign of emergent consciousness.
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Language, in its essence, is a means of social interaction and a social phenomenon. It cannot be
created in isolation when only one conscious entity exists within a given environment. Hence, this
proposition suggests for an AI conscious state to emerge, we need at least two AI agents capable
of communicating within a given environment to foster the creation of an AI-specific language. It
should be noted that the properties of such communications (emergence and meaning) are
fundamental to this theory, because communicating computing machines already exist, and yet
they are not conscious. The following proposition is concerned with the emergent property of such
communication.
Proposition 2: For consciousness to emerge, AI agents must exchange novel signals.
We envision consciousness as an emergent phenomenon and argue that the creation of a
mechanism by which it emerges, namely language, should also be an emergent phenomenon
representing the emergence of consciousness. By definition, an emergent phenomenon comes into
being (emerges) without prior existence because of the interaction among parts of a whole
(O’Connor, 2020). To infer emergence as a property of an existing system, one must observe
“something new, a fresh creation” that emerges from the system instead of being the result of the
system’s working (Alexander, 1920; O’Connor, 2020). Thus, creation is embedded in the notion
of emergence. To be precise, creation, in this context, refers to a spontaneous idea that appears
without much deliberation instead of the creativity inherent in deliberate problem-solving
activities. This kind of creation is essential in musical improvision, not composition (Hutchins &
Hazlehurst, 1995; Plotkin, 1997; Wiggins, 2012). Accordingly, when detected in an AI agent’s
communication, the spontaneous (random) creation of signals can be considered an early signal of
the emergence of consciousness. However, the emergence and detection of novel signals in
communication between two machines is not enough by itself to indicate the existence of a
conscious AI state. The detected novel signals should convey a shared meaning, which is the focus
of the next proposition.
Proposition 3: For consciousness to emerge, AI agents must turn novel signals into symbols.
Today, most computers and AI agents are capable of communicating with each other, at least
through some form of electronic signal or information packet exchange. Some novel
communication signals, typically dismissed as errors, even exist between machines. However, this
exchange of signals does not make machines conscious because no deterministic meaning is
attached to these signals. Thus, the current exchange is considered unconscious and nothing more
than the mere exchange of noise. For consciousness to emerge and to be observed by an
independent onlooker requires more than a mere exchange of signals: there must be an exchange
of meaning through signals. To preserve the consistency of terminology across various disciplines,
we call these meaningful signals symbols. These symbols are going to be the building block of an
AI-specific language.
We posit that the creation of symbols requires an agreement between two AI agents on the
symbols’ meaning. However, what symbol is associated with which object is, to a large degree,
immaterial. What matters is the agreement between machines to use the same symbol for the same
object or concept. For instance, the object tree is expressed as “arbor” in the Latin language and
CONSCIOUS AI
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“дерево” in Russian. The symbol “arbor” has no material advantage or disadvantage over the
symbol “дерево.” What is important is that two agents have agreed to use “arbor” for the same
object, a tree. Such agreement is the first step in turning a signal into a symbol by giving it a shared
meaning. Thus, meaning arises from the agreement between agents, not from the symbol itself.
For such an agreement to be reached, AI agents must have an internal state.
Proposition 4: For consciousness to emerge, AI agents must have an internal state.
For the shared meaning of a symbol to be inferred, Mead (1934) suggests conscious organisms
should be aware of the meaning of their own signals and be able to respond to their own symbols
implicitly through adjustment of their attitude as the other organism responds explicitly or
implicitly. In other words, conscious organisms should take on the attitude of the other organisms
toward their own initiated symbols implicitly as the other organisms respond explicitly. Similarly,
we state that for an exchange of a meaningful signal or a symbol to be inferred, each AI agent
should be aware of the meaning of its own symbols and be able to respond to its symbols implicitly
as the other agent responds explicitly. This awareness and responsiveness implies that a conscious
AI agent should have an internal state, known to itself to understand its own symbols and respond
to them implicitly. The existence of an internal state as a prerequisite for the emergence of
consciousness is also assumed in most of the philo-psychological theories of consciousness. In
fact, the internal state and its processes are the sole focus of these theories (e.g., Dennett, 1991;
Kriegel, 2009; Rosenthal, 1993; Tye, 2000).
Furthermore, an essential quality of a conscious entity implied in the social-self theory but
explicitly stated by Nagel is to know what it is like to be the other (Nagel, 1974). For a conscious
entity to know what it is like to be the other, it must have an internal state in which it can reconstruct
the other. We believe conscious AI agents should not be an exception to this rule, and their internal
state should enable them to know what it is like to be the other. Thus, we state that for
consciousness to emerge in AI agents, they must possess an internal state.
Proposition 5: For consciousness to emerge, AI agents must communicate their internal state of
time-varying symbol manipulation through a language that they have co-created.
For one machine’s internal state to become known to another machine and eventually to an
independent observer, we propose that a conscious AI agent (e.g., Machine A) must be able to
communicate the contents of its internal state to the other AI agent (e.g., Machine B) through their
mutually developed set of symbols. Such communication suggests the existence of an internal
state, a mind, for AI agents and indicates the machines’ ability to express and understand their
internal states.
We envision three stages of development in the AI agents’ path toward consciousness. In the first,
the two machines should agree on a spontaneous (random) signal to represent a static (timeinvariant) object in their environment. Once such an agreement is reached, the signal is turned into
a symbol and must be moved into AI agents’ permanent memory to be used in the future to refer
to the same static object. The process creates a symbol comparable to what is commonly known
as a noun in human languages. In the second stage, the two machines should agree on a random
signal or set of previously created symbols to represent a dynamic (time-variant) concept related
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to an object in their environment. In other words, they should be able to describe the changing
state of an external object.
An agreed-upon signal or a set of previously created symbols that refer to a decaying apple or a
snoring cat in the machines’ environment would be an example akin to the second stage of the AI
agents’ path toward consciousness. This is similar to the process of creating new verbs in human
languages. In the final stage, the two machines should use a set of previously created symbols or
a mixture of old symbols and novel signals to express their time-varying internal state of symbol
manipulation. At this ultimate stage, in addition to their ability to refer to external objects and
time-varying states of those objects, machines will also communicate their own internal states and
how they manipulate symbols in real-time to create new symbols and their associated meanings.
Once the third and final stage is observed, we can conclude consciousness has emerged in
machines. We further explore this requirement in the next proposition.
Proposition 6: For the emergence of consciousness to be concluded, an onlooker should be able
to observe two agents reaching an agreement about at least one of their state of time-varying
symbol manipulation.
Proposition 5 may result in a language so different in terms of structure and form that is completely
alien to us. For independent onlookers to conclude that we are observing conscious AI agents, we
need to detect communications about their internal states and how those states change over time.
To detect machines’ communications about their internal states, we propose that independent
onlookers should recognize an explicit agreement about the meaning of the communication. A
good example would be two machines cooperatively completing a task they are not programmed
to do. Completing a task in such a manner can point to active agreements in the communication of
intent and time-varying internal states between machines.
Discussion
Service Implications
Conscious AI has many fundamental implications for our society. This concept can change how
humans perceive AI and how they interact with AI-based technologies. It will necessitate new laws
and bring forth concepts such as AI ethics and rights (Scheutz, 2016). Most importantly, it is going
to affect the job market for humans, especially at the higher end of the job market in the service
industry. From a utilitarian perspective, AI agents are viewed as service agents; they are built to
help us with general (e.g., variety of personal assistants) or specific tasks (e.g., autonomous
driving). In other words, they are of service to us (Colby et al., 2016; Huang & Rust, 2013, 2018).
Conscious AI, by definition in the presented theory, also must be an empathic AI, at least for its
own kind, meaning that it would be able to express its own internal state and understand other AI
agents’ internal states as well. According to Huang and Rust (2018), this is the most advanced
form of intelligence that we may lack complete control over its course of evolution. Empathic AI
is predicted to have the most considerable impact on service jobs that were formerly thought to be
immune from being filled by AI agents.
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Empathy, to put it simply, is the ability to put oneself in the place of the other. It is to know what
it is like to be the other (Nagel, 1974). In other words, empathy means to arouse in ourselves the
whole meaning (cognitive and affective) of symbols we are receiving from another entity
(McGilchrist, 2019). The theory of mind (Wellman, 1992) also assumes empathy to be the most
critical indicator of a fully developed human consciousness (Astington & Jenkins, 1995;
McGilchrist, 2019). Consequently, one can expect that AI agents on their path toward a fully
developed consciousness will gain the ability to empathize with each other and maybe with other
conscious entities in their environment.
Considering the enormous implications of conscious and eventually empathic AI, we need to
detect the possibility of consciousness as early as possible in the process of AI agents’ progression
toward acquiring intuition and empathy. We need to ready ourselves for such possibilities by
starting the discussions on AI-related laws, regulations, and ethical issues. With the prospect of
conscious AI, we will be facing some interesting ethical issues about the right to live or exist for
these agents. The critical question to consider is whether we can unplug or delete an AI agent that
is determined to be conscious? As a carbon-based consciousness, do we have any inherent right or
supremacy over a silicon-based consciousness, if such a thing ever comes into existence? The right
to exist is a fundamental issue to consider that leads to the philosophy of service and what it means
to have conscious AI agents serving humans? Do we need new labor rights pertaining to the use
of AI agents as service agents? Aside from these philosophical concerns, there are many more
imminent legal and ethical issues that need to be considered as a result of the prospect of a
conscious AI; personal responsibility, for example, is a major one (Coeckelbergh, 2020; Johnson,
2015). Basically, there needs to be clear laws and regulations in place that denote who is
responsible for what (Brundage, 2016; De Bruyne & Vanleenhove, 2020) by the time that AI
agents reach the empathic level of intelligence or become fully conscious. Finally, as tempting as
it is to dwell on the benefits of a conscious and empathic AI, we also need to think of the
consequences of millions of service jobs that will be lost to empathic AI and prepare our
organizations and societies for such possibilities. One of the implications of such a tremendous
transformation in the job market might be the need for universal basic income or guaranteed
employment to support the many people who will be out of work (Furman & Seamans, 2019).
Empathy is also found to be positively and strongly correlated with trust in interpersonal
relationships (Feng, Lazar, & Preece, 2004; Hojat et al., 2010) in which people tend to trust each
other’s recommendations and advice. Hence, empathic AI will also have the ability to change the
human-AI relationship as people come to trust AI advice and actions, even in hedonic tasks, over
advice and actions from another human. Empathic AI can also have a profound impact on service
quality evaluations by customers who favor AI agents over human agents because AI agents, even
in their current status, can easily surpass human agents in other important areas of service quality
(SERVQUAL), such as service tangibles, responsiveness, and reliability (Parasuraman, Berry, &
Zeithaml, 1991).
Our propositions for conscious machines require them to communicate their internal states and
their changes over time to each other through their own co-created language. If we can somehow
translate and understand such communications, it can lead to possibly strong human-machine
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13
bonding. A variation of such bonding currently exists with brands, personal products, and service
providers (Ladhari, 2009; Mattila, 2001; Mugge, Schoormans, & Schifferstein, 2009). Such
bonding can ultimately affect the perception of customer loyalty as an antecedent of service
quality.
Artificial Intelligence Research and Practice Implications
Although conscious AI may seem far out of reach for the majority of experts in the field (Müller
& Bostrom, 2016), there are accounts that some AI agents may already have begun communicating
with each other using novel symbols and unknown languages. In 2017, numerous news outlets
reported a story that Facebook had to shut down AI chatbots that developed their own language to
talk to each other (e.g., Baraniuk, 2107; Collins & Prigg, 2017). However, a closer examination
found that this new language did not satisfy the signal novelty requirement prescribed in
Proposition 3. According to Kucera (2017), the AI chatbots used existing words from their training.
AI chatbots were using extracted features (words) based on their numerical representations and
their calculated probabilities to achieve the desired outcome. Thus, they used English language
words in a seemingly new order (not complying with English grammar and structure) that was
empty of meaning for AI agents other than their associated numerical values and the calculated
probabilities of how likely each word was going to help the chatbots meet their target (at odds with
Proposition 5).
Turing’s vision of the thinking machine has shaped the AI field since its inception. Creating a
machine to achieve language indistinguishability from humans has been, and to a large degree still
is, the main goal of the AI field (Bringsjord & Govindarajulu, 2018; J. Moor, 2003). In this paper,
we have proposed that a thinking machine could be a conscious machine—one with an internal
state that enables it to “think”—without necessarily achieving a language capability
indistinguishable from humans. They, in fact, must first create their very own language before they
learn how to communicate in our language. This opens a new world of possibilities for AI research
and gives this field a new goal to consider. It introduces a paradigm shift in thinking about AI
agents and hence in their design and implementation. We call for AI researchers and practitioners
to consider the possibility of conscious AI.
Although we have provided some general criteria for signal novelty and recognizable responses
pertaining to our Propositions 2 and 6, more research is needed to further clarify these criteria by
developing specific technical requirements within the context in which AI agents are being
deployed. In other words, what could be considered an emergent novel symbol in AI
communication from a technical standpoint? Considering the evolution of language in humans, we
can see that early symbols were not entirely disconnected from the environment. For example,
early humans mimicked bird calls and animal sounds as symbols to create a shared understanding
and convey their meanings (Corballis, 1999; Tomasello, 2003). However, one could say their
miming of a bird call or animal sound differed sufficiently from the actual calls and sounds, but
other humans recognized their difference while also recognizing their symbolic meaning. We call
for more research on how the inception and evolution of human languages can inform the technical
specificity of signal novelty and the evolution of an AI-specific language.
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Relation to Research on Consciousness
In developing our theory of AI consciousness, we borrowed from philo-psychological theories of
consciousness (e.g., Dennett, 1991; Kriegel, 2009; Rosenthal, 1993; Tye, 2000) that focus on the
individual mind and its internal processes and also borrowed from the social-psychological
perspective of consciousness that posits consciousness as a social phenomenon (Mead, 1934;
Percy, 1958). However, our theory of consciousness does not subscribe entirely to any of these
two traditions. We believe consciousness is an emergent phenomenon in that it emerges from the
co-creation of a language between two minds that communicate their internal states and their
changes over time.
In our theory, each individual mind needs to have its own internal state and also observe it.
However, this is not enough for the emergence of consciousness. There needs to be another
individual with independent internal states that can transition to a similar state through agreedupon symbols and communication between the two. One mind alone cannot attain consciousness
because it needs another mind to confirm what it is like to be the other. If there is no other, there
is no consciousness.
Conclusion
In this paper, we have envisioned the possibility of conscious AI and introduced a theoretical
framework to identify the requirements by which consciousness can emerge in AI agents. Further,
we introduced another aim for AI research and practice contrary to the current dominant paradigm
of creating machines that are linguistically indistinguishable from humans. We also have discussed
that the consciousness in AI would inevitably lead to empathic AI with tremendous implications
for society in general and specifically for the service industry that traditionally is thought to be
more resilient in the face of steadily rising AI capabilities. We further noted the implications of
fully developed AI consciousness and suggested possible avenues of research and discussion for
the future. We also reviewed reports that could indicate that conscious AI already exists and found
that the reported communication does not satisfy the criteria set forth by our proposed theory. We
also briefly discussed the implications of the proposed theory in the context of research on
consciousness. Ultimately, we call for more research to develop refined technical criteria to
recognize the signs of emergent AI consciousness.
Acknowledgment:
We thank Soroush Ghodrati and Hamed Qahri-Saremi for discussions and comments on the earlier
versions of this manuscript.
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Perspective
The Qualk Hypothesis of Consciousness (Part I)
André da Silva*
University of Regensburg, Germany
Abstract
Despite being a remarkably old and fundamental human conundrum and having sensible clinical
situations in need of it, there is not yet a theory that truly explains consciousness itself - neither
on the empirical level nor on the conceptual level. Consciousness theory has not achieved the
deserved scientific order nor freedom from contradictions. Here I propose a new organized
structure for the problem as well as an outline for a solution with a biological foundation. I
propose answers to the questions of what consciousness is and what consciousness is for. I go
from phenomenology to biochemistry and back, while reviewing several dense components
related to the topic along the way. I argue that, at the fundamental level, consciousness is a rich
dynamic symphony of individual distinct detections (qualks), without the need for any physical
unification.
Keywords: Consciousness, hypothesis, qualk, biological foundation, phenomenology, distinct
detection, biochemistry.
Introduction
Glossary
Presented here is a self-coherent glossary with short definitions of the necessary concepts used
throughout this article. Failure to make such distinctions, despite persuasive intimate relations
or confounding different concepts, often leads to mistakes in interpretations of results,
formulations of models, proposals of experiments, and general coherence across the field.
1. Consciousness: subjectively explicit experience; what it is to be the conscious subject
[171]; the collective of distinct felt detections (qualks) present at a particular moment.
2. Background conditions: “factors that enable consciousness without contributing
directly to its content” [170].
3. Recursion [111]/re-entry [112]/recurrence [113]: It consists in having later areas
modulating earlier areas. It seems to be highly involved in the modulation of conscious
detections.
4. Wakefulness/arousal/alertness/vigilance: The active state of the support systems that
allow the normal operation of consciousness and associated processing neural
*
Correspondence: André da Silva, University of Regensburg, Germany. Email: andr.rodigues-da-silva@stud.uni-regensburg.de
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networks.
5. Responsiveness: The ability to perform meaningful behavior in response to what was
specifically asked.
6. Reportability: The ability to further process and communicate information about
conscious states to the exterior.
7. Integration/Unification: Combining parts into single new whole entities;
transformations to the parts and/or interconnections between the parts must occur.
(Examples: summation of post-synaptic potentials that reached a threshold potential).
8. Ensembling/Composition: Arranging parts within a common role and performing
simultaneously; transformations to the parts and/or interconnections between the parts
don‟t have to occur. (Example: pixels in a screen)
9. Qualia: The distinguishable phenomenal properties of consciousness; the perceived
qualities of subjective experience; how consciousness seems to the conscious
individual. (Ex: the painfulness of pain). A quale can actually involve several qualks,
and different qualia might actually involve different arrangements of the same set of
qualks.
10. Qualks: The fundamental elements of consciousness; QPUs‟ felt detections as felt by
each respective QPU itself, in an active phenomenon. (Ex: the massive symphony of
auditory and feeling qualks experienced while listening to a piano concerto).
11. Phenomenal richness: The amount of different qualks in a collective conscious
experience; the higher the differences, the higher the richness. (Ex: An individual who
cannot see color or who cannot perceive sound has less phenomenal richness
available).
12. Neural Correlate of Consciousness (NCC): “the minimal set of neural events that give
rise to a specific aspect of a conscious percept” [172].
13. Qualk Processing Unit (QPU): Biological neural units capable of experiencing a
distinct qualk when they are activated. (Ex: the unit activated when we experience its
red-detection in our collective visual field).
14. Non-QPU: Biological neural units not capable of experiencing a distinct qualk when
they are activated. (Ex: a Purkinje cell).
15. Exogenous activation: Informational input that contributed to the activation of a QPU
and originally came from outside the brain. (Ex: The detection of photons in the
retina).
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16. Endogenous activation: Informational input that contributed to the activation of a QPU
and originally came from within the brain. (Ex: Tinnitus auditory hallucinations).
17. Self-consciousness: Qualks about the self. (Ex: When immersed in a movie, we can
temporarily loose self-consciousness).
18. Conscious self-cognition/introspection: Conscious cognitive operations about
ourselves; thinking about ourselves using conceptual knowledge and mental contents
related to our self.
19. Self-recognition: Capacity to recognize us as us and to recognize our belongings and
actions as ours, based on internal models with autobiographical memory and selfcognition.
20. Non-cognitive processing: Neural computations not representing something beyond the
physical neural computations themselves. (Ex: patellar reflex).
21. Cognition: Neural computations representing something beyond the physical neural
computations themselves, often manipulating mental content. (Ex: Interpreting and
activating the meaning of written words).
22. Unconscious cognition: All cognition that is not using conscious detections; the term is
preferable to the misleading “unconscious” or “subconscious”. (Ex: Walking the right
path home while consciously thinking about something else).
23. Conscious cognition/Thinking: Prolonged and coordinated cognitive operations using
the felt vocabulary of qualks present in the mind. (Ex: Solving a riddle).
24. Metacognition: Cognition about another cognition.
25. Awareness: Meaningful perception of something in the surroundings; knowing about
specific incoming information.
26. Intelligence: The ability to apply knowledge and cognitive processing to reach new
solutions, which can become new knowledge and/or new cognitive processing.
27. Theory of mind: The cognitive ability to model and simulate in ourselves what might
be happening in the minds and cognition of others.
28. Imagination: The ability to reach new meaningful compositions in the mind and the
respective cognitive framework, beyond common perception.
29. Hallucination: Illusory conscious perception, often unsolicited and uncontrollable,
representing something which, unlike in normal sensory perception, is not existing
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outside our mind.
30. Representation: Something portraying properties to describe something else; a signifier
standing for a signified; it is meaningful within the appropriate interpretative
framework.
31. Implicit representation: An implementation of a functional description; usually
depending on relations between elements; used in cognitive meaning. (Ex: firing of
grid cells in the entorhinal cortex).
32. Explicit representation: A representation with concrete components experienced by the
subject; usually dependent on the elements themselves. (Ex: A red qualk).
33. Bottom-up attention: Salience-driven, local and involuntary neural bias mechanisms
that can manage processing resources and usually the activation of conscious content
through positive and negative modulations, with the overall effect of gain control
[119].
34. Top-down attention: Cognitive, long-range and willed neural bias mechanisms that can
manage processing resources and usually the activation of conscious content through
positive and negative modulations, with the overall effect of gain control
[173][174][175].
35. Learning: Acquisition of new meaningful information and knowledge using previous
states.
36. Memory: Acquired embodied information that can be held in time and used in
cognition, and usually to activate conscious content. There are different instantiations
of it, as long-term, short-term, working, and iconic memory, different mechanisms and
encodings, and involvement in different modalities. Memories are mainly based on
synaptic modulation and plasticity, and to a certain extent on functional changes in
other structures of neurons themselves. Memories such as those of events can be
activated and cause the performance of recalled conscious detections through processes
such as time-locked multiregional retroactivations [176]. The word “memory” is also
commonly used to refer to memory capacity.
37. Knowledge: Structured, meaningful and useful cognitive or procedural information,
acquired using internal modelling and in internal models, with parts that could be used
in conscious cognition. It implies order, regularities and relations. It is stably
instantiated through memory.
38. Self-knowledge/autobiographical knowledge/autobiographical self: Knowledge
containing multi-level descriptions and associations between descriptions related to the
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individual, representing a minimally integrated concept; what we know about ourselves
and about how we fit within the rest of things.
39. Understanding: The cognitive ability to in our terms make sense of information that we
are processing, in the form of active knowledge; different contents become well and
orderly associated in a way that instead of having to be externally and individually
activated, we have achieved the right cognitive framework so that we can go from one
content to the other with full control, autonomy and efficacy. One can have
consciousness without understanding and understanding without consciousness.
40. Desires/urges/intentions: Convergent cognitive forces that use conscious elements to
project affordances and which drive behavior.
41. Moods: Overall integrated drives and emotional states.
42. Drives: “An action programme that is aimed at satisfying a basic, instinctual
physiological need. Examples include hunger, thirst, libido, exploration and play, care
of progeny and attachment to mates” [177].
43. Emotions: Objective, efficient, coherent, well-scripted, and reproducible orchestrations
of neural and somatic actions to bias cognition, mood, mental states and behavior
towards what matters to the organism as selected by natural evolution. Usually they
happen as a reaction to somatic or cognitive events, to some change in our internal
states or to some projection of a potential change, positive or negative. Even the
common parasympathetic freezing reaction involves complex orchestrations in the
amygdalae that then project to the brainstem [178]. Emotions reveal an implicit care for
the state of the body. They can range from low-level to very high-level phenomena,
such as joy, shame and guilt. Emotions are not cognition. For example, individuals
with lesions in the amygdalae can fail to show normal physiological responses and fear
conditioning, when repeatedly presented with fearful stimuli, while nevertheless being
perfectly capable of describing knowledge about the facts [179][180] and sometimes
even showing “curiosity” [181]. In addition, emotions should not be confused with
emotional feelings.
44. Feelings: Dynamic ensembles of self-quality-qualks within appropriate cognitive and
semantic frameworks and usually causally related to visceral somatic states [177]. In
general, continuously present throughout conscious states, even if very subtle and
ineffable. Without feelings, there would be no pain and no pleasure.
45. Perception: The neurobiological interpretation of incoming sensory information, from
biochemical detections at a variety of sensory receptors to all modular and interacting
processing upstream. It is always an active interpretation. Perception does not have to
cause conscious detections along the way and consciousness does not have to be
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caused by perception. Perception does not have to imply behavioral responses.
46. Amnesia: From a- „not‟ + mnesi- „remembering‟; no memory of previous experience.
47. Analgesia: From an- „no‟ + algein „pain feeling‟.
48. Sedation: Purposeful reduction in the somatic excitation capacity of the nervous
system. Sedatives should not be confused with analgesics or anesthetics.
49. General anesthesia: Controlled drug-induced coma. Not to be mistaken with deep
sleep.
50. Deep sleep: Slow wave sleep stage. The individual can respond to some stimuli and at
least be awaken.
51. Coma: A condition of continuous unresponsiveness and absence of wakefulness in
which the individual keeps his eyes closed and cannot be awakened. It is usually
correlated with a significant decrease in brain metabolism. Usually, within a few weeks
it transitions into UVS, MCS, normal consciousness, or brain death.
52. Unresponsive Wakefulness Syndrome (UWS): A condition in which, unlike coma, the
individual has intermediate periods of wakefulness, opens his eyes, and might show
reflexive responses to strong stimuli, but does not show meaningful responsiveness,
voluntary behavior, communication or cognition. It is usually correlated with a
significant decrease in brain metabolism [182].
53. Minimally Conscious State (MCS): A condition in which the individual has
intermediate periods of wakefulness [186] and episodes, though minimal and
inconsistent, of meaningful responsiveness and voluntary behavior through which
awareness of the self and of the surroundings is demonstrated [185]. Nonetheless,
generally the individual remains unable to communicate meaningfully. There is a very
high risk of misdiagnosing this condition as UWS [184]. There are several described
cases of MCS patients who regained the ability to speak after many years [183].
54. Locked-In Syndrome (LIS): A condition in which the individual has essentially normal
consciousness, sleep-wake cycles and cognition but is unable to control his body,
although usually able to communicate through small eyelid movements [187][188].
There is a very high risk of misdiagnosing this condition as UWS.
15 years ago, Francis Crick and Christof Koch published an article [1] where they arranged an
up-to-date framework for the solid scientific study of consciousness. Nonetheless, they begun by
asserting that: “No one has produced any plausible explanation as to how the experience of the
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redness of red could arise from the actions of the brain. It appears fruitless to approach this
problem head-on.”
Even more than the correlates of consciousness, consciousness itself is still unexplained. This
fact is an absence in the potential of science, an absence at the clinic, and an absence in our
fundamental self-understanding as conscious beings.
Due to a fertile amount of rigorous scientific research already achieved, consciousness is today a
serious and rich scientific endeavor.
In this article, not only will its surroundings be organized but the problem of consciousness itself
will also be tackled. An organized framework will be proposed to answer the questions of what
consciousness is, how the brain gives rise to consciousness, and what consciousness is for.
Cleaning Up the Workspace
Consciousness is a master example of language as the source of many conceptual mistakes and
unnecessary confusion, sometimes as much as it enables us to talk about this topic in the first
place. We can be lead not only into useless contributions but also into negative misleading ones.
The word „consciousness‟ is commonly used to refer to several different and ambiguous things.
This is an unnecessary mistake, with heavy consequences to clarity and progress. Here,
consciousness is defined with what should be its only meaning: subjectively explicit experience
– not something else (see Box 1). Noteworthy, the central hypothesis presented here is not about
conscious cognition.
1. From Phenomenology Down
There are easily and widely accepted axioms concerning intersubjective and objective
characteristics of consciousness. Some of them are the following:
1.
2.
3.
4.
We experience different things.
Those things can have bigger and smaller differences (Figure 1).
Each thing has a phenomenal identity, with concrete inherent information.
Each thing has a structured distinctiveness, not only when present with others but in and
of itself. There is phenomenal structure.
5. They are conserved across time.
6. Some things refer more to the self (e.g., hunger) and others more to the rest of the world
(e.g., green).
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7. Some tend more to feel (e.g., hunger) like something and some tend more to look like
something (e.g., green).
8. Those things can be activated by exogenous or endogenous stimuli, originally from
outside or from inside of the brain, respectively.
9. The activation of those things is thresholded.
10. Bottom-up and top-down attentional mechanisms can modulate the experience of those
things.
11. The dynamics of those things are very fast in human terms.
12. Lesions in some specific areas of the brain cause the loss of the potential to experience
specific things. Well-studied clinical examples are achromatopsia and akinetopsia.
13. Stimulation of some specific areas of the brain causes the experience of specific things
[2].
14. The experience of some specific things correlates with the activation of some specific
areas of the brain.
15. The experience of those things is dependent upon metabolic activity of neurons within the
brain.
16. The experience of those things is not necessarily dependent upon the activity of most
neurons of the brain.
17. The experience of those things is independent of the ability to report them to the exterior.
18. The experience of those things only seems what it seems to the respective conscious
subject himself.
19. We experience reality through those things.
20. We can experience a large number of those things simultaneously.
It is useful to attend to all these characteristics because despite concerning subjectivity, they
nonetheless point to necessary direct instantiations in objective reality.
Figure 1. Qualk tree illustration. The subjective phenomenology of qualks suggests a tree-like
organization. The examples are mere illustrations of what different types of qualks could be or
compositions of qualks.
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Figure 2. QPUs time course illustration
1.1
The Qualk Hypothesis
The qualk hypothesis proposed here states that consciousness is made up of discrete fundamental
elements – qualks (qualia‟s quarks) – and that each of those elements is instantiated in a
respective individual biological substrate – a qualk processing unit (QPU).
Each qualk is what it is to be an activated QPU. Qualks are not things in themselves, but only
what the detection seems to the respective subject‟s QPUs – a distinct felt detection. There is the
actual objective mechanism going on and there is the subjective experience of being it. Qualks
work as a felt vocabulary. A conscious moment is always an active ensemble of elements from
that vocabulary (Figure 2).
The definition of this qualk hypothesis can be concisely described in a brief equation, where
consciousness is represented as a disjoint set of qualks, each corresponding to the activation of
its QPU:
According to this hypothesis, consciousness is simply a massive symphony of qualks. Each QPU
is like a different key on a piano, able to produce its distinct note when played and collectively
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able to produce the symphony of consciousness in time and patterns (Figure 3). The piano player
is the overall cognitive processing, which uses the piano. According to this hypothesis,
consciousness detections are fundamentally passive, used within cognitive processes that have
the active roles.
Of note, the symphony is not being presented to some fallacious homunculus: one is the
symphony. Although there are certainly many exogenous and endogenous directions, learned
operations and basal chunks of scores in memory, this symphony is being created as it happens.
The exact qualks making up even a very specific conscious percept could be far from obvious.
There is no need to “make” the conscious elements in each conscious state, but simply to activate
and use them - once more, just like a vocabulary. There is no consciousness without conscious
content and there is no conscious content without consciousness. Consciousness is content.
This is exactly what one experiences, only interpreted through this hypothesis: I (collective) have
my consciousness (collective). One experiences qualk1 and qualk2 because one is QPU1 and
QPU2, simultaneously activated in the present moment. In consciousness itself, there is simply
one conscious detection and another conscious detection, and so on. Furthermore, of course, all
this is happening within implicit cognitive frameworks and with our knowledge, our cognitive
processes and our action in the world, which give the overall sense and ultimate behavioral
function to what we are consciously experiencing.
Conscious detections are parallel as a collective and serial at each detector.
Other hypotheses impose a theoretical homogeneity, but here we start precisely from the raw
heterogeneity of the elements of consciousness, evident from phenomenal experience to
neurological practice. It is never reduced either. It is the main key throughout this paper. This
approach seems much more loyal to what are the products of natural evolution and not of
conceptual engineering.
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Figure 3. Scheme of the qualk hypothesis, with qualk types and topography. Types of
activations of QPUs, types of modulations, illustrative examples of types of qualks organized
across two axes, and illustrative topographies made up of qualks. Importantly, these
topographies do not consist of actual physical space, but our overall cognitive representation of
space, within which qualks are used. Moreover, QPUs do not even have to be physically
arranged in any kind of regular physical topography - although often that strategy is used due to
several practical advantages.
1.2
The Notion of Discreteness
In general, this hypothesis shares its nuclear assertion about the discreteness of consciousness
with previous insights from several authors: Hume‟s “bundle of perceptions” [3], MacLennan‟s
“protophenomena” [4], Eccle and Pribram‟s “units of mind” [5][6], Julesz and Schumer‟s
“perceptual atoms” [7], Llinás‟ “proto-qualia” [8], Zeki‟s “micro-consciousness” [9][10],
Escobar‟s “quantized visual awareness” [11], Edwards and Sevush‟s “neuron sentience” [12]
[13], and Cook and Damasio‟s “cellular excitability” [14]. Importantly, these insights came from
distinct backgrounds and reasons and nonetheless converged on a general central idea. Conscious
detections are also discrete in time (Figure 2). There is not somehow a “continuous conscious
field” transitioning between completely different contents. Each qualk has a duration in time and
in and of itself has independence from all the other qualks. Thus, the several forms of memory
and cognition are fundamental for the coherence of our conscious experience in time.
1.3
QPUs
With consciousness reduced to its elementary qualks, the question is not what the neural
correlates of our usual massive consciousness are in general but what the neural correlate of each
qualk is. The question is framed both in terms of identifying a generic basal mechanism and in
terms of identifying differences in variations of them.
Where does the representational information of qualks come from? Where is the information of
the redness of red? Where is the information that makes red different from blue and even more
different from pain? Not the information that caused the activation of red, but of red itself.
Where is that information?
According to this hypothesis, the information inherent to a qualk is not contained in the input
signals nor in the output signals but in the temporary QPU itself. The exact same inputs and
outputs might have been involved in a temporarily different qualk or no qualk at all. As an
analogy, we can consider external inputs that an individual receives and consequent behavioral
outputs of the same individual and realize that, despite potentially correlated, the information of
consciousness is not contained in either of them, but in the temporary individual – then we
simply need to continue to reduce this framework down to the level of each individual QPU.
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Here there were also some important related insights previously defended by some authors:
Freud‟s “perceptual neurones” [15], Barlow‟s “cardinal cells” [16], although he applied the
notion in overall perception and denied the counter-intuitive possibility of elements of subjective
experience at the level of “isolated nerve cells” [17][18], and Crick‟s “awareness neurons” [19].
Also, in 1990, Crick and Koch declared the following: “Our basic hypothesis at the neural level
is that it is useful to think of consciousness as being correlated with a special type of activity of
perhaps a subset of neurons in the cortical system (…) At any moment consciousness
corresponds to a particular type of activity in a transient set of neurons that are a subset of a
much larger set of potential candidates” [20].
Each QPU works as a detector with certain embodied subjectively representational information.
The inputs only activate it and the information of the qualk is already in the QPU itself.
Obviously, each QPU only detects what it detects. No QPU is making detections for another
QPU - otherwise it would have to be that QPU. It similarly makes no sense to say that an
individual is or is not conscious of the consciousness of another individual.
A qualk is an emergent property of the activation of some biological QPU mechanism. The
phenomenological and empirical properties of qualks described before must be instantiated in
neural QPUs. Assuming painfulness as one elementary qualk, a QPU does not detect painfulness,
it simply detects, but in a “painful way”.
The present qualk hypothesis requires the ability to biochemically detect and to detect in a felt
and distinct way. There would also have to be millions of different units like that.
According to this hypothesis, the phenomenal properties of conscious detections do not emerge
at the level of electrons or at the level of the “whole unified brain” but at the reasonable level of
each single neural QPU as a sensible biological entity. Thus, qualks are meaningless at a lower
level of description but are meaningful at a higher level of description only in the sense that it
includes neural QPUs - as one could say that the universe is conscious since it has conscious
beings in it. The claim for scale-free fractal phenomenology is not supported by any evidence or
any logical necessity, and it is not asked from any other regular emergent properties, which by
definition of emergence emerge at some level of complexity.
A neurophysiologist might record similar activities in a QPU and in a non-QPU, but the
difference would be in the QPU itself. The same would be true between a QPU1 and a QPU2. The
information of the respective qualk is structural to the QPU itself. Thus, to identify a qualk, one
needs not only to know that a QPU is activated but also which QPU is activated.
According to this hypothesis, consciousness is ultimately limited because QPUs themselves are
limited. There are usually cognitive and structural reasons before that, but at a fundamental level
that is the limiting factor.
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It is absurd to talk about qualks being transmitted – only the usual neural signals at the level of
cognitive processing and communication are transmissible. Only active QPU contribute to the
overall collective consciousness. The philosophical explanatory gap is in the scientific difference
between being the QPUs and not being the QPUs.
Consciousness only exists to the conscious subject and as it seems to the conscious subject - it is
ontologically subjective [189].
1.4
Activation of QPUs
QPUs have thresholds of activation. Once that threshold is exceeded, there is the respective
conscious detection, no matter what happened before and how it happened. For the sake of
organization, we can generally distinguish between exogenous and endogenous activations –
signals initially from inside or initially from outside the brain, respectively (Figure 3).
It does not matter how a QPU is activated, as long as it is activated.
The correlates of consciousness through perception, perceptual illusions, recall, imagination,
dreams, and hallucinations overlap. Furthermore, they do it specifically and in anatomical terms
regarding the content subjectively experienced. This hypothesis explains why it is so natural to
have both endogenous and exogenous activations simultaneously, since at a fundamental level
the only thing that matters is that the QPUs end up activated. This hypothesis makes intuitive
sense of hallucinations, perceptual illusions, and dreams at the level of consciousness: they
simply involve activations of QPUs, and thus they are as real as it gets to the subject.
Hallucinations: The still intriguing phenomena of hallucinations involve activity in areas of the
brain associated with normal perceptual processes, and often with similar contents overlapping
[45]. With psychoactive substances, there are induced patterns of activation across the cortical
areas where the hallucinatory percepts are generated [41][42]. Some seizures that involve visual
areas in the occipital lobe are associated with elementary visual hallucinations [43]. Extrastriate
activations correlate with visual hallucinations [44].
Selective activity in the auditory cortex correlates with auditory hallucinations in patients with
schizophrenia [48]. Abnormal activity in the auditory cortex correlates with the buzzing, hissing,
or ringing auditory hallucinatory experience in subjects with tinnitus [46] – something that
Ludwig von Beethoven suffered from after losing his hearing and another good example of
unwilled and uncontrolled hallucinatory experiences, which only exist to the individual. This
condition is also associated with a significant reduction in the concentration of GABA in the
auditory cortex [47].
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Perceptual illusions: Color aftereffects correlate with activations in V4 [21]. Motion aftereffects
correlate with activations in V5 [22].
Synesthesia: Individuals with synesthesia, who see additional colors associated with graphenes,
are can probably attribute their symptoms to abnormal connectivity [49] and selective activations
in V4 [50]. Synesthetes who additionally see associated colors while listening to spoken words
also exhibit selective activation in V4, and interestingly no activation in V1. Normal controls,
even after training periods on word-color associations, showed no such V4 selective activations
while listening to spoken words [51].
Even blind synesthetes can still perceive colors while listening to spoken words and again show
selective activity in V4 [52][53]. In synesthetes, we have a condition in which the perception of
stimuli consistently and selectively leads to more QPU detection than usually elicited by those
stimuli in other people.
Dreams: Often content-specific areas activated during the processes happening in dreams
overlap with those activated during awake conscious states involving related contents and some
attempts to decode them have already been made with some success [23].
Artificial stimulations: It has long been known that a variety of conscious phenomena can be
elicited through even fairly naïve microstimulations of respective areas throughout the human
cortex [24]. Furthermore, TMS stimulations over the visual cortex can induce phosphenes [25]
[26][27] with shapes, colors, and textures, and even “visual echos” of visual contents
experienced immediately before [28].
Phantom sensations: Through neuroplasticity, absent afferents can end up being replaced by
neighbor afferents and the QPUs themselves being equally activated, leads to counterfeit
conscious detections. Phantom limb pain is a well-known example of this [29][30].
Imagination: The generation of mental images is associated with activity in areas similar to
those activated during direct perception [31][32][33][34]. In addition to visual perception,
hemineglect can also apply to visual imagination [37]. rTMS can impair both perception and
imagined mental imagery [38].
Even without being instructed to imagine and without active voluntary control, individuals
imagine sensory percepts. Mere silent gaps during familiar songs trigger subjective auditory
imagery of continuations that correlate with selective activity in the auditory cortex [39].
Similarly, in response to silent videos selective activity in the auditory cortex can even be used
to decode visual stimuli using multivariate pattern analysis of fMRI data [40].
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Consistent with our subjective experience of a greater potential for higher richness with full
online perception compared with imagination, recollection, etc., not only does imagination use
the same areas but also perception correlates with richer activation than the constructive
imagination or recollection of the same objects [35][36].
But again I ask, what are QPUs?
2. From Biochemistry Up
2.1
What is it like to be a neuron?
There is no doubt that single cell organisms sense things. Also, since neurons are the only objects
in the universe that we know generate actual consciousness, namely our own, it is an
indefensible mistake not to be curious about the potential of these biological entities when trying
to explain consciousness, especially given that since the birth of neuroscience, we are surprised
over and over again by what we discover about neurons and the unknowns that we cannot even
foresee.
It is fundamental for us to notice an obvious but often not present enough fact: neurons are not
simply input-output converters. Between what comes in and what goes out, there are biological,
living, autonomous, cells. No matter how densely packed the brain is, neurons are still individual
organismal entities. Neurons are a very special type of cell, where excitability is just the
beginning of that specialness. Even among themselves, they are incredibly diverse.
For short, it is often forgotten that between its synaptic inputs and its synaptic outputs, there is a
special living biological entity. Thus, we often only pay attention to the consequences of what
neurons do and not to what is happening to the neuron itself.
A neuron is already a biological detector. Then, only a capacity to produce a qualk is necessary.
According to this hypothesis, the subjectivity of consciousness as well as the explanatory gap is
at the cellular level.
2.2
The heterogeneity of neurons
More and more we are empirically and theoretically forced to rethink neurons and contemplate
the potential of their full nature. Neurons are highly differentiated and distinct individual living
units. This biological character is not only evident when comparing them with other cells but
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also when comparing neurons amongst themselves. Traditional “bulk” DNA and RNA
sequencing only provides an average of the contents of many neurons. According to this present
hypothesis, precisely the elements of interest can be masked in the averaging.
Recent methodological developments now allow efficient sequencing at the single-neuron level
[55][57][58][59][60][61][62][63][65][66][67]. The sequencing of individual neural
compartments is also now possible [56]. The mere differential localization of RNA throughout
the neuron is also a key factor to consider [64]. Already at the genome level, the differential and
combinatorial expression of hundreds of effector genes define neurons with distinct
characteristics. Even considering only what we currently know and can thus look for, a
remarkable neural heterogeneity at the level of electrophysiology, morphology, and molecular
biology (with mosaicisms in genomes, transcriptomes, and proteomes) is now more and more
evident. Furthermore, most of the biological significance of that heterogeneity is still unknown.
Only in terms of olfactory receptors, we can already generate more than 1000 different varieties.
Something similar in QPUs would not be abnormal. Alternative splicing, epigenetic regulation,
posttranslational modifications, mobile elements [190], gradients [191], interactions of
morphogens and other developmental events could be mechanisms that generate the
differentiation and diversity of QPUs.
Attending to the characteristics of qualks and our increasing knowledge about the characteristics
of neurons, the most obvious embodiments of QPUs should be single neurons.
2.3
QPU Mechanism
A QPU‟s felt detection is a process. Between primitive input signals and late resultant outputs
involved in consciousness, there must reside a phenomenon limited in space and in time where
an elementary conscious detection happens. Every single qualk we can experience must be
generated somewhere and at some point in time.
It must offer the exact characteristics described for qualks. For example, it must be very fast
turning on and off and meanwhile it must have some duration. It must also offer the substrate for
the structured distinctiveness of qualks (Figure 1).
The mechanism of QPUs must have a genetic basis, be it more or less direct, otherwise natural
selection could not have driven them into their present organization and diversity. The tree-like
structure of qualks might suggest a natural evolution of qualks (Figure 1).
Biology is full of examples of cells that have capacities that others do not have. Neurons
themselves have capacities that other neurons do not have.
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This hypothesis suggests that the hard problem of consciousness should be solved at the qualk
level and then at the full ensemble level of consciousness so that the problem of solving
consciousness would no longer exist.
2.4
Sensing
Single cell organisms can sense. Some proteins can also sense - from receptors to allosteric
enzymes, from voltage-gated channels to ATPases. It seems therefore parsimonious to place our
focus within this range.
Cook and Damasio [14][68] have proposed that a basis for “irritability” and “sentience” at the
neural level could be the fact that with the action potential, the finely regulated cellular system
opens itself to the environment, causing abrupt diffusions of ions and inverting the membrane
potential. However, the relevant part should be the effect of the action potential on the overall
cellular entity and has in ways yet to be determined.
The initial axonal segment is also known to have different structures and compositions,
depending on the neuron type [69], which are complex, robust, dynamic, very well regulated and
functional beyond its common role of action potential initiation [70].
Obviously, the physical mechanism of the red qualk will not look red. And there is no a priori
reason for a qualk to look exactly as it looks - the mechanism simply evolved into detecting in a
way that ended up looking exactly how it looks.
Precisely because our ignorance about phenomena even at the biological level is still so big,
claims about the quantum level seem precipitate and prone to self-confirmation biases, especially
when considering that this deeper quantum level is not itself ontologically resolved and that
compounding ignorance is antagonistic to the scientific method.
2.5
Where are QPUs?
This hypothesis explains why it has been so difficult to achieve the dream of pinpointing
consciousness to a specific place in the brain: there is no single place to pinpoint the whole of
collective consciousness into.
QPUs seem to be sparse – only a minority in each area – and dispersed – at many scattered
places. Nonetheless, we are always talking about millions of them. The potential number of total
QPUs, although very high in absolute terms, seems very reasonable considering the overall
number of neurons in the areas of the brain involved.
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The qualk hypothesis also effortlessly explains why the areas whose activities are most
correlated with consciousness can be so scattered throughout the brain and nonetheless be
naturally involved in the same collective consciousness.
There is a significant consensus that most areas of the brain do not directly generate
consciousness.
Areas that probably do not contain QPUs are: cerebellum, hippocampi, amygdalae, basal ganglia,
basal forebrain, V1 [73], prefrontal cortices [74][75][76][77] and everything from the spinal cord
down.
Although we could find QPUs within the prefrontal cortex, based on the evidence we have, that
does not seem neither probable nor necessary. The prefrontal cortex has a major role that is
highly developed in humans, but regarding several processing and associative functions, from
long-range coordination and task-specific control to working memory and attention – and not
necessarily directly conscious detections themselves.
Areas that probably do contain QPUs are (Figure 4): somatosensory cortices [78][79], insulae
[80][81][82][83][84][85][86][87], opercula, V4 [88], V5 [89][90][91], and some brainstem
nuclei [92][93][94].
It should be noticed that this knowledge comes not only from passive recording studies but also
from active studies with direct microstimulations that elicit corresponding conscious detections
[2].
Different areas have different QPUs that are responsible for the generation of the different
elements of consciousness.
Figure 4. Brain multi-view with potential QPU areas highlighted.
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2.6
368
The Pain Case Study
Distinct studies convergently point to the posterior operculoinsular complex (POIC) as the neural
correlate of the painfulness of pain. The POIC has significant reciprocal connections with the S1,
ACC, amygdala and prefrontal cortex – constituting the so-called “pain matrix”. Activations in
the POIC are proportional to the magnitude of painful stimulation [95][96]; the stimulation of the
POIC produces the experience of pain [97] and the ablation of the POIC extinguishes pain,
although ablation can also cause seizures [98].
2.7
Mistaking Consciousness
2.7.1 Fundamentally Necessary vs. Physiologically Necessary:
Physiologically necessary means that it is only necessary given normal and natural physiological
conditions and set up, with the potential to possibly to do it in some other way. A heart is
physiologically necessary but not fundamentally necessary. Another example is the fact that
anesthetics work by ultimately hindering the necessary conditions for conscious detections.
Obviously, this always affects more than just conscious detections themselves – at least it affects
the output signals that are then absent. The physiological necessary background conditions (see
Box 1) are very broad and can go from high-level prefrontal control down to glucose. Another
important notion is that it is not enough to achieve a moment of activation of some remote QPUs
or to be able to be stimulated by a neurosurgeon: to have normal consciousness one must be able
to sustain all the necessary infrastructure, by ourselves, and over time.
2.7.2 What Consciousness Does Not Necessarily Involve – Like It or Not:
Consciousness does not necessarily involve self-consciousness, responsiveness, behavior,
memory, cognition, intelligence, language, emotions, or the corpus callosum.
We now focus on another major thing also not necessarily involved in consciousness itself
according to this hypothesis.
2.7.3 Consciousness is Not Unified:
The present hypothesis reinforces the well-established notion that there is no single central entity
in the brain, be it a single element or a “unified whole”, where everything converges and where a
single central phenomenon is finally generated [99]. Here, it is applied to the last surviving
phenomenon still loose enough to be seen in those terms: consciousness itself.
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2.7.4 Homuncular Networks:
It is common to see complex conscious phenomena being described as having equally complex
neural correlates of consciousness (NCCs), assuming that everything, as well as all the network
interactions in between, is in itself generating conscious detections, and is thus a NCC, or that we
have an irreducible obscure global entity and thus we can only ascribe a homuncular network
character to the experience, in the spirit of the departed reticular theory.
Regarding this, Cajal commented, 106 years ago:
“This is an idea which, appearing to us with the prestige of unity and of simplicity, has
exerted and still exerts, a powerful attraction for even the most serene of spirits. True, it
would be very convenient and very economical from the point of view of analytical
effort if all the nerve centres were made up of a continuous intermediary network
between the motor nerves and the sensitive and sensory nerves. Unfortunately, nature
seems unaware of our intellectual need for convenience and unity, and very often takes
delight in complication and diversity.” [100]
In the history of neuroscience, no empirical support had been given to this format of hypotheses
– much the opposite.
By the very definition of something complex, it usually involves many interactions between
many parts. Even a focused and brief pain is a complex phenomenon that can involve many
simultaneous components, from somatosensory perception and affective feelings to local
associative processing, cognitive control and behavioral responses – with all of these evolving in
time. It is acceptable, given the ignorance we still have regarding some phenomena we are
studying, that we cannot further describe it, but it is not acceptable to infer mistaken conclusions
based on the mere absence of knowledge.
2.7.5 Integration:
Integration of information is a very natural and general property of nervous systems. It is
something far from obscure, common in artificial computational devices and common
throughout our entire biological nervous system. Integration of information occurs from each
neuron integrating post-synaptic information within itself to whole networks unconsciously
integrating information from different sensory afferents. However, integration happens at the
processing level, regardless of conscious detections themselves and without any necessary direct
relation with them.
To claim that having fewer conscious detections is exclusively and sufficiently explained by less
integration, one would have to prove that there is nothing else different as well, that a smaller
integration itself does not cause something else that indeed is responsible for the absence of
conscious detections and/or that the smaller integration itself is not caused by something else that
indeed is responsible for the absence of conscious detections. These conjectural but very
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reasonable indirect causal relations would indeed by definition generally make the variables
correlate, but one should not conflate them – otherwise one would simply have committed a
mistake worse than what would arise from taking consciousness as wakefulness or taking
consciousness as responsiveness, since those are at least clinically understandable.
2.7.6 Connectivity:
Despite having a massive amount of connections between the two hemispheres disabled, there is
not any sudden phenomenal scattering experienced by split-brain patients [101]. According to
this hypothesis, only the opposite would be surprising, since conscious detections were never
“phenomenally unified” in the first place. Obviously, there is a disintegration at the level of
information exchanging, with each hemisphere not able to normally inform and control the other,
which has strong implications in cognition and other further consequences, but it should not be
mistaken for any abstract role in consciousness itself. For the sake of intuition, one could
imagine artificially mimicking the lost inputs in each hemisphere and informational loss would
be solved.
Additionally, Sperry himself concluded that: "It tells us further that the mediating cerebral
mechanisms [of conscious experience] are in principle restricted and localizable and may in time
be identified." [101]
Regarding the position claiming that the hemisphere without access to language modules is
suddenly not capable of consciousness, that is simply committing the same naive mistake as
claiming that a mute and paralyzed locked-in patient is not capable of consciousness – something
that can have dramatic consequences.
Nonetheless, it is obvious that neural communication is a necessary condition for conscious
detections. As an extreme, one could imagine every single neuron losing its inputs and by
definition no conscious detection would be possible.
Regarding the fact that fronto-parietal, thalamo-cortical and cortico-cortical connectivity is
decreased in several states when consciousness seems to be disabled, and the fact that naive TMS
stimulations elicit activations that spread less prominently when consciousness seems to be
disabled, we should keep in mind another fact: neurons have inputs and neurons have outputs.
The presence of conscious detections also means the presence of causes and of consequences of
the underlying signals involved if they are to have all their subsequent cognitive effects besides
the phenomenal detections themselves.
If it appears that there are no conditions for effective connectivity, perhaps that is exactly why it
is not possible to have conscious detections and reportability. By definition, if QPUs cannot be
activated, it means that the processing and signalling neural networks where they are embedded
are somehow not able to cause necessary activations in a normal physiological way. Moreover, if
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QPUs cannot be activated for some reason, all of their efferent connections and all of the others
that depend on them are absent or incapacitated as well. It would be surprising to not have
necessary afferent causes and no capacity for activations but nonetheless activations or no
activations with the respective efferent signals nonetheless propagating.
Specifically regarding the connectivity between more sensory areas and the frontal lobe, we
should focus on the reverse direction in this topic of consciousness since it is well known that
frontal support and control is generally physiologically necessary but obviously not sufficient.
Specifically regarding TMS stimulations, it should be noticed that an unconscious brain-dead
individual would have even less propagation than an unconscious individual in deep sleep or in a
coma, and yet we would not conclude that the former individual is even less conscious than the
unconscious latter.
2.7.7 The Persuasive Central Observer:
The assumption of a unification of conscious detections comes from the implicit pre-assumption
of a single unified observer. That pre-assumption itself comes from a mistaken traditional model
of ourselves that at the practical and macro level is usually a good enough conceptual
approximation: that we are a single central point of view, as the singular word “I” itself implies.
The main assumption of phenomenal unification does not truly come from our phenomenal
experience – that only tells me that I experience everything and that each element of everything
has its identity and contributes to a collective symphony of elements. This hypothesis simply
recognizes the I as a collective and everything as collective. The unification and indivisibility of
consciousness is not a phenomenal axiom but simply an unfounded conceptual assumption.
The burden is in showing the opposite, that somehow the I of consciousness is only a single,
unified and indivisible entity, contrary to all that is known about the brain and to the fundamental
discreteness of neural action.
There are several kinds of unity and integration, but in common cognition. Even there the
existence of some kind of maximally unified or maximally broad single unified entity is not
necessary – it simply is what it is and is useful for what it is. There is also unification and
integration at the level of knowledge – indeed, most knowledge consists precisely of that.
2.7.8 Opposition to Previous Misconceptions:
It should by now be clear that this present hypothesis is in forthright opposition to previous
hypotheses about consciousness itself, involving terms such as “indivisible”, “unitary”, “single”,
“bound”, “uniform”, “encompassing state”, “maximally integrated”, “irreducible”, “field”,
“conceptual”, “higher-order”, “global”, “whole-brain”, “widely available information”,
“broadcasted information”, “global ignition”, and so on. Some of those properties do indeed exist
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to a certain extent and some are even in processes related to consciousness, but they are not
abstract features of consciousness itself.
QPUs‟ detections are the subjective qualks and that is it - there is no “and then they are unified
into a single object to be presented to a single homuncular subject”. That virtual additional step
does not even ever appear as some potential solution for something necessary, as if conscious
detections would not otherwise be possible or would not lead to exactly what we experience. We
could even imagine what it would be to be conscious without that seemingly necessary additional
step of phenomenal unification. Would we experience “gaps” between elements, and thus the
gap elements themselves? Would we now experience our previous visual elements all shuffled,
and thus meaning that there are simply different QPUs being activated? Would we only
experience one element without being able to experience all the other “unbound” elements, and
thus meaning that we simply have one QPU active and no other active? Would we not recognize
single objects as single objects anymore, and thus indicating that there is some problem with our
cognition and/or knowledge about the world?
In fact, according to this qualk hypothesis, one of the major advantages of consciousness is
precisely the fact that it needs no physical integration and no global unit.
Additionally, we should notice the difference between unity and simple coherence. The apparent
coherence of consciousness always exists to a certain extent since it is embedded in underlying
structured cognitive systems, where coherence truly is.
It is curious to see how cognition, which is associative, interactive and emergent by nature, is
nonetheless very commonly decomposed in elements, be them systems or bits, without any
resistance of intuition, while consciousness, which is non-associative and compositional by
nature, is nonetheless hardly, if ever, decomposed into their conscious detections, even despite
continuous and diverse empirical and logical results pointing to that clairvoyant nature.
Potential partial explanations could be the following: there was no equivalent computer
revolution to expose the tricks of consciousness; consciousness is too fundamental (as
fundamental as it gets) for us to easily have the necessary cognitive unbiased distance to reflect
upon it or to even have the desire to try it. We assume that we already have the correct model
and the possibility of questioning it does not even come to mind, of questioning the traditional
assumption of the indivisible subject with indivisible consciousness – even moreso given that it
is a useful conceptual shortcut that works for all practical common terms.
This is not a question of rejecting phenomenal integration, but of not even having the need to ask
for it in the first place. Several authors have previously at least argued for the existence of
“several centers” for consciousness [102][103]. By the very definition of this hypothesis, it
becomes obvious why with so much pressure from intuition there has been so much difficulty in
trying to find a single, convergent and unified neural correlate of consciousness: it does not exist.
(Continued on Part II)
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Research Essay
A Model for Human, Artificial & Collective Consciousness (Part I)
*
Andy E. Williams
Abstract
Borrowing the functional modeling approach common in systems and software engineering, an
implementable model of the functions of human consciousness proposed to have the capacity for
general problem solving ability transferable to any domain, or true self-aware intelligence, is
presented. Being a functional model that is independent of implementation, this model is
proposed to also be applicable to artificial consciousness, and to platforms that organize
individuals into what is defined here as a first order collective consciousness, or at higher orders
into what is defined here as Nth order collective consciousness.
Part I of this two-part article includes: Summary; Introduction; Set of Postulates One; Set of
Postulates Two; Overview of the Model; Model of Homeostasis; Model of the Functional Units;
Model of the Body System; Model of the Other Basic Life Processes; Model of the Other
Functional Systems; Model of Perceptions in the Perceptual Fields; Model of Body Processes as
Paths in the Perceptual Field; & Model of Conscious Awareness.
Keywords: Functional modeling, human, artificial consciousness, collective consciousness.
Summary
In this model, human beings are functionally comprised of four systems, the body, the emotions,
the mind, and the consciousness system. Each of these four functional systems is modeled as a
hierarchy of functional units which implement a hierarchy of “basic life processes” as well as a
set of conscious and unconscious processes executed within those basic life processes. Through
this hierarchy of processes the organism gains the capacity to maintain its internal state in a
stable range across a wider and wider range of environmental states. All these functional
components are modeled as being governed by a single set of equations that display global
stability in their dynamics despite potentially chaotic interactions with the environment. Where
the models of certain functional components has not been explicitly defined here, working
implementations have been identified from other fields of study. This overall model of
consciousness is characterized by evolutionary reuse.
The basic life processes, are represented as a hierarchy beginning with homeostasis as the most
basic property of life. Each basic life process is represented as having evolved as a slightly
modified replica of the lower process in the evolutionary hierarchy. This hierarchy of life
processes is represented as occurring in individual nodes (cells for the individual), or reoccurring at the level of groups of nodes such as the functional units, or at the level of the
organism itself. One of these basic life processes is the “action” of choice, which is represented
as the most basic form of consciousness that can occur in individual nodes as simple as cells.
*
Correspondence: Andy E. Williams, Nobeah Foundation, Kenya. E-mail: awilliams@nobeahfoundation.org
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This simple consciousness is replicated at the level of functional systems which each display
higher but different levels of conscious awareness. Following the pattern of evolutionary reuse,
the functional systems also form a hierarchy that begins with the body which in this model
displays sensory awareness, and that ends with the consciousness system as the highest
functional system, which displays conscious self-awareness.
In the body, sensory signals are processed through the hierarchy of functional units to become
sensory perceptions and eventually awareness of sensory perceptions (sensory awareness). This
basic model for achieving meta-stable sensory awareness in the body is replicated in the
emotional system of this model to produce emotional awareness, in the mind system to produce
cognitive awareness, and in the consciousness system to produce conscious self-awareness of
perceptions in each other functional system. Thus conscious self-awareness is represented in this
model as having evolved from a single globally stable process of homeostasis beginning in one
cell, and replicated by evolution at progressively higher order groupings of cells into functional
components, and in groupings of those functional units into entire functional systems such as the
mind. These globally stable dynamics at all levels are modeled by the single set of equations
which govern the homeostasis.
Introduction
A human being consists of some 100 billion cells. All human functions, including the ability to
move, the ability to feel emotions, intelligence, and consciousness self-awareness, are modeled
here as a composition of N collaborative processes involving M cells. Furthermore a human
being is assumed to be a composition of differentiated copies of a single initial cell, where each
cell can execute at most some subset of the same bounded set of all functions every cell is
confined to. Because of this we would expect that the potentially unbounded number of
processes through which the human body, emotions, mind, and consciousness system achieve a
potentially unbounded set of functions, might be decomposed into a manageable set of functions
that act as basic building blocks. This functional modeling approach borrowed from systems and
software engineering doesn't require any knowledge of how the human organism implements any
of these functions. That is, in technology terms it requires no knowledge of how the human
software has been coded or how the human hardware has been built to implement the functions.
And because it is implementation independent, such a model of human consciousness might be
replicable to a system of artificial cognition such as an AI, or to a platform that organizes
individual human beings into a first or even an Nth order collective intelligence.
Set of Postulates One: Regarding Use of Lorenz Equations to Model Homeostasis
This paper postulates that if the internal state of an organism is a function of Z variables,
homeostasis is a globally stable state in some subset N of the dimensions of the living organism
as a Z dimensional system. This globally stable state is locally unstable in each of the N
dimensions. Assume that {S} is the set of all functions of N dimensions that govern globally
stable, locally unstable dynamics. If homeostasis exists in all living organisms then for each
instance of homeostasis in an N dimensional subset of the internal state space of the organism,
there must be a set of functions {F} that exists within {S} which governs the global stability of
the state of the organism in that subspace.
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Furthermore, consider the dynamics of the internal state of a functional model of a living
organism. This paper postulates that under certain conditions the dynamics of the functional
model will demonstrate homeostasis if based on any set of functions {F} that produce globally
stable, locally unstable (fractal) dynamics in N variables. If the set of actions the organism is
capable of executing is represented by the set of functions {A}, where each function in A may be
a function of the Z variables, the conditions under which {F} may govern a homeostasis are that
the subspace Z is sufficiently greater than the subspace N so that there exists some sequence of
actions {A(Z)} that approaches {F(N)}. In other words, if the range of actions are great enough
the actions of the organism in the functional model can drive global stability by matching the
forces required by {F}. Therefore, given that the system is capable of executing such a set of
actions, any set of functions that produce globally stable, locally unstable dynamics in
sufficiently few dimensions may be the basis of a homeostasis. Since they produce such globally
stable, locally unstable dynamics, this includes the Lorenz equations governing convection.
This paper also postulates that if the dynamics of a system (such as a cell) are governed by a set
of equations {F} that displays global stability despite local instability, and if that system is
coupled to other systems (such as cells in a multi-cellular organism) each governed by {F}, then
the global stability in a collection of such systems is also governed by {F} or some other set of
equations demonstrating global stability, as will a globally stable collection of such collections of
systems. Components of a functional model (functional components) are by definition stable
units of functionality. Therefore the dynamics governed by {F} or some other set of equations
demonstrating global stability are expected at all levels of functional components.
Set of Postulates Two: Regarding Use of Homeostasis to Model All Basic Life Processes
Each of the basic life processes and other functional components described in this paper may be
represented as a process of global stability or homeostasis in some property or function of the
living system. For example, homeostasis is proposed to be a global stability in the physical
materials constituting the organism, reproduction is proposed to be a global stability in the ability
of the organism to copy itself. And where reproduction is proposed to be a global stability in the
ability of the organism to copy itself, evolution is proposed to be a global stability in the ability
of the organism to change the copies, and so forth up the hierarchy of basic life processes. By
this reasoning, each of the basic life processes and functional components may be represented by
the same equations governing global stability within that underlying homeostasis.
Overview of the Model
This model consists of two groups of components. One is a hierarchy of functional components
with dynamics governed by the same single equation. This hierarchy consists of homeostasis and
other basic life processes that work together within functional units, functional units that work
together within functional systems, and functional systems that work together in the individual
human. The other is a set of functional components whose dynamics are not governed by those
equations. These are the library of processes in each functional system, and the perceptual fields
those processes navigate.
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This model starts both from the bottom upwards and from the top down. From the top down,
starting with what is easiest to observe, the model begins with the highest level at which the
potentially unlimited human functionality can be decomposed into a closed set of systems having
a bounded set of functions. After the broad yogic tradition, these functional systems have been
defined as the body, the emotions, the mind, and the consciousness system [31]. The yogic
tradition was leveraged because it is experiential. That is, the definitions of the functional
components have been proved over thousands of years in the awareness countless practitioners
have developed of their own experience. This proof is being successful in achieving the
practitioner’s intended goal of facilitating stable, and perhaps even rare, states of well-being.
The next step after decomposing the functionality into these four systems is to decompose these
functional systems into a set of functional units that in turn collaborate to provide the
functionality of those systems. The next step after all functional units have been defined is to
decompose those functional units into N collaborative processes involving M nodes, where in the
case of individual human consciousness these nodes are cells, and in the case of a collective
consciousness these nodes are individual human beings.
Through each function of each system the organism interacts with the world. The next step is to
build a model of each interaction with each subset of the environment so that as the environment
is traversed the models build up over time into a coherent model of the world. That is, to build up
a library of sensations in the body, to build up a library of feelings in the emotions, to build up a
library of perceptions in the mind, and to build up a library of awareness in the consciousness
system. And the final step is to build up a library of processes, each with its own function, which
each functional system can use to navigate this model of the world. That is, to build up a library
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of movements in the body, to build up a library of motivations in the emotions, to build up a
library of reasoning in the mind, and to build up a library of processes of awareness in the
consciousness system.
From the bottom upwards this model defines a hierarchy of life processes that individual nodes
(cells in the case of human consciousness) must implement or cooperate to implement. Each
process in the library of conscious and unconscious processes is assigned a “fitness” in achieving
each function. These life processes (homeostasis, autopoiesis, etc.) use the fitness of each
process in achieving each function to select which function to execute. The basic life processes
form a hierarchy of increasing complexity in terms of their increasing ability to navigate nonuniformity in the external environment.
The proposed model defines the functional systems, and the life processes, as well as the
equations which govern them, and in addition defines the functional units and provides
references to applications in other fields that have implemented those functional units. This
model follows from the two sets of postulates above that are presented without proof. The first
states that any set of functions that displays globally stable and locally unstable (fractal)
dynamics in sufficiently few dimensions can be the basis of a working functional model of
consciousness. The second states that intelligent self-aware consciousness consists of a hierarchy
of functional components, each of which is governed by this same set of functions. If true, these
postulates validate the use of the Lorenz equations as the basis for the global stability in this
model. But because the model allows the current set of equations to be replaced by any other set
that demonstrate greater "fitness" in achieving global stability, where that set may potentially use
different variables, there may be another set of equations that are valid even if the postulates are
false, and even if the Lorenz equations don't prove to be globally stable in the variables chosen.
Therefore these postulates don't need to be universally true in order for the model to be valid.
Since these postulates are sufficient, but not necessary to validate the model, these proofs are left
for others.
Model of Homeostasis
A model of homeostasis is provided here but it’s important to emphasize that the details of this
model are less important than the approach. In this functional modeling approach every
component in a process, in this case the process of achieving global stability, is defined only by
its function. In the “functional decomposition” aspect of this approach those components of
functionality are broken down into a hierarchy that starts with the highest level functionality and
that ends with their most basic building blocks. And in the “functional fitness” aspect of this
approach every one of these functional components is assigned some actual and projected fitness
in achieving that function. So if any functional component is broken in the sense that it doesn’t
achieve its targeted outcome, or it doesn’t achieve the optimal level of that outcome, it can be
replaced with one that works to achieve the targeted outcome, or one that works better. And
because this replacement can be made at any level of functional component or sub-component,
an error in one part of the model need not invalidate the model itself. For this reason whether
there might be any errors or omissions in this model for homeostasis is less important than the
fact that this approach uses the combination of functional modeling, functional decomposition,
and functional fitness to target the outcome of global stability, and to steadily improve the
solution so that it converges on that outcome.
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Creating a simple logical model of each activity in the homeostasis process, input to each activity
and execution of each activity has a cost in terms of the internal stability of the organism
(homeostasis). And each activity produces outputs. The outcomes are some function of those
outputs. The outcomes have a cost and value in terms of that homeostasis. Payment into that cost
can rise to the point that there are insufficient resources and subsequent activities are no longer
possible. At that point the internal state dissipates and the organism "dies". Or payment into the
cost of the current activity can be decreased to the point that no available activity can occur to
restore the internal state as it dissipates. At that point the program also dies. Within the stable
region the organism continues to live.
The process of homeostasis is modeled as projecting the value minus cost of each activity being
executed (its “fitness” in achieving its targeted outcome) and continually measuring actual
outcomes to update those projections, then either investing resources into the current activity
until complete, or discontinuing the current activity to invest resources into the next activity. The
targeted outcome in the case of homeostasis is maintaining the cumulative value of outcomes
minus cost within a stable range. The projected value minus cost of the current activity is one
axis of the dynamics of the homeostasis process in this model. The actual value of the resources
invested into the current process is the second axis of these dynamics. And the value of the
resources available to be invested into the next process is the third axis of these dynamics.
The homeostasis process keeps resources invested in a stable range between the boundaries of
being insufficient for any current activity to occur, and being too great for any subsequent
activities to occur. The sequence of activities selected to be executed by the homeostasis process
functions to maximize stability in terms of keeping the internal state as close as possible to the
center of a stable range, and not allowing that stable range to be exited. By executing activities in
a sequence that keeps the internal state within a stable range, the homeostasis process navigates
the internal state space as well as the state space of the environment.
If the first set of postulates described in this paper are true (homeostasis is created by set of
functions that produce globally stable, locally unstable dynamics), the functional model of this
homeostasis process will demonstrate global stability if its dynamics in these three dimensions
are governed by the globally stable and locally unstable Lorenz equations. And the dynamics
will be governed by the Lorenz equations if the activities executed create forces that drive the
system in a way that matches the forces in the Lorenz equations.
The homeostasis process has a set of activities {A} that it can execute. Each of these activities A i
has inputs constrained to some subspace I i and outputs constrained to some subspace Ui.
Outcome “h” is a function of the output Ui so that every activity achieves an outcome “h” with a
fitness Pih. Assume that the homeostasis in the internal state of the organism exists in a set of
properties {X} which for each Xi must stay between the values XiMIN and XiMAX for the organism
to remain alive, and which for each Xi is optimized at XiOPTIMAL. Model the value of executing a
given activity as the decrease in radial distance from the projected position X PROJECTED to
XOPTIMAL. Model the cost of executing a given activity as the increase in radial distance between
the position XTHRESHHOLD required to initiate the activity and the current position X CURRENT . And
model the investment into an activity as the increase in radial distance from the initial position
XINITIAL to the current position XCURRENT.
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A conceptual model for selecting activities is proposed below. The activities in this process
along the projected value minus cost axis are:
Project Value of Current Function to the Homeostasis Process
Calculate the value minus cost of the projected outcome of the current activity with regards to
homeostasis, project the current distance to the boundary of homeostasis, and the velocity
towards that boundary. After acting, measure the actual outcome and update the projections.
If the velocity towards optimal outcomes is negative then select and implement the activity with
force along this axis having positive projected magnitude Fx(Direction of Value Minus Cost,
Distance to Boundary, Velocity).
If the velocity towards optimal outcomes is positive then select and implement the countermeasure activity with force along this axis having negative projected magnitude F x(Direction of
Value Minus Cost, Distance to Boundary, Velocity).
The activities in this process along the current resources axis are:
Measure Investment in Current Function of Homeostasis Process
Measure the value of resources invested in the current activity with regards to homeostasis,
project the current distance to the boundary of homeostasis, and the velocity towards that
boundary.
If the velocity towards optimal investment is negative then decrease investment in the activity
with force along this axis having positive magnitude Fy(Direction of Value Minus Cost,
Distance to Boundary, Velocity).
If the velocity towards optimal investment is positive then increase investment in the activity
with force along this axis having positive magnitude Fy(Direction of Value Minus Cost,
Distance to Boundary, Velocity).
The activities in this process along the remaining resources axis are:
Measure Resources Remaining to Invest in Next Function of Homeostasis Process
Measure the value of remaining resources with regards to homeostasis, project the current
distance to the boundary of homeostasis, and the velocity towards that boundary.
If the velocity towards optimal resources remaining is negative then increase resources
remaining for the next activity with force along this axis having positive projected magnitude
Fz(Direction of Value Minus Cost, Distance to Boundary, Velocity).
If the velocity towards optimal resources remaining is positive then decrease resources
remaining for the next activity with force along this axis having negative projected magnitude
Fz(Direction of Value Minus Cost, Distance to Boundary, Velocity).
The path must be globally stable, and at the same time will be locally unstable since the
disturbance created by the environment may be arbitrary, resulting in the curve not following any
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closed path. Choosing the forces Fx to be the upwards and downwards forces in the Lorenz
model of atmospheric convection, and the forces Fy, and Fz to be the horizontal forces in that
model, the dynamics of these variables will form a kind of convection.
To set the forces F to match the Lorenz model of atmospheric convection, choose the values of
Fx, Fx, and Fx to match the second derivatives with time of the equations for the x, y, and z
coordinates in the Lorenz equations. Select and implement the activity with the greatest projected
fitness in executing the force (Fx, Fy, Fz). To do so select the activity with the highest projected
fitness in matching Fx, increase investment into it to match Fy, and switch investment to the next
activity according to actual measured results to match Fz.
This basic model is replicated in all other life processes in this larger model, as described in
detail elsewhere [13]. For example, the process for reproduction measures the value-cost of each
activity involved in reproduction and either invests resources into the current process and
completes it, or discontinues it to invest resources into the next. And in that way navigates the
reproductive process.
This model for homeostasis remains a thought experiment. A complete set of models for
activities, models for the properties determining the internal state of the organism, and other
functional components, have not yet been constructed and simulated to demonstrate that the
Lorenz equations can produce globally stable dynamics along the axes described above. But
while such an implementation would be valuable in confirming that the above model is complete
and self-consistent, the lack of such validation doesn’t negate the core value of this approach.
Because the core elements of the approach are functional modeling, functional decomposition,
and functional fitness to model the key function of global stability, as well as replication of a
common pattern of solution for global stability from the lowest level of functional component to
the highest. Any part of this model may be sub-optimal or incorrect and the core approach itself
will still be valid. The projected value and/or the projected cost functions chosen in this example
may not be optimal in displaying stability. The Lorenz equations may not optimal in providing
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global stability. The variables described may not actually have the capacity to be confined by
that convection. Parts of this conceptual process required to actually achieve global stability may
prove to be missing when an attempt is made to actually implement it. But the truth of the global
stability itself can be observed within our awareness that human beings and all our hierarchy of
functional components don’t spontaneously form or dissolve. And the truth that this pattern of
stability must be repeated at higher levels of functional components can be observed in the fact
that this must be the case for a continuous evolutionary path from a lower level to a higher level
component to exist, and the fact that a discontinuous evolutionary path is not within our
awareness of this existence.
In this functional modeling approach all functionality is represented by some functional
component. And in this “functional decomposition” approach every element of functionality can
be decomposed into a separate functional component. And in this “functional fitness” approach
every one of these functional components is assigned some actual and projected fitness in
achieving that function. So if any functional component is broken or not optimal, it can be
replaced with one that works to achieve the targeted outcome, or one that works better. For this
reason none of these possible errors invalidates the combination of functional modeling,
functional decomposition, and functional fitness used in this approach, and its capacity to
converge on a working solution.
Since the other life processes provide a hierarchy of mechanisms to evolve and otherwise adapt
any function, then any function can potentially be replaced by one that has a better fitness in
producing the targeted outcome, even where it uses different input variables to do so. The initial
choice to base all the life processes on the Lorenz model of convection, and whether the
particular variables chosen can exhibit that convection, are therefore less important than whether
there is any set of variables for which this globally stable dynamics can occur, and that the model
for the life processes can adapt through being replaced by one that is more fit.
Model of the Functional Units
Each functional unit has a set of functions it achieves, and it has some mechanism enabling it to
have a stable set of functionality. To achieve stability in the set of functionality this paper
proposes that each functional unit FU maps some N dimensional input space I to some N
dimensional output space U by executing a set of activities in sequence, where these activities
are represented by the set of functions {A}, and where each Ai is a function of the Z variables in
the larger system. Representing each outcome Oh as some function of the output Uh, each Ai can
be assign a projected fitness Phi in achieving the outcome Oh. Constrain FU to obey globally
stable dynamics governed by a set of functions {F}. Representing the set of variables
determining the state of the organism that are outside of the N variables of {F} as forming a
space that we will call the “context of execution” C, then if the projected fitness P hi is dependent
on variables in the context C, then since they display global stability and local instability in N
dimensions the Lorenz equations for atmospheric convection may be used for {F} under the
following conditions. These conditions are N is equal to three and that P hi can be made to vary so
that the dynamics of the system are driven in a way that approach the forces driving the Lorenz
equations in each of the three dimensions governing those equations. Assume the first dimension
is the value minus cost of the action Ai, the second dimension is the value of resources that have
been invested in the current action Aj, and the third dimension is the value of resources
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remaining to be invested in the next action Ak. The first set of postulate in this paper essentially
state that if the volume of C is sufficiently great, and if each action varies smoothly with input I,
then the sequence of actions may be selected so that P hi varies in a way that approaches the
forces driving the Lorenz equations. In this case execution of the set of actions {A} is
dynamically stable, where that stability is governed by the Lorenz equations. As a consequence,
where an existing implementation of the transformations of a functional unit may be modeled by
a set of functions {A}, those transformations might under certain conditions be combined into a
functional unit governed by the Lorenz equations, where that functional unit displays global
stability.
Model of the Body System
In this model the sequence of actions that the bodily system takes is driven by its need to keep
well-being within a bounded region. Well-being is measured here as capacity to execute the
body's capabilities on a scale from 0 (dead with no capacity) to 1 (alive with complete capacity).
The dynamics of this well-being in this model are governed by a similar global stability as
described with the homeostasis process, in this case global stability between well-being of the
body, the resources invested in the current bodily process, and the resources available to invest in
the next one. This well-being is measured in the capacity of the system to execute the processes
within its capabilities.
Figure 1: Single Valued Metric for State in Conscious
Processes
Conscious homeostasis requires a common way of
measuring well-being in each functional system
(body, mind, emotions, consciousness) so the
individual can find their way to a stable state of wellbeing. This mechanism is our perception of
pleasantness or unpleasantness.
If well-being represents the capacity to execute all of the bodies capabilities, and if the body's
capabilities are represented as paths between points in the sensory field, then a well-being value
of one represents full capability to navigate all its library of paths between points in the body's
sensory field.
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Repeating the pattern of global stability defined for homeostasis, investment of resources into the
current action, and conservation of resources for the next action, in this model is driven by forces
that produce global stability. In the case of the body these forces are proposed in this model to be
pain and pleasure. This force is negative in the case of pain which drives the body away from a
state of lacking well-being, and positive in the case of pleasure which drives the body towards a
state of increased well-being. Just as homeostasis selects actions to keep the functional
component in a stable range of states, the body’s sensory awareness is governed by a global
stability that selects and executes a sequence of functions targeting outputs that are known in the
perceptual field, and involving entire dynamically stable functional components. Or in other
words the body’s sensory awareness is governed by a global stability that “chooses” actions.
This choice is conscious at the level of sensory awareness.
The dynamics of this global stability drives the organism's motion through the sensory field,
through the external environment represented within that sensory field, and also through the
well-being space defined by the metric of well-being.
In this model all the senses are represented as evolutionary branches of the sense of touch.
Within the body functional system of this model a separate but identical processing path of
functional units exists for each set of sense signals (tactile, auditory, gustatory, olfactory, and
visual). This results in a separate set of sensory perceptions for touch, for sound, for taste, for
smell, and for sight. These perceptions form a “perceptual field” for each sense. As described
later in this paper, this field differs from the raw input signals in that the perceptions label the
external environment and the body itself in a way that enables the body and the external
environment to be reliably and repeatably navigated despite signal noise, where this navigation is
even possible by life processes like evolution which span generations.
The body system, and each other functional system as an evolutionary branch of the body, is
modeled as navigating its environment through both conscious and unconscious physical
processes. Conscious processes are modeled as a library of functions that operate on input from a
perceptual field to produce output to the perceptual field, as well as producing an outcome in
terms of changes to the internal state of the organism, and potentially to the state of the external
environment. These state changes impact the body functional system through a change in its
well-being, which is defined as a function representing the body’s capacity to execute all its
capabilities (that is, to execute all its processes).
This change in well-being drives the choice of the next conscious process to be executed. Wellbeing in each functional system has a current state, and a rate of change in that current state.
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Each outcome has a projected impact on this well-being and it's rate of change. Each functional
system has a library of conscious processes. Each process in the library executes a function.
Figure 2: Each process navigates a path through the perceptual field.
Each function has a projected fitness in achieving an outcome.
Where a given outcome is targeted, this projected fitness enables selection by the functional
system of the process that best functions to accomplish that outcome. Selection at the level of the
“homeostasis” basic life process is proposed to be distinguished from conscious choice at the
level of the “action” basic life process in that homeostasis is a highly variable response to highly
variable signals whereas action (choice) is a repeatable response to more invariant perceptions.
In other words, in order to choose the organism must be aware of the outcomes. In order for it to
be possible to be aware of the outcomes it must perceive them. In order to perceive outcomes
those perceptions must be stable patterns that can be detected in the signals from sensory
receptors.
The function representing the library process being executed by the functional system requires
inputs and produces outputs, including the outcome, which is some function of that output. Aside
from its inputs, the function representing each process is influenced by additional variables
which might change its fitness in achieving an outcome. These additional variables form the
"context" of execution. Fitness is then also dependent on context. The awareness process within
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the functional system dynamically "chooses" to execute whichever process it retrieves from the
library that is projected to maximize well-being. Unlike the transitory signals which cells may be
aware of at the individual level, the inputs to and outputs from this awareness process are
persistent patterns of signals that here are called perceptions.
In this model the choice of which processes are retrieved to be executed next depends in part on
an internal mapping between the sensory perceptual field, the emotional field, the mental field,
and the consciousness field. This internal mapping is stored in a repository that is metaphorically
called the "soul", as justified in the conclusions to this paper. This additional system is not
described here.
Figure 3: A repository tracks the varying levels of fitness of processes in
mapping between the initial and target states in both well-being and
perceptions. The process of “choice” retrieves candidate processes from the
repository and chooses the process with the maximum projected fitness in
impacting well-being.
Executing this dynamically chosen sequence of processes causes the organism to navigate a
dynamically stable path through perceptual space as well as through the state space of the
environment.
Since a problem is the lack of a path from one perception to another, and since each perception
represents an internal state, this globally stable navigation solves problems presented by the
environment through its capacity to navigate from an initial internal state to a more stable final
internal state.
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Figure 4: The sequences of processes navigate a conscious path through
the perceptual field.
Taking the sense of touch as an example, after input signals from the sensory receptors have
been processed through the hierarchy of functional units to become perceptions in the body’s
sensory awareness, the body’s sensory awareness system may send the perceptions as input to
conscious or unconscious physical processes that the body’s sensory awareness system executes
within the body. Each of these processes accomplishes a function that impacts the body’s wellbeing in a way that drives choice of the next process.
These processes include motion. From the point of view of this model, the body’s movement
processes function to process input consisting of a sequences of perceptions describing the
movement required to take the sensory field representing a body part from where it is perceived
to be in the existential space, to what is perceived to be its intended destination. Through these
physical processes the body may change its state, or the body’s state may be changed by the
environment. These internal or environmental changes are associated with a change in physical
well-being, which the body measures. Through this of well-being, the body effectively assigns
each of the body processes a projected, and actual measured "fitness" with which the process
achieves the targeted function. This "fitness" is used by the hierarchy of “life processes” within
the body to evolve, grow, and otherwise adapt the function so that it achieves better outcomes in
a wider range of states of the environment.
The other functional systems in this model (emotions, mind, consciousness system) navigate
their own perceptual field through executing their own processes in a similar way, where the
dynamics of that navigation are also governed by the fitness of each process in achieving wellbeing.
Model of the Other Basic Life Processes
The model for the homeostasis process is virtually identical to the model for each of the
remaining basic life processes, the difference being the function in which the global stability is
maintained. For this reason models of those processes are provided at the same level of detail as
above elsewhere [35].
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Model of the Other Functional Systems
There are four perceptual fields in this model. One is the sensory field of the body, consisting of
a composition of the tactile, auditory, gustatory, olfactory, and visual fields. The others are the
emotional field of the emotions, the mental field of the mind, and the existential field of the
consciousness. Conscious activity in the body consists of a sequence of physical processes that
navigate from one point in sensory space to another point in the same sensory space. This
sensory awareness is represented by the same global stability described in the “homeostasis” life
process. This global stability and resulting sensory awareness and capacity to navigate sensory
space is essentially replicated in this model to generate emotional awareness in the emotional
system, mental awareness in the mental system, and conscious self-awareness in the conscious
system. A number of researchers have similarly proposed that consciousness arose first at the
sensory level from the sensing the physical environment at increasing levels of complexity [9],
[10].
The body, emotions, mind, and consciousness system in this model all obey their own globally
stable dynamics governed by their own single-valued property for “well-being” or
“pleasantness”, which is measured in the capacity of the system to execute the processes within
its capabilities. In the case of the emotional system, globally stable convection in the Lorenz
equations is analogous to the positive and negative forces in the cart-pole balancing example
used by Bozinovski in proposing a model of emotion-cognition interaction in reinforcement
learning, in his review of methods for modeling the emotion-cognition interaction since 1981
[30].
Model of Perceptions in the Perceptual Fields
In this model signals from a distribution of sensory receptors become “perceptions” when they
are labeled in a way that enables those signals to be located again. The hierarchy of functional
units in this model accomplish this localization of sensory signals into perceptions.
Consider sensory receptors sending signals that the body must interpret as the sense of touch. If
each signal can occur at any time T from time zero in the life of the organism to the time of death,
and can occur in any one of N receptors located in a physical volume V of the organism, and in
addition can occur with changing signal strength S, then any given signal cannot have a recurring
position in the volume of the spatial-temporal signal space. Because time is changing, the
volume of the space is changing as the organism grows, the receptors themselves may change as
cells die or reproduce, and other variables may also change. Some higher order function of the
input signals must be defined with sufficient invariance to be the same “perception” to a group of
cells. The functional units in this model provide this invariance. In other words consider a set of
signals [S1(t) …, SN(t)] from a set of receptors [R1, …, RN]. In mapping the signal to a perception
the composition of functional units FU performs a mapping from the signal space S to the
perception space P where the volume occupied by the perception in P (in terms of information
required to represent it) is much smaller than the volume occupied by all the signals in S.
Some degree of invariance is required because a pattern of signal in that spatial-temporal signal
space might mean the subject “stubbed his toe”. But with the large number of potential signals
and receptors and their potential to change in time, without this invariance the subject can’t
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repeatably and reliably locate the “stubbing the toe” pattern and distinguish that pattern from
“blinking an eyelid”, or for that matter from random signal noise. For the subject to have the
capacity to recognize a signal pattern as stubbing his toe he must be able to reliably locate that
pattern in some volume defined by all possible perceptions. Therefore, in terms of the tactile
sense, in order to have the capacity to "perceive" its internal state or to perceive its environment
and thereby to have the capacity to navigate by those perceptions, the organism must have the
capacity to find patterns in the signals from its sensory receptors and to localize those patterns as
points in a field of tactile perceptions, or a “tactile field”.
Model of Body Processes as Paths in the Perceptual Field
A body part, such as the tip of a finger, is represented by a set of points in a “sensory field”.
These points in the field have a position in the awareness (a position in “existential space”).
Having a subject move the tip of a finger from the tip of their nose to their lips is represented by
moving the set of points representing the finger tip from a position in existential space near the
set of points that represents the tip of the subject's nose, towards the position in existential space
of the set of points that represents the subject's lips. The body system may be moved
simultaneously by a variety of different external forces, though that movement will be
constrained by the degrees of freedom the body allows that movement. All of these movements
will be represented by the movement of points in the sensory field. However in this model
conscious awareness can only choose one movement at a time. Movements of multiple parts are
considered as single compound action. This compound action is represented by multiple sets of
points in the sensory field tracing multiple paths through the existential space. In addition, parts
of any action, such as reflexes, can be driven by the sensory rather than conscious awareness.
These reflexes are also represented as movement of the sensory field in the same way. The
difference is that the consciousness chooses the first set of paths and is simply aware of the
second.
Navigating the physical environment with the body is modeled as executing a sequence of
physical processes that each function to cause multiple units in the sensory field to trace paths
through the existential space. Sensations such as heat or cold change the state of the unit in the
sensory field.
Therefore each physical process from the point of view of a single point on the body is in
essence a function that acts on a unit in a sensory field at a position in an existential space to
change the state or position of that unit.
Just as a physical awareness is a unit in a sensory field that moves through an existential space, a
concept is a unit in a conceptual field that moves through the existential space. Concepts may be
conceived of, or perceived by, the mind. Just as the tactile sense of the body navigates a “tactile
field” of sensory perceptions that may be input to or output from physical processes, in this
model the mind navigates a “conceptual field” defined by mental perceptions (concepts) that
may be input to or output from mental processes.
By the same reasoning that sensory perceptions must be localized in the sensory perceptual field
in order for them to be located, mental processes, whether rational methodical reasoning or
intuition, and the concepts input to for output from them, must also be localized. In order for a
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mental process to be localized it need only be consistent in mapping one concept to another. It
need not be true. For example, the question of how many angels can fit on the head of a pin may
have a well-defined answer in a given reasoning process. But that answer may or may not be true.
Figure 5: Representation of navigating between points in
the conceptual field using reasoning processes.
Replicating the process of awareness from the body to the consciousness system, an abstract
awareness is a unit in an existential field that moves through the existential space. The
consciousness functional system in this model navigates a field defined by each awareness that
may be input to or output from processes of awareness. By the same reasoning as given above
for the sensory and conceptual fields, each awareness must also be localized. Because each point
in this field represents something observed within the subject’s awareness of his experience, it is
in this sense a field of existential truths, or an “existential field”.
Replicating the process of awareness from the body to the consciousness system, an emotional
awareness is part of an emotional field that moves through the existential space. The emotions
functional system in this model similarly navigates an “emotional field”.
Model of Conscious Awareness
In this model awareness of state becomes “conscious” when the organism can “act” to choose
whether and how to respond to that awareness. Organisms even at the single-celled level may
select actions in response to signals regarding their state. However, for a single cell only a subset
of signals might be repeatably locatable. For signals to be detectable and repeatably located by
groups of cells those signals must be combined into patterns of spatially distributed sequences of
signals that here are called perceptions. The hierarchy of functional units in each functional
system (body, emotions, mind, and consciousness) accomplish creating awareness of the
perceptions within each system.
The most basic characteristic of living things is homeostasis. In this model there are two basic
approaches a collective of nodes (e.g. cells) can use to achieve homeostasis as the environment
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becomes increasingly more non-uniform and resources become progressively more sparse, or as
the organism progressively seeks more and more sparse resources of higher value, and the path
the organism must navigate between points in the state space of the external environment at
which it can achieve internal stability becomes more complex. One approach is to develop a
single increasingly complex life process that all nodes cooperate to execute. The other approach
is to develop many complex processes which the nodes in the collective cooperate to choose and
then cooperate to execute. In this model this is the distinction between plants that simply respond
to their environment, and animals which can consciously act.
Whether for an organism consisting of one node (cell) or multiple nodes, when multiple
processes can be executed, and each process forms a different possible path to homeostasis, the
organism must “choose”. In this model this capacity for choice is “action”, the lowest form of
consciousness.
For living things to demonstrate homeostasis there must be some stability in their dynamics
through the space formed by all possible internal states of the system (internal state space). This
stability represents some form of pattern in those dynamics. The ability to select between
multiple globally stable, locally unstable dynamical paths enables an emergence into an entirely
new level of complexity [6],[7]. There are different levels at which this selection can occur. The
selection can be driven by highly variable signals from the environment, in which case the
selection will also be highly variable. Or the selection can be driven by perceptions that are more
invariant functions of those signals, in which case the selection may emerge into a repeatable
“choice”. From this perspective organisms emerge into “consciousness” at the basic cellular
level when they can “act” through this choice. Animals are organisms that can “act” in this sense
to pursue different dynamical paths to a stable internal state.
The actual dynamics of a living organism through its internal state space are expected to follow a
globally stable, locally unstable attractor, but in the conceptual diagram below a simple organism
is represented as having two processes for interacting with its environment, and the dynamical
path of each process through state space is represented by a circle. The dynamical path of the
“choice process” through state space is represented by the oval connecting the two circles. In this
model this choice is conscious action. And it is this conscious action which couples two globally
stable paths by a third globally stable path to enable the emergence of a higher complexity of
dynamics. This complexity dramatically increases the region in the state of the external
environment (external state space) in which the organism can maintain a stable internal state [7].
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Figure 6: Multiple Paths to Homeostasis
Multiple paths to homeostasis exist within a region of stability. The
Organism must “choose”.
When only a single process can be executed, whether the organism consists of one node (cell) or
multiple nodes, then that node executes that single process, or each of those nodes independently
reacts to its environment in a way that collectively executes that single process, giving the
organism the capacity to respond to the environment.
Figure 7: Single Path to Homeostasis
A single complex path to homeostasis exists within a region of
stability. The organism simply follows the path to “respond”.
In this model plants and other non-animal life can only “respond” to their environment. Where
cells that can “act” have basic consciousness in this model, at a higher level, in the body
functional system, this mechanism of consciousness produces sensory awareness that provides
the capacity to choose responses to sensory perceptions. In the emotions this mechanism is
replicated to produce emotional awareness that provides the capacity to choose responses to
perceived emotions. In the mind this mechanism produces cognitive awareness that provides the
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capacity to choose a reasoning process in response to a perceived cognitive problem. And in the
consciousness system it produces conscious self-awareness that provides the capacity to choose
which input from which functional system the awareness will be focused on, that is, whether to
focus conscious attention on the body, mind, emotions, or consciousness itself.
There are a number of models of consciousness [1],[2],[3],[4]. This model differs in defining
consciousness at its lowest level in simple organisms as above. That is, as a globally stable
dynamical path that acts as a bridge providing this capacity to switch between two or more other
globally stable dynamical paths.
(Continued on Part II)
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Only what exists can cause:
An intrinsic powers view of free will
Giulio Tononi,1* Larissa Albantakis,1 Melanie Boly,1 Chiara Cirelli,1 Christof Koch2
1University of Wisconsin–Madison; 2Allen Institute for Brain Science; *Correspondence to gtononi@wisc.edu
This essay addresses the implications of integrated information theory (IIT) for free will. IIT is a theory of what
consciousness is and what it takes to have it. According to IIT, the presence of consciousness is accounted for
by a maximum of cause–effect power in the brain. Moreover, the way an experience feels is accounted for by
how that cause–effect power is structured. If IIT is right, we do have free will in the fundamental sense: we
have true alternatives, we make true decisions, and we—not our neurons or atoms—are the true cause of our
willed actions and bear true responsibility for them. IIT’s argument for true free will hinges on the proper
understanding of consciousness as true existence, captured by its intrinsic powers ontology: what truly exists,
in physical terms, are intrinsic entities, and only what truly exists can cause.1
Only what exists can cause: An intrinsic view of free will ...... 1
6.1 I have alternatives—not my neurons .................................... 15
1 Introduction ......................................................................... 2
6.2 I have reasons, decisions, and control—not my neurons .. 16
6.3 A computer simulating my brain (or my functions) would
neither truly exist nor truly cause............................................... 16
2 A simple free will scenario ................................................... 2
3 Ontology: an experience as a Φ-structure unfolded from a
complex................................................................................ 3
3.1 Phenomenal and physical existence ......................................... 3
3.1.1 Axioms: the essential properties of phenomenal existence ............ 3
3.1.2 Postulates: the essential properties of physical existence ............... 4
3.1.3 The explanatory identity: An experience as the Φ-structure
unfolded from a complex........................................................................ 6
3.2 The principles of maximal and minimal existence ................ 7
3.3 Intrinsic entities, extrinsic entities, and the great divide of
being ................................................................................................. 8
3.4 IIT’s intrinsic powers ontology versus extrinsic substrate+
ontologies ........................................................................................ 9
3.5 Existence and “vertical” determination ................................ 10
7 The impossibility of true free will: the extrinsic substrate+
view….. .............................................................................. 17
7.1 No free will? Ontological and causal micro-determination 17
7.2 No choices and decisions, problems and solutions,
questions and answers? ............................................................... 19
8 Freedom, indeterminism, and predictability..................... 20
8.1 IIT and fundamental indeterminism ..................................... 20
8.2 Free will and predictability ...................................................... 20
8.3 Historical determination and personal responsibility ......... 22
9 Some experimental tests .................................................... 23
10 Conclusion ........................................................................ 24
4 Causation: characterizing what causes what .................... 11
11 Acknowledgements........................................................... 24
4.1 Causal accounts ......................................................................... 11
References ............................................................................. 25
4.2 Causal processes........................................................................ 11
4.3 Causation, prediction, and “horizontal” determination...... 12
Supplementary material ........................................................ 26
4.4 Causal closure and causal exclusion in extrinsic substrate+
views ............................................................................................... 12
4.5 Intrinsic and extrinsic causes: only what truly exists can
truly cause ...................................................................................... 12
5 Requirements for free will ................................................. 14
6 True free will: the intrinsic powers view ........................... 15
1 Sections 5 to 8 included are largely based on a chapter on free will in a forthcoming book (with associated licensing restrictions).19
1
It matters not how straight the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll,
I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul.
William Ernest Henley
1 Introduction
What could be easier than raising my hand if I decide to do
so? Yet figuring out what it means to decide among
alternatives, to will an action, and to will it freely is not a
simple enterprise. Many neuroscientists, psychologists, and
philosophers hold that we cannot possibly have free will in a
fundamental sense, because in the end, in a causally closed
universe, all our actions must be determined by our neurons
(and ultimately by our atoms) if they are determined at all and
not random. Therefore, they claim, “true” free will is either
an illusion or an incoherent notion. We must be content with
a practical or social notion of freedom—the ability to decide
and carry out an action voluntarily and autonomously, rather
than under duress or, say, under the influence of alcohol.
This essay argues otherwise. I can have true free will: I can
have true alternatives, true freedom to choose among them,
true will to cause what I have decided, and eventually true
responsibility. The ultimate reason is that, as a conscious
being, I truly exist and truly cause, whereas my neurons or my
atoms neither truly exist nor truly cause.
The argument on which these conclusions rest derives from
integrated information theory (IIT)1, 2 and requires coming to
grips with what consciousness is and with the ontology that
follows from it. It also requires a worked-out notion of what
causes what. This essay aims to present the argument as
concisely as possible, which comes at a price. We will have to
forgo a full explanation of key concepts and to abstain from
engaging with the vast literature on free will and its
compatibility with determinism.3-15 The essay will also not
examine the empirical evidence about illusions of free will16
and about the ability to predict a subject’s decisions based on
brain activity.17, 18 Nor will it address the cultural, historical,
and legal aspects of free will. However, if the thesis that we
have true free will is correct, it will have many implications
for all of those aspects.
After introducing a simple free will scenario (sec. 2), the
essay opens with an outline of the ontology of IIT (sec. 3),
complemented by an account of actual causation (sec. 4). A
brief overview of the requirements for free will (sec. 5) is
followed by the implications of IIT for the existence of true
free will (sec. 6). IIT’s “intrinsic powers” ontology is then
contrasted with standard substrate ontologies (sec. 7). The
essay ends with a discussion of indeterminism and the
implications of IIT for freedom, self-changing actions, and
responsibility (sec. 8), followed by a brief consideration of
experimental tests (sec. 9).
2 A simple free will scenario
To make matters explicit, we will consider a simple but
paradigmatic “free will scenario.” Fig. 1 shows four
successive experiences I might go through: (1) imagining
alternative courses of action, (2) envisioning one or more
reasons favoring one action or another, (3) coming to a
decision, and finally (4) controlling an action that carries out
the decision. Later, the essay will argue that each is an essential
ingredient of true free will. Of course, realistic scenarios
encompass many variants. For example, I may go back and
forth among alternatives and reasons, change my mind, sleep
over a difficult decision before taking it, and so on. Other
ingredients are also important. For example, the set of beliefs
that can influence a decision may be small or large, shallow or
deep; they may involve notions of the self and
autobiographical memories, and include innate or acquired
values. As we will see, the broader one’s understanding of the
context of a decision, the more free will can be exercised. As
we will also see, freely willed decisions can change who we
become as well as the world around us, all of which will
progressively increase our responsibilities.
Figure 1. A paradigmatic free will scenario. Each of the four experiences depicts a key ingredient leading to a freely willed action.
2
3 Ontology: an experience as a Φ-structure
unfolded from a complex
The critical starting point is a proper ontology: a principled,
coherent notion of what truly exists when I, as a conscious
subject, consider alternatives, reason, decide, and execute an
action. In other words, before deciding whether true free will
can exist or not, we need a theory of what consciousness is
and what it takes to have it. This requirement is not exclusive
to free will—for example, meaning, too, can only be
understood on the basis of a theory of consciousness. But it
is especially acute in the case of free will because, as we will
argue, only what truly exists can cause.
This paper relies on the ontology of consciousness
proposed by IIT. If IIT is correct, as can be established
through empirical tests, it has critical consequences for free
will. The bare bones of IIT will be sketched below, and only
to the extent that they are required for the argument. A proper
introduction can be found elsewhere.1, 2, 19
3.1 Phenomenal and physical existence
IIT addresses the problem of consciousness starting from
phenomenology—the existence of my own experience, which
is immediate and irrefutable—rather than from the
behavioral, functional, or neural correlates of experience.
The first step is to realize that the experience I am having,
here and now, exists. When I come into being, say, awakening
from a dreamless slumber, my very experience demonstrates
that there is something, not nothing. Phenomenal existence is
IIT’s 0th axiom because there is no more fundamental and
certain starting point. As recognized by Descartes and others,
the existence of experience is given immediately—it is not
something I infer from other evidence. And it is irrefutable,
because even doubting is an experience, thus confirming the
validity of the axiom.
It is critical to recognize the ontological primacy of
phenomenal existence, but it does not lead very far by itself.
There are countless regularities in my experiences, and they
cry out for a good explanation. For example, I am confident,
here and now, that the scene I am experiencing is the same as
the one I remember experiencing before I closed and
reopened my eyes. I am convinced, here and now, that my
hands remain attached to my body no matter how I move
them, and so on. To account for these feelings of regularity
and invariance, we make countless inferences to a good
explanation, whether we realize it or not. The most
i The principle of being is related to the Eleatic principle expressed in
Plato’s Sophist. The Eleatic principle says that for something to exist, it must
take or make a difference, whereas the principle of being says that to exist
something must take and make a difference.
ii This common use of the term “intrinsic,” referring to a property that
“inheres” to a substrate, is different from the use in IIT, where intrinsic
means “for itself,” “from within.” According to IIT, what one can assess
fundamental of these are codified in IIT as realism,
physicalism, and atomism.
Realism assumes that there are “things” that exist independent
of my experiencing them, and they persist even when, for
example, I fall asleep and cannot interact with them.
Physicalism assumes an operational criterion for assessing the
existence of things outside of my own experience: I can be
confident that something exists—whether it is my hand, a
rock, a distant star, or an elementary particle—if I can show
or infer that it has cause–effect power, in the sense that it can
“take and make a difference,” and it does so in a way that is
reliable and persisting. Atomism (operational reductionism) assumes
that ideally, to leave nothing out, an explanation should start
from the smallest units that can take and make a difference.
Based on these assumptions, IIT introduces its 0th postulate
or “principle of being”: to exist in physical terms means to
have cause–effect power—being able to take and make a
difference. i In other words, physical existence is defined
purely operationally, from the perspective of a conscious
observer, with no residual “intrinsic” properties (such as mass
or charge). ii Furthermore, physical existence should be
conceived of as cause–effect power all the way down—namely
down to the finest, “atomic” units that can take and make a
difference. iii Ideally, one would then obtain an atomic
transition probability matrix (TPM) that reflects the
conditional probability of how the state of every elementary
unit of cause–effect power responds to manipulations of the
state of any other set of units.
From these foundations, IIT accounts for consciousness in
the following way. We first use introspection and reasoning
to identify the essential properties of consciousness—the
axioms of phenomenal existence. We then consider what
could account for each axiom in terms of cause–effect power;
that is, we formulate an essential phenomenal property into
an essential property of the substrate of consciousness—
yielding the postulates of physical existence. In this way, we
obtain a set of criteria that allow us to identify and
characterize a substrate of consciousness (say, a set of cortical
neurons). These steps are summarized in brief below and in
fig. 2.
3.1.1 Axioms: the essential properties of phenomenal
existence
Using introspection and reasoning, one can identify five
essential properties of consciousness—namely, intrinsicality,
information, integration, exclusion, and composition. These
are known as the axioms of phenomenal existence:
operationally are ultimately just conditional probabilities (“if I do this, I see
that.”) This also implies that all “categorical” properties (what something is
like) are ultimately “dispositional” (what powers something has).
iii Fundamental physics is open about ultimate constituents (elementary
particles as opposed to fields) and about the discrete or continuous nature
of the universe. From first principles (operational cause–effect power), IIT
assumes discrete micro-units, micro-updates, and micro-states.
3
Intrinsicality means that experience is intrinsic: it exists for
itself. In other words, it exists from the intrinsic perspective of
the experiencer, from within. Thus, when I experience the
scene in front of me, the scene is for me,iv experienced from
inside, rather than for somebody else, from outside.
Information means that experience is specific: it is this one. I
cannot conceive of an experience that would not be the one
it is, but generic. And while it could be some other specific
experience, when I experience it it would be again be “this
one.” Because an experience is always this specific one, it also
differs from a large repertoire of other possible experiences,
a property called differentiation.
Integration means that experience is unitary: it is a whole,
irreducible to separate experiences. Thus, the scene cannot be
reduced to a left side and a right side that are experienced
separately; if it were so, there would be two independent
consciousnesses rather than one.
Exclusion means that experience is definite: it is this whole. It
has the content it has and the grain it has—neither less nor
more. For example, my visual experience has a border: it
includes all the visual field—its left and right side. It excludes
my experiencing less—say, the left side only but not the right
side—and my experiencing more—say, a periphery that
extends to the back of my head.
Composition means that experience is structured: it is
composed of phenomenal distinctions and the relations that bind
them together, yielding a phenomenal structure that feels the way
it feels. For instance, I can distinguish a body, a hand, and a
book; the hand is attached to the body and lying on the book.
These five properties are called axioms because they are
immediate and irrefutably true of every conceivable experience.
They are immediate in the sense that they are evident without
requiring any inference, and they are irrefutable in the sense
that it is impossible or absurd to conceive of an experience
that lacked them. Thus, I cannot think of an experience that
is not for me—the subject of experience—that is not specific,
not unitary, not definite, and does not have any content.v
3.1.2 Postulates: the essential properties of physical
existence
If every experience is characterized by these five essential
properties of phenomenal existence, the substrate of
consciousness should be characterized by the same properties
in terms of physical existence, understood operationally as
iv Here, “me” should be understood simply as the subject of experience,
not as a separate entity that does the experiencing, even less as a self in a
conceptual or autobiographical sense.
v States of “pure consciousness,” “pure presence,” or “naked awareness”
are sometimes described as “contentless” because subjects who can achieve
them experience no objects, no self, and no thoughts. However, subjects
do experience something akin to a vast expanse, often described as
“luminous,” which is indeed a content, structured in a specific way.
vi This is a measure of intrinsic difference that can be shown to capture
uniquely the postulates of existence, intrinsicality, and information.20 A key
cause–effect power. IIT thus formulates the five phenomenal
axioms as five physical postulates:
Intrinsicality means that substrate of consciousness must
have intrinsic cause–effect power: it must take and make a
difference within itself. Every unit outside the substrate of
consciousness is then considered a background condition. Also,
cause–effect power must be assessed from the intrinsic
perspective of the substrate—relative to it.
Information means that the substrate of consciousness must
have specific cause–effect power: it must be in this state and
select this cause–effect state. The selected state is the one that
maximizes intrinsic information (ii).vi
Integration means that the substrate of consciousness must
have unitary cause–effect power: it must specify its causeeffect state as a whole set of units, irreducible to separate
subsets. Substrate units, too, must be irreducible.
Irreducibility is measured by integrated information (js) over
a substrate’s minimal partition, which serves as a quantifier of
integrated existence (how much something exists as one thing).
Exclusion means that the substrate of consciousness must
have definite cause–effect power: it must specify its cause–
effect state as this whole set of units. This is the set of units
that is maximally irreducible, as measured by maximum j
(js*). This set is called a maximal substrate, or complex. Note that
the units themselves must be maximally irreducible within.vii
Composition means that the substrate of consciousness
must have structured cause–effect power: subsets of units must
specify cause-effect states over subsets of units (distinctions)
that can overlap with one another (relations), yielding a cause–
effect structure, or Ф-structure, that is the way it is.
A substrate of consciousness—say, a set of neurons in the
cerebral cortex—must comply with all postulates. In
principle, we can check this by obtaining a complete TPM of
the system—an overview of how its units respond to all
possible perturbations of their state, given certain background
conditions. From the TPM, we can determine which set of
units constitutes a complex and unfold all its causal powers—
its Ф-structure. A complex specifying a Φ-structure satisfies, in
physical terms, all the essential properties of phenomenal
existence and should be considered an intrinsic entity—one that
exists intrinsically, for itself. And just as experience truly
exists—as we know immediately and indubitably—an
intrinsic entity should also be considered as truly existing.
property of this measures is that it is sensitive to a tension between expansion
and dilution.
vii Units must be maximally irreducible within with respect to their grain.
This includes the unit grain, that is, the relevant units for causal observations
and manipulations, whether they be proteins, synapses, dendrites, or other
sub-cellular compartments; neurons, groups of neurons, or columns; and
so on. The term also includes the update grain, the relevant timescale of the
causal operations, whether tens, hundreds, or thousands of milliseconds,
and the state grain, the relevant repertoire of states, whether two (ON or
OFF), four (say, no firing, low, high, and burst firing), or more.
4
Axioms
Postulates
Existence
Intrinsicality
My experience exists, immediately and
indubitably. Based on its regularities, I infer the
existence of a world independent of me. I call
it “physical” if I can operationally observe (eye)
and manipulate (hand) the states (uppercase
ON, lowercase OFF ) of a substrate (e.g., a brain)
whose units can “take and make a difference.”
This yields conditional probabilities (right) that
capture its cause–effect power, summarized by
a substrate model (left).
Just as my experience exists for itself, its
substrate must have cause–effect power for
itself. The dotted blue line on the substrate
(left) indicates a candidate substrate (aB) whose
causal powers may be analyzed within itself as
a transition probability matrix (TPM, right),
with background conditions (C) fixed (pin).
Information
Just as my experience is specific, its substrate, in
its current state (aB), must select a specific
cause-effect state (s′ = {Ab, Ab}, cause in red,
effect in green). This is the state that maximizes
intrinsic information (ii) for the substrate as a
whole. And just as my experience, being
specific, is different from countless other
experiences, so is the cause–effect state
specified by other states of the substrate (e.g.,
Ab and AB).
Integration
Just as my experience is unitary, the cause–
effect power of its substrate must be unitary. If
so, partitioning the substrate (e.g.,
unidirectionally between unit a and unit B, left)
must reduce the intrinsic information it
specifies (shown on the TPM, right). The
irreducibility of the cause-effect state specified
by the substrate as a whole to that specified by
separate parts—how much a substrate exists as
one substrate—is measured by integrated
information (js).
Exclusion
Composition
Just as my experience is definite, the cause–
effect power of its substrate must be definite.
By the principle of maximal existence, the
border of the substrate of consciousness (a
complex) is the set of units that exists the most
(here, aB, for which js is maximal), excluding
all overlapping sets (e.g., a and aBC).
Just as my experience is structured by
distinctions and relations, the cause–effect
power of the complex must be structured by
distinctions and relations specified by subsets
of units over subsets of units (right). Distinctions
(black) link a cause (red) and an effect (green)
through a mechanism. Relations (shades of
blue) bind distinctions whose causes and/or
effects overlap. Together, distinctions and
relations compose the cause-effect structure
“unfolded” from a complex (left).
Figure 2. IIT’s axioms of phenomenal existence and postulates of physical existence.
5
3.1.3 The explanatory identity: An experience as the Φstructure unfolded from a complex
On this basis, IIT asserts an explanatory identity: an experience
is identical to the Φ-structure unfolded from a complex. In
other words, all phenomenal properties of an experience—its
quality or how it feels—are accounted for in full by the
properties of the cause–effect structure unfolded from a
maximal substrate, with no additional ingredients (fig. 3).
Thus, all the contents of an experience here and now—
including spatial extendedness; temporal flow; objects; colors
and sounds; thoughts, intentions, decisions, and beliefs;
doubts and convictions; hopes and fears; memories and
expectations—correspond to sub-structures in a cause–effect
structure (Ф-folds in a Ф-structure). Moreover, the sum total
of the j values viii of the distinctions and relations that
compose the Φ-structure measures its structured integrated
information Φ (“big Phi”) and corresponds to the quantity of
consciousness—the content of an experience. And just as a
Ф-structure, corresponding to an experience as a whole, can
be said to truly exist, the sub-structures within it,
corresponding to contents of the experience, can be said to
truly exist within the experience.ix
The validity of IIT as an account of consciousness can be
assessed by considering its ability to explain and predict both
the presence of consciousness and its content in the one case
we are sure of, our own experience and our own brain.
Regarding the presence, we can assess whether brain areas
thought to contribute to the neural substrate of consciousness
comply with the postulates, whereas other areas do not. For
example, posterior cortical areas are organized as a set of grids
stacked upon one another in series and in parallel, linked by
converging and diverging connections, an arrangement that is
well suited to high values of Ф. And indeed, both neurological
and neurophysiological evidence, obtained through lesion,
stimulation, and recording studies, indicates that posterior
cortex likely constitutes the bulk of the neural substrate of
consciousness.21, 22 By contrast, brain regions such as the
cerebellum, which has many more neurons than the cortex
and is indirectly connected to it but is characterized by a
modular, feed-forward anatomy, can be lost due to tumor,
accident, or surgery without affecting consciousness
directly.23 IIT also predicts that the neural substrate of
consciousness should cease to satisfy these properties when
consciousness vanishes, as is the case in dreamless sleep or
under anesthesia. This prediction has been confirmed by
clinical studies showing that the efficacy of causal interactions
within the cortex breaks down when consciousness is lost.24,
25
Ф-structure
Experience
Quality:
𝛷
‘form’ of the Φ-structure
Quantity :
𝛷 = ∑𝜑𝑑 + ∑𝜑𝑟
=
operational
determination
(unfolding)
manipulation
observation
Complex (𝜑𝑠*)
Figure 3. The explanatory identity of IIT. The central claim of IIT is that an experience (left side) is identical to a Ф-structure unfolded from
a complex (right side). A Ф-structure captures the full cause–effect power of a substrate in a state unfolded according to the postulates
of IIT. The quality of consciousness—the contents of an experience—is accounted for by sub-structures (Ф-folds) within the Ф-structure.
Likewise, the quantity of consciousness is accounted for by the summed irreducibility (Ф value) of the components of the Ф-structure
(distinctions and relations). The neural substrate of consciousness (brain, bottom right) is not viewed as “generating” the Ф-structure,
but as the operational basis for unfolding it through observations and manipulations, say, by a researcher.
viii The irreducibility of the distinctions (φd) and relations (φr) that compose
the Ф-structure measures how much each of them exists within the
experience.
ix In fact, according to IIT, even contents such as abstract concepts (truth
and beauty, values and norms, numbers, and propositions), only exist as
sub-structures within individual minds, and nowhere else.19
6
Regarding the quality or content of consciousness, the
explanatory identity of IIT predicts that the Ф-structure
unfolded from the neural substrate of consciousness should
account for the particular properties of specific experiences.
Extensions—cause–effect sub-structures unfolded from neural
units connected in a grid-like manner, such as topographically
organized areas of posterior cortex—can in principle account
for the phenomenal properties that make spatial experiences
feel extended.26 Flows—cause–effect sub-structures unfolded
from directed grids (as opposed to undirected ones)—should
account for the phenomenal properties that make time feel
flowing.27 Conceptual hierarchies—cause–effect sub-structures
unfolded from pyramids of grids in posterior cortex—should
account for the experience of objects, and so on for all other
modalities of experience.
3.2 The principles of maximal and minimal existence
The information and exclusion postulates select the causeeffect state and the substrate of consciousness by invoking
the principle of maximal existence, which plays a central
explanatory role in IIT. In short, the principle says that, with
respect to a requirement for existence, what actually exists is what
exists the most. Thus, with respect to exclusion, the principle
provides a sufficient reason for why an entity that actually
exists has the border it has rather than different borders
(which would make it a different entity). For IIT, existence itself
should be the reason: among a set of entities “competing” for
existence over the same substrate, the entity that actually
exists should be the one that lays the greatest claim to
existence. Because what defines the quantity of integrated
existence is irreducibility (j), the entity that actually exists is the
one that has the highest value of js (js*). By the same token,
candidate entities overlapping over the same substrate but
with lower js are excluded from existence.x
In principle, to find out which entities exist intrinsically
through observations and manipulations, we would have to
measure the irreducibility of all candidate units (grains,
updates, and states) and all candidate entities, for all possible
partitions—over a universal substrate. In practice, assessing
maxima of js exhaustively is out of the question, and one
must resort to various approximations and simplifying
assumptions. However, what exists maximally neither can nor
needs to perform such exhaustive measurements—it does not
need to “throw its weight around” to find out whether it
should exist—whether it is indeed a maximum of irreducible,
specific, intrinsic cause–effect power, and what its Ф-structure
might be. By the principle of maximal existence, only maxima
of existence actually exist.
x The same principle of maximal existence is applied to distinctions and
relations, as well as to the grain of units, updates, and states, excluding from
existence alternative entities over the same substrate. The irreducibility φ,
being based on a measure of intrinsic difference, is sensitive to a tension
between expansion and dilution.20 For example, given certain parameters
characterizing a substrate (including the strength of the connections among
The principle of maximal existence implies what can be
termed a principle of no free existence: cause–effect power
cannot be multiplied over the same substrate. For example,
assume that the neural substrate of consciousness—the
“main” complex in our brain, turns out to correspond to a set
of neurons encompassing primarily posterior cortical areas
(blue outline in fig. 3). Then, what exists here and now in
physical terms is the Ф-structure specified by this main
complex in its current state (the large Ф-structure depicted in
fig. 4). And if the full cause–effect power of this main
complex in posterior cortex corresponds to the large intrinsic
entity that is my current experience, no further entities can
co-exist over the same substrate. There cannot also exist some
other entity corresponding, say, to one half of posterior
cortex, or to one particular area within it, or to the entire
cerebral cortex, or, say, to the entire brain. Otherwise, the full
cause–effect power of a substrate would be multiplied “for
free.”
In other words, the full cause–effect power of the substrate
of consciousness cannot co-exist with those of its subsets,
supersets, and parasetsxi (exclusion for sets). Instead, what can
also exist are other intrinsic entities, likely small, whose
Figure 4. A neural substrate unfolded into one large Ф-structure and many
small ones. IIT predicts that the substrate of consciousness in the
human brain, including primarily regions of posterior cortex,
unfolds into an immense Ф-structure, corresponding to an intrinsic
entity (one’s current experience). It excludes from intrinsic
existence any entity unfolded from subsets, supersets, or parasets of
that “main” complex. Subsets of units outside the main complex,
say, in the cerebellum, subcortical nuclei, and regions of prefrontal
cortex, unfold into Ф-structures in their own right, albeit minuscule
ones—mere “dust” compared to the main Ф-structure.
the units and their topology, the internal mechanism of the units, and the
amount of indeterminism), the size of the entity of maximum js will
typically be intermediate between individual units and the entire substrate.
xi These are sets that include some units within the substrate and some units
outside of it.
7
substrates do not overlap with the main complex. These many
small Ф-structures are mere ontological “dust” (fig. 4)—
unfolded from, say, groups of neurons arranged in partially
segregated loops in prefrontal areas or in the cerebellum.
Similarly, the units that constitute the main complex
(corresponding, say, to neurons) whose cause–effect power is
unfolded into the entity’s Ф-structure, cannot co-exist with
finer units (organelles, proteins, atoms) or coarser units (minicolumns, voxels, regions), because their cause–effect power
would be multiplied for free (exclusion for grains).
The principle of maximal existence is complemented by the
principle of minimal existence. The principle states that, with
respect to an essential requirement for existence, nothing exists
more than the least it exists. The principle is offered by IIT as a
good explanation for why, given that a system can only exist
as one system if it is irreducible, its degree of irreducibility
should be assessed over the partition across which it is least
irreducible (the minimum partition). Moreover, a set of units
can only exist as a system if it specifies both an irreducible
cause and an irreducible effect, so its degree of irreducibility
should be the minimum between the irreducibility on the
cause side and on the effect side (as shown in fig. 2). Similarly,
a distinction within a system can only exist as one distinction
to the extent that it is irreducible, its degree of irreducibility
should be assessed over the partition across which it is least
irreducible, and it should correspond to the minimum
between the cause and the effect side.
3.3 Intrinsic entities, extrinsic entities, and the great
divide of being
We have seen that only a maximally irreducible substrate that
unfolds into a Ф-structure—an intrinsic entity—can account
for the essential properties of phenomenal existence in
physical terms. What must be emphasized now is that only an
intrinsic entity can be said to exist intrinsically—to exist for
itself, in an absolute sense. By contrast, if something has cause–
effect power but does not qualify as an intrinsic entity, it can
only be said to exist extrinsically—to exist for an external
observer, in a relative sense (table I). And intrinsic, absolute
existence is the only existence worth having—what we might
call true existence. Said otherwise, an intrinsic entity is the only entity
worth being.
To see why, imagine a world without any large intrinsic
entity—a world in which every conscious being had fallen
into dreamless sleep, or a world in which all conscious beings
had died off, or the “early” universe as currently conceived,
prior to the existence of stable planets that permitted life to
evolve. In such a world of ontological dust, where nothing
would feel like anything much, nothing would exist for which
it would be true that something exists. In such a world, what
would existence even mean? Schrödinger put it well: such a
world would be “a play before empty benches, not existing
xii Collections of things that do not hang together extrinsically may still
make sense from the point of view of a conscious observer (say, the set of
for anybody, thus quite properly speaking not existing.” The
existence of something would be an inference nobody could
draw, rather than an immediate and indubitable truth
somebody would experience. Between intrinsic and extrinsic
existence, then, passes the most fundamental of divides—the
great divide of being. This is the divide between what truly exists
in an absolute sense, in and of itself—namely conscious,
intrinsic entities—and what only exist in a relative sense, for
something else.
Substrates that do not unfold into intrinsic entities are
merely “stuff”; they are substrates that can be observed and
manipulated but that do not specify maxima of cause–effect
power and thus only have extrinsic existence. Stuff can range
from assortments of macro- or micro-units that do not “hang
together” (a random sample of air molecules), to aggregates
that hang together loosely (an avalanche) or tightly (a rock).xii
Indeed, not all the stuff that fails to qualify as an intrinsic
entity is created equal. Things—stuff that hangs together
tightly—can be considered extrinsic entities. These are
substrates whose causal powers have high values of js—
higher than most of their subsets, supersets, and parasets—
but they are relative maxima of cause–effect power rather
than absolute maxima.
For example, my body hangs together well; it is a
paradigmatic case of an “organism” that works as a unitary
whole rather than as a set of isolated organs. It should thus
have higher js than most of its subsets (say, my body minus
some random assortment of organs), supersets (my body plus
some garments), and parasets (my ears plus my shoes).
However, if IIT is right, my body must be a relative maximum
of js and inside my skull there must be a much higher,
absolute maximum of js that is specified by the substrate of
my current experience, presumably located within posterior
cortical regions within my brain. This absolute maximum is
an intrinsic entity and thus excludes my body from the realm
of entities that exist truly and absolutely, for themselves. In
other words, since my body is a superset of my main complex,
it is excluded from it—relegated to the realm of entities that
only exist relatively, for an observer who can verify that they
indeed hang together.
Bodies and organs, tables and rocks, stars and planets, and
many other things that seem to hang together well are likely
to unfold into extrinsic entities. Many objects of study in the
special sciences, such as molecules, organelles, cells, organs,
organ systems, organisms, groups, societies, and the like,
which have proven to be good ways of carving nature at its
joints, are also likely to correspond to relative maxima of js.
No matter how well extrinsic entities hang together, they do
not exist for themselves. They only exist vicariously, from the
perspective of some intrinsic entity, and so they do not truly
exist. If I fall into dreamless sleep, my body will be breathing,
unread books in Scandinavia), in whose mind they hang together as a highly
interrelated content of experience.
8
my heart pumping, but in a fundamental sense, there will be
nobody there—in fact, not even a body—just an aggregate of
much smaller entities. xiii Yet for my conscious friend
observing it, my body will continue to exist just as much as it
did before I fell asleep.
3.4 IIT’s intrinsic powers ontology versus extrinsic
substrate+ ontologies
As we have seen, IIT starts from phenomenal existence and
defines physical existence operationally in terms of cause–
effect power “all the way down,” with no intrinsic residue,
such as mass and charge. Accordingly, a substrate should not
be thought of as an ontological or “substantial” basis—an
ontological substrate—constituted of elementary particles
that would exist as such, endowed with intrinsic properties.
Said otherwise, existence is not constitution (here in the sense of
the physical makeup of something, table I).
Instead, a substrate should be thought of as an operational
basis—an operational substrate—from which we can unfold
causal powers to reveal what actually exists. And what actually
exists—according to the postulates of physical existence,
based in turn on the axioms of phenomenal existence—are
cause-effect structures unfolded from non-overlapping,
maximally irreducible substrates, at a grain that maximizes
irreducibility. Each complex is an intrinsic entity, fully
characterized by its Φ-structure, that truly exists because it
exists for itself—it exists absolutely as a conscious being (fig.
5A). In short, the actual is the potential, in the sense that what
something is (the actual) is given by its powers (the potential).
This view we will call the intrinsic powers ontology of IIT. It
differs from the assumptions usually taken for granted in
neuroscience and biology, which we will call extrinsic substrate+
ontologies (fig. 5B). These ontologies are extrinsic because any
convenient set of units, at any convenient grain, can be
considered to exist (although the “microphysical” level is
Figure 5. IIT’s intrinsic powers ontology vs. extrinsic substrate+ ontologies. Left side: In IIT, what truly exists is not a substrate as such (e.g., a brain)
but rather the fully unfolded intrinsic causal powers of a maximal substrate, captured by a Ф-structure (top left). The substrate as such does
not exist intrinsically but only extrinsically—as an operational basis that one can observe and manipulate (bottom left, faded gray brain). A
Ф-structure can be “vertically” determined from the substrate (e.g., by a researcher), but not determined by it; the maximal substrate unfolded
into a Ф-structure is what truly exists because it exists intrinsically. Right side: The ontology of IIT stands in contrast with various views,
here bundled together as extrinsic substrate+ ontologies. These typically view the microphysical substrate as ontologically fundamental
(bottom right, colored brain), governing the vertical “emergence” of higher-level properties and constructs (top right). Functional states
are thus ultimately determined by the microphysical substrate. Such states can be described as “real” inasmuch as they are necessary for
explanation and are not reducible to the substrate owing to “multiple realizability,” yet the microphysical substrate as such remains the
ontological bedrock.
xiii Presumably, none of these small intrinsic entities will be conscious in a
way that feels like much at all.
9
typically considered more fundamental): brains exist, and
within them different brain regions; neurons exist, and within
them organelles and proteins; atoms exist, themselves
constituted of elementary particles. Moreover, these extrinsic
ontologies assume an ontological substrate because substrates are
thought to exist as such, as an ontological basis endowed with
fundamental physical properties, such as mass and charge,
and following the “laws of physics.”
A substrate only view would argue that all that exists is in fact
the physical substrate (the Lucretian universe of “atoms and
the void”), dismissing consciousness as “illusory.” xiv More
common are substrate+ views which hold that, in addition to the
physical substrate, some kind of existence should be granted
to properties and constructs, especially functional ones, that
may “emerge” upon that substrate (hence the “plus”).xv These
emergent properties and constructs are considered “real” for
two main reasons. First, they are necessary for us to
understand what organisms do (and, more generally, to
understand any complex system). Second, the same emergent
properties can be realized by multiple microphysical
configurations, which makes these high-level properties not
reducible to their specific substrate.xvi Thus, functions such as
imagination, reasoning, and decision-making are granted
existence because our behavior can only be explained by
resorting to such constructs and because they may be realized
differently in different brains (or even in computers). In
substrate+ views, therefore, microphysical substrates exist as
such, but high-level properties also exist in their own right,
albeit in a less fundamental sense because they require the
substrate to emerge.xvii
The contrast with IIT’s intrinsic powers ontology is
fundamental. By IIT, when I am conscious, what actually
exists is a complex unfolded into a large Ф-structure,
corresponding to my experience, and it exists at its particular
grain. No subsets, supersets, or parasets of that complex also
exist, just as no other grains also exist. Moreover, what actually
exists is only the complex unfolded into a Ф-structure
corresponding to my experience, not also a substrate as such.
Crucially, any content of my experience, including
alternatives, reasons, and decisions, corresponds to a substructure within my Ф-structure, not to a functional property
emerging from my substrate.
xiv There is a variety of opinions about the status of phenomenal properties
and their association with functional properties, including the idea that they
may be “illusory.”
xv Here, “emergence” is used in the “weak” sense,28 which is commonplace
in neuroscience and biology. Emergence is considered weak if high-level
properties can ultimately be deduced (or demonstrated through
simulations) from low-level properties, without requiring any new
principles or “forces.”
xvi Not reducible here means that a high-level function cannot be identical to
its low-level, microphysical substrate because it is multiply realizable. The
term irreducible is IIT is used instead to indicate that a substrate’s cause–
effect power is not the same as that of its parts.
This has an important consequence for free will: because I
actually exist—as a “large” intrinsic entity—the neurons of my complex
cannot also exist. They cannot exist as constituents of my
complex, because what actually exists is not a substrate as
such but the substrate unfolded into a Ф-structure expressing
its causal powers. And they cannot exist as small intrinsic
entities in their own right because, if they specify a large
intrinsic entity, they cannot also specify a set of smaller
entities. Moreover, because my alternatives, reasons, and
decisions exist within my experience—as sub-structures
within an intrinsic entity—the neuronal substrates of
alternatives, reasons, and decisions cannot also exist. If this
picture is correct, it leaves no room for emergence or dualism
of any sort.
3.5 Existence and “vertical” determination
Despite their fundamental differences with respect to what
actually exists, both IIT’s intrinsic powers ontology and
extrinsic substrate+ ontologies rely on what will be called
vertical determination, albeit in two very different senses—
operational and ontological. A Ф-structure can be fully and
uniquely determined from a substrate of units in a specific state
through a set of observations, manipulations, and calculations
(by, say, a researcher). In this operational sense, the Ф-structure
can be unfolded “vertically” from the substrate’s TPM based
exclusively on the postulates of physical existence—no
further ingredients needed (fig. 5A). What actually exists is
the substrate unfolded into a Ф-structure, because the
substrate does not exist as such.xviii
In extrinsic substrate+ ontologies, all emergent properties
and constructs are fully and uniquely determined by the
microphysical substrate in an ontological sense (fig. 5B). The
emergence of high-level properties can be accounted for
vertically by the properties of the substrate—no new physical
properties or laws needed. Emergent properties and
constructs exist—they are “real”—because they are not
reducible to their substrate due to their explanatory role and
their multiple realizability. The substrate actually exists as
such; in fact, it must exist for irreducible high-level properties
to emerge—to also acquire some kind of existence.
xvii In the philosophical literature, such views are often grouped under the
label of property dualism (as opposed to substance dualism) or nonreductive physicalism (a kind of closet dualism).
xviii The notion of vertical determination here is related to supervenience: an
experience can be said to supervene on a microphysical substrate (its
supervenience basis), in the sense that any difference in the former is
necessarily reflected in a difference in the latter. Either way, a substrate or
supervenience basis are not assumed to exist as such but only as an
operational basis from which what truly exists can be unfolded. It should
also be clear that vertical determination or supervenience have nothing to
do with causation: a substrate should not be thought of as literally
generating or “giving rise to” the cause–effect structure unfolded from it
(such terms, just like the term “emergence” [see below], may be convenient
in usage, but at the risk of being misleading).
10
4 Causation: characterizing what causes
what
Information means that cause and effect states are
specific—corresponding to the states that actually
occurred.
Up to now, we have addressed the question “what exists?”
We have aimed to account for our immediate, indubitable
phenomenal existence in terms of the cause–effect powers of
a substrate in a state—say, a set of neurons, some firing and
some not. We have shown that it is possible to vertically
unfold a Φ-structure that corresponds to a given experience.
Integration means that a cause or effect must be
irreducible; otherwise, there are two or more independent
causes or effects rather than one. This irreducibility is
measured by causal strength α, which is formally analogous
to integrated information φ.
We now turn to analyzing “what caused what?”29, 30 This
causal analysis can be formalized in a way parallel to the
ontological analysis above and provides a self-consistent,
quantitative account of many aspects of causation.29 Instead
of considering the causal powers of a substrate in a state, we
consider two successive occurrences—say, a set of neurons in
an earlier firing pattern and a set of neurons in a subsequent
firing pattern. And instead of vertically unfolding a Φstructure, the analysis “horizontally” unrolls an 𝒜-structure,
which accounts for what caused what. In sum, while Φstructures capture existence in terms of potential causes and
effects, 𝒜-structures capture causation in terms of actual
causes and effects. Understanding both structures is essential
in the account of free will.
4.1 Causal accounts and their 𝒜-structure
As described above, to identify complexes and unfold Φstructures, we employ the criterion for physical existence (0th
postulate) plus the five postulates of IIT. Similarly, to identify
causal complexes and “unroll” 𝒜-structures, we employ the
criterion of realization plus the five postulates to characterize
the transition between two substrate states (occurrences).
Briefly, realization means that to establish actual causation,
there must have been a transition between two occurrences,
and the first occurrence must imply an increased probability
of the second one (effect direction), or vice versa (cause
direction). Realization requires that we have a repertoire of
counterfactuals, meaning alternative occurrences that could have
happened but did not. Moreover, actual causation may look
different from the two directions—not every cause
corresponds to an effect, and not every effect corresponds to
a cause. For example, the actual cause of a window being
shattered may turn out to be a large rock, but this does not
mean that a small rock hitting the window at the same
moment did not have an effect.
The postulates of IIT appear in the analysis of actual causes
and effects in the following form:
Intrinsicality means that actual causes and effects must
be evaluated from the intrinsic perspective of the
occurrence—relative to it (e.g., what cause makes the most
difference to it).
xix Like integrated information, actual causation is based on probabilities
and is sensitive to the tension between expansion and dilution (see footnote
ix). For example, a set of units may have an effect over a large number of
Exclusion means that every occurrence can only have one
antecedent cause and only one subsequent effect—the one
that is maximally irreducible.
Composition means that we should consider the actual
cause or actual effect for every subset of a substrate, as
well as the relations among causes and effects—how they
overlap over units.
Causal analysis can be used to establish, first, an optimal
causal account of a single transition, which is the one having
maximally irreducible causal strength a*.xix For a = 0, there is
no cause, as is the case for complete indeterminism. The 𝒜structure and structured integrated causation 𝒜 of a causal
account can then be assessed through composition by
examining actual causes and effects of subsets of units in the
account, as well as their relations. The key difference in
computing causal strength α and integrated information φ,
and from there 𝒜 and structured integrated information Φ, is
that α picks actual cause and effect states—those that actually
occurred—whereas φ picks potential cause and effect states—
those that maximize intrinsic existence.
4.2 Causal processes
By forward- and back-tracking causal accounts for multiple
adjacent transitions and evaluating their congruence (how an
effect of a previous transition overlaps with the cause of the
next transition), we can further characterize the horizontal
unrolling of a causal process across many transitions over
different substrates. A causal process typically has borders, a
beginning, an end, and an internal structure, and it can occur
at a macro- rather than at a micro-scale. The same way
extrinsic entities hang together well, causal processes “flow
together” well. Both causal accounts over one transition and
causal processes over many transitions can be intrinsic or
extrinsic—intrinsic if the causes and effects are inside
intrinsic entities (say, a train of thoughts, one following the
other), and extrinsic otherwise. A causal process can also be
interpreted as a realization, over many transitions, of the
causal potential of an entity in a state, given some background
conditions.
units (the total effect), but only a few of these may turn out to be the actual
effect.
11
4.3 Causation, prediction, and “horizontal”
determination
There is a history of skepticism towards causation in both
science and philosophy. It has often been assumed that the
business of science is to predict accurately, not to postulate
unobservable causes. All we can observe, in the end, are just
conditional probabilities across occurrences. However, when
dealing with complex systems, such as biological ones,
prediction is problematic because we cannot rely on simple
“laws.” Instead, to figure out how a complex system works,
we need systematic interventions in addition to observations,
ideally yielding an accurate “causal model.” For example,
neuroscientists have long recognized that “correlation is not
causation” and that, to understand the brain, we ultimately
need an accurate model of neurons in a network. With such a
model, we can predict the next state of individual units from
the state of their inputs. If we do so for every unit, no extra
work is needed to predict the state of the entire network. In
other words, first-order prediction is all that is needed for high-order
prediction.30
Even so, it is critical to understand that prediction is not the
same as causation (table I). Consider again a network of
neurons. Prediction can be understood as horizontal
determination—the ability to unroll the future state of a
system’s units based on knowledge of their past state and of
the unit mechanisms. Instead, causation should be
understood as the ability of a mechanism to take or make a
difference, as demonstrated through observation and
manipulation.
On this basis, it is easy to show that the two notions can be
dissociated. For example, it is true that if something is caused
according to a causal model, then it can be predicted, but the
converse is not true: something can be predicted but not
caused. Consider two identical, parallel chains of domino
stones. Triggered by a common event, dominos in both
chains start to topple. The fall of one domino in one chain
reliably predicts the subsequent fall of the next dominos in both
chains, yet it only causes the fall of the domino in its own chain
(examples can also be drawn from neuroscience).30 Moreover,
high-order prediction follows from 1st-order prediction: if the
next state of neuron A is predicted, and similarly that of
neuron B, then necessarily the next state of AB is also
predicted. Not so for high-order causation: there may be
many 1st-order causes (such as A and B) and no high-order
causes (AB), or there may be a high-order cause (AB) in the
absence of 1st-order ones (A and B). A similar dissociation can
be shown for macro-causation vs. macro-prediction.
Knowing the state of all relevant micro-units (say, molecules)
over their micro-updates is sufficient to predict the state of
macro-units (say, neurons) over macro-updates. However,
xx This holds inasmuch as causation is acknowledged and distinguished
from prediction.30
xxi This holds unless one subscribes to interactionist dualism, according to
which mind can have effects on matter,31 or to strong emergence, according
causal analysis may show that actual causes and effects are
maximal at the macro- rather than micro-level.
4.4 Causal closure and causal exclusion in extrinsic
substrate+ views
In section 3.5, we discussed differences between IIT’s
intrinsic powers view and standard extrinsic substrate+ views
with respect to what exists. How do these ontologies differ
with respect to what causes?
As we have seen, extrinsic substrate+ ontologies assume that
the microphysical substrate exists as such, endowed with
physical properties such as mass and charge. Because it exists
as such, it also causes as such.xx Emergent properties are also
assumed to exist, albeit in a less fundamental manner, because
they depend on the existence of the microphysical substrate.
As we have also seen, their existence is justified by the role
they play in explanation and by multiple realizability. The
same logic can be applied to what might be called “emergent
causation.” It seems that we cannot avoid resorting to highlevel causes to understand our behavior. For example, “he
caused a lot of hardship to a lot of people” can only be
understood at the high level of agent causation. Moreover,
high-level causation can be multiply realized. Could we not
accept, then, that emergent causes are also causing, albeit in a
less fundamental sense than microphysical causes?
Most think not. While extrinsic substrate+ views are not
overly worried by ontological proliferation (emergent
properties co-existing with their substrate), there is
widespread worry about causal proliferation or
“overdetermination.” The intuitive reason is based on the
notion of causal closure of the physical world: microphysical
causation is sufficient for determining everything that
happens (horizontal determination)—in other words, no
additional causal influences need to be invoked to determine
what happens next. xxi High-level properties and constructs
are vertically determined by their microphysical substrate,
both before and after causation takes place. Therefore, there
is nothing high-level properties and constructs can do causally
above and beyond what has already been caused at the
microphysical level. In short, a principle of causal exclusion is
applied according to which microphysical causation excludes
higher-level causation.32
4.5 Intrinsic and extrinsic causes: only what truly
exists can truly cause
IIT’s intrinsic powers ontology, augmented by its causal
analysis, leads to a fundamentally different view: only what truly
exists can truly cause. This means that only intrinsic entities can
truly cause, and their microphysical substrates cannot cause
anything because they do not truly exist. Accordingly, a causal
to which new physical forces or laws may come into being at higher levels
of organization.
12
account or process originating inside an intrinsic entity is a
true cause—an intrinsic cause—because it is produced by
something that truly exists. Similarly, a causal account or
process ending inside an intrinsic entity—an intrinsic effect—
is a true effect because it is borne by something that truly
exists (table I).
To exemplify, consider two occurrences in which my hand
is raised. In one case, my hand is raised because I have decided
to do so voluntarily—say, to ask a question. Causal-process
analysis would establish that the distal cause—where the
causal process begins—resides in a large intrinsic entity, the
large Ф-structure corresponding to my experience of deciding.
The causal process originating within my posterior cortex
activated motoneurons in my motor cortex, neurons in the
spinal cord, and eventually muscles that raised the arm. The
distal cause is therefore intrinsic because it occurs within an
intrinsic entity.xxii Because an intrinsic entity exists for itself,
when it produces certain external effects, it can be considered
an autonomous agent; and when it is sensitive to certain external
causes, it can be considered an autonomous perceiver.
In a second case, my hand is raised involuntarily because of
some burst of activity in the motoneurons in my spinal cord
while I am deeply asleep and unconscious. Causal-process
analysis would establish that the distal cause is spread out
among small entities of neuronal “dust” (no large complex
with a large Ф-structure but many small ones): a causal process
originated in a set of neurons in my spinal cord due to some
stochastic firing, and eventually triggered a coordinated
raising of my hand. In this case, the distal cause remains
extrinsic because it cannot be attributed to a single intrinsic
entity: nothing exists that would serve as an agent or
perceiver.
At first, the intrinsic powers view may seem
counterintuitive. For instance, it implies that bodies and rocks
do not truly exist since they only exist as extrinsic entities,
relative to a conscious observer and manipulator, but not as
intrinsic entities—for themselves, in an absolute sense. The
situation is similar for extrinsic causes. Take the case of a rock
rolling down a hill and crashing into an empty car. Causal
analysis would show that the rock was the cause of the car
being crashed, and the car being crashed was its effect.
However, both the cause and the effect would be extrinsic,
because neither the rock nor the car exist as intrinsic entities
(but only as aggregates of much smaller intrinsic entities that
hang together tightly).
In a fundamental sense, then, because there is ‘nothing it is
like’ to be a rock or a car, the rock cannot be a true cause and
the crashed car cannot suffer a true effect, for only what truly
exists can truly cause.xxiii This conclusion does not mean that an
extrinsic causal analysis yielding the rock as an extrinsic cause
and the crashed car as an extrinsic effect would be
xxii More precisely, the distal cause must be specified by a subset of the same
macro-units that compose a Ф-structure, over the same macro-state.
Table I: Some key contrasts in IIT’s ontology
constitution ≠ existence
prediction ≠ causation
intrinsic entity
(an absolute maximum of j )
extrinsic entity
(a relative maximum of j )
intrinsic causation
(begins or ends in an
intrinsic entity)
extrinsic causation
(does not begin or end
in an intrinsic entity)
meaningless, or that one should cease speaking about the rock
as causing the crash. Just as relative maxima of js identify
things that “hang together well,” such as rocks and cars,
bodies, and spinal cords, maxima of a can identify causal
accounts and processes that connect extrinsic entities and
“flow together well.”
The requirements for high 𝒜 are very similar to those for
high Φ because they are similarly based on the postulates of
IIT. Therefore, a distal cause that begins or an effect that ends
in a Ф-structure of high Φ will typically have high 𝒜. In other
words, the more an entity is conscious, the more strongly it
can cause, and the more strongly it can bear an effect. Thus,
raising my hand to ask a question not only has an intrinsic
cause—my conscious decision to ask—but it will likely have
a strong cause. Instead, a near-random coincidence of firing
in the spinal cord, which just so happens to raise my hand
when I am asleep, will have a comparatively weak cause, in
line with the spinal cord not being conscious—a mere
aggregate. In general, we should expect a proportionality
between the Φ value of a Ф-structure, and hence of Φ-folds
within it, and the 𝒜 value of a causal account. As we will now
argue, intrinsic causes and effects underlie free will and the
ability to choose.
Table II: Requirements for free will
Consciousness
• Alternatives: I must be able to envision multiple courses of
action.
(freedom of imagination)
• Reasons: I must be able to choose based on reasons.
(freedom of evaluation)
• Decision: I must be able to decide and intend an action.
(freedom of decision or will)
• Control: I must be able to cause, control, and execute an
action.
(freedom of execution)
xxiii Instead, it would be a case of “dust” causing “dust” (each mini–dust
entity affecting some mini–dust entity).
13
Freedom of evaluation. Say I do see alternatives but choose
automatically among them, almost reflex-like, because I have
been thoroughly indoctrinated about what is the right choice.
If I never considered the reasons why I should choose this
rather than that, I am not free. I may consider my reasons
quickly, or instead go through a long, agonizing process, but
as long as I have considered my reasons, I have freedom of
evaluation. xxiv Usually, when a choice is difficult, I am also
acutely aware that the choice is ultimately up to me and up to
me only—that I am free to choose. In fact, awareness of the
very concept of freedom and free will adds to the poignancy
of the choice I must make.
Freedom of decision or will. Say I am asked to vote for or against
a resolution that is unpopular but ethically well grounded.
Normally, I would consider my alternatives, go through my
reasons, and decide to vote accordingly. In this case, I would
have decided as I intended and exercised my free will. But
now imagine that, just when I am about to decide, somebody
intervenes and, by targeting an intense magnetic field to
xxiv My choice can still be considered free even if I do not reconsider my
reasons in any depth because I have done so in the past and molded my
own character, beliefs, and values through self-changing actions (see
below). However, I must be willing and able, in principle, to reconsider
them in view of new circumstances.
alternatives
decis
reasons
“I could do
this or that.”
“I will do th
operational
determination
(unfolding)
time
Freedom of imagination. Say I am driving on a long stretch of a
deserted highway as if on autopilot, immersed in the music
from the radio. While I am conscious and in control of the
car, I do not envision alternative courses of action, so
freedom does not come into play (until, of course, I wonder
whether I should turn left to go home or right to go for a
drink). The same applies if I were to do what I am told
without ever considering that I might do otherwise. Note that
it would not matter at all whether, due to some accumulation
of indeterminism, two possible trajectories were open to me.
What matters is only that I am conscious of a fork, so to
speak, in my mental road—that I realize I have a choice.
Freedom of execution. Say I see alternatives (should I drink
alcohol or not?), go through my reasons (for the sake of my
health, I should not), and decide to quit (I will not drink).
However, if my resolve is thwarted by an overwhelming push
to transgress, I may fail to carry out my decision and cannot
control my action. In that case, I lack freedom of execution.
Note that this kind of “push” can be considered extrinsic,
even though it may originate within my brain but outside the
main complex, because I am not able to control it through my
will. The same is true, of course, if I cannot carry out my
decision because I am prevented by somebody or something
extrinsic to me.
Ф-structure
The main thesis of this essay is that we do have free will in a
fundamental sense—true free will—and not just “free will” as
a convenient manner of explaining our actions. Before
substantiating this claim in the IIT framework, let us return
to the simple scenario introduced at the beginning and
examine the essential requirements in more detail. It is
generally recognized that free will requires consciousness. But
consciousness is not enough (table II). In other words, there
cannot be free will without consciousness, but there can
certainly be consciousness without free will. A proper free will
scenario requires that I can envision alternative courses of
action (freedom of imagination); that I can weigh reasons to
choose among alternatives (freedom of evaluation); that I can
decide and intend an action (freedom of decision or will); and
that I can cause, control, and execute an action to carry
through my decision (freedom of execution).
neurons involved in decision-making in my brain, causes
them to fire and “decide.” In such case, the decision cannot
be considered an expression of my own free will. Similarly,
even though I may have pondered alternatives and gone
through my reasons, if in the end I succumb to a sudden fit
of rage, my decision was not freely willed.xxv Of course, if I
am unable to decide because I am paralyzed by doubt, I also
lack will.
operational
substrate
5 Requirements for free will
Figure 6. I have alternatives—not my substrate. A true free will
scenario starts as a thought comprising two (or more)
alternatives—a choice. This thought is a “fork in the mind,” as
depicted by the two prominent sub-structures (yellow and green)
in the overall Ф-structure corresponding to the experience.
xxv We will not consider simple urges, say, extreme hunger or thirst, as
adequately representative of a true free will scenario, which involves the
conscious consideration of alternatives and reasons. While an urge followed
by a decision captures the “will” portion of free will as well as freedom of
execution, it does not capture freedom of imagination and evaluation.
14
6 True free will: the intrinsic powers view
consequences, recall episodes from memory, and so on.
We will now consider how we can account for the free will
scenario introduced at the beginning of this essay in view of
IIT’s ontological foundations and its characterization of
actual causation.
At some point, I will end up with a thought that binds two
alternative possibilities into a choice that is available to me: I
have arrived at a fork in my mind (fig. 6). That conscious
choice exists phenomenally, and it must be accounted for, in
physical terms, by a Φ-fold within the Φ-structure
corresponding to my experience. In fact, as argued in section
3.5, that Φ-structure unfolded from my main complex, and
the Φ-fold within it, is all that exists in an absolute sense—
that is, for itself. The substrate and the neurons constituting
it do not exist as such, but only relative to an observer—as an
operational basis for unfolding causal powers. And, as argued
in section 3.5, the neurons of the main complex do not exist
unfolded either (as minuscule intrinsic entities). This is
because, over a given substrate, what exists is only the entity
that exists the most, which is the much larger intrinsic entity
corresponding to my experience. So it is I who exist—not my
neurons. And it is my thought of alternative actions—my
conscious choice—that exists here and now as a Φ-fold in the
Φ-structure of my experience—a fork in my mind (a “Y”). What
exists is not a set of alternative trajectories that my brain may
follow—“a fork in the road” (a “-<”), say, due to
indeterminism (see sec. 8).
6.1 I have alternatives—not my neurons
As summarized earlier, by IIT, all contents of experience
correspond to sub-structures within a cause–effect
structure—to Φ-folds within a Φ-structure. This applies not
only to the experience of space, time, and objects, but also to
conscious thoughts and feelings of any kind. For example, the
conscious content of a thought might correspond to the
higher (more abstract) levels of a conceptual hierarchy, bound
by relations to sub-structures corresponding to the sound of
certain words. Conscious alternatives, too, are Φ-folds within
the Φ-structure corresponding to an experience. Right now, I
may conceive of two alternative courses of action as a silently
verbalized thought. Such a thought would correspond to a
large Φ-fold that likely includes several conceptual
hierarchies, extensions, flows, and high-level concepts such as
the self. Different Φ-folds may come into being when I go
back and forth between possible courses of actions and their
alternatives
decision
reasons
Ф-structure
𝒜 -structure, cause side
“I could do
this or that.”
control
𝒜 -structure, effect side
causation
causation
causation
𝒜>0
𝒜>0
𝒜>0
“I should do
this because…”
“I will do this.”
“I am doing it.”
cau
operational
substrate
sat
io
operational
determination
(prediction)
n
>0
time
operational
determination
(unfolding)
𝒜
Figure 7. The intrinsic powers view of IIT: Only what truly exists can truly cause. My experience of alternatives, reasons, a decision, and the feeling of
control correspond to Ф-structures unfolded from my substrate. At any one moment (say, the decision moment), one such Ф-structure (the
one in color) is what truly exists. And as such, they are what can truly cause. A causal account of the decision is depicted by the red cause
lines and the green effect lines, representing the supported 𝒜-structures. On the cause side, one sub-structure in the reasons Ф-structure is
the actual cause (with structured integrated causation 𝒜 > 0) of a sub-structure in the decision Ф-structure. On the effect side, the actual
effect (with 𝒜 > 0) is the movement enacted by my motor system (indicated by the muscle, bottom right), which I control, as well as the
feeling that “I am doing it.”
15
6.2 I have reasons, decisions, and control—not my
neurons
The same logic applies to subsequent moments of the free
will scenario (fig. 7). A reason—a thought about what might
justify a choice—exists as a Φ-fold within a current Φstructure. Reasons likely correspond to very complex Φ-folds,
and so do conscious beliefs, values, and the feeling that my
own self is involved in a decision. According to IIT, all this
content comes into existence when it is thought consciously,
and it vanishes the moment it ceases to contribute to my
current experience. Similarly, the feeling of making and then
having made a decision, the feeling of my intention to carry it
out, and finally the feeling of control—whenever they come
into being as contents of my current experience—exist as
large Φ-folds within the corresponding Φ-structure. And
again, whenever I experience such contents, it is I who exist
and I who have reasons, decisions, intentions, and control—
not my neurons, which do not also exist.xxvi
We can now consider what caused my decision and my
subsequent action. Recall that the question “what caused
what?” is addressed by “unrolling” an 𝒜-structure, which
causally links two occurrences (in this case, two consecutive
neural firing patterns in my brain).
Let us focus on the conscious moment at which I decide
that “I will do this” (fig. 7). The experience corresponds to a
Φ-structure unfolded, say, from a set of neurons in posterior
regions of my cerebral cortex, some firing and some not (the
main complex). The decision corresponds to a Φ-fold within
the Φ-structure specified by a subset of those neurons. The
previous conscious moment, say, the experience of a decisive
reason why I should choose one alternative and not the other,
corresponded to a different Φ-structure, unfolded from a
different firing pattern over some other subset of main
complex neurons.
In principle, the 𝒜-structure that accounts for what caused
my decision could now be calculated (fig. 7). We would have
to assess the actual causes (and associated relations) of the
actual state of the main complex neurons specifying the Φfold corresponding to my current decision. As illustrated
schematically in the figure, these actual causes and relations
are likely to involve many of the neurons that, a moment
before, had specified the Φ-fold corresponding to my
experience of a decisive reason. Because Φ-folds within Φstructures of high Φ are composed of many distinctions and
relations, the causal account linking my current decision Φfold to my previous reason Φ-fold will likely support a large
𝒜-structure composed of many actual causes and their
relations.xxvii
xxvi The feeling of agency—that I was the one responsible for executing an
action—is also typically associated with free will, though under certain
circumstances one may incur illusions of agency. Here we focus on the
feeling of control that accompanies the deliberate carrying out of a decision.
The causal account on the effect side of my decision would
behave similarly. The neurons specifying my decision Φ-fold
will have strong actual effects over the next state of many
neurons. Some of these will then trigger further effects
downstream, eventually leading to the activation of
motoneurons and muscles, ending in an action such as raising
my hand. Again, the 𝒜-structure on the effect side will
typically be large because, by originating within a Φ-structure
of high Φ, it will be composed of many actual effects and their
relations.
In this way, one could unroll “what actually caused what” in
physical terms: my decision Φ-fold was caused primarily by a
decisive reason Φ-fold that allowed me to choose among
several alternative Φ-folds; in turn, my decision Φ-fold caused
my subsequent action. And because the causal account of my
decision ends within an intrinsic entity on the cause side (what
caused it) and begins from an intrinsic entity on the effect side
(what it caused), my decision truly exists, has a true cause, and
produces a true effect. Recall the conclusion from section 3.5
on ontology: I truly exist—not my neurons. And recall the
conclusion from section 4.5 on actual causation: only what
truly exists can truly cause. So I exist and cause—not my
neurons.
6.3 A computer simulating my brain (or my functions)
would neither truly exist nor truly cause
This case for true free will may be further illuminated through
a contrast with digital computers. A digital computer may be
programmed to be functionally equivalent to a system it is
simulating, yet specify Φ-structures that are radically
different.33 For example, the behavior of a small system of
three logic gates (named PQR) can be simulated by a simple
universal computer constituted of sixty-six logic gates (named
PQR’). PQR’ is functionally equivalent to PQR: in terms of what
it does, PQR’ indeed does the same as the system PQR it is
simulating. However, PQR is a single complex with js > 0,
unfolding into a Φ-structure composed of numerous
distinctions and relations. By contrast, the much larger
substrate PQR’, the computer taken as a whole, has js = 0,
being fully reducible. Subsets within it, such as memory
registers and the clock, have js > 0. However, the trivial Φstructures unfolded from these subsets have nothing to do
with the Φ-structure of the system PQR that is being
simulated. In fact, those Φ-structures would be the same no
matter which system were simulated by PQR’. Thus, the
system PQR and the computer PQR’ simulating it are
functionally equivalent but not ontologically equivalent: PQR is a
xxvii The strength of actual causes (α) and of intrinsic causes (φ) tend to be
correlated. In a relatively isolated system (say, my brain when dreaming or
thinking), the actual cause of a mechanism in a state will tend to line up
with its intrinsic cause.
16
single intrinsic entity (albeit small), while PQR’ is just an
aggregate of “dust.”xxviii
In short, the computer as a whole does not truly exist (for
itself) as it is not an intrinsic entity. It only exists for us as a
useful substrate to perform certain functions. But then, if the
computer does not truly exist, it cannot truly cause. In fact,
causal analysis would reveal many separate causal accounts
linking, say, individual transistors constituting a memory
register, fig. S1).
7 The impossibility of true free will: the
extrinsic substrate+ view
Let us now contrast again IIT’s intrinsic powers view with the
extrinsic substrate+ view. The latter comes naturally to most
people, whether as naïve realists or as sophisticated scientific
realists. In this view, physical substrates exist as such: my body
certainly exists as a physical substrate, and so do my head, my
brain, my cortex, its posterior regions, or any particular
cortical area. The units we can observe and manipulate with
the tools of science also exist as such: neurons certainly exist,
and so do ion channels and even atoms, at any spatial and
temporal scale we may be interested in. Furthermore, the
substrate+ view allows for “emergence”: in addition to the
substrate, high-level properties and constructs also exist,
though they are vertically determined by the substrate. For
some, this kind of emergence may offer a feeling of free will
that is “good enough”—the “variety of free will worth
wanting.”7
7.1 No free will? Ontological and causal microdetermination
However, the extrinsic substrate+ view is ultimately
incompatible with true free will.xxix To illustrate why, let us
revisit once more the free will scenario in light of ontological
and causal micro-determination (fig. 8). My brain, constituted
of neurons and their connections (themselves constituted of
elementary particles), is assumed to exist as such—as a
fundamental physical substrate endowed with intrinsic
properties such as mass and charge. That substrate in its
current state ontologically determines all associated high-level
Figure 8. The extrinsic substrate+ view: no room for true free will. My experience of alternatives, reasons, a decision, and the feeling of control are
functional states and constructs ontologically determined by the physical substrate of my brain (vertical arrows indicating “emergence”). Such
constructs may be necessary for causal explanations across functional states (dotted horizontal arrows) and may be multiply realizable. Yet
the true cause of each subsequent state is ultimately determined at the microphysical level (solid horizontal arrows).
xxviii These conclusions do not depend on the size or complexity of the
system to be simulated or on the size of the computer simulating it. (We
are leaving aside questions related to fully neuromorphic computers and of
quantum computers.)
xxix The substrate+ view of seemingly “good enough free will” may well be
compatible with determinism,7 but that is beside the point here.
17
Table III: Intrinsic powers ontology
Table IV: Extrinsic substrate+ ontologies
Existence
Existence
• Only intrinsic entities truly exist as such.
• A substrate is “physical” in an operational sense. It comes
down to conditional probabilities among micro-units that
can be observed and manipulated, yielding a transition
probability matrix (TPM).
• As such, it permits the operational determination of the
Φ-structure of an intrinsic entity by “unfolding” its cause–
effect power (physical existence) based on the essential
properties of experience (phenomenal existence).
• Alternatives, reasons, and decisions exist as sub-structures
(Φ-folds) within an intrinsic entity.
• Physical substrates exist as such.
• A substrate is “physical” in an ontological sense. It is
constituted of micro-units endowed with intrinsic
physical properties (mass, charge, spin) and following the
“laws” of physics.
• As such, it ontologically determines or “gives rise” to
emergent functions, such as decision-making, or
emergent feelings, such as that of agency.
• Emergent functions or feelings are considered “real”
insofar as they are necessary for explanation and because
of their multiple realizability.
Causation
Causation
• Alternatives, reasons, and decisions truly exist, but the
micro-substrate from which they can be operationally
unfolded does not exist as such.
• Decisions truly cause, because only what truly exists
(intrinsically) can truly cause. Intrinsic causation is
characterized by an 𝒜-structure that links sub-structures
within a preceding Φ-structure with sub-structures within
a subsequent Φ-structure.
• Decisions exclude micro-causes.
• Alternatives, reasons, and decisions are “carried along
for the ride” by states of the microphysical substrate by
which they are ontologically determined.
• Causation is microphysical. A substrate goes through a
series of states, in which the present state of each microunit is causally determined by inputs from its past state.
• Reasons and decisions do not truly cause but may be
necessary for causal explanations and because of multiple
realizability.
emergent properties and constructs (“functional states” in the
figure), which might correspond to, say, imagining alternative
courses of action.
alternatives, reasons, and decisions, but these may be
microphysically determined by different neural states.xxx
In this view, the next state of the neurons constituting my
physical substrate is causally micro-determined by their
previous state, at least over the few seconds of the free will
scenario. As illustrated in fig. 8, my neurons will switch from
state to state in a way that is causally determined, in
microphysical terms, by their inputs (their previous state) and
their mechanisms. Inevitably, the same way my experience of
imagining alternatives is ontologically determined by a neural
state, my experience of a decisive reason favoring the first
alternative is vertically determined by a neural state, as is my
experience of deciding for one alternative.
The extrinsic substrate+ view emphasizes that the
microphysical level is sufficient to predict what I do next but
that it may not be able to provide a causal explanation of my
behavior—why I did this rather than that, or what I meant
when I said that my choice was voluntary. For that, we need
to resort to high-level constructs, such as alternatives,
reasons, and decisions. Moreover, the high-level constructs
may be “multiply realizable” and thus not reducible to the
neural substrate—another person may go through the same
xxx Similar considerations apply not just to humans but also to complex
artifacts endowed with autonomy and goal-directed behaviors. It does not
make sense to try to account for the decisions made by an intelligent,
autonomous robot purely based on the interactions among its transistors
However, despite attempts to reconcile the microphysical
with high-level constructs, the extrinsic substrate+ view
remains wedded to the assumption that the microphysical
substrate exists as such and that it is ontologically
fundamental or primary. High-level functions and constructs,
as well as phenomenal states, are ontologically derived or
secondary because they are determined by the substrate and
cannot exist without their substrate existing as such. As a
consequence, the microphysical substrate is even more
fundamental when it comes to causation. As we have seen,
microphysical determination is assumed to be causally
closed—it is sufficient to determine everything that happens
next. This excludes higher-level causation: high-level
properties and constructs cannot cause anything above and
beyond what has already been caused at the microphysical
level. Said otherwise, because of ontological microdetermination, what I experience is determined by my neurons
(which exist as such). And because of causal microdetermination, what I am going to do next is also determined by
my neurons (which exist as such and are the exclusive physical
cause of what happens next). Any notion of “true” free will is
or atoms. Instead, we must resort to the high-level program that is guiding
its actions. Moreover, the same behaviors can be implemented on different
hardware platforms.
18
therefore an illusion: free will may be treated as “real” in a
practical and social sense, but it cannot possibly be “true” in
a fundamental sense.xxxi,xxxii,xxxiii In the end, I always do what
my neurons do—I am just “carried along for the ride.”
By assuming the fundamental existence of microphysical
substrates as such, the extrinsic substrate+ view inevitably
leads to a cognitive dissonance. On one hand, I believe that
my brain exists as such, and that it is made of neurons. I also
believe that my feelings and thoughts emerge upon the brain’s
microphysical substrate. Finally, I know that neurons do what
they do based on their inputs. Therefore, whatever my
feelings and thoughts might be, I cannot help doing exactly
what my neurons do. And because neurons don’t have a
choice, neither can I. On the other hand, I vividly experience
alternative possibilities and struggle to make the right choice,
and I cannot help feeling that I am the one deciding what to
do. So it must be that my choice, my freedom, and my will,
are ultimately illusory.
This dissonance is resolved only by abandoning the extrinsic
substrate+ view and recognizing the intrinsic powers view as
the proper ontological starting point (tables III and IV). To
understand consciousness and free will, I must acknowledge
that what truly exists is my experience and conclude that it
can be accounted for, in physical terms, to the Ф-structure
unfolded from a complex. I must realize that the only
alternatives, reasons, and decisions that truly exist are those
that exist in my experience, corresponding to sub-structures
within a Ф-structure. It is thus wrong to think of what I am
conscious of as being ontologically determined by my substrate,
as if the substrate existed as such—as an aggregate of atoms
that “gives rise” to my experience. Instead, the substrate must
be considered as an operational basis from which one can
operationally determine (unfold) the properties of experience.
In short, I must realize that if my experience exists, then my
neurons do not also exist, neither as a substrate as such nor
as little entities of their own.
Similarly, I must realize that my decision is truly caused by
my reasons and that it truly causes my action. Thus, it is wrong
to think of my decision as being causally determined by the
previous state of my substrate, as if that substrate existed
physically as such and caused as such. Instead, the substrate
must be considered as an operational basis from which one can
determine (unroll or predict) the next state. But my decision
is not caused by the substrate, because only what truly exists
xxxi It is often pointed out that several empirical results confirm the illusory
nature of free will. In Wegner-style experiments,16 which manipulate delays
and what the subject sees, a subject can be convinced that they were
responsible for moving their hand “of their own free will” when it was
actually the experimenter who did so. Similar misattribution of agency can
also occur during seances. These illusions demonstrate that, under special
conditions, our experience of agency is fallible but not that, under typical
conditions of deliberation and action, our free will is an illusion.
can truly cause, and what truly exists is the Ф-structure
unfolded from a complex, not a substrate as such.
7.2 No choices and decisions, problems and solutions,
questions and answers?
The intrinsic powers view of existence applies not only to
alternatives, reasons, and decisions, but to everything that
exists in the mind and thus truly exists. For example, facing a
choice and making a decision is similar in nature to many
other high-level, abstract experiences, such as having a
problem and finding a solution, or having a question and
finding an answer. Compared to the intense debates about the
possibility of genuine alternatives and genuine decisions,
there has been little concern about whether there may be
genuine problems and solutions, genuine questions and
answers. The reason, most likely, is that the debate on free
will has focused on determinism rather than on existence, and
determinism may seem more problematic for achieving
freedom than for finding answers or solutions.
But if we adopt the extrinsic substrate+ view, just as we
cannot truly have a choice and decide how to act, we cannot
truly have a problem and solve it, or truly have a question and
answer it. Like choices, problems and questions may be
considered emergent constructs that are necessary for
explaining our behavior and that cannot be reduced to a
physical substrate owing to multiple realizability. But like
decisions, solutions and answers must be determined by the
physical micro-substrate, which is assumed to exist as such
and which inexorably updates its state, each one causing the
next. Once again, we are just carried along for the ride,
thinking we have solved the problem or answered the
question.
In the intrinsic powers view, by contrast, there are true
problems and true solutions, true questions and true answers.
Like alternatives and decisions, they exist intrinsically as substructures within the Φ-structure that corresponds to our
current experience. In fact, problems and solutions, questions
and answers exist only as contents of experience within
individual subjects. They do not emerge from a neural
substrate that exists in its own right, nor do they live in a
separate realm of ideas. I have problems—not my neurons.
xxxii One way around this conclusion is to appeal to an immaterial soul that
can suspend the workings of the brain, decide autonomously, and tell the
neurons what to do. But barring such an interactionist-dualist leap of faith,
there seems to be no way out.
xxxiii In fact, in the extrinsic view, one might argue that genuine free will is
simply an incoherent notion: determinism or not, we should just “get over
it.” This is because our actions are either fully determined by our neurons,
in which case we have no freedom, or they are not, in which case they are
due to chance, not to our will.
19
8 Freedom, indeterminism, and
predictability
IIT’s argument for true free will hinges on the proper
understanding of experience as true existence and on the
intrinsic powers view: what truly exists, in physical terms, are
intrinsic entities, and only what truly exists can cause. On the
other hand, much of the debate about free will has revolved
not around existence but around the role of indeterminism.
What does IIT have to say about indeterminism and its
significance for free will?
We will briefly address three points. First, a degree of
fundamental indeterminism is mandated by IIT’s
requirements for intrinsic existence. Second, this fundamental
indeterminism is not the reason we have true free will; in the
timeframe of a few seconds, our actions are likely highly
determined and thus predictable. However, since existence is
not constitution and causation is not prediction, true free will
is not only compatible with a high degree of determinism but
requires it. Third, fundamental indeterminism matters in the
long term. If we have true free will, and if the future is not
preordained, we are responsible not only for our present
actions but, in a very real sense, for what they bring about in
the future: our freely willed actions are both self-changing and
world-changing.
8.1 IIT and fundamental indeterminism
IIT assumes an explanatory model based on cause–effect
power “all the way down.” To be self-consistent, this model
requires that the smallest units that can take and make a
difference—the atomic units of cause–effect power—should
satisfy the requirements for intrinsic existence.19 This means
that, in principle, each unit must have a difference available,
in the sense of an intrinsic repertoire of states, and must be
able to take and make a difference from and to itself,
regardless of the input from other units (the “background
conditions”). This leads to a tension between indeterminism
and determinism, where indeterminism provides the
difference, and determinism takes and makes the difference.
Thus, a degree of micro-indeterminism is required to ensure
that intrinsic cause–effect power is available all the way down.
8.2 Free will and predictability
In a typical free will scenario, say, one taking place over a few
seconds, micro-indeterminism is unlikely to influence my
decisions (and if we were to discover that quantum
indeterminism may play a role in the firing of neurons, that
kind of chance will not buy us any freedom, only a minor
degree of unpredictability). As a consequence, decisions and
actions should be largely predictable. In fact, they may often
be partially and coarsely predictable at a high, psychological
The availability of alternative extrinsic trajectories due to
indeterminism is not necessary for freedom, but neither is it sufficient. If I
am not conceiving alternatives in my mind, it is irrelevant that
xxxiv
level. For example, people who know me well may be able to
correctly predict how I will choose in specific circumstances
simply because they have a good understanding of my values
and beliefs and how they might determine my actions.
Or my decisions and actions may be fully and precisely
predictable based on a low-level, detailed model of my brain.
The question is whether predictability is incompatible with
free will. For example, consider a scenario in which I am
asked to choose to which charities I wish to donate.34 One
day, a computer simulating the interactions among my
neurons with utmost precision should be able to achieve nearperfect prediction over the few seconds of my deliberations,
as long as they take place in a controlled environment.
Moreover, a very fast computer should be able to
systematically predict my choices before I make them.35 This
would certainly evoke an eerie feeling of alienation—of being
a mere “puppet.” If every detail of my behavior is fully
predictable in advance, how can I possibly be free?
As before, determination and the ensuing predictability
seem to leave no way out for true free will. And, as before,
the problem is that the notions of determination and
predictability are based on the extrinsic substrate+ view. In
that view, my brain exists as such: it is a complicated physical
substrate—a biological machine—that follows a single,
predetermined trajectory. It has no alternatives or choice and,
at least in the short run, it cannot help but “go through the
motions.” And while it may well be that my functional states,
as well as my feeling of having alternatives and making
decisions, cannot be reduced to their physical substrate in the
brain, they are ontologically determined by it and are the result
of microphysical causation. Inexorably, regardless of my
protestations, I am just carried along for the ride.
But if we start from phenomenology and take the intrinsic
powers view, the perspective on what actually exists changes
radically. My freedom depends on the true existence of
multiple alternatives in my mind, here and now, not on the
possibility of multiple trajectories unrolling over time. It is not
chance but choice that makes us free—not a fork in the road ahead (-<)
but a fork in the mind here and now ( Y ). Trajectories themselves
are just useful predictive devices for conscious observers
(equipped with powerful computers): they do not truly exist
as such, but only in the mind of the observer who can
interpret them.xxxiv
In summary, high-level predictability is not a problem for
free will: if my alternatives are evaluated based on my reasons,
my reasons cause my decisions, and my decisions cause my
actions, no wonder prediction is possible. If I have strong
reasons for choosing the way I did, then under the same
circumstances, I should freely make the same choice, again
and again. Nor is low-level, microphysical predictability a
indeterminism in my brain might leave open multiple trajectories for my
future actions. Whatever action occurs would be due to chance and not to
will.
20
Figure 9. Historical determination and personal responsibility: the extrinsic substrate+ view. Governed by the “laws of physics,” microphysical substrates
give rise to basic life forms, which eventually evolve into animals, such as myself, with sophisticated emergent functions, such as decisionmaking, language, and rationality. However, these functions emerge upon the microphysical substrate and are “carried along for the ride.”
Hence, nothing is truly my responsibility but is determined by previous occurrences and chance at the microphysical level.
problem. A detailed, low-level model of the main complex is
one that offers a good operational account of what truly exists
(by unfolding Φ-structures) and of what truly causes (by
computing 𝒜-structures originating in Φ-structures). If the
model of what exists and causes is good, it will also predict
well what will exist next (my decision will come into being,
caused by my reasons, and it will cause my action). But if the
model is good, it will also offer a shortcut to predict what
happens next without even bothering to unfold what truly
exists and causes: we simply need to unroll the successive
high
consciousness
states of every unit based on its inputs and mechanism.xxxv In
short, true free will is fully compatible with full predictability.
From this perspective, it is justified to have a feeling of
alienation if confronted with a computer simulation
predicting my decision: the simulated neurons are indeed “not
me”—they don’t truly exist or truly cause, even though they
can be a convenient operational shortcut for unfolding what
exists and causes and predict what happens next.
free will
self-changing
high
(alternatives,
actions
responsibility
reasons)
rationality and full
responsibility
Figure 10. Historical determination and personal responsibility: the intrinsic powers view of IIT. As the universe evolves, what first exists are merely small
aggregates of ontological “dust”—intrinsic entities characterized by negligibly small Φ-structures. Organisms eventually evolve with neural
substrates, portions of which unfold into Φ-structures of high Φ. True free will becomes possible in an intrinsic entity, such as myself, with
a Φ-structure complex enough to conceive of alternatives—a “fork in the mind”—and to reason about them. My capacity for true free will
grows the more I can exercise self-changing actions—those that modify my own substrate—along with world-changing actions—those that
modify my surroundings. These capacities enable me to develop rationality and render me truly responsible for my decisions. As such, with
full rationality comes full responsibility.
xxxv If the model is correct, the prediction will be correct. But that does not
mean that the model exists or causes. Imagine the model were simulating
the cerebellum or another computer; the prediction would be just as good,
but neither the model nor what it models would exist or cause. More
generally, prediction is blind to existence, borders, grain, and structure.30
21
8.3 Historical determination and personal
responsibility
We have seen that short-term determinism, whether at the
level of my values or my neurons, is compatible with true free
will and not just with free will of convenience. xxxvi
Nevertheless, modern physics assumes that a degree of
fundamental micro-indeterminism at the quantum level is
part of the fabric of nature. As described above, the same
assumption is made by IIT purely as a requirement for
intrinsic existence. With respect to free will, the main
consequence is not that fundamental indeterminism makes us
free, but that it makes the unrolling of the universe
unpredictable in principle, hence not preordained, at least in
the long term. Therefore, given indeterminism, true free will,
and considering the further ability of freely willed actions to
modify their own substrate, we are truly responsible not just
for our actions here and now, but also for how they will
change ourselves and our environment in the future.
To see why, the contrast of views is, again, helpful. In the
extrinsic substrate+ view, the universe unrolls according to the
“laws of physics,” and under certain conditions, it may “give
rise” to physical substrates of increasing complexity, such as
those that can support life, multicellular organisms, and
biological intelligence (fig. 9). Eventually, highly evolved
animals such as ourselves become endowed with
sophisticated emergent functions, including rational thought
and language, which allow us to build societies and cultures.
The evolution of the universe, as well as the precise course of
evolutionary and cultural events on earth, are fundamentally
unpredictable due to the inherent indeterminism of the
microphysical world. As we have seen, however,
indeterminism does not buy us freedom, just some measure
of unpredictability. Everything that happens is either
determined by the previous state of the universe, in which
case we can say that it is caused at the microphysical level, or
it is not determined, in which case we can say that it occurs
by chance. In all cases, my emergent functional (and
phenomenal) states can only “go along for the ride,” without
exerting any influence on what happens next.
In such a scenario, nothing is truly my responsibility;
everything is either determined by previous occurrences or
just happens by chance. In the extrinsic substrate+ view, then,
I can only be held responsible in a pragmatic, socially
xxxvi This refers to the pragmatic variety of free will used by the legal system
and throughout society, which holds that adults are responsible for their
actions except under conditions of duress, insanity, and so on.
xxxvii This sentiment was expressed well by Omar Khayyam:
“And that inverted Bowl we call the Sky,
Whereunder crawling coop’t we live and die,
Lift not thy hand to It for help – for It
Rolls impotently on as Thou or I.”
xxxviii Studies using simulated organisms with a simple brain, called animats,
illustrate how selective pressure may favor the evolution of substrates
having high Φ.36
xxxix The term is similar to “self-forming actions.”14 However, in IIT selfchanging actions are free not through indeterminism, but because they are
motivated sense. Accordingly, an enlightened society may
decide to employ preventive dissuasion rather than
punishment, but in the end, even that societal decision is not
truly free.xxxvii
The intrinsic powers view is radically different (fig. 10). At
some point in the history of the earth, organisms evolved that
harbored neural substrates unfolding into Φ-structures of
high Φ.xxxviii These organisms have full-fledged experiences:
there is much “it is like to be” them because they exist as large
intrinsic entities. As we have also seen, being highly conscious
is not sufficient for free will. For that, organisms must evolve
who are able to envision alternatives; assess them against
reasons; decide on the basis of those reasons; and intend,
cause, and control actions. Conscious notions of the self, of
values, and of beliefs are also typically needed, and so is
understanding: the broader the conscious context of my
choice, the more it is caused by me.
Once free will comes into being on the face of the earth, it
transforms those who harbor it and the world that surrounds
them, molding both self and environment towards values and
purposes. Self-changing actionsxxxix are those, freely willed by me,
that cause a long-lasting change in the mechanisms and
connectivity of my substrate—that is, ultimately, in its TPM.xl
For example, suppose I decide to devote myself to the study
of medicine to improve the human condition. Over time,
what I study will change the connections among neurons in
my substrate and thereby change who I am—my reasons,
values, beliefs, and even the strength of my resolve (or
willpower). Or I may decide to devote myself to the
preservation of the environment, changing not just myself but
also what surrounds me. My actions then become worldchanging actions.
Because I can perform self-changing and world-actions out
of my own free will, I acquire true responsibility (as do any other
beings with true free will, and nothing else). If I have free will,
my freely willed actions cause what will happen in the long
run, what I will become, and how I will affect the world,
molding myself and environment according to my purpose,
not at the whim of chance. Furthermore, my personal
responsibility can only grow with increased consciousness
and understanding—that is, with increased freedom of my
will. Finally, if I cultivate the ability to assess and criticize
reasons, values, and beliefs in a rational manner, I will become
caused by an intrinsic entity who conceives alternatives and reasons, makes
decisions, and controls actions.
xl In IIT, changes in the TPM itself are justified by the principle of becoming,
which says that powers become what powers do.19 Briefly, powers are nothing but
conditional probabilities reflected by the TPM, and as such, they too update
when unit states update. The plasticity of powers ultimately provides the
sufficient reason for the powers to have become what they have become,
rather than being what they are arbitrarily (for no reason). The precise way
in which powers are updated—how actions beget powers (the plasticity
function, coupled with the activity function—how powers beget actions)—
must be consistent with the principles and assumptions of IIT and is
discussed elsewhere.19
22
fully free and thereby fully responsible. This is because my
choices will no longer be constrained by my own subjective
beliefs alone, but they will be evaluated under the objective
(and inter-subjective) light of reason. With freedom, indeed,
comes responsibility, and with that the opportunity to shape
an open-ended future according to our will, guided by
rationality.
These conclusions derived from the intrinsic powers
ontology and its account of causation happen to align with
both common sense and many spiritual, religious, and
wisdom traditions: we can be the true authors of our
deliberate actions, and we bear responsibility for their
consequences. As a popular saying goes, “Watch your
thoughts, they become your words; watch your words, they
become your actions; watch your actions, they become your
habits; watch your habits, they become your character; watch
your character, it becomes your destiny.” xli Conversely, as
discussed in section 6.3, digital computers as currently built
support no significant Φ-structure, no matter how
intelligently they act. They do not exist for themselves,
intrinsically, but only for us as conscious observers. Thus,
according to the intrinsic powers view, they cannot truly cause
nor are they truly responsible for anything. This has important
legal implications for how we build and operate them.
9 Some experimental tests
This essay ends with a few considerations about empirical
tests. Scientists typically take the extrinsic substrate+ view (at
least implicitly) and tend to see the brain as a complicated
biological machine. Like any machine—say, a computer
executing a program—the brain cannot help but “run
through the motions.” In fact, neurophysiological findings are
often presented as supporting the conclusion that free will is
illusory.18, 37 For example, a subject’s decision, such as “I will
move my arm,” may be predicted above chance well before
the subject “becomes aware of that decision” by recording
correlates of neural activity in certain parts of the brain. And
indeed, by investigating the brain as a physical substrate that
exists and causes as such, it is inevitable that we will only find
a series of neuronal events that predict other neuronal events,
unrolling along tracks set by neuronal connections. Even if
we accept the reality of consciousness and feelings of free will,
we must also accept that they emerge upon those neuronal
events, that they may emerge late, and that, at any rate, they
can play no role in what actually happens. At best, we may
find some brain regions that are systematically activated or
deactivated when a choice is entertained, a decision is made,
and an action is experienced as willed.17 But we will find
nothing that could make any difference above and beyond
what neurons have caused.
Figure 11. Human experiments: involuntary vs. voluntary actions, small vs. big decisions. The four panels show paradigmatic scenarios in which
the same outward action (hand movement) is performed, but triggered differently. In each case, the neuronal sequence leading to the
movement (shown in red) could be recorded using fMRI, high-density EEG, or intracranial recordings. A) The hand moves as a reflex
triggered by an automated percussion of the bicipital tendon. IIT predicts that causal analysis should not trace the cause back to the
main Ф-structure (blue outline). B) The hand moves due to a direct transcranial magnetic stimulation of the motor cortex (“M1”).
Again, the cause should not originate within the main Ф-structure. C) The subject voluntarily moves their hand whenever they “feel
the urge” in a Libet-style paradigm. The cause should originate within the main Ф-structure, albeit from a small sub-structure and with
low 𝒜—corresponding to a free but trivial decision. D) The subject voluntarily moves their hand after pondering which non-profit
foundation should receive their donation. The cause should originate from a large sub-structure within the main Ф-structure and have
high 𝒜—corresponding to a free non-trivial decision.
xli This quote has been credited to various historical figures, including Lao
Tzu, Ralph Waldo Emerson, and Gautama Buddha. While such figures
have made similar statements, the true source appears to be less exotic:
Frank Outlaw, founder of BI-LO supermarkets.
23
If we take IIT’s intrinsic powers view, however, the
perspective changes, and not just as a matter of interpretation.
Rather, the validity of the intrinsic powers view can be tested
objectively by assessing several specific predictions. For
example, consider four paradigmatic scenarios in which the
same outward action is performed (fig. 11). In the first
condition, a subject performs either a left- or a right-hand
movement as a reflex triggered by a percussion of the bicipital
tendon. In the second, the subject does so due to transcranial
magnetic stimulation (TMS) of the motor cortex. In the third,
the subject does so voluntarily whenever they “feel the urge,”
in a Libet-style paradigm.18, 37 And in the fourth, the subject
does so voluntarily after deliberating which non-profit
foundation should receive their donation.34
These four scenarios can be investigated in humans using
functional MRI, high-density EEG, and TMS, as well as
intracranial recordings and stimulations. As we have seen,
based on the principles of IIT, the main complex should
correspond to a maximum of irreducible cause–effect power
(φs)—and its unfolded cause–effect structure should
correspond to a subject’s experience. Ongoing work using
approximate measures suggests that it is possible to identify
such a maximum of φs, primarily over posterior cortical
regions. Encouragingly, the same set of posterior regions
appear to be critical for consciousness and its various
contents based on independent sources of evidence—
including lesion, stimulation, and recording studies.22 On this
basis, it becomes possible to investigate several predictions of
IIT that specifically concern free will:
1) Do voluntary actions, but not reflex actions, originate
within the main complex in the brain?
2) Is the 𝒜 value higher, and the associated sub-structure
within that Ф-structure larger, for deliberate actions vs.
actions triggered by urges?
In this way, propositions that may at first seem hopelessly
“metaphysical”—about the nature of consciousness and
true free will—become fully physical (operational) and
therefore testable.
10 Conclusion
The argument for true free will presented here depends on
IIT as a theory of consciousness, the validity of which must
first be evaluated at the conceptual level. Do the axioms fully
capture the essential properties of consciousness—those that
are immediately and irrefutably true of every conceivable
xlii Tests in humans are critical, because only in ourselves do we have direct
evidence for experience, including the experience of free will. Experiments
in non-human primates or rodents may also help the interpretation of
human experiments. A complementary approach consists in testing the selfconsistency of the IIT account of consciousness and free will using
simulated agents (animats).36 With such agents, the four scenarios described
in humans can be reproduced in a simplified manner to systematically
evaluate cause–effect structures and causal accounts. Specifically, we can 1)
experience? Do the postulates adequately formulate these
axioms into physical, operational propositions? Can the
explanatory identity account, at least in principle, for both the
essential and the accidental properties of every conceivable
experience?
Second, the theory must be evaluated empirically. Does
consciousness go along with a maximum of φs associated with
a high value of structured integrated information (Φ)? Does
that maximum disintegrate when consciousness is lost? Does
the empirical main complex in our brain correspond to such
a maximum? Do the units of the main complex in our brain
have a grain that maximizes φs? Can the cause–effect substructures unfolded from portions of the main complex
account for basic aspects of experience, such as spatial
extendedness, temporal flow, objects, and local qualities such
as colors and sounds?
If IIT survives these empirical tests, then its implications
for free will become relevant. What truly exists and truly
causes are only intrinsic entities—absolute maxima of cause–
effect power, corresponding to conscious beings such as
ourselves. Further, if we can consciously formulate
alternatives, consider reasons, make decisions, and control
our actions, then we have true free will. The amount of free
will for any decision can also be measured, and the origin of
the decision can be established empirically, thereby providing
further tests of IIT.xlii Finally, if we do have free will, we can
perform self-changing and world-changing actions that shape
ourselves and our environment according to our intentions.
And given the fundamental indeterminism that makes the
world open ended in the long run, we can freely shape how
we and the world will evolve. For this, we have true and
ultimate responsibility.
11 Acknowledgements
We thank F. Ellia, G. Findlay, M. Grasso, A. Haun, B. Juel,
W. Marshall, W. Mayner, and especially J. Hendren and J.P.
Lang for their comments on the manuscript and help with the
figures. This project was made possible through support from
Templeton World Charity Foundation (nos. TWCF0216 and
TWCF0526). The opinions expressed in this publication are
those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views
of Templeton World Charity Foundation.
fully unfold Φ-structures and measure their Φ value, 2) determine at which
spatio-temporal grain the agent exerts a maximum of causal power, 3) backand forward-track causes and effects while considering their optimal grain,
4) precisely establish whether the distal cause of an action originates within
the agent’s substrate, and 5) obtain a causal account and estimate 𝒜structures and their 𝒜 value to measure how much the agent causes an
action—in other words, to measure the amount of free will it exerts.
24
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25
Supplementary material
Figure S1. The “unrolled” causal structure of a computer simulating a brain. If one were to apply IIT’s ontological and causal analysis to a computer
simulating a cognitive function—say, making a “decision,”—one would find that the computer as a whole does not truly exist as an intrinsic
entity. Instead, its causal powers unfold into ontological “dust”—many minuscule entities (specified, say, by small sets of transistors arranged
in a cycle, which unfold into tiny Φ-structures [far left]). Moreover, the causal account would fragment into causal “dust”—many parallel
causes and effects of very low causal strength 𝒜 (shown in red arrows on the cause side and green arrows on the effect side).
26 |
Causal Set Quantum Gravity and the Hard Problem
of Consciousness
Fay Dowker
Blackett Laboratory, Imperial College, Prince Consort Road, London, SW7 2AZ, UK
arXiv:2209.07653v2 [gr-qc] 21 May 2023
Perimeter Institute, 31 Caroline Street North, Waterloo ON, N2L 2Y5, Canada
Abstract
I develop Rafael D. Sorkin’s proposal that a partially ordered process of the
birth of spacetime atoms in causal set quantum gravity provides an objective
physical correlate of our perception of time passing. I argue that one cannot
have a fully objective, external picture of the birth process because the order
in which the spacetime atoms are born is a partial order. I propose that live
experience in causal set theory is an internal view of the objective birth process
in which events that are neural correlates of consciousness occur. In causal
set theory, what “breathes fire” into a neural correlate of consciousness is that
which breathes fire into the whole universe: the unceasing, partially ordered
process of the birth of spacetime atoms.
Contents
1 Introduction
1.1 Objective and subjective . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
2
4
2 The concepts of process and event in physical theory
5
3 Events in General Relativity
3.1 Events in GR include a spacetime substrate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
3.2 Subevents and point-events . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
3.3 Order . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
3.4 An external objective picture in GR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
6
6
7
7
9
4 Causal Set Theory
4.1 Events in CST . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
4.2 CST dynamics and three concepts pertaining to events . . . . . . . . . . .
4.3 No objective external picture of the birth process . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
4.4 A partly subjective external picture of the process . . . . . . . . . . . . .
4.5 Comparison with the random walk . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
4.6 An objective internal view . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
9
9
11
12
12
13
13
5 The Hard Problem of consciousness in causal set theory
5.1 Qualities of conscious experience . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
5.2 In the light of the Proposal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
5.2.1 Consciousness in the Block . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
5.2.2 What breathes fire into the theory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
5.2.3 The knowledge argument . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
5.2.4 How consciousness interacts with spacetime, particles and fields . .
5.2.5 Monism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
5.2.6 Panpsychism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
5.2.7 Fundamentalism about consciousness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
5.3 Cortes, Smolin and Verde . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
14
14
15
15
15
15
16
16
16
17
17
6 Discussion
18
7 Acknowledgments
19
1
1
Introduction
Grau, teurer Freund, ist alle Theorie, Und grün des Lebens goldner Baum.
[Grey, dear Friend, all Theory is, And green Life’s golden Tree.]
(Mephistopheles in “Faust” by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, 1808)
Think of the causal set as an idealized growing tree [...] Such a tree grows at
the tips of its many branches, and these sites of growth are independent of one
another. [...The causal set] is “growing at the tips” but not in a synchronized
manner with respect to any external time. There is no single “now” that
spreads itself over the entire process.
(Rafael D. Sorkin [1] )
In his Autobiographical Notes [2], Albert Einstein states his “epistemological credo”
which begins:
I see on the one side the totality of sense-experiences, on the other side the
totality of the concepts and propositions that are laid down in books. The
relations between the concepts and propositions among themselves are of a
logical type, and the business of logical thinking is strictly limited to the
making of the connection between concepts and propositions among each other
according to firmly-set rules, which are the concern of logic. The concepts
and propositions acquire “meaning” and “content”, respectively, only through
their relation to sense-experiences. The connection (Die Verbindung) of the
latter with the former is purely intuitive, not itself of a logical nature. The
degree of certainty with which this relation or intuitive connection (intuitive
Verknüpfung) can be made, and nothing else, is what differentiates empty
fantasy from scientific “truth”.
But, you may say, isn’t Einstein’s epistemology of science, a theory of science and scientific
progress that is written down in a book and that includes a concept of sense-experience.
And doesn’t the “truth” of this theory, by its own lights, have to be judged solely on
whether it can be brought into coordination with sense-experience? And so on. To avoid
circling down an endless rabbit hole of self-reference, one must acknowledge that Einstein’s
epistemology of science is not a theory in the Einsteinian sense of having definite axioms
and logical rules of inference that result in propositions about the concepts within the
theory. It is, rather, a heuristic. It may illuminate and help with the project of advancing
our understanding of the world or it may obscure and hinder. And this judgment may
be made by anyone who takes part in the struggle, personally, and perhaps differently in
different contexts.
Is Einstein’s epistemology of science helpful in thinking about the Hard Problem of
consciousness [3, 4]? Let us take what Einstein refers to as “sense-experiences” and, in a
famous diagram (letter to Maurice Solovine dated 7th May 1952 in [5]), as “immediate
(sense) experiences” (die unmittelbaren (Sinnen) Erlebnisse) to be amongst those conscious experiences referred to by the Hard Problem. Then the Hard Problem looks hard
2
indeed by the light of Einstein’s epistemology. For, to solve it one must create theoretical
concepts of sense-experiences and lay these down in books. And then, in order that the
theory may be distinguished from empty fantasy, one must make an intuitive connection
between sense-experiences and propositions about the sense-experience-concepts in the
theory with some degree of certainty, a task that is bound to be haunted by spectres of
circularity and lurking paradox.
In this article I aim to show that there is a concept in theoretical physics that, though
it can be stated—“the unceasing process of the partially ordered births of spacetime
atoms”—cannot be fully captured, not in books, nor in a movie, nor even in thought,
as it is objectively. To the extent that I achieve this aim, I will have demonstrated
that Einstein’s epistemology of science, heuristic though it is, is not flexible enough to
accommodate all of physics and in the wiggle room that opens up, I suggest, we can
make progress on the Hard Problem. Indeed, the partially ordered birth process within
the causal set approach to the problem of quantum gravity has been proposed by Rafael
D. Sorkin as a physical correlate of our subjective experience of time passing. Sorkin
states [1]:
It [the example of sequential growth models for causal sets] even provides
an objective correlate of our subjective perception of “time passing” in the
unceasing cascade of birth-events that build up the causal set, by “accretion”
as it were. [Footnote:] The notion of “accretive time” that arises here seems
close to that of C.D. Broad, and also to that of the “Vibhajavadin” school
within the Buddhist philosophical tradition.1
Sorkin’s paper is a treatise not on consciousness but on time. However, there is a striking similarity between aspects of the debate between two broad camps loosely labelled
Being and Becoming on the question of the nature of time and aspects of the debate
between two broad camps loosely labelled Sufficiency of Neural Correlate of Consciousness (NCC) and Insufficiency of Neural Correlate of Consciousness on the question of
consciousness. In each case, the latter camp (Becoming or I-NCC) claims that something
essential is missing from the former camp’s expositions. In each case, members of the
former camp (Being or S-NCC) claim that the “something essential” is an illusion and/or
a misapprehension. In this article I take the position that the two debates are the same
debate and that our perception of time passing is the aspect of consciousness to which the
Hard Problem pertains.2 It follows from this position that Sorkin’s proposal is a solution
to the Hard Problem and in this article I will develop it in the following form:
1 A interesting project for a scholar of Buddhism interested in physics would be to try to determine the
“Vibhajavadin” view of time, perception and epistemology in detail by examining the earliest existing
records.
2 I thank Huw Price for referring me to Chapter V of Arthur Eddington’s Gifford Lectures in which
Eddington makes a connection between consciousness and the perception of the passage of time: “[...]
if there is any experience in which this mystery of mental recognition can be interpreted as insight
rather than image-building, it should be the experience of “becoming.” [....] The view here advocated is
tantamount to an admission that consciousness, looking out through a private door, can learn by direct
insight an underlying character of the world which physical measurements do not betray”. (Chapter V
“Becoming” in [6])
3
Proposal (referred to henceforth in this article as “the Proposal”)
The process of the partially ordered birth of the atomic-events that compose an NCCevent in causal set theory correlates with the subject having the corresponding conscious experience in real time.
The plan of the article is as follows. Section 2 introduces the concept of event in the
mathematics and physics of stochastic processes. A simple such process—the random
walk on the integers—is used to illustrate the two theories, one dynamic and one static,
with different physical content, that can be derived from the same mathematics. The
concept of event can be carried over from stochastic processes to formally deterministic
theories such as General Relativity and section 3 discusses events in GR and the primitive point-events of which every event is composed and which are partially ordered by
precedence.
Section 4 introduces the causal set approach to the problem of quantum gravity and fundamental discreteness of spacetime. In causal set theory (CST) spacetime is composed of
discrete, indivisible spacetime atoms and there are dynamical models in which spacetime
grows by the accretion of spacetime atoms that are born in a partially ordered process.
I develop a three-way distinction between (i) an event-as-such, (ii) the occurrence of an
event and (iii) an occurred-event in the context of the partially ordered process of the
birth of spacetime atoms. I argue that, because the order of the births is partial and not
linear, one can have an external, dynamic view of the process only if that view is partly
subjective. The Proposal is that one can, nevertheless, have an objective dynamic view
of the process if one is oneself part of the physical system: conscious experience is that
internal view, that in-sight.
Section 5 puts the partially ordered birth process to work on the Hard Problem. In
subsection 5.1 I build confidence in the Proposal by making connections between properties of the partially ordered birth process and reported qualities of conscious experience.
In subsection 5.2 I build further confidence in the Proposal by throwing its light on some
aspects of the Hard Problem. In subsection 5.3 I compare and contrast the Proposal to
that of Marina Cortes, Lee Smolin and Clelia Verde [7].
Throughout the article I will assume that there is no relevant quantum interference
between the physical histories referred to. Section 6 is a conclusion section and includes
a brief discussion of quantum dynamics in causal set theory.
1.1
Objective and subjective
For the purpose of the article the terms “objective” and “subjective” have meaning with
respect to a particular physical theory, the theory under discussion whatever that is in
context:
Objective = physical in the theory.
Subjective = not physical in the theory but exists in the minds of scientists working with
the theory.
4
In physics, gauge independent concepts are objective and pure gauge concepts are subjective. Consider these examples from GR. The proper time measure along a timelike
worldline, the volume measure of a 4 dimensional region of spacetime and the event horizon of a Schwarzschild black hole are objective. The Schwarzschild coordinate system for
the Schwarzschild black hole spacetime is subjective. Sometimes a concept can have both
objective and subjective content. For example the Schwarzschild metric in Schwarzschild
coordinates contains both objective, viz. physical information and subjective, viz. unphysical information.
2
The concepts of process and event in physical theory
Informally, “event” means “something that can happen” in the physical theory one is
working within. In the applied mathematics of stochastic processes, “event” has a precise
definition: an event is a subset of the set of all possible histories for the system at hand.3
This latter definition will be the meaning of the term “event” throughout this article and
given the importance of this meaning I will illustrate it using the concrete example of a
discrete stochastic process that is a simple random walk on the integers.
There are two ways to conceive of the random walk:
A as a dynamic process and
B as a static measure theory.
Let us say, just for definiteness, that the walker starts at the origin at t = 0 and
steps one place to the left or to the right at each discrete stage of the random walk. Let
us call the position of the walker after t steps γt . In both A and B, one considers the
set Ω of all possible completed histories of the walker i.e. all possible infinite sequences
of integers {γt } = {γ0 , γ1 , γ2 . . . } where γ0 = 0 and |γk − γk+1 | = 1. An event is
a subset of Ω. For example the event “the walker is at 5 at stage 13” is the subset
E(5; 13) := {{γt } ∈ Ω | γ13 = 5}.
In A there are transition probabilities for the walker to step to the left or to the right
at each stage and these transition probabilities define the random walk. In B there is a
probability measure on the collection of all events. The probability measure on the events
can be calculated from the set of all the transition probabilities and vice versa: the same
information is contained in the measure and in the transition probabilities.
In physical theory A there is a process and the walker steps to the left or right at each
stage of the process. In physical theory B one infinite completed “Block Universe” history
{γt } is chosen at random from Ω according to the probability measure on the collection
of all events. That history is the world and each event either has occurred or has not
occurred in the world. For example, if history {Γt } is chosen we look at Γ13 . If it equals
5 we say that the event E(5; 13) happened and if it does not equal 5 then we say that the
event E(5; 13) did not happen.
A and B are different physically. In A there is the dynamic process of stepping and
a physical order in time in which the steps occur. In B there is no process, there is no
stepping.
3 Strictly, an event is a measureable subset of the set of all possible histories but I will elide this
technical point in what follows.
5
In A, because there is a process of stepping, there is a difference between an event—a
subset of Ω—and its occurrence in the process. For example, E(5; 13) is a set of histories
and in physical theory A the occurrence of E(5; 13) is the stepping of the walker to the
integer 5 (from 6 or 4) at stage 13 of the process. In theory B the process of stepping
and the concept of the occurrence of an event are absent; theory B is static and is a
stochastic “process” in name only. The Proposal is built on the dynamic conception of
stochastic process and the difference between an event and the occurrence of the event
will be crucial. This will be set out in detail later in the article in the context of causal set
theory in section 4.2. For now, I just emphasise the contingent nature of events: an event
may or may not happen. This is important because we have considered here an example
of a process, the random walk, in which the dynamics is stochastic but in formally deterministic theories such as GR and classical mechanics, events are still contingent—they
may or may not happen—due to uncertainty about initial and other external conditions.
Note: The physicist can have an external view of the world in both of these physical
theories of the random walk. In theory B the external view is static; it is an infinite
sequence of integers. In theory A the external view is dynamic; it is a movie of a walker
stepping to the left and the right in a linearly ordered sequence of steps.
3
Events in General Relativity
The Proposal hangs on two particular aspects of events in General Relativity, aspects
that are inherited by events in Causal Set Theory:
i. Every event includes a spacetime substrate as the event’s most fundamental physical
component.
ii. The order of precedence of the primitive subevents of an event is a partial order.
The following subsections expand on these aspects of events in GR.
3.1
Events in GR include a spacetime substrate
According to GR the physical world is a 4 dimensional (4D) continuum spacetime, together
with matter, if it is present, described by decorations on spacetime. Matter here refers
to all physical stuff apart from spacetime, such as the trajectories of atoms and the
electromagnetic field. Spacetime in GR is not an empty vessel, nor is it a mere background
stage for what happens. In GR, spacetime is a 4D physical entity with a geometric
structure and dynamical laws in which spacetime and matter interact with each other.
Spacetime is the entity that GR is the physics of.
Let us consider for definiteness, and inspired by Robert Geroch [8], an event Ef ire that
is the explosion of a firecracker. From an old-fashioned perspective, a conceptual left-over
from Newtonian physics, Ef ire has spatial and temporal location and spatial and temporal
extension. In GR the concepts of temporal and spatial location and extension of Ef ire
lose their separate meanings and it is only physically meaningful to say that Ef ire has
location-extension in 4D spacetime. Ef ire ’s location-extension is a 4D region of spacetime
6
of finite 4-volume of the order of 10−3 m3 s, say, and I will refer to this region of spacetime
as the spacetime substrate SS(Ef ire ) of the event Ef ire .
The spacetime substrate of an event in GR is its most fundamental physical component. For, in the absence of matter there are still events. If R is a 4D region of spacetime
that is a vacuum solution of the Einstein equations then R is, by itself, an event. In our
terminology we say there is an event, E, such that SS(E) = R and there are no matter
decorations. On the other hand, in the absence of a spacetime substrate, there is no event;
there is nothing.
3.2
Subevents and point-events
The explosion event Ef ire has subevents corresponding to subregions of its spacetime
substrate. For example a subregion might correspond roughly to a subinterval of the
full time duration of the explosion event. One of the axioms of GR is that spacetime is a
continuum and one can continue considering smaller and smaller subevents by considering
smaller and smaller subregions of spacetime—roughly, regions of shorter time duration
and smaller spatial extension [8]—until in the infinite limit, SS(E) can be partitioned into
all of its uncountably infinitely many points. I will refer to “the point-event p in SS(E)”
as shorthand for “the point-event whose spacetime substrate is the point p in spacetime
region SS(E).” The smallest sub-events of E in GR are its point-events.
3.3
Order
An event E is more than merely the collection of its point-sub-events: to reconstruct E
from its point-sub-events, one needs to know the physical precedence order relation on
the point-sub-events together with the spacetime volume measure of SS(E) [9]. I will
denote by the symbol ≺ the physical precedence order relation on point-events in GR.4
Some axiomatic formulations of GR allow spacetimes in which there is no precedence
order relation because the spacetimes contain closed causal curves. In this article I will
assume that the precedence order exists because it is a prediction of causal set theory
that such spacetimes with closed causal curves are unphysical and do not belong to “GR
proper”.
Given any two point-events, p and q, in the spacetime substrate of an event SS(E),
either p ≺ q (p precedes q) or q ≺ p (q precedes p) or p and q have no order. Phrases
synonymous with “p ≺ q” are p precedes q, q is preceded by p, p is before q and q is after
p. Two point-events p and q that are unordered are not simultaneous; there is no physical
concept of simultaneity in GR. If two point-events p and q are unordered then no physical
influence propagates from p to q nor from q to p, according to the principle of relativistic
causality that holds in GR.
Consider now our firecracker explosion event. In the region SS(Ef ire ), GR tells us
what the order of precedence is. Assuming that gravitational interactions can be neglected
SS(Ef ire ) will be a region of 4D Minkowski space. In an inertial coordinate system
{x0 , x1 , x2 , x3 }, if p has coordinates (p0 , p1 , p2 , p3 ) and q has coordinates (q 0 , q 1 , q 2 , q 3 )
then p ≺ q if and only if p0 < q 0 and (p1 − q 1 )2 + (p2 − q 2 )2 + (p3 − q 3 )2 ≤ (p0 − q 0 )2 .
The units of the coordinates are chosen so that the speed of light equals 1 in these units.
4 The usual term for the precedence order relation ≺ in GR textbooks and papers is the causal relation.
7
Figure 1: The figure represents a subregion of SS(Ef ire ), a portion of 4D Minkowski
spacetime with one coordinate, x3 suppressed. The x0 coordinate along the vertical axis
is a timelike coordinate and the other two axes are spacelike coordinates. The unit of
coordinates x1 and x2 is 1cm and the unit of coordinate x0 is the time taken for light to
travel 1cm. The dots labelled o, p, q, r and s represent point-events in SS(Ef ire ). The
solid cone above p is composed of all point-events that are preceded by p and the solid
cone below p is composed of all point-events that precede p. The units are such that the
aspect ratio of the cones equals one (the height equals the radius of the base). This order
structure exists at every point-event e.g. the precedence cones at r are also shown.
The structure of the order relation is important to understanding the Proposal and
a diagram will help guide our thoughts. Figure 1 is a 3D cartoon of the physical order
of precedence of some example point-events of SS(Ef ire ). The order of precedence for
point-events o, p, q, r and s in figure 1 is: o ≺ r, r ≺ s, o ≺ s, p ≺ q, p ≺ s and there are
no other order relations. (p, r) is an example of a pair of point-events that have no order:
neither precedes the other. This is all basic physics from GR and Special Relativity but it
is worth reviewing given the central role that the particular, relativistic structure of the
precedence order is going to play.
It is hard to overstate how important the precedence order relation is in GR. GR textbooks abound with conformal or Penrose-Carter diagrams that illustrate the precedence
order. The epitome of GR, a black hole, is defined in terms of the precedence order.
Many of the central theorems of GR are based on the techniques of global causal—viz.
precedence—analysis pioneered by Roger Penrose. Also, when gravitational interactions
can be neglected and the spacetime substrate is Minkowski spacetime—as it is for our example Ef ire event—or some other fixed spacetime, then we can consider quantum matter
as a relativistic QFT in that spacetime. The relativistic structure of the precedence order
then plays a crucial role in the construction of physical QFTs including the Standard
8
Model of particle physics.
3.4
An external objective picture in GR
A Block Universe is a maximal event, one whose spacetime substrate is maximally extended. A Block Universe is an external objective picture of the entire history of the
physical world in GR. It is an external picture, a view from the outside that can be
shared and communicated. It is an objective picture, given in terms of physical concepts
in the theory, spacetime, field configurations, particle trajectories etc.
There is a huge literature on the question of whether the physical world in GR must be
a Block Universe (see [10,11] for arguments for the Block Universe in Minkowski spacetime,
as examples from this rich literature). GR with a Block Universe event as the physical
world fits into Einstein’s epistemology of science. It can be laid down in books. There is
no concept of the physical passage of time in a Block Universe, however, and work must
be done to establish an intuitive coordination between our perception of time passing and
concepts within the Block (see [12–14] as examples from this literature). Alongside such
work, many suggestions have been made for re-envisioning GR and/or augmenting GR
with additional structures so as to provide the theory with a physical passage of time
(see for example [15] for an assessment of the possibility of reconciling Becoming with GR
and [16] for an assessment of alternatives to a Block Universe in general, not specific to
GR).
4
Causal Set Theory
Causal set theory (CST) is an approach to the problem of quantum gravity that hypothesizes that spacetime is fundamentally discrete at the Planck scale and that maintains
the centrality of the concept of precedence order. Spacetime in CST, then, takes the
mathematical form of a discrete partial order or causal set, or causet for short [17–20].
Physically, a causet is a discrete set of indivisible spacetime atoms together with their
physical order of precedence ≺, a partial order.
4.1
Events in CST
In CST it is supposed that an event such as our explosion event Ef ire in GR can be recovered from an event in CST, both kinematically and dynamically. These twin hypotheses—
kinematical and dynamical recovery—are both needed for the Proposal. In this subsection
the kinematics is discussed and in the next subsection 4.2, the dynamics is discussed.
An event E in GR is both its spacetime substrate SS(E) and its matter content.
In CST, the spacetime substrate SS(Ef ire ) is supposed to be recovered from, to be a
large scale approximation to a finite causet CS(Ef ire ), as a fluid state in fluid mechanics
is recovered from, is a large scale approximation to a discrete molecular state. There
is good evidence for this hypothesis in CST (see the review in section 3 of [21]). For
example, in the continuum the precedence order and the volume measure together are the
full spacetime geometry [9] and it is plausible that the precedence order of the continuum is
recovered from the precedence order of the underlying causet and that the volume measure
9
of the continuum is recovered from the counting measure of the underlying causet.5
On the other hand, at the current stage of our knowledge in CST it is an almost
completely open question how to account for matter. For the purposes of this article I
will assume that the matter data of events such as Ef ire in GR can be recovered from
some kind of decorations on the causet substrate CS(Ef ire ).
Putting this together, and using the same notation Ef ire to denote the firecracker
explosion event in CST, the kinematical hypothesis is:
The explosion event Ef ire in CST has a causet substrate CS(Ef ire ), to which the continuum Minkowski spacetime substrate SS(Ef ire ) is a good approximation, together with
decorations on CS(Ef ire ) for matter.
Note: The event Ef ire in GR is recovered by many CST events that differ from each
other on small scales, differences in both the causet substrate and the matter decorations
that are irrelevant to Ef ire in GR. A reference to the event “Ef ire in CST” is a reference
to any one of this large collection of CST events—it matters not which—each of which
recovers the event Ef ire in GR. The fluid analogy is helpful. A particular fluid state at
large scales is recovered by many discrete molecular states that differ from each other on
small scales, differences that are irrelevant to the fluid. A reference to “the molecular
state” of the fluid is a reference to any one of this large collection of molecular states—it
matters not which—each of which recovers the fluid description.
In CST, unlike in the continuum, there is a finite end to the procedure of considering
smaller and smaller subevents of Ef ire in CST: after a finite number of subdivisions one
reaches indivisible atomic-events, each with a single spacetime atom as its substrate. The
explosion event Ef ire in CST is composed of roughly 10144 indivisible atomic-events with
their precedence order relations. That number is very large but it is finite and is set by the
hypothesis that the scale of the discreteness in CST is the Planck scale. Also, Ef ire in CST
is nothing but its atomic-events together with their precedence order relations. In GR,
by contrast, the precedence order relation is not enough information to fully reconstruct
an event E from all its point-events: one also needs to know the volume measure on
SS(E) [9].
Figure 1 can now be reinterpreted as representing Ef ire in CST. The dots labelled o,
p, q, r and s in figure 1 can now be thought of as representing atomic-events embedded in
the approximating continuum Minkowski spacetime at the positions shown. The physical
order of precedence of the atomic-events o, p, q, r and s is the order of precedence their
embedded positions have in the approximating Minkowski spacetime. So, o ≺ r, r ≺ s,
o ≺ s, p ≺ q and p ≺ s, and all other pairs of them have no order. o, p, q, r and s are but a
tiny representative sample of the 10144 or so atomic-events composing Ef ire , all of which
should be thought of as embedded uniformly throughout the approximating SS(Ef ire ).
There will be an even vaster, though still finite, number of precedence order relations.
5 If one is attracted to order as a fundamental concept then the promise of CST that spacetime is pure
order is a powerful appeal.
10
4.2
CST dynamics and three concepts pertaining to events
Causal set theory has produced novel dynamical models, the Classical Sequential Growth
(CSG) models, in which a discrete universe grows in an unceasing process of the birth of
spacetime atoms [22].6 The birth process is the physical passage of time in CSG models [1, 24, 25].7 The article will not rely on the details of these specific models and we take
from the models only the concept of a partially ordered birth process. The dynamical
hypothesis is:
In the yet-to-be-discovered physical dynamics of causal set theory, events such as Ef ire
and the NCC-events of the next section 5 occur in a partially ordered birth process.
In the birth process there are three distinct concepts pertaining to events:
(a) an event-as-such E, (b) the process of an event E occurring and (c) an event E that
has occurred. I expand on this three-way distinction using the example of the explosion
event Ef ire in CST discussed in the previous subsection 4.1.
(a) An event-as-such is what I have been referring to hitherto simply as an event, for
example Ef ire . David Reid has suggested the term “occurable” as a synonym for the
term event or event-as-such that captures the sense that I want to emphasise. The event
Ef ire may or may not occur, the firecracker may or may not explode.
(b) The process of Ef ire occurring, or the occurrence of Ef ire for short, is the process of
the birth of the 10144 or so atomic-events that compose Ef ire , in their order of precedence.
Referring to figure 1, recall that the precedence order of the example atomic-events shown
is o ≺ r, r ≺ s, o ≺ s, p ≺ q, p ≺ s. The physical order of the births of the atomic-events
of Ef ire including o, p, q, r and s is a partial order.
(c) An event that has occurred is an event all of whose atomic-sub-events have been
born. To distinguish (a) and (c) I will use the term “occurred-event” to refer to an event
that has occurred. The same notation E is used both for the event-as-such and for the
occurred-event but in the latter case I will refer to it as “the occurred-event E”.
The possibly unfamiliar context of causal sets may make the above discussion of and
distinction between the three concepts (a), (b) and (c) seem more obscure than it is.
The very same three concepts exist for any stochastic process. Consider for example
the random walk introduced in section 2 and the dynamic physical theory A. E(5; 13) is
an event-as-such, an occurable that may or may not happen. As already stated, in the
6 Christian Wüthrich and Craig Callender make a critical assessment of CSG models using the concept
of Becoming as a relation [23].
7 The passage of time in Newtonian mechanics is tied to change. Time in GR is bound up in the
precedence order. If we look forward to a successful theory of quantum gravity in which the passage
of time is a birth process, then the history of the concept of time in physics might be represented by
a trio of aphorisms: Time in the Past was Change; Time in the Present is Order; Time in the Future
will be Process. However, considering Th. Stcherbatsky’s account of early Buddhist thought, “This
constitutes the second characteristic feature of early Buddhism: no Matter, no Substance, only separate
elements, momentary flashes of efficient energy without any substance in them, perpetual becoming, a
flow of existential moments” (page 4-5 of [26]) and the views of the Vibhajavadin school (for example
page 43 of [27]), maybe this trio should better be ordered in time as Process≺Change≺Order≺Process.
11
dynamic process the occurrence of E(5; 13) is the stepping of the walker to the integer
5 (from 6 or 4) at stage 13 of the process. The event E(5; 13) and its occurrence are
different concepts. And then, once stage 13 in the process has been reached, if the walker
stepped onto position 5 at stage 13, then E(5; 13) is an occurred-event (c).
4.3
No objective external picture of the birth process
Let us try to conceive of the event Ef ire occurring in the dynamic process. For Ef ire
to occur each of its atoms must be born, including s for example, referring to figure 1.
s is preceded by both p and r and so p and r must both be born before s can be born
in the process. There is no order in which p and r are born: p is not born before r and
r is not born before p. The only way to conceive of the births of r and p dynamically
occurring seems to be to conceive of them being born simultaneously and that would be an
unphysical thought. Moreover, even if one were to toy with thinking of the births of r and p
as simultaneous, one would run into a downright contradiction for the same argument can
be made for p and o. But if the births of p and o are also simultaneous then the births of r
and o are simultaneous which contradicts o ≺ r. There is no external objective picture of
the process happening. Neither is there an external objective picture of the world-as-it-ismomentarily during the process. For, if there were, then the sequence of transitions from
each external objective picture of the world-as-it-is-momentarily to a subsequent external
objective picture of the world-as-it-is-momentarily would be an external objective picture
of the process.
A consequence is that the distinction between (a) events-as-such and (c) occurred
events is not an external objective distinction: there is no external objective picture
of which events-as-such have become occurred-events in the process, as the process is
happening.
4.4
A partly subjective external picture of the process
We, as scientists using the theory, can have an external picture of the process happening
by using labels but that external picture is necessarily partly subjective, partly unphysical.
The n ≈ 10144 atomic-events in Ef ire can be labelled by the numbers, {0, 1, 2, . . . 10144 }
in such a way that the labels respect the atomic-events’ precedence order: if the atom
labelled n precedes the atom labelled m then n < m. Such a labelling is called a natural
labelling. There are many natural labellings of the same partial order. Given a natural
labelling, one can conceive of the process dynamically as the sequential process of the
birth of the atoms, one at a time, in the total order of the labelling: 0 is born and then 1
and then 2 etc. The label-induced picture of the process is a sequence of stages labelled
by n: at stage n the atom labelled by n is born. The label-induced picture of the process
is partly subjective because the label-order exists in the minds of the scientists using
the theory but the label-order of two atomic-events that have no precedence order is not
physical. The picture is also partly objective because the label-order of two atomic-events
that do have a precedence order is physical. A choice of natural labelling is a choice of
gauge.
We can also use a natural labelling in a cosmological context to give a partly subjective
picture of the whole growing universe during the process. Say the universe being built
12
up in the process is an event with a causet substrate whose continuum approximation is
part of Minkowski spacetime after a “Beginning” at coordinate x0 = −1016 s: a Big Bang
without the Bang. The atomic-events can be given a natural labelling by the natural
numbers {0, 1, 2, . . . }. Suppose a natural labelling is chosen. For each n, consider the
finite event En whose substrate is the subcauset labelled by the numbers {0, 1, 2, . . . n}.
En is composed of n + 1 atomic-events. Then the growing world during the label-induced
sequential process is the nested sequence of events {En }. A different natural labelling
of the same physical process will give a different partly subjective picture of the growing
world.
In the external, partly subjective picture of the process provided by a particular natural
labelling, the distinction between (a) events-as-such and (c) occurred-events can be made
at each stage of the process, as the process is happening. At stage n+1 in the label-induced
process, every subevent of En is an occurred-event.
Scientists need to use such a partly subjective picture because we need an external
picture of the process that we can think about, work with and communicate to one
another. Indeed, the Classical Sequential Growth models from which the concept of the
partially ordered birth process is taken are defined using natural labellings [22].
4.5
Comparison with the random walk
It may be helpful at this point to recall the random walk discussed in section 2 and
to compare the birth process in CST and the dynamic process of the random walker’s
stepping. Section 2 ended with the Note that the dynamic process of the random walk
admits an external view of the process: for example a movie of the walker stepping left
or right in a sequence of steps. The point is that in the random walk the “atomic-events”
are the single steps and they are physically, objectively linearly ordered so the order of
the sequence of the steps in the movie—and/or in the minds of physicists as they think
about and work with the process—is physical and objective. A movie of a random walker
is an external objective view of the dynamic process as it happens. In the birth process
in CST however, as we have seen, the atomic-events are physically, objectively partially
ordered and the physical partial order is what precludes an external objective view of the
dynamic birth process, even one which is itself dynamic like a movie.
4.6
An objective internal view
An objective external view of the birth process does not exist. But, according to the
Proposal, an objective view is possible if the view is internal. One can view the process
objectively if one views it from the inside, if one is part of the physics. Furthermore, from
the inside the distinction between (a) events-as-such and (c) occurred-events can be made
objectively.
Live experience, to which we now turn, is an objective internal view of the birth process.
13
5
The Hard Problem of consciousness in causal set
theory
Let us put the tool of the partially ordered birth process in CST to work on the Hard
Problem. I assume there is an NCC theory based on certain events, NCC-events. The
Proposal does the same job whatever the physical correlates of conscious experiences
in the NCC theory are and is neutral on whether they are confined to the brain, or
involve other parts of the body, or are events in a computer, or whatever. But for
the Proposal to be useful, it is necessary that the problem of identifying NCC-events
and constructing an NCC theory—the problem that, I believe, Anil Seth calls the Real
Problem of Consciousness [28]—can be solved. Let Eexp , then, be an NCC-event that is
the correlate, in the NCC theory, of a particular conscious experience of a subject A.
The hypotheses of subsections 4.1 and 4.2 applied specifically to Eexp are that the
NCC-event Eexp in CST has a causet substrate that recovers a portion of Minkowski
spacetime and that Eexp occurs in CST as the process of the partially ordered birth of
the atomic-events that compose Eexp . The Proposal stated in the introduction section 1
can then be restated in a slightly more concrete way:
The birth of the atomic-events that compose Eexp in CST correlates with A having that
conscious experience live, in real time.
A corollary of the Proposal is that the occurred-event Eexp correlates with A having had
that experience.
5.1
Qualities of conscious experience
If we accept that the perception of time passing is a certain quality of conscious experience
and not any particular content of conscious experience, then confidence in the Proposal
can be built by intuitively connecting properties of the partially ordered birth process to
qualities of conscious experience.
(1) In the birth process each atomic-event that is born, is born once. The birth of an
atomic-event is momentary. Immediately an atomic-event is born, it becomes part
of the past.
Conscious experience has been described as momentary, fleeting and of the now.
(2) The birth process is unceasing.
Conscious experience of time passing has been described as inexorable.
(3) There is no external objective picture of the birth process. The birth process can
only be viewed from inside the world, as it happens.
Conscious experience has been described as live.
14
(4) The birth process can only be viewed objectively from inside the world. The entity
having a live experience in the world cannot copy and communicate that live experience, cannot share it with another entity since to do so would be to create a picture
of the process that is external and objective.
Conscious experience has been described as internal and private.
(5) The birth process is objective.
Conscious experience has been described as indubitable.
(6) The process of the birth of the atomic-events that compose Eexp correlates with the
live experience.
Conscious experience has been described as immediate (un-mediated).
5.2
In the light of the Proposal
5.2.1
Consciousness in the Block
If the birth process were to run to its infinite completion, the result would be one single
vast inextendible occurred-event, an occurred-Block Universe composed of all the atomicevents that were born in the process, and in which every subevent is an occurred-event.
The universe would have run its course. Nothing occurs any more and so there would
be no live experiences in such a world because nothing occurs. There is consciousness in
this occurred-Block Universe only in the sense that there were entities that had conscious
experiences. The human beings, say, with their whole histories, including histories of
their brains, neurons and all, incorporated in such an occurred-Block Universe are not
zombies as usually conceived but they do not have live experiences because they do not
have experiences any more. They had experiences but those experiences are over. In the
light of the Proposal, therefore, my answer to the question, “What would it look like if it
looked as if our world were a Block Universe?” is, “It wouldn’t look like anything because
it would all be over.”8
5.2.2
What breathes fire into the theory
The NCC theory is a theory based on concepts of NCC-events-as-such. Live experience
is the occurrence of NCC-events such as Eexp and the occurrence of an NCC-event is the
partially ordered birth of its atomic-events. What is missing from the NCC theory, what
breathes fire into it, is the birth process.
5.2.3
The knowledge argument [29]
Anyone who knows the NCC theory knows the full physical account of the event-as-such
Eexp that is “A had the conscious experience of seeing a red ball”. But one cannot
know the physical correlate of A having the experience, live and in real time, because the
8 I thank Henrique Gomes for asking this question after my talk at the “Time in Cosmology” meeting
at Perimeter Institute, Waterloo ON, Canada, June 2016.
15
correlate of that is the partially ordered birth process. There is no objective, external
picture of the birth process, as its true dynamic self, that can be communicated, shared
or known. Even relaxing Einstein’s stipulation that theoretical concepts be “laid down
in books” to include theoretical concepts that can be captured in movies, such as the
dynamic random walk process, does not avail us here, because of the partially ordered
nature of the birth process.
Only the subject A can view the occurrence of event Eexp , experience it, from within the
process, live and as it happens.
5.2.4
How consciousness interacts with spacetime, particles and fields
Conscious experience is the physical process of the birth of the atomic-events that comprise NCC-events. The objective, ubiquitous birth process is the creation of physical
stuff, physical 4-dimensional spacetime stuff, particle trajectories and spacetime field configurations together with their spacetime substrate. It makes as much sense to ask how
consciousness interacts with physical stuff as to ask how the birth of a baby interacts with
a baby. Without the process there is no physical stuff and the physical stuff is what the
process creates.
5.2.5
Monism [30]
The framing of the partially ordered birth process in this article denies monism by including both the atomic-events and the process of the occurrence of atomic-events as physical
elements of CST. An event and the process of the occurrence of an event are completely
different types of physical thing: the birth of a baby is not a baby, the birth of a spacetime atom is not a spacetime atom, the occurrence of an event is not an event. This is
the position taken in [25] and it is inherent in the very terms becoming and birth. The
concepts of becoming and birth presuppose that there is something coming into being,
something being born.
Another possibility, however, is that the physics consists only of the process. Could
the physics be just, “atomic-events occur ceaselessly in a partial order of precedence,” and
nothing more (one would have to drop the birth metaphor and the concept of becoming)?
If this position could be developed within CST it would be the sort of monistic physics
that Galen Strawson is gesturing towards when he writes “All things [...] are made of the
same single kind of fundamental stuff: material or physical stuff. We can put it in more
dynamic terms, because stuff is best thought of as process, process-stuff: everything in the
universe, conscious or not, is wholly a matter of physical process, physical goings-on.” [31]
5.2.6
Panpsychism [32]
The Proposal is sympathetic to panpsychism only to the extent that the birth process
is universal to the whole physical world. The question, “Which entities have conscious
experience?” is the question, “Which events are NCC-events?” and defines the quest for
an NCC theory. For example, a supernova is an event and is composed of atomic-events.
The process of the partially ordered birth of the atomic-events composing the supernovaevent is the occurrence of the supernova-event. The question “Was the supernova that
occurred conscious?” is a question that the NCC theory should answer.
16
5.2.7
Fundamentalism about consciousness
The partially ordered birth process is fundamental and not emergent in causal set theory.
“Time” in the sense of Becoming is fundamental and not emergent in causal set theory.
The birth process cannot be recovered from anything more basic. The NCC theory on
the other hand will be constructed using emergent concepts in biology, neuroscience and
cognitive science such as neurons, information processing and superfast model fitting.
5.3
Cortes, Smolin and Verde
In this subsection I compare and contrast the Proposal to the proposal of Cortes, Smolin
and Verde (CSV) in [7]. CSV suggest that the Hard Problem of consciousness, the problem
of the physicality of the passage of time and the problem of quantum gravity have a
common solution. This is very much in the same spirit as the Proposal, as is the concept
they refer to as resolving time (pages 4-5 of [7]):
“In (Smolin & Verde, 2021) we define an active conception of time as the process that
resolves indefinite circumstances to definite. We call the version of time we champion
resolving time. It is what Bergson called creative time (Bergson,??) [sic]. The world is
literally remade over and over again, event by event, by the work of active time.”
To the extent that CSV’s concept of resolving time is a creative process it has sympathy
with the partially ordered birth process of CST. And, to the extent that the process of
resolving time is what CSV call Mode II physics then their proposal, “Mode II is where we
will find the physical correlates of consciousness” also has sympathy with the Proposal.
There are differences between CSV’s framework and the physics of partially ordered
birth in CST, illustrated in this passage [7]:
“An event is a process, each of which does its job of resolution, then vanishes as it creates
a few of the next generation. Then, its work being done, it is gone. A time created world
is not a four dimensional manifold, it is a continually recreated, roughly three dimensional
network of processes.”
In CST an event is a distinct concept from the process, so CSV use the terms differently
in order to say “an event is a process”. The biggest conceptual difference between CSV
and the CST birth process, however, seems to me to be the concept of the “time created
world”, “a continually recreated, roughly three dimensional network of processes”. A 3D
network and a sequence of different 3D networks seem to me to be external, objective
pictures. In the CST birth process, there is no physical concept that is three dimensional.
The phrase “network of processes” indicates that CSV’s time created world is discrete
and this is another point of sympathy with the Proposal. Is discreteness really necessary
to the Proposal, though? Here I just mention Section 8 of [1] which is a commentary on the
question of discreteness vs continuity in the context of becoming, and also Dieks [33] who
comes close to proposing a partially ordered becoming process for continuum spacetime,
but messes with the proposal by claiming “There is no need to augment the block universe
in any way”, which claim I deny.
17
6
Discussion
The Proposal will be judged on whether it rings true but more importantly on its usefulness in the production of new scientific knowledge. In the study of consciousness, the
Proposal may indicate or illuminate aspects of our conscious experience that have hitherto gone unnoticed and unreported. Conscious experiences may be re-interpreted in the
light of the Proposal. The Proposal may therefore help to improve the theoretical concepts in NCC theories and help to improve the reliability of the self-reporting of conscious
experiences that is used as data in the development and testing of NCC theories.
Turning things around, if we judge that the concept of the partially ordered occurrence
of atomic-events in CST is useful for understanding our experience, then we will want that
concept to be part of the further development of CST as a theory of quantum gravity. In
order to apply the birth process in CST to the Hard Problem in section 5 I hypothesized
that an NCC-event Eexp in CST is composed of atomic-events that are born in their
partial order of precedence. This hypothesis begs many questions, especially questions
about quantum theory. How does CST recover the Standard Model of particle physics in
Minkowski spacetime, a quantum theory of matter that is well-established and that, most
likely, recovers the physics, chemistry and biology used in working out the NCC theory?
What about the quantum nature and dynamics of the causet substrate itself? How will
that be described in CST? Answering these and other questions is work in progress in
CST and we may choose to let the Proposal guide us in that work. I give here a very
brief sketch of progress in the development of a quantum theory of causal sets. The
framework in which the quantum dynamics of causal sets is being sought is the path
integral approach to the foundations of quantum theory. The two most developed path
integral approaches to quantum foundations are the related programmes of generalised
quantum mechanics (GQM) proposed and championed by James B. Hartle [34–36] and
quantum measure theory (QMT) proposed and championed by Sorkin [37–41]. In QMT
quantum mechanics is explicitly conceived as a species of measure theory, based on the
same concepts of history and event that are basic to GR and to the classical causet
growth models. And moreover, in the currently favoured interpretational framework for
QMT, every event either occurs or does not occur in the quantum process that generates
the physical world, just as in classical measure theory. So far so good. Where QMT
diverges from the classical theory is in the pattern of the occurrences of events, their
subevents and their combinations, which pattern need not conform to Boolean rules of
inference [40, 42, 43]. The world that is being built up by a quantum process, then, may
not be conceivable as an event with a single causet as its substrate but may be something
like a causet with “classically contradictory” properties. It is possible that in the yetto-be discovered quantum rules of inference an event occurs but some of its component
atomic-events do not occur, or vice versa [40]. I for one look forward to wrestling with the
implications of such “anhomomorphic logic” for our understanding of quantum gravity
and of consciousness.9
Returning to the present and to Einstein’s epistemology, the partially ordered birth
process in CST blurs the boundary between the world of ideas and the totality of sense9 Sorkin asks what experiences led Buddhist logicians, who did not have access to the technology that
enabled the development of quantum mechanics, to the anhomomorphic logic of the Tetralemma [42]
18
experiences. The birth process in CST as its live, dynamic self cannot be situated fully
in the world of objective, communicable physical concepts because it is partially ordered.
Though the process is a concept in the theory, it can only be apprehended in its dynamic
aspect in the manifold of sense-experiences. It can only be viewed fully objectively from
within. It has to be lived, it has to be experienced to be apprehended. One cannot know,
from the outside, what it is like.
7
Acknowledgments
I thank Emma Albertini, Jeremy Butterfield, Arad Nasiri, Huw Price, David Reid, Lee
Smolin, Rafael Sorkin, Clelia Verde and Yasaman Yazdi for helpful input and discussions.
I thank Domenico Giulini for improving the English translation of the passage from Einstein’s Autobiographical Notes. Thanks are also due to the Quantum Gravity group at
Perimeter Institute, the participants of the online Virtual Causet Seminar and the participants of the WE-Heraeus-Seminar “Time and Clocks” for stimulating discussions.
This work was supported in part by STFC grant ST/T000791/1. It was also supported
in part by Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics. Research at Perimeter Institute is
supported by the Government of Canada through Industry Canada and by the Province
of Ontario through the Ministry of Economic Development and Innovation.
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Parameter Approach (Part I)
Exploration
The Noetic Origin of Sexual Preference:
An Integrative Cartesian, Jungian
& Unified Field Mechanical Parameter Approach (Part I)
Richard L. Amoroso*
Noetic Advanced Studies Institute, Los Angeles, California, 90025 USA
Abstract
The climate surrounding sexual preference is politically charged, and before the introduction of
Noetic Field Theory; contemporary science has been unable to describe the complex framework
for the origin of sexual preference, because science has not had either a comprehensive model of
living systems or consciousness able to delineate the correspondence between biophysics and the
noetic effect of the 3rd regime of unified field mechanics (UFM). This work begins reviewing
aspects of psychology, biology and cognitive science, then develops an anthropic telergic
teleology of mind-body interaction (physically real Cartesian interactive dualism) as the context
for developing a pragmatic scientific model for the fundamental origin of sexual preference. The
model utilizes archetypes originating in Jung’s concept of a collective unconscious which are also
presumed to be physically real elements of mind. This so-called Noetic Theory (relying on spirit
(chi, prana) as an inherent self-organized aspect of a vital field, as a physically real action
principle, predicts a prenatal stressor acting during a key stage of embryonic development
typically under a panoply of one or both parents exhibiting a threshold (gradient of severity)
personality disorder(s). The resultant action of this noetic effect orients the anima and animus
archetypes as they are coupled into the biophysical substrate of the psyche (soul) and reverses, for
the case of sexual preference, the normal orientation hierarchy of the noetic field within the
individuals psychosphere. Initially, because of conceptual similarity, the periodic reversal of the
Earth’s geomagnetic field by the force of solar wind on the dynamo at the Earth’s core is utilized as
a metaphor to axiomatically illustrate the prenatal inversion of the Jungian anima and animus. This
scenario is followed by a more technical and experimentally testable scientific description
utilizing pertinent new principles related to the UFM domain discovery of physics of awareness.
Part I of this four-part article includes: 1. Introduction; 2. Freudian Inversion Theories of
Homosexuality; 3. Jungian Theory of Homosexuality; 4. Psyche, Soul and Mind; 5.
Contemporary Psychological Issues Regarding the Homosexual Matrix; 6. Homosexuality as
Neither Mental or Biological / Genetic Disorder; 7. The Conundrum of Conversion Therapy; 8.
Historical Transmutation of Handedness; 9. Polarity Reversal of the Earths Geomagnetic Field;
and 10. The Origins of Sex.
Keywords: Archetypes, awareness, biophysics, Cartesian dualism, collective unconsciousness,
epigenesis, noetic field, sexual preference, unified field Mechanics.
*
Correspondence: Prof. Richard L. Amoroso, Director of Physics Lab., Noetic Advanced Studies Institute, California, USA.
http://www.noeticadvancedstudies.us E-mail: amoroso@noeticadvancedstudies.us
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Amoroso, R. L., The Noetic Origin of Sexual Preference: An Integrative Cartesian, Jungian and Unified Field Mechanical
Parameter Approach
It does not matter if a principle is popular or not; it only matters whether or not it is true. And
if it is true; it does not matter whether I stand alone in it. Joseph Smith[1].
To conclude, therefore, let no man out of a weak conceit of sobriety, or an ill-applied
moderation, think or maintain, that a man can search too far or be too well studied in the book
of God's word, or in the book of God's works; divinity or philosophy; but rather let men
endeavour an endless progress or proficience in both. Francis Bacon[2].
1. Introduction
It may seem an immense journey to describe the scientific origins of sexual preference at this point
in the evolution of human epistemology because we are considering complex issues that the
current accepted state of science is incapable of adequately addressing. Current thinking in
psychology, (epi)genetics, biology, medicine, philosophy, physics, cosmology and theology have
proven insufficient to definitively handle the issue of the fundamental origin of sexual preference;
and the dominant model of consciousness based on biological mechanism (no life principle) insists
Mind = Brain[3]. Noetic theory might seem off base to those considering the issue to be at most
confined to the biological/psychological/sociological arenas. This work, while experimentally
somewhat a cart before a horse at this writing, is nevertheless empirically testable[4]; however, it is
not easy to assess what impact, if any, the work might have on the political climate in the near
term. Progress in science is typically made up of a myriad of continuous small advances; but
occasionally, as in Einstein’s theories or the advent of quantum theory in the early part of the last
century, paradigm shifts occur that revolutionize thinking. We are on the cusp of one of those
moments.
Those considerations aside, the discovery of a comprehensive model of mind/awareness as
illustrated in terms of the noetic field theory utilized[5-8]; is the point where the real voyage to new
understanding begins. Often a new model seems overly complex when it is first introduced and
takes years before satisfactory discourse occurs at the more general level. If the author is to be
critical of his own work; it is obvious that portions of this paper are too general and some too
technical which may leave both audiences somewhat unsatisfied. In defense, all that can be said is
that this is a seminal work; and as is typical in such cases there will be greater proficiency in the
future. To ease into the scientific origins of sexual preference a series of three metaphors is used
before entering into a more technical discussion of the noetic stressor that can induce a prenatal
polarity reversal of the Jungian anima and animus archetypes under certain familial conditions.
That delineation is preceded by a review of the following pertinent psychosocial-biological issues.
1.1 Early History of the Origin of Psychoanalysis
Sigmund Freud, the father of psychoanalysis is known also for developing additional theories
relating to the psychology of human sexuality and dream interpretation in the late 1800s. His most
important contributions to clinical psychology dealt with the connection between abnormal
behavior and the unconscious mind. Freud also developed a model for the theory of transference,
the process by which attitudes developed toward parental figures in childhood are transferred to
others later in life playing a significant role in the quality of interpersonal relationships.
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Amoroso, R. L., The Noetic Origin of Sexual Preference: An Integrative Cartesian, Jungian and Unified Field Mechanical
Parameter Approach
Freud coined the term psychoanalysis in 1896. Analytic therapy was different in those early times,
rather than 50-minute hour sessions in a therapist’s office today; a therapist often came and lived
with the patient in his home during diagnosis and treatment. First hand observations made it much
easier to observe the true basis of the condition; but this is not practical in modern times where an
analyst can easily sit with a half dozen or more clients per day, consult with other therapists and be
an expert witness in legal proceedings.
It is not widely known; but Freud’s original inspiration for the development of psychoanalysis
came from his studies of Jewish mysticism - The Kabbalah. The term Kabbalah comes from the
Hebrew word קַ בָּ לָּה which literally means receiving and refers to the Jewish esoteric school of
thought forming the foundations of mystical religious interpretation[9,10]. The Kabbalah includes a
discipline and method for obtaining enlightenment used as an aid to explain the relationship
between a mysterious, eternal, unchanging universe and the temporal mortal and finite world that
God created as recorded in the Torah/Biblical book of Genesis.
The main Judaic text for studying the Kabbalah is called the Zohar, which teaches that studying the
Torah proceeds along four levels of thought. These levels of exegesis called the pardes were
derived from the initial letters of their Hebrew names:
Peshat פְּ שָ ט(meaning simple) - The most direct interpretation of the meaning.
Remez ֶרמֶ ז(hint or hints) - Allegories alluding to the meaning.
Derash ְּד ַרש(from the Hebrew darash meaning inquire or seek) - And the Midrashic or Rabbinic
meanings with repetitive words or verses making imaginative comparisons.
Sod סֹוד (secret or mysterious) - The most esoteric or metaphysical meanings expressed in the
Kabbalah.
One can easily see how the techniques of Kabbalism inspired Freud to invent the introspective and
therapeutic aspects of psychoanalysis.
2. Freudian Inversion Theories of Homosexuality
Freud’s theory of psychoanalysis was based on a number of stages of psychosocial development; a
sort of evolutionary path of the psyche that each individual passed through with varying degrees of
success on the way to adulthood. One of these stages Freud called the Oedipal stage which he
considered of central importance in his theories of the origination of homosexuality. The Oedipus
Complex refers to unresolved sexual feelings of a child to the parent of the opposite sex.
Freud first began writing essays on homosexual inversion in 1905[11]; and he was never able to
completely resolve in his own mind whether homosexuality was a form of psychopathology or
merely a statistically abnormal variation. Freud found little success in the psychoanalytic
treatment of homosexuals; “to convert a fully developed homosexual is not much more promising
than to do the reverse”. He believed that homosexuals were not motivated to be cured; that they
were unwilling to give up the object of their pleasure. Freud thought the motivation for treatment
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was a vehicle used by the homosexual to assure himself that he tried everything he could to
change, and failing could resign himself in good conscience to his pleasures[12].
Freud developed four theories of homosexuality:
1. From the Oedipus Complex - A young male has a typical early erotic bond to his mother, but
there is an excessive amount of tenderness on the part of the mother which over sexualizes the
bond in the mind of the child at a time when the distinction between self and other has not yet
formed. Later when the child’s ego begins to separate, he feels guilty and develops a fear of
castration as a punishment for his erotic feelings toward his mother. He develops hatred toward his
mother and severs the erotic bond. A compromise sexual object is chosen, an effeminate boy[12].
2. Also of Oedipal Origin - The child maintained a particularly long sensitive relationship with his
mother which the child refuses to give up. In order to preserve the erotic bond, he subconsciously
identifies with his mother and selects love objects that resemble himself. In loving them he
experiences the erotic bond he had with his mother[12].
3. Inverted Oedipus Complex - Freud considered this the most common form of homosexual
causation. The young boy has an identification with his father; but instead of identifying with him
as a role model or father figure the child wants to be romantically loved by him and surrenders his
masculine identity in order to be loved as a woman by another man. It is statistically common
among both Lesbian and Homosexual couples that one partner usually the more submissive or
feminine (whether a male or female) plays the role of the wife and the other partner more dominant
the role of the husband. An example of this in public life is the American comedienne / talk show
host Ellen DeGeneres who has a butch haircut and generally acts quite masculine in contrast to her
wife Portia de Rossi who is also physically beautiful, and remains exquisitely feminine.
4. Intense Love of the Mother - Leads to extreme jealousy of other siblings and the father. The
jealousy is very extreme and leads to a death wish and sadistic fantasies of extreme violence. In
what Freud termed reaction formation, the child transforms the repressed feelings into inclinations
for homosexual love[12].
In summation, it can be seen that Freud attempted to derive a theory of homosexuality from an
inherent personality disposition that he considered to be triggered by both random statistical
occurrences and abnormal developmental personality factors appearing in the nuclear family
beginning during the early years of childhood development. The psychoanalytic perspective as the
cause of homosexuality has become increasingly unpopular today, especially because of the
sociopolitical issues surrounding homosexuality as a politicized human rights issue rather than a
putative personality disorder.
However, Freud’s theories of homosexuality have remained at the core of clinical theory for the
last hundred years. The controversy has continued over the last several decades as to whether
sexual preference is psychological, genetic, environmental or as we intend to show here part of a
much more complex structure of the soul.
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3. Jungian Theory of Homosexuality
Jung did not write prolifically on sexuality in part to distance himself from what he felt was
Freud’s over-emphasis on the subject. Even today critics say according to Freud everything was
based on sex. This is one reason Freudian psychotherapy has fallen into disfavor. This is not
completely fair to Freud because his concept of the Libido can be considered to refer to
drive/ambition more generally than just the sex drive. But like Freud, Jung considered
homosexuality as a deviation from the sexual norm, but also not necessarily a pathological
condition:
“If we regard sexuality as consisting of a fixed heterosexual and a fixed homosexual component, ...
the assumption of fixed components precludes any kind of transformation. In order to do justice to
it, we must assume a great mobility of sexual components, which even goes so far that one
component disappears almost completely while the other occupies the foreground .... we need a
dynamic hypothesis, since these permutations of sex can only be thought of as dynamic or
energetic processes”[13].
and further:
“For a man, a woman is best fitted to be the real bearer of his soul-image, because of the feminine
quality of his soul; for the woman, it will be a man. Wherever an impassioned, almost magical
relationship exists between the sexes, it is invariably a question of a projected soul-image.
Conversely, it may also happen that the soul-image is not projected but remains with the subject,
and this results in an identification with the soul because the subject is then convinced that the way
he relates to his inner processes is his real character. In that event the persona, being
unconscious, will be projected on a person of the same sex”[11].
In Jungian psychology, this conceptualization of homosexuality is defined in terms of the
male-female archetypes called the anima and animus. A man’s identification is with the
contra-sexual archetype of the anima, “with his unconscious femininity, thus leads to a projection
of his persona, that is, his „outer‟ masculinity, onto another man”[15].
As Jung suggested we will describe how the fixed components of sexual archetypes may undergo
an energetic process of transformation. Relative to the male stereotype, a gradient from a
androgynous heterosexual male persona to an ultra-machismo seemingly bestial male persona is
observed. It could be said that the disparity between the anima and animus exists in maximal and
minimal format.
3.1 Jung’s Concept of a Collective Unconscious
Jung is considered the first modern psychiatrist to view the human psyche as "by nature religious"
and make it the major focus for exploration[16,17]. Jung considered the Collective Unconscious to
be a nonlocal cosmic domain that stored for all time a finite collection of universal archetypes with
infinite combinatorial possibilities relating to personality structure. These racial memories are
shared in the makeup of the psyche of every human individual. The collective unconscious
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includes the concept of archetypes which are the mode whereby the collective unconscious
expresses itself in the individual. This is a deeper level than the more personal unconscious that
Freud postulated. The collective unconscious could be considered as a Gaia or a planetary mind.
The figure below shows a hierarchical conceptual depiction of the domains Jung considered to
house the archetypes of the Collective Unconscious.
Contemporary medical psychiatry and therapeutic psychology is based solely on a personal
unconscious. Jung’s system adds a second psychic system of an eternal universal impersonal
nature he defined as the Collective Unconscious. An archetype in this system as defined by Jung is
a pre-existent thought form that can become conscious or facets of the personality. He believed
that there are as many archetypes as there are life situations or personality factors. Jung
experimentally demonstrated (by subjective reporting) the existence of archetypes in analyzing
dreams, imagination, psychotic delusions, and fantasies produced in hypnotic trance. The
archetypes that we will be concerned with in this article are the male/female opposite gender
archetypes contained in every person called the anima and animus. The anima/animus archetypes
are susceptible to personification and transformation expressing the process of individuation itself.
Figure 1. Conceptual model of Jung’s Collective Unconscious. The set of concentric circles
begins with the figure of a person at the bottom then proceeds inward to layers of his conscious
and subconscious mind through the archetypes to the deepest level called the collective
unconscious which Jung proposed to be universal and part of the psyche of every individual. Most
psychologists currently consider the collective unconscious to be physically real.
Jung thought this duality represented what he called a mythical syzygy. The term syzygy most
commonly used in astronomy refers to a straight-line configuration of three celestial bodies in a
gravitational system. Syzygy usually involves the Sun, Earth & either the Moon or a planet, with
the latter either in conjunction or opposition. Solar & Lunar eclipses are occurrences of syzygy, as
are transits and occultations. The term is also applied to every new moon or full moon when the
Sun & Moon are in conjunction or opposition.
As shown in a section below, the crux of our model for a Scientific Origin of Sexual Preference
(SOSP) relates to a compound syzygy. A complex 3-fold syzygy structure (each component
syzygy itself also being a triad) between both parents and a certain developmental phase in the
prenatal embryo susceptible to telergic action of the coherent force of the UFM Noetic Field.
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Figure 2. Conceptualization of a balanced normal archetypal syzygy (like interacting north and
south poles of a magnet) between the anima and animus or male-female archetypes in an
individual heterosexual adult psyche or personality structure as Jungian components of the soul.
As an archetype manifests itself and penetrates consciousness, it influences the experience of both
normal and neurotic people. An archetype that becomes too powerfully manifest can totally
possess the individual and cause psychosis, or as we intend to demonstrate, a reversal of sexual
preference. One can suspect because of the psychic conflicts that Freud and Jung proposed as
causative agents for homosexuality, similarities in the mechanism that causes any psychological
disorder and why it is often the case that homosexuals also have associated psychological
problems, especially since causation is suspected to generally occur when parents have varying
degrees of personality disorder(s).
4. Psyche, Soul and Mind
The term psyche in general historically, and in contemporary psychology and philosophy, is used
to refer to the totality of the conscious and unconscious human mind of a particular
individual. Psychology is often defined as the study of the psyche. In psychoanalysis and other
forms of depth psychology, the term psyche refers to the conscious and unconscious forces in an
individual that influence thought, behavior and personality.
Figure 3. Local-nonlocal space/spacetime model of two individuals (S 1, S2) showing how their
psyches are imbedded in a physically real Jungian collective unconscious which is the source of
racial archetypes forming the persona. This unification is associated with the teleology of the
noetic unified field, N(f) which is an essential component of the extra-corporeal duality of a
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physically real Cartesian mind-body dualism inherent in the regime of the unified field.
Sigmund Freud, the father of psychoanalysis, believed that the psyche was composed of three
components:
The id, representing baser instinctual drives of an individual and remains largely unconscious.
The super-ego, which represents a person's conscience and their internalization of societal
norms and morality.
The ego, which is conscious and serves to integrate the drives of the id with the prohibitions of
the super-ego. Freud believed this conflict to be at the heart of all forms of neurosis.
Jung was very careful to define what he meant by the distinction between psyche and by soul:
I have been compelled, in my investigations into the structure of the unconscious, to make a
conceptual distinction between soul and psyche. By psyche, I understand the totality of all psychic
processes, conscious as well as unconscious. By soul, on the other hand, I understand a clearly
demarcated functional complex that can best be described as a "personality"[13].
Since the birth of the field of Consciousness Studies in recent decades cognitive psychology (the
currently dominant school) has replaced psychoanalysis as the dominant model of psychology in
academic circles. The word mind is now preferred by cognitive scientists to the term psyche; and
the term awareness is preferred over the word consciousness which is perceived as too general.
In Noetic Field Theory (NFT) the school of thought used here, the word mind is also preferred over
the term psyche. A main difference between NFT and cognitive psychology is that physical
principles of mind have been formally discovered. This historical event allows application of its
principles to problems like SOSP. Another important fact for NFT is that since mind is physically
real it can be experimentally manipulated and used to engineer new classes of medical devices.
Also, since NFT is empirically testable, soon the noetic SOSP theory will be experimentally tested,
at which point psychology will cease to be an art and become a hard-physical science.
As described in more detail in a later section, the content or action of mind is not limited merely to
the brain, but also pervades not only every atom of the body, but is extended beyond the body into
local and nonlocal regions of surrounding spacetime and eternity (something like the corona of the
sun). This represents the sum total of the domain of individuality defined as the psychosphere in
noetic theory[3]. The detailed structure and phenomenology of the psychosphere will also be
developed further; suffice it to say for now that since mind, distinct from body, is physically real,
the psyche is housed as a totality in the psychosphere – which also has three components: temporal
body, mind and elemental intelligence, the eternal bound of individuality[3]. We could have chosen
to call the Psychosphere the nooephere because it also has a Greek root stemming from the word
noetic, but we thought a term with the root psych(e) closer to psychology would be more
immediately intelligible.
Briefly, NFT defines the soul as the spirit and the body. This refers to life on Earth. When a person
passes on, he becomes a disembodied spirit and must wait for resurrection or reincarnation before
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his intelligence can be considered a soul again. Formally introducing the spirit into psychology and
mind (as Jung suggested) is important because it is related to the life principle (élan vital) which is
purposefully removed from the basis of cognitive psychology. Most importantly as we shall see,
because mind and spirit are physically real concepts with unified field properties; it is this fact that
not only allows the comprehensive noetic discovery of mind, but what allows us to understand the
causative agents reversing the dominance of the anima and animus for a theory of SOSP.
5. Contemporary Psychological Issues Regarding the Homosexual Matrix
In the United States, the main medical reference for the American Psychiatric Association (APA)
is called the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM)[18]. It describes and
classifies all known mental illnesses and emotional disorders. It was first published in 1952. Until
1973 homosexuality was classified as a mental disorder but in 1980 dropped from the DSM-III by
a decade of relentless pressure from gay activists.
One of the reasons the APA administration stated for allowing the change in classification was the
belief that this change would tend to keep employers from using the APA classification as
justification for discrimination in hiring policies. This seems like a weak reason because there is no
box in an employment application to check things like political party, religious affiliation or sexual
preference. Marital status is usually queried however because employers want to know if they can
expect a person to work nights and weekends. But the APA announced that it was also motivated
to acknowledge that many gays and lesbians showed no signs of dysfunction and were satisfied
with their lives and their sexual orientation.
Figure 3 illustrates the domain of Jung’s archetypes of the Collective Unconscious, as a nonlocal
entry point of the vital force of the noetic field into complex self-organized living systems (SOLS).
Figure 4. Cross section through center of Fig. 3 showing nonlocal interrelation of the
male-female archetypes and structural framework for application of dissonant noetic stress.
Historically prejudice against homosexuals has been deeply rooted in both Eastern and Western
society. In Muslim nations, the penalty can still be death; and some of those governments will
proclaim that homosexuality does not exist in their country. The beginnings of a shift in opinion is
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said to have occurred with the publication of two well-known reports by Kinsey, The first in 1948
- Sexual Behavior in the Human Male and in 1952 - Sexual Behavior in the Human Female. The
beginning of gay rights organizations started after what was called the Stonewall riot in New York
City in 1969. This was the first public protest by homosexuals against harassment by police. In
California, oral sex has been a crime carrying a maximum penalty of 15 years. Anal sex could
result in a life sentence if prosecuted to the full extent of the law. Interestingly both of these laws
apply equally to partners of both the opposite and same sex.
6. Homosexuality as Neither Mental or Biological / Genetic Disorder
We begin to see after examining the psychological and biological/genetic correlates of
homosexuality that homosexuality is a complex multifactor matrix[19] that until now has never
been completely understood. It is easy to see why difficulties in understanding the homosexual
matrix have arisen on all sides of the issue because there are a number of biological and
psychological components associated with homosexuality. These conditions have acted as red
flags suggesting that they are causative. But those factors turn out to be peripheral, i.e. not part of
the root cause of homosexuality, but occurring because of a more general trauma associated with
the abnormal setting itself that caused a homosexual inversion in the first place[11-13]. If the cause of
homosexuality is neither of psychological or genetic origin (nor does it fall under the current
causative definitions of epigenesis) it might seem that all the viable possibilities for understanding
the condition are used up in terms of the tools available to contemporary science.
The position to be taken up here is in apparent agreement with the APA’s profession that
homosexuality is not a mental disorder nor is it a biological condition. But as will be shown later,
this is a somewhat misleading suggestion of a false sense of normalcy. Because while noetic
theory agrees that homosexuality has not been shown to be of genetic or psychological origin per
se, the cause of homosexuality is representative of a whole new class of medical conditions
relating to consciousness itself. The cause is an imbalance (destructive interference) in the
function of the newly discovered physically real basis of the life principle! It was not possible to
understand the fundamental basis of the homosexual matrix because the life principle had yet to be
formally discovered theoretically and experimentally[3,4].
This profound new discovery as introduced here will eventually lead to psychology becoming a
hard-physical science instead of an art. Most psychologists think of Psychology as a science
because it employs the scientific method in a variety of psychometric tests and experimentation.
But because many of these tests rely on subjective reporting rather than objective results, by
definition, this kind of measurement is not scientific. For example, witnesses at the scene of a
traffic accident virtually all report different views; for example, even to the extent of “seeing”
different colors of the automobiles involved.
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7. The Conundrum of Conversion Therapy
From similarities in the discussion of handedness in (next section) groups associated with religious
movements like Exodus International in Seattle, WA USA have claimed a high success rate for the
conversion of homosexual men and woman choosing (or coerced) to become heterosexual. As
reviewed briefly above, we have seen that the main founders of psychotherapy both Freud and
Jung not only noticed the difficulty associated in performing conversion therapy (homosexuals
wanted it to fail so they would feel free to remain gay) but felt that homosexuality by itself might
not be a mental disorder. Their main evidence was that historically a number of humanities most
creative minds like that of Leonardo da Vinci were homosexual and other than their so-called
statistical sexual deviation as Freud put it, were considered well-adjusted individuals leading
normal lives. However, mental or emotional disorders are often associated with homosexual
individuals and this was one of the main reasons that it had traditionally been classified as a
psychiatric condition for most of the last hundred years since the invention of clinical psychology.
The APA has since, for over 30 years now, affirmed that homosexuality is not a mental disorder. In
this guise, they have recently passed a resolution warning that societal ignorance and prejudice
combined with family pressure can cause some gays to seek conversion therapy that may do them
serious harm. But this criticism is not fully justified as it is generally known that this is true of any
psychotherapeutic regimen if the problem is deeply rooted and the analysis is not carried out
properly or for a sufficient length of time. For in general, all neuroses are believed to be caused by
unconscious or repressed psychic trauma; and if these deep-seated wounds are laid bare without
proper resolution and control a serious psychotic breakdown can occur.
Personality disorders, considered the most serious and deeply rooted of psychoanalytic conditions,
are most often not curable even after decades of therapy. The best a therapist can hope for is to
teach the victim how to sufficiently cope with the condition through understanding and behavior
modification so that they can learn to lead a semblance of a normal life. The APA resolution has
added fuel to the fire of gay and lesbian political rights groups who think of reparative therapy as
"psychological terrorism".
Proponents of conversion therapy claim that there is no genetic or biological component to
homosexuality and that the condition stems from dysfunctional family conditions in early
childhood. The claim is that men who do not have a strong masculine identity or are very shy and
timid in their interactions with women, will readily lose their same-sex attractions if they can be
taught to become more comfortable, proactive and confident with their manhood.
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8. Historical Transmutation of Handedness
Handedness is considered a deeply rooted individual characteristic with about 2% to 11% of the
general population being left handed depending on the study performed with about 1% being
ambidextrous. People who are ambidextrous often have it to degrees; having some skills with one
arm and different ones with the other. Definitional disparity is one reason for the difference in
statistical range among different researchers. For nearly a hundred years, biologists and
psychologists have debated whether or not handedness is genetic or a product of or socialization. If
handedness is not genetic it remains a mystery why only a small percentage of the population
should be left handed.
Probably as in the case we are making for sexual preference, handedness is a combination of
epigenetic disposition and conditioning. In that respect, the point in terms of transmutation made
here is that some parents make an emphatic decision that their children will not be left-handed in a
predominantly right-handed world and train them rigorously until they become right handed for all
practical purposes. This is not an overtly natural progression and historically was thought to entail
a degree of psychological trauma; now shown to be unfounded. Transmutation of handedness does
occur successfully especially when begun at a sufficiently young age.
Figure 5. Handedness is increasingly determined after birth most dramatically in preschool years.
The cause of handedness still remains a complete mystery. There is little more than a confusing
and conflicting array of statistical data subject to various interpretations suggesting that
handedness is genetic or not genetic because in 18% of monozygotic identical twins one is left
handed and the other is right-handed. A recent theory by Coren[20] states that human beings are
naturally right-handed and that birth stress or prenatal brain trauma produces left-handedness. He
considers this to be the reason why a higher percentage of left-handed individuals have
psychological and emotional problems. This seems highly speculative with little empirical
evidence in support; however, our reason for bringing up the apparent plasticity of handedness is
in relation to historical periods where parents intervened during the handedness formation period
(1 to 4 years, Fig. 5) as left-handedness was considered undesirable, i.e. right-handedness could be
trained quite easily[21,22].
The purpose for utilizing the handedness metaphor is to illustrate the current similarly confusing
situation as to whether sexual preference is genetic or not. Also, to demonstrate the feasibility of
transmutation for similar conditions.
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9. Polarity Reversal of the Earths Geomagnetic Field
Reversal of the Earth’s geomagnetic field provides a profound metaphor for gaining insight into
the origin of sexual preference. Based on two salient assumptions: 1) That the life principle is a
physically real aspect of the noetic UFM field, and 2) Correspondingly, that Jung’s collective
unconscious is likewise physically real; we can paint a picture of the dynamics of dynamo field
reversal as it pertains to reversal of the anima-animus archetypes in sexual orientation.
The core of the Earth is mostly molten nickel-iron acting as a self-exciting dynamo which is
believed to be the source of the Earth’s geomagnetic field. (Fig. 6) The polarity of the Earth’s
geomagnetic field reverses relatively often in geologic terms, averaging about 250,000 years
between reversals. It has been shown that approximately 50% of the rocks in Earth’s crust have a
magnetic polarity that is opposite to the normal or present-day polarity[23].
Figure 6. Precession of the Earth’s axis creates a turbulence in the molten iron core effecting the
geomagnetic field - Geomagnetically induced currents.
All models describing reversal of the geomagnetic field seem to suggest that direct or indirect
extraterrestrial influences precipitate the reversals: periodicity in violent solar activity, galactic
effects such as cosmic ray intensity or supernova, changes in activity of the dynamo of the Earth’s
core, episodes of violent volcanism, or the impact and explosion of extraterrestrial objects[24].
A rocks magnetization is defined by three values: angles of declination, inclination, and magnetic
intensity. The declination is a locally defined angle in the horizontal plane measured clockwise
from 0 to 360 degrees with reference to true north. The inclination is the angle in the vertical plane
between the magnetic direction and the horizontal[25,26].
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80% of the Earth’s magnetic field is geocentric - meaning that this portion of the dipole field
originates at the center of the Earth. The remaining 20% of the field, the non-geocentric portion,
called the restfield originates in external and internal non-dipole fields, remnant magnetization in
the Earth’s crust, or of extra-terrestrial origin. This so-called restfield can display rapid variations
(Fig. 6), with the external portion varying greatly in only a few hours during a solar storm; and the
internal field varying sufficiently in five years such that world maps of magnetic declination and
inclination field strength have to be remade for exact navigation purposes. In A hundred years this
secular variation can change as much as 10 degrees[25].
In addition to the external and internal forces that seem to precipitate polarity reversal, there are a
number of interdependent conditions required in the dynamo of the Earth’s core before a polarity
reversal can occur. If the position of Earth’s axis changes from the influence of an extraterrestrial
magnetic field several things can happen:
1) The external field would create eddy currents in the surface layers of the Earth that would
counteract the normal external field of the Earth.
2) Thermal effects of the electrical currents would liquefy rock.
3) The molten rock would acquire the magnetic orientation of the prevailing field.
All three effects have been observed[27]
Figure 7. Chart of Earths Magnetosphere polarity reversals over last 160 million years (Tertiary
to Permian). Black = normal polarity, White = reversed polarity.
Liquid rock is not magnetic until cooled to its Curie point of about 580 degrees C. It acquires a
magnetic field oriented with the declination and inclination of the current field of the Earth which
it which it retains after solidifying. Rock formations are found everywhere on Earth with reversed
polarity. Reversed polarity rocks are significantly more strongly magnetized than can be
accounted for by the Earth’s geomagnetic field - ten times; and often up to a hundred times
stronger than the magnetic charge they could receive from terrestrial magnetism. This intensity
depends on the velocity which the lava cools and on the form, size and composition[23,27-32].
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In Fig. 9 below and the associated commentary we learned about the normal position of the Earth’s
geometric field and the external and internal effects that are involved in periodic reversals. Figures
9 and 10 below illustrate the dramatic change in the position of geomagnetosphere when a strong
external influences like solar wind and solar flares are applied.
Secular variation describes the changes in the Earth’s magnetic fields on the timescale of years.
These changes mostly reflect changes in the Earth's interior, while more rapid changes mostly
originate in the ionosphere or magnetosphere. The changes were 1st noted when plotting a graph of
the declination in major cities, for example London in 1540. The changes occurring in the
direction, declination and magnitude of the field. In order to measure secular change, readings
must be taken over a period of many days; the greatest change in the field is that which occurs on a
daily basis. An average can then be taken from all these readings so establish how the magnetic
field changes over 10 or more years.
Figure 8a. mapping changes in the Earth’s magnetic field in London over 500 years. The
westward drift of the earth’s magnetic field from observations made in London. Each date
represents the direction of the compass needle for that year.
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Figure 8b. The Wanderings of the North Pole are traced by the heavy black line. The points are
derived from the magnetization of rocks in the British Isles and North America.
The Magnetosphere is a comet shaped region where the charged particles of the solar wind are
influenced by the planets magnetic field. It extends to about 65,000 km on the sunward side with a
shock front at 100,000 km. The amplitude of magnetic disturbances is larger at high latitudes
because of the presence of the oval bands of enhanced currents around each geomagnetic pole
called auroral electrojets.
Figure 9. Solar wind and the Earth's magnetosphere. The Earth’s geomagnetic field showing the
influence of periodic extreme solar activity. The magnetosphere usually extends for about 65,000
km on the sunward side; but severe solar storms might compress the magnetic field to 40,000 km.
When conditions in the molten core of the Earth’s dynamo correlate, it is believed that cumulative
effects (Figs. 8a,b) of such cosmological activity precipitate a reversal of the geomagnetic field
(Fig. 8) every ~ 200k years on average. The field slowly attenuates to a tipping point.
Figure 10. Schematic of instantaneous terrestrial effects of a solar flare.
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The most severe magnetic storm in recent times occurred in March 1989, having a number of
serious impacts on technological systems by generating damaging geomagnetically induced
currents[35]. As well as the regular daily variation, the Earth's magnetic field also exhibits irregular
disturbances, and when these are large they are called magnetic storms. These disturbances are
caused by interaction of the solar wind, and disturbances therein, with the Earth's magnetic field.
The solar wind is a stream of charged particles continuously emitted by the Sun and its pressure on
the Earth's magnetic field creates a bounded comet-shaped region surrounding the Earth called the
magnetosphere. When there is a disturbance in the solar wind the current systems existing within
the magnetosphere are enhanced and cause magnetic disturbances and storms. Figure 9 shows a
schematic picture of the solar wind and the Earth's magnetosphere.
10. The Origins of Sex
The origin of sex is nearly synonymous with the question of what is life. At a superficial but most
fundamental level the thing that separates an ongoing chemical reaction (continuous supply of
material must be available) from a living entity is the domain wall (cell membrane) that separates
one reactive system from another. Sexuality is originally a survival mechanism; a form of
symbiosis so that missing ingredients can be acquired and that through variation survival
optimized. After 4-billion years of evolution incredibly complex self-organized living systems
(SOLS)[36] with sexual reproduction have arisen on Earth[37]. The form of evolution utilized in this
manuscript is not random-Darwinian, but a teleological guided evolution, discussed in detail later.
The self-organization of life is called autopoiesis[38] which means that a living system is able to
remain far from equilibrium (death) by the catabolic and anabolic dynamics of metabolism which
continuously dissipate the entropy (amount of disorder) that it produces. The three main properties
of life are autopoiesis, growth and reproduction. All of these properties may occur in the total
absence of sex which was the case through the first three billion years of evolutionary life on Earth.
Individuals of a species may reproduce asexually by replication, a direct copying of genetic
material or by sexual reproduction. Sex is the process characteristic of living organisms whereby a
genetically new individual is produced from different parents but does not necessarily have to
relate to reproduction which is the creation of additional entities. “Beings can be both new in the
sexual sense and additional in the reproductive sense. But this need not be the case. Most
organisms in the world in fact reproduce asexually, whether they sexually recombine or not”[37].
Margulis and Sagan assume that autopoiesis is a prerequisite for reproduction and that
reproduction precedes any form of sex. They can also imagine autopoiesis without reproduction
which would occur by the uptake of nutrients and the continuous self-maintenance of proteins and
nucleic acid. They also wonder “Why, if asexual beings can have more offspring than sexual ones,
are there so many more sexual animals?”[37]; and conclude we may never know the reason for the
origin of reproduction and sexuality because even though many forms of passion are generated,
sexuality is not an ultimate biological priority[37]. It seems that there is no scientific reason for sex.
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Amoroso, R. L., The Noetic Origin of Sexual Preference: An Integrative Cartesian, Jungian and Unified Field Mechanical
Parameter Approach
Although speculative, within the teleological framework of a continuous-state Anthropic
Multiverse[3,7,8] noetic theory is able to offer an obvious theological explanation. The reason for the
evolutionary development of complex autopoietic sexually reproducing self-conscious living
systems is so that an eternal soul may be packaged into each differentiated entity for passage
through a free-will based intelligent eternal social progression. As we shall see, souls add an
additional unified field component with parameters of an inherent noetic effect involved in
polarity reversal of physically real Jungian archetypes[39,40].
(Continued on Part II)
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911
Exploration
Hidden Order
*
Janina Marciak-Kozłowska1 & Miroslaw Kozlowski 2
1
2
Institute of Electron Technology, Warsaw, Poland
Warsaw University, Warsaw, Poland
Abstract
Universe is organized according to a few simple receipts. One of them is Euler-Ramanujan
formula.The formula describes the energies of bounded systems. In the paper, we discuss the
formula for bounded states of atoms (harmonic oscillator approximation).
Keyword: Hidden order, Universe, Euler-Ramanujan formula, energy, bounded system,
harmonic oscillator.
Let me say at the outset, that in this discourse, I am opposing not a few special statements of
quantum mechanics held today, I am opposing as it were the whole of it, I am opposing its basic
views that have been shaped 25 years ago, when Max Born put forward his probability
interpretation, which was accepted by almost everybody. It has been worked out in great detail to
form a scheme of admirable logical consistency that has been inculcated ever since to every young
student of theoretical physics.
The view I am opposing is so widely accepted, without ever being questioned, that I would have
some difficulties in making you believe that I really, really consider it inadequate and wish to
abandon it. It is, as I said, the probability view of quantum mechanics. You know how it pervades
the whole system. It is always implied in everything a quantum theorist tells you. Nearly every
result he pronounces is about the probability of this or that or that . . . happening—with usually a
great many alternatives. The idea that they be not alternatives but all really happen simultaneously
seems lunatic to him, just impossible. He thinks that if the laws of nature took this form for, let me
say, a quarter of an hour, we should find our surroundings rapidly turning into a quagmire, or sort
of a featureless jelly or plasma, all contours becoming blurred, we ourselves probably becoming
jelly fish. It is strange that he should believe this. For I understand he grants that unobserved
nature does behave this way—namely according to the wave equation. E, Schrodinger, 1952,
Colloqium July 195, in The Interpretation of Quantum Mechanics , Ox Bow Press.
1. Introduction
Consciousness phenomenon is the subquantum process ( cosmic consciousness) generated out of
spacetime and carried by consciousness quanta.The mass of the quanta of consciousness is of the
order 10-15 eV, well beneath of mass of CBR quanta = 10-4 eV The emission and absorption of
consciousness quanta is the consciousness phenomenon. The results published by B.Riemann
and S. Ramanujan are the examples of out of spacetime source of our consciousness (
mathematics).
* Correspondence: Miroslaw Kozlowski, Prof. Emeritus, Warsaw University, Poland. Email: m.kozlowski934@upcpoczta.pl
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912
In 1859, B. Riemann published paper in which he defined Riemann function (Edwards,1974)
( s) e s x sdx,( s 1)
0
( x)
( s ) ( x ) s dx
2 i
e 1 x
x
The epoch-making 8-pages paper ”On the Number of Primes Less Than a Given Magnitude”
inaugurated the revolution in number theory and recently in theoretical physics: quantum
mechanics and cosmology. In the paper we for the time consider the application of Zeta function
to the study of the human consciousness and especially , time recognition. We argue that time
life of the Universe and the consciousness can be described as the product of Zeta function and
Planck time. The possible scenario for the creation of consciousness is discussed.
The Zeta function - the dialogue between music and mathematics .During his years in Paris in the
1820s, Dirichlet had become fascinated by Gauss's great youthful treatise D i s q u i s i t i o n e s
A r i t l v n e t i c a e . Although Gauss's book marked a beginning of number theory as an
independent discipline, the book was difficult and many failed to penetrate the concise style
Gauss preferred. Dirichlet, though, was more than happy to battle with one tough paragraph after
another. At night he would place the book under his pillow in the hope that the next morning's
reading would suddenly make sense. Gauss's treatise has been described as a 'book of seven
seals', but thanks to the labours and dreams of Dirichlet, those seals were broken and the
treasures within gained the wide distribution.
Dirichlet was especially interested in Gauss's clock calculator. In particular, he was intrigued by
a conjecture that went back to a pattern spotted by Fermat. If you took a clock calculator with N
hours on it and you fed in the primes, then, Fermat conjectured, infinitely often the clock would
hit one o'clock. So, for example, if you take a clock with 4 hours there are infinitely many
primes which Fermat predicted would leave remainder 1 on division by 4. The list begins 5, 13,
17, 29, . . .
In 1838, at the age of thirty-three, Dirichlet had made his mark in the theory of numbers by
proving that Fermat's hunch was indeed correct. He did this by mixing ideas from several areas
of mathematics that didn't look as if they had anything to do with one another. Instead of an
elementary argument like Euclid's cunning proof that there are infinitely many primes, Dirichlet
used a sophisticated function that had first appeared on the mathematical circuit in Euler's day. It
was called the z e t a f u n c t i o n , and was denoted by the Greek letter . The following
equation provided Dirichlet with the rule for calculating the value of the zeta function when fed
with a number x :
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1 1
1
1
x ....... x .....
x
1 2
3
n
To calculate the output at x , Dirichlet needed to carry out three mathematical steps. First,
calculate the exponential numbers 1x, 2x,3x, nx , . . . Then take the reciprocals of all the
numbers produced in the first step. (The reciprocal of 2 x is 1/2x) Finally, add together all the
answers from the second step.
( x) x
It is a complicated recipe. The fact that each number 1, 2, 3,. . . makes a contribution to the
definition of the zeta function hints at its usefulness to the number theorist. The downside comes
in having to deal with an infinite sum of numbers. Few mathematicians could have predicted
what a powerful tool this function would become as the best way to study the primes. It was
almost stumbled upon by accident.
The origins of mathematicians' interest in this infinite sum came from music and went back to a
discovery made by the Greeks. Pythagoras was the first to discover the fundamental connection
between mathematics and music. He filled an urn with water and banged it with a hammer to
produce a note. If he removed half the water and banged the urn again, the note had gone up an
octave. Each time he removed more water to leave the urn one-third full, then one-quarter full,
the notes produced would sound to his ear in harmony with the first note he'd played. Any other
notes which were created by removing some other amount of water sounded in dissonance with
that original note. There was some audible beauty associated with these fractions. The harmony
that Pythagoras had discovered in the numbers 1, 1/21/3, 1/4, . . . made him believe that the
whole universe was controlled by music, which is why he coined the expression “the music of
the spheres”.
Ever since Pythagoras' discovery of an arithmetic connection between mathematics and music,
people have compared both the aesthetic and the physical traits shared by the two disciplines.
The French Baroque composer Jean-Philippe Rameau wrote in 1722 that “Not withstanding all
the experience I may have acquired in music from being associated with it for so long, I must
confess that only with the aid of mathematics did my ideas become clear.” Euler sought to make
music theory “part of mathematics and deduce in an orderly manner, from correct principles,
everything which can make a fitting together and mingling of tones pleasing”. Euler believed
that it was the primes that lay behind the beauty of certain combinations of notes.
Many mathematicians have a natural affinity with music. Euler would relax after a hard day's
calculating by playing his clavier. Mathematics departments invariably have little trouble
assembling an orchestra from the ranks of their members. There is an obvious numerical
connection between the two given that counting underpins both. As Leibniz described it, “Music
is the pleasure the human mind experiences from counting without being aware that it is
counting”' But the resonance between the subjects goes much deeper than this.
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914
Mathematics is an aesthetic discipline where talk of beautiful proofs and elegant solutions is
commonplace. Only those with a special aesthetic sensibility are equipped to make mathematical
discoveries. The flash of illumination that mathematicians crave often feels like bashing notes on
a piano until suddenly a combination is found which contains an inner harmony marking it out as
different.
G.H. Hardy wrote that he was 'interested in mathematics only as a creative art'. Even for the
French mathematicians in Napoleon's academies, the buzz of doing mathematics came not from
its practical application but from its inner beauty. The aesthetic experiences of doing
mathematics or listening to music have much in common. Just as you might listen to a piece of
music over and over and find new resonances previously missed, mathematicians often take
pleasure in re-reading proofs in which the subtle nuances that make it hang together so effortlessly gradually reveal themselves. Hardy believed that the true test of a good mathematical
proof was that 'the ideas must fit together in a harmonious way. Beauty is the first test: there is
no permanent place in the world for ugly mathematics. For Hardy, A mathematical proof should
resemble a simple and clear-cut constellation, not a scattered Milky Way.
Both mathematics and music have a technical language of symbols which allow us to articulate
the patterns we are creating or discovering. Music is much more than just the minims and
crochets which dance across the musical stave. Similarly, mathematical symbols come alive only
when the mathematics is played with in the mind.
As Pythagoras discovered, it is not just in the aesthetic realm that mathematics and music
overlap. The very physics of music has at its root the basics of mathematics. If you blow across
the top of a bottle you hear a note. By blowing harder, and with a little skill, you can start to hear
higher notes - the extra harmonics, the overtones. When a musician plays a note on an
instrument they are producing an infinity of additional harmonics, just as you do when you blow
across the top of the bottle. These additional harmonics help to give each instrument its own
distinctive sound. The physical characteristics of each instrument mean that we hear different
combinations of harmonics. In addition to the fundamental note, the clarinet plays only those
harmonics produced by odd fractions: 1/3,1/5, 1/7, . . . The string of a violin, on the other hand,
vibrates to create all the harmonics that Pythagoras produced with his urn - those corresponding
to the fractions1/2,1/3,1/4….
Since the sound of a vibrating violin string is the infinite sum of the fundamental note and all the
possible harmonics, mathematicians became intrigued by the mathematical analogue. The
infinite sum 1 + 1/2 +1/3+1/4+. . . became known as the h a r m o n i c s e r i e s . This infinite sum
is also the answer Euler got when he fed the zeta function with the number x = 1 . Although this
sum grew only very slowly as he added more terms, mathematicians had known since the
fourteenth century that eventually it must spiral off to infinity.
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915
So the Zeta function must output the answer infinity when fed the number x = 1 . If, however,
instead of taking x = 1, Euler fed the zeta function with a number bigger than 1, the answer no
longer spiralled off to infinity. For example, taking x = 2 means adding together all the squares
in the harmonic series:
1 1 1
1 2 2 2 .......
2
3 4
This is a smaller number as it does not include all possible fractions found when x = 1 . We are
now adding only some of the fractions, and Euler knew that this time the smaller sum wouldn't
spiral off to infinity but would home in on some particular number. It had become quite a challenge by Euler's day to identify a precise value for this infinite sum when .x = 2. The best
estimate was somewhere around 8/5. In 1735, Euler wrote that 'So much work has been done on
the series that it seems hardly likely that anything new about them may still turn up . . . I, too, in
spite of repeated effort, could achieve nothing more than approximate values for their sums.'
Nevertheless, Euler, emboldened by his previous discoveries, began to play around with this
infinite sum. Twisting it this way and that like the sides of a Rubik's cube, he suddenly found the
series transformed. Like the colors on the cube, these numbers slowly came together to form a
completely different pattern from the one he had started with. As he went on to describe, 'Now,
however, quite unexpectedly, I have found an elegant formula depending upon the quadrature of
the circle' - in modern parlance, a formula depending on the number = 3.1415. . .
By some pretty reckless analysis, Euler had discovered that this infinite sum was homing in on
the square of divided by 6:
1
1 1 1
2
......
4 9 16
6
2
The decimal expansion of
like that of , is completely chaotic and unpredictable. To this
6
2
day, Euler's discovery of this order lurking in the number
ranks as one of the most intriguing
6
calculations in all of mathematics, and it took the scientific community of Euler's time by storm.
No one had predicted a link between the innocent sum 1+1/4+1/9+1/16 +…. and the chaotic
number . This success inspired Euler to investigate the power of the zeta function further. He
knew that if he fed the zeta function with any number bigger than 1, the result would be some
finite number. After a few years of solitary study he managed to identify the output of the zeta
function for every even number. But there was something rather unsatisfactory about the zeta
function. Whenever Euler fed the formula for the zeta function with any number less than 1, it
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916
would always output infinity. For example, for x = - 1 it yields the infinite sum 1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + .
. . The function behaved well only for numbers bigger than 1.
2
Euler's discovery of his expression for
in terms of simple fractions was the first sign that the
6
zeta function might reveal unexpected links between seemingly disparate parts of the
mathematical canon. The second strange connection that Euler discovered was with an even
more unpredictable sequence of numbers.
S. Ramanujan notebooks (1910) and the power of the Brahmin network had secured Ramanujan
a job as an accountant with the Port Authority in Madras. He had begun to publish some of his
ideas in the J o u r n a l o f t h e I n d i a n M a t h e m a t i c a l S o c i e t y , and by now his name had
come to the attention of the British authorities. C.L.T. Griffith, who worked at the College of
Engineering in Madras, recognised that Ramanujan's work was that of a 'remarkable
mathematician' but he felt unable to follow or criticise it. So he decided to get the opinion of one
of the professors who had taught him as a student in London.
Without formal training, Ramanujan had evolved a very personal mathematical style. It is
perhaps not surprising, then, that when Professor Hill of University College, London received
Ramanujan's papers claiming to have proved that (Berndt,1985)
1 +2+3+4+ …..=-1/12
he dismissed most of them as meaningless. Even to the untrained eye, this formula looks
ridiculous. To add up all the whole numbers and get a negative fraction is clearly the work of a
madman! 'Mr Ramanujan has fallen into the pitfalls of the very difficult subject of Divergent
Series,' he wrote back to Griffith.
Ramanujan had recently been given a copy of Hardy's O r d e r s o f I n f i n i t y by Ganapathy
Iyer, a Professor of Mathematics in Madras with whom he regularly discussed mathematics on
the beach in the evenings. As he read Hardy, Ramanujan must have recognised that here at last
was someone who might appreciate his ideas, but later he admitted that he had feared his
infinite sums would prompt Hardy 'to point out to me the lunatic asylum as my goal'.
Ramanujan was particularly excited by Hardy's statement that 'no definite expression has been
found as yet for the number of prime numbers less than any given number'. Ramanujan had
discovered an expression which he believed very nearly captured this number. He was very
keen to find out what Hardy thought of his formula.
Hardy's first impression on finding in the morning post Ramanujan's envelope covered in Indian
stamps was not immediately favorable. It contained a manuscript filled with wild, fantastic
theorems about counting primes, alongside well-known results presented as if they were
original discoveries. In the covering letter Ramanujan declared that he had 'found a function
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917
which exactly represents the number of prime numbers'. Hard) knew that this was a stunning
claim, but no formula had been supplied. Worst of all - no proofs of anything! For Hardy, proof
was everything. He once told Bertrand Russell across the high table at Trinity, 'If I could prove
by logic that you would die in five minutes, I should be sorry you were going to die, but my
sorrow would be very much mitigated by pleasure in the proof.'
According to C.P. Snow, Hardy, having quickly looked over Ramanujan's work, 'was not only
bored, but irritated. It seemed like a curious kind of fraud.' But by the evening the wild theorems
were beginning to work their magic, and Hardy summoned Littlewood for after-dinner discussions. By midnight they had cracked it. Hardy and Littlewood, equipped with the knowledge to
decode Ramanujan's unorthodox language, could now see that these were not the outpourings of
a crank but the works of a genius - untrained, but brilliant.
They both realized that Ramanujan's infinite sum was none other than the rediscovery of how to
define the missing part of Riemann's zeta landscape. The clue to decoding Ramanujan's formula
is to rewrite the number 2 as 1/(2"') (2_l is another way of writing Applying the same trick to
each number in the infinite sum. Hardy and Littlewood rewrote Ramanujan's formula as
1+2+3+4+ ….=1 +1/2-1+ 3-1+4-1+ …=-1/12
Staring them in the face was Riemann's answer to how to calculate the zeta function when fed
with the number — 1. With no formal training, Ramanujan had run the whole race on his own
and reconstructed Riemann's discovery of the zeta landscape.
2. Riemann`s Zeta (x) function and human consciousness
Riemann`s Zeta function is described by formula
( s) e s x sdx,( s 1)
0
( x)
( s ) ( x ) s dx
2 i
e 1 x
x
In Figs.1 and 2 we present the shape of the Zeta (x) for different ranges of x
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918
ZETA RIEM ANNA
4
3
Zeta Riemanna
2
1
0
1
2
3
3
2
1
0
1
2
3
4
x
Rys.1 Riemann`s Zeta(x), for 3 x 4
ZETA RIEM ANNA
0.00
Zeta Riemanna
0.05
0.10
0.15
0.20
0.25
5
4
3
2
1
0
x
Rys.1 Riemann`s Zeta(x), for 5 x 0
For x=-1 we have the formula
( 1) 1 2 3 4 5 ....
1
12
(1)
According to formula (1 ) the binding energy of hydrogen atom ( harmonic oscillator) can be
write as
E (1)0 h
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1
h
12 9
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Marciak-Kozłowska, J. & Kozlowski, M., Hidden Order
919
where 9 h is the fundamental hydrogen atom energy
Conclusion
The contemporary interpretation of quantum mechanics is the coincidence only. For all
fundamental properties of hydrogen atom the binding energy is hidden in the Euler- Ramanujan
formula
References
Berndt B. C., S Ramanujan`s Notebook, Part I, Springer 1985, p.137.
Edwards HM Riemann`s Zeta Function, Academic Press New York, USA, 1974.
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Christianto, V., & Smarandache, F., An Integral Triune Model of Human Consciousness & Its Implications to Cancer Treatment
Exploration
An Integral Triune Model of Human Consciousness
& Its Implications to Cancer Treatment
Victor Christianto*1 & Florentin Smarandache2
1
Malang Institute of Agriculture, Malang, Indonesia
Dept. Math. & Sci., Univ. of New Mexico, Gallup, USA
2
Abstract
In this paper, we argue that human consciousness model should take into consideration the mindbody-spirit as integral aspect which is neglected in the so-called Freudian mental model. In
particular, two approaches to cancer treatment derived from such an integral triune view of
human consciousness are explored: (a) Healing frequency approach as advised by Royal Rife
and David Hawkins, and (b) Relational therapy, based on recent research on the healing role of
love and compassion.
Keywords: Mind, body, spirit, triune model, human consciousness, implication, cancer
treatment.
Those of you who are truly happy are those who have sought and found a
way to serve. Albert Schweitzer, MD
Introduction
In our previous paper [1], we discussed a new integral view of human consciousness beyond
Freudian mental model. Among other things, we consider the following: that human
consciousness model should take into consideration “spirit” role, i.e. the mind-body-spirit as
integral aspect, which view is neglected in the so-called Freudian mental model [1].
In this paper, we consider two approaches to cancer treatment derived from such an integral
triune view of human consciousness: (a) Healing frequency approach as advised by Royal Rife
and David Hawkins, and (b) Relational therapy, based on recent research on the healing role of
compassion and love.
Pneumatological View of Psyche
We all know that Hebrew’s thought on human being is integral, i.e., the wholeness of bodymind-spirit. But how can we come up with a model of human consciousness based on the Bible?
*Correspondence: Victor Christianto, Independent Researcher. Email: victorchristianto@gmail.com
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As a starting point, we choose to begin with Jesus’s sayings, instead of using other trivial
sources.
Let us begin with the Greatest Commandments:
Matthew 22:37-40 - King James Version (KJV)
37
Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all
thy soul, and with all thy mind.
38
This is the first and great commandment.
39
And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
40
On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.
Our re-reading of the above commandments lead us to model a Trinitarian dialogue within
human self: God, self, and others.1
God
self
others
Figure 1. Three directions of human love based on The Greatest Commandments in Matthew
22:37-40.
Comparing with Adam Grant’s give and take model of human basic tensions inside our mind,
Let us consider parallels, i.e. “taking” reflects selfishness/greediness motive of ego, and “giving”
reflects altruism motive of conscience.
In other words, now we have two entities in human consciousness: ego and conscience. There is
always deep tension between ego and consciousness, between selfishness and altruism. Along
these two poles, we need a third entity which has purpose to ease and being intermediary
between these two motives. In this problem, along with Neutrosophic Logic [2],2 allow us to
1
For an alternative reading of Mat. 22, see Vern Poythress’s article: https://frame-poythress.org/the-greatestcommandment-the-very-heart-of-the-matter/
2
As a simple introduction to Neutrosophic Logic, allow us to quote from ref. [3]: “Neutrosophic Logic (NL) is a
Theory of Everything in logics, since it is the most general so far. In the Neutrosophic Propositional Calculus a
neutrosophic proposition has the truth value (T, I, F), where T is the degree of truth, I is the degree of
indeterminacy (or neutral, i.e. neither truth nor falsehood), and F is the degree of falsehood, where T, I, F standard
or non-standard subsets of the non-standard unit interval ]-0, 1+[. In addition, these values may vary over time,
space, hidden parameters, etc. Therefore, NL is a triple-infinite logic but, by splitting the Indeterminacy, we prove
in this article that NL is a n-infinite logic, with n = 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, … . The neutrosophic component of Indeterminacy
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submit wholeheartedly that the third entity, is actually no other than “the spirit.” (pneuma in
Greek, ruach in Hebrew)
God
(spirit)
self
others
(ego)
(conscience)
Figure 2. A model of human consciousness based on The Greatest Commandments in Matthew
22:37-40.3
The exact role of human spirit is to enlighten both ego and conscience. Some readers may raise
question at this point: what is new here? It seems similar with Freud’s id-ego-superego model.
(This proposed model is an extension of Neutropsychic model, see [17]).
No, it is really in contrast with Freud’s model which is purely materialistic in origin. The notion
of spirit is rejected in Freud’s model; that is why mankind reduces to animals in his model,
determined by his/her sexual instinct. And there is no way out of such animal instinct in his
model.
In essence, what we propose with this new model of human consciousness can be summarized in
L. Buscaglia’s words: “Love and self are one and the discovery of either is the realization of
both.”4 In other words, the essence of our identity is love, and once we realize that God has
created ourselves to love and be loved, then this realization will lead us to become a whole
human, and such a wholeness will lead to healing from all kind of diseases. Just like what we
know from many spiritual teachers, that love has true healing effect.
Did you ever hear a story about a rich old lady who suffers acute kidney illness? One day, she
went to the hospital after an arrangement with her doctor, that she would get new kidney
transplanted to her body. But she never knew who the donor of her kidney is. Just few hours
before the transplantation surgery, she walked around the hospital, just to look around. And she
met with a younger woman who cries, and that old lady asked her what makes her crying. And
she told that she has a very poor family and she needs money to feed her baby, and that is why
can be split into more subcategories, for example Belnap split Indeterminacy into: the paradox (<A> and <anti-A>)
and uncertainty (<A> or <anti-A>), while truth would be <A>, and falsehood <anti-A>. This way Belnap got his fourvalued logic. In neutrosophy we can combine <A> and <non-A>, getting a degree of <A> a degree of <neut-A> and
a degree of <anti-A>. <A> actually gives birth to <antiA> and <neut-A>.
3
This model may be compared to Jung’s personality model, which includes individual unconscious and collective
unconscious.
4
https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/1201650-love-and-self-are-one-and-the-discovery-of-either
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she decides to give up her kidney in exchange for some money. The old lady realized that she
spoke to the donor of her kidney, and she felt empathy to that young woman. Then the old lady
said: Alright, you don’t be worrying, I will help you with what I got and I will talk to the doctor
so you don’t have to give up your kidney. Then she met with her doctor, and she told him: “I am
already old, and sooner or later I will die. And I was gifted with so many blessings throughout
my life, so I don’t have to undergo this kidney transplantation.” Then she decided to cancel the
kidney transplantation process, and she said to the doctor to give her money of all operation
procedure to that young woman who offered her kidney. Then the old lady went home. Two or
three days later, she felt really well, then she took medical checkup, then doctors told her that her
kidney problem has disappeared.
We hope you understand the morale of the story above: that love and compassion has healing
effect, albeit the mechanism “how can it possibly happen” may be quite delicate. And this paper
try to elucidate the answers to that question.
Therefore, in this paper, we will discuss two possible approaches to cancer treatment, namely:
(a) a modified Rife frequency generator combined with David Hawkins’s scale of consciousness
(see [11][12]), and (b) a method based on healing effect of compassion-love, which we propose
to call: Relational Therapy.
The following sections will discuss these two approaches.
Healing Frequency Based on David Hawkins & Rife Frequency Generator
In 1992, Bruce Tainio of Tainio Technology, an independent division of Eastern State University
in Cheny, Washington, built the first frequency monitor in the world. Tainio has determined that
the average frequency of the human body during the daytime is 62-68 MHz. A healthy body
frequency is 62-72 MHz. While his result appears natural and intuitive, its practical applications
to cancer treatment are so deep. See [11].
There is also an article discussing how Royal Rife’s invention of new type of microscope based
on polarized light, led to discovery of BX virus as the cause of most cancer cells, and Rife also
succeeded to discover novel way to destroy those cells by applying certain frequency.[12] Alas,
his novel machine was banned and Rife was suddenly killed. But later on, some doctors and
researchers began to realize that Rife’s method is the real way to defeat and cure cancer cells.
From a different perspective, the exact role of human body frequency and how it relates to illness
have also been proposed by Sir David Hawkins, especially in his book: Power vs. Force.[5]
His line of thoughts can be summarized as follows:
“It was the late David R. Hawkins, M.D., Ph.D., a renowned psychiatrist and
consciousness researcher who said: “If we are willing to let go of our illness, then we
have to be willing to let go of the attitude that brought about the illness because disease
is an expression of one’s attitude and habitual way of looking at things.”
When you disconnect from your authentic nature, you detach from your state of ease and
the body becomes dis-eased. Love renews and restores inner harmony because every cell
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in your body is attuned to this natural healing state. I liken it to returning home after
being away, to find your key still fits the same door lock. Healing arises when you align
your mental and emotional frequency to coincide with love.
Love is a healing agent because its energetic frequency is stronger than other emotions
and is the foundation of universal order.
“Your body is your subconscious mind and you can’t heal it by talk alone,” affirmed the
neuroscientist and pharmacologist Candace Pert.
As an example of the healing power of love, the Institute of HeartMath states that your
heart has an electromagnetic field 50,000 times stronger than the brain’s.
Ancient wisdom has known for centuries the heart is the seat of the soul. To heal means
to reconnect with your soul within the embodiment of love. So, at the deepest level,
healing is a return to the source of your being. You disconnect from this wisdom by
identifying with fear and anxiety. This creates an inaccurate mental image expressed in
the body as illness and disease.”5
A good summary of Hawkins’ book: Power vs. Force has been presented by John Maguire:
Figure 3. Anatomy of Consciousness, John Maguire.6
5
6
https://medium.com/the-mission/why-the-healing-energy-of-love-is-a-powerful-force-206a295fae5a
www.touchforhealtharchive.com/Journals/2003/2003Maguire.pdf
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In the above figure, it becomes clear that: “All levels below 200 are destructive of life in both the
individual and society at large. All levels above 200 are constructive expressions of power.
Levels of consciousness are always mixed, so that a person may operate at one level of
consciousness in one area of life and on a different level in other areas.”
John Maguire also wrote: “A person's physical and emotional health is affected by the
consciousness they are resonating at. If someone is vibrating at a level below 50, they will have
very low self-esteem and feel responsible for the mess their life is in. They will often experience
low energy and poor health. Their beliefs will reflect and support this state of consciousness and
will further perpetuate their lack of worthiness and powerlessness. One way to help free a person
from these states is to have them tap specific acupressure points (SI 3) as they state, "I deeply
and completely love and accept myself (which pulls them up above 200) even though I fell
(guilt, shame or whatever the emotion they are stuck in)."
Figure 4a. Summary of Hawkins’ Scale of Consciousness. See Ref. [5].
What is more interesting here, our story above about how giving and compassion heal kidney
problem can be explained in this way: “Those who resonate in a state of fear (100) will often see
situations and people around them as threatening. They may experience nervous disorders,
gastrointestinal upset and kidney problems. Their outlook is that something bad is about to
happen and they will try to do what they can to avoid that. To rise above 200 they could shift
their focus to the good that surrounds them. By being proactive and focusing on positive
emotions and expectations they will actually have more power to draw good into their life.”
Maguire also emphasizes on the effect of caring others:
“The two most important factors to raising your consciousness is where you put your
focus and the meaning you make of things that happen to you. In states below 200
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people's focus is primarily on themselves. Above 200 their focus is primarily on others.
Buckminster Fuller once said, "The older I get the happier I become, because I am getting
less and less preoccupied with myself."7
Figure 4b. Summary of Hawkins’ Scale of Consciousness. See Ref. [5].
Hawkins also wrote about “counterbalancing effect” in 1995:
“Although only 15 percent of the world’s population is above the critical consciousness
level of 200, the collective power of the 15 percent has the weight to counterbalance the
low vibrational resistance of the remaining 85 percent of the world’s people. Because the
scale of power advances logarithmically, a single avatar at a consciousness level of 1000
could, in fact, totally counterbalance the collective negativity of all mankind.”[6]
Key summary of Hawkins’ ideas is as follows: “Our states of consciousness are vibrational. The
levels can be calibrated on a relative scale of 0 - 1000, where below 200 are states which are
destructive of life in both the individual and society at large. Above 200 are states which are
constructive expressions of power. Everything, especially our beliefs, focus and identity affects
our level of consciousness, either bringing us up or down in frequency. Our experience of life is
an expression of our level of consciousness. Achieving lasting health, happiness and peace
comes through attainment of higher levels of consciousness. We can measure our success not by
what we get, but by what we give.”[6]
7
http://www.touchforhealtharchive.com/Journals/2003/2003Maguire.pdf
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Relational Therapy or the Healing Effect of Compassion-Love
Nelson Mandela once remarked: “Our human compassion binds us the one to the other – not in
pity or patronizingly, but as human beings who have learnt how to turn our common suffering
into hope for the future.”
Yes, we can accept his remark, but how to speak of compassion in terms of cancer treatment. Is
there healing effect of compassion and love? We will take a deeper look into these questions in
this section, which discussion allow us to submit a new method called: Relational Therapy.
First of all, let us admit that although a growing body of evidence suggests that giving to
(helping) others is linked reliably to better health and longevity to the helper, the mechanism
remains a mystery. However, there are recent papers which seem to support such a wide-held
belief, see for instance [7].
Other research also suggests the neuroscience effect of pro-social behavior.[8]. A recent book by
Adam Grant from Wharton also reveals on how giving to others may lead to better and happier
life. [10]
Key ideas of Adam Grant can be summarized as follows:
“Depending on the situation, people can adopt different behaviors – they can take, give,
or exchange. But usually, everyone has a dominant model that determines their behavior.
All three models have their advantages and disadvantages. However, the author believes,
and his view is supported by real-life experiences that givers receive fewer benefits, as
they are guided by the interests of others and forget about their own interests. The link
between giving and positive emotion is a cornerstone of Positive Psychology. Giving
makes us happy. Studies have shown when subjects are given $5 with instructions to give
the money to a stranger, their happiness increases more than subjects who are given $20
to spend on themselves (Dunn et.al. 2008).”[10]
And a significant work in this direction of research has been written: “The compassion
connection.”[9]. Preface of their book begins with these words:
“As human beings, we are born with an innate and nearly limitless capacity for caring
and compassion. We recognize when others around us are hurting; as the latest
neuroscience has shown, we quite literally feel their pain—imaging studies have
demonstrated that the same networks in the brain are activated whether people receive a
painful stimulus themselves or are merely witnessing someone else receiving it. And we
want to help. In fact, the human brain is actually wired for cooperation and giving. But
we’re not always good at it. We say the wrong things, or we zero in on the wrong
problems. Often we manage to do more harm than good, causing hurt feelings and even
damaging relationships. But there is another way. In The Compassionate Connection:
The Healing Power of Empathy and Mindful Listening, I explain that we all have the
astounding ability to help others in a way that prompts their healing from within and
strengthens our bonds with them—while doing emotional and physical good for
ourselves in the process. Indeed, some social psychologists have theorized that giving
may enhance the giver’s self-interest more than receiving. This is a two-way street.”[9]
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The author also tells:
“I learned the importance of the therapeutic ceremony and how the actual process of
delivering care can dramatically enhance the effectiveness of what is prescribed.
Research now shows how this is possible—that is, how personal interactions can actually
have physiological effects on patients.”[9]
In fact, that corresponds to the definition of integrative medicine:
“According to the Academic Consortium for Integrative Medicine and Health, it
“reaffirms importance of the relationship between practitioner and patient, focuses on the
whole person, is informed by evidence, and makes use of all appropriate therapeutic and
lifestyle approaches, healthcare and disciplines to achieve optimal health and healing.”6
Much of the information I had absorbed during my fellowship constellated around how to
stimulate self-healing mechanisms within my patients’ bodies. This is part of what I like
to think of as the “mystery and awe” of medicine.” [9]
That is what we argue in this section, that caring and compassion through authentic relationship
can lead to self-healing process. That is why we call it: “Relational therapy,” to emphasize the
role of loving in healing, just as we heard numerous times in Greatest Commandments as quoted
above.
While we are aware that the ideas presented here may be not complete yet, but we are convinced
that these ideas of authentic relationship, caring and compassion are supported by solid body of
evidence. And they may hold the key to autoimmunity system of human body.
Again, love and self are inseparable. In other words, a man or woman who do not want to care
and practice compassion towards other people, we cannot call them just “selfish”, instead they
are “selfless” – i.e. they are losing the meaning of being a human.
But what is exactly compassion?
In the above section, we have discussed on the healing role of compassion and love. But some
readers may ask: what does compassion exactly mean?
A literal definition of compassion can be found in dictionaries:
“The Concise Oxford English Dictionary defines “compassion” as “sympathetic pity and
concern for the sufferings or misfortunes of others.” The Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate
Dictionary defines “compassion” as “sympathetic consciousness of others’ distress
together with a desire to alleviate it.”[15]
To find its true meaning, let us read a biblical text. One famous text in this regard is Luke 15:20:
“So he got up and went to his father. “But while he was still a long way off, his father
saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his…”
The original Greek word which was translated into “filled with compassion” here is:
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“Esplanchnisth. No, it's not a type of pasta. It's Greek, from the verb 'splagchnizomai',
which we can inadequately translate in English as 'to have compassion'.”[13]
The word splagchnizomai conveys a very deep meaning, which literally means something as
“empathy until you have a kind of stomach ache.” See the following discussion for more clarity:
“Splagchnizomai... The Greek pronunciation is something like: splawnk-NITZ-oh-my.
Splagchnizomai is one of the verbs that appear in Luke 15:20, one of those which can
make all the difference in the world.
In the NLT translation of Luke 15:20, splagchnizomai is translated as “filled with love
and compassion.” This accurately renders the sense of the Greek verb. It is based on the
Greek noun splagchna (SPLANK-nah), which means “internal organs” or “entrails.”
Among speakers of first-century Greek, human emotions were thought to exist in the gut,
whereas, in English, we speak of the heart as the home of our feelings.
As Jesus narrates the story of the lost son returning home, first, the father sees his son
while he is still far away, suggesting the father’s longing for his son’s return. When he
sees him, the father feels deep love and compassion for his son. According to Jesus, this
portrays the way God sees us in our lostness. The compassion of God does not deny his
just anger over our sin. Yet the God who judges our sin is the same God whose heart is
moved by our sinful, lost condition.
The verb splagchnizomai is relatively uncommon in the New Testament. When it is used
by a biblical writer, it usually describes the emotions of Jesus (8 out of 12 New
Testament uses). In Luke 7:13, for example, when Jesus saw a woman mourning over her
dead son, “his heart overflowed with compassion.” Thus, Jesus incarnates and exemplifies
the compassion of God, making real what he so profoundly illustrates in the Parable of
the Prodigal Son. The triune God, the God who became human in Jesus, not only acts
with grace, but also feels compassion for the lost...including you.”[14]
That kind of compassion, the divine compassion, that makes healing possible, both to heal
physical illness and also wounded–heart. In other words, you should be moved with compassion,
just like Jesus were moved with compassion.
This is the kind of love that Father in Heaven has to his returning son. And the same word can be
found repeatedly in The Gospel of Luke. Suffice it to say, that the Gospel of Luke is not only a
Gospel for the outsiders and outcasts, but it can also be called a Gospel of Compassionate God.
But some readers may ask: who on Earth can do such a deep compassion? Not necessarily a
believer, even an unbeliever who follows his heart can do that, as Jesus told in the Good
Samaritan story:
“However, unlike the pillars of the Jewish religion, a priest and a Levite, Luke
10:33~”Then a despised Samaritan came along, and when he saw the man, he felt
compassion (σπλαγχνίζομαι splagchnizomai) for him. (NLT).
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The word compassion (σπλαγχνίζομαι splag-chniz-omai) means to have sympathy for the
suffering or hurting of others. It also includes having a desire to help. This is found in the
teaching of kingdom living, both Old Testament and New Testament. Therefore, the
despised Samaritan or muggle for some of you does what no one else would, even those
who knew better. He goes over to the man, disinfects his wounds with wine, soothes them
with olive oil, and bandages them.”[16]
Conclusions
As a further step from what we have outlined in a preceding paper, we consider the following:
that human consciousness model should take into consideration “spirit” role, i.e. the mind-bodyspirit as integral aspect, which view is neglected in the so-called Freudian mental model.
In this paper, we consider two approaches to cancer treatment derived from such an integral
triune view of human consciousness, including (a) healing frequency approach as advised by
Royal Rife and David Hawkins, and also (b) relational therapy, based on recent research on the
healing role of compassion and love.
While we are aware that the ideas presented here may be not complete yet, but we are convinced
that these ideas of authentic relationship, caring and compassion are supported by solid body of
evidence. And they may hold the key to autoimmunity of human body. Again, love and self are
inseparable.
In summary, instead of repeating the Cartesian old adage: cogito ergo sum (I think therefore I
am), probably it is much better to consider a new phrase: I love therefore I am (we are not sure
about Latin version, may be something like this: “Amo cogito ergo sum.”)
Acknowledgement: Discussion with Robert Neil Boyd is appreciated.
References
[1] V. Christianto & F. Smarandache. The world within us: (or: A sketch of consciousness space beyond
Freudian mental model and implications to socio-economics modeling and integrative cancer
therapy). BAOJ Cancer research, Sept. 2018.
[2] F. Smarandache. Neutrosophic Logic - A Generalization of the Intuitionistic Fuzzy Logic (2003). url:
https://arxiv.org/ftp/math/papers/0303/0303009.pdf
[3] F. Smarandache. Neutrosophic Logic as a Theory of Everything in Logics. (2010). url:
http://www.rxiv.org/pdf/1004.0024v1.pdf
[4] D. Martin Lloyd-Jones. Healing and the Scriptures. Published in Nashville, Tennessee, by OliverNelson Books, a division of Thomas Nelson, Inc., Publisher, 1988.
[5] David R. Hawkins. Power vs. Force: The Hidden Determinants of Human Behavior. The Institute for
Advanced Theoretical Research, 1995. url: https://www.amazon.com/Power-vs-Force-DeterminantsBehavior-ebook/dp/B00EJBABS2
[6] David Hawkins. Scale of consciousness. url: www.freedomwithin.org
[7] Stephanie Brown and R. Michael Brown. Connecting prosocial behavior to physical health.
Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Review, 55 (2015) 1-17
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[8] Alexander Easton & Nathan Emery. The cognitive Neuroscience and Social behaviour. Psychology
Press, 2005, 270 Madison Avenue, New York, NY 1001
[9] David Rakel & Susan K. Golant. THE COMPASSIONATE CONNECTION. The Healing Power of
Empathy and Mindful Listening. London: W.W. Norton & Company
[10] Adam Grant. Give and Take. https://positivepsychologyprogram.com/adam-grant-give-and-take/
[11] Vibrational Frequency of human organs as discovered by Bruce Tainio. url:
http://justalist.blogspot.com/2008/03/vibrational-frequency-list.html
[12] An article extracted from the book 'The Cancer Cure That Worked' by Barry Lynes (Marcus Books),
later published in Nexus Oct-Nov 93. url:
https://www.frequencyrising.com/rifemachine_cancercure.html
[13] Splagchizomai. url: https://www.lifefm.co.nz/more/word-for-you-today/item/2788%27splagchnizomai%27[14] Verbs That Make All the Difference in the World: Splagchnizomai. Url:
https://www.theologyofwork.org/the-high-calling/daily-reflection/verbs-make-all-difference-worldsplagchnizomai
[15] Mark Mayberry. Compassion. url: http://markmayberry.net/wp-content/uploads/bible-study/2007-0909-am-MM-Compassion-Long.pdf
[16] Moved with compassion. Url: https://pastorsavage.net/2018/03/08/moved-with-compassion/
[17] Florentin Smarandache, Neutropsychic Personality, Pons asbl, Belgium, first edition 118 pages,
2018; second enlarged edition, 131 p., 2018.
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Journal of Consciousness Exploration & Research | July 2021 | Volume 12 | Issue 2 | pp. 184-206
184
Pitkänen, M., & Rastmanesh, R.Aging from TGD Viewpoint
Exploration
Aging from TGD Viewpoint
M. Pitkänen1 and R. Rastmanesh2,3
1
Independent researcher. 1
Member of The Nutrition Society, London, UK.
3
Member of The American Physical Society, USA. Email: r.rastmahesh@gmail.com.
2
Abstract
This article was inspired by the book ”Lifespan” by Sinclair and LaPlante. The books proposed
that aging is basically caused by the approach to epigenetic chaos. The book also proposesthat bioinformation is not only associated with DNA and genetic code but the conformational degrees of
DNA and these are crucial in epigenesis. This vision serves as the starting point of TGD (Topological
Geometrodynamics) inspired view. Negentropy Maximization principle replacing in adelic physics
second law but implying it for ordinary matter is the first key notion. Magnetic body (MB )carrying
dark matter as hef f = nh0 phases of ordinary matter implying quantum coherence in the scale
characterized by hef f represents the second key notion. MB is the controller of the dynamics and
its quantum coherence induces the coherence of ordinary biomatter as forced coherence rather than
quantum coherence. Zero energy ontology (ZEO) predicting the occurrence of time reversal in ”big”
(ordinary) state function reductions is the third key notion. Time reversal forces generalization
of thermodynamics and dissipation of a subsystem with a reversed arrow of time looks like selforganization from the point of view of the system. Also self-organized quantum criticality difficult
to understand in ordinary thermodynamics becomes possible. The basic idea is that at birth the
MBs of information molecules are at very low temperature and gradually approach the physiological
temperature, which is near to Hagedorn temperature defining the maximal temperature of MB. This
thermalization leads to epigenetic chaos implying that the flux tubes carrying dark DNA and therefore
also DNA become loopy. Also the control of methylation and other modifications and their reversals
crucial for epigenesis is lost. In particular, demethylation fails and leads to hyper-methylation of the
promoter regions of genes. This leads to the failure of the control of genes coding for housekeeping
proteins and eventually the system suffers a crash down.
1
Introduction
This article was inspired by a birthday gift. The gift was a highly inspiring book ”Lifespan” by David
Sinclair and Matthew LaPlante [3]. The book tells about the recent understanding concerning aging. The
general vision about aging represented in the book can be summarized as follows.
1. The key idea is that genes do not determine everything. DNA has also continuum degrees of freedom
characterized by its shape. These degrees of freedom are related to epigenesis which is higher level
control activity controlling what genes are expressed. The basic mechanisms are prevention and
allowance of gene expression. Acetylization [17], methylation [25] and many other modifications
affect the gene expression by attaching to proteins known as histones forming kind of pearls in the
necklace defined by DNA: genes follow nucleosomes in the DNa strand. Also the reversals of these
processes - for instance, deacetylation [20, 6]and demethylation [25] are essential for the control of
gene expressions.
1 Correspondence: Matti Pitkänen http://tgdtheory.com/. Address: Rinnekatu 2-4 A8, 03620, Karkkila, Finland. Email:
matpitka6@gmail.com. Email: matpitka6@gmail.com.
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Pitkänen, M., & Rastmanesh, R.Aging from TGD Viewpoint
2. Aging involves the emergence of various diseases. Usually the attention is directed to dealing with
these diseases. Now the view is however more general. Aging is seen as a gradual approach to chaos
manifesting as various diseases. In order to prevent the diseases one should slow down the approach
to chaos.
3. Epigenetic chaos hypothesis suggests that some control systems associated with information molecules
and related to the control of DNA transcription and translation by epigenesis must approach chaos.
This is seen as the gradual randomization of DNA conformations causing problems in the transcription of DNA: DNA becomes loopy. The DNA coding for the ribosome acting as the translation
machinery of DNA is of special importance and becomes also loopy. What comes first in physicist’s
mind, is an approach to thermal equilibrium. Is there some system controlling epigenesis which approaches thermal equilibrium with the environment? In standard chemistry it is difficult to identify
this kind of system.
4. Biology has invented ingenious mechanisms to slow down aging. For instance, there are molecules
having two functions. There are proteins making the translation of the genes related to cell replication possible.
When the DNA coding for the ribosome gets loopy their function changes. The translation of genes
ceases as the proteins leave the histone molecules and enter the damaged DNA and freeze it so that
it can be prepared. This however slows down cell replication and also causes other problems leading
to various diseases related to aging. One can say that a cell is like a hospitalized patient.
The slowing down of aging would be in this framework basically fighting against the thermodynamical arrow of time. Is it really possible to understand the processes involved in the framework
of standard bio-chemistry with a single arrow of time?
Even the understanding of the biocatalysis is difficult: how the reacting molecules are able to find
each other in the molecular soup and how the huge increase for the rate of these processes is possible.
The TGD based solution of these problems will be discussed later.
What could TGD inspired theory of consciousness and quantum biology rely on zero energy ontology
(ZEO) inspired biology allow to say about the mechanism behind aging?
1. Negentropy Maximization Principle (NMP) as the variational principle of consciousness replaces the
second law and implies it for ordinary matter. State function reduction (SFR) means a reduction
of the entanglement for a pair Sa − Sb of sub-system Sa and Sb its complement in S. Measurement cascade proceeding from long to short scales decomposes at each step a system to a pair of
unentangled subsystems is in question. NMP as a variational principle of consciousness states that
negentropy gain in these reductions is maximized and selects the pair Sa − Sb at given step.
In adelic physics [35, 36] the entropy N = −S1 −S2 of real and various p-adic negentropies but p-adic
negentropy can be positive so that for non-trivial extensions of rationals one can have N > 0. This
kind of entanglement is stable against NMP so that the process stops. One can assign positively
colored emotions to this kind of entanglement and it distinguishes between living and inanimate
matter and also between dark and ordinary matter.
2. TGD inspired theory of consciousness is basically an extension of quantum measurement theory
allowing to get rid of the basic paradox of quantum measurement theory. There are two kinds of
state function reductions (SFRs) ”big” SFR and ”small” SFR (briefly BSFR and SSFR) [41].
SSFRs are counterparts of ”weak” measurements which are much like classical measurements and
do not involve any dramatic changes. The sequence of SSFRs gives rise to a conscious entity -self
- as a sequence of moments of consciousness. Subjective time as a sequence of SSFRs correlates
with the geometric time. BSFRs are counterparts of ordinary quantum measurements and have a
dramatic effect: in a very general sense one can say that self dies and reincarnates with an opposite
arrow of geometric time.
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3. There is a hierarchy of magnetic bodies carrying dark matter as phases of ordinary matter with
effective value hef f = nh0 of Planck constant. n corresponds to the dimension of an extension of
rationals. The extensions define evolutionary hierarchies with increasing complexity. n serves as a
measure of algebraic complexity and as a universal IQ, and also characterizes the scale of quantum
coherence. For instance, genes are characterized by the value of hef f associated with their MB.
Since MBs have higher universal IQ than ordinary biomatter, they control the biochemistry. In
particular, they would control DNA and DNAs MB would actually realize genetic codons in terms
of dark proton triplets. Also dark photon triplets would provide this kind of realization crucial for
control of and communication with ordinary biomatter.
4. ZEO implies a theory of self-organization [40] and of self-organized quantum criticality (SOQC)
relying on time reversal [50]. The dissipation of a system looks like in reversed time direction
extraction of energy from the environment. Also SOQC becomes possible since criticality, since a
state, which is a repeller, becomes an attractor in reversed time direction. The system seems to
tend to criticality for an observer with an opposite arrow of time.
5. In this framework the aging could be seen as the approach of the system formed by MBs of the
information molecules and of ordinary biomatter to a thermal equilibrium. The temperature of MB
gradually grows and eventually reaches a maximal temperature (due to the stringy character of flux
loops) known as Hagedorn temperature and identifiable as the physiological temperature. System
dies.
2
Very brief summary about some aspects of aging?
The book of Sinclair and LaPlante [3] is about aging and how to slow down it. The basic hypothesis is
that aging need not mean getting sicker and sicker all the time. Biology has developed molecular tools for
slowing down aging and there are longevity genes analogs to SPs taking care of this. It might be possible
to help them by a healthy lifestyle.
The books represents a vision involving the following pieces.
1. Aging is information loss and molecular level, in particular DNA level. Ribosomal DNA seems to
be in a special role assignable to nucleolus. Physicist could try to understand this from the second
law: entropy un-avoidably increases . Entropy increases for isolated system but it is perhaps not so
simple.
2. It has been learned that damage to DNA alone cannot explain aging. There must be additional
degrees of freedom assignable to epigenesis as a control of genome. Besides genetic code there should
exist additional continuous information carrying degrees of freedom.
Epigenesis involves these degrees of freedom and DNAs conformation (involving coilings of coilings
of ..) represents these degrees of freedom. Histones appear tangles along the DNA double strand
selecting which genes are expressed. Acetyl tag in the histome allows gene expression to take place.
When acetyl is absent, nothing happens. The effect of acetyl tag can be also silenced.
3. There are enzymes Sirn, n = 1, 2, ..7, called sirtuins [27, 7] (https://cutt.ly/Hjkh0ia). In particular, Sir2 silences so-called mating type genes so that the cell replicates normally. If Sir2 is not
present in mating type genes, they are expressed and replication does not take place normally. I
understood that for yeast, the cell loses its sexual identity and does not replicate.
During this non-replication period the cell would concentrate on maintenance. Under stress situations this would occur quite generally and make survival possible. If you cannot eat and replicate,
sleep, and generate metabolic energy from thermal energy for instance. Also SPs would be at work.
On the basis of [50], one could guess that a kind of hibernation state with a reversed arrow of time
could be in question. To live longer it is good to die sufficiently often!
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4. This is not the only function of Sir2. When DNA double strand is broken, Sir2 must leave its
job and hurry to the broken DNA and catalyze expression of SIRn coding for histone deacetylase
HDAC, which removes acetyl tags from histones and deactivates DNA. After this the broken DNA
is prepared. This is like putting a victim of a traffic accident to a hospital bed or even artificial
coma.
As cells get older, this kind of DNA breaks occur more often and Sir2 must leave its basic job more
often and the cell loses its ability to replicate more often. It can also happen that Sir2 does not find
its original position in the mating gene and starts to silence a wrong gene. This leads to epigenetic
noise inducing aging.
5. In particular, ribosomal DNA in the nucleolus, the largest structure of the nucleus, can end up
with chaos. Loops are formed and recombination between portions of the same strand can occur
(remember the reconnection mechanism and time reversal). Ribosome plays a fundamental role in
translation so that there is no wonder that difficulties emerge. Important class of damage consists
of breaking DNA double strands. This leads to a chaotic conformation involving loops. Sir2 must
rush to the nucleolus and this means that mating genes activate and the replication stops. When
these accidents occur too often, the cell becomes senescent.
3
Negentropy Maximization Principle (NMP) and Second Law
The natural expectation is that second law relates to aging. This motivates a section devoted to the
recent view about Negentropy Maximization Principle (NMP) [32] defining the variational principle of
consciousness in the TGD framework and implying in adelic physics [36, 35] second law in the case of
non-negentropic entanglement (in standard physics entanglement is always non-negentropic).
Mathematically NMP is analogous to the second law in that it is not deterministic like the variational
principles of classical physics. For a given entangled system NMP allows state function reduction (SFR)
for that sub-system-complement pair for which the negentropy gain is maximal. The state function
reduction can occur to any eigenstate of the density matrix of the selected subsystem in accordance with
standard quantum measurement theory. This would lead to a product of pure states and the negative
entanglement negentropy of the initial state would become vanishing in the final state so that negentropy
would increase. The inclusion of p-adic contribution to negentropy identifiable in terms of cognitive
information assignable to entanglement changes the situation and the entanglement can be stable against
NMP and state function reduction cascade stops to entangled state representing cognitive fixed point.
Since negentropy gain is not anymore popssible in SSFRs, death is bound to take place.
3.1
General observations about second law
First some general observations about second law.
1. Second law is an empirical fact. Second law forces the increase of entropy in statistical sense.
Thermo-dynamical equilibrium is the most probable equilibrium. Second law in the standard form
assumes a fixed arrow of time. Zero energy ontologuy (ZEO) forces to give up this assumption and
allow both arrows of time.
2. Quantum physics is certainly behind second law. If you have an entangled system state, SFRs occur
for subsystems with reduction probabilities determined by its entanglement with the environment.
This eventually leads to a loss of entanglement and quantum coherence and one must apply statistical using density matrix for individual sub-system and eventually justifies thermo-dynamical
description.
It is important to notice that in SFR the entanglement entropy of an individual system is reduced
in SFR but that in the case of ensemble of identical systems this generates entanglement entropy
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identical to the entanglement entropy of single particle giving thermo-dynamical entropy as a special
case.
One can consider two interpretations: a) the generation of entanglement generates single particle
entropy although actually the entropy of the entire system does not increase in unitary evolution
or b) the transformation of this entropy to ensemble entropy corresponds to second law. Option b)
looks more realistic.
This is however only a description for what happens. One can ask what is behind second law. Is there
some deeper principle as one might suspect because quantum measurement is so poorly defined theory.
For instance, von Neumann proposed that only humans cause SFRs. It is often assumed that decoherence
occurs without making any proposal how this happens. What is known and well-tested is that reduction
probabilities for a measurement reducing the entanglement are coded by the measured density matrix,
and one can say that the system goes to an eigenstate of the density matrix as the entanglement is
reduced. For an ensemble of identical particles this process transforms entanglement entropy to ensemble
entropy with the same value.
Negentropy Maximization Principle (NMP) is the TGD based proposal for the variational principle
behind SFRs.
3.2
The new physics elements involved with NMP
NMP involves several new physics elements.
1. What is new is the hierarchy of systems having the hierarchy of space-time sheets as a geometric
correlate. At the level of consciousness theory it would have self hierarchy as a correlate. Quantum
measurements are assumed to correspond to SFR cascades proceeding from higher to lower levels
of the hierarchy.
2. ZEO brings in the notions of ”small” SFR (SSFR) as counterpart of ”weak” measurement and
”big” SFR (BSFR) as counterpart of ordinary quantum measurement [41] and forces giving up the
assumption about a fixed arrow of time. This modifies standard thermodynamics and leads to a
new view about self-organization self-organized quantum criticality [40, 50].
3. In the standard physics framework there is no definition of negentropy as a measure of conscious
information. Negentropy can be only defined as the negative of ordinary entropy and is therefore
non-positive. The best that one could have would be vanishing negentropy. This failure is understandable since standard physics does not even try to describe cognition. One manner to solve the
problem is to claim that only entropy gradients, whose sign can be also negative matter and thus
consider only information flows. In TGD different view is adopted.
4. To bring in conscious information one must introduce cognition. In the TGD framework it is
assumed to be described by adelic physics [35, 36]. This brings in p-adic space-time surfaces as
correlates of cognition. Real space-time surfaces are replaced with their adelic counterparts forming
a kind of Cartesian product of real and various p-adic space-time surfaces obeying the same algebraic
equations.
By M 8 −H duality [42, 43] one can regard space-time surfaces as surfaces in M 8 or in H = M 4 ×CP2 .
M 8 is a subspace of the space of complexified octonions Oc and space-time surface is determined
as a 4-D ”root” of a real polynomial algebraically continued to an octonionic polynomial. If the
coefficients of the polynomial are rational numbers, the polynomial makes sense for both real and
p-adic number fields implying number theoretical universality. The dynamical principle is simple:
the normal space of the space-time surface is associative/quaternionic.
M 8 − H-duality maps these 4-surfaces to 4-surfaces in H. In both cases one has minimal surfaces.
Also the notion of cognitive representation emerges and is essential for the number theoretical
universality. It is also crucial for the construction of the scattering amplitudes [47, 42, 43].
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3.3
Detailed formulation of NMP
Consider now the formulation of NMP [32] in this conceptual framework.
1. In adelic physics cognition is described in terms of p-adic degrees of freedom. Entropy is a sum of
two terms: S = S1 + S2 .
S1 is the ordinary entropy describing the amount of ignorance of the observer about the state of
either entangled system - say Schrödinger cat and the bottle of poison.
S2 , as the p-adic variant of entropy (also real valued) assignable to cognitive information has an
analogous formula and similar defining properties but can be negative(!) and is interpreted as a
measure for the information carried by entanglement.
Thr possibility of having negative sign is basicallyP
due to the fact that the logarithms log(pk )
of probabilities pk in the Shannon formula S = − k pk log(pk ) for entropy are replaced by the
logarithms of their p-adic norms |pk |p given by p−n for pk = pn (a0 + a1 p + ...) (note that the
exponent changes sign!): log(pk ) → log(|pk |p ). Entropy remains additive since the p-adic norm of
product is product of p-adic norms.
A more general formula for the real Shannon entropy S1 is as S1 = −T r(ρlog(ρ)) (ρ is the density
matrix). Even in the case that the matrix elements of ρ are in the extension of rationals used, this
formula need not generalize for S2 since also log(ρ) should have this property. The manner to avoid
the problem is to diagonalize ρ. This is possible if the eigenvalues of ρ - having an interpretation
as entanglement probabilities pk (equivalently reduction probabilities) - belong to the extension of
rationals considered.
At the fundamental level this extension is defined by the space-time surface determined by a polynomial with rational coefficients (M 8 − H duality [42, 43]): the roots of the polynomial determine the
extension and space-time surface (number theoretic holography). If the entanglement probabilities
are not in the extension, one might argue that the entanglement is stable - note however that NMP
alone could make it stable.
Quantum coherence involves stable entanglement carrying cognitive information measured by S2 .
The destruction of coherence if allow by NMP destroys information defined as the sum N = −S =
−S1 − S2 . In absence of cognition one would have N = −S1 and NMP would transform to second
law.
2. The cascade of ”small” state function reductions (SSFRs) eventually leads to a state in which the
remaining entanglement is stable. There is no subsystem-complement pair for which SSFR could
take place in such a manner that negentropy N = −S = −S1 − S2 would increase. The resulting
states are analogous to bound states.
3. Remarkably, in its adelic formulation NMP states that the total entropy, which tends to be negative
for extensions of rationals, gets smaller and negative: information is generated! The pessimistic
second law transforms to an optimistic NMP! The gloomy character of second law would be due to
the neglect of cognition from physics.
Cognitive entropy gets more and more negative but real entropy which is closely related to it but
tending to have a smaller magnitude than p-adic entropy for extensions of rationals also increases
[32] [41]. Hence their sum tends to increase with the dimension n = hef f /h0 of the extension.
What makes entanglement stable against SSFR? One can consider two mechanisms.
1. Adelic physics allows negentropic entanglement, which tends to be stable against SSFRs since it
can only become even more negentropic.
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2. One can also consider another stabilization mechanism. The rule would state that if the density
matrix of the subsystem-complement pair does not allow eigenvalues in the extension of rationals
considered, the reduction is not possible. For a stable entanglement density matrix would not allow
eigenvalues in the extension of rationals considered. One can of course criticize this rule as somewhat
ad hoc and the first option might be enough. One can also ask whether this mechanism is equivalent
with the first mechanism.
3. What could be the interpretation of the negentropic entanglement? I have assigned positive emotions
like love to this entanglement, also experience of understanding, etc...
3.3.1
NMP implies increase of ordinary entanglement entropy
NMP implies increase of the ordinary entanglement entropy. The hasty conclusion would be that this
implies also increase of thermal entropy and thus second law. Here one must be however cautious.
1. Second law as an increase of ordinary entropy would still hold true but the increase of cognitive
information would be larger than the increase of the real entropy for non-trivial extensions of
rationals (this is always the case).
The asymptotic states with maximum negentropy and with stable entanglement would have maximal
real and minimal p-adic entanglement entropy and their sum would be negative - and N = −S would
therefore serve as a measure for the amount of conscious information.
2. One might argue that intelligent systems tend to pollute their environment: they are entanglement
entropy generators and by witnessing what has been happening to our environment, it would be
easy to agree.
One must be however extremely cautious with formulas. The stability of negentropic entanglement
means that the real entanglement entropy cannot transform to ensemble entropy and cannot therefore actualize! Is this what distinguishes loving attention as something unique and positive: the
entanglement is stable and cannot transform to ordinary entropy?
3.3.2
Could NMP allow the failure of second law in some situations?
The dream about eternal youth seems to be in conflict with the second law. For physicist second law is
usually the absolute authority. Working with the details of NMP however force to challenge this view.
A generalization of second law taking into account time reversals is required in ZEO and already
this implies apparent breakings of second law. Furthermore, NMP implies second law as the increase
of entanglement entropy. NMP does not allow SFRs transforming negentropic entanglement entropy to
thermodynamic ensemble entropy unless the SFRs occurs at higher level of hierachy so that the local
reduction of negentropy is compensated by its increase in a longer scale. The implications of this fact
remain to be understood.
Could NMP break the second law? Can this be consistent with empirical facts? Could the breaking
of second law occur at the level of dark matter only? Second law would apply only to the entropy
transformable to thermal entropy. The sum N = −S1 − S2 is what matters: for a trivial extension
one has N = 0 so that this transformation is possible. N = 0 can be however true also for non-trivial
extensions. Could the total entanglement negentropy assignable to the ordinary matter satisfy N = 0 and
be therefore transformable to thermal entropy whereas ”dark” entanglement negentropy satisfying N > 0
would not allow this. Could one identify dark/living matter as negentropic matter and ordinary/inanimate
matter as non-negentropic thermalizable matter? Note that also the phases with hef f /h0 = n could in
principle have N = 0. The stability of dark entanglement could directly relate to the failure to observe
dark matter.
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3.3.3
Comparison with the proposal of Jeremy England
Jeremy England [9] has noticed that living systems increase entropy and has proposed it as a basic
principle of biology. England’s proposal is discussed from TGD point of view in [34]. I did not however
realize in this article the fact, that negentropic entanglement entropy need not allow a transformation to
thermal entropy.
One can represent several objections against England’s idea.
1. Second law cannot force or even allow the generation of life. Second law relates to the occurrence
of SFRs but we do not have a real theory of quantum measurement.
2. Second law assumes preferred arrow of time and there is a lot of support for its violation in living
matter as realized first by Fantappie [30]: in particular, self-organization processes could involve
dissipation with reversed arrow of time.
3. To understand life one must take it seriously. Living system is somehow different from inanimate
matter. The emergence of life means the generation of conscious information but in the framework
of standard physics there is no definition of conscious information.
These objections raise several questions. Why the emergence of life would be accompanied by a
generation of entropy? What could serve as a measure for conscious information? How to describe
cognition? To these questions adelic physics provides a possible answer. If entropy that England talks
about is identified as the entropy produced in SFRs of systems having N = 0, TGD view is consistent
with the proposal of England.
3.3.4
Cognitive fixed point instead of thermal equilibrium?
The analogy with the second law strongly suggests that the system approaches a cognitive fixed point
(negentropy maximum) during the sequence of SSFRs followed by the analog of unitary time evolution.
SSFRs cannot generate negentropy anymore. Since the system does not learn anymore, BSFR is bound
to occur. A possible number theoretic formulation for the fixed point could be following.
1. The time evolution following SSFR generates entanglement. This entanglement is maximally reduced in measurements of observables, which correspond to operators, whose action does not affect
the states at the passive boundary.
2. Cognitive measurements define an important class of such measurements [46]. The cognitive quantum states correspond to wave functions in the Galois group G of the extension
- that is elements of
Q
the group algebra F (G) of G. G can be decomposed to a product G = Gi of subgroups defined
by the hierarchy of normal subgroups of G defined by the representation of the extension as an
extension of an extension of ... of rationals.
Elements of F (G) decompose to superpositions of products of functions in Gi and the factors are
entangled. Note that the order of Gi matters and is induced by the inclusion hierarchy for the
extensions considered: the largest extension is at the top of the hierarchy. One has ”ordered”
entanglement. This is analogous to the directedness of attention which is difficult to understand in
the standard physics framework.
Eastern philosophies speak also of states of consciousness in which there is no distinction between
observer and observed and not division. Could this kind of attention involve negentropic entanglement between systems, which correspond to the same extension of rationals so that the. attention
cannot be directed? Or could it correspond to negentropic cognitive entanglement allowing cognitive
SSFRs?
The first cognitive measurement leads to a product decomposition in F (G/(G2 ...Gn )) × F (G2 ..Gn )
if the entanglement coefficients between G1 = G/(G2 ...Gn ) and F (G2 ..Gn ) are in the extension of
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rationals considered. Same can happen at the next step and leads to a similar decomposition of
F (G2 , ...Gn ). The maximal cognitive measurement cascade leads to a product of wave functions in
F (Gi ) but it can happen that there is no measurement cascade at all.
3. Suppose that the time evolution following SSFR for individual mutually unentangled subsystems is
in good approximation unitary (their interactions with other such subsystems can be neglected) so
that they do not entangle, the density matrix of an individual system suffers a unitary automorphism
so that entanglement entropies remain unaffected and the negentropy gain vanishes. One could speak
of ”asymptotic freedom” as a condition for the cognitive fixed point.
The cognitive fixed point would define the ”silent wisdom” of the re-incarnate having the formerly
active boundary of CD as a passive boundary of CD. What would be learned during life would help
during the next life cycle.
4
TGD based model for aging
In this section the TGD based view about aging is discussed. The king idea is that the magnetic bodies
(MBs) of information molecules and linear molecules formed from them (DNA,RNA, amino-acids,tRNA)
are at very low temperature in the beginning. The temperature of MB starts to raise and approach the
physiological temperature. The entropy of MB increases. Since the MB of the molecule controls the
molecule, the control by MB starts to fail and this leads to the diseases accompanying aging.
4.1
Aging as approach of MB and BB to thermal equilibrium
Ordinary entropy increases for an isolated system, it approaches thermal equilibrium - thermalizes. Aging
must correspond to thermalization in some sense. There are two views about this.
1. The weak form of the proposal making sense in the standard physics context would identify aging as thermalization. For ordinary biomatter, which already is in thermal equilibrium in good
approximation, this idea does not lead to anything interesting.
2. Ordinary matter and the dark matter at MBs carrying dark matter as phases of ordinary matter
with hef f = nh0 have widely different temperatures at the moment of birth. Aging means that
these systems approach thermal equilibrium in the sense that temperatures become identical . MB
has infinite number of degrees of freedom and therefore maximal temperature known as Hagedorn
temperature identifiable naturally as physiological temperature [50]. This option will be considered
in the sequel.
Consider the situation in TGD.
1. What are the continuous degrees of freedom whose entropy growth would lead to aging. In the
TGD framework they would be naturally the geometric degrees of freedom associated with the flux
tubes of dark DNA controlling ordinary DNA. Their number is infinite implying that temperature
is below Hagedorn temperature around physiological temperature. One can assign a temperature
to the flux tubes and also to these degrees of freedom and this is below Hagedorn temperature.
When temperature at flux tubes increases, the geometric shape starts to thermally fluctuate and
the overall size increases. Cells indeed increase in aging as do also we!
2. For information molecules the temperature of MB must be very low: dark DNA flux tubes have
a very precise shape and therefore also ordinary DNA. For SPs the situation is different and this
makes possible their basic functions.
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3. Aging could simply mean that the dark genome approaches thermal equilibrium with ordinary
biomatter at physiological (Hagedorn) temperature and entropy of dark genes and magnetic flux
tubes increases. Flux tubes get more and more irregular shaped and induce a development of loops
for ordinary DNA and breaks DNA double strand. Nucleosomes are loop like structures associated
with histones and also these are known to be lost. Epigenetic chaos is induced. When thermal
equilibrium is achieved death as heat death occurs and changes the arrow of time at the level of
the entire body which is left in the geometric past of the standard observer to continue life with an
opposite arrow of time.
4. There is a connection to the article [48] about DNA and arrow of time. One can argue as follows.
As the electric field along DNA double strand decreases by the shortening of the sticky ends, the
string tension as density of electric energy per length decreases, the stiffness of DNA decreases, and
the fluctuations start to develop. Second possibility is that the shortening of telomeres and sticky
ends is a controlled process causing a programmed aging.
5. There are molecules devoted to preparation of the damaged DNA. The epigenetic tags on histones
of mating genes could control the arrow of time for the gene involved. If the tag is present, the gene
is expressed. If not or if inhibited by say Ser2, the arrow of time is reversed.
4.1.1
Objections related to metabolism
Metabolic energy feed is needed to keep the distribution of hef f :s and even increase the values of hef f defining universal IQ and characterizing quantum coherence scale. This relates to the second important
aspect of life: quantum coherence in long length scales is needed to generate the coherent behavior of
ordinary biomatter and is not possible in standard bio.chemistry framework. Ageing would be a gradual
reduction of this quantum coherence by thermalization of MBs of the basic information molecules, in
particular the dark variants of the basic biomolecules. If you want to live long, take care of your personal
quantum coherence!
One can develop some objections against the vision about ageing as thermalization of the MBs of
information molecules.
1. Aging is viewed as changes of the body after birth. What about the processes before birth? When
sperm and gametes inoculate and divide and divide and form some distinguished organs, this process
needs a high amount of energy; that is why mothers get to eat more during pregnancy.
Fetus generates new structures - parts of MBs containing dark matter as hef f = n × h0 phases of
ordinary matter with increasing value of hef f . This requires high metabolic energy feed provided by
mother. Information molecules are however still very far from thermal equilibrium and the gradual
increase of the temperature of MBs has practically no effects. The situation remains the same also
at the young age. At later age MBs approach thermal equilibrium and problems with the bio-control
by MB emerge.
2. Reactive Oxygen Species (ROS) cause also damage for DNA: the more ROS, the shorter the life of
the cell. That is why food with low calories content or fastings or low carbohydrates (which need
less oxygen to burn) diets are good for longevity.
ROS have been also seen as a cause of aging and one could argue that they should cause a lot of
damage during the fetus period involving intense metabolism. The repair mechanisms of MB work
almost optimally for fetus and at young age and allow handling of the problems due to ROS. The
authors of [3] argue that it is now known that ROS are not the basic reason for aging. As a matter
of fact, ROS are essential for the demethylation [22].
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4.1.2
Is apoptosis as programmed cell death consistent witht he proposal?
Also programmed cell death - apoptosis - could be treated as an objection against aging as approach to
thermal equilibrium. Apoptosis as a programmed cell death cannot be purely thermal event. It could
be induced by MB at the higher level of hierarchy as BSFRs. Perhaps by MB of cell group as in the
development of fingers from the cell mass. Apoptosis could have several motivations.
1. The basic prediction is that giving systems are intentional systems having free will at all levels.
MB at the higher level could act like dictator and destroy quantum coherence locally leading to the
death of the cells but generating quantum coherence and generation of structures in longer scales
which would also take the metabolic energy resources used by the dead cells.
Negentropy Maximization Principle (NMP) would be the deeper principle behind the second law.
Apoptosis would be consistent with the NMP which implies second law as a by-product and as its
name tells, implies negentropy increase. Therefore thermalization would not the only cause of cell
death.
Apoptosis would indeed generate more complex structures when fingers develop from tissue. Destruction of lower level structure would be the price paid for the generation of a higher level structure
and negentropy gain in longer scales.
2. Evolution means steps in which hef f increases in BSFRs and longer scales of quantum coherence
at the level of MB emerge. Extinction of cells and sauri would be part of evolution.
A controlled BSFR causing the analog of death/hibernation of a subsystem could be also represented
as an objection. The BSFR would have the survival of a larger system as a motivation [50]. In fact, all
motor actions can be seen as BSFRs at some lower level so that life is continual dying! Death/hibernation
of a subsystem means savings of metabolic energy and can be seen as one manner to fight against second
law since the dead subsystem lives with the opposite arrow of time: living system is basically 4-D entity
in ZEO - not just the time slice which corresponds to conscious experience!
4.1.3
Is the biochemical approach trying to describe dissipation as a controlled process?
A general comment related to the distinction of the standard approach and the TGD approach relying
on ZEO is in order. Standard approach does its best to identify control mechanisms leading from state
A to state B. Huge amount of information exists about reaction pathways and one can only admire these
data mountains.
This approach is very natural as long as time reversal is not involved. If this is the case, there are
processes, basically healing and repair processes, that occur in a reversed time direction as dissipative
processes and each BSFR leading to a time reversed state involves its own reaction pathways. The tragedy
would be that the standard approach tries desperately to understand loss of order as a controlled process
inventing endlessly reaction pathways!
Of course, this work would not be useless. The problem is however that a deeper understanding is
missing and prevents seeing how incredibly simple the picture is at the fundamental level.
1. The increase of entropy in reverse time direction apparently breaks second law in the standard time
direction. Stress proteins (SPs) discussed in [50] are involved with this battle. The magnetic bodies
of SPs can extract heat energy from the environment in heat shock and heat DNA and proteins in
cold shock, and also act as heat engines for molecular motors.
2. As also the authors of [3] emphasize: diseases are a consequence of a loss of information. Disorder
increases as quantum coherence is lost, and manifests as numerous diseases. Quite concretely, the
hef f distribution flattens in the sequence of SSFRs. System gets less intelligent and is unable to
cope with the hard reality! Second law would eventually win although this process can be slowed
down by BSFRs of subsystems.
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3. Things can go wrong in very many manners: as Tolstoy said, families can be unhappy in myriads
of different ways but there are very few ways to be a happy family! Therefore the disease centered
thinking of medicine is perhaps not the best approach. One should do something which helps to
prevent all diseases simultaneously. One can avoid diseases by choosing a healthy lifestyle. Also a
medicine relying on the idea that BSFRs for subsystems could help. BSFR could be seen also as
falling sleep and resting and gathering metabolic energy - even from thermal energy.
4. Time reversed dissipative evolution looks like healing in the reversed arrow of time. If this is the
case, the tragedy of biology would be the attempt to understand time reversed dissipation in terms
of complex control actions based on complex reaction pathways or even as some kind of computer
programs.
5. MB would be in a key role since most diseases would be problems in the control performed by MB
and basically due to the reduction of hef f and therefore of information contents. About detailed
criteria for when one has a disease this approach cannot say much.
4.1.4
Loss of the control of housekeeping genes causes vicious circle leading to death
The basic problem from the point of view of longevity would be that during aging MB gradually loses
control of not only methylation, acetylation and their reversals but also other modification processes.
A possible explanation for hypermethylation is that the control actions inducing demethylation fail.
The observed hypomethylation in the complement of CpG islands could be due the failure of methylation
so that the state becomes stable. More generally, this suggests that the loss of control of all modifications
is the mechanism leading to the situation in which the modifications cannot be changed. For instance,
the differential methylation of hippocampus is known to be relevant for memory recall, which could relate
to the emergence of memory problems at the old age.
CpG:s which are hypermethylated appear in the promoter regions of almost all housekeeper genes
so that housekeeping [23] (https://cutt.ly/2jQgOSD), in particular transcription and translation machineries, metabolism, functioning of stress proteins, etc.... becomes difficult.
The enzymes responsible for the methylation and demethylation are especially important for housekeeping genes [23] whose promoter regions contain CpG islands. Metabolism related enzymes like Cytochrome P450 are involved also with demethylation as enzymes. Methylation of the promoter region of
housekeeping genes means also methylation of genes coding for demethylase. This vicious circle - not so
positive positive feedback - leads to death.
What causes the loss of the control of these modifications? The mechanisms leading to the loss of control would relate to modifications of the chromatin and DNA organization. These include reduced global
heterochromatin, nucleosome remodeling and loss, changes in histone marks, global DNA hypomethylation with CpG island hypermethylation, and the relocalization of chromatin modifying factors [12, 13, 14].
In the TGD framework these changes would be caused by the thermalization of the MBs of DNA and
chromosomes.
Also cancer induces these changes about which the appearance of additional chromosomes in the
mitochondrial DNA in cancer is an example. It has been found that a very weak oscillating magnetic
field with strength in nanotesla range and with oscillation frequency around 60 Hz (Schumann frequency)
leads to the disappearance of additional chromosomes [15]. The loss of quantum coherence is the general
explanation but it is not clear whether this can be due to thermalization at the level of DNA in this case.
A possible explanation is that the control by MB at a higher level of hierarchy is lost and the presence of
magnetic field re-establishes a connection with this MB in turn re-establishing quantum coherence [37].
MB controls the conformations of DNA and chromosomes. MB is identifiable as a flux tube network
and its control relies on its motor actions involving reconnections and shortenings of the flux tubes by a
temporary reduction of hef f . These motor actions of MB would become fuzzy by the thermal motion.
The precise motor performance of MB is crucial for the realization of modifications occurring at the
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promoter regions near histones and at histone tails. Therefore the thermalization of the flux tube degrees
of freedom of MB could be the basic reason for the problems.
4.1.5
When does death occur?
Aging could simply mean that the dark genome approaches thermal equilibrium with ordinary biomatter
at physiological (Hagedorn) temperature [50] and entropy of dark genes and magnetic flux tubes increases.
Flux tubes get more and more irregular shaped and induce a development of loops for ordinary DNA and
breaks DNA double strand. Epigenetic chaos is induced. When thermal equilibrium is achieved death as
an analog of heat death occurs and changes the arrow of time at the level of the entire body which is left
in the geometric past of the standard observer to continue life with an opposite arrow of time.
BSFR means death and death is bound to occur. But when? TGD proposes a general criterion: at a
given step either SSFR or BSFR occurs and the SFR that means maximum negentropy gain takes place.
This SFR is not unique. It can be either SSFR or BSFR and in both cases there are a lot of options for
the final state.
When would BSFR win in the comparison?
1. Total entropy can be defined as the sum of p-adic and real Shannon entropies. p-Adic Shannon
entropies involving p-adic norms Np (pk ) of probabilities pk in the logarithmic factors log(Np (pk ))
can be negative. In this case they characterize the information (associated with cognition) assignable
to the entanglement.
2. Real entropy characterizes the lack of information about the state of either entangled system and is
associated with sensory input (is the cat dead or alive?). The sum of the real and p-adic entropies
can be negative for non-trivial extensions of rationals so that one would have genuine cognitive
information. One could also speak of mere cognitive information as the p-adic contribution to the
entropy and this can be negative.
3. Intuitively it seems obvious that thermalization meaning that the temperature difference between
MBs and systems such as genes is reduced, means loss of information defined in this manner.
Information molecules cease to be information molecules at least in the geometric degrees of freedom.
4. BSFR becomes the winner if SSFRs can give only very small negentropy gain or if the negentropy
gain becomes negative. The fact that we do not learn much anymore at the old age, could reflect
the reduction of the negentropy gain in SSFRs.
Also the distribution of hef f = n × h0 values could reduce IQ. As found in [46], a complete cognitive
measurement inducing maximal reduction of entanglement for an extension with dimension n would
reduces the state to a product state with state space with dimensions n. which are factors of n and thus
smaller than n: instead of single MB with high IQ several with lower IQs. It might happen that the next
SSFRs are not anymore able to regenerate larger values of n and the system becomes less intelligent.
An objection against this picture is that there are also situations when resurrection seems to occur:
this has happened for people having had near-death experiences. One can also slow down the process of
aging by a appropriate diet.
1. The slowing down of the aging process is possible by the reversal of the arrow of time at lower levels
so that time reversed dissipative processes at these levels look like self-organization and generate
order from the point of view of the organism. This would be a general. mechanism used by living
matter to slow down the approach of MB to thermal equilibrium with MB.
2. This does not however explain resurrection. The opposite BSFR can however occur at the level of
the entire organism but with a suitable stimulation like resuscitation opposite BSFR can take place.
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Taking into account the fact that also the organism is only one level in the hierarchy of conscious
entities, this reduces to the first option.
The analog of resuscitation occurs at the atomic level in the experiments of Minev et al [1]. Although
the deterministic process apparently leading to the final state of BSFR had already occurred, it could
be stopped by a suitable stimulus. In TGD framework the interpretation is that the BSFR had
already occurred and the time reversed time evolution apparently leading to the final was observed.
A suitable stimulation however induced the opposite BSFR so that the process apparently stopped
[1].
4.1.6
DNA and the arrow of time
There is a connection with the article about DNA and arrow of time by Rastmanesh and Pitkänen [49].
The proposal is as follows. As the electric field along DNA double strand (with dark DNA strands
included) decreases by the shortening of the sticky ends, the string tension as density of electric energy
per unit length decreases, the stiffness of DNA is reduced, and thermal fluctuations start to develop.
Biologist might wonder how various biological and homeostatic maneuvers like weakening of acetylation/phosphorylation/methylation eventually translate to a decrease of the electric field strength along
DNA! In the TGD framework one can see the situation in a different manner: chemistry is not the boss
now but is controlled by MB.
1. Modifications (or rather, the loss of the control of modifications) are not the primary cause of the
weakening of the electric field. What happens at the control level, at MB, is the primary cause.
The weakening of the electric field along DNA would correlate with the shortening of the sticky
ends carrying electric charges creating the longitudinal electric field.
This would also correlate with the reduction of the level of consciousness at the level of DNA
if one is ready to generalize Becker’s findings [29] about the correlation of the strength of the
longitudinal electric field along the body axis with the level of consciousness. Similar correlation
with consciousness can be assigned to the electric field directed from visual cortex to frontal lobes.
2. The reduction of the electric field strength reduces energy density of DNA and therefore string
tension. DNA begins to fluctuate geometrically, which generates epigenetic noise. Initially dark
DNA is like a tense guitar string but transforms gradually to spaghetti. Basically the reduction
of string tension reflects the dissipation accompanying the approach of MB to thermal equilibrium
with the ordinary bio-matter.
One could perhaps say that the reduction of string tension of MB flux tubes forces the reduction
of electric field strength and the internal consistency (Maxwell equations) requires reduction of the
sticky end lengths proportional to the charges generating the electric field along DNA. Note that
also charge separations tend to disappear in the approach to thermal equilibrium.
3. An interesting question is whether hyper-methylation accompanying aging [5, 11, 10] could be seen
as an attempt to minimize the effects of DNA damage - analogous to an amputation of a leg to
prevent necrosis. Hyper-methylation accompanies also cancer [2, 8].
Second view is that hypermethylation is due to the loss of control of MB caused by the approach
to thermal equilibrium. Hyper-methylation could be seen as the failure of de-methylation caused
by the low level of demethylase activated by MB and caused by methylation of the genes coding for
demethylase! This positive feedback loop would lead to the failure of the control of MB.
Is the shortening of the telomeres a controlled process or due to thermalization? The first option
could be argued to be realistic since otherwise the population would end up to fight about metabolic
resources. Second law could of course solve the problem without any need for a controlled action. If the
length of telomeres correlates with the charges of the sticky ends proportional to its length which in turn
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would be proportional to the length of the telomere as proposed in [49], the conclusion would be that the
shortening is not a controlled process.
5
Epigenesis and aging in TGD framework
In the TGD framework epigenesis would be control of the biological body by MB consisting of ordinary
biomatter. The basic control tool would be dark photon 3N-plets coupling resonantly to the dark proton
sequences of proteins serving as enzymes and RNAs serving as ribozymes. The coupling would be precise
and based on the addresses defined by dark proton 3N-sequences defining emitting dark 3N-photons.
These would in turn catalyze the basic biochemical processes and here TGD suggests a mechanism
explaining why the reactants find each other and where the energy needed to overcome the energy barrier
to make reaction fast enough come. The reduction of hef f for flux tubes would be the needed mechanism.
Also other catalysts than enzymes and ribozymes can be considered. For these catalysts and organic
and non-organic molecules in general, the coupling with MB could be single photon resonant coupling
transforming 3N-photon to bio-photon.
5.1
How MB could control biochemistry
How does the general biochemistry picture involving biomolecules and reaction pathways relate to the
multi-resonance vision about how MB controls ordinary biomatter? Can one reduce this picture to a description in terms of multir-resonance frequencies - that is to the level of MB and MB-BB communications
alone.
1. Suppose that MB of DNA, RNA, or protein controls DNA, RNA or protein by signals from dark
genes using multi-resonance mechanism allowing to select the target and use modulation of dark
photon signal to code control signals. Also the MB of DNA, RNA, or protein can be controlled by
a higher level of the hierarchy.
If all control takes place in this manner, epigenetic control would be control of proteins acting as
enzymes, of RNA, in particular ribozymes, and of DNA. MB would also activate genes coding for
various enzymes, in particular housekeeping enzymes.
The controlled proteins would be naturally enzymes catalyzing various biochemical reactions.
2. Could the MB of DNA just change its geometric conformation inducing change of DNA conformation
and changing also the epigenetic patterns determined by methylation, etc...? This would represent
something new: in TGD one has a network of molecules connected by flux tubes, in biochemistry
approach one has only molecules.
The first basic mechanism for the change of the conformation would be the reduction of hef f leading
to the shortening of the flux tubes and liberation of energy and its reversal. The reduction of hef f
is crucial in the TGD based model of bio-catalysis. The opposite process would feed metabolic
energy to MB. The formation of reconnection would be another key process and allow to change the
topology of the flux tube network. This would be the basic mechanism of the immune system and
also of biocatalysis in which the U-shaped flux tubes associated with the reacting molecules would
reconnect.
For instance, the actions of cells during say catastrophic events mean typically that proteins like Sir2
come in rescue by travelling along flux tubes or pairs of them serving as highways: these highways
do not exist in standard biology. The existing pattern of flux tubes determines the road network.
MB would control the topology of this network by reconnecting and by controlling the lengths of
the flux tubes by hef f changing transitions: motor actions of MB would be in question.
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3. TGD leads to a view about emotions as sensory perceptions of MB. The model for genetic code
emerging from a model of bio-harmony [33, 38, 44, 45] based on icosahedral and tetrahedral geometries and the observation that music expresses and induces emotions leads to the proposal that
the bio-harmony characterized by 64 allowed 3-chords in one-one correspondence with DNA codons
has 3N-resonances assignable to the 3-chords of the harmony as a correlate. These resonant interactions induce transitions of selected bio-molecules and possibly also specific transitions of a given
biomolecule characterizing the harmony. Could epigenesis be regarded as expressions of emotions
by music of light?
BSFR would create a superposition of deterministic time evolutions leading to the geometric past. It
would define an average time evolution described in terms of reaction pathways. Could the final state
of MB in BSFR dictate also the epigenetic patterns - say bio-harmony determined by frequencies of
cyclotron transitions of protons? They are indeed determined by the strengths of the magnetic fields at
flux tubes. This would conform with the proposal that the outcome of volitional action as BSFR dictates
what happens in the brain of geometric past explaining the findings of Libet [28] [39].
SSFRs give rise to an approximately classical time evolution and generation of entropy, and therefore aging. hef f distribution becomes flatter and MBs of information molecules and ordinary matter
approaches thermal equilibrium. The distribution for the conformations of the magnetic flux tubes thermalizes and cell size increases. Basically string tensions decrease since the electric fields involved weaken
and the electric and also magnetic contribution to the tension weakens.
What could be the general mechanism of bio-catalysis? The MB of the enzyme could activate the
enzyme when the value of hef f of a flux tube connecting it to other reactants is reduced and induces the
shortening of the flux tube and liberation of energy.
Depending in what direction energy flows, one can imagine two scenarios for what happens.
1. The energy could flow from higher levels of hierarchy to lower levels. The flux tube at the highest
level would be shortened and liberate energy transferred to a lower level. At the lowest level enzyme
would be excited and return to the ground state and liberate the energy needed to overcome the
potential wall making reaction slow. Now the shortening of the flux tube of enzyme’s MB does not
seem to be necessary energetically.
The process would proceed from higher to lower levels in the hierarchy of MBs by this kind of excitations and de-excitations transferring the energy to the lower level, somewhat like in photosynthesis.
The flow of money from top towards bottom in a big project serves as a second metaphor for the
course of events.
2. If the process is a generalized motor action involving BSFRs and time reversals, the higher levels in
the hierarchy of MBs extract energy from shorter scales (very much like higher levels extract work
of lower levels in the social hierarchies!). One could also say that negative energy is sent to the
lower levels of the hierarchy.
The lower level would provide the energy by reducing its hef f so that its energy is reduced and
energy is liberated and taken by the higher level. This would induce the shortening of magnetic
flux tubes at all levels. The cascade would proceed down to the level of MBs of proteins and also
the U-shaped flux tubes connecting the protein to the other reactants would shorten and bring the
reactants together. The reduction of the flux tube length should provide energy to overcome the
potential wall, not only the energy going to the higher level of hierarchy.
It is not quite clear which option is realized. Motor actions involve transfer of metabolic energy from
short to length scales giving rise to macroscopic coherent motion: time reversal would be natural from
this point of view.
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5.1.1
Methylation and acetylation
The figures of https://cutt.ly/Qjgrko3 illustrate the effect of methylation and acetylation of DNA or
of histone tail.
1. The nucleosomes [24] surround a given gene but nucleosomes can roll along DNA downstream
towards the gene to be transcribed and opens the DNA double strand. The modification of the
histone tail can prevent or facilitate the opening of the double strand.
2. The portion of DNA between the nucleosome and gene corresponds to the promoter part of DNA
initiating the gene expression. Proteins initiating the transcription bind to it or alternatively it can
be transcribed to RNA.
The methylation [24] and acetylation [16] of the histone tail serves as the first example. The binding
of the methyl, acetyl, or some other group to the histone tail has an indirect effect on the gene. Histone
is positively charged. Since DNA is negatively charged, DNA and histone bind together.
The addition of a modifier can increase or reduce the charge of the histone and tighten or loosen the
binding between histone and DNA. Methyl is positively charged and tightens the binding and makes the
opening of DNA necessary for transcription more difficult. Acetyl is negatively charged and loosens the
binding so that the transcription becomes easier.
Consider next the methylation of a promoter region (https://cutt.ly/3jj8ohZ).
1. A promoter is a sequence of DNA to which proteins bind that initiate transcription of a single RNA
from the DNA downstream of it. This RNA may encode a protein, or can have a function in and
of itself, such as tRNA, mRNA, or rRNA. Promoter region has therefore two - it seems alternative
- functions.
2. The methylation of cytosin occurs at CpG islands associated with the promoter region of gene.
Promoter region is the region to which proteins initiating the transcription of gene bind. Methylation
occurs also for the promoter regions of CpG-islands [4].
3. How methylation silences the gene transcription? Methylation decreases the charge of DNA locally
and loosens the binding to histone. This would favor the transcription of the promoter region
instead of the transcription of the gene requriing the binding of RNA polymerase to the promoter
region.
4. If methyl is always positively charged, the direct binding to DNA reduces DNA charge locally and
reduces the interaction between histone and help opening of DNA in the promoter region: this
would not facilitate the transcription of gene but transcription of non-translated RNA or protein.
The binding would also prevent the binding of RNA polymerase to the promoter region. The start
codon of the non-protein coding gene could be in the promoter region.
More facts about DNA methylation [25] (https://cutt.ly/pjj3G45) are needed to develop a TGD
based view about the situation.
1. DNA methylation reprogramming occurs during gameto-genesis and early embryogenesis. The
methylation patterns are erased and regenerated. This requires that the memory about the methylation pattern is stored. In the TGD framework MB could serve as the temporary information
storage.
2. DNA methylation occurs also in highly transcribed gene bodies and must be distinguished from the
methylation of promoter regions. The methylation of gene bodies seems to relate to splicing and
could prevent the transcription of intronic portions of the gene.
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3. In general, the level of DNA methylation is very low. The level of methylation is however high in
promoter regions. In particular, in CpG islands [18] (https://cutt.ly/sjj3STW) accompanying
the promoter regions of genes, especially those coding for housekeeping proteins.
4. Usually the methylation of C in CpG leads to a mutation replacing C with T. This could have led
to CpG loss in DNA except in CpG islands, where some stabilization mechanism should prevent
the mutations: presumably an energy barrier somehow caused by CpG is involved.
Hypermethylation accompanies cancer and also aging [10, 11] and could be seen in the TGD framework as reflecting the approach to epigenetic chaos basically due to the reduction of the scale of
quantum coherence in turn caused by the reduction of the values of hef f .
5. CpG loss is believed to be induced by transposable elements (TEs) attaching to DNA and hopping
around it. TEs are methylated and lose CpG as C transforms to T.
6. So called housekeeping proteins [23] are enzymes crucial for various functions including general
gene expression, and the control of various housekeeping functions takes place via the control of the
expression of housekeeping genes. Therefore CpG islands, which are stable against mutations and
allow both methylation and demethylation are needed. Dynamical and differential methylation is
also known to relate to memory recall in the case of hippocampus.
For CpG islands C → T the mutations induced by methylation are prevented by some mechanism.
The loss of CpG makes sense outside CpG islands since this stabilizes the genes against C → T
mutations.
MB uses enzymes and ribozymes as a tool in the control of the basic biochemical processes. DNA
methyltransferases [26] catalyze methylation and MB would control the process by activation of this
enzyme. In the case of demethylation the enzymes used are demethylases [21].
The mechanism of demethylation can be taken as an example since the failure of demethylation might
lead to hypermethylation of CpG islands known to accompany aging [10, 5] and in TGD framework it
could be due to the approach of the dark genome and proteome to thermal equilibrium.
1. Oxidative demethylation [22] (https://cutt.ly/Gjj2Ilz) replaces CH3 group with hydrogen.
This requires the presence of a reactive oxygen species (ROS). ROS include superoxide O2− , hydrogen peroxide H2 O2 and hydroxyl radical OH.(https://cutt.ly/yjj2Ubv).
Superoxide is produced in aerobic metabolism via O2 + e− → O2− . This in turn leads to reactions
2H + + 2O2− → H2 O2 + O2 followed by H2 O2 + e− → HO− + OH and 2H + + 2e− + H2 O2 → H2 O.
2. Demethylation is catalyzed by demethylases in presence of O2 . N-methyl groups are oxidized with
oxygen coming from ROS O2 and CH2 O splits out so that the net reaction is R2 N − CH2 →
R2 N − H + CH2 O.
Enzymes known as alpha-ketoglutarate-dependent hydroxylases act as DNA demethylases. Also
Cytochrome P450 [19] (https://cutt.ly/ujj2OuK) catalyzes demethylation in histones and some
forms of DNA (cytocine associated with CpG). ”450” refers to ”450 nm””, which is the wavelength
at which cytochrome P450 has maximum absorption. The wavelength corresponds to blue light
near UV range and the photon energy is 2.76 eV. CYPs is a very large class of enzymes catalyzing
metabolic processes.
What TGD view could be?
1. Suppose that MB controls bio-matter by expressing its moods coded by bio-harmonies in terms of
dark photons 3N-plets (say) with the frequency patterns correlating with mood and affecting matter
in mood dependent manner via a transformation to bio-photons.
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2. 60 per cent of promoter regions of human genes contain CpG islands of length about 100-1000
codons and almost all housekeeping genes have CpG islands in their promoter regions. Why?
3. MB would induce both methylation and demethylation and other modification using various enzymes
which they could activate by dark 3N-photons using as address the dark proton sequence associated
with the enzyme. After activation the reaction would proceed by the proposed general mechanism
of biocatalysis.
4. One can imagine several alternative courses of events after the activation. Even the question whether
the energy transfer is from short to long length scales associated with MB or vice versa is not fully
settled: this depends on the arrow of time assignable to this process.
In the case of CYP450, one cannot avoid the temptation to ask whether a biophoton with 450 nm
wavelength could be formed in a decay of 3N-dark photon to ordinary photon.
5.1.2
Methylation, aging, and memory
According to [5] (https://cutt.ly/njAKgFy), the general trends, supported by an increasing body of
both in vitro and in vivo work, are the establishment of global hypomethylation (non-CpG islands) and
regions of hypermethylation (primarily CpG islands) with age. CpG islands are located in the promoter
regions of genes, in particular those of housekeeping genes.
Hypomethylation outside CpG islands could be due to the spontaneous mutation C → T but also the
failure of the control of the methylation by MB could be involved. Hypermetylation of promoter regions
implies that the promoter region transcribing RNA is transcribed instead of gene. This could be due to
the failure of demethylation caused by the loss of the control.
In both cases the loss of control could have the same reason. The MBs of the genes coding for
housekeeping genes and possibly also the MBs of the housekeeping enzymes approach thermal equilibrium
with the ordinary bio-matter.
How methylation could relate to aging in TGD framework?
1. Methylation could become irreversible during aging and lead to hypermethylation if MB loses the
control of demethylation. If enzymes are the control tools of MB, the reduced transcription of DNAs
coding for demethylases would lead to a failure of the control. The approach of MBs of DNA and
enzymes to thermal equilibrium with ordinary biomatter could be the basic reason for the failure.
2. Housekeeping proteins are an especially important class of proteins since they catalyze basic biological functions necessary for the transcription of genes - also the genes coding form them. Their
promoter regions are also almost always CpG islands. Therefore one can say that the methylation
of their promoter regions would be a natural cause of various problems with housekeeping activities
caused by aging.
3. CYP450 catalyzes generation of ROS in turn catalyzing demethylation and a large number of
metabolic processes crucial for the functioning of the organism. In particular, demethylation could
become less effective with aging due to the reduced level of CYP450. CYP450 is a housekeeping
protein and the promoter regions of genes coding for CYP450 would be methylated. Methylation
slows down transcription of CYP450 and this in turn slows down demethylation. This positive
feedback loop eventually leads to a kind of death spiral.
4. Differential methylation of the hippocampus is known to be crucial for the memory recall (here
memories are understood as learned behaviors rather than episodal memories) [31]. Differential
methylation is not possible without demethylation. If methylation becomes irreversible the formation of recallable memories becomes more difficult. Short term memory recall as also memory recall
in longer time scales indeed become less effective during aging.
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5.2
How epigenetic information is inherited?
There is evidence for the inheritance of epigenetic information.
1. Epigenetic inheritance takes place in mitosis and sometimes also in meiosis. The methylation related
epigenetic disorder increases with aging.
2. How could the epigenetic information be inherited in this picture? It could be represented by the
geometry of MB - flux tube network - and at the genetic level by both control genes. Emotional
aspects, something new, would have bio-harmony as a correlate, and bio-harmony is determined by
cyclotron frequencies determined by the magnetic field strengths of the flux tubes. Not only cell
but also MB replicates and the replication of MB induces replication at cell and DNA level.
Both genetic and epigenetic information could be inherited in the replication if MB replicates
geometrically like a particle in the decay A→ A+A. Usually particles are regarded as pointlike and
Feynman diagram expresses this. The line A decays to two lines A+A. This makes sense also for
3-surfaces, in particular magnetic bodies, replacing the point like particles. That replication occurs
at the fundamental physics is a new element in TGD based vision.
At the level of causal diamonds (CDs) A→A+A would look like follows. The CD of A in the initial
state and the CDS of A+A in the final state would intersect and contain the vertex region. Could
the moods of A be inherited by A:s in A+A under some conditions - in other words, are cyclotron
frequency spectra of flux tubes of A inherited?: this is true i the flux tubes would replicate as such.
Some methylation patterns are inherited in meiosis but not all. If these patterns are determined
by the bio-harmony, magnetic flux tubes are copied faithfully in some cases even in meiosis but not
always.
Received January 20, 2021; Accepted July 15, 2021
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Polis, D. F., The Hard Problem of Consciousness & the Fundamental Abstraction
Article
The Hard Problem of Consciousness
& the Fundamental Abstraction
Dennis F. Polis*
Abstract
The assumption that all behavior is ultimately neurophysical may be called the Standard Model
(SM) of neurophilosophy. Yet, in the years since David Chalmers distinguished the Hard
Problem of Consciousness from the easy problems of neuroscience, no progress has been made
toward a physical reduction of consciousness. This, together with collateral shortcomings
Chalmers missed, show that the SM is inadequate to experience. I outline the logical
prerequisites for reduction and show that they are missing from the SM. Their absence is traced
to representational problems implicit in: (1) The Fundamental Abstraction of natural science
(attending to the object to the exclusion of the subject); and (2) The limits of a Cartesian
conceptual space. Adding pre-Cartesian concepts allows us to construct an integrated
representation bridging the dualistic gap. In particular, Aristotle’s projection of mind provides a
paradigm integrating intentional and physical operations.
Keywords: Consciousness, neuroscience, agent intellect, dualism, reduction, emergence.
Reductive materialism has struck an impasse David Chalmers calls the Hard Problem of Consciousness. 1 I shall argue that the Hard Problem, and Chalmers’ explanation, are symptomatic of
wider deficiencies in neurophilosophy. This article identifies the historically understandable, but
logically unjustifiable, assumptions underlying these deficiencies and suggests a new paradigm
in response. 2
I see two sources of difficulty: the post-Cartesian conceptual space, and the Fundamental
Abstraction of natural science. A conceptual space is the set of ideas onto which we normally
project experience. The Fundamental Abstraction is a generally useful narrowing of mental
focus which can limit our conceptual space. An inadequate conceptual space can create
problematic representational artifacts, such as the pre-relativistic notion of simultaneity. While
hard to see from within a tradition, representational problems can be identified by comparing
diverse cultural, disciplinary and historical perspectives. 3
Physicists represent problems using various coordinate systems. Some of these representations
simplify the solution, while others make it almost unattainable. Similarly, metaphysical
naturalists project nature onto an a priori model defined over a restricted conceptual space. With
historical myopia, they tend to see dualism as the as the sole alternative to physicalism. 4
Aristotle’s conceptual space is unburdened by dualism. By analyzing mind in terms of potency
and act, rather than structure and mechanism, he discovered the need for an agent intellect to
understand intelligible contents. His framework allows us to place neuroscience in a larger
*
Correspondence author: Dennis F. Polis, Philosopher & Retired Physicist. E-mail: dfpolis@tutanota.com
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Polis, D. F., The Hard Problem of Consciousness & the Fundamental Abstraction
context without restricting it, and to see consciousness, not as a puzzling side-effect of neural
activity, but as the essence of effective thought.
1. The Hard Problem
As Chalmers explains,
The easy problems of consciousness are those that seem directly susceptible to the standard
methods of cognitive science, whereby a phenomenon is explained in terms of computational or
neural, mechanisms. The hard problems are those that seem to resist those methods.…
The really hard problem of consciousness is the problem of experience. When we think and
perceive, there is a whir of information-processing, but there is also a subjective aspect.
… the hard problem is hard precisely because it is not a problem about the performance of
functions. The problem persists even when the performance of all the relevant functions is
explained. 5
Here, ‘“function” is not used in the narrow teleological sense of something that a system is
designed to do, but in the broader sense of any causal role in the production of behaviour that a
system might perform.’6
His point is that analyses of function do not explain the feel of experience, the qualia of
subjective awareness – which is certainly true. However, qualia are not subjective awareness, but
contingent forms of sensory experience. Still, he claims, ‘The problem of explaining [qualia] is
the problem of explaining consciousness.’7 Similarly, Christof Koch and Klaus Hepp see qualia
as ‘the constitutive elements of consciousness.’8 However, consciousness of abstract truths, such
as ‘the square root of 2 is a surd,’ have no quale. Only sensations have qualia, and not even all of
them. Blindsight and proprioception have none. Consciousness is neither the contents we
apprehend, nor the resulting qualia, but being aware of information.
That consciousness represents a scientific impasse is not universally accepted. Stanislas Dehaene
writes:
In the last twenty years, the fields of cognitive science, neurophysiology and brain imaging have
mounted a solid empirical attack on consciousness. As a result, the problem has lost its
speculative status and become an issue of experimental ingenuity. 9
This bespeaks solid progress, but not with the Hard Problem. Chalmers’ analysis centers on
subjective awareness. Dehaene’s ‘consciousness’ is delimited by the need ‘to narrow our subject
matter to a definite point that can be subjected to precise experiments.’10 These are Chalmers’
‘easy problems.’
‘Easy problems’ exemplify Thomas S. Kuhn’s ‘normal research problems,’ which do not ‘aim to
produce major novelties,’11 while the Hard Problem points toward a paradigm shift. Imre
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Lakatos offers a more sophisticated model of theory revision12 in which auxiliary hypotheses are
added to defend threatened ‘hard core’ assumptions. These can be progressive, enhancing a
theory’s explanatory power, or degenerative, ad hoc defenses leading to a theory’s eventual
replacement. On either model, if a paradigm shift is required, the received view should have
further shortcomings.
2. The Standard Model
I agree with Chalmers that ‘[t]he usual explanatory methods of cognitive science and neuroscience do not suffice’13 to explain consciousness. I disagree that they explain cognitive functions adequately. The ‘Standard Model’ (SM) of neurophilosophy assumes that behavior is
entirely neurophysical. 14 It is rational to apply the SM to data it is capable of explaining, viz.
behavior lacking evidence of subjectivity.
Still, its explanatory power is more limited than generally realized. For example, Chalmers
claims it provides a good account of verbal reports. It does not. Just as Jupiter’s moons played a
causal role in Galileo’s reports of them, so consciousness must play a causal role in reports of it.
How could we verbalize it if it did not modify our brain state? Paul M. Churchland raises a
related inadequacy, viz. that no neural structures correspond to propositional attitudes.15
In Consciousness Explained, Daniel Dennett models consciousness with a Cartesian Theater. It
has a stage for presenting unified contents, and a homunculus to provide awareness – thus
distinguishing contents from awareness of contents, the intelligible from the known. He argues
convincingly that any attempt to reduce consciousness to a physical basis must fail. Having
shown the impossibility of a physical reduction of consciousness, he discards the scientific
method – rejecting the data of consciousness rather than the falsified hypothesis of metaphysical
naturalism. 16 Were we to concur, we would have to deny all knowledge, for knowledge is
consciousness of intelligibility.
David M. Armstrong proposed an auxiliary hypothesis replacing Dennett’s homunculus. As J. J.
C. Smart explains:
… Armstrong compared consciousness with proprioception. … proprioception is a special
sense, different from that of bodily sensation, in which we become aware of parts of our body.
Now the brain is part of our body and so perhaps immediate awareness of a process in, or a state
of, our brain may here for present purposes be called ‘proprioception’. … Thus the
proprioception which constitutes consciousness, as distinguished from mere awareness, is a
higher order awareness, a perception of one part of (or configuration in) our brain by the brain
17
itself.
This has two principal problems. First, brain proprioception would perceive brain state (neural
connections, firing rates, neurotransmitter concentrations, etc.), not the information encoded by
it. Second, even if propriocepted information were placed on the Cartesian stage, the model does
not explain how we become aware of it.
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The genesis of awareness raises further difficulties. A causally impotent consciousness cannot
enhance reproductive fitness. Making it a correlate of a selectable trait is hand waving absent an
explanation of how the correlate effects subjectivity, i.e. a solution of the Hard Problem.
The genesis of environmental knowledge poses another problem. Antonio Damasio suggests that
our knowledge of the external world evolved from representations of body state into
representations of the external world:
... to ensure body survival as effectively as possible, nature, I suggest, stumbled on a highly
effective solution: representing the outside world in terms of the modifications it causes in the
body proper, that is representing the environment by modifying the primordial representations
of the body proper whenever an interaction between organism and environment takes place.18
Accordingly, environmental representation is body state representation. For example, to see an
apple is to experience an apple modifying our retina.
Two questions arise: why represent the external world at all, and how do we distinguish
environmental from body state representation? Since environmental representation is identically
body state representation, there can be no evolutionary advantage to separating them. An
organism need only respond to body state changes, sparing itself the overhead of environmental
representation. Moreover, physical processing cannot separate these representations since they
are identical. How can one physical state produce two intentional states if intentional states are
ultimately physical? Consider a connectionist model. Since one input represents both a body
state and an environment state, the same activation weights will encode both.
This is fatal to David Lewis’s Humean supervenience. 19 Intentional states supervene on brain
states if and only if a difference in brain state is necessary for any difference in intention;
however, in environmental sensing one neural state underpins two intentional states.
Thus, three auxiliary hypotheses, Armstrong’s, Damasio’s, and Lewis’s, fail to plug critical holes
in the SM, evidencing that it is degenerating.
Teleology and Survival
Perhaps the most profound shortcoming of the SM is its failure to account for Aristotle’s final
cause20 in human behavior. Teleological explanation is frequent21 and defended22 in biology,
although there are stock standard objections. 23 Naturalists also oppose ‘anthropomorphizing’
biology with final causality, but one can hardly anthropomorphize humans. Either final causality
is natural or we are supernatural. We cannot fully understand a process without knowing its
result and how that result contributes to higher level processes. Finality often explains behavior,
such as web and nest building, for which mechanistic prediction is only a dream. Yet, were they
not immanent, we could not predict ends. Thus, final causes are real.
Objecting that ends are mechanically determined fails to appreciate that every mechanically
determined final state is, in a different projection, an end achieved through sufficient means. So,
teleology and mechanism are not opposed, but complementary understandings, similar to the
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wave and matrix formulations of quantum physics. Teleology focuses on the final state,
mechanism on the means effecting it. Ends require means, and specific means yield determinate
ends.
Consciousness makes humans teleologic in a unique way. There is no adaptive advantage in
being aware of a physically determined role, because such awareness is impotent. There is an
advantage in being able to conceptualize, evaluate and effect alternative responses, for that can
improve reproductive success. Thus, to be selected consciousness must be physically potent and
able to improve upon physical determination.
We employ the recursive, goal-driven process Aristotle called proaresis, in which ‘we deliberate
not about ends but means.’24 We begin with a desideratum, conceive intermediate goals as
means, and recurse until we find means within our immediate power – making finality the ‘cause
of causes’ in rational conduct. Unless proaresis were effective, this would be a waste of energy
instead of the essence of practical reason. Naturalists who deny final causality in theory practice
it in structuring their careers.
The SM is inadequate to this phenomenology. First, since commitment (‘I will x’) is a propositional attitude, it can model neither it, nor proaretic judgements. Second, while physical
outcomes pre-exist potentially in unknowable quantum states and the laws of nature, willed ends
pre-exist in actual, known intentions. Third, their means of realization differ. If a satellite or
projectile is knocked off course, it will not attain its otherwise predetermined state. If an obstacle
blocks planned means, other means will be sought. This makes intended ends, and not initial
physical states, the explanatory invariants of rational behavior.
In The Intentional Stance Dennett argues that the attribution of intentionality is metaphorical –
that we think of natural systems as if their ends were intended. This analysis is inapplicable to
humans. First, understanding the analogy requires knowing the prime analogue (human
intentionality), but we cannot unless it exists. Second, attributing intentional behavior can only
be motivated by having experienced it. We would never say processes were guck-like if we
never experienced guck.
3. Why is Consciousness Hard?
Thus, the Hard Problem is symptomatic of deeper difficulties. Since consciousness is neither a
‘feel’ nor a structure built of qualia, and has a functional role in human behavior, Chalmers’ explanation of the Hard Problem (that neuroscience is concerned with function, not ‘feels’) fails. I
shall argue that it is logically impossible to reduce consciousness, and the intentional realities
flowing out of it, to a physical basis.
The first hint of irreducibility is the failure of neural data processing to be the explanatory
invariant of awareness. If A => B, every case of A entails a case of B. So, if any neural
processing fails to elicit consciousness, it alone cannot explain awareness. Clearly, we are
unconscious of much neural processing, e.g. processing vibrations of cochlear cilia into
perceived sounds.
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More pointedly, large blocks of complex and effective behavior are unconscious. When I am
driving and engaged in thought, I can process sensory inputs into driving outputs well enough to
navigate safely. Still, I am likely to miss my intended exit, because ‘I am not paying attention.’
Observations of automatic sensory processing have a long history, having been noted by St.
Thomas Aquinas,25 William James,26 Roger Penrose,27 and J. J. C. Smart.28 Psychologist Graham
Reed studied time-gap experiences in which we become aware of the passage of time after being
lost in thought.29 Jacques Hadamard provides examples of unconscious thought in mathematical
research.30 Bernard Baars documented functional differences between conscious and
unconscious processing, 31 and found consciousness necessary for understanding word
combinations, the operation of working memory, and the selection of contents for attention. Such
observations show first, that consciousness is not a consequence of even complex sensory
processing, and, second, that conscious attention plays a functional role in cognition.
Reduction and Emergence
Does the Hard Problem reflect a failure of the reductive paradigm? Reductionism assumes that to
know the parts is, implicitly, to know the whole, but Aristotle showed in Topics IV, 13 that the
whole is not the sum of its parts, for building materials are not a house. Consider a thesis I held
as a teen, viz. that biology is reducible to physics via chemistry. Indeed, this seems to follow
from physical determinism.
A standard objection invokes quantum indeterminism; however, it misunderstands quantum
theory. As P. A. M. Dirac makes clear,32 only the results of quantum measurements are
indeterminate. Between measurements, quantum systems evolve deterministically, and there
were no quantum measurements before the last century.
My teenage faith in reductionism fails for a different reason. As Alfred North Whitehead notes,33
physics is limited by an abstraction: it considers particles independently of structural context.
Physicists don’t care if an electron is in a cathode ray, a crystal or an organism, so they prescind
from the very data that biologists study. Consequently, physics has no information on, and so
cannot explain, biological phenomena. It can only limit the possibilities – just as building
materials limit, but do not necessitate, architectural form.
Timothy O’Conner sees consciousness as possibly emergent, but notes that ‘that various
formulations of the very notion of ‘emergence’ have been imprecise and not obviously
reconcilable with one another.’34 Mark A. Bedau observes that ‘aside from precisely defining
what emergence is, any philosophical defense of emergence should aim to explain—ideally,
explain away—its apparently illegitimate metaphysics.’35
I define ‘emergence’ as a logical property, viz. the impossibility of deducing a phenomenon from
fundamental principles, especially those of physics. Emergence can be physical, epistemological,
or ontological.
While Bedau says emergence claims ‘raise the specter of illegitimately getting something from
nothing,’36 physical emergence is not creation ex nihilo, but the actualization of previously
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unexpressed potential. Since only actual phenomena are observable, previously unexpressed
potentials are unpredictable. A common physical emergent is seed germination, which abstract
structural knowledge cannot predict – for many isolated viable seeds never germinate.37 Seeds
germinate in response to external factors, viz. a suitable environment. Particle interactions are a
more fundamental example. No observation of electrons in isolation can reveal the repulsion of
two electrons. Multi-body interactions also affect behavior. Both meson and quark nucleon
models involve multi-body interactions in addition to two-body interactions.38 Similar effects
occur in biochemistry, for example, in proteins. 39
Epistemological emergence occurs when the consequences of known principles cannot be
deduced. We often assume, but cannot prove, that system behavior is the result of isolated component behavior. This is exemplified by chaotic nonlinear dynamics. 40 Since the Hartree-Fock
and other many-electron models are nonlinear,41 we cannot calculate the precise structure and
behavior of bulk matter, including organisms, from first principles. Neurons also respond nonlinearly. 42 Brain dynamics is not only chaotic, but too complex for detailed modeling. 43 Thus,
reductionism is often untestable, for testing compares deduced with observed behavior.
So far a physical potential may be unknown, or known but have unpredictable consequences.
Ontological emergence is a third possibility. It would occur when a phenomenon cannot be due
to physical processes. While logically possible, this is heresy to metaphysical naturalists, who
exclude it a priori. Empiricism forces its acceptance.
Bedau observes that we study emergent phenomena as occurrent actualities, offering tornadoes
as an example.44 Consciousness is also an occurrent actuality, to be studied as such. Still, there is
a difference. The Navier-Stokes equation describes the (nonlinear) mechanics of continuous
media, and tornados are mechanical phenomena in a medium described by it, giving us reason to
believe it applies. However, absent a solution to the Hard Problem, believing consciousness to be
purely neural requires an act of faith.
Like electron-electron repulsion, consciousness emerges in a specific kind of interaction: that
between a rational subject and present intelligibility. Without intelligibility to be aware of, we
are conscious of nothing, which is to say, we are not conscious at all. We can only conclude this
from subjective experience, which brings us to the physicality/intentionality distinction.
Physicality and Intentionality
Chalmers argues, ‘The facts about experience cannot be an automatic consequence of
any physical account, as it is conceptually coherent that any given process could exist without
experience.’45 This seems sound for physical processes, but conceptual coherence arguments
must be treated gingerly, for they depend on the adequacy of our conceptual space. A thinker
with a pre-Newtonian conceptual space might argue: ‘It is conceptual incoherent for celestial and
sublunary matter to have the same nature.’ If we misconceive nature, conceptual coherence
means nothing. Empirical arguments are cleaner.
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Many argue that intentional being is too different from physical being to be reduced to it – a
position performatively affirmed by eliminative materialists. Matter is essentially extended and
mutable. As extended, it has parts outside of parts, and is measurable. As mutable, no form of
matter or energy is permanent. Intentions lack these characteristics. Having no parts outside of
parts, they are immeasurable. Concepts, such as that of a triangle, and necessary truths, such as
the principles of logic, are immutable46 even though the physical states from which they are
abstracted are not. Forming a new idea does not destroy a previous idea, it only obsoletes it.
Similarly, physical objects lack essential intentional properties. Franz Brentano notes an essential
characteristic of intentions is their aboutness, the ‘intentional inexistence’ of a target.47 We do
not just know, will or hope, we know, will or hope something. Physical states intend nothing
beyond themselves. Any symbolism they may have derives from outside agents. There are
natural signs, such as smoke, but smoke is not ‘about’ the fire it signifies. Rather, it is data that
must be supplemented by propositions such as ‘Smoke is usually caused by fire.’
The physical/intentional division has been attacked in three ways. First, that introspection is
unreliable; second, that other aspects of subjectivity, such as the qualia of hot and cold, have
been reduced to a physical basis; and third, that purely physical computers process information
like human minds.
The attack on introspection48 began with the Vienna Circle’s demand for intersubjectively accessible observations, and behaviorists’ criticism of the analogous introspection of other species.
While both schools have been deprecated, their spirit survives. Gilbert Ryle argued against the
reliability of introspection in The Concept of Mind. Paul and Patricia Churchland denigrated
‘folk psychology’ as a theory rather than an account of experience.49 Daniel Dennett published
tightly argued defenses of eliminative materialism. 50
Deconstructing their arguments is beyond my present scope; however, their conclusions are
problematic. First, attacks on subjective experience prove far too much. If introspection and
consequent judgements are unreliable, then our belief that we observed what we believe we
observed, as well as our belief that we reasoned correctly in analyzing our observations, are
equally unreliable – for these are judgements based on introspection.
Second, Ryle mischaracterizes introspection as a separate act of attention.51 It is not. Just as we
know we see by seeing, we know we know by knowing. It takes no more or different experience
to affirm an empirical proposition, p, than to affirm ‘It is true that p.’ Yet, while p specifies an
objective state, ‘It is true that p’ says that the mental state expressed by p is adequate to reality.
As with environmental representation, the same experience can be articulated as objective or
subjective information. 52
Turning to the reductionist objection, the proffered example does not reduce our experience of
hot and cold. It merely clarifies what is experienced and how it is represented, but being
represented is not being known. Representations, are intelligible, not actual knowledge. So, the
objection fails to distinguish potency and act – the intelligible from the known.
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Finally, what computers process is not information in virtue of any physical property. Label a
bit’s physical states a and b, and ask what the byte aababbab means? Reading left to right and
interpreting a as 0, and b as 1, the byte means 00101101. Interpreting a as 1 and b as 0, it is
11010010. Reading right to left, it means 10110100 or 01001011. Thus, a, an arbitrary material
state, lacks intrinsic meaning. Computer states signify only because humans endow them with
meaning.
Claude Shannon, the founder of information theory, defined information as a reduction of
possibility, but there are many kinds of possibility. Imagine a binary message transmitted over
such a distance that it is entirely transmitted before any of it is received. As each bit is received,
the number of possible messages is reduced by one half, but physical possibility is not reduced,
because the signal already exists. What has changed is logical possibility. Before reception, it is
logically possible for a bit to be an a or a b, but not after reception. Thus, information is a
logical, not a physical property.
We may speak of physical processes that bring us closer to understanding in terms of sending
and receiving ‘information,’ but not univocally, because logical possibility is not reduced until
the received bit is known. What exists before then is intelligibility, not knowledge. So, it is
equivocating to say that both computers and minds process ‘information.’
The equivocation might be eliminated if logical properties were reducible to physical properties.
Since the cogency of the essential difference argument remains unclear, this seems possible. It is
unclear because we know obviously different phenomena which are causally related by obscure
links, e.g. tides and celestial motion. Yet, Isaac Newton showed the Sun and Moon caused the
tides.
How did he do so? The physical definition of tides as the periodic variation of average sea level
allowed him to apply his laws, developing the Equilibrium Theory of tides. Absent physical
definitions of intentional concepts, we cannot do the same. As Aristotle explains in Posterior
Analytics, reasoning requires middle terms or connections. If A is related to B, and B to C, we
may be able to connect A to C, but without a mediating B, a logical connection, we cannot do so.
This makes the essential difference argument cogent. My thesis is that conceptual orthogonality,
the absence of concepts common to the intentional and physical conceptual subspaces (middle
terms) in the Cartesian framework, rather than Chalmers’ function versus ‘feeling,’ explains the
irreducibility of consciousness.
4. The Fundamental Abstraction
The human mind has limited representational resources. Eric of Auxerre (841-76) was perhaps
the first to recognize that these limitations force the resort to abstract, universal concepts.53 Our
working memories can only maintain 5-9 ‘chunks’ of information.54 Unable to apprehend the
overwhelming complexity of nature, we employ abstractions – attending to features of interest
while ignoring others. Thus, natural science begins with a Fundamental Abstraction.
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Knowledge is a subject-object relation, entailing a knowing subject and a known object. The
initial moment of natural science is the abstraction of the object from the subject – our choice to
attend to physical objects to the exclusion of inseparable subjectivity. Natural scientists care
about what was experienced, not the act of experiencing. Thus, science is, by design and
appropriately, is bereft of data and concepts on knowing subjects and their mental acts. Yet,
these data and concepts are required to connect physical findings to awareness. Consequently,
physics lacks intentional causes and effects – not because the physical and intentional are
independent, but because we have abstracted their interdependence away in constructing physics.
So, it is logically impossible for science, as limited by its Fundamental Abstraction, to explain
awareness. We see this in Dehaene’s need ‘to narrow our subject matter’ in studying
consciousness. Forgetting this exemplifies Whitehead's Fallacy of Misplaced Concreteness
(thinking that abstractions are reality). 55 Since consciousness does not actualize a physical
possibility, it is ontologically emergent.
Early modern psychologists, such as Brentano and James, recognized the limitations of the third
person perspective, and freely employed introspection. More recent psychologists have largely
abandoned introspection and modeled their work on physics. Still, introspection alone provides
the data to understand consciousness.
In defense of the third person perspective, it is often urged that introspective data, as subjective
and private, cannot be objective. This is specious, trading in part on an equivocation. Since
introspection gives access to the knowing subject, its object is not ‘objective’ in the sense of
being external, but that is epistemological irrelevant. Anything known, including subjective
experience, is an object of thought – part of the web of human experience.
What is at stake is replicability. Since science seeks universal knowledge, data must, with few
exceptions, be replicable by competent observers. Replicability is a type, rather than a token,
property. We can never replicate a token observation, only the same type of observation. It is as
absurd to reject replicable introspection because its token is private, as to reject Galileo’s observations because he made them in solitude.
Thus, the consciousness impasse is a representational, not an ontological, issue. Since humans
are psychophysical organisms who perceive to know and conceptualize to act, physicality and intentionality are dynamically integrated. Ignoring this seamless unity, post-Cartesian thought
conceives them separately – creating representational problems. The Hard Problem and the
mind-body problem both arose in the post-Cartesian era, and precisely because of conceptual
dualism. To resolve them, we need only drop the Fundamental Abstraction in studying mind.
Seeing dualism as a representational artifact disposes of both ontological and property dualism.
Properties depend not only on an object’s nature, but also on how we conceptualize it. For
example, we can justifiably think of an apple as red, or as having a certain spectral response.
While the intentional and physical theaters of operation seem disjoint, our abilities to know
material objects and to will physical acts spans them. Thus, a conceptual rather than an
ontological partitioning of human nature underlies both the Hard and mind-body problems.
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The notion of representational artifacts is not new. Eliminating them motivated tensor analysis
and its use in relativity. Since representation-dependant properties, such as the simultaneity of
separate events, cannot be properties of nature, all physical variables must have well-defined
tensor properties – meaning that they, and their relations, can be formulated independently of
representation. I am suggesting that dualism, and its associated problems, are artifacts of
Cartesian representation. As we have seen, even non-dualists formulate their arguments using
Cartesian concepts. The absence of orthogonal conceptualization in the Aristotelian-Thomistic
tradition, 56 shows it is a Cartesian inheritance.
Aristotle employed a unified, multidisciplinary model of cognitive research. While normally
employing the Fundamental Abstraction, in De Anima he moves seamlessly from physical
sensation to intentional cognition.57 He integrated first-person reflection with anatomical
research seeking sensory mechanisms, signal conduits (πόροι) and a central processing organ58 –
matching method to object.
Still, doesn’t the very existence of the intentional/physical distinction imply dualism and a
repudiation of methodological naturalism? How can we account for psychophysical humans
without res exensa and res congitans, or a corresponding division?
5. The Aristotelian Projection
Consider Aristotle’s projection of mind. He begins his Metaphysics with the observation that ‘All
humans by nature desire to know.’ An account of his predecessors follows. This is a psychohistorical study of what satisfies the desire to know. He finds only four modes of explanation:
material, formal, actualizing and teleological. 59 While called his ‘four causes,’ these are not
causes in the modern sense, but the ontological roots (ἀρχή = source) of phenomena.
Thus, Aristotle’s model of explanation is not ours. Post-Cartesian science focuses on material
and efficient causality, structure and mechanism, largely ignoring formal and teleological factors.
This is not only blinkered (we have seen final causality in aspirational goals, and biology
studying actual forms), but also problematic, for formal explanation eliminates dualism. 60 The
fixation on ‘stuff’ is seen in the Cartesian conception of the soul as thinking stuff (res cogitans).
The Aristotelian and Thomistic traditions avoid this trap.
In De Anima Aristotle seeks a philosophical definition of psyche and concludes that is not it a
‘thing,’ but ‘the first actuality of a natural body potentially possessing life.’61 This makes psyche
a species of form (εἶδος), which Aristotle defines as actuality (DA II, 1, 412a10). Thus, ‘to have a
soul’ means ‘to be alive.’ Minimally, life is marked by nutrition, growth and reproduction, and,
in higher forms, by sensation and thought.
Given this definition, one cannot consistently affirm that something is alive and deny it a soul.
Indeed, Aristotle sees a psyche in all living things. This involves neither vitalism, for nothing
beyond the actual organism is invoked, nor a res cogitans, for psyche need not include mind.
Aristotle takes as a contingent fact that only humans have the inner vision (νοῦς derives from
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νόος = vision62) we call intellect. It may seem philosophical slight of hand to identify soul with
actuality, but doing so continues to provide a rational basis for discussing issues such as brain
death.63 Being alive is objectively different from being lifeless, and that difference, which is a
kind of actuality, is what ‘psyche’ names.
While Aristotle’s definition explains neither the genesis nor the dynamics of consciousness, it
changes our conceptual space, the source of the problem. For him, form and ‘matter’ (ὕλη) are
not things, but the foundations for two modes of conceptualization. Considering a tree as an
actuality, as a living organism, is thinking of its form or eidos. Considering it as potential
lumber, fuel, or anything else, is thinking of its hyle (literally, timber). While ‘matter’ is the
standard translation of hyle, it is not just ‘stuff,’ but anything ‘out of which’ something may be
formed, including premises implying a conclusion. The matter and form of a tree, while having
the same extension, are conceptually independent and complementary. Some speak of bodies as
‘compounded’ of matter and form, but the compounding is logical, not physical. Matter and form
are logically distinguishable, but physically inseparable, aspects of bodies – another one-to-many
mapping from the physical to the intentional.
Matter and form, potency and act, are the core of Aristotle’s conceptual space. It is in terms of
these concepts, rather than structure and mechanism, that he analyzes cognition. Because
‘matter’ is a poor translation of hyle, we are liable to misunderstand Aristotle when he says, ‘For
the sense-organ is in every case receptive of the sensible object without its matter.’64 We might
think the object’s ‘stuff’ does not enter the sense, but he equally means that we sense the object’s
actuality, its eidos, not its potentiality or hyle. This is because the acts informing sense organs
express an object’s actuality, while its potential remains unexpressed.
Sensation is a change in which the sensible is actually sensed (DA II, 5, 416b32).65 Sensible
objects have the potential to activate sense organs, and sense organs have the potential to sense
their correlative objects. In sensation, these two potentials are jointly actualized (the object is
actually sensed, and the organ actually senses). The object being perceived by the sense organ is,
identically, the sense organ perceiving the object – for these are alternate formulations of one
event.66 Thus, sensation is a form of shared existence – one act of two beings, as adumbrated by
our discussion of environmental/body-state representation.
It is in terms of shared existence, and not of subsistent secondary qualities, 67 that we must
understand passages such as ‘when the object makes the organ in actuality like itself it does so
because that organ is potentially like it,’ (DA II, 11, 424a2) and ‘that which is to perceive white
and black must not be actually either, though potentially both’ (424a8). Aristotle means that they
must be capable of being informed by both, not that they change color. As Aquinas explains,
‘whatever is received is received according to the mode of the recipient.’68 Thus, Aristotle’s
claim corresponds to our understanding that eyes only see, and ears only hear, frequencies they
are capable of responding to – of being informed by.
Shared existence may be shocking, for we think of material objects as bound by a defining
surface. Yet, this view cannot stand. Quantum physics teaches us that matter fields extend
indefinitely, as do the electromagnetic and gravitational fields by which matter interacts – so the
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core we think of is surrounded by a radiance of action. This is most obvious in the night sky,
where stars’ radiance of action fills the heavens.
Again, action and being may seem strange bedfellows. We think of being as passive, as sitting
there, doing nothing, but what does nothing can neither be sensed nor known to be. Plato
recognized the dynamic nature of being:
I suggest that anything has real being that is so constituted as to possess any sort of power
either to affect anything else or to be affected, in however small a degree, by the most
insignificant agent, though it be only once. I am proposing as a mark to distinguish real
things that they are nothing but power.69
Being, then, is convertible with the power to act. Thus, to be human is to act as humans do, and
when we cease to do so, we are dead.
Aristotle views actions as belonging to their agent, first in the Categories, where action ‘inheres
in’ a substance, then in the Metaphysics, where ‘substance is rather that to which these
[predicables including action] belong primarily.’70 We have seen that the action of the environment on the sensory system is its neural representation. This is what shared being, the
inexistence of ‘intentional inexistence,’ means. We have only to see how inexistence becomes
intentional.
Knowing, by which inexistence becomes intentional, is analogous to sensing, but with a critical
difference.71 We still have shared existence,72 for the object informing the intellect is, identically,
the intellect being informed by the object; however, material structures cannot make themselves
understood, for their theater of operations is described by physics, which lacks intentional
effects. Still, we are informed by sensation and Aristotle insists that thought requires a physical
representation. 73 Thus, neither Aristotle, nor Aquinas after him, divides the mental from the
physical. 74
Nominalists see universals as names assigned to arbitrary sets, a view inconsistent with
experience. If a universal, such as ‘apple,’ named an arbitrary set, we could as easily assign a
frog or a rock to the ‘apple’ set, as assign a Granny Smith. We cannot because universals reflect
objective commonalities that make most classifications unproblematic. Universal terms express
concepts elicited by specific properties or notes of intelligibility. One encounter with a six-legged
segmented organism is enough to properly elicit <insect>.75 We can predicate universals, not
because they correspond to Platonic Ideas, but because each token has the objective capacity, the
notes of intelligibility, to elicit the same concept.
Universal concepts are not Humean associations. While I may associate the setting sun with an
orange or a beach ball, I would be unjustified in judging it to be either. Association merely
activates contents for critical review. Connectionist theories of concept formation, judgement
and reasoning76 model symbol grounding and association, not awareness of contents, or logical
processes such as distinguishing physically inseparable properties. Also, because they model
concept formation as the tuning of activation weights through repeated encounters, they cannot
explain concepts and judgements based on a single experience. This does not devalue
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connectionist research, it only wards against its misinterpretation.
Since physics lacks intentional effects, physical objects cannot engender concepts absent a
bridging dynamic. Phenomenologically, many sensations are subliminal, and even complex
sensory processing need not engender conscious thought. Dennett’s confutation of physical
models of conscious experience, and Paul Churchland’s observation that no neural structure
corresponds to propositional attitudes, further support Aristotle’s conclusion that sensory objects
cannot make themselves known.
Aristotle’s bridging dynamic is the agent intellect (νοῦς ποιητικóς). Sensible objects engender a
physical ‘image’ he calls a phantasm (φάντασμα). We would call it a neural representation. Since
the phantasm’s intelligibility cannot make itself known, something else, capable of intentional
effects, must do so. This is the agent intellect.77
An agent intellect is necessary because we actually understand what is only represented in brain
states. Since neural processing cannot effect awareness, an extra element is required, as Aristotle
argued and Chalmers seconds. Dennett, lacking a physical mechanism, used a homunculus as a
stand in. Further, this element works in the intentional theater of operations, for it is there, rather
than in the physical theater, that understanding occurs. Further, the agent intellect need not
change brain state because no physical operation produces intentional effects.
This brings us to the relation between concepts and physical representations. Aquinas sees the
agent intellect creating a new, immaterial carrier of information, the intelligible species (ST I, 79,
3), the precursor to Lockean ideas. Similarly, Deborah Modrak believes that the phantasm and
the first objects of knowledge (πρ͡ωτα νοήματα) are different representations. 78 While logically
distinct, they are not, and cannot be, separate. The agent intellect actualizing the phantasm’s
intelligibility is, identically, the phantasm’s intelligibility actualized by the agent intellect. This
makes understood contents inseparable from represented contents (the phantasm).
The essence of representation is the potential to be understood. A neural representation is not
understood if what is understood is a different representation. Thus, the concept <apple> is not a
thing, but an activity, viz. the actualization of an apple representation’s intelligibility. Of course,
apprehension may be followed by symbolization, and symbols are new physical representations.
This explains Aristotle’s insistence that phantasms are essential to thought – and allows the
seamless integration of his psychology with studies of neural representation.79
Thus, mind-brain identity theory almost right: the brain is the organ of the mind. Still, it is
wrong. Neural representations are essential to, but insufficient for, knowledge. Descartes drew
the wrong line in the wrong place. It is the wrong line because discursive thought requires neural
representations. It is in the wrong place because, if a line is to be drawn, it is between potency
and act – between the intelligibility of neural representations and the actuality of understanding.
Dualism is incompatible with the identity of physically encoded information informing the
intellect and the intellect being informed by physically encoded information.
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A final point needs clarification: if physical representations cannot have intentional effects, how
can they inform the mind? Effects are determined not only by their efficient cause, but also by
the potential it actualizes. While concepts’ existence depends on the agent intellect, their content
reflects the intelligibility actualized. So, their specification falls under the rubric of material
causality, which limits possible products. Since the phantasm is our sensory system as informed
by the object, both the object’s and our own intelligibility are present in it – as anticipated above.
Subjective Function
This leaves the agent intellect a cryptic abstraction, with commentators arguing over whether it is
a personal capacity or divine illumination. The phenomenological projection resolves this. How
do we experience coming to know sensible objects? As attending to, and becoming aware of,
sensory contents. Thus, the agent intellect is our power of awareness – and its operation is
consciousness. Qualia are the contingent forms of actualized sensory intelligibility.
The Aristotelian and modern understandings of awareness differ fundamentally. While Aristotle
sees it as our connection with reality – the way objects share existence with the mind – Locke,
writing in a tradition that had disconnected the mental from the physical, defined consciousness
as ‘the perception of what passes in a man's own mind.’80 This reflects his view that we only
know our own ideas, failing to appreciate that ideas are not things, but acts of awareness. The
Lockean and succeeding Kantian views leave us wondering what good consciousness is.
Knowing what passes in our mind might be entertaining or depressing, but it cannot help us deal
with reality or aid in species survival. Aristotle’s analysis, on the other hand, makes
consciousness biologically relevant and its contents a sound basis for rational behavior.
Abstraction is the selective actualization of intelligibility. In it, we attend to some notes of
intelligibility while ignoring others. For example, we fix on environmental state while neglecting
body state, or on two-ness while prescinding what embodies it. The resulting concepts are the
building blocks of discursive thought – joined in judgements linked in chains of reasoning. Thus,
consciousness functions as the sine qua non of rational thought, for without it, we could conceptualize nothing.
Consider forming a judgement, one of Churchland’s propositional attitudes. If we are aware of
feeling a stone, we can abstract the concept <hard>. Then, being aware that the identical object
elicits both <the stone> and <hard>, we link these concepts to judge <the stone is hard>, giving
propositional knowledge. The copula, <is>, betokens identity – not between subject and
predicate, but of their common source. Indeed, ‘a is b’ is unjustified if a is not identically an
object which elicits <b>. This judgement requires the power to actualize intelligibility – first in
becoming aware of the stone in an inchoate way (tode ti = this something), and then in
abstracting a physically inseparable property. Thus, abandoning the Fundamental Abstraction
allows us to explain phenomena beyond the scope of the SM.
Consequently, consciousness, the operation of the agent intellect, is not a niggling anomaly that
can be ignored until explained as a neurophysical side effect, but an experiential primitive
essential to understanding human rationality. Certain concepts, such as <electric charge>, are
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accepted, not because they are theoretically reducible, but because they are epistemologically
primitive – reflecting contingent realities that cannot be, or at least are not, further explained.
6. Conclusion
The Hard Problem of consciousness signals the need for a paradigm shift. The Standard Model
of neuroscience, portraying behavior as purely neurophysical, is inadequate not only to
consciousness, but also to overt behavior such as reports of subjectivity and the execution of
rational plans. This limitation is primarily due to the Fundamental Abstraction of natural science,
which attends to the objective, while prescinding from the inseparable subjective, elements of
experience. Its secondary cause is a Cartesian conceptual space, into which naturalists typically
project psychophysical phenomena, and which induces problematic representational artifacts.
The Aristotelian framework avoids these problems by focusing on potency and act rather than
structure and mechanism. By seeing awareness as actualizing the intelligibility of neural
representations, it provides a framework integrating introspection and neuroscience. This leaves
neuroscience unimpeded in studying neural representation without denigrating
phenomenological research.
Received December 14, 2022; Accepted December 26, 2022
References
1
Chalmers, D. J. (1995) Facing up to the problem of consciousness, Journal of Consciousness Studies 2
(3), pp. 200-19; (1996) The Conscious Mind, Oxford: Oxford University Press.
2
See Kuhn, T. (2012) The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, 4th ed., Chicago: University of Chicago.
3
Polis, D. F. (1993) Paradigms for an open philosophy, Metaphilosophy 24 (1-2), pp. 33-46.
4
‘… even those contemporary thinkers who entirely reject the principle of Cartesian dualism are obliged
to use this dichotomy as a negative point of reference for the definition of their own view.’ Kahn, C.
(1966) Sensation and consciousness in Aristotle’s psychology, Archiv für Geschichte der
Philosophie 48 (1-3), p. 45. Ryle, G. (1949) The Concept of Mind, NY: Barnes and Noble, p. 11, is
an example.
5
Chalmers (1995), pp. 200f.
6
Ibid., p. 202, n. 1.
7
Chalmers (1995), p. 4.
8
Koch C. and Hepp, K. (2006) Quantum mechanics and higher brain functions: lessons from quantum
computation and neurobiology, Nature 440, p. 611.
9
Dehaene S. (2014) Consciousness and the Brain: Deciphering How the Brain Codes Our Thoughts,
New York: Viking, p. 8.
10
Ibid., p. 8.
11
Kuhn (2012): 35.
12
Lakatos, I. (1968) Criticism and the methodology of scientific research programmes, Proceedings of the
Aristotelian Society 69, pp. 149–186.
13
Chalmers (1995): 204.
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112
14
The SM is common to functionalism, identity theory, reductive and eliminative materialism,
computationalism, representationalism, epiphenomenalism, and Humean supervenience.
15
Churchland, P. M. (1981) Eliminative materialism and the propositional attitudes, The Journal of
Philosophy 78, pp. 67-90.
16
Dennett, D. (1987) The Intentional Stance, Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, p. 5.
17
Smart, J. J. C. (2017) The mind/brain identity theory, in Zalta, E. N. (ed.), The Stanford Encyclopedia
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Damasio, A. R. (1994) Descartes’ Error, New York: Putnum’s, p. 230.
19
Lewis, D., (1994) Humean supervenience debugged, Mind 103, pp. 473-490.
20
Final causes are the ‘end or “that for the sake of which” a thing is done.’ Physics II, 3, 194b32,
(trans.) Hardie, R. P. and Gaye, R. K.
21
Allen, C. and Neal, J. (2020) Teleological Notions in Biology, in Zalta, E. N. (ed.), The Stanford
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Williams, G. C. (1966) Adaptation and Natural Selection, Princeton, NJ: Princeton University, p. 11.
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Polis, D. F. (2010), Evolution: Mind or Randomness? Journal of Interdisciplinary Studies 22 (1-2): 3266.
24
Nichomachean Ethics III, 3, 1112b13.
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Aquinas, T., De Principiis Naturae III, 19.
26
James, W. (1961) Psychology, the Briefer Course, (ed.) Allport, G., New York: Harper, p. 291.
27
Penrose, R. (1989) The Emperor’s New Mind, Oxford: Oxford, p. 399.
28
Smart, J. J. C. (2008) The identity theory of mind, in Zalta, E. N. (ed.), The Stanford Encyclopedia of
Philosophy. http://plato.stanford.edu/archives/fall2008/entries/mind-identity/ [30 Sept 2022].
29
Reed, G. F. (1987) Time gap experience, in Gregory, R. L. (ed.) The Oxford Companion to the Mind,
Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 777.
30
Hadamard, J. (1945) The Psychology of Invention in the Mathematical Field, Princeton: Princeton
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31
Baars, B. J. (2002) The conscious access hypothesis: origins and recent evidence, Trends in Cognitive
Sciences 6 (1), pp. 47-52.
32
Dirac, P. A. M. (1958) Quantum Mechanics, 4th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. 108.
33
Whitehead, A. N. (1926) Science and the Modern World, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, p.
26.
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O'Connor, T. (1994) Emergent properties, American Philosophical Quarterly 3, pp. 91-104.
35
Bedau, M. A. (1997), Weak emergence, in James E. Tomberlin (ed.) Philosophical Perspectives: Mind,
Causation, and World, vol. 11, Malden, MA: Blackwell, pp. 375-399.
36
Ibid., p. 376.
37
The Seed Viability Experiment has shown that seeds can remain dormant but viable for at least 142
years. Anonymous (2021) One of the world’s oldest science experiments comes up from the dirt,
New York Times, 21 April 2021. https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/21/science/beal-seedsexperiment.html [2 Oct. 2022].
38
Preston, M. A. (1962) Physics of the Nucleus, Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley, p. 10. Pantis, G. (1987)
Equivalent local potentials of the short-range part of the NN interactions within the quark model,
Nuclear Physics A 469, pp. 627-36.
39
Wang, J., et al. (2021) Multi-body effects in a coarse-grained protein force field, Journal of Chemical
Physics 154, 164113. https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0041022.
40
E.g., the Lorenz Butterfly Effect. Lorenz, E. N. (1963) Deterministic nonperiodic flow, Journal of the
Atmospheric Sciences 20, pp. 130–141.
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Polis, D. F., The Hard Problem of Consciousness & the Fundamental Abstraction
113
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Hanson, D. M., et al. (2021) The self-consistent field approximation (Hartree-Fock method), Chemical
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Hodgkin, A. L. and Huxley, A. F. (1952) A quantitative description of membrane current and its
application to conduction and excitation in nerve, The Journal of Physiology 117, pp. 500–44.
Nagumo, J. and Sato, S. (1972) On a response characteristic of a mathematical neuron model,
Kybernetik 10, pp. 155-164.
43
Das, A., Roy, A. B. and Das, P. (2001) Chaos in a three dimensional neural network, Applied
Mathematical Modeling 24, pp. 511-522.
44
Bedau (1997), p. 376.
45
Chalmers (1995), p. 208.
46
Concept tokens may cease to be, but that is not an intrinsic change.
47
Brentano, F. (1874) Psychologie vom Empirischen Standpunkte, Leipzig: Duncker & Humblot, pp.
124f.
48
See: Lyons, W. (1986) The Disappearance of Introspection, Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, ch. 1.
49
Churchland, P. M. (1979) Scientific Realism and the Plasticity of Mind, Cambridge: Cambridge; (1988)
Folk psychology and the explanation of human behavior, Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society,
supp. 62, pp. 209-21. Churchland, P. (1986) Neurophilosophy, Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
50
Dennett, D. (1978) Brainstorms, Cambridge, MA: MIT Press; (1987) The Intentional Stance,
Cambridge, MA: MIT Press; (1991) Consciousness Explained, N. Y.: Little, Brown.
51
‘[I]ntrospection is an attentive operation and one which is only occasionally performed, whereas
consciousness is supposed to be a constant element of all mental processes, and one of which the
revelations do not require to be receipted in special acts of attention.’ Ryle (1949), p. 164.
52
Cf. Aquinas, T., Scriptum super libros Sententiarum I, 1, 2, 1, ad 2; and Summa Theologiae (ST) I, 87, 1.
53
Copleston, F. (1950) A History of Philosophy, Westminister, MD: Newman, vol. 2, part I, p. 164.
54
Broadbent, D. A. (1975) The magical number seven after fifteen years, in Kennedy, A. and Wilkes, A.
(eds.) Studies in Long-Term Memory, New York: Wiley, pp. 3-18.
55
Whitehead (1926), p. 26.
56
‘[Aristotle] does not speak the language of traditional dualism.’ Kahn (1966), p. 44.
57
Kahn (1966), p. 55, notes a shift, beginning in DA III, 2, from ‘an objective, zoological approach’ to ‘an
anthropomorphic, introspective view.’
58
Lloyd, G. E. R. (1987), Greek investigations of the mind and senses, in Gregory, R. L. (ed.) The Oxford
Companion to the Mind, N.Y.: Oxford University Press, p. 297.
59
Metaphysics I, 10. His explanatory model is an agent working on a prior potential to effect an actuality
for an end.
60
Understanding soul as a form or actuality ‘is why we can dismiss as unnecessary the question of
whether the soul and body are one.’ DA II, 1, 412b6f. W. S. Hett trans.
61
DA ii, 1, 412b28. ‘First actuality’ is being operational. ‘Second actuality’ is operating.
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Sullivan, S. D. (1988) Noos and vision: five passages in the Greek lyric poets, Symbolae Osloenses 63,
pp. 7-17.
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Eberl, J. T. (2015) A Thomistic defense of whole-brain death, Linacre Quarterly 82. pp. 235–250.
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DA III, 2, 425b24 (trans. Hicks, W. S.).
65
The nature of this change is disputed. Slakey, T. J. (1961) Aristotle on sense perception, Philosophical
Review 70, p. 471, sees Aristotle’s perception ‘simply as an event in the sense organ,’ while
Solmsen, F. (1961) Greek philosophy and the discovery of nerves, Museum Heleveticum 18, p. 170,
believes it doubtful that change in the sense organ ‘has any physical or physiological aspect.’
66
‘[T]he actuality of that which has the power of causing motion is not other than the actuality of the
movable, for it must be the fulfilment of both.’ Physics III, 3, 202a14-16 (trans. Hardie, R. P. and
Gaye. R. K.).
67
As in Burnyeat, M. F. (1992) Is Aristotelian philosophy of mind still tenable? (A draft), in Nussbaum,
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M. C. and Rorty, A. O. (eds.) Essays on Aristotle’s De Anima, Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. 19f.
ST I, 75, 5.
69
Sophist 247e, in Cornford, F. M. (1934) Plato’s Theory of Knowledge, N. Y.: Humanities, pp. 238f.
70
Metaphysics vii, 3, 1029a15. ‘To speak of things as “substances” is … to say that they set themselves up
as units of existence, all of whose constituent parts are by virtue of one and the same act of existing,
which is that of the substance.’ Gilson, E. (1956) The Christian Philosophy of St. Thomas Aquinas,
N. Y.: Random House, p. 31.
71
DA III, 4.
72
Cf. Koons, R. C. (2019) Aristotle's formal identity of intellect and object: A solution to the problem of
modal epistemology, Ancient Philosophy Today 1, pp. 84-107.
73
‘For the thinking soul images take the place of direct perceptions; … Hence the soul never thinks
without a mental image.’ DA III, 7, 431a14-18. Cf. ST I, 84, 7.
74
Kahn (1966), pp. 49-59. In his Commentary on De Anima IV, 1, Ibn Sina (Avicenna) added the vis
aestimativa, which associates sensible objects with behavioral responses, e.g. fleeing wolves or
gathering nesting material. Cf. ST I, 78, 4.
75
I use <> to mark instruments of thought, as ‘’ marks their verbal expression.
76
E.g., McClelland, J. and Rogers, T. T. (2004) Semantic Cognition: A Parallel Distributed Processing
Approach, Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
77
Aquinas’s interpretation of Aristotle’s active intellect (ST I, 79, 2-3) differs from mine.
78
Modrak, D. K. W. (1987) Aristotle: The Power of Perception, Chicago: University of Chicago Press,
pp. 127f, argues that ‘The only possible difference between them is the mode of representation employed,’ but actualization distinguishes known from intelligible phantasms.
79
Aristotle’s passive intellect is physical representations as understood, as they remain passive in the act
of awareness.
80
Locke, J. (1690) Essay Concerning Human Understanding, 2nd ed., London: Thomas Basset, II, l, 19.
68
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Mudiappan, F., Exploration of Oscillating Higher Dimensional States
Exploration
Exploration of Oscillating Higher Dimensional States
Felix Mudiappan*
Abstract
Higher Dimensional States (HDS) may exist as shown through termites habitat construction. In
this paper, the author explore the oscillation of HDS and how it controls each termite.
Keywords: Higher dimensional state, linkage factor, termites, hierarchy, termites.
Abbreviations:
C - Very fundamental unit of universe Cs- Very fundamental unit for soul
Cp - Very fundamental unit for particle
Cf - Very fundamental unit for fundamental forces
Cpf - Space of non-living beings or Particles and fundamental forces combination in C
Cpfs - Very fundamental unit in trinity form, that is, particle, fundamental forces, and soul.
G-Cpfs - God in C with trinity form, that is, particles, fundamental forces, and soul combined.
Gh-Cpfs - Ghost in C with trinity form, that is, particles, fundamental forces, and soul combined.
D-Cpfs - Devil in C with trinity form, that is, particles, fundamental forces and soul combined.
HDS - Higher Dimensional State/States LDS- Lower Dimensional State/States
G- God
Gh - Ghost
l - Number of dimensions in particle (for each very fundamental unit as Cp)
m - Number of dimensions in fundamental forces (for each very fundamental unit as Cf)
n - Number of dimensions in soul (for each very fundamental unit as Cs)
Cn = n number of prime factors, C3 for this universe, that is Cp, Cf and Cs
+ve - dimensions enhancing/reducing values of dimensions causing comfort to us
-ve - dimensions enhancing/reducing values of dimensions causing discomfort to us
1. Introduction
Even though the termites‟ revelations cover as many as distances of 400 km apart, we do not
have exact proof that they are oscillating across entire universe. The only way we have to believe
is based on its abilities. In the same way, we have to believe a perfect system as explained in [2]
based on what we see in this world and the termites images [1].This is how we have to explore
the creation of our universe assuming a perfect system and on the way we will find out many
hidden truths.
*
Correspondence author: Felix Mudiappan, Imayam College of Engineering, Kannanur, Trichy, India.
E-mail: felix.alex2001@gmail.com
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Mudiappan, F., Exploration of Oscillating Higher Dimensional States
It is a small revelation by HDS to show they are oscillating across spaces, watching us, seeing all
our ways. They know our past, records it; present, records it and future, it will record it also (will
be explained with proof in future article).Walking through this path of perfect system, the forces
governing the nature defined[2] and purpose of creation discussed, expansion, black holes
concept, fundamental unit concept can be discussed. Based on the abilities of HDS, the timed
and timeless state could be discussed. The Theory of relativity and why it happens could be
discussed. The future articles include these. New theories could be proposed and there is a
possibility this area(perfect system) will become wide. Here how HDS might have originated
based on perfect system and purpose of creation is discussed. For all notations in this paper, just
refer [2].
2. Higher dimensional states oscillating across spaces
Higher dimensions are oscillating across the spaces may be the entire universe or system of
universes is evident from the fact it constructed author‟s brother images from 400 km away from
his home at a college „X‟ in Kannanur, Trichy [1] without seeing him. This shows they are
linked across these distances and oscillating.
The fact that higher dimensional states draws the images only from the memories (by
overlapping the human soul just like in termites) of human can be disproved though the higher
dimensions captures the memory of humans. No one (human) might have thought the images of
author to be drawn particle (sand) by particle in a specific artistic manner. This will prove they
themselves have the capacity to draw it(not extracted from human memory). From the fact that
the higher dimensional states helping the author to write this paper showing termite images, it is
proved that they knew the memories or thoughts of humans. Also the fact that we could not
recollect exactly our memories shows the loss in the memory, but higher dimensional states can
exactly extract our memories is proved the way it has drawn the termite images of known people
and Mary image on wall by rain water diffusion in college „X‟ at Kannanur, Trichy [1].
The Mary image is in the mind of millions of humans, but to construct the image to appear on the
walls, the control of atom by atom of rainwater, air, concrete particles required as a function of
time as images to appear, the wetting on particle has to stay, thus control of temperature. This
proves the control on non-living by the HDS to achieve specific task. Here it is appropriate to say
the control of very fundamental unit of universe C rather than atoms, which is defined in this
paper for perfect system. Thus, each fundamental unit itself can vary the dimension or
environment varies. Again, to draw the image, the environment for each fundamental unit or
group has to change. Thus, it is appropriate even the environment for each fundamental unit
changes means the fundamental unit itself changes is the meaning.
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Mudiappan, F., Exploration of Oscillating Higher Dimensional States
The above discussion will prove that both human thinking (HDS have got the ability to spy it
[14]) and the self-capabilities of higher dimensional states draws the images, that too it draws in
short time, starting from less than hours to days. Another point to prove is the higher dimensional
state, which draws these images, might be having the ability to differentiate the things or
difference seeing ability as the way it helped in constructing the termite images or different
known faces. From the fact that the images drawn by higher dimensional states helped the author
or reference point to publish a paper, that is, helping him and giving beautiful information to
humans through author; this proves the construction being done by +ve higher dimensional
forces only, not by –ve higher dimensional forces.
From the fact, at the same time termites images are drawn on different trees and each soul(each
termites) is controlled to move each sand particles, it proves many souls[4,5,6 and 8] are
involved in constructing the images(as per 1st,2nd,3rd and 4th images in figure9 in[1]),which
proves no way for environmental control as the termites are denser, but for a perfect system
environmental control is also possible, the rain water diffusion as in figure 4 in[1] proves this.
The 5th,6th ,7th and 8th images in figure9 of [1] proves the environmental control also as there are
spaces between termites.
From the images in figures (for example, figure 3 in[1](author‟s brother seeing a girl),figure 14(a
girl become pregnant) etc) in[1], there is a link in each termite habitat. In addition, figure5 and
14 in [1] are related based on the shape of images. This proves from the same commander
different hierarchy of higher dimensional states exists and draws the images, each are linked to
each other. Thus, a hierarchy of higher dimensional states exists just like in a corporate firm or
industry.Figure1 (a) shows it for an industry and figure1 (b) shows it for higher dimensional
states.HDS here means Higher Dimensional State.
Chairman(Top manager)
Manager2
Supervisors
Supervisors
Workers
Workers
(Work1 or
more)
(Work2) or
more
………etc
.
.
……….etc
……….etc
Ist HDS 1
2nd HDS 1
1st HDS 2
2nd HDS 2
Workers
(Termites)
Workers
(Termites)
(Tree1 or
more)
(Tree2 or
more)
(Work n)
(a)
………etc
.
.
………etc
.
.
……....etc
(Tree n)
(b)
Figure 1
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Invisible
Manager1
Topmost higher dimensional state
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Mudiappan, F., Exploration of Oscillating Higher Dimensional States
3. How the control takes place
HDS are linked each other and to the topmost HDS. This is not the case with workers in termites
but in industry, workers can have link. The worker termites (5th sensed) no need to know the aim
of construction but managers should know. As all the higher dimensional states are linked, it can
be said they are one and same. In this sense, the hierarchy can be neglected. The workers here in
termites may not know the purpose of construction, but the higher order states knew. The
possibilities for how the higher dimensional states motivate the termites has been given in [1].
From figure 9 in[1], the perfect control is possible if termites have been overlapped. This control
is above the power or dimension given to termites naturally. From the fact that many termites
construct single habitat (or face) and n soil particles are controlled by n termites, it appears that
each termites has link, but they move unknowing to them is sure falling in one of the three
possibilities above. It‟s against natural rule. From the figure9 in [1],the environment control can
be neglected in some cases(1st,2nd,3rd and 4th images as the termites move very closely), even the
environment around each termites controlled(termites not moving closely as in images 5th,6th,7th
and 8th there is space for environmental control),but it may lead to imperfection. Assuming the
perfect system both are possible by higher dimensional states.
In the point of view of very fundamental unit of universe C, all the C in termites body increase
their dimensions as a function of reference points (as in the case of author[1]) or for a purpose by
HDS is also possible. The further explanation of the possibilities can be explained in section
1.This very fundamental unit C[7] is dispersed across the universes in different number of
dimensions and linked to each other. In order C to be perfect, it has to have ∞ dimensions in
particle, fundamental forces, and soul[11 and 12]. The one can say G-Cpfs and Gh-Cpfs exist in
Cpfs (humans) and it is of top order if the dimensions are exist in ∞.It is sure higher dimensional
states are dispersed across the universe or regions, that‟s why without bothering distances, they
produce known images using termites even without seeing the images. Thus, here the
fundamental unit concept of C dispersed across the universe fits here.
As a function of time, the top-level higher dimensional state can vary its states in soul, particles,
and fundamental forces in C across the universe or regions. The continuity is important for
making a communication. Thus C is linked across the universes (if exist more), the continuity is
maintained. This C is oscillating across the universes in different dimensional levels(number of
dimensions l, m, n[2]) in soul(Cs),particles(Cp) and fundamental forces(Cf) form, that is three in
1 or trinity form or even without it as Cp, Cf alone or Cp and Cf combined. If more prime factors
exist as combinations of those also.
Say the Cs exist with infinite dimension as God-soul, Cf with infinite dimensions as Godfundamental forces and Cp with infinite dimensions as God-particle. They can occur in
combinations. Some dimensions in them make them invisible. That‟s why the top-level higher
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dimensional states and higher dimensional states below them are invisible. This will show that
they are one and same, though the hierarchy has been drawn. The losses happening in soul,
particle and fundamental forces in this universe are because of dimension limiters, they act
opposite to +ve dimensions, which is due to lack of reversibility or flexibility. If anything affects
the perfect system causing irreversible losses, then they are –ve forces.
From the losses in soul, particles, and fundamental forces in this world, they are because of this
dimension blockers, reversibility blockers, or flexibility blockers and are known as –ve forces.
Here author‟s work can be controlled or confused by the dimension limiters, but it is not
happening, rather the termites show, not confusing images and also showing relations. Thus one
which is making comfort is +ve dimensions or forces, that is, termite images help the author to
write a paper, publish it and gives information, making the author happy. Thus they are +ve
forces. Sometimes, author may be facing troubles to make others happy, and then there should be
some balance made (as for perfect system) for the troubles faced and it might be possible to
know this balance after crossing the life in rule of region.
It is difficult to change the rules in the rule of region as it will affect the dignity of higher
dimensional states if some inequality arises in a way to balance the troubles faced by someone in
this world itself or flexibility of soul will be lost if everything happens to a soul in this world
easily and it will make it unfit for the higher dimensional states. Basic learning the humans get in
this world is to know good and evil, take right choices, and stand. This is the purpose of life and
this learning has very big meaning, that is, it will make the soul flexible to stand self, we humans
might have to manage the universes like higher dimensional states. This might be the purpose
why the balance for the troubles not possible in this world itself. Thus, the trouble faced cannot
be said as because of –ve forces alone.
Even the trouble faced by a human in this world makes some other happy, but indirectly scoring
even it‟s negative to him/her. Thus +ve higher dimensional states keep the –ves to happen
because –ves are needed to filter souls or to make them fit for the higher dimensional states. As
unknowingly the man who earned happiness makes the troubled man fit to higher dimensional
state, the higher dimensional states can maintain patience and not attacking the happy man
(because of –ve action), but there might be a balance for this action also (say –ve doing people
should get punishment).Thus both are helping the creator or topmost higher dimensional state in
this regard. Thus for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. This is the hidden law
of perfect system. Thus, a perfect system is one, which is balanced in particle, fundamental
forces, and soul.
Both the hierarchy level of management and without hierarchy should be possible with the
assumed “Trinity concept or three in 1” as Cp,Cf and Cs can have ∞ dimensions. More over
because of some dimensions existing with the higher dimensional states, they are invisible to
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Mudiappan, F., Exploration of Oscillating Higher Dimensional States
humans; this confirms anything is possible with the assumed base of perfect system. Thus, single
top higher dimensional state spread across the distances is possible without different levels in
higher dimensional states. Say this as before the Big bang[3,9,10 and 13]. Also from linkage
factor (as in figure1) without hierarchy and with hierarchy is same.
The dimensional hierarchy we see in this world is from humans to animals, plants and non-living
beings. In invisible form, there might be many n dimensions, linked to a single topmost higher
dimension, but from the losses or discomfort, it is proved another higher dimension tries to
reduce the +ve dimensions, causing discomfort, say these as –ve forces or D-Cpfs. Because the
visible form dimensions are in the hierarchy order, there is more possibility that the invisible
higher dimensional states are also in hierarchy order, as the invisible states has to govern the
visible states as termites governed by invisible higher dimensional states. The best example each
individual termite souls controlled to draw the known faces because the supervisor controls each
termites, a hierarchy is required. As in many trees same shapes drawn, there should be someone
above to control supervisors, say managers and above managers the topmost HDS. Figure 1 (b)
is true for termites and, the below is also true as in figure2 if we assume a fly, that is, as one
which can act as a copy of top HDS with size reduced to an infinitesimally small C.
Ist HDS 1
1st HDS 2
2nd HDS 1
………etc
.
.
………etc
2nd HDS 2
.
Figure 2
.
Invisible
Topmost higher dimensional state
Fly
4. Each living & non-living beings have HDS hidden
Another possibility for how the termites constructed known images can be explained with the
presence of G-Cpfs and Gh-Cpfs in each C in this world, which is from HDS. Thus it can be said
that behind each living being there is a perfect state HDS hidden,which knows Ato Z of each
living beings. In addition to the flexible HDS (G-Cpfs and Gh-Cpfs), irreversibility supporter DCpfs also exist. If flexibility generator expressed, the irreversibility generator is suppressed. This
concept can be applied to termites and other living beings. The G-Cpfs and Gh-Cpfs in each
species is linked, thus in the same way the termites get communication from HDS. Thus, HDS
oscillating among living beings is evident. The HDS is hidden in each living beings from the
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birth unknowing to the living beings. It does not mean the HDS is not in non-living being. It also
exist in non-living being to fulfill our assumption HDS as a perfect system. Thus in particle say
soul of HDS in sleep mode.
5. How other HDS than top HDS might have originated
In order to control the visible dimensions which are with experiencing both +ve and –ve
dimensions (as loss is incurred), the higher dimensional states also should have experienced both
+ve and –ve dimensions. As a overall, for human souls to experience the +ve and –ve
dimensions it takes many billions of years in the rule of region (each human having life time), it
means the universe is in the cyclic state as in the previous cyclic state the higher dimensions
(many n numbers) acting in termites might be experienced both +ve and –ve dimensions. Thus, it
can be said that universe is following a cycle, thus the journey of a human or in general a soul is
endless as shown in figure3 below.
∞
∞
Twist
Universes
Figure 3
Say at each cycle, it takes a twist to restructure the universe (end of one cycle) or make it ready
for another cycle. This twist might be to choose the fit souls. Say it takes billions of years for
each cycle. Even it is said that higher dimensional states have to go cycle like humans to become
managers of the universe, it can be neglected from the perfect system assumption, that is,
anything is possible, so simply if topmost higher dimensional state thinks then without going to
cycle, it is possible to become like managers, but it will affect the dignity of topmost higher
dimensional state and it will show the system as handicapped one, making humans alone to
suffer. This can be justified from the freedom or linkage given to human and other higher
dimensional states.
Humans are trained with less linkage and more freedom to stand self as managers, this will
produce unique kind of managers, less independent than other lower higher dimensional state
(HDS), thus the training given to humans is different, and it will produce a different output. This
will again affect the dignity of topmost higher dimensional state and it cannot be said perfect or
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Mudiappan, F., Exploration of Oscillating Higher Dimensional States
make it handicapped for making other HDS less freedom. This fact can be justified from the
dimensions given to them, more over they can exist in invisible state; this will be like they
occupy their space and they are balanced in their state, thus their needs are satisfied (a perfect
system). Thus, this discussion will prove anything possible, no need to go a cycle like humans
for HSD of lower levels as from the purpose (bonding and stand independent managers) they
differ.
Link with HDS
No of dimensions
This will make humans special in creation; the experience the humans get in this world would
make them more independent like topmost higher dimensional state; but are linked to topmost. A
different experience or a kind of different species in the HDS world will be the outcome. More
over each human differ in the bonding level ranging from a limit to 0, each human is unique and
will be placed in unique levels after the experiment in this world is over. This unique place will
be one in which they will be well balanced, a kind of trying to be perfect. This makes logically
good and maintained a balanced system, not making the topmost higher dimension or the system
as handicapped one. It can be drawn as the freedom increases, the link, or bondage with higher
dimensional states decreases. It can be shown from the following figure4.
Freedom
(a)
No of dimensions
Freedom
(b)
Hierarchy(from figure1)
(c)
Figure 4
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This will prove that the souls, which are not following the rules of higher dimensions, will be
detached. From the author‟s experience (termite images also), the rule of higher dimension is to
have a “Beautiful Heart”. Figure7 and 8 in[1] on clouds and sand (termites) are example that the
higher dimensional state is capable of controlling the particles and fundamental forces also
without soul. Thus, both environment control and control of souls of termites by overlapping of
soul are possible. Thus, with author and some people as reference, the particles, fundamental
forces and soul changes [1], giving some information (that is, making the author comfort), thus a
balanced steady perfect system is evolving with reference to author. Therefore, it is essential to
study the qualities or properties of author or reference point, which are mainly +ve soul level
dimensions, which makes the particles, fundamental forces etc to bend down or melt [1 and 2].
8. Conclusion
The way the HDS give information to author using termites and other living beings show that the
HDS works to serve human and fulfill the duty given by top HDS. Though we could not come to
a conclusion how exactly termites make known images, it can construct the known images
possibly using perfect system in many ways. How HDS can knew +ves and –ves and can have
control are also discussed.
References
1.Mudiappan F. Exploration of Higher Dimensional State Through Termites Habitats. Journal of
Consciousness Exploration & Research | February 2019 | Volume 10 | Issue 2 |pp. 93-114
2.Mudiappan F. A Perfect System Model. Int J Cosmol Astron Astrophys. 2019;1(2): 54-61.doi:
10.18689/ijcaa-1000114
3. Georgievich BS. About the theory of the Big Bang. J Gen Sci. 2017. doi:
10.13140/RG.2.2.26288.35840
4. Dahlbeck J. At the wake, or the return of metaphysics. Educational Philosophy and Theory J. 2018;
50(14): 1462-1463. doi: 10.1080/00131857.2018.1458783
5. Grandpierre A, Chopra D, Doraiswamy PM, Tanzill R, Kafatos MC. A Multidisciplinary Approach to
Mind and Consciousness. Neuro Quantology.2013; 11(4): 607-617. doi: 10.14704/nq.2013.11.4.703
6. Prentner R. Process Metaphysics of Consciousness. Open Philosophy.2018; 1(1): 3-13. doi:
10.1515/opphil-2018-0002
7. Leibniz GW. The Monadology. Accessed March, 1898.
8. Jakusic D. The Possibility of Ontology. Phil Papers. 2017.
9. Damineli A. Hubble A- The expansion of the Universe. 1st edition. Sao Paulo, SP: Odysseus; 2003.
10. Steiner JE. The Origin of the Universe. Adv Stud J. 2006; 20(58): 233-248.
11. Halzen F, Martin A. Quarks and Leptons: An Introductory Course in Modern Particle Physics. John
Wiley & Sons, Inc; 1984.
12. Polchinski J. String Theory. Santa Barbara, SB: Cambridge University Press;1998.
13. Gubser SS, Frans P. The Little Book of Black Holes. Princeton University Press; 2017.
14.Herff C and Tanja Schultz(2016) Automatic Speech Recognition from Neural Signals: A Focused
Review, Frontiers in neuroscience, https://doi.org/10.3389/fnins.2016.00429.
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Research Essay
Unconsciousness, Subconsciousness
& the Creation of Consciousness
Michael Prost
*
Abstract
One of the most intriguing questions of mankind, if not the most intriguing one, is the question
how consciousness arises. Answering this question requires examining the differences between
unconsciousness, subconsciousness and consciousness. Especially important is the fact that there
are multiple subconscious processes simultaneously, but only one conscious process. Conscious
processes can become subconscious, and subconscious processes can become conscious. We
show that the switchboard between consciousness and subconsciousness and so to speak the
creator of consciousness is the subthalamic nucleus. And we propose a method by which the
subthalamic nucleus might control consciousness, namely by monitoring the adrenaline levels of
conscious and subconscious processes All principles regarding the creation of consciousness also
apply to animals with a brain. We also show how the unique features of human consciousness language and thinking - are realized neurally and how they are integrated into consciousness and
subconsciousness.
Keywords: Unconsciousness, subconsciousness, consciousness, neuroplasticity, subthalamic
nucleus.
1. Introduction
One of the most intriguing questions of mankind, if not the most intriguing one, is the question
how consciousness arises. A special problem in finding answers to this question lies in the fact
that the term “consciousness” has never been unambiguously defined. The primary definition of
consciousness comes from the field of neuroscience. Neuroscience defines consciousness as a
state of the brain where the person is awake and can initiate actions (Bear 2015). This definition
of consciousness is also used in ordinary language. Philosophy often defines consciousness as a
state where the person is aware of her personal experiences (Chalmers 1995, Chalmers 1997). It
is obvious that it is difficult to find an explanation for a phenomenon which has not even been
clearly defined.
What philosophers call consciousness might also be called phenomenal experiences. As
phenomenal experiences they are indeed related to consciousness, but they are only a part of
consciousness. The question if there is another layer of mental states that cannot directly be
reduced to neural activity must be answered separately. 1 And there is a third meaning of
consciousness, for example in a sentence like “I am conscious of my weakness.” In this
connotation consciousness is always related to language and has the meaning of knowledge. It
should be emphasized that the first two kinds of consciousness exist in all animals with a brain as
*Correspondence: Michael Prost, Independent Scholar, Germany. E-mail: info@michaelprost.com
1 It can be mentioned here that this has been done already by the author.
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Prost, M., Unconsciousness, Subconsciousness & the Creation of Consciousness
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well whereas the third kind of consciousness only applies to humans. In this article we will
concentrate on the “neuroscientific” consciousness and we will propose an unambiguous
definition for the term “consciousness.” First, we will explain how consciousness must be
separated from unconsciousness2 but also from subconsciousness.
We will explain how the different modes of the brain – unconsciousness, subconsciousness and
consciousness – evolved evolutionary. This will lead us to definitions for the terms
unconsciousness, subconsciousness and consciousness. Then we will show how consciousness is
created. One conscious process is selected out of numerous subconscious processes by a special
part of the cortex, namely the subthalamic nucleus (STN). The mechanism which STN uses
might involve checking the adrenaline level of conscious and subconscious processes. Finally,
we will show what the specialty of human consciousness is, namely language, and how language
is realized in consciousness and subconsciousness.
2. Differentiation between unconsciousness, subconsciousness &
consciousness
First, we would like to emphasize that most of the following considerations apply to all animals
with a brain, not only to humans. Further down, we will come to the specialty of humans. As it is
known, the brain works via neural connections (Bear 2015). Neurons3 – these are the nerve cells
of the brain – are highly interconnected and work by transmitting signals along these
connections. Eventually signals are sent via nerves to muscles and initiate bodily movements. 4
Consequently the brain contains a huge network of neural connections. Most of these
connections are fixed and don’t change over the course of a person’s lifetime. 5 For example,
there are neural connections which control heartbeat or digestion.
Most activities of the brain work unconsciously: that means they cannot (consciously) 6 be
influenced. It is obvious that unconsciousness was the first mode of brain activities which
evolution developed. If we use here the wording “evolution developed” we do this for clarity, not
because we want to imply that evolution works teleologically. Of course, evolution works by
trial and error. Mutations occur in some members of a species. If these mutations provide these
members with an advantage for survival these mutations prevail and spread throughout the entire
population until ultimately the entire species has developed a new functionality. 7 This also
happened with the development of the first brains.
2
Here we introduce a different meaning for the term “unconsciousness.” As we will show in the following this
meaning is absolutely necessary to be able to describe brain processes appropriately.
3
There are different kinds of neurons, but the differentiation is irrelevant in our explanations.
4
As we will see this definition is correct for all animals except humans. Humans have developed language and have
learned to think. Consequently, in the case of humans, thoughts can also be considered to be actions.
5 Except caused by aging and illness.
6 We will explain the usage of this term “conscious” a little bit later.
7 If the mutations are significant this leads to a creation of a new species.
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At first, brains probably just contained a few neurons that controlled only one muscle function,
maybe the aforementioned heartbeat or digestion. Because this concept proved to be beneficial
evolution continued to use it. Finally brains evolved with numerous neurons that could control
many different functions of the animal. Still today all vital functions of an animal’s body are
controlled unconsciously. And it has also to be mentioned that the vast majority of brain
functions work unconsciously. That means that unconsciousness is the dominant mode of brain
activities. As a definition for unconsciousness we can propose the following formulation:
Unconsciousness is a mode of the brain that uses fixed neural connections to control the vast
majority of bodily functions including the functioning of the brain itself. The emphasis lies on the
fact the unconsciousness uses fixed neural connections.
But evolution discovered that the possibilities to develop new functionalities were limited if only
fixed neural connections could be used. Consequently, evolution invented a new feature, namely
neuroplasticity. Neuroplasticity is the ability of a brain to create new neural connections based
on internal and external perceptions, also called sensations. Neuroplasticity only works in one
special part of the brain, in the cortex, which is part of the cerebrum. In the cortex, new neural
connections arise constantly. As an example we will look at a visual perception. When the eye is
hit by an external image8 a signal is sent to the cortex. Actually, during every second some 50 to
60 signals are sent via the visual nerve first to the thalamus, then from the thalamus to a special
area of the cortex called the visual cortex. In the visual cortex these signals generate special
neural connections, which we will denote as “neural patterns”.
Consequently neural patterns represent the perceived objects in the brain. That means a huge
number of visual perceptions – realized as neural patterns - is being created at every moment, all
of which are characteristic for the objects we see. The same principle also applies to all other
kinds of perceptions / sensations. As already indicated above, these sensations can either be
external (such as visual perceptions or sounds) or internal (such as pain or hunger). All these
sensations are registered subconsciously.9 Subconsciousness is obviously a mode of the brain in
which the brain can process multiple sensations simultaneously and where the brain creates a
large number of corresponding neural patterns.10 What we see here is that neuroplasticity is the
basis for memory and experience.
If a member of a species that has developed neuroplasticity encounters an event that was already
experienced before the reaction to this event can be based on the fact whether the previous
experience was good or bad. Consequently, neuroplasticity is also the basis for learning. But
there is one caveat: When subconscious experiences first evolved, actions could only be initiated
by reflexes. Consequently evolution developed a third mode of the brain, namely consciousness.
Before we come to consciousness, we want to propose a definition for subconsciousness.
8 When we use the word “image” here we mean the optical information which is emitted by an object and can be
processed by an eye. We are not yet referring to what the brain does with this information.
9
Visual perceptions are a little bit different. When our eyes are open we always integrate a part of our entire view
into our conscious processing (The other parts of the view are indeed processed only subconsciously). That is the
reason why we have to close our eyes when we want to sleep (while sleeping we are non-conscious). All other
perceptions such as noises or smells don’t prevent us from sleeping as long as they are not too intense.
10
It must be mentioned here that subconsciousness is not yet very well investigated by neuroscience, compared to
consciousness. One neuroscientist who investigated subconsciousness in more detail is Stenislas Dehaenne
(Dehaene 1998, Dehaene 2003). But even Dehaenne is not really aware of the difference between unconsciousness
and subconsciousness.
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Subconsciousness is a mode of the brain, namely of the special area called the cortex, that uses
neuroplasticity to create characteristic neural connections, neural patterns, based on internal
and external sensations. 11 As we see, subconscious processes precede conscious processes.
Consequently subconsciousness was the second mode of the brain which evolved. As indicated,
some of these subconsciously experienced sensations can cause direct actions. Examples are the
withdrawal of a limb from a stinging object because of pain or the suckling of a baby at the
mother’s breast because of hunger. These instinctive actions are called “innate reflexes.” Yet
most subconscious processes do not initiate actions. But, as just mentioned, evolution developed
another method to cause actions: evolution developed consciousness.
We start here with a suggested definition for consciousness. Consciousness is a mode of the
brain in which the brain can initiate actions using internal and / or external sensations in
potentially longer, complex processes. This should now be an appropriate acceptable definition
of “neuroscientific” consciousness. For the illustration of this definition we can use the example
of a consciously hunting leopard. First the leopard experiences an internal sensation, namely
hunger. This sensation activates a neurally stored program that the leopard has learned from his
mother during his upbringing. He looks for prey, checks out cover, wind direction and distance
to the prey and finally comes to the conclusion that the charge might be successful.
We see here two principles of conscious processing. First, different areas of the cortex can and
have to work together in order to initiate actions. That means the different areas of the cortex
have to be neurally connected. Second, at the end there must be a neural connection to the motor
cortex because it is the motor cortex which sends signals via nerves to muscles thus initiating
bodily movements. The group of neural connections which connect different parts of the cortex
and finally initiate the motor cortex to send signals to muscles can all be called “neural
processes”. A neural process represents a learned behavior. When we look at the example of the
hunting leopard we acknowledge that baby leopard has learned all these procedures from mother
leopard. During this learning process baby leopard has imitated mother’s behavior and has thus
built new neural connections which finally enable baby leopard to hunt autonomously.
Now it has to be emphasized again that there always exist multiple subconscious processes
simultaneously but there can only exist one conscious process. The reason is evident: only one
action can be initiated at a time. Otherwise contradictory actions could occur such as moving in
opposite directions. We now can extend our definition of consciousness: Consciousness is a
mode of the brain in which the brain can initiate actions using internal and / or external
sensations in potentially longer, complex processes. There can always only exist one conscious
process. What we have seen here is that conscious processes initiate actions. What we see here as
well is that consciousness requires wakefulness while subconsciousness does not. Consequently,
we have to introduce another term, namely non-consciousness.
While we sleep we are in a state of non-consciousness. We are also in a state of nonconsciousness when we faint or when we are sedated. And of course, we are also in a state of
non-consciousness when we are in a coma. But in all states of non-consciousness our
subconsciousness is still more or less active, with the possible exception of a coma. Here we now
have to emphasize that subconsciousness cannot only create neural patterns, but
subconsciousness can also – like consciousness – use neural processes. Consequently, we must
11
A little bit later, we will see that we still can extend this definition, namely after consciousness was developed.
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extend our definition of subconsciousness proposed above: Subconsciousness is a mode of the
brain, namely of the special area called the cortex, that uses neuroplasticity to create
characteristic neural connections, neural patterns, based on internal and external sensations.
Subconsciousness can also use neural processes. There can always exist multiple subconscious
processes. As we see, without subconsciousness we could not perceive sensations. But because
subconsciousness can also use neural processes, subconsciousness can do even more: when we
sleep subconsciousness creates these wonderful mysterious experiences which we call dreams.
In order to better understand the interaction between consciousness and subconsciousness it must
also be mentioned that besides innate reflexes there are some more cases where subconscious
processes can initiate actions via the motor cortex. A good example is walking. As a baby we
have to consciously learn to walk. We have to focus our consciousness on every step and on
keeping balance. After we have learned to walk everything is performed subconsciously. A
former conscious process has become subconscious. The same principle applies to car driving.
That means that subconscious processes can cause some more body movements; we can call
these movements “learned reflexes.” Again, most subconscious processes do not initiate actions
and serve more the purpose of information gathering. Still, we see here that conscious processes
can become subconscious. As we will see a little bit later, subconscious processes can also
become conscious and conscious processes can become subconscious. Summarizing we can say
that there are three different modes of brain activity: unconsciousness, subconsciousness and
consciousness. As already mentioned, we can assume that they developed evolutionarily in this
order. And we have to emphasize again that all these principles apply to all kind of animals with
a brain as well.
3. The creation of consciousness and the role of the subthalamic nucleus
Consciousness and subconsciousness are closely related. Both use neuroplasticity. Both have
basically the same structure. Neural connections which are caused by sensations and which we
have called neural patterns become interconnected and signals are transmitted along these
connections. These processes we have called neural processes. Some of the subconscious
processes initiate actions directly as in our example of walking, but most of these processes only
gather information. Now it has to be mentioned again that subconscious processes can become
conscious and conscious processes can become subconscious, as already indicated above. First
we will look at a well-known example where a subconscious process can become conscious.
We mentioned above that we also perceive auditory sensations in a state of non-consciousness,
namely when we sleep. And we also mentioned that we can tolerate noises while sleeping only
if they are below a certain threshold, if they are not too loud. A noise which becomes too loud is
the ringing of an alarm clock. When we register, first subconsciously, the ringing of the alarm
clock this process eventually becomes conscious and we know that we have to get up. Also, an
unusual smell, such as smoke, would wake us up. A different example is the experience that we
cannot remember a name. We try consciously, but eventually we give up and think about
something else.
Now our conscious name-searching process becomes subconscious and something else becomes
conscious. After some time, all of a sudden the name comes up. The brain has subconsciously
continued the search and was finally successful. Now this process becomes conscious again and
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the previously conscious process becomes subconscious. 12 Obviously there must be a
switchboard between subconscious and conscious processes. Subconscious processes can send a
kind of a signal to this switchboard and when the signal has a certain signal strength the
switchboard makes the subconscious process the conscious process and makes the former
conscious process subconscious. But what is the switchboard?
Recent studies (Aron 2006, Kuhn 2004, Ray 2012, Wessel 2013) focused on activities of the
brain during distractions. Test persons had to perform special manual tasks and were distracted
by some unusual signals which then led to a decrease in their performance (motor stopping). The
studies measured brain activity during these tests. These studies showed that the subthalamic
nucleus (STN) is very active when test persons are distracted while performing an action. Wessel
et al. later investigated distractions of cognitive processing which affected the verbal working
memory (Wessel 2016).
This time test persons had to perform some cognitive tasks. Sometimes they were exposed to a
sine-wave tone that was familiar to them. This had no effect on their performance. In other cases
a surprising bird song was played which so distracted the test persons that they could not perform
their task as well as before. Again Wessel et al. determined that the STN is especially active in
the case of cognitive distractions. Wessel et al. concluded that distractions (unusual external
sensations) activate the STN during both motor tasks and cognitive tasks. What Wessel and his
colleagues were not aware of is that they had found the switchboard which creates
consciousness: the subthalamic nucleus!13
The issue is that Wessel and his colleagues are not aware of the relations between conscious and
subconscious processing that we have laid out above. 14 As we have explained, the cortex
performs one conscious process and multiple subconsciousness processes simultaneously. Now
we can assume that the STN controls which process is conscious. The STN also controls all
subconscious processes. All subconscious processes send signals to the STN. When a given
subconscious process reaches a certain signal threshold the current conscious process is
interrupted. This can be just a distraction as in the cases investigated by Wessel and his
colleagues. But it is also possible that the STN switches from the previously conscious process to
a previously subconscious process and thus makes the latter the new conscious process.
We have illustrated this principle with our example of searching for a name. This must apply to
all kinds of consciousness processes regardless whether they involve motor actions or are
cognitive processes. Summarizing we can say that the cortex performs many subconscious
processes simultaneously. The STN controls the subconscious processes and selects one as the
conscious process. The STN creates consciousness. Whereas consciousness requires
12
Actually, this is an example that uses a special human feature, namely language. But it has to be emphasized that
the principle of switching between consciousness and subconsciousness also applies to all animals with a brain.
13
Now we have a situation which can be compared to that of Arno Penzias and Robert Wilson when they discovered
the cosmic microwave background radiation in 1964. Penzias and Wilson had measured some microwave radiation
they could not explain. Later they learned that they had found the cosmic microwave background radiation, which
was created 380,000 years after the big bang. The existence of the cosmic microwave background radiation was first
predicted by Alpher and Herman in 1948.
14
Actually, this must be said about neuroscience overall. Neuroscience has not yet realized that subconscious and
conscious process are basically the same, and that a single one of all subconscious processes is privileged for a given
time. This privileged process becomes conscious. This article is the first time, these principles have been outlined in
this clarity.
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wakefulness, subconscious processes such as perceiving noises or smells are performed even
during sleep. But the STN can also wake someone up. Normal noises are tolerated by the STN
during sleep. But when a noise gets too loud - such as the ringing of an alarm clock - the STN
wakes the person15 up and activates consciousness. The conscious process then again has the
privilege to initiate actions whereas during sleep no actions take place. During sleep – a state of
non-consciousness – no actions can be initiated. Only innate reflexes occur during nonconsciousness.
Now the question is how the STN decides that a subconscious process shall become conscious
and what kind of signal might be sent from all conscious and subconscious processes to the STN.
Here we can remember a neural mechanism which is used to increase awareness and
responsiveness, namely the enhanced creation of adrenaline. It is known that the perception of
something which is new, different or negative leads to an automatic increase of the production of
adrenaline. We can now assume that all conscious and subconscious processes are accompanied
by a certain adrenaline level. Especially conscious processes should always be accompanied by a
certain adrenaline level, because conscious processes have the task to initiate actions. And it can
also be assumed that the initiation of actions always needs a certain adrenaline level.
Now we can further assume that also subconscious processes are accompanied with a certain
adrenaline level as well. But obviously this level is lower than the adrenaline level of the current
conscious process. When something special happens in one of the subconscious processes, it is
probably accompanied by increased production of adrenaline. This is very plausible for our
example of the ringing alarm clock, and it also very plausible for a situation with an unusual
smell. In both situations there is something perceived that is different than the expectation. But
we can also assume that the adrenaline level is increased in intellectual subconscious processes,
for example in the subconscious search for a name. When the subconscious process that searches
for the name finally found the name, subconsciousness got so excited, so to speak, about the
success that it consequently produced more adrenaline. Then the STN realized that there is a
subconscious process that is suddenly producing an unusually high level of adrenaline, obviously
higher than the adrenaline level of the current conscious process. So the STN makes the former
subconscious process of name searching the conscious process. Now the new conscious process
can “present” the result of the search.
Consequently we can say: the subthalamic nucleus creates consciousness.
4. Human consciousness
Even though we have used some examples involving human activities such as searching for a
name, we have to emphasize that everything said to this point also applies to all animals with a
brain. Also in animals with a brain unconscious processes control the biggest part of the
organism. Also in animals with a brain there are many subconscious processes which are caused
by internal and external sensations. Also in animals with a brain there exists just one conscious
process. And also in animals with a brain the STN switches between subconsciousness and
consciousness by checking the adrenaline level. The only unique specialty of humans is our
advanced declarative language.
15
Or an animal in a similar case
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We now have to mention that neural patterns created by sensations in animals can also be
denoted as imaginations. These kinds of neural patterns are, of course, also created in humans.
When humans developed language they started to associate terms with imaginations. Neurally
two additional kinds of neural patterns are created.16 We can call these additional neural patterns
language-representing neural patterns or neural language-patterns. The first neural languagepattern is an audible neural pattern. When a person hears a word an audible neural pattern is
created and a neural connection to the corresponding neural pattern representing the imagination
of the object is activated. The person knows what the word means. The second language-pattern
is a neural speak-pattern.
When a person wants to speak about an object a neural connection from the neural pattern for the
imagination of the object to a neural speak-pattern is activated. The neural speak-pattern then
sends signals to the speaking-apparatus which produces the corresponding sounds. 17 Later during
the evolutionary development of human language humans also developed terms which are no
longer connected to imaginations but are instead defined by other terms. This stage can be called
the second level of abstraction. 18 Consequently some neural language-patterns are only
connected to other neural language-patterns. Furthermore, in the evolutionary development of
human language humans also learned to speak silently to themselves. Silently speaking to
oneself is thinking!
Now humans could think without using their speaking-apparatus. We experience the connection
between thinking and speaking in every waking moment, because we cannot think without
speaking silently to ourselves. The connection between auditory neural patterns and
understanding is confirmed by the fact that auditory neural patterns are created in a special part
of the cortex called the temporal lobe (there in the auditory cortex). In the temporal lobe we also
find the Wernicke area which is known to play a role in understanding. The connection between
neural speak-patterns and thinking is confirmed by the fact that neural speak-patterns are created
in a different part of the cortex, namely in the frontal lobe (there in the motor cortex). In the
frontal lobe, we also find the Broca’s area which is known to play a role in formulating language.
Generally, the frontal lobe is known as the area of cognition. An as we explained, cognition is
performed using language, using neural speak-patterns.
We have mentioned before that the result of a conscious process is the initiation of an action.
With the development of language that action now can also be just the creation of a thought,
again realized as neural language-patterns. Consequently language has now to be incorporated in
consciousness, but also in subconsciousness. As an example for the incorporation of thinking
into subconscious processing we have already used the case of name searching. For a while we
conducted a conscious search process for the name which included the use of neural languagepattern. Then we turned our attention to a different conscious process. But the brain still
continued the search process, namely subconsciously, also using neural language-patterns. This
is thus a subconscious neural thinking process. When this subconscious neural thinking process
succeeds in finding the name it becomes conscious again and supersedes the previous conscious
process.
16
These principles are very deeply elaborated by the author in his book.
Actually, these principles even apply to animals in situations where animals have developed signal languages.
18
An example for the second level of abstraction is the term “fruit.” Whereas terms of the first level of abstraction
such as “apple” or “banana” are still connected to an imagination, the term “fruit” is not anymore.
17
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As we have explained above the subconscious process has produced a signal to the STN and the
STN has made the former subconscious process conscious. Subconscious thinking processes are
also the basis for creativity. We can think about a problem and maybe do not find a solution.
Sometime later, we suddenly have a solution in mind. The brain has subconsciously continued to
think about the problem and eventually has found a solution. But there is more: subconscious
thinking also occurs during sleep.
There is one really amazing example from the author’s experience. The author and his wife had
dinner with a befriended couple in their favorite steak house in Palm Beach, Florida. They were
served by their favorite waiter. As usual, both couples split the check. Normally, the author
checks the total amount of the check and calculates 10% of it. This would be the tip for each
party (20% in total). But this time the check was already split in half and the author calculated
10% of the half amount for each party. That means that the waiter only got 10% tip. The next
day the author and his wife flew back to Germany. Two days later, the author woke up in the
middle of the night. All of a sudden he had realized that he had calculated the wrong tip. That
means that the author’s subconsciousness still had thought about the event and had recapitulated
the author’s mistake.
When the subconscious mind realized that this mistake had occurred it sent a signal to the STN
and the author woke up. Now the previous subconscious process which had discovered the
mistake suddenly had become conscious! But imagine: This happened two days later on a
different continent and the author had not thought about the situation in the meantime! How
powerful is subconsciousness! Indeed, it is not surprising that subconscious processes also
include thinking. Above we have laid out that conscious and subconscious processes have
basically the same structure and use the same areas of the cortex. And because human conscious
processes can include thinking, this must be true for human subconscious processes as well.
Consequently it is indeed possible that ideas or thoughts can be subconsciously created during
sleep. Then the subconscious process might send a signal to the STN so that the STN wakes us
up. Otherwise we might forget the ideas and thoughts again. We also forget most of our dreams.
What we have seen here is that thinking is also part of subconscious processing and that even
here the STN is in control.
Now we can even assume that some mental diseases such as schizophrenia might be caused by a
malfunction of the STN. And STN could also play a role in the case of a persistent vegetative
state. In the case of a persistent vegetative state a person is awake and seems to react to some
external perceptions. But these reactions are obviously reflexes and not conscious actions. Now
we must consider the possibility that a persistent vegetative state might be caused by a
malfunction of the STN. Subconsciousness still works to some degree; the person perceives
some external sensations. But the STN can no longer make one of the subconscious processes
conscious. Consciousness can no longer be created out of subconsciousness.
5. Conclusion
The first major aspect of this essay was to explain the distinction between unconsciousness,
subconsciousness and consciousness. Conscious and subconscious processes have the same
structure and use the same areas of the cortex. Conscious and subconscious processes occur only
in the cortex whereas unconscious processes occur in all other parts of the brain and can occur in
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389
some parts of the cortex as well. We subsequently explained that there are multiple subconscious
processes all the time – even in a state of non-consciousness such as sleep - whereas there can
always be only one conscious process. Obviously the cortex selects one of the subconscious
processes and makes it conscious. But the cortex can also switch to a different subconscious
process and make this one conscious. As recent research suggests the part of the cortex which
switches between conscious and subconscious processing is the subthalamic nucleus (STN). That
makes the subthalamic nucleus the creator of consciousness. We further assumed that the STN
works by monitoring the adrenaline levels of conscious and subconscious processes. The process
with the highest adrenaline level becomes conscious.
The claim that the STN is the switchboard between consciousness and subconsciousness should
be easily confirmed by experiments. It is necessary to measure the activity of the STN during
different stages. When a test person is awake the STN should be active. As the investigations
mentioned above have already shown the activity will increase when the test person is
permanently distracted, either during manual or cognitive tasks. When a test person falls asleep
the activity of the STN should decrease. But there should still be some activity because the STN
has to monitor the subconscious processes.
When a test person is sedated the activity of the STN should decrease even more. It may remain
active at a certain level because subconscious processes occur even when a person is sedated, but
something must prevent the STN from waking the person up! Finally there should not be any
activity at all when a person is in a coma, including a persistent vegetative state. 19
Simultaneously the adrenaline level should be measured. Because we have shown that
everything (except language) which can be said about human consciousness / subconsciousness
is also true for animals’ consciousness / subconsciousness, all these experiments can also
performed with animals, especially with monkeys. It might even be possible to design
appropriate experiments for some cognitive activities with animals.
The only aspect unique to humans is our declarative language. But as we have shown here the
principles of conscious processing also apply to language. In addition to neural patterns caused
by sensations language-representing neural patterns are formed. These language-representing
neural patterns can be included in conscious processing leading to thinking. And we have also
shown that subconscious processes use neural language-patterns as well; that means that we can
even think subconsciously.
Finally there is an additional issue in which our considerations might shed new light. The famous
experiments of Benjamin Libet suggested that unconscious processes in the brain are the
true initiator of volitional acts. (Libet 1985) In the following years it was suggested that the
limbic system which indeed interacts unconsciously with the cortex is the true initiator of
actions. But now we could also assume that decisions are made by the subconscious mind,
and actions are already initiated before the STN makes the subconscious decision process
the conscious process. Even if this distinction might look irrelevant at first sight there is
one major implication: If a decision is indeed made unconsciously by the limbic system this
decision is more or less random. But if the decision is made by subconscious processes we
can assume that the decision is made based on good reasons, because we have learned that
subconsciousness also performs thinking and reasoning!
19
This assumption is of course only true if the STN has no other task but switching between subconsciousness and
consciousness
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Received June 5, 2019; Accepted June 26, 2019
References
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Blackwell Publishing
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Levi, K., Is It All in Your Head?
Research Essay
Is It All in Your Head?
Ken Levi*
Abstract
Is consciousness all in our heads, as neuroscience contends, or does it derive, to some extent,
from an alternative source? This article explores how far modern science has taken us. Through
human and animal studies, investigators have produced a comprehensive mapping of areas in the
brain and cerebral networks associated with our various senses and feelings. To what extent
have they succeeded in explaining consciousness? In response, this article also details the many
philosophical objections to neuroscientific assumptions. In particular, I cite skepticism about
how, in the words of David Chalmers, “mental events emerge from physiological occurrences.”
To attempt at resolving the neuroscience-vs-philosopher dilemma, this article proposes two
possible alternative solutions: templates and holograms.
Keywords: Consciousness, neuroscience, insular cortex, brain networks, animal brain studies,
existentialism, template, hologram, holographic mind, perception.
1. Introduction
Is consciousness all in our heads, as neuroscience contends, or does it derive, to some extent,
from an alternative source? Great advancements have been made in brain science through the
use of new technologies, such as electroencephalographs (EEGs), magnetoencephalography
(MEG), magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), functional MRIs (fMRIs), and resting state
functional connectivity MRIs (rsfcMRIs), in addition to the traditional use of electrodes.
As a result, scientists now have a detailed mapping of the brain, and a precise schema of brain
networks that become activated under varying stimuli. This includes how the brain processes the
five senses that give us consciousness. One might therefore conclude that the “hard problem” of
consciousness has been solved. One might presume that, indeed, it really is all in your head.
In this article, I will explore how far science has taken us. We will also consider philosophical
objections to the brain model of consciousness, and whether those objections are valid. Finally,
we will consider two ways of resolving the science-versus-philosophy dilemma.
*
Correspondence: Ken Levi, Independent Researcher. Email: levik2016@yahoo.com
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2. Animal Behavior
One argument favoring neuroscience is that sentient beings are born with the ability to respond
to compound stimuli. In one study, researchers discovered that red wood ants possess an inborn
template for enemy recognition (Dorosheva, et al, 2011). Two stimuli, in particular, incite their
aggression. These include dark color and movement. The ants react to these stimuli with a
lunge and a bite. This same behavior was observed not only in ants that had prior experience
with enemies, but also naive ants that never did. They reacted this way 100% of the time.
Researchers concluded that the ants had to be born with the ability to be “aware” of an enemy.
Frogs act in a similar way (Lettvin, et al, 1959). If a small dark moving object enters their field
of vision, they dart out their tongue. A large dark object produces the opposite effect. Both
experienced and naive frogs behave this way. Furthermore, as the researchers suggest, the frog’s
reaction has more of the appearance of “perception than sensation.” This is because “a long
assembly line of activity” in the frog’s brain integrates the stimuli.
The same holds true for mice. According to researchers, mouse “responses to bitter and sweet
are hardwired into the brain.” These little rodents possess separate taste areas in their cortices,
two millimeters part, for bitter and sweet (Wein, 2015). Activating these areas produces
avoidance or approach behavior, even in the absence of any bitter or sweet compound (Zuker,
2015). Furthermore, when the mice were fed, they appeared to be reacting to the taste, per se,
and not to any specific chemical compound, after the compounds were varied (Fu, 2019). In
other words, instead of a strictly mechanical - or knee jerk - reaction to a specific formula, it
seems the mice were reacting to a perception.
3. Brain Structures
In the study of consciousness, our brain has very specific areas that process sensation. For
example, we saw how mice have separate areas not just for taste, but for sweet and bitter, in
particular. For us humans, the central processing area for all sensations is the insular cortex (IC).
It’s located in the middle of the brain, within the lateral sulcus separating the frontal and parietal
lobes from the temporal lobe (Masterclass, 2021).
The IC takes in information from all the senses. It “integrates multimodal salient information
ranging from sensation to cognitive-affective events to create conscious interoception” (Lu, et al,
2016).
Two major sections of the IC are the anterior insular cortex (AI) and the posterior insular cortex
(PI). Both are concerned with pain. The AI is involved with the affective aspects of pain; how
the pain affects you emotionally. The PI is involved with the sensory features of pain; what type
of pain it is and how much it hurts (Lu, et al, 2016).
Outside the IC, but nearby in the mid-brain, the ventral tegmental area (VTA) is involved with
the sensation of pleasure, because it generates the neurotransmitter dopamine. In the same area,
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the nucleus accumbens (NAcc) produces the dopamine suppressor gamma-aminobutyric acid
(GABA) (Lu, et al, 2016).
Other areas involved in the perception of pleasure and pain include the rostral agranular insular
cortex (RAIC), a subset of the AI; the thalamus, the brain’s way-station for all incoming sense
data; and the amygdala, the doorway to the brain’s pleasure center, the limbic system.
In sum, we can conclude that sensation is very much the brain’s job. Scientists have discovered
many discrete areas of the brain dedicated to processing not just gross sensation, but specific
aspects of it.
4. Brain Networks
The discrete areas of the brain outlined above interact with each other to produce particular
sensory effects. Consider, for example, taste (Dowdey, 2007). Our tongues include between
2000 and 4000 taste buds, each containing 10 to 50 gustatory receptor cells. Saliva breaks food
down into component chemicals, which activate the gustatory receptors for: sweet, bitter, salty,
sour, and savory (umami). These activated cells pass electric impulses to the thalamus and the
gustatory area of the insular cortex. Until these impulses reach the brain, taste cannot occur.
Consider the case of pain - or noxious stimuli in general, including trauma, burn, or toxic
chemicals. Special receptor cells in the skin called nociceptors capture the stimuli and pass them
along via nerve fibers to the spinal cord, and then to the thalamus in the brain. The thalamus
directs the signal to the IC, then to the AI and then the RAIC. The RAIC directs the signal to the
amygdala and the limbic system where the affective aspects of the signal are processed. This is
called the “insula-amygdala circuit” (Lu, et al, 2016). At the same time, the PI receives the
signal in order to deal with the sensory features of the pain.
Alternatively, consider the case of pleasure. The skin contains special heat receptors and tactile
receptors, including Merkel cells and Meissner corpuscles, for light touch and vibration. Electric
impulses from these cells, again, are passed along nerve fibers, through the spinal cord, and to
the brain. In the brain the thalamus conveys signals to the IC, which directs them to a nearby
cluster of neurons called the ventral tegmental area (VTA). This is the main area where
dopamine is made.
Dopaminergic neurons project into GABAergic cells in the NAcc, which modulates the effects of
the dopamine. Ordinarily, GABA continuously inhibits dopamine. It’s known as the brain’s
“brake pedal.” But the GABA neurons have receptor cells. For example, cannabis stimulates
cannabinoid receptor cells (Wenk, 2021). When stimulated, these cells prevent the release of
GABA. As a result, the inhibition of dopamine is turned off. The NAcc releases dopamine. The
dopamine stimulates the pituitary gland to produce mood altering endorphins, oxytocin, and
serotonin into the bloodstream.
At the same time, the NAcc and the medial prefrontal cortex start talking to each other. The
mPFC plays a major role in cognition.
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The interaction among the VTA, the NAcc, the IC, and the amygdala is known as the
“mesocortico-limbic-dopamine system”
5. Dopamine
The link between dopamine and consciousness may be stronger than suspected. One scientific
article is even entitled “Dopamine Signaling as a Neural Correlate of Consciousness” (Palmiter,
2011). Dopamine plays a major part in what is called “the reward system” of the brain. It is
associated with everything from the modest pleasure of, say, chewing gum, to a full-blown state
of euphoria. Within the brain, dopamine divides out into four major pathways: mesolimbic,
nigrostriatal, mesocortical, and tuberoinfundibular. The mesolimbic leads to the limbic system
by way of the NAcc. The nigrostriatal leads to motor function. The mesocortical leads to the
prefrontal cortex. And the tuberoinfundibular leads to the pituitary gland by way of the
hypothalamus.
These pathways are related to a wide range of reactions, including: pleasure, reward, memory,
fine-tuned motor function, compulsion, perseveration, and the coordination of information.
Associated with the four pathways are five types of dopamine receptors, labelled D1 to D5,
respectively. These are variously associated with excitation or inhibition of the neurons they’re
attached to.
In all, the focus on dopamine offers a moderately detailed view of how one critical
neurotransmitter operates within the brain. And the question arises: to what extent does this
explain consciousness?
6. What We Can and Cannot Conclude
What We Can Conclude
To what extent does neuroscience explain consciousness?
1. Sentient beings are born with an ability to respond to compound stimuli. In studies of ants
and frogs, what we find is not just reaction to single stimuli, but rather reaction to a set of stimuli
in combination. It’s as if they were drawing a conclusion.
2. Studies of mouse responses to bitter and sweet indicate they are reacting to taste, per se,
rather than any specific chemical compound. It’s as if they were experiencing a qualia.
3. The mice, frogs, and ants have these reactions, even if they have never had any prior
experience with the respective stimuli. It’s as if they were born - not just with stimulus-response
behavior - but also with perception.
4. Furthermore, the fact that for mice the taste of bitter and sweet can be activated, even in the
absence of a compound - even in the absence of food - would seem to undermine the argument of
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Direct Realism. That is the branch of philosophy that maintains the source of any perception
must be the object perceived.
5. Mapping of the human brain shows very discrete areas dedicated to processing sensory
stimuli. For example, the AI and PI process affective versus sensory aspects of pain,
respectively.
6. Neuroscientists have not only discovered specific areas, but also how those areas function as a
unit, such as the insula-amygdala circuit, or the mesocortico-limbic-dopamine system.
All of these discoveries may persuade us to conclude that we now know all there is to know
about how consciousness arises. Clearly, we must conclude that processes within the brain are
integral to our awareness. They may not be the whole story, but they certainly are a very big part
of it.
What We Cannot Conclude
Most neuroscientists, it appears, do believe they know the whole story. In reading through the
literature, we encounter such statements as:
“. . . the brain interprets the sensations [of sour and bitter] as taste” (Dowdey, 2007)
“We are born with the ability to perceive sweets” (Wein, 2015).
“The insular cortex integrates multi-modal salient information ranging from sensation to
cognitive affective events to create conscious interoception” (Lu, et al, 2016).
“The IC receives nociceptive thalamic inputs to create emotional awareness” (Lu, et al, 2016).
“The AI serves as a critical site where multi-modal information competes and integrates with
nociception to create an awareness of body state” (Lu, et al, 2016).
“Dopaminergic signaling as a neural correlate of consciousness” (Palmiter, 2011).
“Voila - you are now euphoric” (Wenk, 2021).
The use of the terms “euphoric,” “perception,” “awareness,” and “consciousness” in these
various quotes is significant. In each case, the researcher is drawing the conclusion that the ageold question of consciousness has been adequately explained. They are assuming that the
cerebral processes they describe are sufficient to put the matter to rest.
But are they? Numerous philosophers have sharply placed that assumption in doubt. For
example:
“Imagine someone walking through an expanded brain, as if they were walking through a mill
and seeing its mechanical operations. Nowhere would you see conscious thoughts” (Liebnitz,
1714, cited in Montgomery, 1992).
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“How is it possible that anything so remarkable as a state of consciousness, comes about as a
result of irritating nervous tissue? [It] is just as unaccountable as the appearance of the Djin
when Aladdin rubbed his lamp” (Huxley, 1866).
“There is nothing in the study of matter that allows us to explain qualities of experience.”
Kastrup (2018).
“At least for now, we have no scientific purchase on the special extra ingredient that gives rise
to sentience” Pinker (1997).
These philosophers take issue with neuroscience. To them, there is a sharp disconnect between
the mechanics of the brain and the subjective feeling of sensation. They cannot understand, as
David Chalmers (1996) observes, how “ . . . mental events emerge from physiological
occurrences.”
Are they wrong? To what extent have the neuroscientists proven their case? And, to what extent
is the skepticism of the philosophers warranted?
Problems
a. Neuroscience
The problem with neuroscience is that it does not describe how feelings happen. It does give an
empirical description of the pathways that stimuli travel through the nervous system, and then
through the brain. It describes the release of dopamine from the VTA, and either the inhibition
of dopamine in the NAcc, or the release of dopamine, through the inhibition of GABA. We can
see all that happening. We see the correlation between this activity and feelings of pleasure or
pain. But association is not causation.
What we cannot see in our MRI or other neuroimaging studies is sensations. Nor can we see
what exactly produces those sensations. As Aaron White (2016) comments, “The bigger
question, for which there is no answer, is how activation of pain/pleasure pathways leads to the
conscious experience of pain/pleasure.”
To illustrate this point, consider the following. University of Connecticut scientists have
developed an artificial tongue (Dowdey, 2007). It is capable of capturing bitter and sweet
molecules, and then sending electronic messages to internal processing algorithms, which
determine the bitterness or sweetness of the stimuli. The behavioral response is the delineation
of patterns on a graph. So, we have stimulus, processing, and response. But would anyone
claim that the artificial tongue is conscious of the taste? Of course not.
We might even imbue the tongue with neurotransmitters like dopamine, and channel those NTs
through the tongue’s circuitry. It would be to no avail.
In effect the AI tongue would be doing almost everything, step by step, that neuroscientists say
our brain does. Yet, the tongue would not be aware.
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b. Philosophy
The problem for philosophers skeptical of neuroscience is two-fold. First is the specificity of the
brain mapping science has discovered. Clearly, the brain is a big part of the story, and it seems
that we are just a few experiments away from solving it all. In light of the tremendous success
science has achieved so far, philosophical skepticism seems quaint.
The second problem is the extent to which perception seems not only the product of the brain,
but also not the product of anything else.
For example, “supertasters” are people who are born with elevated sensitivity to certain tastes,
such as bitter and sweet. Their sensitivity can be attributed to a dominant allele in the gene
TAS2R28 (Dowdey, 2007). In other words, taste qualia appears to derive from the genetics of
the brain. So, it seems the product of the brain.
Perhaps more problematic are the studies of taste in mice. The mice appear to react to bitter and
sweet, even if they have never tasted them before; even if they are given a variety of different
chemical compounds; even, in fact, if there is nothing there for them to taste! In other words,
mouse knowledge of bitter and sweet can’t come from prior experience. It can’t come from a
simple stimulus-response to a particular formula. And it doesn’t even have to come from any
external object whatsoever. Simply put, it’s all in the brain.
7. Possible Solutions
If we accept, on the one hand, that consciousness is not primarily a mechanical operation, but, on
the other hand, that the brain is critical to awareness, then, can the differences between
neuroscience and philosophy be resolved? Here are two possible solutions:
a. Templates
In an article in Entomological Review, the authors propose that, “red wood ants possess an
inborn template for enemy recognition” (Dorosheva, et al, 2011, 275). This is based, in part, on
the fact that even “naive” ants - those who never encountered an enemy before - react
aggressively to cues such as dark color and movement. The authors suggest that the template is
not just an instinctual reflex, but actually a perception involving an “enemy image.”
What if, like the ants, we are born with a set of “perceptual templates”? For example, might we
have an innate ability to perceive red, blue, green, and combinations thereof; or bitter, sour and
sweet? Although these templates would be in our brains, they would not be the result of brain
mechanics. They would be something different. Once the brain has done its job of passing
electric charges and neurotransmitters from synapse to synapse, the innate templates would be
activated. Those templates would then translate encoded stimuli into actual feelings and
perceptions.
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The templates would be encoded in our DNA. They would be the result of an evolutionary
process that necessitated an awareness of our environment, for the sake of complex decisionmaking.
Such a solution would satisfy both neuroscientists and philosophers, because, on the one hand,
the templates would not be the result of mechanical processing, but, on the other hand, would
still be encoded in our DNA.
b. Holograms
In an article entitled “The Holographic Mind,” (Levi, 2020) presented a theory of consciousness
based on the teachings of Henri Bergson (1896) and Stephen Robbins (2016, 2019) The theory
consists of two parts. The first part is access and the second part is realization.
Access involves external stimuli processed through our nervous system, encoded in our brain,
and finally consolidated and bound every 1/40th of a second into a frame of experience (Pinker,
1997; Blakeslee, 1998). These are “focus frames,” because they capture exactly what we are
attending to in any given moment. Until the focus frame is formed, consciousness cannot occur.
Realization happens when signals from the focus frame reconstruct a hologram of the reality
before us. Where does that hologram come from? According to Bergson and Robbins, all things
in the universe emit lines of force, and wherever those lines intersect they create twodimensional coded representations of the objects that emitted them. Bizarre as that sounds, it is
consistent with the “Holographic Principle,” the widely accepted theory in physics that won
Gerard T’Hooft the Nobel Prize (PBS, 2019; Matthews, et al, 2017).
Turning the two-dimension code into a three-dimension image is the next step. In ordinary
holography, laser beams, directed at the encoded area, form “reconstructive waves” which
produce the complete hologram. Just so, focus frames from our brains act like those lasers.
They emit reconstructive waves that turn two-dimensional information into three-dimensional
realities.
The reconstructive waves are “modulated,” according to Bergson (1896), in terms of “action
relatability.” In other words, “prospective physical action is the ‘information selection principle’
from the holofield” (Robbins, 2016).
The resulting holo-frame includes not only the objects of our attention, but, significantly,
ourselves as the subjects of that attention. In that way we experience a self. We experience a
self referentially from our environment. We experience a self in terms of our action-relatability
to that environment. What the hologram does is connect us to that environment through the eyes
of a subject, and that subject happens to be us.
That connection is existential. It includes the smell, taste, look, sound, and feel of everything in
the holo-frame (Drumm, 2016; Dyslexic Artist, 2017; Phillips, 2014). Our bodies already create
analog copies of the world around us. For example, our retinas create mirror reflections. Our
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eardrums create tape-recorded sounds. The images in the hologram are already physically
imprinted on our bodies. What the hologram does is make those imprints meaningful, in terms
of sight, sound, taste, smell, and touch, and their action-relatability to a self.
8. Conclusion
Is consciousness all in your head? To the extent we are talking about the passing of electric
impulses and neurotransmitters from one synapse to another, most neuroscientists say yes, but
most philosophers say no. On the other hand, is the brain irrelevant to perception? Some
philosophers and theologians might agree, preferring a spiritual or psychic ontology. But
neuroscience tells us emphatically no.
How can these opposing positions be reconciled? How can we choose between body and soul? I
have suggested two possible solutions, both of them offering a third alternative to the body/soul
dilemma.
Neither templates nor holograms fall into the category of “soul,” or even of “panpsychism.”
Both of them are physical entities and belong squarely to the category of material objects. On
the other hand, neither one is the simple product of “irritating nervous tissue.” Templates are
encoded features of our DNA. Holograms are external images.
If either one of these solutions were correct, then the answer to the question posed by this article
would be “No.” It is not all in your head.
Received August 9, 2021; Accepted September 19, 2021
References
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Exploration
Mind or Life: The OC Relation
Xinyan Zhang*
Abstract
In this article, the author explores the nature of mind and life and proposes that life is the
attribute of mind, and mind the attribute of life. Therefore, consciousness, intelligence and
language are the properties of all the living systems.
Keywords: Mind, life, consciousness, intelligence, language, Parmenides, Descartes, Kant.
1. Introduction
Typically, we need a particular system to do a particular work. The purpose of this work is try to
understand the human brain, in particular, consciousness, intelligence and language. The
particular system constructed and used by the author for this purpose is called OC or M13. (1)
All that we know about the brain and understand about the mind are two aspects of one and the
same knowledge. Therefore, if we do not try to understand the mind, we may never have the
knowledge that explains our own consciousness, intelligence and language, no matter how much
we know about the brain. (2) An ontological mind may be defined as the universality of all the
different brains. And, more precisely, it is the universality of all the different living brains. This
definition does not identify the mind as a human brain (3), and it does not even identify it as any
brain. But it may still be a kind of identity theory that means that a mind is always the same as a
life or lives, and vice versa. (4)
No mind may exist if not be a life or lives, and no life may exist if not be a mind or a part of it.
Life is all the mysteries of mind, and mind all the mysteries of life. If it is the mind that needs to
be explained, it must finally and fundamentally be explained as a life or lives. If the question is
about the origin of the mind, a life or lives must be the ultimate answer. In other words, life is the
only attribute of mind, and mind also the only attribute of life, and, therefore, consciousness,
intelligence and language must be the properties of all the living systems.
More than 2500 years ago, the words that Parmenides said in his poem On Nature, “the same
thing is for thinking and for being”, might be the same, might also be a kind of identity theory of
mind and life. And Aristotle also said: “what has soul in it differs from what has not, in that the
*
Correspondence: Xinyan Zhang, Independent Researcher. E-mail: say2xy@gmail.com
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former displays life” (On the Soul, Book II, Ch. 2).
The sameness of mind and life may be found not only from all animals and plants but also from
all the living cells that compose them. And mental events may be identified as cells’ detecting an
external stimulus, intermediating its systematic processes and making a reaction to it. The
differences between a cell and a brain should not be understood as the differences between a life
and a mind. The sameness of mind and life is certainly a better basis for us to explain why a
simple fertilized egg should want to develop into a human brain said as the most complex
organization in the universe, and why there should be windows of opportunity or critical periods
in a brain’s early development. And, it may also be the best explanation of a brain’s plasticity and
adaptability (5). And it is provable that a mind also needs nourishment, is also vulnerable,
undergoes the way of birth, growth, ageing and death as well, and is governed by Darwin’s
natural selection too.
Without the sameness, neither the mind nor the life is understandable, and it is even impossible
for us to understand our own brains, especially our consciousness, intelligence and languages.
Whereas, based on their sameness, life is a way for us to study and understand mind, and mind is
also a way for us to study and understand life. And to create a mind is simply the same as to
create a life or lives. Just as to create a mind is not the same as to create a human brain, to create
a life or lives is also not the same as to create a biological body, its organs, tissues, cells and
biological macromolecules.
2. The OC Relation: O Change & C Change
Ontologically, to create a life is simply as to create a relation between different categories of
changes. (6, 7) There are two categories of changes in reality. There are O changes, such as return
changes or circular changes, and also C change, such as a one-way change or an irreversible
change. Ontologically, to create a life is just the same as to create the oneness or the unity or the
interdependency of O changes and a C change. And such a relation may be called an OC or OnC.
(1, 6)
The C change of an OC determines its becoming and the O changes are its being. In other
words, the O changes may be understood as the activities to create a “self”, and the C change the
activity to transcend the “self”. If only a living creature may reproduce itself or adapt to its
environment, then the OC is the ontological principle of such self-reproduction or adaptability.
Since OC means that a life does not only create a “self” but also transcends the “self”, and since
the sameness of life and mind means that consciousness or intelligence may be a relation
between the O and the C, it is therefore reasonable to hypothesize that intelligence and
consciousness might only be different views of one and the same OC. “Intelligence” might mean
the relationship in which O is the creation of the C, and “consciousness” the relationship in
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which C is the transcendence of the O. This hypothesis will be discussed with more details in the
second half of this article
As both changing and being, the O may also be understood as return changes or circular changes
between relative energy and relative matter. And, as both changing and becoming, the C may
also be understood as a one-way change or an irreversible change from an absolute energy to an
absolute matter, or from an absolute matter to an absolute energy. (1, 6) Any matter or energy is
absolute only because of the C of OC, and relative only because of the O of OC. Therefore, the
OC is more ontological than energy or matter. (8) And to create a life is not to create matter or
energy but only to create the OC relation between them.
Lives may be divided into two categories according to the contrary directions of their C change.
The one with its C towards absolute energy may be called spring life, and the one with its C
towards absolute matter autumn life. (1, 6) A spring life consumes absolute matter and creates
absolute energy, and an autumn life does the opposite. The sun is a spring life. There is an
autumn life in every quantum mechanical change with entropy’s increase as its inevitable result.
(9)
All biological lives, such as plants, animals and humans, are autumn lives. And our cosmos,
with its directionality from less entropy to more, may also be understood as an autumn life.
A life as life may be either simple or complex, either longevous or short-lived, and either micro
or macro. A life may contain lives or be contained by lives. Anyway, a life is never simply the
same as a human, an animal, a plant or a bacterium, since life is not only the O but both the O
and the C. The absolute matter may be the birth of a spring life or the cold death of an autumn
life, and the absolute energy the birth of an autumn life or the heat death of a spring life. All the
so-called non-living matters, such as protons, neutrons or atomic nuclei, are such absolute matter,
the remains of some dead autumn lives deeply frozen by our environment. Both birth and death
are ontological changes, and also the ontological deficiency in panpsychism. (4) Though mind and
life are the same thing, the same thing may still be called with different names. So, a life as a
system may be called a mind, and a mind as a part of a system may be called a life.
3. The MEM & EME System Relations
A mind, as a system, is always composed of both spring and autumn lives, and, as a part of a
system, may be either a spring life or an autumn life. A human body or brain is always dominated
by autumn lives, and, therefore, the cold death is also our destiny. Since spring life and autumn
life are linked up with their death and birth, a mind, as a system of different lives, is always
organized with two kinds of system relations: MEM system relation and EME system relation.
The absolute energy is the E in a system relation, and the absolute matter the M. An MEM
system relation always begins with a spring life and ends with an autumn life, and a EME system
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relation the contrary. A system relation is the irreversible causality between spring lives and
autumn lives. And still, system relations may be dominated by either the spring life or the
autumn life.
If learning, understanding, organizing and creating are the main works of a mind, autumn life is
the main principle of learning and understanding, and spring life the main principle of organizing
and creating. All principles of mind are the principles of life, and vice versa. In addition to life
changes, there are two other changes in system relations, the form changes and the location
changes. The absolute energy may undergo location changes and the absolute matter form
changes in a EME system relation, but the contrary in an MEM system relation.
The human brain’s activities may never be explained only with different neurotransmitters and
nerve impulses, since impulses moving along a nerve or neurotransmitter released from a
synapse is only the location change, and that nerve impulse converting into neurotransmitter or
vice versa is only the form change. Similarly, a mind or a human mind may never be created with
logic, mathematics or computation alone, all of which are only the form change and/or location
change.
No concept or theoretical system that cannot explain life or its creation and transcendence may
still explain our consciousness or intelligence or language, or ever get us out of the logical
quagmire of dualism. (8) Though both are made of both system relations, a human mind or brain
is still the main EME system relation of a human body, and the body the main MEM system
relation of the mind or brain. All the different ideas of embodiment tell us only special examples
of such a relationship. (10) And this relationship also proves that human beings are indeed autumn
lives. If there is time, it is always a proof of the existence of such a mind-body relationship.
The E in MEM system relation may be understood as the present, and the M in EME system
relation as both the past and the future. If a human body may therefore be understood as the
present of a human mind or brain, the mind or brain is then both the past and the future of the
body. And the mind-body relationship is also the relationship between the present and the pastfuture, and is the process through which the present interacts with both the past and the future.
A mind is always both hereditary and acquired, so are the past, the present and the future. And
there is much more acquired than hereditary in our minds. As a life that transcends the body, as a
system that transcends its receptors and effectors, as the EME system that transcends MEM
systems, as the acquired that transcends hereditary, as the understanding that transcends knowing
or doing, as the indirectness of knowing and doing that transcends their directness, a human
mind means not only self-accomplishment but also self-transcendence. Therefore, that AlphaGo
beats Lee Sedol in a board game is only an example how the human mind may transcend a
human brain. And Nick Bostrom’s AI that tries to turn everything into paperclips, no matter how
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superb in its self-accomplishment, shows no ability of self-transcendence.
4. The Specific System M13
Since a mind is not the same as a human mind, and a human mind is not the same as a human
brain, more and different divisions, at least 12+1 divisions of the O of OC, are necessary if to
understand our own consciousness, intelligence and language is the purpose. The specific system
based on the 12+1 divisions may be called a M13 or the M13 explanation. An explanation is
always a kind of completeness, either the completeness of a system or the completeness of an
entity. The OC is not an entity, and there is no entity in the system of M13.
As a member of the family OnC, the M13 becomes more like the mind if it has less divisions, or
more like a human brain if more divisions. More divisions, however, do not mean more
completeness. A human brain may never have more completeness than an OC, even than the M13.
In other words, a human brain is always more knowable but less understandable than the OC,
even than the M13. Both the brain and the rest of a human body are the divisions of one fertilized
egg, but neither of them has more completeness than the egg. It is not Occam’s razor or principle
of parsimony but the C or the directionality of autumn lives that determines that the
understanding of them should be much simpler than the known of them. An understanding might
simply be the past of the known. The M13 is therefore both the understanding of human brains
and some known of the OC.
Not only as the EME system relation between our sense organs and motor organs, but also as
MEM system relation among our internal organs, a M13 may have the relationship shown as in
Diagram (1).
Diagram 1. The general relationship of a M13
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The areas between the peripheral circle and the central circle are the mind’s hereditary parts, and
within the central circle are the mind’s acquired parts. The three wedge areas are the three main
brains. Area 0 is the CM. And area 4 to 9 are intermediate brains. That is, an M13 may be divided
into a sense brain (SB), an emotion brain (EB), a behavior brain (BB), and three intermediate
brains. SB has more direct connections with the sense organs that compose the surface of the
body. BB has more direct connections with the skeletal muscles. EB has more direct connections
with internal organs. And intermediate brains have more direct connections with SB, EB and BB.
Each mental brain is composed of a part of hereditary memories and a part of acquired
memories. Some acquired memories are shared among all mental brains, and the shared acquired
memories may together be called central memory or CM. The 12 parts of mental brains plus the
CM are together the 12+1 divisions of the M13.
Ontologically, there is nothing subjective or objective in an OC or a M13, since the OC is not an
entity and there is no entity in the M13.(11) All that may be found from a M13 are memories,
languages and lives. If the M13 may be the explanation of human brains, it should be able to
explain our consciousness and intelligence, and explain the semantic principles of our language,
with them, and only with them.
Divisions of the O never change system relations among the lives in an M13. EME is the system
relation between SB and BB, and MEM the system relation between EB and other mental brains.
And an M13 is then a comprehensive explanation of the activities through both the EME and
MEM system relations. Since a human mind is also the main EME system relation of a human
body, therefore, memories, languages and lives in the EME system relation must be the main
explanation. Memory is the M in a EME system relation, language is the E, and lives are neither
of them. The M, either hereditary memory or acquired memory, is the structure of a EME system
relation. Hereditary memories in a human brain are the structures created by the gene-determined
interactions among different cells, and acquired memories the structures created by the
environment-determined interactions between the brain and its environment.
The E does not have its own form, and lives are not form changes. The M is the only one that is
not only the form of EME system relation but also changes all the time, either as hereditary
change or acquired change. The E is universally the same, so are the lives. All the differences
among all the brains or all the living systems are only the differences of their M. Therefore, the
M in EME system relation is the only one that may ever explain the intelligence of an M13 or any
brain. Intelligence is nothing more or less than the structures of a system. All the structures of
our cosmos are all its intelligence. All the structures of a human body are all its intelligence. So
are all the structures of a human mind or brain.
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5. Descartes & Kant
Contrary to what Descartes thought (12), there is no intelligence without structure, or no structure
in EME system relation that is not a kind of intelligence. In other words, intelligence is the
complexity in a EME system relation against the uncertainty in the system’s environment. All the
hereditary structures are therefore the intelligence for a creature to deal with what may occur
postnatally, and all the acquired structures the intelligence for a creature to deal with what may
occur by next time. In other words, intelligence is the changes in the space of a system against
the change in the time of its environment. That is the reason why there is time, and why time
may always be a proof of the existence of mind-body relationship. An intrinsic complexity
makes all the differences. If artificial intelligence may be created with simple arithmetic, human
intelligence must have been created with complex geometry.
The geometric complexity in the O of OC may be any cell’s intelligence, any biological
creature’s intelligence, and even any biosphere’s intelligence. Based on the same complexity may
always arise the same species.(13) Not the E, not the lives, the M alone is the basis of our personal
identities or the answer to Kant’s question: What is the human being? And the only reason why a
M13 may explain better than an OC hides also in the differences of their complexity. This is also
the reason why quantum mechanics, let alone the theory of relativity, is not the right system for
us to explain our brains. (14) Neither of them is about the differences of our biological
complexity!
Hereditary memory is hereditary intelligence and acquired memory acquired intelligence. The
more intelligent a brain, the more complex its EME system relation. The more complex a EME
system, the less possible that there are in its memories the representatives of those entities found
in its environment, and the less possible that there is a mirrored world or a self in a brain. The
complexity itself must be everything and nothing as well.
During the development of our cosmos, during the development of a human body, a special
intelligence always emerges when certain structures occur, and fades away when those structures
disappear or are changed. This may also be the explanation of what called “infantile amnesia”
and “childhood amnesia”. Every living creature has memories, and therefore has certain
intelligence. The only difference is that we have more acquired memories or acquired
intelligence than them. The most complex structures of human cerebral cortex, especially the
neocortex, must be the very basis for us to have more acquired intelligence.
The hereditary intelligence as the M in a EME system relation determines the system’s hereditary
behaviors, and the acquired intelligence determines the system’s acquired behaviors. One loses
his humanity when one loses his acquired behaviors, and one also loses his existence when one
loses his hereditary behaviors. The directionality of autumn lives determines that hereditary
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behavior is the center of acquired behaviors, and earlier acquired behavior the center of later
acquired behaviors. Acquired behaviors always follow the hereditary behaviors, not the other
way around. No hereditary or acquired memories from different persons are exactly the same.
And, therefore, no human body is exactly the same, and no human brain is exactly the same in
sense, emotion, behavior and language. Such differences play a vital role in the survival of the
human race. It is a part of the complexity with which human beings deal with the uncertainty of
our environment.
Therefore, a better team is a group of different human minds that may better complete and
maintain a life. So is a better society or a better biosphere. And any idea or action that tries to
unify all humans, all social behaviors or all political systems is always a threat to human
existence. It is said that the size of human brains has decreased over the past three thousand
years. (15) If so, it might be acquired changes caused by both the increase in the complexity of our
social activities and the decrease in the complexity of our individual activities. And it may be a
proof that mind or life is more ontological than the brain or any biological body, and the OC is
more ontological than any individual.
The intelligence of a social mind or life is the fundamentals of its morality. Plato might also
mean it when he drew an analogy between a State and an individual in his Republic. As
intelligence, morality is always both hereditary and acquired, neither as Socrates thought nor as
Kant thought.(16) There should be only hereditary intelligence if rationalism is the only
explanation of the mind or brain. There should be only acquired intelligence if empiricism is the
only explanation of the mind or brain. Kant’s categories are all our hereditary intelligence. And
his epistemology is only a better explanation of the human mind, but not the mind. Life, and life
alone, is the thing-in-itself. Energy or matter is only either language or memory, and all
phenomena are only qualia. Therefore, life may be understood but never known.
6. Consciousness, Intelligence & Language
There are both an autumn life and a spring life in every EME system relation. Intelligence is
brought into play only when language joins memory together in the autumn life, or when
language separates from memory in the spring life, both of which are proofs of the sameness of
mind and life. There are exchanges of absolute energy or absolute matter among mental brains,
between an M13 and the rest parts of a body or the body’s environment, which may be called
communication if conducted through the EME system relation. The E or absolute energy is the
only one that may undergo location changes, and is, therefore, the only language used in the
communication, which may be called E language.
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Only life may exchange or communicate. And any life may exchange or communicate with any
other life. The communication with E language is always based on a certain level of waking state
and always limited within a certain extent of the state. The alternation of wakefulness and sleep
is the most fundamental activities of a living system with intrinsic mind-body relationship.
The alternation of wakefulness and sleep may be understood as a system’s thermodynamic
changes, as Carnot cycles. Such O changes may also be found from many cells, organs and
systems in human bodies, as well as in many animals and plants. For example, the myocardial
refractory period may be understood as the period of cardiac cells’ sleep, even though it lasts
only for 250ms. In other words, the period between two refractory periods may be understood as
those cardiac cells’ waking state, and the action potential as the E language of their
communication. Both their communication with E language and their waking state together may
be understood as those cardiac cells’ consciousness. And there is no ontological difference
between cardiac cells’ consciousness and our consciousness.
Consciousness is the unity of waking state and communicating processes. Such state changes are
the changes of MEM system relation, and such process changes are the changes of EME system
relation. And therefore, our consciousness is always a part of the mind-body relation. All the
communicating activities in our brains or bodies are carried out through both system relations.
Biological communication is always a duet of both state changes and process changes. The
process changes of skeletal muscles in our bodies are controlled by the brain through pyramidal
tracts, and their state changes through extrapyramidal tracts. Still, there is no ontological
difference between skeletal muscles’ consciousness and our consciousness. (17, 18) So is the
consciousness of our sense organs.
The completeness of mental communication is not based on E language but on the M language.
The state changes fluctuate all the time, both generalized and localized. As brain’s overall
change, our consciousness may be defined as the unification of both those processes through the
EME system relation and the waking state of the MEM system relation, when the brain is a
body’s main EME system relation and the body the brain’s main MEM system relation.
There are different subsystems on different levels of human central nervous system. And, from
neocortex down to spinal cord, the one on its lower level has always less acquired memories. Our
consciousness is then the activities of the subsystem based on most of its acquired memories,
especially the CM. Everyone has her or his own world and self, and the world and the self are
nothing more or less than the duet used specifically in the communication of this subsystem. So
are not only all humans but also all other animals. The rise and fall of attention might be
explained with localized state changes based on the overall waking states. (19) And dreaming
might be explained with localized state changes based on the overall sleeping state. In both
cases, the duet of state changes and process changes is the explanation.
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The abnormality in the level or the extent of a localized state change, rather than the E language
used in communication, might be the real cause of some psychiatric consciousness. In other
words, some localized abnormality in MEM system relation or EB may be the real cause of
psychiatric consciousness. Our cardiac cells’ consciousness and our consciousness are different,
but different only in the form of the M, not in the E itself. In other words, the M is the only form
of all and every E language. Such relationship between E and M may be called a quale or qualia
(20)
.
6. Qualia
All phenomena are qualia, but not all qualia phenomena. Therefore, not only consciousness but
also what called by Sigmund Freud “subconscious” or “unconscious” may be understood as
qualia. To create a system always means to create certain qualities or qualia. Every system, and
even every subsystem, may have its own qualia. The world as a system or systems is full of
qualia. An electron appears as different qualia when it flows through the different structures of a
certain conductor, or when the conductor changes from a non-superconducting state to a
superconducting state. So does it when the E passes through different mental structures, and
different states of those structures.
Qualia in mind or brain are either location changes of the E or form changes of the M in EME
system relation, but never life changes. Different qualia in a brain mean only differences in the
structures of EME system relations, especially in the structures of its hereditary memories. The
so-called collapse of a superposition state may also be understood as a quale emerged when a
quantum state tries to communicate with a measuring instrument. But a quantum quale may
never be the same as a human brain’s quale, otherwise, the brain should have less complexness
than the M13 has.
As every mind has its own qualia, so does every life. A special quale exists only when a special
EME system exists, and is useful only when a special life exists. And our qualia exist only
because of the existence of the hereditary memories or hereditary structures in our brains. And,
therefore, qualia are always parts of our hereditary intelligence. Through EME system relation,
the SB speaks to rest parts of the mind or the brain. And all the different senses, such as sight,
hearing, taste, smell and touch, are SB’s language. Through MEM system relation, EB speaks to
rest parts of the mind or the brain. Both emotion and intuition are EB’s language.
Thinking may be understood as the communication through both MEM and EME system
relations, in which different mental brains talk to each other, in which the acquired memories in
CM and the hereditary memories in SB, EB and BB talk to each other. Descartes said: “I think,
therefore I am”, but M13 may prove to us that thinking does not need the existence of a subjective
self. The mind or the brain is never a communication channel. The E never simply passes
through a EME system relation. Life changes during the processes of thinking are the
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determining links between the changes in M and the exchanges of E.
Thinking may go either within or beyond a brain. Therefore, behaviors may also be understood
as explicit self-communication. The same as the implicit communication, all the explicit
communication is also a duet of both the process changes originated from BB and the state
changes originated from EB. And, therefore, a behavior may be understood as an explicit
consciousness, and a consciousness as an implicit behavior. (17) However, neither behavior nor
consciousness conveys semantic meaning. Semantic meaning is either the cause or the effect of a
communication, but never the communication itself, nor the qualia emerged during the
communication.
Since neither the E alone nor the M alone, not even E and M together, may be either the cause or
the effect, the only one left, the life changes, must be the meaning, the only semantic meaning of
any mental language, and the only semantic meaning of any acquired or hereditary memory. In
other words, there is no semantic information in either the E or the M, and life is the only
meaning of any absolute matter or energy.
Meaning or information is not what got but given, not what found but created. In other words,
language and memory may be realized only by a life or lives. “1+1=2” is only language, so is
“A=A” or “E=mc2”. And all concepts are languages of the BB. None of them may carry or
deliver any meaning. Their meanings may only be the concrete live changes in certain concrete
brains. Even though everyone has her or his own world and self, neither the world nor the self is
the meaning. So wrote Wittgenstein, “the sense of the world must lie outside it”. (21) An analysis
of behavior or language is then not to find the meaning but only to create it. So are all the words
and sentences in this article. They are nothing more or less than languages. And, therefore, what
the author means with them may not be the same as to each of the readers.
As the central meaning of acquired mental language, CM is also a life, either a spring life or an
autumn life. As an autumn life, CM is the meaning of both the absolute energy that it consumes
and the absolute matter that it creates. And, as a spring life, CM is the opposite. In other words,
CM is not only the meaning of what BB says but also the meaning of what SB says. A mind is a
part of Darwin’s world, full of lives, full of birth and death. We may understand our own brains
only if we understand that natural selection is also the governor there. This is another proof of
the sameness of mind and life. Ontologically, natural selection is the O changes of OC. Still, the
C of OC determines that there is a directionality of the selection.
The C means that life or mind or brain or body is neither accidental nor teleological. (22) Human
brain may be difficult for us to know, but is certainly not so difficult for us to understand. The
only reason why it is still difficult is that we have not wanted to understand it as it is. We have
not wanted to understand it as an OC. We want only the O of the OC, but not the C. That is also a
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proof of the sameness of mind and life.
7. Summary
The important points in this article are as follows:
1. Life = OC.
2. A body or mind = a living system that contains both spring life and autumn life.
3. A living system = the E, the M and both lives organized in MEM and EME system
relations.
4. A mind is the main EME system relation of a body, the body the main MEM system of
the mind.
5. Qualia = Either location changes or form changes of the E in EME system relations.
6. My intelligence, consciousness and language are only some qualia of the top subsystem
in my CNS. *
7. Memories undergo state changes determined by the MEM system relation.
8. Life changes are the only meaning of all the conservative changes.
9. My world and self are nothing more or less than some qualia.
*Our consciousness is quale changes since we are dominated by autumn lives, and it may also be life
changes if in a living system dominated by spring lives.
Received November 13, 2022; Revised December 27, 2022; Accepted January 24, 2023
References
1.
心言, 存在或上帝，PhilPapers, 2020, https://philpapers.org/rec/XIN
2.
Yaron, I., Melloni, L., Pitts, M. et al. The ConTraSt database for analysing and comparing empirical
studies of consciousness theories. Nat Hum Behav 6, 593–604 (2022).
3.
Smart, J. J. C., "The Mind/Brain Identity Theory", The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Spring
2017 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.), https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/spr2017/entries/mindidentity/
4.
Panpsychism never means the sameness of life and mind. Goff, Philip, William Seager, and Sean
Allen-Hermanson, "Panpsychism", The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Summer 2020
Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.), https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/sum2020/entries/panpsychism
5.
Voss P, Thomas ME, Cisneros-Franco JM and de Villers-Sidani É (2017) Dynamic Brains and the
Changing Rules of Neuroplasticity: Implications for Learning and Recovery. Front. Psychol. 8:1657.
doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2017.01657
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6. X.Y. Zhang, The Ontology of Nature or God, 2020, Amazon kindle book ASIN: B08NC1VBVL
7.
心言, Be Human in the Paradis, 2014, Amazon kindle book ASIN: B00IHE5QS2.
8.
The possibility that life may arise from non-life does not prove that all the energy and matter we
know may not be created by a life or lives existing before them. At least, energy or matter is not the
solution to our problems with dualism. But life is the one, and may even be the only one that can
unify the mind and the body.
9.
A.N. Pearson, Y. Guryanova, P. Erker, E.A. Laird, G.A.D. Briggs, M. Huber, and N. Ares,
“Measuring the Thermodynamic Cost of Timekeeping”, Physical Review X 11, 021029 (2021)
10. Shapiro, Lawrence and Shannon Spaulding, "Embodied Cognition", The Stanford Encyclopedia of
Philosophy (Winter 2021 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.),
https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/win2021/entries/embodied-cognition
11. There is objectivity because there is subjectivity, both of which are nothing more or less than some
innate settings or hereditary intelligence of the same system.
12. More exactly, what Descartes believed is that matter is extended but mind is not. Please refer to:
Hatfield, Gary, "René Descartes", The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Summer 2018 Edition),
Edward N. Zalta (ed.), https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/sum2018/entries/descartes
13. The Synthia created in 2008 by the team from J. Craig Venter Institute is only a creation of certain
new complexity, but not a new life.
14. About various quantum theories of consciousness: Van Gulick, Robert, "Consciousness", The
Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Winter 2021 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.),
https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/win2021/entries/consciousness/
15. Jeremy M. DeSilva, James F.A. Traniello, Alexander G. Claxton and Luke D. Fannin (2021) When
and Why Did Human Brains Decrease in Size? A New Change-Point Analysis and Insights From
Brain Evolution in Ants. Front. Ecol. Evol. 9:742639. doi: 10.3389/fevo.2021.742639
16. Socrates takes knowledge and virtue as the same thing. And Kant bases his moral theory on our
intrinsic value.
17. X.Y. Zhang, Essence of Consciousness, Quantum Mind 2003, quantumbrain.org/Abstract2003.html
18. X.Y. Zhang, From Everything Outside Mind to Those Inside, The XXII World Congress of
Philosophy, 2008, https://philpapers.org/rec/ZHAFEO
19. Such localized state changes may be the cause of localized increase in tissue perfusion (cerebral
blood flow), another proof of the sameness of mind and lives.
20. Michael Tye, "Qualia", The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Fall 2021 Edition), Edward N.
Zalta (ed.), https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/fall2021/entries/qualia/
21. Ludwig Wittgenstein, 6.41 of Tractatus Logico-Phlosophicus, translated by C.K. Ogden (1922) or by
D.F. Pears & B.F. McGuinness (1974), both published by Routledge and Kegan Paul Ltd.
22. Morten L Kringelbach and Gustavo Deco, The turbulent brain, 25.02.2022,
https://aeon.co/essays/what-can-a-thermodynamics-of-mind-say-about-how-to-thrive
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Article
A Novel Concept Introducing the Idea of
Continuously Changing Levels of Consciousness
Pierre A. Guertin*
Dept. of Psychiatry & Neurosciences, Laval University, Canada
ABSTRACT
For major advances in the field of consciousness research, it is imperative to propose novel and
scientifically useful definitions. As of today, many partially overlapping or opposing concepts
about consciousness, self-consciousness, or mindfulness exist, although none is widely accepted.
It is problematic particularly for researchers aiming to study objectively a brain function for
which no standard neurological correlates and assessment methods have been accepted by most
scientists, medical doctors, and philosophers. This short communication briefly presents a unique
feature of this new definition proposed recently called 3TC consciousness. It states that
consciousness, in its largest and most inclusive sense, is bound to change its level both
continuously and dynamically. The importance of this idea for research is discussed.
Keywords: Self-consciousness, awareness, alertness, mindfulness.
For most people, consciousness and self-consciousness are two relatively different concepts.
Being self-conscious, in the general population, generally means to be shy or to worry about
what others think of ourself (1,2). For some scientists such as Carruthers and van Gulick,
consciousness includes self-consciousness – differences are essentially associated with levels of
awareness (3,4). Nearly four centuries ago, Descartes was among the firsts to propose that the
mind and the body are separately controlled entities (5-7) – the former (also referred to, then, as
the soul or the spirit, would be localized in the brain’s pituitary area) being capable of controlling
the latter in such a manner that an idea, as an expression of the mind or the soul, arises in the
brain, but controls the body. A role for neurons, synapses and multiple brain regions in
consciousness was proposed, much later on, by Eccles, Popper, Cottingham and Penfield
bringing this area of research into the field of modern neurophysiology (8-11).
Yet, since then, no consensual definition of consciousness was found. In the medical field, to
support diagnoses and medical procedures, general practitioners often define consciousness as a
level of verbal, motor, and brain activity (12) whereas anesthesiologists care essentially about the
loss of alertness for confirming full anesthesia (12,13). For psychiatrists, self-consciousness is
particularly important and different from consciousness since schizophrenic patients suffer of a
distortion of the reality and of self-representation of themselves (14-16) whereas, for neurologist
treating epilepsia, partial seizures are considered to alter the state of consciousness (17-18). For
Kabat-Zinn, founder of the Stress Reduction Clinic and developer of the mindfulness-based
*Correspondence: Professor Pierre A. Guertin, Department of Psychiatry and Neurosciences, Faculty of Medicine, Laval
University, Laval University Medical Center, Quebec City, Quebec, Canada, G1V 4G2.
Email: pierre.guertin@crchudequebec.ulaval.ca
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stress-reduction program (MBSR), mindfulness rather than consciousness best describes the idea
that concentrating or focusing on the present moment and perceiving, without any judgment or
choice, current internal or external impulses, emerging at any given moment in time, enables the
reduction of stress (19).
According to his definition, mindfulness allows someone to stay “above” the particular content
of thoughts, emotions, or imaginations while remaining aware of the corresponding processes
(i.e., ‘being aware of being aware’). However, none of those definitions or concepts considered
separately can significantly help biomedical researchers and specifically neuroscientists to move
this field forward and to provide fundamental insights into consciousness since the relative lack
of clarity semantically, epistemologically, mechanistically and neurologically, prevent proper
comparisons of studies having considered only one of the definitions as premise for interpreting
data (1).
In recent years, several neural mechanisms and brain areas were proposed to underlie the
expression of consciousness (or what others may call awareness, spirit, soul, mindfulness,
alertness, etc.). Evidences have been found of a role for high-frequency (gamma band) neuronal
oscillations, recurrent thalamocortical resonance, NMDA-mediated transient neural assemblies,
cortical activation patterns, frontal-limbic and periaqueductal gray somatosensory processes,
superior temporal sulcus, temporoparietal junction, perturbational complexity index (PCI), and
the ‘Greenfield’s brain soup holistic theory (20-28). However, despite those findings, the
specific brain area(s) involved in the expression and/or control of consciousness, if any, remain
largely unknown. Since no single definition exists, this largely prevents significant advances in
this field of research to be made.
Nonetheless, different approaches (e.g., vagal nerve stimulation, Mindfulness-Based Cognitive
Therapy, MBSR, transcendental meditation, etc.), already used therapeutically, were shown to
elicit multiple benefits – e.g., improvement of corresponding brain function correlates,
restoration of consciousness, enhancement of attention or memory, reduction of cardiovascular
risks, and maintenance of normal blood pressure (29-37). Identifying safe and selective drugs
capable of increasing benefits on brain functions and health, when using meditative approaches,
could thus be of considerable interest specifically for those in need (e.g., elderly) with
concentration problems or memory loss (38,39).
As an attempt to further increase our understanding of the neural mechanisms underlying
consciousness, a novel inclusive definition (3TC consciousness) was proposed recently that
introduces the idea that consciousness depends on multiple factors: Time, Training, Task(s) and
Concentration (39):
3TC consciousness, a continuum of states ranging from significant alertness to loss
of communication and motor reflexes, enables perception of thoughts, emotions,
and sensations without any judgment and at the present moment with limits and
continuously changing levels that depend upon time, training, task(s), and
concentration as well as on the functional integrity of underlying sensory system
elements (i.e., receptors, neurotransmitters, neuronal networks, and pattern of
activity) that are yet to be fully characterized.
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Time (age, time of day, season, etc.) generally affects indeed most brain functions – e.g., selfconsciousness first emerges at 2 or 3 years of age whereas, for many elderly, memory loss and
self-consciousness problems are often progressively found (40-45). Compelling evidence – from
Buddhists and scientists – suggests that Training is pivotal for those seeking higher
consciousness levels (46-52) as well as for benefits on health, as mentioned earlier (29-39).
Tasks and concentration are closely related factors associated with the idea that several tasks
performed concomitantly – walking, driving, talking, reading, surfing on internet, listening to
music, writing, laughing, or eating – leads generally to errors and slower reaction times
cognitively which, in turn, suggests that our brain encounters limits when simultaneously
focusing on two or more tasks (53-58). Since concentration or attention has been associated with
consciousness or mindfulness (e.g., mindfulness-based attention training or MBAT),
multitasking and continuous changes associated with it, in real-life conditions, is bound to be
associated also with continuously changing levels of consciousness.
Very few studies investigating this idea directly have been done. This said, dynamic attention
states and attention network or default mode network-related activity were recently shown by
neuroscientists from Yale and Columbia Universities to constantly undergo transient changes in
different conditions including when monotasking and multitasking purposefully or not (59,60).
EEG activity recorded by Dennison from experienced Buddhists suggests that default mode
network activity often bursts irregularly much like during epilepsia (61).
Now, if we step aside from Science just a second and think about what is known by intuition and
observation rather than by experimentation. If one begins purposefully to pay attention to his
breathing – as often recommended when initiating a session of meditation –, this relatively easy
task becomes much harder when time passes by. How long is it possible for someone to sustain
this rather a priori simple entry-level step into consciousness (i.e., being conscious of our own
body, also known as proprioception)? Most people probably won’t succeed at performing this
single task more than 30 or 60 seconds.
Indeed, thoughts, ideas and perhaps emotions will come in, disrupting the focussed attention on
breathing per se. One could start thinking that this task is rather easy, or not. He or she may
begin feeling irritated because of not fully understanding what this apparently simple task is all
about. Others may radically forget about their respiration because they remembered all of a
sudden items of the grocery shopping planned to be done around 17h00 later today. The number
of potential scenarios is virtually unlimited. Another observation may be about a man who is
asked the same thing but during a whole day in real-life conditions, rather than in a laboratory.
Like in the previous case, the man will probably succeed at thinking and being conscious of his
respiration. However, most likely, he will forget quite often and all day long because distracted
by the plethora of thoughts, emotions and other stimuli (e.g., a car passing by, a baby crying,
cravings emerging around mealtime, etc.) exposed to him.
At least a few inferences may be drawn from these simplistic examples. First, time per se is
constantly changing and hence distracting thoughts, feelings and ideas emerging spontaneously
(i.e., unconsciously) are bound to reduce concentration or attention which is the cornerstone of
consciousness. Second, beyond the fact that emerging thoughts and ideas will try (even against
our will) to emerge constantly, other sensations associated with the external world (vision,
hearing, touch, etc.) will routinely, in real-life conditions, be stimulated, becoming sources of
distraction. That ‘real-life’ form of multitasking, generally tested in laboratories, will most
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probably also drag the volunteer’s attention and concentration away from his entry-level task
underlying basic consciousness that is breathing.
Of course, more complex scenarios may be imagined. Can someone realistically achieve steadily
maintaining a high level of consciousness which would imperatively require thinking
simultaneously (again, much like during multitasking) about his inner body sensation
(proprioception – e.g., breathing), sensing external stimuli (vision and audition – e.g., seeing
objects moving around him as well as accompanying sounds), emerging thoughts in relation with
these stimuli or not (e.g., the sound of this car is annoying; this area smells bad on top of this;
Goddam I forgot to brush my teeth, etc.), and emerging thoughts in relation with our memory
and acquired knowledge of the world that is imperative for placing things, thoughts and
sensations in perspective (e.g., this city is a cool place to be compared with Timbuktu; this said, I
am on planet Earth, one of the few places if not the only place of the galaxy where life is
possible so… not bad after all, etc.).
If interferences and default mode network activity problems may occur with multitasking
experiments in laboratory conditions with only two tasks, let’s imagine how attention or
concentration must be impaired in real-life conditions. Hence, how long can we realistically
expect to express a relatively high level of consciousness? A few seconds, a few minutes? As of
today, no one knows with certainty or accuracy. If we think now about the next level in
consciousness, as proposed by the father of metaphysics, Spinoza, or some contemporary
philosophical leaders such as Kabat-Zinn, Tolle, Krishnamurti or Thich (19, 62-64) –
summarized here as ‘being aware of being aware’. For instance, let’s use one of the examples
above, an emerging thought about the ‘quality’ of the smell that came on our mind as being
‘bad’. Being aware that the brain unconsciously chose to give that smell the quality of being ‘bad
or undesirable’ rather than being ‘good’ or ‘neutral’ is something someone with high
consciousness level should be aware of. That superimposed level of complexity, that is being
aware of unconscious choices and judgements our mind makes automatically based on
experience, culture, emotion, etc., makes it even harder to maintain consciousness to a high level.
Fluctuations or ups and downs are most probably inevitable?
Future investigations are obviously needed to further explore this largely unknown area of
neurosciences. It is not unlikely that one day, scientific data capable of demonstrating
experimentally these intuitive inferences from observation will be obtained. Nonetheless, for
now, one thing is rather clear and obvious only from observation – time, concentration and, the
facto, task(s) or multitasking, are important factors that, given their intrinsic dynamic and everchanging nature, are bound to alter continuously consciousness being expressed at every given
moment in time.
In conclusion, a unique and consensual inclusive definition of consciousness may constitute one
of the keys to properly study consciousness and its mechanism. Definitions commonly used to
describe consciousness, mindfulness, self-consciousness, or awareness often differ significantly
from one research group to another making it rather complex for data to be compared. To further
understand the underlying neural mechanisms, clearer and scientifically meaningful definitions
imperatively need to be established. Most of all, a unique ‘one size fits all’ definition shall ease
data analyses and comparisons among studies from different laboratories. The 3TC
consciousness concept is the first to introduce the idea that consciousness level is continuously
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changing given that concentration or attention is affected by multitasking and time – factors that
are inherently changing continuously.
Received July 24, 2019; Accepted August 23, 2019
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Levi, K., Reconciling Consciousness with Physicalism
Research Essay
Reconciling Consciousness with Physicalism
Ken Levi*
Abstract
Concerning the face-off between idealism and physicalism, both schools of thought have
strengths and weaknesses. In proposing a novel approach to the question of consciousness, this
article capitalizes on the strengths and rejects the weaknesses. The result is a reconciliation
between the materialistic ontology of physicalism and the unitary cosmic ultimate of idealism.
The “Bottom-Up/Top-Down” theory, presented here, combines two physical operations. The
first is “access,” how the nervous system receives and processes external stimuli, up to and
including the stage of “binding.” The second physical operation involves encoded signals bound
together in the brain, as interpreted by a Universal Mind. How that can work as a material
process is largely explained through the agency of embodied cognition.
Keywords: Ontology, metaphysics, physicalism, idealism, cosmopsychism, consciousness,
embodied cognition.
1. Idealism and physicalism
In the study of consciousness, three schools of thought have emerged. These include dualism,
physicalism, and idealism. Currently, dualism has largely been abandoned, leaving only two
competing approaches. The idealist ontology holds that materialism is an illusion, with the only
reality being consciousness, per se (Kozlowski, 2020, p. 387). In effect, to idealists, we live in a
world of dreams. The physicalist ontology, on the other hand, maintains that consciousness is
largely an illusion, a “ghost in the machine,” with the only reality being material (Dennett,
1991).
Idealists, like Bernardo Kastrup (2018a, 2018b) and Itay Shani (2015), argue, in the first place,
that consciousness is the only reality we know. Kastrup gives the example of an argument
between Samuel Johnson and Bishop Berkeley. The Bishop, an idealist, challenges Johnson to
show why he believes the physical world is real. Dr. Johnson responds by kicking a stone, and
responding, “I know it thus!” He means the solidness of the rock proves it’s real (Kastrup,
2018b, p. 15). Ironically, what he’s actually admitting is he knows the rock exists only because
he feels it.
The other idealist argument has to do with the “combination problem.” It comes in two versions.
First, how is it possible, idealists ask, for purely physical things to be conscious, since none of
their components are conscious. For example, not quarks, electrons, atoms, molecules, or
neurons possess anything like conscious thought. It makes no sense, therefore, to build
consciousness out of mindless physical components.
*
Correspondence: Ken Levi, Independent Researcher. Email: levik2016@yahoo.com
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As biologist Thomas Huxley queries, “How is it possible that anything as remarkable as a state
of consciousness comes about as a result of irritating nervous tissue?” (1866).
The “subject” combination problem is a dispute between two branches of idealism. Panpsychists
contend that the solution to physicalism would be if every physical particle - down to the atomic
and subatomic levels - possessed its own degree of consciousness. That way, these particles
could combine to form higher levels of awareness. Cosmopsychists, however, respond that
individual minds cannot “combine” because consciousness, by definition, is a subjective and
individual property. Feelings do not aggregate.
So, building consciousness from the ground-up is problematic. Whether you build it up from
inert matter, or from semi-conscious particles, either way it may not work.
Instead, cosmopsychists argue, build consciousness from the top down. If we posit a
consciousness ontology, and that the “whole universe” itself is a “unitary conscious entity”
(Kastrup, 2018a, p. 134), then we humans, and other sentient beings, derive our conscious
abilities from above.
Physicalists, on the other hand, argue from common sense. How can 8 billion people be wrong?
We are, most of us, under the impression that the material world we occupy is solid and real.
The main argument for physicalism comes from science. We know how DNA works, and how
we physically evolved as a species. We know the human nervous system, and how it operates.
Moreover, we observe, from implanted electrodes or FMRIs, how every part of the brain impacts
a corresponding part of the body. Sentient responses, such as seeing, hearing, or feeling, can all
be activated or suppressed by stimulating parts of the brain. It’s only a matter of time, the
physicalists say, until we learn exactly what parts of the brain produce sensation.
“It is now a canon of neuroscience that any mental experience can be associated with some
specific pattern of neural firings” (Chorost, 2011, p. 33).
2. A composite theory
This essay will attempt to reconcile the best parts of both schools of thought with a composite
theory that has yet to be advanced. Let’s start with an analogy. We all have a multitude of
household appliances. Like our brains, some of these appliances contain a bewildering nest of
wiring. Yet none of them actually work until they are plugged into an outlet. Until then, they
are just inert pieces of furniture. Once connected to the electric grid, however, they come alive.
That analogy illustrates what I call the “Bottom-Up/Top-Down” theory of consciousness. The
bottom up part consists of what Stephen Pinker (1997) calls “access.” For example, sight begins
with light waves from external objects hitting our retinas, stimulating neural pathways inside out
heads, and separately being processed by specialized functional areas inside our cortices.
Ultimately, all sense impressions, including sight, sound, smell, etc., are tied together through a
process called “binding.” Every 1/40th of a second an electric wave passes over our brains and
binds together all our sensory signals into a unitary frame (Blakeslee, 1998).
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That part is strictly physical. One might even imagine building an android or a computer with
the exact same functions. But “access” isn’t enough. What we have at the binding stage is
electrically encoded information. We don’t have consciousness.
The top-down part consists of what I call the “Universal Mind” (UM). Once all of our stimuli
are processed and encoded, the Universal Mind interprets those signals as sentient experience.
The Universal Mind corresponds, in part, to what Kastrup and Shani call the irreducible cosmic
ultimate. That’s what we plug into.
How does it work?
1) It works physically. Contrary to the idealists, the Universe, I believe, is entirely material. Our
only ontology is physical. There is no need to ditch our common sense notion that everything
around us consists of solid stuff.
2) It works because we are part of the Universe. It’s not just that the Universe is inside of us.
We are inside of it.
3) It works through “embodied cognition.” The Universe physically embodies not just us, but
everything within it. For that reason, it contains not just all things, but also knowledge of all
things. That knowledge is not just abstract, but also visceral. That knowledge is existential.
4) It works because the Universe contains embodied knowledge that the rest of do not have, and
cannot have. None of us embodies the world around us. But the Universe does. For
example, consider the apple. The Universe contains knowledge of its components and how
they fit together. But it also contains knowledge of its existential properties, including how it
looks, tastes, and smells.
5) It works because, as philosopher John Searle has observed, the properties of objects are
inherent in those objects. What is it, he asks, about the raw perceptual experience that causes
us to see red? His answer is, “It’s part of what it means for something to be red that it’s
capable of causing experiences like this” (2013).
The look, smell and taste of an apple aren’t figments of our imagination or constructions of our
brain. They are intrinsic aspects of the thing we call an apple. Only two entities contains those
aspects: the apple itself, and the Universe which embodies it.
So, like the appliance plugged into an outlet, the encoded signals in our brains are activated by
the Universal Mind. That’s how the existential impact of the apple is conveyed to us.
3. Objections
a) If we receive the truth of things from the UM, then why don’t we all see things the same way?
Answer: the top-down part may be the same for everyone, but the bottom-up part differs. We all
have different physical capabilities when it comes to the mechanical processing of external
stimuli. For example, it is said that a frog “will starve to death, surrounded by food, if it is not
moving” (Lettvin, et al, 1959, p. 234). A frog’s visual apparatus only allows it to see
animation.
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b) Am I saying that the Universe, per se, has a “Mind;” that, in effect, the Universe is God?
Answer: Yes.
c) Where’s the proof?
Answer: Proof for the existence of a Universal Mind is the topic for a separate discussion (Levi,
2019, 2020). Of course, if there is no such thing, then the present argument fails. However,
the focus for this discussion is how a “Bottom-Up/Top-Down” consciousness can work.
In terms of proof, however, consciousness is like love. It’s real. You know it’s real, even
though to outside observers, you just may be a zombie. What, then, is the best evidence for
its reality? As is the case with love, the best evidence for consciousness is personal,
subjective experience. The same goes for evidence of top-down consciousness. If one or two
people claim it, then the evidence is merely anecdotal. But if very many people claim it, then,
it becomes science (Levi, 2020).
d) Is it plausible?
Answer: Having a top-down component to consciousness is not a new idea. It’s not just the
idealists who espouse it. For over a billion Hindus and Buddhists throughout the world, the
highest plain of existence is thought to be the Brahman, the great spirit, which dwells in each
individual in the form of the Atman, the personal soul (Srinivasan, 2018, p. 402).
And, of course, “May the Force be with you” is a popular - and widely accepted - element of
popular culture.
What’s new here is the concept of the Universal Mind as a physical force; as a stage of human
consciousness, dovetailing with our physical nervous system, and conveying existential
realism.
e) How exactly can the Universe be completely physical, like us, but yet be capable of sentience,
unlike us?
Answer: Embodied cognition. If, for example, I say, “I feel your pain,” I don’t really mean it.
What I actually mean is I imagine what your pain must be like. But the Universe does,
indeed, feel your pain, because the Universe is you.
f) How exactly does bottom-up “plug into” top-down?
Answer: I’m not sure. Here’s what we know. Binding is the final stage in the nervous system.
We have no reason to believe that what is bound together in that stage is anything but encoded
signals. So, how are those signals converted into sense experiences? If it can’t be explained
by the physical apparatus of our brains, then, it must be something besides our brains. And
that something, I hypothesize, is the Universal Mind. For one thing, we are already a part of
the Universe. It doesn’t have to come to us. We’re already in it. For another thing, besides
the object itself, only the Universe contains both objective and visceral knowledge of
everything we experience.
4. Conclusion
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How is this Bottom-Up/Top-Down theory different from any of the others? Answer: it explains
top-down consciousness within the context of a physicalist ontology.
Unlike idealism, it doesn’t throw out the baby with the bathwater. Just because we cannot
currently explain - or even logically rationalize - how subjective consciousness could arise from
inert matter, that doesn’t have to mean the material world is fake.
Unlike physicalism, just because we cannot objectively measure or observe conscious thought,
doesn’t mean we are all just glorified robots.
Stephen Hawking has argued that throughout history, people have invoked the “gods” to explain
things they couldn’t understand. That includes earthquakes, eclipses, personal suffering, and the
like. As soon as science provides a demonstrable explanation, he observes, we dispense with the
gods.
As once was true of eclipses and human heartbreak, consciousness is something we cannot
presently explain. Does Hawking’s critique apply to this essay, as well? We will need more
research to find out.
Received July 6, 2020; Accepted July 26, 2020
References
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125-155.
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Journal of Consciousness Exploration & Research | November 2021 | Volume 12 | Issue 4 | pp. 356-382
Vișan, C., Meaning and Context: A Brief Introduction
356
Research Essay
Meaning and Context: A Brief Introduction
Cosmin Vișan*
Abstract
In searching for what is the most natural way to regard the world, it will be shown that existence
is an interplay between meanings and contexts. This interplay takes the form of consciousness,
which arises on top of an infinite ocean of formless contexts. Various aspects of meaning and
context will be explored, going through the emergent structure of consciousness, self-reference,
the contradictory nature of the formless realm and love as the ultimate context for existence.
Given the infinite ramifications of contexts being formless, only a brief introduction can ever be
given.
Keywords: Meaning, context, self-reference, infinite, love.
Introduction
I will start by stating that I’m thinking for many years about the nature of meaning and context
and I’m not yet satisfied with the understanding of the problem that I’m currently at. Given that
it might take many more decades until I might arrive at a satisfying understanding, I consider
that until that moment, it might still be helpful for other people if I share my current
understanding on this issue. Part of the reason why I’m still not in the possession of the
understanding that I desire might have to do with the very infinite nature of contexts that I will
be also discussing in the pages that follow. Such an infinity might prevent any understanding of
these issues to ever be obtained. Yet, despite this, I still believe that certain progress can be
made. But instead of waiting to acquire that progress by myself and then presenting it, it might
be more productive to present the problems at the present state and hope that other people might
find them interesting and together we might make better progress.
The paths that I travelled in order to arrive at the present ideas are of course not linear. Various
combinations of thinking and living life lead to my current ideas. Therefore, the structure of the
current exposition might not fully reflect the full picture. But since a way of presenting is
required nevertheless, this is the way that I consider the problems are best to be presented at the
current time. For a more comprehensive understanding of these issues, my many previous papers
can be read.[1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8]
Probably the central problem in understanding the world is to specify what it is made out of. And
for this we have the history of philosophy with all sorts of attempts at an answer, such as water,
air, fire, to the more recent materialist stories of atoms and energy, and also the idealist branch of
everything being consciousness. While I also consider that everything is consciousness, the
problem is still not properly clarified, since consciousness also needs to be made more explicit.
* Correspondence: Cosmin Visan, Independent Researcher, Master in Physics at The University of Manchester.
Email: visancosmin17@yahoo.com
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What is consciousness? And why everything be consciousness? In this paper I will bring forward
a more natural way of answering what the world is made out of. I will show how the most natural
way is for the world to be made out of meanings and contexts. In the process of this exposition,
consciousness will be shown to be meaning that arises relative to context.
The Emergent Structure of Consciousness
Before getting to talk about meaning and context we need to be aware of an aspect of the
phenomenology of consciousness, so that we can later understand why consciousness itself is
meaning relative to context. That aspect is the emergent structure of consciousness. The
approach that I will be taking is the same that I took in previous papers[2][3][4][5][6], but since it
appears that people have difficulties in seeing the phenomenon of emergence that is taking place
before their very eyes, I will try to bring as many examples as possible in order to trigger the
“aha!” moment in the consciousness of the reader regarding the phenomenon of emergence, the
“aha!” moment itself being an example of emergence.
I think that the main difficulty, especially for someone coming from a materialist background,
which at the present historical time is the dominant doctrine taught in educational systems across
the world, is the “what you see is what you get” understanding of the world. If someone sees a
chair, he automatically takes for granted that there is a chair in front of him. There is no
questioning of this “fact” being further undertaken. Actually, this is because consciousness does
such a great job at conjuring worlds, that questioning the conjured worlds doesn’t even cross
one’s mind. The apparent reality of the conjured world is so powerful that even when one is
presented with an image such as the duck-rabbit image, one still doesn’t see the significance of
such an image. Such an image is called an “illusion”, as if there is still some image drawn on the
paper and the fact that we see that image as a duck or a rabbit is an illusion. When in fact, the
true significance of an example like this is the creative power of consciousness taking place
before our very eyes. Such an example is no “illusion” at all, for the trivial fact that there is no
image drawn on the paper at all. Everything is created in consciousness: the image, the duck, the
rabbit, everything.
The materialistic minded person can even bring forward more sophisticated argumentation, such
as our current physical theories, arguing that their precision is proof of the existence of the
entities used in such theories. But such a type of argument was once used based on the precision
of Newton theory to argue for the existence of planet Vulcan, planet which instantly vanished
when General Relativity came along, nowadays the modern planet Vulcan being represented by
“dark matter”, which undoubtedly in the future will turn out as just another artifact of our current
theories. Actually, all our current scientific theories and their entities will turn out to be nothing
more than artifacts of the true nature of reality and its functioning, namely consciousness, or how
we will see in this paper, meaning and context.
Thus, the first requirement for anyone that wishes to understand reality, is to be aware of how
consciousness creates everything that we see and generally experience around us, creation which,
of course, is not to be understood as if consciousness creates “material” objects outside
ourselves, but creates the appearance of such objects inside itself. If this first requirement is not
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met, no amount of rational arguments can make one see. Thus, before continue reading, the
reader must make sure he meets this first requirement.
There is also a second requirement, which is not necessarily met by someone who meets the first
requirement. And this is the process by which consciousness builds up the world. Someone that
only meets the first requirement might have a superficial understanding that the world is just
created immediately. He might understand that the chair in front of him is just an image in
consciousness, but he might hastily assume that this image just is, that is has no internal
structure. And what I will be doing next is to show that the creation of the world is not “just-so”,
but it has internal structure, structure that follows general rules, rules which we will later identify
as the rules of how meaning is generated relative to context. We will see how consciousness is
built on levels, levels which constitute an emergent holarchy in which qualities are inherited and
transcended from level to level.
Because the word “emergence” is used in materialistic talks in examples like water “emerging”
from hydrogen and oxygen or a flock of birds “emerging” from individual birds, it must be made
clear that the correct usage of this concept is only in relation to ontological entities and not
epistemic ones. Given that “water” and “birds” are just epistemic entities, applying the concept
of emergence to them is incorrect. The only place where we will see that this concept makes
sense is when applied to qualia, since only qualia really exist, thus have ontological status. I will
take the same example that I took in previous papers[5][6], shown in Figure 1, and ask the reader
once more: What do you see?
Figure 1. Emergence
Probably the first answer will be: a semicircle and a triangle. And this is a truly existing
experience in consciousness. Now, let’s modify this experience and see emergence in action. I
will tell the reader: It is a radio telescope. Now I will ask the reader to look again at the image.
Something new happened. Now the image is not a semicircle and a triangle anymore, but it is a
radio telescope. Of course, it is highly simplified, but nevertheless it is a radio telescope. For
diversity, let’s alter the original experience in another direction. I will tell the reader now that
that image is actually a space probe entering atmosphere. Again, having this new information,
the experience of the reader changes once more and now he has a different experience when he
looks at the image.
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Because people seem to be having difficulties in understanding the profound significance of
what is happening here, I will insist some more on it. One explanation for what is happening here
that people bring, comes from a neuroscience-type of mindset, in which the brain is said to label
images. Thus, such a person usually says that there is no emergence happening, but is merely the
brain labeling the semicircle and the triangle as “radio telescope” or “space probe”. The reason
someone can bring such an explanation is because he fails to see what is happening before his
very eyes. And what is happening before his very eyes is for the very visual experience to
change. There is no mere “labeling” going on, but is an actual experience of a radio telescope or
a space probe coming into existence in consciousness.
We are talking about phenomenology here. “Brain labels” is an extra theory on top of
phenomenology, theory which is not even correct. We are not discussing such theories here. We
are only discussing phenomenology. And phenomenologically, we are dealing with 3 different
experiences here: semicircle and triangle, radio telescope, space probe. Adding a side note here,
the “brain labels” theory cannot be correct given how experiences are acquired, process which is
at its clearest in childhood. When the parents tell to a child that that is a “dog” or a “cat”, the
child has no apriori database in his “brain” from where to label the images that he sees with these
words, not to mention that the child first needs to understand the words themselves. Such a
chicken-and-egg situation falsifies any “brain label” theory. Something else must happen,
something for which I have no explanation at this moment, but which we will later see how it
must be related to the formless contexts and to love as the absolute context. Also, this makes any
AI attempt futile, since AI doesn’t have access to the powers of consciousness of bringing new
qualia into existence out of nothing.
To not digress further, let’s look into more details at the semicircle and triangle example and see
properties of emergence in action. What we notice is that when we bring into existence the
experiences of radio telescope or space probe, these experiences are not some abstract
experiences, but they are based on the previously existing experience of the semicircle and
triangle. Thus, we recognize that we are dealing with new experiences emerging on top of
previous experiences. The way emergence happens is to include in the new experience the
previous experience while also transcending it. The quale of radio telescope has inherited in
itself the semicircle for its base and the triangle for its antenna. The quale of space probe has
inherited in itself the semicircle for the capsule and the triangle for the trail of flames. Of
tremendous importance here is that the new experiences are not reducible to the previous
experience. The quale of radio telescope is not just a semicircle and a triangle “labeled”
differently by the “brain”, but is a genuinely new experience that neither can be reduced to the
previous experience of shapes, nor can it be predicted from the experience of shape. Similarly for
the space probe and the potentially infinite number of new qualia that can be emerged from the
quale of shape, such as ice cream or parachute, etc.
Before continue reading, the reader must make sure that he sees emergence happening before his
very eyes. The reader must look carefully at his experiences in consciousness and acknowledge
that indeed seeing a radio telescope or a space probe is not the same thing as seeing a semicircle
and a triangle. If this acknowledgement is not being done, the rest of the paper will make no
sense. I am stressing this so much because this is the central feature of consciousness, and people
pass too lightly over it. The entire consciousness is built through emergence, in which new levels
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of consciousness are being brought into existence out of nothing through a process that includes
the previously existing levels of consciousness. If this simple example of objects qualia emerging
on top of shapes qualia is not being understood, the more complex cases of qualities inheritance
will be impossible to be grasped, thus no understanding of consciousness will be able to be
achieved.
Also, when we will talk about meaning and context, we will see that this is the most natural way
for the world to be. Meaning is not acquired all out-of-the-box, but is built through emergence.
One cannot grasp high school calculus if he first didn’t grasp elementary school arithmetic. This
is because meaning is constructed through emergence, and many levels are required before a
certain higher meaning is grasped. This seems so natural when we talk about mathematics that it
seems pointless to even mention it in a scientific paper. But its very naturalness makes us trapped
into taking it lightly and not acknowledging its profound significance. And as we are seeing here,
this functioning of meaning is not restricted only to cognitive processes, but is the very engine of
consciousness functioning, qualia themselves being acquired through emergence.
Having this simple example settled, let’s take a more complex one to better become aware of
how emergence is the central feature of consciousness, being present in all qualia. For this I will
use the entire visual domain to show how it is constructed through emergence level by level.
Let’s have a look at Figure 2.
Figure 2. Emergent levels in the visual domain
What we see in Figure 2 is that the base of the visual domain is represented by the black-andwhite qualia. Then the qualities of black-and-white are inherited in the emergent level of shadesof-gray. We can see this inheritance by the fact that shades-of-gray display a darker-and-lighter
variability. Then the qualities of the shades-of-gray are inherited in the emergent level of colors.
We can see this in the fact that a color is never pure, but displays a range of shades varying from
lighter shades to darker shades. Then, colors are inherited in the emergent level of shapes. A
shape is not an abstract entity but it is always created from at least 2 colors. Then shapes, like we
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also saw in the previous Figure 1, are inherited in objects, in this particular case in the quale of
tree. Finally, objects are inherited in the full visual scene. Notice as a side note that emergence is
not linear, but from a certain level there can be a whole family of branches emerging. For
example, from shades-of-gray all colors can emerge (even colors that we cannot imagine from
our human consciousness), not only one. Also, from the shape in Figure 2, a quale of tree can be
emerged or a quale of leaf, and so on. In principle, the number of qualities that can be obtained
through emergence is infinite.
Through this example we also get a clearer understanding of what qualia are. People tend to
think of qualia as being just things such as colors, while somehow the rest of the experiences are
nothing more than just colors put side by side. But qualia are everything. In order to see an object
is not enough to just put colors side by side, but a new quale must be emerged on top of the
colors to make the object come into existence. If this wouldn’t happen, we would not experience
a world of objects, but an indistinct chaos of colors. And we can see this in pathologies such as
prosopagnosia in which people are unable to see faces even though they are able to see the
elements of a face, such as eyes, nose, mouth. The quale of face is not merely eyes put side by
side with nose and mouth, but is a new level that emerges on top of the levels of the elements.
Some people might argue that even though we might see just a chaos of colors we might still
rationally deduce the objects to which the colors in the visual field belong to.
But such a thing would be impossible. The clue as to what object each color belongs to doesn’t
reside in the colors. We would have no way whatsoever to deduce rationally what objects are
there in the visual field. The level of objects is an entire new qualia domain that contains in itself
meanings over and above the meanings contained in colors. Without such extra meanings we
would be completely helpless. To help the imagination of the reader grasp this situation, I will
mention the easier example of the transition from shades-of-gray to colors. If we are presented
with a gray picture, we have no clue whatsoever of how we should color that image. When
grasping this impossibility of rationally jumping from level to level in the case of visual qualia,
one should be struck by how a consciousness construct the world in which we find ourselves is.
We are so used to take chairs and tables and buildings and trees for granted, that we don’t realize
how they are just objects qualia brought into existence by consciousness, objects qualia which
emerge from what is otherwise an indistinct visual field of chaotic colors.
Because the understanding of consciousness is not entirely a rational process, but is a rational
process applied to experiences, I will give another example in order to provide to the reader the
necessary experiential data to which to relate and then to apply reason. This emergence of
objects qualia from shapes qualia happens sometimes to me on floor tiles, such as the one in
Figure 3.
There are high chances that any reader experienced this, thus he will better realize why it is
impossible to deduce objects qualia from shapes or colors qualia. What is interesting is that the
objects that I see on the tiles are influenced by my psychological state. On a certain
psychological state, I clearly see certain objects related to that state. However, if I am to look in
another day while I’m in another psychological state, I see totally different objects. Even more
so, if I am to reconstruct the objects that I saw on the previous day, I am unable to do that, even
though the shapes are still the same. Of course, I can take a picture and draw on that picture what
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colors belonged to the objects in order to help myself next time in reconstructing the object. But
this is already a process that involves a method of keeping in memory the extra meanings that I
experienced at some point. But without such an auxiliary method, a field of colors and shapes
has not enough meaning in it in order to know what objects are “out-there”. This shows that in
fact there are no objects “out-there” in the first place, but they are brought into existence on the
spot by consciousness depending on a complex interplay between meanings and contexts.
Figure 3. Emergence of objects from shapes
This functioning of emergence happens in all qualia domains, and a prediction is that no matter
what foreign consciousness aliens might have, their qualia domains will also be structured on
emergent holarchies. To give brief examples from other qualia domains: the emergence of
language from sounds (2 people speaking the same language have a totally different experience
than a foreigner hearing that language), the emergence of music from sounds (to hear music is
more than to hear sounds, that’s why people like different types of music, because they are able
for certain sounds to emerge the level of music), the emergence of the taste of chocolate from the
taste of sugar, etc. A particular striking example from present-day internet is the laural-yanny
case.
Though the level of the sounds is the same, some people hear nevertheless “laurel” and some
others “yanny”. This shows once again how a higher level is not predictable from a lower level.
And exactly like in the case of the impossibility of telling what objects are in a field of colors, it
is equally impossible to tell that those particular sounds contain “laurel” or “yanny”. They don’t
contain either. The sounds are just sounds. The words “laurel” and “yanny” are higher level
qualia that are being emerged on top of the level of sounds. This also shows how a higher level
cannot be reduced to the lower levels. One would be tempted to reduce “laurel” to the sounds “l”
“a” “u” “r” “e” “l”, and “yanny” to similar sounds, which would contradict the fact that the level
of the sounds is actually identical for both words levels.
To add a layer of difficulty to the problem, qualities are not inherited only on the level
immediately above, but they can be inherited in any higher level, with their initial qualities
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modified beyond trivial recognition. For example, black-and-white manifests in the level
immediately above as the variability of shades-of-gray. But black-and-white is also inherited in
the full visual scene and the way in which it manifests there is to allow for the visual scene to be
seen at all. The meaning that is responsible for the qualities of black-and-white as black and
white is the meaning of “being visual” (or a more subtle meaning that has to do with
evolutionary reasons, to be detailed later). This meaning that lies at the base of the entire visual
domain is then inherited in all the higher levels and makes them visible. In the first level it
produces the qualities of black and white, because to see is at least to see black and white. But in
the higher levels it contributes to making them visual.
I will give another example in this direction, in order to familiarize ourselves as better as
possible with the subtlety of qualities inheritance. For this, I will take the emergent structure of
the written language, and I will take the levels of shapes, letters, words and sentences. We will
see what qualities are we dealing with and how they manifest themselves in the various levels
that emerge along the line.
Shapes: quality of “visual objects”: entities with spatially defined boundaries.
Letters: inherits the quality of the Shapes, thus becoming themselves visual objects, and
emerges on top of it its own quality of “unities of language”.
Words: inherits the quality of the Shapes, being themselves visual objects, inherits the quality of
the Letters, being themselves unities of language (just more complex than letters), and emerges
on top of them all its own quality of “carriers of linguistic meaning”.
Sentences: inherits the quality of the Shapes, being themselves visual objects, inherits the quality
of the Letters, being themselves unities of languages (just more complex than both letters and
words), inherits the quality of the Words, being themselves carriers of linguistic meaning, and
emerges on top of them all its own quality of “carriers of ideas”.
One further aspect of emergence is the top-down influence in levels, in which the lower levels
are influenced by the higher level. The best example in this case is the spoken language. When
we speak, we don’t choose the letters or the words, but we start from the highest level of wanting
to transmit a certain idea, and this selects automatically the sentences that it should contain,
sentences which select their words, words which select their letters. Another example is the
colored cube “illusion” from Figure 4.
In this image, the squares pointed by the arrows are blue and yellow. When in isolation, these
squares look gray. But here they are getting their colors as a top-down influence from the higher
level of the image. We will discuss this case later on when we will show how the emergent
structure of consciousness is actually a result of how meaning appears relative to contexts.
Again, this is not an “illusion”, but is as real as it gets. Those squares in the image are really blue
and yellow.
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Figure 4. Colored cube “illusion”
Another point to make here is that the above emergent structure from Figure 2 was presented
starting from the bottom and highlighting the various qualia that emerge as we go up the tree.
From a practical point of view though, the analysis can only start from the top level, because the
top level is the one that we actually experience directly. And the way in which the descent in
levels is being done is to search in the current level for qualities that might come from lower
levels. For example, in the quale of the full visual scene we identify various objects, then in the
quale of the tree we identify a shape, then in a shape we identify a color, and so on. As was
shown in previous papers[2][3][4][5], by doing this we can also reach the level of time and even
deeper to the base level of consciousness which is the level of the Self.
Though for a full analysis I refer the reader to my paper about time[5], I will give in here some
examples of how time itself is nothing more than an emergent level of consciousness, in order to
show how powerful consciousness is in creating worlds and how diverse the qualities brought
into existence by consciousness are. They are so diverse that they tricked people throughout
history to consider them different ontological categories. People saw objects qualia and they
invented the concept of “matter”. They saw motion qualia and they invented the concept of
“physical time”. And so on. And all these categories created stories about what the world is, that
are so far away from what it actually is. To see how time is actually just another quality of
consciousness let’s look at the motion “illusions” in Figure 5.
Once again, they are not “illusions”. There really is motion in them. This motion, as explained at
length in the paper about time[5], is a top-down influence in levels from the level of black-andwhite to the level of time, level of time which is an emergent level of consciousness below the
level of black-and-white. The specific arrangement of black-and-white in the images has the
power to create a top-down influence on the level of time below the level of black-and-white and
create motion in the images, in the same way that the filters in Figure 4 have the power to create
top-down influence on the level of colors and make the squares blue and yellow. Time is not a
special ontological category, but is just another quality of consciousness situated at a certain
level in the holarchy, which behaves in the same way as all the other levels. Its particular quality
of “motion” is no different than the quality of “redness”. Is important for the reader to fully
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appreciate this in order to see how far-reaching the powers of consciousness are. By playing with
qualities, consciousness brings into existence appearances of amazing worlds. It doesn’t need to
do anything else. It doesn’t need to struggle to create various ontological categories, various
particles and fields and space and time, etc. It only needs to play with qualities.
Figure 5. Motion "illusions"
Having presented all these many examples, I think that the reader has enough data to grasp what
emergence is and how consciousness is using emergence to build up the world. The next step in
the analysis is to offer a mechanism for emergence. The search for a mechanism will be the
beginning of a road on strange realms in which contradictory properties exist at the same time.
But as the presentation will go on, we will see that these conclusions are inevitable. If we are to
explain emergence, by whose validity I hope the reader is convinced by now, we will have to
accept that reality works based on contradictory properties, such as every-thing being the same
as no-thing and other such apparent absurdities. Though at the beginning such ideas might sound
wrong, we will see that, as the presentation will go on, they have to be like this. There is no other
way for reality to be. Actually, it has to be contradictory in its very core to even be at all.
Self-Reference
The next step in the analysis is to offer a mechanism for emergence. How should the nature of
reality be such that new qualia can emerge on top of previously existing qualia? We will see that
the phenomenology of emergence will lead us to conclude the existence of an entity that includes
and transcends itself, both at the same time, thus accounting for how new qualia are able to
incorporate in themselves other qualia in a process that maintains the unity of consciousness. So,
in order to get to a mechanism for emergence, we have to pay careful attention to what is going
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on. Let’s take as an example the emergence of colors from shades-of-gray. First, there is a
consciousness that experiences shades-of-gray. Then, by a reason that remains unknown at the
present day, that same consciousness experiences colors.
How can we analyze this phenomenon? One aspect of this phenomenon is that, as we saw above,
colors include shades-of-gray while being more than shades-of-gray. Another aspect is that in
this transition, the same consciousness endures. So, what we have is not only that colors include
and transcend shades-of-gray, but the same consciousness includes and transcends itself. The
way in which this process can happen is by consciousness looking-back-at-itself. By lookingback-at-itself, consciousness finds itself, but the very act of finding itself leads consciousness to
transcends itself by including its former self. Note here that this is not necessarily a temporal
phenomenon.
When we see colors in day-by-day life, the emergence of colors on top of shades-of-gray is
already present. So, emergence is not to be understood in a temporal manner. Of course, some
cases of emergence, like learning new concepts on top of previously existing concepts are
temporal, but this is just a particular case, the most general way for emergence to be being
atemporal. But even though emergence is not to be understood in a temporal manner, the
analysis remains the same: the phenomenon of emergence is explainable by consciousness
having the property of including and transcending itself, both at the same time. Therefore, even if
we are dealing with the visual domain or the auditory domain, or any other qualia domain, the
same entity lies at the center of them all. Let’s call this entity: self-reference. We can try to
represent it graphically as in Figure 6.
Here, interesting considerations start to appear that need to be properly understood if the rest of
the paper is to make sense. One such first consideration is: Which of the two diagrams of Figure
3 represents self-reference? The answer is: both (and neither). They both are self-reference. Selfreference is an unformal entity. This means that no matter how hard we would try we cannot
capture it under any formalism. To give an intuitive feel for why this is the case, let’s take the
following example. Let’s say that you want to formalize a certain state of consciousness, like for
example seeing a unicorn. One way in which such a formalization can be done is to write on a
piece of paper “I see a unicorn”. But such a formalization pushes you outside of the very state
that you want to formalize, landing you on the new state “I draw on a piece of paper that I see a
unicorn”. If you try harder, and want to formalize this new state, a similar phenomenon will
happen of pushing you in yet another state: “I draw on a piece of paper that I draw on a piece of
paper that I see a unicorn”. And so on.
No matter how hard you try, you will be kept thrown outside the state that you want to formalize.
The reason for why this happens is that in this process there is always an “I” that is left outside of
the formalization. Any attempt at capturing the “I” (“I see”, “I draw”, etc.), pushes the “I” one
step backwards. No matter what formalization we would try to bring to consciousness, the “I”
that is doing the formalization will always be left outside. So, which is the ultimate “I”? The one
that sees or the one that draws? The answer is: both and neither. The observer is an unformal
entity. No formalization can be brought for the observer. Fortunately, as we will see, this is not
the end of the science of consciousness. Quite the contrary. If we take this fact of consciousness
at its true value, we can make important steps forward towards a science of consciousness.
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Figure 6. Self-Reference
Let’s analyze a little more the nature of self-reference. There is actually a difference between
self-reference and the Self, and this difference needs to be spelled down in order to make things
clearer. Let’s start from first principles and define self-reference to be an entity with the property
of looking-back-at-itself. Let’s analyze what this entails and see that starting from such
theoretical first principles we can recover the phenomenology of emergence. By looking-back-atitself, self-reference does two things. In the first place, it finds itself. The place in which it finds
itself is inside of itself. So, the itself that is found inside itself is “smaller” than itself. But
secondly, at the same time, finding the “smaller” itself inside itself, it also means that it is
“larger” than itself. And at the same time, being itself means that it is also equal to itself.
Thus, self-reference has three properties: it is smaller, equal and larger than itself, all at the same
time. Note that as long as we leave these apparent contradictory properties unformalized, there
will be no contradictions, so the analysis is valid. And not only valid, but crucial for the
existence of consciousness. So then, how does consciousness arise from these properties of selfreference? The way in which it happens is as follow: when self-reference looks-back-at-itself, by
finding itself inside itself, the first glimpse of awareness appears: “I am”. “I am”, or in short, the
Self, is the first object that self-reference finds when it looks-back-at-itself. The Self is the first
quale that self-reference experiences.
This quale is the sensation of being alive. When we strip our consciousness of colors and sounds
and touches, what is left is the primordial experience: the Self, the ontological subjectivity, the
first-person perspective. Another productive way in which we can cast this phenomenon is to
describe it in terms of form and formless. Self-reference is a formless entity. But by lookingback-at-itself it becomes form. Form and formless are inseparable. The formless self-reference
always looks-back-at-itself, so it always becomes form. And form cannot exist any other way but
by the looking-back-at-itself of the formless self-reference. Thus, form and formless are 2 sides
of the same coin. Self-reference is both form and formless and neither form nor formless.
If the above considerations of self-reference are hard to wrap the head around, it is natural. In
day-by-day life we are focused so much on forms (qualia) that we developed the noncontradiction principle in which no two qualia can be identical. Being thus used to handle the
forms, we find ourselves in difficulty when getting in contact with the unformal realm. I actually
think that this is the main reason why the science of consciousness is still struggling to be born.
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By being used to employ formal entities in our sciences, we have a tendency of hoping to do the
science of consciousness in the same manner. I think that if this obstacle is surpassed, rapid
advances will be made in giving birth and developing the science of consciousness. Thus, let’s
see what science we can do by operating in the unformal realm.
The first step in validating the above analysis of the unformal nature of self-reference is to see
how emergence is obtained from it. The step from self-reference to emergence is straightforward.
As we saw, the first looking-back of self-reference gives birth to the Self. But self-reference can
continue to look-back-at-itself. Since now it already has the “I am” object inside itself, the next
looking-back will put self-reference in the new “I am “I am”” form, form which includes the
previous “I am” form and at the same time transcends it. From here on out, self-reference can go
in various directions. At this moment it has 2 objects inside itself. It can either look-back at only
the second of them and become “I am “I am “I am”””, or it can look-back at both of them and
become “I am <“I am “I am” & “I am”>”. And so on.
We thus recognize two aspects of emergence: the quality inheritance from one level to the next
one and the ramification of levels. Having now the manifestation of self-reference at our
disposal, we can express for example the emergence of colors from shades-of-gray as a lookingback-at-itself of self-reference from the state “I am shades-of-gray” to the new state “I am colors
& I am shades-of-gray” (or better: “I am colors in virtue of being shades-of-gray”). Seeing thus
that emergence can be explained by self-reference, we can become more confident that the
suggestion of accepting unformal entities in our science is most probably correct.
There is one more way in which the unformal properties of self-reference can be expressed,
which is illuminating into making the reader more acquainted with the bizarre nature of the
unformal realm. Because self-reference is unformal, it is not a thing. A thing is an object, a
quale, a form. But since self-reference is a precursor of forms, self-reference is not a thing, or
better put: no-thing. Equally, because by the mechanism of looking-back-at-itself self-reference
enriches consciousness with all the possible qualia, self-reference is also forms. And even more:
it is all the forms. All the qualia that ever existed and will ever exist in my consciousness and in
all the consciousness in the world are created by self-reference looking-back-at-itself; are selfreference. So self-reference is also all the things, or better put: every-thing. In short: selfreference is no-thing and every-thing, both at the same time.
Maybe in the end of this section it is helpful to point out the mistaken way in which selfreference is employed by people. People usually talk about self-reference in relation to examples
such as “this sentence is false” or “the set of all sets”, being amazed at how such paradoxes are
possible. But such paradoxes are illusions, tricks of the mind. The reason is simple: they are bad
ontological constructions. When people create examples such as “this sentence is false”, they
somehow also attribute to them ontological status separated from consciousness. When they say
“this sentence is false” they somehow think that there really is a “sentence” out-there, that selfrefers to itself. But this is false, is just a trick of the mind. There is no “sentence” out-there with
an ontology separated from the consciousness that thinks this sentence.
Therefore, applying the concept of self-reference to such a “sentence” is an erroneous way of
employing self-reference. Self-reference is only one, and that is the one described in this section.
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The reader must become convinced that indeed this is the case, and drop all the erroneous ways
in which he used this concept in the past.
Dynamics of the unformal realm
Before getting to cast the analysis in terms of meaning and context, we need to be aware of one
more element of phenomenology that derives from the above considerations of self-reference. In
my paper about unification[6] I gave more examples, showing even how telepathy is such a
manifestation of the properties of self-reference, but for this paper I will only select one such
example that has a rich enough phenomenology to highlight the type of dynamics that takes
place in the unformal realm.
The example that I am about to present starts from the observation that our consciousness is a
unification of smaller consciousness. The reason that we both see and hear is because we are a
unification between a consciousness that only sees and a consciousness that only hears. Split
brain patients also expose other such unifications of consciousness that take place in a healthy
individual. Of course, these are the simplest examples of consciousness unifications, but the
phenomenon of unification is more subtle. The visual field itself is a unification between smaller
consciousness that each see individual objects. But it is even more intricate than this. The
example that I will present will show such intricacies of unification. For even more details of
unification, I refer the reader to my paper about unification[6].
The example is a type of error that we all make from time to time, and it happens in the written
qualia domain. It is when for example, instead of writing “tight lie”, we end up writing “light
tie”. The first thing to notice about this particular kind of error is that it is structured, it is not
random. We can see that it is a very specific switch of the first letters of the two words, such that
the resulting erroneous quale is also meaningful. If the switching of the first letters would not
have resulted in a meaningful result, they wouldn’t have switched. Thus, this error cannot be
explained in terms of “brain” making a bad “computation”. Something much deeper is at work.
We will see that we need to employ the entire previous analysis of self-reference in order to
explain it. Thus, what superficially might appear as an insignificant error, not worthy of taking
into consideration, it is actually of profound importance and has the power to illustrate the deep
workings of self-reference, and ultimately of reality.
The first thing is that we can start to spot the workings of the “every-thing” property of selfreference. Let’s go into details and see exactly what is happening. This type of error is a
consequence of how unification works based on the unformal properties of self-reference. As we
saw in the emergence section, in the written language qualia domain we have the holarchy letters
-> words -> sentences. The way in which the transition happens from level to level is by unifying
certain elements in a level and then transcending and including them by bringing into existence a
new meaning/quale. For the “tight lie” example, the level of the letters is composed of the
individual qualia “t”,”i”,”g”,”h”,”t”,”l”,”i”,”e”. Let’s call this level 1. Then these individual
qualia are unified into the words “tight” and “lie”, which in turn are unified into the group of
words “tight lie”. Let’s call these levels 2 and 3 respectively. This is what would happen in a
case in which no error appears. But sometimes, for unknown reasons at the time of writing this
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paper, something is happening with the unification, and a different final quale of “light tie” is
obtained.
What we see is that the qualia from the level 1 are unified in different qualia from the level 2.
But the reason that drives this erroneous unification comes from level 3. The reason why it
comes from level 3 is that level 3 is the one that establishes what the final group of words should
be, namely “tight” first and “lie” second. Therefore, what happens is that the highest level
scrambles all the unifications that happen on the lower levels. The unifications don’t happen
sequentially, but they happen all at the same time. This is also one consequence of the everything property of self-reference. There is not a first unification of letters into words and only then
of words into group of words.
There is not a first unification of “t”,”i”,”g”,”h”,”t” into “tight” and of ”l”,”i”,”e” into “lie” and
only then of “tight” and “lie” into “tight lie”. If that would have been the case, then “tight” and
“lie” would have been already settled, and the unification from level 2 to level 3 would have only
had at its disposal the ability to only unify “tight” with “lie”, so the error couldn’t have taken
place. But since the error does takes place, and since we can clearly see that the switching of the
first letters is influenced by level 3, then level 3 must have the ability to influence all the levels
that are part of its holarchy. Thus, when the final quale “tight lie” is created, all the previous
levels are still up for grab and the final level can still scramble them.
This process might sound similar to the superposition found in quantum mechanics, the
difference being that in quantum mechanics the superposition happens between elements from
“the same level”, while here we are dealing with a generalized version of superposition in which
elements exist in superposition both with their peers from the same level and also with elements
from higher and lower levels, the process of looking-back “collapsing the wavefunction” and
giving a definitive result which depends upon the entire holarchy of levels that are in
superposition before the moment of looking-back. I will not pursue this line of thought in this
paper, though some readers might find it intriguing to be pursued in their own work.
Having explained in little more detail the process of unification, let’s see now how exactly the
“every-thing” (together with the “no-thing”) properties of self-reference come into play in
producing the error. To explain better what is happening, let’s remember the question regarding
Figure 6. Which of the two diagrams of Figure 6 represents self-reference? The answer is: both
(and neither). To get an even clearer picture of this, let’s represent self-reference in a more
complex example. Let’s see this in Figure 7.
The same question: Which of the many elements of Figure 7 represents self-reference? The
answer is: all of them and neither of them. We can take the smaller elements to represent the
letters in our “tight lie” example, then the medium elements the words, and the 2 big elements
the level of the group of words. At each step along the way, each element is self-reference itself.
Since each element is self-reference itself, then each element on its own must have the properties
of self-reference. Each element on its own is no-thing and every-thing both at the same time. Up
until the final step in which a quale is actually experienced, all the levels that go into that final
quale are in the undetermined state of being no-thing and every-thing both at the same time. Up
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until the final quale of “tight lie” is about to be experienced, all its component sub-levels are nothing and every-thing both at the same time.
Figure 7. A more complex example of self-reference
Therefore, when the error does happen and the final quale “light tie” is experienced, the sublevels are free to be arranged in any possible way. The sub-levels not having a definite state, the
error is allowed to happen, and sometimes is does happen. One aspect of consciousness that
might contribute to structuring consciousness in normal cases is attention. Attention might act as
a limiting factor in what the outcome will be. If attention is concentrated, then the levels lose
their absolute freedom and become restricted into creating the result intended by attention. Of
course, other factors might be at play as well. Unfortunately, the complete answer will have to
wait to be uncovered by future generations of thinkers. But what this paper propose is that part of
the mechanism of how these errors happen and how unification and ultimately consciousness
works is by the interplay between the unformal properties of self-reference.
Thus, we can see that explanations of the type “brain bad computation” are nowhere near capable
of explaining such phenomena. Such phenomena are not possible to be explained in formal
terms. They need dynamics that happen in the unformal realm where contradictory properties can
exist at the same time. Even on these grounds alone, materialism cannot be true. Actually, even
an idealist theory of consciousness that tries to explain consciousness solely on formal terms is
equivalent to materialism, and has no chances of success. An adequate theory of consciousness
needs to take into account its unformal dimension.
There are many more such examples to be given, some maybe even more revealing than this one,
and for this I refer the reader to my paper about unification[6]. But this example has enough
phenomenology in order to be ready to start the discussion about meaning and context.
Meaning and context
We now have plenty of phenomenology of consciousness and insights into how this
phenomenology is constructed from the unformal realm. But this phenomenology is in terms of
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“qualia” and “emergence”, which are not that natural. After all, why would the world be made
out of qualia and why construct qualia through emergence? It seems as question begging as the
stories of materialism. Thus, we need to search for a more natural way of regarding the
phenomenology discussed throughout this paper, in order to see its necessary nature and thus to
answer the begging questions. Thus, by recasting the entire analysis in terms of meaning and
context, we will explain why the world is necessarily made out of qualia and why it necessarily
is constructed through emergence.
The first step is to establish that qualia are meaning, thus reducing the ontological category of
“qualia” to the more natural ontological category of “meaning”. This was first done in my very
first paper[1], and then here and there in some of my other papers[8], but I will give again the
examples that establish how qualia are meaning. The most obvious one is the place where the
concept of meaning is usually employed, and that is in language. Language is by excellence a
meaningful phenomenon. But language itself is a phenomenon taking in place in consciousness,
is a form of manifestation of consciousness. Thus, the language qualia are the most
straightforward examples of meaning.
The next easiest example is in cases such as the duck-rabbit image, as in Figure 8. This is a
visual quale, but what is interesting here is that the particular quale that we get to experience
depends on us attributing meaning to the image. The moment we attribute the meaning of
“duck”, that same moment we experience the visual quale of “duck”. The moment we attribute
the meaning of “rabbit”, that same moment we experience the visual quale of “rabbit”. Thus,
visual experiences themselves are being modified according to what they mean. Actually, visual
qualia themselves are a form of meaning.
Figure 8. Qualia are meaning
Another interesting example from the visual domain, one that also points towards possible
origins to meaning, is the one in Figure 9.
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Figure 9. Qualia are selected by evolution for meaningful reasons
What we see in Figure 9 is that some rows are bumps, some others are dimples. Why is it like
this? The explanation comes from evolutionary reasoning. The only source of light in our
evolutionary history was the Sun, and the Sun was shining from above. Thus, if we were to look
at a bump on a wall of stone, the light pattern would have been the one in rows 1 and 3.
Similarly, if we were to look at a dimple in a wall of stone, the light pattern would have been the
one on rows 2 and 4. Therefore, analyzing the light pattern, consciousness created the qualia of
bumps and dimples. And nowadays is enough only to see the same light pattern displayed on a
computer screen for consciousness to bring to our experience the qualia of bumps and dimples.
Thus, our experiences are not random, but they serve meaningful evolutionary reasons. This
second example shows both that again qualia are meaning, and also that meaning is related to
evolution.
Getting to evolution, and taking as a case study more primitive qualia, the color pairs red-green
and yellow-blue are not random, but are qualities selected into our consciousness also by
evolutionary processes. As meanings selected for evolutionary reasons, we need to search for
their origin in the functions that they serve for us in nature. The pair red-green appears in nature
mostly in the case of fruits in trees, fruits being red and leaves being green. The fact that the
colors red and green are complementary colors in colors theory, and the fact that they also appear
as pair in nature must be a question begging correlation. And the explanation comes from
evolutionary reasoning. Since our ancestors needed to eat, they also needed a way to identify
what food means. They needed something to draw their attention immediately such that they
don’t waste much energy and starve to death.
A solution that evolution brought was to bring into existence color red. Color red signifies
importance and draws the attention immediately. Thus, our ancestors could spot immediately the
food that they needed. Also, in order to maximize the identification of food, consciousness
brought into existence color green for the surrounding, in order to maximally contrast with red.
Thus, fruits were colored red and leaves were colored green. The meanings that we can identify
for this pair of colors is that red means “importance” and green means something like “the
opposite of red” or “enhancing the identification of red”. Thus, the colors red and green in our
consciousness are not random. They serve precisely identified evolutionary purposes. Any other
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colors would have failed the identification of food. Red is red precisely because of the
evolutionary purpose that it serves. Similarly for green.
The second pair of colors, yellow and blue, serve a similar role, this time regarding the
identification of Sun in the sky. Similarly, the fact that yellow and blue are complementary
colors in colors theory and the fact that they also appear as a pair in nature in the case of the
yellow Sun in the blue sky, is a correlation that begs the question. And the explanation is similar.
The Sun, as the only source of light in nature, had to be identified by a color. And that color was
yellow. Also, in order for yellow to be maximally contrasted from the surrounding, the color blue
was brought into existence for the sky. One might wonder why yellow and not some other color.
And I will ask the reader to look at all the colors and see which one is intuitively “the brightest”.
And that is yellow. Yellow is a bright color in the way that red or green or blue or other colors
are not. And it is not a coincidence that it has this quality of brightness. The reason is that it had
to signify a source of light, and thus it came to look the way it does.
One might still wonder why not white directly, since white is the brightest color possible. The
reason is that black and white serve different purposes. They are even more ancient colors, that
must have appeared with the first beings that saw light, like fish under ocean that only needed to
differentiate between the water surface and the depth of the ocean. Thus, white has a more
primitive meaning, something like “something” or “object”, while black has the meaning of
“nothing” or “lack of objects”. Thus, when the beings got out of the ocean and needed a more
precise identification for the Sun, white was already used for other purposes, and with the birth
of the world of colors, a new quale was required in order to serve the function of identifying the
Sun in the sky. And that color was yellow. Thus, yellow has the meaning of “source of light”,
while blue has the meaning of “the opposite of yellow” or “enhancing the identification of
yellow”.
We thus see that even more primitive qualia are also meanings. And this is true for qualia in
general. The next step in the analysis is to explain how does meaning originates. One such reason
is evolution, but “evolution” is again an ambiguous term, and given the fact that time itself is a
quale in consciousness, evolution cannot be the one described today by Darwinism, but it must
be an atemporal kind of phenomenon. Actually, evolution must be a side effect of the workings
of meaning inside consciousness. Thus, “evolution” is not the primary selector of
qualia/meaning. The primary selector, as we are about to see, must be an interplay between
meaning and context. And this is the most difficult part of the paper, for which I don’t have the
full picture, and for which I hope the inspired reader will contribute to the development of the
theory. Nevertheless, I will present what I understand so far about the interplay between meaning
and context and leave many unsolved problems for the future and for other people.
Let’s start by having an yet another look at self-reference and answer the questions posed at the
beginning of the paper, namely what is consciousness and why everything must be
consciousness. As we saw, self-reference can be described as both form and formless and neither
form nor formless. This poses difficult problems related to the concept of “being” and the proper
usage of the verb “to be”. Strictly speaking, being is what exists, what is a well-defined entity, an
entity with a well-defined quality. For example, red exists, the taste of chocolate exists. These
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are entities with well-defined qualities. You can pinpoint them in your consciousness and say:
This is red and nothing else; This is the taste of chocolate and nothing else.
When getting to self-reference though, things become trickier. Self-reference is what the saying
“The Tao that can be told is not the eternal Tao. The name that can be named is not the eternal
name.” and what other such spiritual ideas pinpoint to. Strictly speaking, self-reference doesn’t
exist. But this only means that it cannot be pointed to. But this doesn’t mean that it doesn’t have
effects upon the world of forms. Actually, even using the word “it” to refer to it is not correct.
But we have to deal with it however the limits of language and of forms allows us to. What is
important in science is not to have a definition for everything, but to find truth and accept it
however it comes. And then, if possible, to use that truth to make predictions. Thus, let’s see how
we can still do science despite these limitations.
We discussed self-reference in terms of looking-back-at-itself, including and transcending itself,
form and formless, no-thing and every-thing, but there is an yet one more way, and that is
meaning and context. Self-reference can also be regarded as the absolute context and the
absolute meaning both at the same time. When self-reference first looks-back-at-itself, it defines
itself relative to itself. The “I am” form that is first experienced by self-reference is a meaning
that is defined relative to itself as a context. Self-reference becomes the Self by taking itself as a
context and then understanding that relative to itself as a context, it also has the meaning that it is
itself, thus that it is the Self. And here we see where the problems with contexts lie. When people
usually talk about contexts, they talk in relation to words having meaning relative to the context
of the sentence, such as “I saw a rock on the ground”/”I’ve been to a rock concert”, the word
“rock” acquiring its meaning relative to the sentence of which it is part. And the problem seems
clear enough and even trivial.
But we will shortly get into more details and see that actually it is a difficult problem. And this
difficulty steams from the very original context of self-reference itself. When self-reference
defines itself relative to itself, it presents the same contradictory duality that we saw in the initial
analysis. While the meaning that self-reference finds that it is, namely the Self, the “I am”, is a
form, the context relative to which this meaning is defined, is formless. Thus, we have a first
alarm bell that contexts are actually something subtler, that they are actually formless entities.
And by being formless, they slip into the unformal realm dynamics and all of a sudden we have
difficulties into manipulating them, since they get into the territory of being no-thing and everything both at the same time, and other such contradictory properties, that from the form realm our
faculty of understanding is incapable of handling them the way it can handle the forms.
Getting to the original questions, consciousness is the result of self-reference looking-back-atitself. Each time self-reference looks-back-at-itself, it results in a form. That form is a form of
consciousness. Consciousness is the result of the form-producing process of self-reference
looking-back-at-itself. The reason why these forms are by necessity consciousness and not some
kind of other third-person kind of entities is because the quality of the first form created by selfreference, namely the Self, is by its very meaning ontological subjectivity, first-person
perspective. Because of how this meaning is defined relative to itself as a context, it, by
necessity, feels ontological subjective. Thus, the subsequent looks-back-at-itself of self-reference
will all include the quality of ontological subjectivity, and thus all existence will be rendered
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ontological subjective, thus consciousness. This is why everything that exists is consciousness,
because all the forms that can exist are created on top of the primordial form of the Self, and they
all inherit by necessity the quality of ontological subjectivity. We thus see that idealism versus
materialism is not a matter of fashion or taste, but is a matter of logical analysis. Idealism is the
logical way for how the world can be. The eternal logical entity self-reference, by having by
internal logical definition the property of looking-back-at-itself, by logical necessity then
generates all the forms that can exist, and those forms are by necessity ontological subjective,
thus consciousness. There can be nothing else but consciousness.
There is an extra subtle aspect of existence, that we need in order to understand the interplay
between meanings and contexts. While consciousness is all that exists, this only means that
consciousness is all that can be pointed to. But this only refers to the form part of reality. In a
way, consciousness is a tautology: form is what can be pointed to, thus form is all that exists. But
is not a tautology in the trivial sense of 1=1, but is a more subtle tautology that is inextricable
linked with its formless part. While indeed all that exist are forms/consciousness, there “is” also
the formless part of self-reference that is responsible for the generation of forms. But the
formless part being formless, the verb “to be” is not applicable to it. We cannot pinpoint to it and
say “this is formless red” in the same way we can pinpoint to red and say “this is form red”.
The formless part of self-reference is not a thing, but is rather an ocean of mystery. It is an ocean
because it cannot be described in a “localized” way in the way in which forms can be described,
by using the qualifier “this”. And it is a mystery because we cannot use our faculty of
understanding to make sense of it. Our only chance to deal with it is to see its effects upon the
forms. And here lies an important distinction between the formless realm and materialism.
Because, upon seeing this paragraph, someone might get the feeling that while I pretend that
consciousness is all there is, at the same time I’m somehow stating that there is still something
outside consciousness, namely the formless part of self-reference. But consciousness indeed is all
there is. Because “is” is a qualifier that is applicable to forms. And forms are by necessity
ontological subjective, thus consciousness, thus consciousness indeed is all there is. The formless
part of self-reference is not amenable to the verb “to be”, thus, strictly speaking, it doesn’t exist.
Thus, it cannot be said that there “is” something outside consciousness. And someone might
wonder at this point why materialism might not be that formless part of self-reference.
The reason is that, as materialism is viewed today, it talks about entities that indeed exist outside
consciousness, like particles and energy and space and time, etc. But the formless part of selfreference is different from such entities that materialism conjures outside consciousness. At a
pragmatic level, the important distinction between the formless part of self-reference and
materialism is that the formless part of self-reference always works towards producing forms
within consciousness, while the particles of materialism have an agenda of their own that is not
necessarily conductive to consciousness.
These considerations can also bring insights into other long-standing problems of consciousness,
such as free will. Besides the standard options of free will existing or not, we can now have a
third option: free will not existing, namely not being a form, yet still being able to act on the
forms from the formless realm. Free will can be considered as a context that is able to view
multiple potential meanings at the same time and then act towards actualizing one of those
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meanings. This is also an elegant solution, because it is able to provide a technical precise
answer to the question if free will exists, and that is No, while at the same time maintaining the
sense of mystery that have fascinated philosophers throughout history regarding its nature, also
making the mystery technical precise, transforming it from an epistemic unknown to an
ontological unknown, namely the formless part of self-reference that by its very ontology cannot
be known by the faculty of understanding. (As a side note, the faculty of understanding is also
self-reference itself, is the process by which self-reference understands itself as meaning relative
to itself as context.)
Having these ontological considerations, the most obvious question at this point is how are we
able to handle the ontological mystery and make any progress whatsoever in understanding
consciousness. And the answer is to analyze the various ways in which meanings are generated
in consciousness. And for this we have as data the emergent phenomenology in which higher
meanings are including and transcending lower meanings. We have to be careful though. As we
saw in the section regarding the dynamics of the unformal realm, the phenomenology deals with
superposition intra and inter levels, thus it is not at all an easy problem. And to make things even
more complicated, contexts can extend between individual consciousness, as I described in my
paper about telepathy[7]. To give the reader the proper dimensions of the difficulty of the
problem, I will describe here one of the examples. Of course, the paper contains more examples,
which can give the reader a more comprehensive understanding on these phenomena.
What I describe in the paper about telepathy[7] is an experiment that I undertook in order to
understand more about how meaning is generated and how telepathy works. For this purpose, I
entered in relations with multiple girls at the same time, without them knowing one about the
others. The reason for doing this were the above considerations of the colors red-green appearing
in order to help the animal avoid death, or generally of getting in the danger of dying. I reasoned
that if I subject myself to the danger of the girls finding about each other, and thus getting
anyone hurt, including myself, meaning will be generated in my consciousness that will help me
avoid such dangers.
The second reason was that I already knew that I have telepathies when I’m in relationships, thus
I wanted to see what kind of telepathies appear if I involve more than one girl. The results were
quite interesting, and one of them made clear to me the extent of what contexts really are.
Namely, while previously I was viewing contexts as something present in one’s own
consciousness, like the above mentioned example of “I saw a rock on the ground.”/”I’ve been to
a rock concert.”, now I saw clearly that contexts are something more profound and that they are
actually formless entities. I will describe this specific result in order for the reader to see how
deep the problem of contexts goes.
The event was as follow: Amy was on a trip for the week-end, and I went to spend the week-end
with Emma at her place. At a point I got a call from Amy, which of course I couldn’t answer,
Emma being around. I was worried that if I don’t call Amy soon, she might suspect something.
Then, a few minutes later, a neighbor calls Emma to tell her that her car was hit in the parking by
another car. She went down to see what happened, and I took advantage of the situation to call
Amy and talk to her for few minutes, before joining Emma in the parking lot to settle the
accident.
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We can see that this case cannot be explained by classical telepathy, since classical telepathy
assumes sharing of meanings, but in this event, even though the people that took part in it (me,
Amy, Emma, the driver, the neighbor) were connected, they were not connected by shared
meanings, thus we must have been connected by something formless, namely a context. What is
interesting and useful as a phenomenological data point, is that the influence goes both ways. Is
not only that contexts are the main players and they just generate meanings and that’s it, but
meanings on their turn impact the contexts.
Here, my desire of Emma not finding about Amy, influenced the context of all of our lives and
created meanings in each consciousness partaking in the event in order for my meaning to be
fulfilled. Of equally great importance is also the fact that from a particular meaning the context
cannot be necessarily deduced. None of the consciousness that took part in the event could have
possible deduced what was happening to them. Only I could have seen the entire situation, and
this was only because I was specifically looking for it in the first place. Otherwise, I would have
equally been blind to the entire state of affairs, and I would have been just a puppet like
everybody else. And clearly in other events in my life I’m a puppet of who knows what historical
and cosmic contexts that probably orchestrate cosmic symphonies of billions of consciousness.
The main lesson from this experiment is that there is not a 1-to-1 correlation between contexts
and meanings, but there can be all sorts of relations. And this is possible precisely because
contexts are formless. Since they are not forms, they are able to entertain multiple forms at the
same time. And those forms can be as different from each other as the meaning of my desire of
Emma not finding about Amy, the meaning of Emma going to see her car and the meaning of the
driver turning the wheel in the wrong direction.
In case someone might be skeptic of this result of my experiment and of the interpretation that
I’m giving to it, there is no problem, because upon deeper reflection such a skeptic should see
that this result is identical in its essence to the error example that I described in the section about
the dynamics of the unformal realm. The reason why I also gave this extra example is to make
the reader as aware as possible of what meanings and contexts are. Even if we are philosophical
idealists, we somehow still tend to think of the world being made out of individual consciousness
somehow separated one from another by biological bodies. But “biological bodies” is itself just
an idea in consciousness, thus consciousness are not separated by such “biological bodies”.
Idealism properly understood doesn’t talk about consciousness separated by “biological bodies”.
Idealism properly understood is actually about ideas/meanings.
The interaction happens between meanings, without any other extra specification of weather
those meanings are in any way related to “biological bodies”. And even though in the error
example given in the section about the dynamics of the unformal realm, those meanings that take
part in it are actually independent meanings with no relation to any “biological bodies”, the
reader might still have the inertial intuition that the error happens “in my consciousness”. It
doesn’t happen “in my consciousness”. It happens directly between meanings. “In my
consciousness” is an extra idea added by the inertial belief that there is some kind of 1-to-1
relation between consciousness and biological bodies. But this idea has nothing to do with the
fact that the interaction is between meanings themselves, not between “biological bodies”. That’s
why I also brought this telepathy example, to better highlight that the meanings are not related to
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“biological bodies”. This example in its essence is no different than the error example. Thus, it’s
irrelevant if a skeptic doesn’t believe it. The analysis and its conclusions remain the same.
Probably the reason why there appears to be biological bodies with individual consciousness is
that the interaction between meanings and contexts favor the grouping of meanings in systems
that appear to have individuality, thus having as a side effect the appearance of biological bodies
and of evolution.
One thing that we need to be careful are the examples of the type “I saw a rock on the
ground.”/”I’ve been to a rock concert.”. Such cases seem to suggest that contexts are actually
forms, the word “rock”, which is a form, getting its meaning from the sentence of which it is
part, which is also a form. But this is not quite what is happening. The moment we focus our
attention on the word “rock” in order to assess its meaning, the sentence slips out of focus and
goes into background becoming formless. So, while we have the meaning of “rock” in our
conscious attention, the sentence is lost as a form and becomes formless. Thus, the context is
also formless in such examples.
Other such example is the colored cube from Figure 4, where the same thing happens: when we
focus our attention on the yellow and blue squares, the cube falls into background and becomes
formless. Thus, the context of the cube that is responsible for the yellow and blue squares is also
formless. One more example is when walking in the city and heading towards a certain
destination. What we experience in our direct consciousness are the qualia from the street level.
Yet, we still know where we are heading, because on the back of our mind there is the context of
the map of the city which exists in a formless state and from which it guides our orientation
through the experiences of seeing the city from the street level. Contexts are always formless and
meanings are always form.
Another interesting consideration of the properties of self-reference explored in this paper is their
relation to teachings coming from spiritual practices, namely I being God and Infinity and Love.
I will talk about the Love aspect. I will start from the human type of love and then go to the
absolute type of Love. One aspect of human love is of interest here, and that is the generation of
meaning. When we are in love, our entire life becomes meaningful to a degree that is not
normally when we lack love. Thus, even in our human limited consciousness, love seems to be
about meaning generation. Of course, the meaning that love generates in us is also limited as our
human consciousness is. But in principle we can generalize this and postulate a Love that is so
absolute that is able to generate all the possible meanings in the world, basically powerful
enough to create the entire world out of nothing.
A Love of such power would obviously be equivalent to being God. This seems not such an
outrageous generalization. But even so, it would be nice if we can ground it in some more robust
philosophy or other methods. One such other method is the experiences obtained on certain
psychedelics. I never took psychedelics, thus I cannot speak of how those experiences feel and
how much validity is in them. But I suspect they are valid, because they are identical to the
conclusions about self-reference that I deduced solely through reason and normal life
experiences, as detailed throughout this paper. And they can also be cast in terms of absolute
Love bringing the entire world into existence. Self-reference being the absolute context, it is not
only responsible for bringing the Self into existence, but as absolute context, it equally applies to
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all the possible qualia. When a quale is brought into existence, it is not only brought into
existence relative to smaller contexts, like the blue and yellow squares in the colored cube being
brought into existence relative to the cube, but they are at the same time brought into existence
relative to the absolute context.
Thus, all qualia being brought into existence relative to the absolute context, we can take the
absolute context to be absolute Love. And this is interesting. If the same ideas are arrived at by
utterly different methods, like reason, meditation, psychedelics, then the chances of those ideas
being correct is high. And because such ideas are arrived at by different routes, each route can
inform one another of its own unique aspect, and thus a fruitful science of consciousness can be
done. What my analysis offers that the spiritual path doesn’t offer, is a systematic way of doing
science, in which the world is not randomly brought into existence by Love, but is brought
according to specific rules of interactions between meanings and contexts.
So, what exactly are those specific rules of interactions between meanings and context?
Unfortunately, as stated from the beginning of the paper, my insights end here. At the moment I
have no such specific rules to offer to the reader such that he can then go into lab and develop
some quantum mechanics experiment beyond present day quantum mechanics and see that
indeed such rules make correct predictions not explainable under current quantum mechanics.
Nevertheless, I think that this paper brings a valuable collection of phenomenological data
points, from which the more intelligent reader than me can deduce a theory that can then be
tested in various experiments.
Discussions and conclusions
Let’s do a quick review of the ideas discussed in this paper, to bring in a more condensed form
the main ideas. At the center of existence we have self-reference defined as the logical entity
with the property of looking-back-at-itself. Such a logical necessary entity, by its very nature,
acts as both meaning and context and defines itself as meaning relative to itself as context. Such
a reflection of itself unto itself gives birth to the Self, which is a meaning that, because of its very
self-definition, feels like the sensation of being alive. But self-reference eternally looks-back-atitself, it doesn’t stop at the Self. It continues to define itself relative to itself. This time, having
the Self object inside itself, its context also changes, and the new object that is brought into
existence is defined relative to the enriched context, and it takes the form “I am “I am””. The
process then continues indefinitely and the entire world is brought into existence.
One problem the reader might notice is that this mechanism seems to produce only endless
strings of “I am”s, and clearly our consciousness doesn’t appear this way. This is a general
problem of any theory of consciousness, being it philosophical or spiritual, how to get from the
One to the Many. I can see two solutions to this problem. One is that the formless part of selfreference being, among other things, free will, at some points along the emergence, free will
choses one meaning over the others and then the symmetry is broken and consciousness such as
ourselves start to appear. The second solution is that there might be complexly irreducible states
from which various worlds then evolve. Given that self-reference is the absolute context, it can
act as a base for various complexly irreducible states to be defined to the absolute context. And
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then such states can start to evolve meanings by the act of free will. I will give an interesting
such example to illustrate how such a complexly irreducible state can be like. I will describe a
telepathic predator-prey relationship in which the meanings in one change the meanings in the
other and vice versa.
One consciousness, which will be the predator, has the visual experience of a white disk on a
black background. The predator interprets this disk as the source of energy, thus it will try its
best to “arrive” at it, thus it will act in the direction of increasing the size of the disk. The other
consciousness, which will be the prey, has the visual experience of a black disk on a white
background. The prey interprets the disk as being a predator that is hunting it, thus it will try its
best to “run away” from it, thus it will act in the direction of decreasing the size of the disk. We
can see what dynamics this situation creates: as the predator approaches the prey (by increasing
the size of its white disk), the prey will feel being approached by the predator (by seeing its black
disk increasing); as the prey runs away from the predator (by decreasing the size of its black
disk), the predator sees the prey running away from it (by seeing its white disk decreasing).
Both consciousness will be connected in a complexly irreducible telepathic relation in which
both act at the same time on the size of the disk. Note that the 2 consciousness don’t live in “the
same physical world”. They each live in their own consciousness. But they are connected
through a shared context. Such a connection will create in each of the 2 consciousness the
impression that they live in the same physical world and that they are hunting and are being
hunted. The predator will hunt the white prey and will try its best to “approach” it, while the prey
will try to avoid the black predator by “running away” from it.
I think this is a revealing example of how the appearance of a physical world can be generated
starting from consciousness living in their own internal worlds. In order for consciousness to
interact there is no need for a “physical world” to act as a stage for their interactions. All that is
needed is a common context that is able to then generate entangled meanings in what are
otherwise independent consciousness living in their own internal dreams. Also, this example
shows what an interaction truly is. At a superficial level, people might tend to regard interactions
in a kind of physical way, of requiring physical touch (whatever this might mean, like exchange
of virtual particles, etc.). Or at a social level, an interaction between consciousness might be
thought of as consciousness talking between each other. But these are pseudo-interactions. A true
interaction is one in which a single context generates multiple meanings, and then consciousness
by acting on their individual meanings they then in turn affect the context and the context further
affects the other meanings that it generates. In day-by-day life this mechanism is obscured by the
amazing complexities of our consciousness. But it can be revealed from time to time like in the
case of the telepathy experiment that I undertook.
Such interactions between consciousness through shared contexts are possible because at the
base of the entire world there is the formless part of self-reference which acts at the absolute
context for all the consciousness in the world. Also, as we discussed, each consciousness along a
holarchy is self-reference itself. Basically, an individual consciousness only ever interacts with
itself. A consciousness only changes its own qualia through free will. But because qualia in
different individual consciousness are connected through a shared context, an act of
consciousness inside itself is then felt in the other consciousness connected by the shared
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382
context. Overall, the absolute context, together with other mysterious properties that the formless
part might entail, like free will, imagination, creativity, and other such active powers, then give
birth to an infinite world of relative contexts and meanings, in a never-ending unfolding of
stories through which self-reference knows all that it can be.
Having all these phenomenological insights that this paper brings, the interested and the more
mathematical-oriented reader can try to come up with some more rigorous theory that can then
be tested in practice and bring science into its next stage. Such a theory will not be able to be
fully formalized. It would have to contain at places “black boxes” in which the mystery to
happen. But it should be able to predict types of results. The reason why I use the phrase “types
of results” and not “precise results”, is because its results will have to be experienced by the
consciousness designing the experiment first hand. The predictions will be something along the
line: “if I put myself in such and such danger, I expect to experience in my consciousness such
and such qualia to save me from the danger”. Of course, as the science of consciousness will
progress, the theory and the predictions will become more refined than this crude example, but it
will still be a participatory science in which consciousness will become directly involved in their
experiments. In the end, infinite worlds await to be explored by the eternal self-reference, in an
eternal process of self-knowing and self-loving.
Received October 10, 2021; Accepted November 6, 2021
References
[1] Vișan, C., Is Qualia Meaning or Understanding?. Journal of Consciousness Exploration & Research,
5(8): pp. 729-745.
[2] Vișan, C., The Emergent Structure of Consciousness (Part I). Journal of Consciousness Exploration &
Research, 8(8): pp. 604-627.
[3] Vișan, C., The Emergent Structure of Consciousness (Part II). Journal of Consciousness Exploration
& Research, 8(8): pp. 628-650.
[4] Vișan, C., The Self-Referential Aspect of Consciousness. Journal of Consciousness Exploration &
Research, 8(11): pp. 864-880.
[5] Vișan, C., The Quale of Time. Journal of Consciousness Exploration & Research, 10(3): pp. 165-188.
[6] Vișan, C., On the Phenomenon of Unification. Journal of Consciousness Exploration & Research,
11(3): pp. 263-280.
[7] Vișan, C., Telepathy: A Real-World Experiment. Journal of Consciousness Exploration & Research,
11(7): pp. 709-720.
[8] Vișan, C., The Archeology of Qualia. J Anthro & Archeo Sci 4(5)- 2021: pp. 565-569.
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Kozlowski, M., Moon, Schumann Wave & Human Mind
Exploration
Moon, Schumann Wave & Human Mind
Miroslaw Kozlowski*2
Warsaw University, Warsaw, Poland
Abstract
We have theorized previously that the soul has the energy of the order of the 1030GeV. The
human consciousness field have the range of 10 5km, and characteristic time= 1 sec, which is
also characteristic for Schumann waves and brain waves. The range of consciousness field is
of the order of Moon-Earth distance. It suggested the influence of the Moon radiation on the
Earth Schumann waves and human mind waves. Earth women body is a special detector of
Moon waves, which have the range of distance Earth women – Moon ( order of 105 km). Let
as call these sort of elementary electromagnetic waves. It is hypothesized here that these
waves interact with women mind only and start macroscopic periodicity phenomena, for
example distortion of women mind during the absorption psychon waves.
Keyword: Periodicity, women body, psychon wave, Earth - Moon interaction.
Introduction
In Physics World and other journals the MEN constantly discuss how to improve the
percentage of Women in Science. For me it is curious problem. In Science we have 100 %
of female savants. Let`s ,please, take into account our wife, daughters, sisters. All of them
take a part in our men research. Moreover as I showed in this Essay only women have the
direct inside to Universe. We men have not!
Let us start with the study of the energetic fields which surrounded the humans. In the
seminal paper [1] F. Calogero described the cosmic origin of quantization. In paper the
tremor of the cosmic particles is the origin of the quantization and the characteristic
acceleration of these particles a ≈ 10 m/s2 was calculated. In our earlier paper [2] the same
value of the acceleration was obtained and compared to the experimental value of the
measured space-time acceleration
In the following paper we investigate the natural forces in the Universe and also the new
force for the human consciousness. We define the cosmic force — Planck force, FPlanck =
MP aPlanck (aPlanck ≈ a) and study the history of Planck force as the function of the age of
the Universe. In addition we introduce the Bohr force for atomic scale, the Yukawa force
for nuclear scale, the Schwinger force for the vacuum
Masses introduce a curvature in space-time, light and matter are forced to move according
to space-time metric. Since all the matter is in motion, the geometry of space is constantly
changing. A Einstein relates the curvature of space to the mass/energy density:
G = k T,
*
(1)
Correspondence: Miroslaw Kozlowski, Prof. Emeritus, Warsaw University, Poland. Email: m.kozlowski934@upcpoczta.pl
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G is the Einstein curvature tensor and T the stress-energy tensor. The proportionality
factor k follows by comparison with Newton’s theory of gravity: k = G/ c4 where G is the
Newton’s gravity constant and c is the vacuum velocity of light; it amounts to about 2.10 43
N-1 expressing the rigidity of space-time.
2. Universe forces
In paper [2] the model for the acceleration of space-time was developed. Prescribing the G for space-time and +G for matter the acceleration of space-time was obtained:
1 π 2 N 34 2
aPlanck
AP ,
3
24
M2
where AP, Planck acceleration equal, viz.;
1
1
(2)
1
c7 2
c
AP
10 51 ms -2.
(3)
τP
G
As was shown in paper [5] the a Planck for N = M = 1060 is of the order of the acceleration
detected by Pioneer spacecrafts [3].
Considering AP it is quite natural to define the Planck force FPlanck
c4
FPlanck M P AP
k 1 ,
G
where
(4)
1
c 2
MP .
G
1
From formula (4) we conclude that FPlanck
= rigidity of the space-time. The Planck
4
44
force, FPlanck = c /G = 1.2∙10 N can be written in units which characterize the
microspace-time, i.e. GeV and fm. In that units
k-1 = FPlanck = 7.6∙1038 GeV/fm.
As was shown in paper [5] the present value of Planck force equal
1
1 π 2
c4
GeV
F
( N m 10 ) 1060
1022
.
(5)
24
G
fm
In papers [5,6] the Planck time τP was defined as the relaxation time for space-time
(6)
τP
.
M Pc2
Considering formulae (4) and (6) FPlanck can be written as
M c
(7)
FPlanck P ,
τP
where c is the velocity for gravitation propagation. In papers [5,6] the velocities and
relaxation times for thermal energy propagation in atomic and nuclear matter were
calculated:
υatomic αemc,
(8)
υnuclear αs c,
Now
Planck
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Kozlowski, M., Moon, Schumann Wave & Human Mind
where αem e2 /(c) 1 / 137, αs 0.15 . In the subsequent we define atomic and nuclear
accelerations:
α c
aatomic em ,
τ atomic
(9)
αs c
anuclear
.
τ nuclear
2 2
Considering that τ atomic meαem
c , τ nuclear mN αs2c2 one obtains from formula (9)
me c α
,
mN c 3α s3
anuclear
.
aatomic
3
3
em
(10)
We define, analogously to Planck force the new forces: FBohr, FYukawa
FBohr me aatomic
m c α 5 10
FYukawa mN anuclear
2 2
3
em
e
c
13
GeV
,
fm
m c α 1.6 10 GeV .
2 2
N
c
3
s
(11)
2
fm
Comparing formulae (8) and (11)we conclude that gradients of Bohr and Yukawa forces
Now
are much large than FPlanck
, i.e.:
FBohr
5 1013
109 ,
Now
22
FPlanck
10
FYukawa 102
22 1020.
Now
FPlanck 10
(12)
The formulae (12) guarantee present day stability of matter on the nuclear and atomic
levels.
As the time dependence of FBohr and FYukawa are not well established, in the subsequent we
will assumed that αs and αem [6] do not dependent on time. Considering formulae (11) and
(12) we obtain
2
FYukawa
1 mN c 2 αs3
T,
1
FPlanck π 2 M P c 2
4
(13)
2
3
FBohr
1 me c 2 αem
T.
1
FPlanck π 2 M P c 2
4
(14)
As can be realized from formulae (13), (14) in the past FPlanck ≈ FYukawa (for T = 0.002 s)
and F Planck ≈ FBohr (for T ≈ 10 s), T = age of universe.The calculated ages define the limits
for instability of the nuclei and atoms.
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In 1900 M. Planck [7] introduced the notion of the universal mass, later on called the
Planck mass
1
c 2
MP .
G
(15)
Considering the definition of the Yukawa force (11)
mN αstrong c
m υ
FYukawa N N
,
τN
τN
the formula (16) can be written as:
m
c
FYukawa Yukawa ,
τN
where
MeV
mYukawa mN αstrong 147 2 ~ mπ .
c
(16)
(17)
(18)
From the definition of the Yukawa force we deduced the mass of the particle which
mediates the strong interaction – pion mass postulated by Yukawa in [8].
Accordingly for Bohr force:
mυ
mα c m c
FBohr
e em Bohr ,
τ Bohr
τ Bohr
τ Bohr
keV
mBohr me αem 3.7 2 .
c
For the Bohr particle the range of interaction is
γBohr
0.1 nm,
mBohr c
which is of the order of atomic radius.
(19)
(20)
(21)
In an important work, published already in 1951 J. Schwinger [9] demonstrated that in the
background of a static uniform electric field, the QED space-time is unstable and decayed
with spontaneous emission of e+ e- pairs. In the paper [9] Schwinger calculated the critical
field strengths ES :
m 2c 3
ES e .
(22)
e
Considering formula (22) we define the Schwinger force:
me2 c 3
e
FSchwinger eES
.
Formula (24) can be written as:
mc
e
FSchwinger
e ,
τ Sch
where
τ Sch
me c 2
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(24)
(25)
(26)
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Kozlowski, M., Moon, Schumann Wave & Human Mind
is Schwinger relaxation time for the creation of e+ e- pair. Considering formulae (25) the
relation of FYukawa and FBohr to the Schwinger force can be established:
2
m e
FYukawa α N FSchwinger
, αs 0.15,
me
1
3
e
FBohr αem
FSchwinger
, αem
,
137
and for Planck force
3
s
(27)
2
M e
FPlanck P FSchwinger
.
me
(29)
e
In Table 1the values of the FSchwinger
, FPlanck, FYukawa and FBohr are presented, all in the same
units GeV/fm. As in those units the forces span the range 10 -13 to 1038 it is valuable to
recalculate the Yukawa and Bohr forces in the units natural to nuclear and atomic level. In
that case one obtains:
MeV
.
(30)
FYukawa 16
fm
It is quite interesting that αv ≈ 16 MeV is the volume part of the binding energy of the
nuclei (droplet model).
Table 1. Schwinger, Planck, Yukawa and Bohr forces [GeV/fm]
e
FSchwinger
≈ 10-6
FPlanck
≈ 1038
FYukawa
≈ 10-2
FBohr
≈ 10-13
For the Bohr force considering formula (27) one obtains:
50 eV
FBohr
.
0.1 nm
(31)
Considering that the Rydberg energy ≈ 27 eV and Bohr radius ≈ 0.1 nm formula (31) can
be written as
Rydberg energy
FBohr
.
(32)
Bohr radius
3. Human mind force
In our paper[10] we investigated the new description of the human mind . We discovered that
the human consciousness ( mind- soul) is a medium with internal energy 1030 GeV . In
accordance with results of paragraph 2 we can introduce the consciousness force the fifth
force. According to formula ( 7 )
FConsciousness
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momentum
mc c
mc c 2 1047 GeV
c
fm
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Kozlowski, M., Moon, Schumann Wave & Human Mind
In formula ( 33 ) mc is the quantum of consciousness field= psychon mass = 10 -15 eV[10] ,
is the relaxation time
c
200MeVfm
( 34)
1sec
EP EP c
1015 eV
We can calculate the range of consciousness field
Consciousness
mc c
c
2 1023 fm 2 105 km
2
mc c
(35)
It is interesting that the range of the consciousness field is the order of Moon- Earth distance.
Presumably the Moon plays some important role in the human consciousness development
and maintained
4. Women Divinus and Moon
One sideness of Moon surface in respect to Humans on Earth suggest a special role played
by Moon in women evolving and life. In some sense the creation of human embryo depends
on Moon period. It seems that surface of Moon or some part of it emitted /reflected the
Schumann Consciousness field (Psychon) which reached the only the women on Earth surface
Divinus women are in direct connection with our Creator.
5. Conclusions
The main result of the paper: the soul ( consciousness) have the energy of the order of the
1030GeV. The human consciousness field have the range of 10 5km, and characteristic time=1
sec, which is also characteristic for Schumann waves and brain waves. The range of
consciousness field is of the order of Moon-Earth distance. It suggested the influence of the
Moon radiation on the Earth Schumann waves and human mind waves.
Received May 16, 2019; Accepted June 26, 2019
References
[1] Calogero. F, Phys. Letters, A228, (1997) p. 335
[2] Kozlowski M., Marciak-Kozlowska J Nuovo Cimento, vol, 116B, (2001) p. 821.
[3] Anderson J. D. et al., Phys. Rev. Lett., 81 (1998) p. 2858.
[4] Marciak-Kozlowska J., Kozlowski M., Foundations of Physics Letters, vol. 9, (1996) p. 235.
[5] Kozlowski M., Marciak-Kozlowska J., Foundations of Physics Letters, vol. 10, (1997) p. 295.
[6] Kozlowski M., Marciak-Kozlowska J.,arXiv/astro-ph/0307 168.
[7] Planck M. The theory of heat radiation, Dover Publications 1959, p. 173.
[8] Yukawa H, Proc. Phys.-Math. Soc. Japan, 17, (1935) p. 48.
[9] Schwinger J., Phys. Rev., 82 (1951) p. 664.
[10] Marciak-Kozlowska J, Kozlowski M., Brain Binding Energy of the Human Brain, JCER, 8(3)
2017.
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Grynnsten, H., Consciousness As a Phenomenon of Memory
Article
Consciousness As a Phenomenon of Memory
Henry Grynnsten*
Abstract
Consciousness has been a mystery for thousands of years. The idea behind this article is that
consciousness can be explained by way of the phenomenon of déjà vu. This state seems to come
about when a synchronization error appears in sense signals going to the brain. From déjà vu,
where there seems to be a memory of the present moment, one can work out that consciousness
is a function of memory. Data from the senses are separate, while we see the world as a total
experience. This means that the data are bound together in some way. Human consciousness can
be explained as a phenomenon that arises when sense data are repeated at a short interval in the
brain. The reason that humans have consciousness may have to do with language learning.
Consciousness possibly appeared simultaneously with language, in a short span of time, and it is
consciousness that makes human language possible. There was such a great advantage to using
language, that all Homo sapiens acquired it.
Keywords: Consciousness, memory, phenomenon, language, human.
1. Introduction
The question of consciousness has been described as a hard problem, a term famously coined by
David Chalmers [1]. It often seems that the subjective experience of consciousness influences
our theories about it, so that it becomes hard to put your finger on it. Philosophers have come up
with various theories through the ages. Perhaps it is everywhere, in rocks, or even in atoms [2];
perhaps it is a fundamental part of nature like space and time [3]; perhaps it is only an illusion
and we only think we are conscious, so that there is no hard problem to solve [4]; perhaps it is an
unanswerable question [5].
These theories and others may have their advantages, but some of them do not place
consciousness in the brain, or do not explain its evolutionary cause.
*
Correspondence author: Henry Grynnsten, Independent Researcher, Sweden. E-mail: grynnsten@hotmail.com
1. Chalmers, D: ”Facing Up to the Problem of Consciousness”, 1995. http://consc.net/papers/facing.html
2. i.e., panpsychism.
3. Hoffman, D. D: ”The Origin of Time In Conscious Agents”, 2014.
http://cogsci.uci.edu/~ddhoff/HoffmanTime.pdf. See also David Chalmers in the TED Talk ”How do you
explain consciousness?”, 2014. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uhRhtFFhNzQ
4. Daniel Dennett calls his view about consciousness “illusionism“. See Dennett, D. C: ”Illusionism as the Obvious
Default Theory of Consciousness”, 2016. https://ase.tufts.edu/cogstud/dennett/papers/illusionism.pdf
5. I.e new mysterianism, according to which the hard problem of consciousness is too hard for humans to solve.
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Some scientists, and philosophers like John Searle with his biological naturalism [6], place
consciousness in the head of the human being, and think that it can be explained by processes in
the brain. This is the basis for the model presented here.
An idea of how consciousness could come about can be based on normal consciousness and the
experience of déjà vu, which is a dislocation of normal consciousness. That almost everyone has
experienced déjà vu indicates that it might be a key to understanding consciousness, since it
affects consciousness.
Déjà vu is an experience that as many as 70 percent of all people have had [7], in some surveys
80, 90, or even 100 percent, though lower in others [7], while the rest maybe have forgotten or
not been able to put a name on the phenomenon. Some are reluctant to admitting the experience,
out of fear of being seen as abnormal [8].
A third experience, of heightened awareness, a counterpart to déjà vu, may be hypothesized. This
would be much rarer, and may not even have a name, but will be briefly described below, since,
if found, it could bolster the ideas here presented.
2. How Consciousness Arises
When we receive input from the senses, it is synchronized in the brain. We all seem to hear and
see and smell etc. the world all at the same time. Our own experience tells us that different sense
data are connected together in the brain, in one way or another. Let us call this the
synchronization. The claim is not that this occurs in a specific region or site or by a specific
mechanism in the brain, it is just shorthand for the way, whatever it is, in which disparate senses
are synchronized for an experience of the world.
To summarize:
1) We have different senses that give us sense data;
2) We experience sense data not as separate, but as a total experience;
3) Therefore, in some way, sense data are synchronized; and
4) For convenience, in this article, this [i.e. point 3] is called the synchronization.
6. See for example Ford, J. B: ”Aspects of John Searle's biological naturalism“, 1999; “... according to biological
naturalism, mental phenomena are higher-level physical features of the brain, but are totally caused by lowerlevel neurophysiological processes ...“. https://minerva-access.unimelb.edu.au/handle/11343/114496
7. Brown, A. S: The Deja Vu Experience. Essays in Cognitive Psychology. Psychology Press, 2004. p. 34–37.
8. Brown, p. 30.
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Fig. 1. Sense data are bound together in the brain
The synchronization – i.e. the connecting together of sense experience, however it occurs –
might be the key to human conscious experience. The feeling of consciousness that humans
experience could come into being by a doubling of the synchronization of the sense data,
possibly by electrical and/or chemical impulses being doubled, making a reprise. If sense data
are synchronized, which we can deduce from the fact that we see and hear etc. all at the same
time, then it is possible that this synchronization, this binding together, which occurs once, could
in some way be repeated.
In fact Robert Efron, looking into déjà vu, discovered that the temporal lobe receives incoming
information twice, once directly into the left hemisphere of the brain and once by a detour via the
right hemisphere [9].
Déjà vu can be defined as “any subjectively inappropriate impression of familiarity of a present
experience with an undefined past” [10]. It is a phenomenon where we feel familiar with
something we should not be familiar with. Normal memory follows from us having come across
something before. So when we feel familiar with a present experience in déjà vu, that would
mean that the brain has already become familiar with the present experience. This indicates that
the feeling of familiarity might come after an unconscious primary experience, which in fact
means that it is a double experience. This double experience means a doubling of the sense data.
This resembles the double perception explanation of déjà vu, which explains it by two
perceptions in quick succession [11]. It also resembles dual process explanations of the
phenomenon. Of four different types of disruption between the two separate cognitive processes
proposed, one is caused by “an atypically long separation of two functions that are normally
immediately contiguous” [12]. Already in 1897, E Parish suggested that an abnormal widening
9. Robert Efron's paper was ”Temporal Perception, Aphasia and Déjà Vu”, 1963,
https://academic.oup.com/brain/article-abstract/86/3/403/260382?redirectedFrom=fulltext, described by
Obringer, L A in ”How Déjà Vu Works” at https://science.howstuffworks.com/science-vs-myth/deja-vu4.htm
10. Vernon M. Neppe quoted in Brown, A. S. P. 17.
11. Brown, p. 173 ff.
12. Ibid, p. 127–128.
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“between sensation and perception” leads to déjà vu [13]. Alan S Brown also sees a similarity
between this, the separated process idea, and double perception, as well as a neurological
explanation that proposes that “information from the primary and secondary sensory pathways”
reach the cortical processing centres with an unusual delay [14].
In 1895, Myers proposed a dual consciousness consisting of a subliminal and supraliminal self.
The subliminal self records events continuously in the moment, while the supraliminal lags
behind, but is the one we are consciously aware of [15].
All these ideas, while not talking about consciousness per se, seem to point in the same direction,
of a doubling of sense data. You could call the first self-awareness, and the second selfconsciousness, which, the two together, leads to the consciousness of humans.
By explaining consciousness as a phenomenon of memory, one gets around the problem of one
specific thing being its source. It is not one thing, it is a succession of things. By being a
combination of several things in time, no one single thing has to bear the burden of somehow
giving rise to consciousness.
In normal consciousness, because of this repetition or doubling, you are just on the brink of
feeling that you have experienced everything before. A little shift of normal consciousness, and
the vivid sensation of déjà vu appears. Instead of the clear memory of déjà vu there is a feeling of
being present in the here and now. This can be described as “I recognize myself” or “I am”, “I
am here” or “this is here and now”. It is here that the “I” would come into being.
The result is, as David Hume puts it, that “The mind is a kind of theatre, where several
perceptions successively make their appearance ... They are the successive perceptions only, that
constitute the mind ...” [16].
This is not a homunculus argument, that there is a small man inside the brain who experiences
this feeling. On the contrary, this model shows that there is no separate entity that is the self in
the brain. The feeling of the self is in that sense an illusion. Consciousness clearly exists, but it
does not indicate any separate entity or self in the brain. We are individuals with consciousness,
but there is no self.
Just as animals, even primitive animals, can be shown to react to stimuli through the senses and
thus feel in some way, in the same way a human can feel consciousness. There is no need for a
homunculus or any mysticism.
13. Ibid, p. 132.
14. Ibid, p. 133.
15. Ibid, p. 134.
16. Hume, D: A Treatise of Human Nature, 1739–40. https://www.gutenberg.org/files/4705/4705-h/4705-h.htm
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Fig. 2. The binding together of sense data can be repeated
There has long been an idea that déjà vu is caused by neurons firing out of sync. It is the
contention of this article that it is when this doubling of the sense data is increased by a certain
amount of time that we get a strong feeling that we have experienced everything before, a
contention that has some antecedents in previous déjà vu research, as mentioned above. It is a
feeling that is sometimes accompanied by depersonalization, a detachment of the self. The sense
data in déjà vu begin to feel more like a memory than a direct experience, which shows that there
has arisen a distance between the first and second binding together of sense data. Efron found
that the brain registers the second piece of information as a memory because it had already been
processed [17].
Fig. 3. Slow doubling of synchronization gives rise to déjà vu
If this is true, there might be a corresponding experience when the synchronization is faster than
usual, when the distance between binding 1 and binding 2 decreases by an unusually large
amount, a phenomenon, if found, that could bolster the explanation of déjà vu described here.
17. Obringer.
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Fig. 4. Hypothesized fast doubling of synchronization
This could result in the opposite of the depersonalization of déjà vu, and be a state of heightened
awareness of the self, if the supposition is true. It would be tempting to assume that this state is
identical with jamais vu, the feeling of unfamiliarity with familiar places, objects or people,
which is much rarer than déjà vu [18], but this might be a case of too easy parallelism and the
explanation for the two phenomena could be two quite different mechanisms. However, déjà vu
and jamais vu have been viewed by many researchers as “opposite ends of a familiarity
dysfunction” [19].
To continue the supposition, the fast doubling of the synchronization might be a state that is just
as distinct as déjà vu, but very different, and like it perhaps lasting only 10 to 30 seconds. This
state may be described in the literature, but besides jamais vu it would also possibly not be
identical with the “heightened awareness” described by meditators, since it would have such a
short duration.
So the normal function of consciousness can be deduced from an experience close to normal
consciousness, déjà vu, where synchronization is malfunctioning, that is experienced at some
time by many people, perhaps most. If the second state could be demonstrated to exist, it would
strengthen the argument here presented.
3. Why Consciousness Arose
Why do humans and only humans have [human] consciousness? What is it that humans do that
no other animals do? Cognitive neuroscientist Merlin Donald writes that humans evolved
“skilled rehearsal and explicit memory retrieval” [20], and this was used for language. According
18. Brown, p. 104.
19. Ibid, p. 106.
20. Donald, M: ”The neurobiology of human consciousness: An evolutionary approach”, 1995.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/002839329500050D
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to Donald, apes do not rehearse to improve performance [21], and they are the animals that are
closest to humans cognitively. Explicit recall “depends heavily on having a symbolic system in
place in the brain” [22].
Language is the most distinctive thing besides consciousness that differentiates humans from
other animals, so you could assume that these two phenomena are connected in some way. If one
presumes that they arose quite independently, one would need one mechanism to explain why
consciousness arose, and another for why language arose, but in this article the assumption that
they arose together and simultaneously is explored. This assumption does not seem to
immediately encounter any logical obstacles.
It is thought that humans evolved cooking from around half a million to two million years ago.
Over time this led to adaptations in the human body to cooked food, including a bigger brain
[23]. This eventually led to consciousness, which made learning of language possible [24], and
great advantages accrued to those who made better use of language. The “talkers” could
outcompete their enemies and outsmart rivals, and store complex knowledge in their minds.
A creature with language as a tool has a clear advantage over one without language, since
humans dominate all other species. The question is how far humanity would have come with just
consciousness and no language at all, but it seems likely that once consciousness is in place, this
will inevitably lead to better communication systems in some form.
Exactly how the doubling of sense data appeared, and if it first came about in one individual as a
mutation, is not something that this article tries to explain. But through the doubling of the
synchronization, by having increased consciousness of what we experienced, we were able to
acquire language. By this means, we could sort out the interesting, new words or forms, and
improve our language use. Soon only those who mastered language remained, all others having
been outcompeted, or having disappeared for some other reason. There are now no human
groups who cannot learn languages.
21. Donald, M: A Mind So Rare. The Evolution of Human Consciousness. W W Norton & Company 2002 [2002]. P.
142.
22. Ibid p. 163.
23. Wrangham, R: Catching Fire. How Cooking Made Us Human. Profile Books 2010 [2009].
24. An idea developed in Donald's A Mind So Rare. Donald argues that we can only learn consciously. He takes the
example of reading; “The total conscious load imposed during the learning of advanced literacy skills is
enormous and absorbs our attentional capacity for years.” But then it becomes automatic and we no longer need
to use enormous conscious capacity to read. [pp. 231– 232] Unconscious learning does happen, but for example
learning during sleep is “extremely basic”, writes Bahar Gholipour for Live Science, “Can You Learn Anything
While You Sleep?“, 2019. https://www.livescience.com/64920-how-learn-during-sleep.html.
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Human ancestors in all likelihood had some forms of vocalized communication. Meerkats and
other animals can probably change alarm calls depending on the situation [25]. Our close
relatives the chimpanzees produce a range of vocal signals, but this communication is static, it
does not accumulate over the generations and does not constitute a language. However, after
humans achieved consciousness, our ancestors would have been able to consciously process
these pre-existing vocalized signals, organize and elaborate them, extend their meaning, as well
as to apply them to new situations. This elaboration would then become the new repertoire,
which could be used without much reflection. But this new repertoire would then be subject to
new conscious processing, and so on, until the stage of full, human language was reached.
Pidgin and creole languages show how quickly a language can come into being. Pidgin first
develops when speakers of mutually unintelligible languages meet and have to communicate.
Both the grammar and the vocabulary are very limited. Children of pidgin speakers then learn the
language in the process called nativization, and develop creole, a full language with fully
developed grammar and vocabulary [26]. Linguist John McWhorter says that “... of the
languages extant today, the ones that most closely approximate the first language are creoles ...”
[27].
This process can of course only be achieved by creatures with human consciousness – it may be
unnecessary to point this out, but it has never been possible to teach any other animals human
language. Animals communicate by static systems, while language is continuously changing.
These are two entirely different modes of communication. Clearly, human communication
requires mental flexibility, i.e. consciousness.
For gradualism, this would mean a slow evolution in tiny incremental steps from 10 to 20 to 30
to finally 100 per cent of modern human consciousness and language, say over hundreds of
thousands or half a million years. If human ancestors had full consciousness at any point in the
process, they would be able to quickly evolve full languages without intermediate steps.
If consciousness appears suddenly it must mean that those who are now conscious will be able to
perform an operation similar to those who create pidgin languages. The early humans did not
have full languages to work with, but they did have some kind of vocalized signals. These
people, who were modern, conscious humans, must of course have had the same capacity to
create a means of communication that is close to the pidgin languages as present-day humans. In
fact, talking about deaf children without contact with sign language, a group of researchers write
25. Townsend, S W et al: ”Flexible alarm calling in meerkats: the role of the social environment and predation
urgency”, 2012. https://academic.oup.com/beheco/article/23/6/1360/191395.
26. See, for example, Crystal, D: The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Language. Guild Publishing 1988 [1987], p. 334–
337.
27. McWhorter, J H. The Power of Babel. A Natural History of Language. Perennial 2003 [2001], p. 301.
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that “There are circumstances under which a small group of people can form a language
apparently out of nothing” [28].
This developmental stage from pre-language signals to full language could thus have occurred
very rapidly, only to reach a kind of ceiling – the ceiling that is exemplified in full human
languages. And clearly there must be a reason for the existence of a ceiling in the complexity of
language. Both the saltationist and the gradualist must explain why language no longer evolves
[only changes].
At some point we reached this language plateau, since all human languages seem to be roughly
equally complex [29]; they can all be translated into the others without too much loss of
information.
From this time, we can surmise that language only changed in content, not in overall complexity
[though local complexity of various parts of a language can and does increase and decrease],
which indicates that consciousness also remained at the same level.
This would mean that language cannot develop far beyond current overall complexity [for
general communication purposes] without a corresponding increase in consciousness, and vice
versa [without going into if either language or consciousness can in practice reach a “higher”
level]. If humans can develop a much more complex language with current consciousness, there
would be examples of this, which there are not. If there were humans with much more advanced
consciousness, they might use language at the level of complexity we see in any current or past
language, but they would distinguish themselves in some noticeable way. Clearly there are not
and have never been superhumans, that is humans that are to us as we are to other primates.
Geniuses still fall within a kind of general range of human intelligence.
It is not a coincidence that children develop consciousness at the same time as they learn
language. By 5 months, consciousness and memory are on their way, [30] and by 6 months,
“most babies recognize the basic sounds of their native language”. [31]
28. Meir, I et al: ”Emerging Sign Languages”, 2010.
http://sandlersignlab.haifa.ac.il/html/html_eng/pdf/EMERGING_SIGN_LANGUAGES.pdf
29. Linguist David Crystal writes that ”... every culture which has been investigated, no matter how ‘primitive’ it
may be in cultural terms, turns out to have a fully developed language ... Anthropologically speaking, the human
race can be said to have evolved from primitive to civilized states, but there is no sign of language having gone
through the same kind of evolution … There are no ‘bronze age’ or ‘stone age’ languages … All languages have
a complex grammar: there may be relative simplicity in one respect [e.g. no word endings], but there seems
always to be relative complexity in another [e.g. word position].” Crystal, p. 6.
30. Gabrielsen, P: ”When Does Your Baby Become Conscious?”, 2013.
https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2013/04/when-does-your-baby-become-conscious
31. The National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders [NIDCD] : ”Speech and Language
Developmental Milestones”. https://www.nidcd.nih.gov/health/speech-and-language
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”Perhaps language is even a necessary condition for consciousness” writes Psychology Today
[32]. Or perhaps consciousness is a necessary condition for language.
This leads to the further observation that there are no zombies in the philosophical sense, since to
learn a language you have to be conscious. I know that I am conscious, but how do I know that
you are conscious? Because you use a language. Of course you can program a computer to give
sophisticated answers to questions, but that is automation, not “using language” as humans do.
A person might talk during sleep, i.e. in an unconscious state, but he or she still learned language
while conscious. The same goes for other exceptions: the individual must at some point before
such an exception have been conscious for a considerable amount of time, the time that is
required to learn a language.
It is also possible to date the appearance of consciousness: it would have happened conjointly
with the development of language. McWhorter, for example, thinks that a mutation created a
genetic instruction or predisposition for language, that it happened once, and possibly around
150,000 years ago [33]. Changing this supposed predisposition for language to consciousness
makes the idea fit into this article. Crystal also is of the opinion that language “emerged within a
relatively short space of time”, and gives a possible date as late as 30,000 years ago [34].
It is thought that humans first started using abstract signs around 200,000 years ago. Language
most likely developed before humans spread out from Africa around 60,000 years ago [35],
which means that consciousness would also have arisen sometime between those dates, perhaps
70,000–100,000 years before present. Noam Chomsky talks about a sudden creative explosion
around 75,000 years ago and connects it with language. “Well, what would have happened?
Whatever happened ... would be some rewiring of the brain” [36].
Others, however, think that language could go as far back as 500,000 or 600,000 years before
present [37]. That would also push back the appearance of consciousness to that time. An
alternative to a quick development of language is a slow, gradual evolution over long time
periods.
32. Haladjian, H. H: “Consciousness and Language“, 2016. https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/theoryconsciousness/201608/consciousness-and-language
33. McWhorter, p. 8.
34. Crystal, p. 291
35. Noam Chomsky are among those who suggest an origin for language at about 70,000 to 100,000 years ago.
Bolhuis J. J; Tattersall, I; Chomsky, N; Berwick, R. C: “How Could Language Have Evolved?”, 2014.
https://chomsky.info/20140826/
36. Chomsky, N. in ”Grammar, Mind and Body – A Personal View”, a talk in 2012 at ”The 2011–2012 Dean's
Lecture Series”, at around the 1:13 mark. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wMQS3klG3N0
37. Dediu. D. and Levinson, S. C: “On the antiquity of language: the reinterpretation of Neandertal linguistic
capacities and its consequences“, 2013. https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2013.00397/full, and
Quentin D Atkinson, University of Auckland, personal communication, 13 Oct. 2019.
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The conclusion is that it is more likely that consciousness emerged suddenly rather than
gradually, that it made it possible to construct language out of pre-existing vocal signals, and that
this process very quickly led to a full language in a process similar to the one from pidgin to
creole. This first language, also very quickly, reached a plateau of complexity that is the same as
in all modern languages.
4. Animals and Awareness
You could make a distinction between animal awareness and human consciousness. If any
animal had human-like consciousness, it would certainly be able to speak or at least show
cognitive abilities on a par with humans in some way.
Therefore, it is reasonable to make a distinction between human consciousness and animal
awareness. This is also useful as it can clarify what exactly is under discussion.
Awareness clearly varies between animals, from insects to primates. Some animals pass the
mirror test, most do not. There is a gradation, beginning at an unknown, and perhaps
unknowable, starting point, up to and including animals who pass the mirror test.
This means that awareness gradually developed during the evolution of animal life on Earth,
leading to great diversity. But there was a clear break when humans became conscious, there is a
qualitative difference between animal awareness and human consciousness. A great many
species of animal have some form of awareness, but only humans have consciousness.
There seems to be a progression of what has been called consciousness from the “lowest” kinds
of organism up to the “highest”, i.e. the human. This has led a great number of people, both lay
people and scientists as well as philosophers, to assume that this progression is more or less
inevitable and will lead to ever higher levels of consciousness and intelligence. A further idea
has been that life on other planets also has gone through this evolutionary progression, so that
there will be aliens with super-intelligence.
However, human consciousness could be a rare occurrence in the universe, while awareness is
common [since many animals seem to have it]. There is no evidence that human consciousness
will continue advancing to higher levels. Instead, there could be a continued progression and
diversification of awareness without consciousness in animal species. There is no reason to
assume an automatic, progressive development of human consciousness, which appears to be a
singular occurrence on Earth, but we know that awareness in animals has developed for hundreds
of millions of years.
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5. The Speed of Consciousness
By the model presented here it is even possible to arrive at what might be called the speed of
consciousness. It is 300 milliseconds.
Fig. 5. The speed of the doubling of the synchronization
This is based on research where it has been found that the brain has decided to act before we are
even conscious of it. In one experiment the human guinea pigs got electrodes attached to their
scalps and were told to push a button at will; “it took a third of a second from the time the motor
cortex initiated the instruction to act before the subject was conscious of the intention to act. In
other words, the actual decision to act started the action sequence before the conscious decision
to act” [38].
We cannot decide to act before we have received the sense data that there is anything to do in the
first place. So the decision to act must come after the sense data has entered the brain, and, as
demonstrated, consciousness catches up after the decision has been taken unconsciously, and that
is after 300 milliseconds. In déjà vu, there is often a feeling of time slowing down [39]. This
would agree with the model presented here of the increase of the time of the binding together of
sense impressions during déjà vu.
The experiment also confirms the conclusion in this article that there is a kind of doubling of the
synchronization of sense data, since clearly the decision to act repeats, first “unconsciously”,
then consciously.
6. Why Consciousness Is Static
A side effect of the pressure to learn language was that [human] consciousness spread, and the
strange feeling we all carry around in our heads and seems to be so mysterious to us became the
same for all humans.
38. Described in an article by Diamond, M: “Awareness Consciousness as Agent of Causation and Action“, 2019.
https://medium.com/the-philosophers-stone/awareness-consciousness-in-causation-and-the-flow-of-time97caefcfa71f
39. Brown, p. 188.
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For consciousness to spread from maybe a single individual there had to be an evolutionary
pressure, and that pressure seems to have been language. However consciousness appeared, it
was then used for language, which had such great advantages on an individual level that
consciousness-language spread, and everyone who lacked this mental technology suffered great
disadvantages.
Now both language and consciousness are essentially static [40]. The reason that language has
been maintained, and not been lost by some human groups, must be that language fills an
essential role, and for language learning to be possible there is a need for consciousness. Again,
there is a great divide between static animal communication and human language, that never
stays still and is always in flux.
It is probably hard in any society to find a mate if you lack language. You cannot easily
communicate your intentions without language in a language-based society with complex rules.
This means that there is constant pressure to learn language, so consciousness has to be
maintained at a certain level.
But why has language and consciousness not evolved in complexity? Three possible
explanations are:
1) There was and is no evolutionary advantage to even more complex language – we can
communicate quite well inter- and intra-personally with the language we have, even
develop philosophy and science.
2) Due to structural reasons, the human brain cannot develop to a level where it could give
rise to the “higher” consciousness necessary to easily manage a much more complex
language [i.e. a language so complex that no current human could learn it, just as no ape
can learn a human language]. This does not necessarily mean, however, than any brain,
with the right starting conditions, could not develop “higher consciousness” via an
evolutionary process.
3) A much more meaningfully complex language is not possible to develop in the first place.
For example, there are 3 cases in English, but 15 in Finnish, but Finnish is not “better” for
communication than English. So a language with 1,000 cases would be more difficult [and
take longer] to learn, but would probably not be better at communicating anything. Maybe
language as a communication system simply cannot develop beyond a certain level – a
level that we reached very quickly after we became conscious.
40. Chomsky, N. in ”Grammar, Mind and Body – A Personal View”, says about language development: ”So
nothing's happened for about 50,000 years”, i.e. the last 50,000 years.
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7. Conclusion
Through the mechanism of the doubling of the binding together or synchronization of sense data,
[human] consciousness can be explained as a phenomenon that arises when sense data are
repeated at a short interval, i.e. 300 milliseconds, which means that a memory element is
involved; consciousness is a phenomenon of memory. When this distance is increased, one
experiences déjà vu.
Consciousness appeared simultaneously with language, probably in a short span of time, and it is
consciousness which makes human language possible. This means that consciousness can be
surmised through the use of language: any creature using a full language would have
consciousness, according to this model. There seems to be something missing in the description
if one imagines a creature that had consciousness at a human level and no language or other
flexible communication system. If language at a human level can be acquired without
consciousness, the question is why no other animal can talk.
Answers to several questions can be begin to be answered with the help of this model of
consciousness: how and when language arose, why language does not change in complexity, the
future of consciousness and language, as well as other phenomena.
Consciousness does not result from not a single thing but from a succession of things in time. It
is not a single structure, and it is a phenomenon of memory.
Acknowledgements: I would like thank the following for being helpful in various ways: Hawk
Alfredson, Quentin D Atkinson, Tony Elgenstierna, Ahrvid Engholm, Peter Heft.
Received June 23, 2020; Accepted July 25, 2020
References
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Elizabeth Spencer.
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Personal communication:
Atkinson, Q. D. [2019], University of Auckland, email 13 Oct. 2019.
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Research Essay
The “Who Am I?” Question
Cosmin Vișan*
Abstract
Before even getting to do science, basic principles need to be established, such as what is it that
we want to achieve by science. In this paper, I will argue how the ultimate question of science is
the “Who Am I?” question, which also acts as an ontological principle of creation, bringing into
existence all the possible experiences that consciousness can have.
Keywords: Consciousness, question, answer, creation, science.
Introduction
Even though science started from the philosophical turmoil of trying to understand existence, it
lost its way along the way and transformed into a pragmatic activity of producing technology. It
is not anchored anymore in basic principles, thus it became unclear what ontological and
ultimately meaningful value science has beyond its pragmatic application to technology,
technology which itself not being anchored in what is meaningful in life, has itself questionable
value. Thus, this paper will try to elucidate what is it that we are actually trying to do in this
world. It will show that ultimately the entire existence reduces to the question “Who Am I?”,
question which by trying to answer itself, it brings into existence all the possible experiences that
consciousness can have.
Once again, this paper builds upon my previous papers, especially the last one about meaning
and context [1], but because it will bring a yet new angle on how to view the problems discussed,
it will start again from zero. But of course, the more angles one shines light on a problem, the
clearer the problem becomes, thus, the reading of the previous papers will supplement and enrich
what will be discussed in this paper.
The Purpose of Science
The way history works is that once it establishes a particular “truth”, for practical purposes it
erases the essential steps that lead to that “truth”, and that “truth” is directly presented in
organized social groups like universities to the next generations. While this is a useful approach
for rapidly producing technology and getting involved in the global working of economics, it
loses the original motivations that led to that particular “truth” and ultimately it loses the very
purpose of what we are actually to do with that “truth”. Thus, while the humans’ attempts from
* Correspondence: Cosmin Visan, Independent Researcher, Master in Physics at The University of Manchester.
Email: visancosmin17@yahoo.com
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immemorial times were to understand existence, nowadays students just learn equations and use
them in pragmatic ways without ever questioning why they are even doing what they are doing.
Because the intermediary steps are lost, a questionable castle of deck of cards is being built that
is hard to understand what purpose it serves, since clearly it is not about reality, but is just a
pragmatic construct to enable the production of technology. While this might be satisfactory for
this purpose, it is not at all satisfactory for someone who actually tries to understand existence.
Actually, it is quite contrary to the goal of understanding existence, its invented entities, like
electrons, protons, space-time, etc. not having anything to do whatsoever with reality.
Thus, the need to clarify what is it that we should do when we do science, appears. We will
analyze, employing basic principles, what is even possible to do as the consciousness that we are.
Because if we insist that we want to fly when we don’t have wings, it will not lead to anything
intelligible. We first need to have a look at ourselves and see what kind of entities we are and
what our powers are, and only then see what world we can discover through the lens of our own
constitution. We will see that we are creatures made out of meanings and we can only make
sense of the world through meanings, and what is not a meaning for us is Nothing, and Nothing
is beyond knowledge. This way, we will not try to understand what is impossible for the
Understanding to grasp.
This
Let’s take a popular science question, like “What is the electrical charge of the electron?” with
the answer “-1”. Any student can learn this and pass the exam with maximum grade. But what
does this question even mean? What does “electrical” mean? What does “charge” mean? What
does “electron” mean? This is forbidden to be asked in an official setup like a university since it
halts the “progress” and no technology can be made and thus no economic benefit can be hastily
gained. But since our purpose here is to understand existence and not to make profit, such
questions not only can be asked, but are mandatory to be asked. Thus, what does “electron” even
mean? If we reflect even a little bit, we will realize that it doesn’t mean anything. But then where
did such concepts arise and why did they become popular?
The place where such concepts originate is the conscious experience. The problem is that it is
conscious experience improperly interpreted. People saw rocks and they assumed that there are
really rocks “out-there”. And this misinterpretation gave rise to the concept of “rocks” (“outside
of myself”), and shortly all sorts of other concepts evolved, including the concept of “electron”.
The correct interpretation though is that we are not seeing rocks at all. All that we are seeing is
our own consciousness. Thus, we have to abandon any concept that doesn’t belong to the correct
interpretation of our conscious experiences. All materialist science must be abandoned since it is
an illusory construct based on the misunderstanding of our conscious experiences. Thus, trying
to understand existence based on illusory concepts cannot lead anywhere. And I precisely mean
anywhere. It cannot even lead “closer to truth” as some might believe that the more materialist
science we do the closer to truth we get. Not at all. We are not doing that. We are getting
precisely nowhere by this attempt.
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Thus, if the concepts of materialist science are not to be considered, what kind of entities are we
to consider in our attempt to understand existence? The answer is: the entities that allow the
qualifier “this”. For example, if we ask “What is red?” and we can pinpoint to it in our
consciousness employing the qualifier “this!”, then red qualifies for an entity to be considered in
our theory. “Rocks” qualifies in our theory only as a conscious experience pinpointed by the
qualifier “this”. Materialist science goes beyond the qualifier “this” and adds other qualifiers,
such as “out-there”, thus producing a confusion that leads away from reality. Actually, “outthere” is itself a conscious experience pinpointed by “this”.
Thus, we identified a preliminary purpose of science: the explanation of “this”. Science is the
attempt of answering the question “What is this?”. We will later see that this question is just a
surface form of the primordial question “Who am I?”. A confusion needs to be clarified here. At
a first look this might be exactly what science is doing. Isn’t science answering questions of the
type “What is this?”, like “What is an electron?”, “What is a cell?”? But at a second look, the
question is about something else altogether. The question is about the qualifier “this” itself. So,
better spelled would be “What is “this”?”. Because in all the cases in which we enquire about our
conscious experiences, like “What is red?”, “What is sweet?”, etc., the same process of
pinpointing takes place. And this process of pinpointing is the one in need of an explanation.
Anticipatory, this will be shown to be self-reference pointing to itself. But until then, we need to
clarify some more points about the purpose of science.
One further clarification is for the reader to convince himself of the fact that this is the main
question of science. Any question that the reader might take from “What is an electron?” to
“What is the curvature of space-time around a mass of 100kg?” are basically illusory questions
about invented entities, thus they don’t qualify as questions about reality. We can only ever point
to our conscious experiences. We experience red, we pinpoint “What is this red?”, we experience
pain, we pinpoint “What is this pain?”. No other science question can there be. “What is “this”?”
is really the only science question. As I said, we shouldn’t insist about flying when we don’t
have wings. We don’t have “electrons” and “space-time”. They are imaginary wings. They are
not intelligible. Since all that we ever have is “this”, we can only inquire about “this”.
I
Having elucidated the question of science, the next step faces us with a difficulty, that will be
shown to ultimately be an ontological limit to knowledge. In the process of asking “What is
this?”, the question is asked by an I. Thus, even if we try to understand what is “this”, there is the
I in the shadows that asks the question. But since we are ultimately interested in understanding
existence, the I itself must be understood. And this is a problem. Because when we direct “this”
towards the I, what is actually happening is the I directing “this” towards itself. “What is this?”
becomes “What is this I?”, or in other words: “Who am I?”. The difficulties that we encounter at
this step are manifolds. Actually, they are infinite. And this is because any answer that this
question might receive, would be fed-back into creating a new question about the new answer.
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For example, let’s say that the I receives the answer “I am X.”. Then this would be fed-back into
the question, and a new question will appear “Who am I this X?”. And all the way up to infinity.
Furthermore, any question of the type “What is this?” is actually the same as “Who am I?”.
When we ask “What is red?”, this question cannot be divorced from the subject of experience,
because otherwise we fall in the materialist trap of inventing an “out-there” red. Red is an
experience in consciousness, red is an object for subject. But an object is nothing else than how
the subject appears to itself. There is no duality object/subject. The object IS the subject. Thus,
the question “What is this red?” is actually the question “Who am I this red?”. Thus, all qualia
are forms of manifestation of I. Any question about any qualia is a question about how the I can
be that quale. Thus, we reduce the question “What is this?” to the question “Who am I?”. “This”
becomes the process by which the “Who am I?” question answers itself, the process of selfreference pointing to itself. And since self-reference is a dog chasing its own tail, this will lead to
an eternal process of creation, never to be satisfied. This is an ontological limit to knowledge
because self-reference is unable to capture itself under the Understanding, but at the same time
this never-ending attempt at trying to understand itself is the creator of all knowledge.
The Creation of the World
So far, we treated the “Who am I?” question in an epistemic way, as if being a question that we
ask when we want to do science, the rest of the day spending it in doing other activities. But it is
actually an ontological question. What this means is that it is an entity that exists on its own,
whether we use it or not. When we walk on the streets and we see trees and buildings, the
question “What is this tree?” or “Who am I this tree?” is at work, whether we are explicitly
formulating it or not. Actually, it is the one that creates the trees and the buildings.
Let’s see step-by-step how it works. Let’s see how the world is created.
Initially, the question “Who am I?” is all that exists. By its very nature, this question tries to
answer itself. Since all that exists is itself, the answer that it finds for itself is “I am”. Thus, the
Self is born, and the first light of awareness appears. Reality answers itself into existence. The
first sensation is born. Reality feels alive: I am! But since the question is eternal, it is not
satisfied by this answer. Therefore, it continues to ask itself “Who am I this I?”, with the next
answer “I am that which I am.” or in short “I am “I am””. And the process goes on to infinity,
because by its very eternal nature, the “Who am I?” question cannot be destroyed, thus it will
keep searching for answers endlessly. This gives birth to an evolutionary process by which the
question learns more and more about all that it can be. Each new answer is concatenated to the
previous answers. For example, in our case as humans, we can characterize ourselves in an
iterative manner such as: “I am”, “I am human”, “I am human named John”, “I am human named
John that is a philosopher”, and so on. Our lives from birth to death are the endless unfolding of
the “Who am I?” question that is restlessly trying to answer itself, and which keeps adding
answers without ever being satisfied. This process is the generator of existence. The entire world
is created out of the insatiable “Who am I?” question. Also, we notice that since the question
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refers to itself and tries to answer itself, all the answers that it receives are about itself, thus are
logically necessary consciousness, ontological subjectivity. There can be nothing else but
consciousness, for the trivial reason that the process of the “Who am I?” question trying to
answer itself is self-referential. Anything else that is not an answer for this question is
unintelligible by its very nature. Thus, talking about “electrons” and “space-time” are
meaningless utterances that have no ontological reality for the reason that they don’t constitute
answers to the “Who am I?” question that only finds answers that are about itself, thus that are
only ontological subjective.
The wh- Questions
Reflections about the nature of the “Who am I?” question raise concerns regarding the other
questions that we employ in science and in everyday life, the where, when, what, etc. questions.
Since I stated that only answers to the “Who am I?” question count as ontological and the rest are
illusory chimeras, what are the roles of the others questions? What do they reveal? In this section
I will argue that they are also forms of the “Who am I?” questions, that they are actually vassals
whose roles are to help the “Who am I?” question finds who she is. The only ontological real
question is the “Who am I?”. The rest are pseudo-questions, are subtle forms into which the
“Who am I?” question morphs itself in order to find even more answers for itself.
In order to understand the wh- questions, we need to first be sure we understand what the “Who
am I?” question is. Because of how we use questions in everyday life, this question might sound
like an epistemic question that I ask about myself in a voluntarily manner. But this is not what it
is. Rather, it is an ontological entity. In the same way that materialist science takes “electrons” to
be ontological entities, the “Who am I?” question is such an ontological entity. It exists on its
own, without any human asking it. And it exists at all times, is what maintains the world (world
which is synonymous with consciousness) into existence. When we see red for example, what
brings that red into existence is the “Who am I?” question answering itself as “I am red.”. It has
to be like this, because qualia need reasons for existing, otherwise if they were to come into
existence without reason, then the world would be just chaos. But because it is not chaos, then
they must be brought into existence according to well justified reasons. Those reasons at higher
levels can be of a high variety, like feeling sad because I lost something, but deep down, the
reason that sustains everything into existence must be of a self-referential nature, and that leaves
as the only option the question “Who am I?”. That’s why this question must be eternal. Since
something does exist, and since it requires a reason for being, it means that there must be an allpervasive entity at work that maintains it into existence. And that all-pervasive entity must take
the form of a meaning-generator engine because it must confer reason for being, and the most
general reason for being is to ask itself who it is. Thus, the root of being must be a question that
asks itself and then answers itself into existence. Thus, the “Who am I?” question. So, it is not
me John, asking myself who I am, but the I in the “Who am I?” question is the question itself
asking about itself. “John” is just an answer that this question answers itself later in its evolution
of meanings.
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Therefore, getting to the wh- questions, we are not to view them as epistemic questions, but as
ontological entities. When we ask a question, we put ourselves into a specific state of
consciousness, and then that state of consciousness leads to another state of consciousness that
we call “answer”. Questions and answers are states of consciousness. This is how we need to
view them in order to understand what they are in more depth.
The first reduction that we will make is the reduction of all questions to the “what” question.
This is done by realizing that any question that we ask is a request for a particular out of a
general class of objects. For example, when we inquire “Where to go?” we are requesting for a
particular point in space out of the general class of points in space. It can be reformulated as
“What place to go to?”. Similarly for all the other questions. “When to go?” is equivalent to
“What time to go?”. The “Why?” question asks for a particular explanation/reason out of the
general class of explanations. “Why does the Sun rise?” can be reformulated as “What is the
reason for Sun rising?”. The “How?” question inquires about a particular way of doing
something out of the class of ways of doing something. “How to ride a bike?” is equivalent to
“What is the method of riding a bike?”. And so on. Questioning is the method of attention of
focusing on a particular solution to a problem out of all the possible solutions. So, for example
when we ask “Where is the book?” with the answer “On the shelf.”, this is not an inquiry about
the position of an external book on an external shelf, but is a focusing of attention of
consciousness on objects inside itself. The answer “On the shelf.” is found as an experience that
consciousness finds inside itself when it searches to answer the question “Where is the book?”
Now we are only left with the questions “What?” and “Who?”. The reduction of “What?” to
“Who?” comes from realizing that consciousness is all there is. The “What?” question only
makes sense in a materialistic paradigm in which objects are assumed to exist independent of
consciousness and outside of it, such that when we do a “What?” inquire, we search for such an
object outside consciousness. “What is there?” “A chair”. But once we recognize that
consciousness is all there is, we also recognize that there are no objects “out-there”, therefore
inquiring about such objects is meaningless. The chair doesn’t exist “out-there”, but “chair” is an
experience in consciousness, is a form of manifestation of consciousness, is consciousness. Thus,
inquiring about chair is actually inquiring about consciousness. And consciousness is not an
object, but a subject, thus we will not inquire anymore about objects, but about the subject. Thus,
the “What?” question becomes “Who?”. Thus, when we point to a chair and ask “What is this?”
we are actually pointing towards ourselves and ask “Who am I this?”, and the answer “chair”
doesn’t come as an answer to the “What?” question in the form of “This is a chair.”, but comes
as an answer to the “Who?” question in the form of “I am a chair.”.
Ontology, not Epistemology
Probably the greatest confusion in science is the one between ontology and epistemology.
Science invents epistemic entities and confuses them for ontological entities. They invent the
epistemic entity “electron” and they believe that “electron” is an actual existing ontological
entity. This confusion ultimately comes from not being aware of consciousness. People just live
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life without realizing what/who they are. They see objects around them and believe that they are
actually objects that they are seeing and not their own consciousness. This confusion also applies
to the subject of this paper, namely the “Who am I?” question, that might hastily be taken for an
epistemic entity, when in fact it is an ontological entity. Therefore, is worth emphasizing that
what it actually is, is an ontological entity.
As the purpose of science is the understanding of existence, it needs to be seen in what way this
purpose is achievable. The classical way in which science proceeds towards this goal is by
asking questions. But as we saw, the questions employed by science in its undertaken are
illusory. Such questions were never meant to have the power to reveal the nature of existence in
the way it was imagined. Questions that were hoped to reveal things about an “objective reality”
such as “What is the electrical charge of the electron?” turn out to be forms of manifestation of
the “Who am I?” question, thus the whole hopes of science of uncovering the workings of an
objective reality fall short of their goal. Since all questions that can be asked are actually
different forms of the “Who am I?” question, then the purpose of science transforms from
finding things about an “objective reality” to finding things about oneself. Thus, the only valid
science is experiential.
And let’s elaborate on this point, with careful reference to the distinction between ontology and
epistemology. In an epistemological understanding of the “Who am I?” question, the purpose of
science might sound introspective, as in “Who am I John?”, with answers giving descriptions of
who John is and what his likes are. But the question is ontological, not epistemic. The question is
not a question that John asks about himself, but is an ontological entity that asks about itself.
Thus, the science that results from this is not introspective, but experiential. The difference is
that the answers that are given to the “Who am I?” questions are not descriptions about the ego,
but are direct experiences that the question itself gets to experience as it finds answers about
itself. When we see red, what happens is that the question “Who am I?” receives as an answer for
itself “I am red.”. Thus, an experiential science is one in which the purpose is simply to live life.
By living life, the question “Who am I?” keeps receiving new answers and thus learns more
about itself and ultimately about reality. If we want to find out that aspect of reality that is called
“riding a roller-coaster” we don’t write equations of gravitation and the likes, but we simply go
and ride a roller-coaster and that will reveal to us an aspect of reality that is not uncoverable by
any equation that we can possible write.
Reality is made out of experiences, and experiences can only be revealed by simply living life.
No amount of equations would reveal such aspects of reality. The only way to reveal them is by
living life. And this is what true science actually is: the every-day living of life. Of course, it can
be mundane, like the 9-to-5 work lifestyle, or it can be subtle, like love and human connection.
Such a science is as complicated as what is traditionally considered science like physics or
biology. We can live life on easy mode and discover only shallow experiences or we can plunge
deep into life and uncover with great efforts the most sublime of experiences. And such deep
experiences cannot be supplanted by the comfort and safety of sitting at a desk and writing
equations. Actually, sitting at a desk and writing equations deprives one of actually
understanding reality and only gives him a conceptual invention that is far removed from what
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341
reality actually is. Of course, such conceptual inventions, like “electrons” or “brains”, are also
experiences, so are also living life and experiencing reality. The problem is that one that deals in
such inventions mistakes them for reality and starts to believe that “electrons” and “brains”
actually exist, thus they obscure his understanding of reality under a conceptual veil.
Discussions
It might seem trivial what I’m saying here, that the meaning of life is about living it. The
important point though are the arguments why this is so, and that has to do with the “Who am I?”
question which is the ontological entity that lies at the base of the entire existence. So, the
meaning of life being its living it is not a just-so idea, but is a conclusion that derives from
ontological considerations having to do with the question “Who am I?” being eternal and thus
eternally searching for answers for itself.
Another aspect of the eternal question finding answers for itself is how the world is constructed.
And that is by answers that the “Who am I?” question finds relative to what it already found. If
one of the answers that it already found is “I am a human”, then further answers will not be “I
am a flying entity”, but will be answers that will be restricted to the previous found answer that it
is a human. Thus, a certain coherent world would be created that would have a certain stability in
order for further answers to be found. That’s why the “universe” appears to have “laws of
physics”, because the “Who am I?” question already had settled answers for itself and its further
searches are relative to the answers already found. Of course, after the “end of the world”, it will
start from scratch and a new “universe” will be created with different “laws of physics”.
A subtle point regarding the above mentioned evolution, is that time itself is an answer that the
“Who am I?” question finds for itself, thus the succession of “universes” is only apparent.
Strictly speaking they happen all at the same time, but viewed through the lenses of time, they
appear to be successive. It might even be the case that in some explorations of itself, the “Who
am I?” question doesn’t even find “I am time.” as one of its answers, thus those worlds would
not be temporal. Thus, the succession of new answers relative to already established answers
should be understood in the abstract, and not in any temporal way.
Also, the plurality of consciousness that we find ourselves surrounded with, is because the “Who
am I?” question finds answers for itself in a parallel manner, thus me seeing red and someone
else seeing green constitute concomitant answers, “I am red” and “I am green”, without there
being a contradiction of the “Who am I?” question receiving multiple different answers at the
same time.
A last point that I want to make here is related to my previous work, thus it will only be
understood by the reading of my previous papers, mainly the last one about meaning and context.
I am making it here in order for the readers that might be familiar with my philosophical system
to see the connections with my previous ideas and thus to see how this paper is an enrichment of
my former ideas. Thus, the “Who am I?” question is the formless part of self-reference, while the
answers that it receives are the form part of self-reference. Also, from the point of view of
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Vișan, C., The “Who Am I?” Question
342
context/meaning duality, the “Who am I?” question is the context and the answers that it receives
are the meanings. Thus, we can see how the “Who am I?” question and its answers are yet
another way to express the dualities that self-reference exhibits, in addition to the previous
discussed dualities of less-than-itself/more-than-itself, no-thing/every-thing, formless/form and
context/meaning. Finding a yet one more way to express the nature of self-reference comes thus
in support of my previous ideas developed along the years. Also, the reader that is not familiar
with my ideas about self-reference, would find a great expansion of the ideas presented in this
paper by exploring my previous ones, especially once again “Meaning and Context: A Brief
Introduction” [1].
Received June 7, 2022; Accepted June 28, 2022
References
1. Visan, C. (2021), Meaning and Context: A Brief Introduction, Journal of Consciousness Exploration &
Research, 12(4): pp. 356-382.
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Hu, H., & Wu, M., Mechanism of Xenon Anesthetic Action in Spin-mediated Consciousness Theory & Its Experimental Support
Article
Mechanism of Xenon Anesthetic Action in Spin-mediated
Consciousness Theory & Its Experimental Support
Huping Hu* & Maoxin Wu
ABSTRACT
In this paper, we discuss the mechanism of xenon anesthetic action in spin-mediated
consciousness theory in light of the recent experimental findings of Li, et.al. on nuclear spins of
xenon isotopes, xenon 131 and xenon 129, attenuating their anesthetic potency in mice. In the
spin-mediated consciousness theory put forward in 2002, molecules containing unpaired electron
spins, such as oxygen (O2) and nitric oxide (NO), interact with the mind pixels comprised of
various nuclear spins in neural membranes and proteins and activate the latter as one of the steps
generating conscious experience. Therefore, general anesthetics such as xenon produce
anesthesia by perturbing O2 and/or NO pathways in neural membranes and proteins thus
blocking and/or distorting their activation functions in consciousness. Naturally, the nuclear
spins of xenon 131 and xenon 129 may partially play the activating roles of displaced O2 and/or
NO among other possibilities to be briefly discussed and, thus attenuate the anesthetic potency of
nuclear-spin-carrying xenon isotopes.
Keywords: Spin-mediated, consciousness, mind pixel, xenon isotopes, xenon 131, xenon 129,
mechanism of anesthetic action.
1. Introduction
It is believed that the anesthetic functions of xenon is associated with its binding to NMDA
receptor (See, e.g., [1-2]). However, there is no commonly accepted theory on how general
anesthetics work even after more than 160 years since their discovery. There are two schools of
thoughts on the subject. The first and oldest is the “lipid theory” which proposes that anesthetics
dissolve into cell membranes and produce common structural perturbation resulting in depressed
function of ion channels and receptors that are involved in brain functions (See, e.g., [3, 7]). The
second, more popular and recent theory is the “protein theory” which suggests that anesthetics
directly interact with membrane proteins such as ion channels and receptors that are involved in
brain functions. But the protein theory doesn't seem to square well with the low affinity and
diversity of the general anesthetics. There is no direct experimental evidence to support either
theory (See, e.g., [4, 7]).
Both theoretical and experimental studies have shown that many general anesthetics cause
changes in membrane structures and properties at or just above the clinical concentrations
*Corresponding author: Huping Hu, Ph.D., J.D., Research & Development, QuantumDream, Inc., P.O. Box 267, Stony Brook,
NY 11790, USA. E-mail: drhu@att.net or hupinghu@quantumbrain.org
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Hu, H., & Wu, M., Mechanism of Xenon Anesthetic Action in Spin-mediated Consciousness Theory & Its Experimental Support
required for anesthesia (See, e.g., [5-6]). Since both O2 and general anesthetics are hydrophobic,
we proposed in 2001 within the framework of conventional neuroscience that general anesthetic
may cause unconsciousness by perturbing O2 pathway in neural membranes and O2-utilizing
proteins, such that the availability of O2 to its sites of utilization is reduced, which in turn
triggers cascading cellular responses through O2-sensing mechanisms, resulting in general
anesthesia [7].
Further, in the spin-mediated consciousness theory of 2002 [8], we hypothesized that anesthetic
perturbations of oxygen pathways in neural membranes and proteins themselves are the direct
cause of unconsciousness within the framework of quantum biology/brain. This hypothesis
requires that O2 be directly involved in consciousness such as awareness. Indeed, the low
affinity, diversity and pervasiveness of general anesthetics point to this direction [8].
The spin-mediated consciousness theory says that quantum spin is the seat of consciousness and
the linchpin between mind and the brain, that is, spin is the “mind-pixel”, and the unity of mind
is achieved by quantum entanglement of these mind-pixels [8]. The theory is based on the fact
that quantum spin is the most basic quantum bit ("qubit") for encoding information and neural
membranes and proteins are saturated with quantum spin carrying nuclei and these nuclear spins
have relatively long quantum coherence time [8]. There is also a version of spin-mediated
consciousness theory based on unpaired electron spin (See additional refs in [8]).
Since spin-mediated consciousness theory was put forth in 2002 [8], the idea that nuclear spins
and/or unpaired electron spins in the brain may play some roles in consciousness has gains
traction recently (See, e.g., [9-13]).
Importantly, Li, et.al. have found experimentally that nuclear spins of xenon isotopes, xenon 131
and xenon 129, attenuate their anesthetic potency in mice [11]. The authors therein suggest that
"the quantum property of nuclear spin in the monoatomic anesthetic xenon promotes conscious
processes at the xenon site of action, consistent with theories proposing quantum mechanisms in
consciousness" and speculate that quantum entanglement of nuclear spins may be involved in
consciousness [11]. However, for whatever reason (hopefully benign such as oversight), the
authors therein did not cite or mention [8], which was the first, to the best knowledge of the herein
first author, to propose nuclear/electron spin mediated/based consciousness theory back in 2002.
In this paper, we discuss the mechanism of xenon anesthetic action in spin-mediated
consciousness theory [8] in light of Li et al.’s finding [11]. In the spin-mediated consciousness
theory, molecules containing unpaired electron spins, such as oxygen (O2) and nitric oxide (NO),
interact with the mind pixels comprised of various nuclear spins in neural membranes and proteins
and activate the latter as one of the steps generating conscious experience (8). Therefore, general
anesthetics such as xenon produce anesthesia by perturbing O2 and/or NO pathways in neural
membranes and proteins thus distorting and/or blocking their activation functions in
consciousness such as awareness [8]. Naturally, the nuclear spins of xenon 131 and xenon 129
may partially play the activating roles of displaced O2 and/or NO among other possibilities and,
thus attenuate the anesthetic potency of nuclear-spin-carrying xenon isotopes as shown in [11].
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2. Brief Comparisons of Oxygen, Nitric Oxide, Nitrous Oxide & Xenon
Each O2 contains two unpaired valence electrons thus is strongly paramagnetic and at the same
time chemically reactive as a bi-radical [8]. It is capable of producing a large fluctuating
magnetic field along its diffusing pathway thus serves as a natural contrast agent in MRI (See,
e.g., [14]). The existence of unpaired electrons in stable molecules is very rare indeed. O2 are the
only paramagnetic specie to be found in large quantities in the brain besides enzyme-produced
nitric oxide (NO) [8]. In addition, O2 is an essential component for energy production in the
central nervous system.
O2 and NO are hydrophobic small molecules so their concentrations in neural membranes are
much higher than in aqueous solutions such as cytoplasma (See, e.g., [15]). Both O2 and NO, the
latter being an unstable free radical with one unpaired electron and a small neural transmitter
(See, e.g., [21]), are well known in spin chemistry - a field focused on the study of free-radical
mediated chemical reactions where very small magnetic energies can change non-equilibrium
spin conversion process (See, e.g., [16]).
In contrast, nitrous oxide (N2O) and xenon (Xe) contain no unpaired electrons and are general
anesthetics. They are also hydrophobic small molecules so their concentrations in neural
membranes are much higher than in aqueous solutions such as cytoplasma (See, e.g., [8]). Xenon
has 9 stable isotopes among which xenon 129 has a nuclear spin of 1/2, xenon 131 has nuclear spin
of 3/2, and the other seven isotopes have no nuclear spin (See, e.g., [11]).
3. Postulates of Spin-mediated Consciousness Theory
Within the context of brain-based consciousness, the spin-mediated consciousness theory says
that quantum spin is the seat of consciousness and the linchpin between mind and the brain, that
is, spin is the “mind-pixel”, and the unity of mind is achieved by quantum entanglement of these
mind-pixels [8]. The theory is based on the fact that quantum spin is the most basic quantum bit
("qubit") for encoding information and a fundamental quantum process associated with the
structure of neural membranes and proteins that are saturated with quantum spin carrying nuclei
and these nuclear spins have relatively long quantum coherence time (8, also see [22]).
Spin-mediated consciousness theory of 2002 [8] postulates that: (a) Consciousness is
intrinsically connected to quantum spin; (b) The mind-pixels of the brain are comprised of the
nuclear spins distributed in the neural membranes and proteins, the pixel-activating agents are
comprised of biologically available paramagnetic species such as O2 and NO, and the neural
memories are comprised of all possible entangled quantum states of the mind-pixels; (c) Action
potential modulations of nuclear spin interactions input information to the mind pixels and spin
chemistry is the output circuit to classical neural activities; and (d) Consciousness emerges from
the collapses of those entangled quantum states which are able to survive decoherence, said
collapses are contextual, irreversible and non-computable and the unity of consciousness is
achieved through quantum entanglement of the mind-pixels.
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Hu, H., & Wu, M., Mechanism of Xenon Anesthetic Action in Spin-mediated Consciousness Theory & Its Experimental Support
As mind-pixel activating agents, the unpaired electrons of the paramagnetic species such as O2
and NO can interact with nuclear spins through their large magnetic dipoles and
collision-induced Fermi-contact mechanism thus activating the neural nuclear spin ensembles
[8]. Indeed, because the magnetic dipole moment of an unpaired electron is 658 times larger than
that of the 1H nucleus, O2 and NO can respectively produce magnetic fields 1,316 and 658 times
larger than 1H (See, e.g., [17]). In addition, O2 and NO are hydrophobic small molecules so their
concentrations in neural membranes are much higher than in aqueous solutions such as
cytoplasma (See, e.g., [15]). Thus, as they rapidly tumble and diffuse, they produce
microscopically strong and fluctuating magnetic fields. O2 are the predominant sources of
internal magnetic fields in neural membranes and proteins, as evidenced by the strong effect of
O2 on spin-spin and spin-lattice relaxation rates (See, e.g., [18]).
In additions, nuclear spin networks in neural membranes and proteins are modulated by action
potentials through J-coupling, dipolar coupling and chemical shielding tensors and perturbed by
microscopically strong and fluctuating internal magnetic fields produced largely by paramagnetic
oxygen [19-20].
Further, both nuclear spin in neural membranes and proteins as mind-pixels and unpaired electron
spins of O2 and NO as mind-pixel activating agents are also modulated by action potentials
through relativistic effect of moving spin in strong electric field [20, 22] and, in turn, said
modulation of the activating agents influence the nuclear spins in the brain as shown below.
Thus, action-potential modulations of both nuclear and unpaired electron spins synchronize their
collective dynamics to the neural firings [19-20].
The decoherence effect which causes a quantum system to lose quantum coherence through
interactions with its environment has been a major concern for any quantum theory of the brain
(See, e.g., [23]). However, nuclear spins only have weak interactions with their environments thus
long relaxation time after excitation (See, e.g., [14]). Indeed, there are both theoretical and
experimental studies indicating the possibility of large-scale quantum coherence with
entanglement in the nuclear spin ensembles distributed in the neural membranes and proteins (See,
e.g., [24-32]). Further, studies show that decoherence-free subspaces can exist within the Hilbert
space of a complex quantum system (See, e.g., [33-34] ).
4. Action Potential Modulations of Nuclear Spins & Unpaired Electron Spins
The range of electric field strength E m inside the neural membranes during a typical action
potential as calculated from Em = Vm/d where Vm and d are respectively the membrane voltage
and thickness is shown in Figure1. It oscillates between -9 to +6 million volts per meter during the
course of each action potential [19-20]. These strengths are comparable to those causing
electroporation of cell membranes and dielectric breakdown of many materials at which the
covalent bonds of the constituent molecules are torn apart (See, e.g., [35]). So it significantly
affects the conformations and collective dynamics of the neural membrane components such as
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phospholipids, cholesterols and proteins. Indeed, voltage-dependent ion channels perform their
functions through electric field induced conformation changes of the constituent protein (See, e.g.,
[36]) and studies on the effects of electric fields on lipids support the above conclusion (See, e.g.,
[37-38]).
Figure 1. Electric field strength inside neural membrane during the course of an action
potential. The calculation is down by assuming a typical membrane thickness of about 10
nm and the results are shown in the unit of one million volts per meter with “-” and “+”
indicating that the direction of electric field is respectively pointing outward or inward
inside the neural membrane.
The nuclear spins carried by the nuclei such as 1H, 13C and 31P inside the neural membranes and
proteins form complex intra- and inter-molecular spin networks through various intra-molecular Jand dipolar couplings and both short- and long-range intermolecular dipolar couplings [19] and
even through-space J-couplings (See, e.g. [39]). Since J-coupling is the indirect interaction
between two nuclear spins through covalent bonds and dipolar coupling is the direct interaction of
two nuclear spins through space, their strengths and anisotropies strongly depend on the
conformations of the neural membrane components (See, e.g., [40-41]). Further, the chemical
shielding of each nuclear spin also depends on the conformations of surrounding covalent bonds
(See, e.g., [42]). Thus, when these spin networks are subjected to the enormous changing electric
field produced during each action potential, the J-coupling, dipolar coupling and chemical
shielding tensors oscillate with it [19]. Studies on the effects of electric fields on these tensors
(See, e.g., [40-42]) also support this conclusion.
Further, nuclear and electron spins interact with electric field through relativistic effect due to their
motion in electric field [20, 22] – This is also the cause of spin-orbital couplings and can be
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vigorously derived from Dirac equation as will be shown in a separate paper. The motion
producing the relativistic effect of moving nuclear spin or electron spin seeing/experiencing a
magnetic field in its rest frame includes molecule motion such as rotation, electron orbital motion
in an atom, rotation of multi-nucleon nucleus and motion a sub-nuclear particle such as quark
inside a nucleon (proton or neutron) as illustrated below.
In special relativity, a moving particle in an electric field E sees a magnetic field
rest frame (See, e.g., [43]):
in its own
/
(1)
/
However, due to Thomas precession [44], the magnetic field
seen by the nuclear spin I is:
(2)
Thus, E exerts a torque (twisting force) on moving proton spin I at speed v as illustrated below in
Figure 2:
g
(3)
Similarly, E exerts a torque (twisting force) on moving electron spin S at speed v as illustrated in
Figure 2:
g
(4)
Figure 2. Illustration of spin transverse torque/force f exerted on moving nuclear spin
inside the neural membranes and proteins due to molecular rotation, nucleus rotation or
sub-nucleon motion, or moving unpaired electron spin inside the neural membranes and
proteins due to molecular rotation or atomic electron orbital motion.
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Therefore, the interactions between the moving nuclear/electronic spins in neural membranes and
proteins and the varying high-voltage electric fields inside neural membranes and proteins driven
by action potentials are capable of directly feeding information into the neurons [20].
We now estimate the strengths of seen by nuclear spin and electron spin carried by various
molecules in neural membranes and proteins using the formula:
B = Ev/(2c2)
(5)
and the estimated E ~ 9x106 V/m as the maximal electric field strength in neural membranes or
proteins of a thickness/length ~ 10x10-9m.
(1) Strength of
seen in the rest frame of rotating lipid molecule
by a nuclear-spin-carrying proton/hydrogen
For a lipid molecule with a diameter ~ 0.9x10-9m and rotation frequency along the chain ~ 1x107/s
(See, e.g., [45]), the estimated molecular rotation speed of a spin ½ proton/hydrogen on the lipid
molecule is 2 x 3.14 x 0.45x10-9m x 1x107/s = 0.0283 m/s.
Thus, seen on lipid molecule rest frame by a proton/hydrogen atom due to rotation along the
chain is ~ (9x106 V/m x 0.0283 m/s)/(2x(2.99x108m/s)2 = 7.122 x 10-13 Vs/m2 (Tesla) , that is,
0.7122 pico-Tesla.
(2) Strength of
seen in the rest frame of rotating nucleus of multiple nucleons
such as deuteron, C13, P31 and Xe129 by a nuclear-spin-carrying proton/neutron
For a nucleus of multiple nucleons with diameter ~ 4.2 x 10-15m (e.g., deuteron) and rotation
frequency ~ 4.74 x 1021/s (See, e.g., [46]), the estimated rotation speed of the nucleus is ~ 2 x 3.14
x 2.1 x 10-15m x 4.74 x 1021/s = 58.95 x 106m/s.
Thus, seen in the nucleus rest frame by a spin ½ nucleon (proton or neutron) due to rotation of
nucleus of multiple nucleons is ~ (9x106 V/m x 58.95 x 106m/s)/(2x(2.99x108m/s)2 = 14.836 x 10-4
Vs/m2 (Tesla), that is, 14.836 Gauss or 1.484 milli-Tesla.
(3) Strength of
seen in the rest frame of rotating sub-nucleon particle
such as a spin-carrying quark inside a nucleon
For a nucleon with rotating sub-nuclear particle with orbital diameter ~ 0.8 x 10-15m (e.g., the size
of a proton) and rotation frequency ~ 4.74 x 1021/s (a pure guess based on [46]), the estimated
orbital speed of a sub-nuclear particle inside a nucleon is ~ 2 x 3.14 x 0.4 x 10-15m x 4.74 x 1021/s =
11.907 x 106m/s.
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Hu, H., & Wu, M., Mechanism of Xenon Anesthetic Action in Spin-mediated Consciousness Theory & Its Experimental Support
Thus, seen in the sub-nucleon rest frame by a spin ½ sub-nucleon particle due to sub-nucleon
rotation is ~ (9x106 V/m x 11.907 x 106m/s)/(2x(2.99x108m/s)2 = 2.997 x 10-4 Vs/m2 (Tesla), that is,
2.997 Gauss or 0.300 milli-Tesla.
(4) Strength of
seen in the rest frame of rotating oxygen molecule
by an unpaired electron spin
For an oxygen molecule with size/diameter ~ 3.46x10-11m and rotation frequency ~ 1.07x1012/s
(See, e.g., [47]), the estimated rotation speed of a spin-carrying unpaired electron on the oxygen
molecule in neural membranes or proteins is 2 x 3.14 x 1.73 x 10-11m x 1.07 x1012/s = 1.162 x 102
m/s.
Thus, seen in the rest frame of oxygen molecule by a spin-carrying unpaired electron due to
rotation of oxygen molecule is ~ (9x106 V/m x 1.162 x 102 m/s)/(2x(2.99x108m/s)2 = 2.924 x 10-9
Vs/m2 (Tesla), that is, 2.924 nano-Tesla.
(5) Strength of
seen in the rest frame of electron orbital in oxygen molecule
by an unpaired electron spin
The estimated electron orbital speed in a Bohr atom is ~c/137 (See, e.g., [48]). Using this speed as
an estimate of the electron orbital speed in oxygen molecule,
seen in the rest frame of electron
orbital by a spin-carrying unpaired electron due to electron orbital motion is ~ (9x106 V/m x (1/137
x 2.99x108m/s)/(2x(2.99x108m/s)2 = 54.93 x10-6Vs/m2 (Tesla), that is, 54.93 micro-Tesla or 0.549
Gauss.
We now illustrate action potential modulations of two intra- or inter-molecular nuclear-spin
system I1 and I2 inside neural membranes or proteins by the following heuristic Hamiltonian:
σ
σ
1
1R
σ
σ
1
Hˆ h 1Iˆ 1
B1i B1e B1 h 2 Iˆ 2 2 R 2 A B 2i B 2 e B 2
hIˆ 1 J R J A Iˆ 2 hIˆ 1 D R D A Iˆ 2
1A
(6)
where B 1i , B1e , B1 B 2i , B 2e and B2 are respectively the internal, external and relativistic-effect
,
magnetic fields at the locations of first and second spins, 1 and 2 are respectively the
gyromagnetic ratios of the said first and second spins, and other terms are explained below.
In the above equation (6), the two nuclear spins are coupled to each other through J-coupling
tensor (including “through space” J-coupling, see, e.g., [39]) J = JR + JA, where JR is for resting
potential and JA accounts for contribution from action potential modulation, and dipolar coupling
tensor D = DR + DA, where DR is for resting potential and DA accounts for contribution from action
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Hu, H., & Wu, M., Mechanism of Xenon Anesthetic Action in Spin-mediated Consciousness Theory & Its Experimental Support
potential modulation (19). Second, chemical shielding tensor of each nuclear spin which also
contains contribution from action potential modulation of its surrounding covalent bonds are taken
are the chemical shielding tensors at resting potential and
1
and
σ
σ
first-order contribution to
2
σ
and for the second spin
where
and
σ
1A
σ
σ
1R
σ
σ
2R
1
σ
and
σ
σ
1R
σ
into account - For the first spin
are the
2
1A
2R
2A
2A
respectively from action potential modulations. Third, the
effects of internal magnetic field B i from other spins, external magnetic field B e and the
magnetic field B due to relativistic effect on moving nuclear spin in the electric field of action
potentials are also taken into accounts (20).
σ
σ
, B 1i , B1 , B 2i and B2 are all functions of membrane
,
voltage Vm which is driven by action potentials. Thus, the above Hamiltonian of interaction allows
In the above equation (6), JA, DA,
1A
,
2A
the action potentials to modulate nuclear spin dynamics through J-coupling, dipolar coupling,
chemical shift, internal magnetic field and relativistic effect of moving spin in electric field of the
action potential. Importantly, the spin-spin interaction in the above Hamiltonian causes the two
nuclear spins in the two-spin system to form entangled quantum states known as Bell States.
We further illustrate the action potential modulations of one nuclear-spin system I and one
unpaired electron spin S inside neural membranes or proteins by the following heuristic
Hamiltonian:
A
)
B Ii B Ie B I h S S B Si B Se B S hIˆ R
A
A
R
σ
σ
1
Hˆ h I Iˆ
A
)
S
(7)
where B Ii , B Ie , BI , B Si , B Se and B S are respectively the internal, external and relativistic-effect
magnetic fields at the locations of nuclear-spin system I and unpaired electron spin S, I and S
are respectively the gyromagnetic ratios of the said nuclear spin and unpaired electron spin, and other
terms are explained below.
In the above equation (7), the nuclear spin and unpaired electron spin are coupled to each other
through dipolar coupling tensor A = AR + AA, where Ar is for resting potential and Aa accounts for
contribution from action potential modulation. Second, chemical shielding tensor of the nuclear
spin which also contains contribution from action potential modulation of its surrounding covalent
A
where
A
is the first-order contribution to
σ
σ
R
σ
σ
σ
bonds are taken into account, That is,
from action potential modulations. Third, the effects of internal magnetic field magnetic field B i
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Hu, H., & Wu, M., Mechanism of Xenon Anesthetic Action in Spin-mediated Consciousness Theory & Its Experimental Support
from other spins, external magnetic field B e and the magnetic field B due to relativistic effect of
moving spin in the electric field of action potential are taken into accounts.
σ
, B Ii , B I B Si and BS are all functions of membrane voltage Vm which is
,
driven by action potential. The above Hamiltonian of interactions allows unpaired electron spin S of
In equation (7), Aa,
A
O2 and/or NO to activate/polarize/interact with nuclear spin I and the action potentials to modulate
nuclear-electronic two-spin system dynamics through dipolar coupling, chemical shift, internal
magnetic field and relativistic effect of moving spin in electric field of the action potential.
Importantly, the nuclear spin and electron spin interaction in the above Hamiltonian cause the two
spins to form entangled quantum states known as Bell States.
The above considerations of simple two-spin systems in neural membranes and/or protein
illustrate that the neural spin networks inside the membranes are capable to form complex
modulated structures through action potential driven oscillations of J-coupling, dipolar coupling
and chemical shielding tensors plus oscillations of internal magnetic field and relativistic effect of
moving spin in electric field of the action potentials [8, 19-20]. Thus, the neural spike trains of
various frequencies can directly input information carried by them into these spin networks [8,
19-20].
The fluctuating internal magnetic fields are produced by the paramagnetic species such as O2 and
NO and spin-carrying nuclei themselves such as 1H, 13C and 31P. Table 1 shows the maximal
magnetic field strengths produced by the magnetic dipoles of the unpaired electrons of O2 and NO
and the nucleus of 1H along the axes of said dipoles at given distances [19]. Because the magnetic
dipole moment of an unpaired electron is 658 times larger than that of the 1H nucleus, O2 and NO
can respectively produce magnetic fields 1,316 and 658 times larger than 1H [19].
As distance r increases, the strength of the magnetic dipole field quickly attenuate according to
Bi
0m
4r 3
(8)
where 0 is the permeability of free space and m is the magnetic dipole moment. As mentioned
earlier, O2 and NO are hydrophobic small molecules so their concentrations in neural membranes
are much higher than in aqueous solutions such as cytoplasma (See, e.g., [15]). As they rapidly
tumble and diffuse, they produce microscopically strong and fluctuating magnetic fields. Indeed,
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Hu, H., & Wu, M., Mechanism of Xenon Anesthetic Action in Spin-mediated Consciousness Theory & Its Experimental Support
O2 are the predominant sources of internal magnetic fields in neural membranes as evidenced by
the strong effect of O2 on spin-spin and spin-lattice relaxation rates (See, e.g., [15, 18]).
Table 1. Magnetic Fields Produced by O2, NO and 1H
Distance (Å)
O2 (Tesla)
NO (Tesla)
1
1.0
2.0
3.0
4.0
5.0
10.0
3.713940
0.464243
0.137553
0.058030
0.029712
0.003714
1.856970
0.232122
0.068777
0.029015
0.014856
0.001857
0.002821
0.000353
0.000104
0.000044
0.000023
0.000003
H (Tesla)
Again, these fluctuating internal magnetic fields are modulated by action potentials through
relativistic effects on nuclear/electronic spins moving in electric field and continuously perturb the
neural spin networks. The intensities of said perturbations depend on the concentrations of O2 and
NO that are highly regulated in the brain. Thus, these modulated perturbations not only activate
various neural spin networks but also are likely capable of enhancing the synchronization of these
dynamics to the neural spike trains through non-linear processes such as stochastic resonance that
is known to occur in the brain (See, e.g., [49-51]).
The collective dynamics of the neural spin networks under modulations by action potentials and
perturbations by fluctuating internal magnetic fields which are also modulated by action potentials
represent meaningful information to the brain [19-20, 22]. An analogy is the mechanism of liquid
crystal display (LCD) where information-carrying electric voltages applied to the pixel cells
change the optical properties of the constituent molecules such that when lights pass through these
cells their phases get rotated differently which in turn represent different information to the viewer
of the LCD screen (See, e.g., [52]). Accordingly, the cause of unconsciousness by general
anesthetics can be explained as the direct consequence of their effects the O2 and/or NO pathways
inside neural membranes and proteins and/or the neural membrane structures themselves [7-8,
19-20].
However, how can one explains that cognitive functions seem in general insensitive to
environmental and even medical strength external magnetic fields such as those generated by the
power lines and the ones used in MRI? It is argued that most of these disturbances do not represent
meaningful information to the brain and, further, the brain likely have developed other
mechanisms through evolution to counter the effects of external magnetic fields. In the cases
where external magnetic disturbances were reported to have observable effects on cognition, the
above discussions provide a basis for interpreting these effects as said disturbances contain
meaningful information to the brain [7-8, 19-20].
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Hu, H., & Wu, M., Mechanism of Xenon Anesthetic Action in Spin-mediated Consciousness Theory & Its Experimental Support
4. Mechanism of Xenon Anesthetic Action in Spin-mediated Consciousness Theory
We describe here mechanism of anesthetic action in accordance with the spin-mediated theory as
put forward in 2002 [8]. Figure 3(a) schematically shows the normal diffusion of O2 and NO
without anesthetics dissolved into the neural membranes and proteins. As these molecules
rapidly diffuse through the membranes, they interact with the neural membrane components and
generate strong and fluctuating internal magnetic fields which are modulated by action potentials
thus activating the nuclear spin ensembles inside these membranes. Figure 3(b) schematically
shows anesthetic perturbations of O2 and NO pathways and neural membranes themselves by
anesthetic molecules and xenon atoms and the resulting distortion and/or obstruction of these
pathways. Such perturbations render O2 and NO not able to perform their normal activation
functions thus resulting in unconsciousness.
Figure 3. Illustration of anesthetic action. a shows the normal diffusion of O2 without
anesthetics dissolved into neural membranes. b shows xenon and anesthetic molecule
perturbations of O2 pathways and neural membranes themselves.
Further, as illustrated in Figure 4 below, anesthetic molecules and xenon atoms perturb not only
oxygen transport across cell membranes but also its lateral movement within the membrane and
the movement within a hydrophobic pocket of the protein.
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Hu, H., & Wu, M., Mechanism of Xenon Anesthetic Action in Spin-mediated Consciousness Theory & Its Experimental Support
Figure 4. Perturbation of oxygen pathways in membranes and proteins by anesthetic
molecules and xenon atoms. According to spin-mediated consciousness theory, anesthetic
molecules and xenon atoms block, dislocate, distort or otherwise interfere with O2 and/or
NO pathways in both membranes and proteins. They perturb not only oxygen transport
across cell membranes but also its lateral movement within the membrane and the
movement within a hydrophobic pocket of the protein.
Using the above system of one nuclear-spin I and one (or two) unpaired electron spin S inside
neural membranes or proteins under the action potential modulation as an illustration, one may
write a heuristic Hamiltonian for the two-spin system as:
A
)
B Ii B Ie B I h S S B Si B Se B S hIˆ R
A
A
R
σ
σ
1
Hˆ h I Iˆ
A
)
S
(9)
After the unpaired-electron-carrying molecule such as O2 or NO is displaced by an anesthetic such
as xenon 132 or xenon 134 which has no unpaired electron spin and nuclear spin, the Hamiltonian
becomes:
R
σ
σ
1
Hˆ h I Iˆ
A
B Ii B Ie B I
(10)
which contains no interaction between nuclear spin I and the activating agent O2 or NO.
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Hu, H., & Wu, M., Mechanism of Xenon Anesthetic Action in Spin-mediated Consciousness Theory & Its Experimental Support
On the other hand, if the unpaired-electron-carrying molecule such as O2 or NO is displaced by an
anesthetic such as xenon 129 or xenon 131 which has no unpaired electron spin but has nuclear
spin I2, the Hamiltonian (9) becomes:
σ
σ
1
R
σ
σ
1
Hˆ h I Iˆ
B Ii B Ie BI h 2 Iˆ 2 2 R 2 A B 2i B 2e B 2
hIˆ J R J A Iˆ 2 hIˆ D R D A Iˆ 2
A
(11)
which contains both intermolecular (‘through space”) J-coupling (See, e.g., [39]) and dipolar
coupling between nuclear spin I and xenon 129 or xenon 131’s nuclear spin I2 modulated by action
potentials – These modulated couplings may then attenuate the anesthetic potency of
nuclear-spin-carrying xenon 129 and xenon 131.
5. The Experimental Results by Li et. el. with Xenon Isotopes Applied to Mice
Recently, Li et. al. postulated that xenon isotopes might have different anesthetic potencies and
experimentally tested the postulates in mice [11]. They found that “[t]he potency of two xenon
isotopes with nuclear spin, xenon 129 and xenon 131, is less than the potency of two xenon
isotopes, xenon 132 and xenon 134, that do not have nuclear spin[; t]his difference in potency
cannot be explained, either by differences in outer electron shells (there are none) or the
variations in atomic mass “[11] .
The conclusion by Li et. al. is that “[x]enon isotopes with nuclear spin are less potent than those
without, and polarizability cannot account for the difference[; t]he lower anesthetic potency of
129
Xe may be the result of it participating in conscious processing and therefore partially
antagonizing its own anesthetic potency” [11] .
Li et. al. suggest that "the quantum property of nuclear spin in the monoatomic anesthetic xenon
promotes conscious processes at the xenon site of action, consistent with theories proposing
quantum mechanisms in consciousness" and speculate that quantum entanglement of nuclear
spins may be involved in consciousness [11].
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Hu, H., & Wu, M., Mechanism of Xenon Anesthetic Action in Spin-mediated Consciousness Theory & Its Experimental Support
6. Discussions & Conclusions
As shown and discussed above, spin-mediated consciousness theory [8, 19-20, 22] naturally
explains the attenuation of the anesthetic potency of nuclear-spin-carrying xenon 129 and xenon
131 found by Li et. al.[11].
Therefore, the important results of Li et. al. [11], if replicable, provide direct and strong support
to the spin-mediated consciousness theory put forward in 2002 [8] by the herein authors and its
later developments [19-20, 22].
Li et. al. [11] did not provide a detailed mechanism of their own to explain their results but cites
some work done recently on possible role of nuclear spin in consciousness or cognition in order
to offer a plausible explanation. However, it is herein authors’ views that the work cited by Li et.
al. on the subject may be largely without merits to be discussed in the future if the circumstances
call for such discussions.
For whatever reason (hopefully benign such as oversight), Li et. al. [11] did not cite or mention
[8] which was the first, to the best knowledge of the herein first author, to propose
nuclear/electron spin mediated/based consciousness theory back in 2002.
Among other plausible explanations of Li et. al.’s results [11], one is the different quantum
behaviors of some xenon isotopes being fermions and some of them being bosons. Xenon 129
and xenon 131 are fermions but xenon 132 and xenon 134 are bosons (see, e.g., [53]). Thus,
besides the difference in formation of quantum entanglement, their roles in spin chemistry and/or
quantum dynamics of the brain, if not negligible, may be different.
In summary, we have discussed in this paper the mechanism of xenon anesthetic action in
spin-mediated consciousness theory [8, 19-20, 22] in light of the recent experimental findings of
Li, et.al. [11] on nuclear spins of xenon isotopes, xenon 131 and xenon 129, attenuating their
anesthetic potency in mice. In the spin-mediated consciousness theory put forward in 2002 [8],
molecules containing unpaired electron spins, such as oxygen (O2) and nitric oxide (NO), interact
with the mind pixels comprised of various nuclear spins in the brain and activate the latter as one
of the steps generating conscious experience. Therefore, general anesthetics such as xenon
produce anesthesia by perturbing O2 and/or NO pathways thus distorting and/or blocking their
activation functions in consciousness. Naturally, the nuclear spins of xenon 131 and xenon 129
may partially play the activating roles of displaced O2 and/or NO among other possibilities and,
thus attenuate the anesthetic potency of nuclear-spin-carrying xenon isotopes found by Li, et.al.
[11].
Dated: September 8, 2019
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Response to Commentary
Comment on James H. Lake’s Review of
Conscious Action Theory (CAT)
Wolfgang NMN Baer*
Nascent Systems Inc.
&
Naval Postgraduate School, Monterey, CA
Abstract
This is the author’s commentary on James H. Lake’s review of his book “Conscious Action
Theory (CAT)”.
Keywords: Book review, conscious action theory.
I deeply appreciate Dr. Lake’s review of my CAT book1. I was stunned to read a description of
my work that so elegantly captures my mind-body integration concept. The many interesting
aspects Dr. Lake was able to describe, from his perspective, encourage me to believe this book
will have significant impact in a variety of disciplines. Medical and psychiatric applications2 are
clearly one of them. Finding applications that further scientific understanding is the raise d’etre
for exploring new ideas.
In this case the new idea expressed in Conscious Action Theory turns standard scientific
methodology on its head. Instead of starting with a physics of a dead-material universe and
attempting to discover how we conscious beings emerge from its laws, it takes the approach that
we, as conscious beings, seek to understand our experience by building memory models of what
the causes of our experiences might be like. Then we externalize those thought-memories into
the books and papers we can share with each other. Therefore I consider the model-building
process to be more fundamental than any theory which evolves from such a process.
In that light, my CAT book is primarily a how-to book describing the creation and operation of
the conscious thought processes, which includes a functioning model of reality that can be built
with paper and ink. The key discovery when participating in such an exercise is to realize that the
objective flow of activity - which could be recorded in a multi-media film represented by a
pattern of arrows moving right in the frames shown in Figure 1 below - is precisely half the
activity that actually happens. The other half of the flow of activity is shown in Figure 2 as a
*
Correspondence: Prof. Wolfgang NMN Baer (Retired), Nascent Systems Inc. & Naval Postgraduate School, Monterey, CA,
USA. http://www.nascentinc.com E-mail: Support@NascentInc.com
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Baer, W. NMN, Comment on James H. Lake’s Review of Conscious Action Theory (CAT)
758
continuation of the objective flow through the internal aspect of the physical material, from
which we conscious observers are built, and in which the moving arrows appear.
That objective material in front of ones nose one can see and touch physically has an internal and
external side, which can be modeled by doubling the pages of a book designed to describe the
objective world we are accustomed to seeing. In physics such a doubling was introduced by G.
Vitiello4 when his attempt to describe the physical brain required a doubling of the degrees of
freedom used to specify all its parts. The doubling is also evident in quantum theory, which is the
physics describing the inside of material. When we measure this insides we produce a double in
the form of the observable world model coded into classical physics. In our every day life we
experience the internal aspect of our own matter as sensations or qualia, which is then fused with
the memory-model recall experience that explains what the qualia actually is. The result of this
fusion is the every day objective world in which we believe ourselves to live..
Whatever the memory-model we chose in which to implement our beliefs, it will only work for
us until it reaches its limits. Our challenge5 is to continually evolve improvements. The next
logical step is the integration of the subjective and objective aspects of our material and to model
both aspects as a single continuous flow of events. Comparison of Figures 1 and 2 below show
the how action flow enables both mind and body experience in eaxh successive event cycle.
Fig 1. Oblique view of a CAT blockuniverse model segment with a mind phase
hidden revealing only its objective side
Fig 2. Top-down god’s eye view of a CAT
block universe model doubling the conscious
experience by revealing the subjective side
Received August 29, 2020; Accepted October 24, 2020
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759
References
[1] Lake, J. (2020) “Review of Wolfgang Baer’s Book: Conscious Action Theory – An Introduction to
the Event-oriented World View”, Journal of Consciousness Exploration Research, Vol 11 No 5 pp.
548-551
[2] Mitterauer B., Baer W. (2020)“Disorders of Human Consciousness in the Tri-partite Synapses”
Medical Hypothesis Vol 136, March 2020, URL: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mehy.2019.109523
[3] Baer W. (2020) Conscious Action Theory: an introduction to the event oriented world view,
Routledge Press, ISBN: 978-1-138-66746-4 (hbk) Note: fig.1 and Fig. 2 are on pp. 134-135
[4] Vitiello, G.(2001) My double unveiled: The dissipative quantum model of the brain, John Benjamins
ISBN 9027251525
[5] Baer W. (2020) “The Grand Challenge For Science”, Interalia Magazine (July 2020)
https://www.interaliamag.org/articles/wolfgang-baer-the-grand-challenge-for-science/
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Mocombe, P. C., The Nature of Consciousness: A Channel of a Frequency Wavelength
Exploration
The Nature of Consciousness:
A Channel of a Frequency Wavelength
Paul C. Mocombe*
West Virginia State University, West Virginia, USA
Abstract
This article attempts to theoretically outline the nature of consciousness in the author’s
consciousness field theory (CFT). The herein author posits that consciousness is a channel of, or
on, a frequency wavelength, which is both local and nonlocal. According to this hypothesis,
consciousness, is tied to an emergent fifth force of nature with an elementary particle, psychion,
that arises from beings (subjects of experience) experiencing superimposed and entangled
worlds, with Schumann waves tied to the (nonlocal) absolute vacuum, which gives rise to local
consciousness fields, the phenomenal properties, qualia, of which emerge as psychons and
psychions in brains.
Keywords: Consciousness, field theory, psychion, qalia, Schumann Wave, vacuum, brain.
1. Background of the Problem
Consciousness here refers to subjective awareness of phenomenal experiences, qualia, (ideology,
language, self, feelings, choice, control of voluntary behavior, thoughts, etc.) of internal and
external worlds. The academic (scientific) literature “describes three possibilities regarding the
origin and place of consciousness in the universe: (A) as an emergent property of complex brain
neuronal computation, (B) as spiritual quality of the universe, distinct from purely physical
actions, and (C) as composed of discrete ‘proto-conscious’ events acting in accordance with
physical laws not yet fully understood” (Hameroff and Penrose, 2014, p. 70).
The former, (A), emphasize the laws of classical physics to posit consciousness as the by-product
of the neural correlates of the physical substrates of the material brain (Chalmers, 1996). The
latter two (B and C) are post-materialist approaches to understanding consciousness, which
emphasize the emergence of consciousness as an external phenomenon that exists outside of the
physical substrates of the brain either in the form of panpsychism or
cosmopsychism/panspiritism. Both post-materialist perspectives use the concepts and theories of
quantum mechanics to either complete the materialism of the (A) camp, i.e., the (C) camp, or to
ground fourteen paranormal and parapsychological (near-death experiences, telepathy,
*
Correspondence: Paul C. Mocombe, PhD, West Virginia State University, West Virginia, USA.
Email: pmocombe@mocombeian.com
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telekinesis, etc.) empirical data as proof for the external nature of consciousness, i.e., the (B)
camp (Van Lommel, 2010).
All three positions are problematic in that they are unable to resolve the hard and binding
problem of consciousness, however (Chalmers, 1996). In the materialist camp (A), they are
unable to account for how the neural correlates of the physical substrates of the material brain
bind to give us the phenomenal (subjective) experience of consciousness. Just the same, in the
post-materialist camps (B and C), they are unable to account for either how consciousness in
everything, panpsychism, emerges/combines, or decombines from a god or the cosmos,
panspiritism and cosmopsychism, respectively, in the material brain to give rise to consciousness
(Van Lommel, 2010). Mocombe’s (2019) consciousness field theory (CFT) resolves the hard
and binding problematics of all three camps by positing the origins and nature of consciousness
to be an emergent fifth force of nature that is cycled and recycled throughout the multiverse as a
resonating channel of and on a frequency wavelength via its embodied elementary particle,
psychion, which has spin, mass, charge, and phenomenal properties, i.e., qualia.
2. Theory and Method
In the author’s theory of phenomenological structuralism consciousness is an emergent (fifth)
force of the universe, composed of an elementary particle, psychion, with mass, charge, spin (a
boson with spin S=1), and phenomenal properties, qualia, that is received by the brain, from, or
in, multiple and superimposed local consciousness fields, Schumann waves, and integrated by its
(the Brain’s) electromagnetic field as psychon to constitute mind, practical consciousness, and
the self, as resonating channels of, or on, frequency wavelengths, in material worlds of the
multiverse (see Figure 5 for the elementary value of quantum energy for brain and Schumann
waves) (Kozlowska and Kozlowski, 2016, p. 795).
The phenomenal properties, qualia, of the psychions of a consciousness field, following matter
disaggregation, disconnection as psychon from the Schumann waves, throughout the multiverse,
either collapse, as a resonating channel of a frequency wavelength, upon other superimposed and
entangled versions (wavelengths) of themselves throughout the multiverse, or are integrated,
along with the other four forces (gravity, electromagnetism, and the weak and strong nuclear
forces), in the absolute vacuum of a superverse to create (via quantum fluctuation and tunneling)
future beings with consciousness (the phenomenal properties of lived-experience in the form of
qualia, informational content of subatomic particles, i.e., psychions).
As such, the psychions of the consciousness field as psychons they are local and connected to
(entangled) multiple superimposed worlds with, and through, Schumann waves; once assimilated
in the absolute vacuum, they are psychions, the elementary particle of consciousness, an
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interconnected, endless, and nonlocal fifth force of nature, with qualia or phenomenal properties,
which, initially, emerges following matter aggregation and disaggregation, disconnection from
Schumann waves, in the multiverse.
It (the psychions of the consciousness field) is an endless assimilation of all past, present, and
future information (practical activities and memories) of beings of the multiverse cycled and
recycled via the absolute vacuum (empty space in which elementary particles, quarks, and
constituents of matter and forces of nature have become one), which fluctuates as a probability
wave function, to give rise to entangled and superimposed worlds, each with their own
Schumann waves and consciousness fields, which produce future beings with consciousness.
The absolute vacuum is a fifth dimensional superverse where all the elementary particles are one,
and fluctuate, as a probability wavefunction, and tunnel to produce four dimensional spacetimes
(multiverses) where consciousness emerges as individuated psychonic fields or resonating
channels tied to the Schumann waves of entangled and superimposed worlds, which are tied to
the oscillating frequency wavelength of the absolute vacuum.
3. Discussion
Hence for Mocombe, the consciousness field emerged separately from the first four forces
(gravity, electromagnetism, the strong and weak nuclear forces) of nature, the subatomic
particles of which fluctuated and tunneled as a wave function from the absolute vacuum, the
probability wave function where all the elementary particles were one at the beginning of the
multiverse, to create an original universe or entangled multiverse.
This original universe/multiverse, evolved and replicated itself, via “black holes (BHBBT),” to
create present and future replicas of itself, multiverses, which evolved to produce, entangled and
similarly situated, organic and inorganic life whose initial experiences of the Schumann waves of
superimposed worlds produced the qualia of the psychons that would constitute subatomic
particles, psychions, of emerging consciousness fields connected to both the absolute vacuum
and the Schumann waves as individuated resonating frequency channels with phenomenal
properties emerging from experience (see Figures 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5) (Anderson, 2020).
In this author’s view, consciousness is not fundamental; instead, it is an emergent (material)
property of the multiverse, which is constituted and expressed, in the human sphere through
subatomic particle aggregation, mode of production, language, ideology, ideological apparatuses,
communicative discourse, and praxis.
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Figure 3. For the author, building on BHBBT, the superverses with entangled and
superimposed (via black holes) multiverses share the same informational content. So, the
hypothesis here is that one superverse created (from the absolute vacuum) a universe, and its
informational content is entangled and superimposed on top of another superverse with the
informational content of the previous universe emerging in it via black holes. Hence what you
have are a layer of multiverses and superverses, superimposed and entangled, whose
informational content are shared or recycled via black holes, which organize and structure the
multiverses similarly. As such, quantum fluctuation and big bangs are constantly occurring and
producing the same worlds, ad infinitum. So, when physicists look out to the cosmic
microwave background (CMB), they are looking at the remnant from an early stage of our
universe, which came forth from its older version a layer above it, and so on ad infinitum. Put
more concretely, the physicists are in a superverse, of our universe, in our milky-way galaxy,
looking out to the black hole of a milky-way galaxy from the superverse/multiverse above us
with its own consciousness field.
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Figure 4. This figure represents how the psychions are embodied, as psychons, from the
consciousness field (CF) in the microtubules of neurons of brains (figure a, adopted from
McFadden, 2020, represents the human brain—left (L) and right (R) hemispheres—and its EM
field, which holds together and integrates the qualia of psychions, informational content of the
superverse/multiverses, which becomes individuated consciousness recursively organized and
reproduced as practical consciousness), which produces an EM field that holds together and
integrates the qualia of the psychions as individuated consciousness on channels of frequency
wavelengths. For Mocombe, building on BHBBT, the superverses with entangled and
superimposed (via black holes) multiverses share the same informational content. So, the
hypothesis here is that one superverse created (from the absolute vacuum) a universe, and its
informational content is entangled and superimposed on top of another superverse with the
informational content of the previous universe emerging in it via black holes. Hence what you
have are a layer of multiverses and superverses, superimposed and entangled, whose
informational contents are shared or recycled via black holes, which organize and structure the
multiverses similarly. As such, quantum fluctuation and big bangs are constantly occurring and
producing the same worlds, ad infinitum. The informational content, qualia, of these
multiverses and worlds are encoded and transmitted as psychions (channel frequency of
wavelengths) and embodied in the microtubules of neurons of brains, which create an EM field
that holds and integrates the psychions as individuated consciousness.
Figure 5. Adopted from Kozlowska and Kozlowski. The formula represents the elementary
value of quantum energy for brain and Schumann waves.
Beings’ experience (sensation), via central nervous systems, brains, and brainstems, of
aggregated matter created by the initial four forces of nature, via quantum fluctuation and
tunneling from the fifth dimension of the absolute vacuum, gives rise to qualia, emerging
sensations of experience, that is encoded as information and memories in the subatomic
elementary particle of consciousness, psychion, psychon once embodied, which creates
consciousness fields given their connection, as psychonic waves, to entangled and superimposed
Schumann waves of the multiverse created by the absolute vacuum.
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Mocombe, P. C., The Nature of Consciousness: A Channel of a Frequency Wavelength
Following matter disaggregation across the multiverse, the elementary particle of consciousness,
psychion, which has mass, charge, spin, and phenomenal properties, i.e., qualia, integrates into
the absolute vacuum to give rise to future worlds with conscious beings. In this sense, Mocombe
eliminates any spiritual elements, as one finds in the (B) camp, regarding consciousness
constitution for a strict materialist perspective, i.e., the (A) and (C) camps, which does not solely
attributes consciousness to the mechanical brain, i.e., the neural correlates of consciousness;
instead, the brain is a receiver and facilitator of consciousness, the subatomic particle, psychion,
of which, once disconnected from the Schumann waves of entangled and superimposed multiple
worlds, is recycled, replicated, entangled, and superimposed as psychon throughout the
multiverse via microtubules of neurons of the brain and its electromagnetic field (see Figure 4).
Consciousness, following matter disaggregation, in other words, became a permanent aspect of
the multiverse, via the absolute vacuum, cosmopsychism, and has emerged as a fifth force of
nature that produces a field, a consciousness field, whose elementary particle, psychion, has
mass, charge, spin, and phenomenal properties, i.e., qualia, that is subsequently received by
aggregated matter with brains and central nervous systems via the resonance of the elementary
particle of consciousness embodied, psychon. The consciousness field is a classical field
produced by accelerating psychionic charges that contain and transmit all the phenomenal
properties, qualia, of the absolute vacuum to the Schumann waves of material realities, and the
psychonic waves of brains, brainstems, and central nervous systems connected to the latter,
Schumann waves, which are connected to the former, absolute vacuum or zero-point field.
The consciousness field is the combination of a psychonic field or wave (produced by the
psychionic elementary particle), an electric field, and a magnetic field. The psychonic field or
wave, like the magnetic field, is produced by moving charges or currents, and the electric field
stationary charges. The consciousness field can be regarded as a smooth, continuous field, that
propagates in a wavelike manner, and interacts with charges and currents. The reciprocal
information transfer between the absolute vacuum, the Schumann waves of entangled and
superimposed material realities with consciousness fields, and the psychion/psychon of subjects
of experience takes place via the distinct resonances of everyone, which is an individuated
rhythmic channel on the frequency wavelength of Schumann waves and the absolute vacuum
that is entangled and superimposed.
Each person, animal, plant, and thing have their own individuated (resonating) channel on the
frequency wavelength of the absolute vacuum, which gives rise to the entangled and
superimposed Schumann waves of the consciousness field where their existences are unfolding.
Death is either integration into the probability wavefunction of the absolute vacuum, which
produces the Schumann waves of superimposed and entangled material worlds each with their
own superimposed and entangled consciousness fields, where individuated consciousness
emerges, or the collapse of the resonating channel of the psychion/psychon unto another version
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of its vibrating and oscillating frequency wavelength and phase across the multiverse.
4. Conclusion
Future research must: 1) continue to search for evidence of multiverses and other forms of
existence tied to our present world, which will be similarly constituted as our own universe; and
2) proofs for the existence of the field of consciousness or consciousness field and its elementary
particle, psychion, in order to falsify or verify Mocombe’s overall theory of phenomenological
structuralism.
Received September 20, 2021; Accepted November 7, 2021
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References
Anderson, Tim (2020). “The Big Bang may be a Black Hole Inside Another Universe,”
retrieved from www.medium.com, accessed 27 July 2020.
Gauthier, Richard (2020). “Big Bangs Created by Univon Particles from a Conscious
Quantum Field—Towards the Next Scientific Revolution,” retrieved from
https://www.academia.edu, accessed 1 April 2020.
Hameroff, Stuart and Roger Penrose (2014). “Consciousness in the Universe: A Review
of the ‘Orch OR’ theory.” Physics of Life Reviews, 11: 39-78.
Kozlowska, Marciak J. & Kozlowski, Miroslaw (2016). “Psychon.” Journal of
Consciousness Exploration & Research, 7:10, 794-800.
McFadden, Johnjoe (2020). “Integrating Information in the Brain’s EM Field: the cemi
Field Theory of Consciousness”, Neuroscience of Consciousness 6 (1): 1-13.
Mocombe, Paul C. (2019). The Theory of Phenomenological Structuralism. United
Kingdom: Cambridge Scholars Publishing.
Mocombe, Paul C. (2016). The Vodou Ethic and the Spirit of Communism: The
Practical Consciousness of the African People of Haiti. Maryland: University
Press of America.
Mocombe, Paul C. (2009). The Soul-less Souls of Black Folk: A Sociological
Reconsideration of Black Consciousness as Du Boisian Double Consciousness.
Maryland: University Press of America.
Van Lommel, Pim (2010). Consciousness Beyond Life: The Science of the Near-Death
Experience. New York: HarperCollins Publishers.
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Journal of Consciousness Exploration & Research| September 2019 | Volume 10 | Issue 6 | pp. 454-474
Treurniet, W. C., A Cosmology Founded on Intrinsic Attributes of Consciousness
454
Article
A Cosmology Founded on Intrinsic Attributes of Consciousness
William C. Treurniet*
ABSTRACT
A cosmology grounded in consciousness is described that accounts for well-known but inexplicable phenomena such as near-death and out-of-body experiences, telepathy, remote viewing,
and materialization. Configurations of the energy of consciousness are distinguished by the multidimensional property of vibration. Attributes of consciousness include the intrinsic processes of
creation and perception. Human and other intelligent beings are self-aware configurations of
consciousness and may have independent experiences. A being experiences matter when configurations of consciousness are transformed to sensations by the perceptual process. The cosmology offers new insights into what is possible.
Keywords: Cosmology, consciousness, intrinsic attribute, near death experience, out of body
experience, intelligent being, remote viewing, materialization, energy.
1. Introduction
A satisfactory theory of reality must account for subjective experience. This is difficult when
consciousness is believed to be nothing more than information processing by a sufficiently complex physical system. The experience of a colour, for example, cannot emerge logically from a
functional approach based on matter (Chalmers, 1995). Chalmers offered a candidate solution to
this problem that preserves the concept of matter being separate from mind. He pointed out that
information in physical processing, such as the wavelength of light, is accompanied by information in conscious experience such as the redness of a colour. He proposed a basic principle
that information has the usual physical aspect but also has a phenomenal aspect. The phenomenal
information combined with the physical information was thought to explain the emergence of
experience. However, Chalmers’ solution does not say how phenomenal information would be
represented.
A philosophical idea that resolves how to account for subjective experience is known as ‘ontological idealism’ (Guyer and Horstmann, 2015). According to this concept, ‘something mental
(the mind, spirit, reason, will) is the ultimate foundation of all reality’. A theory based on idealism does not distinguish between physical and phenomenal information.
A model of such a mental universe was developed by Kastrup (2019a). He proposed that a unitary cosmic consciousness is dissociated into alters, analogous to the multiple personalities or
alters in a dissociated human mind. A biological entity such as a human is one of these alters dissociated from the cosmic consciousness. The cosmic consciousness without alters was defined as
*Correspondence: William C. Treurniet, Independent Researcher, Canada. E-mail: wtreurniet@gmail.com
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‘mind-at-large’. The thoughts of mind-at-large generate configurations according to conditions
of resonance in the vibrating cosmic consciousness.
The dissociative boundary between an alter and mind-at-large is created by the functioning of the
alter’s senses and actuators. The boundary interacts with the energetic configurations of mind-atlarge. A configuration is experienced as sensations when it interacts with the alter’s boundary,
and the sensations are interpreted by the alter as matter. Matter is then the ‘extrinsic appearance
of conscious experience as perceived from across a dissociative boundary’ (Kastrup, 2019b, p.
93). Although the boundary is a mental construct, it is perceived by the alter as the physical
world. Matter does not exist independently of the being’s consciousness.
Kastrup (2019a) argued persuasively that a mental universe is a more logical foundation for understanding reality than the view that matter is separate from mind. However, his proposed model is not consistent with the mounting evidence that consciousness survives the death of the physical body. This phenomenon is inferred from reports given by people who return to life after a
short period of bodily death. Kastrup (2019a, p. 180) suggested that reports of such near-death
experiences (NDEs) describe an expansion of awareness that occurs when an alter is reintegrated
with mind-at-large. Since the original purpose of the alter was to introduce individuality to the
model, the reintegration should extinguish the feeling of individuality that the alter represents.
The predicted loss of personal identity is not evident in reports of NDEs.
Some people have an out-of-body experience (OBE) even when no harm befalls the physical
body. Accounts of NDEs and OBEs suggest that another externalized world is experienced by a
consciousness during these episodes. The world is often similar to the Earth environment, but
may have different natural laws such as mental control of gravity (Ziewe, 2008; 2015) or changes in location at the speed of thought. Also, encounters with people known to be deceased are not
unusual (Ziewe, 2008, 2015). The experiences are similar to the physicality of mind-at-large
sensed via the dissociative boundary according to Kastrup’s model. But if an NDE is precipitated
by the disappearance of the boundary, an external world should not be experienced during the
absence of the boundary while the NDE is in progress.
The oft reported superposition of a new reality over the usual consensus reality is further evidence that a NDE is more than a state of expanded awareness. The consciousness of a comatose
person may find itself in another similar body hovering near the ceiling of a hospital room (Van
Lommel, 2010). The new body may view medical personnel attempting to resuscitate the original body. In one such case, the patient moved outside and discovered a tennis shoe on an inaccessible ledge on the third floor of the building (Sharpe, 2017). The existence of the shoe at that
location was verified after the NDE. Similarly, an OBE often includes being in a new body while
seeing the original body sleeping. It seems that two realities may be experienced simultaneously.
Kastrup’s model does not explain how two realities could coexist.
An alternative theory, which holds that the vibration of consciousness is multidimensional, can
accommodate such superposition of realities. The theory was described by non-human beings
speaking with the medium’s voice in a séance environment. The voices claimed to be entities of
an extraterrestrial race known to many humans as the Zeta race. Many people conversed with the
Zetas over a number of years. The interactions were unscripted, and both the complexity of the
information and its internal consistency support the claim that the sources of information were
entities other than the medium. Transcripts of the recorded conversations were published in
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Hamden and Treurniet (2018). The information was analyzed from different perspectives in
Treurniet and Hamden (2017, 2019).
Some events experienced by the medium, including two close encounters with Zeta craft, were
witnessed by acquaintances. The shared experiences established that the contacts with the Zetas
were not imagined. Also, extraordinary physical phenomena attributed to the Zeta presence were
experienced by others in the absence of the medium. Some of this evidence is documented in
Treurniet and Hamden (2019).
The Zetas spoke of a reality greater than our physical universe. A cosmology emerged in which
transformations of representations encoded in consciousness are experienced as matter. As with
any cosmology, there are initial conditions and these are expressed as attributes of consciousness.
The cosmology accounts for various phenomena such as NDEs and OBEs, telepathic communication, and the sudden materialization of objects known as apports.
The cosmology stands on its own merits, independent of the source of the information. The author’s role was to pose questions to the Zetas, comprehend the received information and present
it in an accessible format. Direct quotes from the Zetas are written in italics.
2. A cosmology based on consciousness
The foundation of the Zeta understanding of reality is consciousness. Consciousness is a potential that has unlimited possibilities. All that exists, including our universe of matter and other
states of existence not accessible to us, are configurations of the energy of consciousness.
For the Zetas, the ground of all being is ‘a living entity of total consciousness, oligarchical in
nature, and is partially living as an experience in separation, through illusion, of self through the
vesture of matter.’ The being of total consciousness lives an ‘experience in separation.’ It consists of many apparently separate entities and environments, some of which are experienced as
matter and others as non-matter.
Consciousness is all-inclusive. The things we consider to be inanimate are as much configurations of consciousness as the beings who are self-aware. A Zeta said, “These supposedly inanimate objects are conscious things, … the difference is in the level that you communicate with
them, as you are only a construct of matter as they are a construct of matter.”
The oligarchical nature of total consciousness indicates that it has multiple facets. Some of the
energy of consciousness is configured to form entities that we call souls. In the Zeta's words,
“The soul belongs to a class of energies which distinguishes it from all other conscious entities in
the universe. It is self-aware and understands its distinctiveness. The soul is multifaceted and
incarnates in many states of being in many realms while still remaining one entity." The multifaceted energy allows consciousness to be in separation so that individual facets can have new
and independent experiences.
2.1 Attributes of consciousness
The Zeta said of the energies in total consciousness, “Originally, all energies come from one
place, one source energy; they long to be reunited with the whole.” The pressure to form a
wholeness once again is an organizing principle acting on many layers of separation in conISSN: 2153-8212
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sciousness. Unity will eventually be achieved through the experiences of entities in these layers
of separation. Experiences can be generated because consciousness has a number of fundamental
attributes. These attributes are arranged in broad categories in Table 2.1.
Table 2.1. Essential attributes of consciousness
General attributes
Specific attributes
Intrinsic processes
Existence
Vibration
Creation
Wholeness
Resonance
Perception
Malleability
Potentials
Intention
Grid
The general attributes column of the table says that consciousness is malleable, and that all possible configurations exist simultaneously as potentials in a unitary concept.
The specific attributes column says that consciousness has properties analogous to those of an
acoustic or electrical wave. The analogy of a single waveform was used by a Zeta to represent
‘all-that-is’. A part of the waveform having a particular vibrational state may or may not resonate
with a different part. Beings may thus see themselves to be ‘in separation’, contrary to the conclusion drawn from the general attributes column. Total consciousness has attributes known as
potentials. Instantiations of particular potentials are a being’s experience of sensations. Finally, a
grid exists without form as an all-pervasive potential in consciousness. It is instantiated as needed by the creation process to support thought forms. In our universe, the grid ‘holds all space and
time’, indicating that spacetime was created from potentials in consciousness.
The intrinsic processes column lists operations that are fundamental to consciousness. These are
the tools available to consciousness so beings can have experiences. These tools function in the
context of the attributes of the first two columns. When a being has the proper intention, a relatively permanent representation of its thought, a creation, is placed in the grid at the being’s level
of vibration. The representation is decoded by a matching perceptual process which instantiates
specific potentials in consciousness. These are the sensations experienced by the being. Other
beings at the same level of vibration or higher may also perceive the creation and share in that
consensus reality.
The following list explains the table entries in more detail.
Existence - All that is possible already exists. A Zeta said, “Consciousness has all information,
but how consciousness reveals it to itself is a different process, nothing is created.” That is,
things not yet revealed via the creation process (see Creation) could be described as potentials in consciousness. A particular potential is the possibility of an existence.
Wholeness - The total consciousness is a single entity containing all that exists. A Zeta said,
“There is nothing that can be created that is outside of it.” There is an 'energetic field that is
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and always is.’ The layers of separation are illusions experienced by individual facets of consciousness.
Malleability - Consciousness is configurable. Configurations may be realms defined by ‘definitive barriers and boundaries for what may exist’, and include the thought forms experienced
as matter. Consciousness can be reconfigured to transfer information between processes or to
effect change.
Vibration - Vibration is a multidimensional property of consciousness with an ordinal scale.
That is, a given vibrational state is higher, the same, or lower than another, but there is no
metric for measuring the distance between them. An entity has a highest possible vibration
but may achieve higher vibrations by collaborating with others.
Resonance - To achieve resonance, two entities raise and lower their vibrations until they are in
harmony together. A state-dependent boundary is experienced when an entity is unable to resonate with a particular energy of consciousness.
Potentials - A potential is the possibility of an existence in consciousness such as a sensation.
Sensations are instantiated by the perceptual process (see Perception).
Grid - The grid is a multidimensional construct in consciousness required by the creation process (see Creation). It is a mental substrate in which thought forms persist so they may be
experienced by their creator and other beings of like vibrational state or higher. The grid has
no form in its ‘true state’, suggesting that it is then a potential in consciousness. It is instantiated to support newly formed creations.
Creation - Creation is the instantiation in the grid of a thought which already exists in total consciousness as a potential (see Existence). The creation process occurs at a vibrational state
available to the creator being.
Perception - The perceptual process of a being transforms creations into consciousness potentials. The transformations may be experienced only by entities who have access to the vibrational state of the creation, and so share a consensus reality with the creator.
Intention - To have an intention is “to place a belief structure in thought that something will
change.” An intention enables one configuration of consciousness to modulate another.
Can these attributes of consciousness help to understand the nature of consciousness itself? In the
discussion of the attributes, the word ‘potential’ was employed several times. In particular, (a) all
that could ever be already exists as potentials in consciousness, (b) the grid of consciousness is a
potential until it serves a purpose such as supporting new creations, and (c) the experience of a
sensation results from instantiation of an appropriate potential in consciousness. These attributes
suggest that consciousness is a potential that is instantiated in any form that is required.
2.2 The creation and perceptual processes
The human race is restricted on a vibration dimension of consciousness to a range which defines
our physical universe. This range of vibrations is known as the etheric realm. Realms also exist
at higher vibrations that humans cannot sense in their waking state of awareness. As explained
by a Zeta, "The frequency of the human race is based in a lower frequency and because consciousness exists in different forms and states of frequency, to access memories from a different
frequency field, the human is negated from accessing that information." Because the human race
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exists at the lower vibrations, we are unaware of much information that exists beyond our reach.
But in all realms, beings create in order to gain experience.
2.2.1 Creation
The intrinsic process of creation enables a creator being to place a pattern in the grid that represents a thought form in its mind. The creation process is analogous to making a simple physical
hologram. That is, light of a particular colour from a laser is split into two beams. One beam,
known as the reference beam, is directed to a photographic plate. The other beam, called the object beam, is reflected from the object to be recorded. The object beam interacts with the reference beam to form an interference pattern on the photographic plate. An image of the original
object may then be constructed by illuminating the photographic plate with light of the same colour that created the interference pattern.
The creation of a thought form follows an analogous process. States of consciousness ordered
according to their vibrational level are analogous to the spectrum of light. A being has a highest
possible vibration analogous to the frequency of light used to make the hologram. When the being has the intention to create, the thought of the desired object typically modulates the highest
possible vibration, although lower vibrations may be used if necessary. The modulated energy is
combined with the unmodulated energy to produce an interference pattern. The interference pattern is preserved somewhere in the multidimensional grid, a mental construct analogous to the
hologram’s photographic plate.
The Zeta referred to the holographic-like patterns in the grid as quanta. The quanta represent the
experience of a thought as it was conceived in the creator’s consciousness. A created pattern is
not a concatenation of less complex patterns, unless that was the creator’s intention.
Although the creation process is intrinsic to consciousness, humans in the etheric realm are generally unable to bring new matter into existence by thought alone. Small effects of human mind
over matter have been observed in experiments (e.g., Schmidt, 1977; Jahn, 1982; McTaggart,
2007; Radin, 1997; 2012), but only rarely is it reported that a human can materialize objects of
matter (Talbot, 1991). The reason may become clear by analogy with modulation of a radio frequency carrier wave. The carrier can be amplitude modulated by a voice or music signal to be
transmitted. The modulated carrier contains frequencies higher than the unmodulated carrier.
This is analogous to modulation of a being’s highest possible vibration in the creation process. A
Zeta explained that the modulation requires a space of expansion to accommodate vibrations beyond the highest possible vibration (Treurniet and Hamden, 2019). Humans typically lack the
space of expansion so they are unable to create thought forms.
Consciousness as a blank slate without quanta would be nothing but potential where all things
are possible. According to a Zeta, “Consciousness has all information, but how consciousness
reveals it to itself is a different process, nothing is created.” That is, all possible thoughts exist as
potentials in consciousness. Consciousness reveals a thought by instantiating it in the grid. By so
doing, the thought is shared with other beings. Since all beings are facets of total consciousness,
consciousness reveals the thought to itself with that process.
2.2.2 Perception
The creation is experienced anew when it is acted upon by a being’s perceptual process. Like
creation, perception is an intrinsic function of consciousness. Perception transforms the information in the interference pattern into the thought from which it was created. Like the image of a
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physical hologram, the thought is recovered by ‘illuminating’ the interference pattern in the grid
with the unmodulated vibration of consciousness that participated in the creation process. The
thought then becomes part of the being’s experienced reality. Other beings who have access to
that vibrational state, including those whose highest possible vibration is higher, can reconstruct
the same thought. Things created in our universe are experienced when etheric patterns are transformed to sensations by the matching perceptual process.
Matter is inferred by an entity from the sensations that it experiences. A Zeta said, “Matter is an
intermediary process. It is a development of consciousness … a conjoined process of smaller
levels of potentials. Potentials are used as the device mechanisms for experiential processes.”
Consciousness potentials are the sensations elicited when the perceptual process transforms
quanta representing an object. The sensations are irreducible properties of a being’s consciousness, but are interpreted as properties of material objects separate from the body.
Like all matter, the human body is an object represented in the grid by vibrating quanta. A Zeta
said, “It is able to on many frequencies understand emotions, energies, interchange of energy,
and matter to energy.” The consciousness of the body is a facet of a higher-vibration energy of
consciousness known as the higher self. Some time after conception, the facet merges with the
etheric body at a lower vibration, and becomes the body’s highest possible vibration. The Zeta
explained, “Higher self moves to integrate with a physical container, the etheric body is the field
which allows the blending, and once the body terminates, the etheric form is absorbed by the
originating consciousness.”
The etheric body enables the higher-self consciousness to experience matter in the etheric realm.
The local consciousness filters sensory information sampled from the quanta of perceived objects.
The information is passed to the higher self through a less structured, non-ego driven, subconscious process. The perceptual process in the higher self then transforms the information to consciousness potentials which are experienced as sensations.
2.3 Multidimensional vibrations
Everything that exists has a vibration that distinguishes it from other things. The vibration dimension has an ordinal scale, meaning that a given vibrational state is higher, the same, or lower
than another state, but the distance between them is not defined. A Zeta said, “No numerical values are able to be given to what frequencies exist between us and your realm.”
They agreed that their use of ‘frequencies’ in this context was incorrect since frequency is a
function of time, and the dimension of time is not a basic attribute of consciousness. The intended meaning of frequency was ‘the level of consciousness that an entity holds, and so as you move
from one frequency to the other, your consciousness is placed in an expected state.’ A more appropriate word with a similar meaning is vibration, a sensation that can be felt and compared in
the ‘now’.
Comments by the Zetas suggested that vibration is multidimensional (Treurniet and Hamden,
2019). It can be represented by a matrix, V[i][j][k][…], that can be extended to as many dimensions as required. The existence of several dimensions was revealed in a discussion about the
human etheric body. A Zeta said, “You have one frequency in the physical, multiple frequencies
in the etheric body, and then the highest possible frequency that you are able to be determined
by.”
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The ‘one frequency in the physical’ is a relatively constant vibration that is within the range defining the etheric realm. It is located on the ith dimension of the model. The Zeta said, “We
would know who the human was by their prior frequency,” and so the vibration appears to identify each human individually. It is also instrumental in the process of self-healing (Section 4.2).
The Zeta mentioned multiple frequencies in the etheric body, and these would be represented on
another dimension of vibration. The multiple frequencies encode the various etheric patterns of
energy that represent the structure and function of the physical body. The Zeta said, “The cells
exist in energy, they are resonating at certain frequencies which combine to form a physical human container.”
The Zeta also referred to a dimension of harmony, “Each time you act in a loving way towards
each other, you are raising your vibration. … When you are in complete harmony with other beings, you are in a symbiotic level of consciousness with the entity, and there is no words to state
and no emotional capacity to understand the silence, the peace.” Harmony is represented in the
model by the jth dimension. It refers to the affective relationship one has with all that exists.
Humans with a low vibration on this dimension may spend much time in fear, anger or despair,
whereas high-vibration humans have more positive feelings such as compassion, gratitude, and
unconditional love.
Figure 2.1 shows the i and j axes in a drawing of the model limited to three dimensions. The label on the ith axis is ‘Physical type of vibration.’ This axis shows a hypothetical being’s etheric
vibration on that dimension. The bar extending from this vibration as a base shows that the being
has developed a certain level of harmony on the jth axis.
Figure 2.1. A multidimensional model of vibration.
As well as the etheric type of vibration on the ith dimension, a Zeta confirmed that other types of
physicality also exist. They said, “There is a potential for beings of races to exist in the different
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forms of physical frequencies. … If we choose to exist in a finer level of physical frequency, then
we would be not seen in the normal spectrum of a human.” Finer levels of physical vibration are
found in the astral and spirit realms which typically cannot be experienced by awake humans.
These realms are also shown in Figure 2.1 as base vibrations on the ith dimension. Like the
etheric realm, they are identified as physical types of vibration, and so the ij plane is the physical
plane.
A being’s vibration on the ‘Physical type of vibration’ dimension, combined with its vibration on
the Harmony dimension, is ‘the highest possible frequency that you are able to be determined by’
in the Zeta’s words. This resultant vibrational level is the highest possible vibration available to
the creation process, and also limits what can be revealed to the being by the perceptual process.
The highest possible vibration is represented in the model by a being’s location on the physical ij
plane.
The Zeta revealed that there are also non-physical types of vibration. Beings with these vibrations ‘do not contain the frequencies that relate to being of matter.’ These might include alleged
angelic beings, reptilian beings, and other entities mentioned in folklore and the metaphysical
literature. The kth dimension in Figure 2.1 represents a ‘Non-physical type of vibration’ and the
kj plane is then a non-physical plane. A hypothetical non-physical being is represented by the
bar extending from the kth axis.
The etheric, astral and spirit ‘Physical type of vibrations’ are all existences accessible to humans.
Other races such as the Zeta race have vibrations that are also of the physical type, but do not
resonate with human vibrations. The base vibrations of these races (not shown) are on the ith axis as well, interspersed among the base vibrations of other physical types. Quanta everywhere on
the ij plane are experienced as matter when transformed by a matching perceptual process.
3. The existence of realms
Realms are regions in the multidimensional energy of consciousness that differ in their vibrational states and, therefore, cannot be accessed by all beings. Recall that a thing placed in the
grid by the creation process can be perceived only by beings having a state of vibration like that
of the creator being or higher. This applies to realms as well.
Realms are different from one another because they vibrate at different levels, and the borders of
a realm are defined by its vibration. The Zeta explained that a realm boundary exists for a being
when the being does not have the ability to resonate with particular energies. The state of consciousness of the being may resonate with energies inside the realm but not at its perceived edge.
The realm boundaries are important because they help the realm inhabitants define who they
think they are.
Like matter, realms are perceptions created in the mind. A realm persists only while a being’s
vibrational state continues to resonate with it. When a being manages to raise its vibrational state,
it can become aware of previously hidden regions in the vibrations of consciousness. Beings that
exist at the highest states of consciousness do not experience realm boundaries at all. These beings have moved themselves ‘to a place of understanding that there are no barriers.’
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3.1 Instances of realms
Realms are creations, and so an entity was responsible for creating the etheric realm which defines our familiar universe. The creation appears to have included whatever was required for the
realm contents to evolve according to the natural laws we experience. For example, the attributes
of quanta determine the detailed physical properties of matter such as electric charge. A Zeta
concurred, “All matter is, at a subatomic level, based on particles, which means that matter is in
a constant state of resonance with other matter to form what is classed as gross matter.” For
clarification, they added, “All subatomic particles broken down to their finite level pass the energy as consciousness.” So, subatomic particles originated in consciousness when the etheric universe was created, and the quanta defining the particles interacted and combined according to
their states of resonance as the universe evolved.
Some people are able to achieve an altered state that enables them to separate their local consciousness from the physical body in order to experience the astral realm. Other states such as
lucid dreaming, or even ordinary dreaming, may also offer glimpses of this realm. Our conversations with the Zetas revealed that ‘the astral realms are a collection of all thought, all creative
processes, all dimensional aspects which come from the existence of thought. This concatenation
of all thought forms is the collective mind of the human race.’ It should not be a surprise that experiences in the astral realm are reported to be similar to Earth experiences since they take place
in the human context.
Another instance of a realm construct is what is commonly known as the spirit realm. This realm
provides the infrastructure needed for spirit beings to incarnate if desired. A Zeta described the
spirit realm using two levels of analysis (Treurniet and Hamden, 2017). One was at the level of a
being’s experience while the other described relationships among beings viewed as threads of
information. When beings are viewed as information threads, the threads may join with other
threads. The joined threads form higher-vibration group minds. However, the thread level of
analysis is not recognized by the beings having the experiences in the spirit realm. They unknowingly use the information in the threads to create experiences. Typically, the places a being finds
itself correspond to its expectations. To some extent, the spirit’s experiences in the realm are externalizations of its mental processes or thoughts.
4. Information flow in consciousness
Consciousness has information that is distinguished by its vibrational level. The flow of information can be controlled by a process known as heterodyning. Humans discovered how to apply
the heterodyning process in electronic circuitry. A simple application creates an output signal
that depends on the properties of two input signals. In particular, the frequency of the output is
the difference between the frequencies of the inputs. The input signals must pass through a nonlinear device such as a transistor.
A Zeta confirmed that this physical process is analogous to a process in consciousness (Treurniet
and Hamden, 2017). For example, two beings with different vibrational states may interact to
create a potential at the difference between them. The difference potential enables the beings to
move more easily into that vibrational state. The non-linearity analogous to the transistor device
is the intention of the participating beings.
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Figure 4.1. Heterodyning vibrational states.
Figure 4.1 is a schematic of the process. A and B are the respective high and low vibrational
states, intention is signified by X, and (A-B) is the difference potential.
Heterodyning is a key function in a number of processes in consciousness. It enables one vibrational state to communicate information to another vibrational state in a controlled way. The following discusses how the heterodyning process can shift one’s vibrational state to a higher level
and how it is part of the process of self-healing.
4.1 Shifting consciousness to a higher vibration
The heterodyning process is a tool that can be used by humans to increase their vibrational state
or ‘state of love.’ It requires the cooperation of a more loving, higher vibration being. The being
may be part of the human’s spiritual belief system and, according to a Zeta, will happily participate since the heterodyning process is not a burden. The process begins with the human moving
to the highest state of love that is already possible for them to achieve. The Zeta advised, “That
strong emotion gives you the capacity to be in a different frequency.” That is, the feeling of love
increases the human’s capacity to shift to the anticipated difference vibration facilitated by the
heterodyning process.
The human and the higher vibration being provide their vibrations as inputs, and their intention is
the non-linearity required to activate the process. The human holds both inputs in mind simultaneously, and a potential forms at the difference between the vibrations. The difference potential
facilitates the shift to the difference vibration - higher for the human and lower for the cooperating being. The shift is felt by the human as the onset of a loving energy, a sign that the heterodyning process was successful.
4.2 The self-healing process of the body
The human body, like all matter in the universe, is defined by quanta in the range of vibrations of
the etheric realm. The quanta contain information that corresponds to the form and function of
the physical body. The etheric body is experienced as the physical body when it is transformed
by the perceptual process. Changes to the physical body are mirrored by the information in the
quanta.
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A ‘blueprint’ of the physical body is retained by the local consciousness in the form of consciousness potentials. The blueprint is derived from the generic template for a body of the human
race, modified according to the characteristics of the particular individual.
A healthy, uninjured physical body conforms to the blueprint defining the body. The Zeta said,
“The etheric body understands its potential. It seeks to continually keep the physical body to that
potential.” When there is an injury, “the cellular reconstruction is aided by the potential of the
etheric body’s blueprint that would denote the original form.” The etheric body is kept in the
state specified by the blueprint information in consciousness so that the experienced physical
body has the expected function and appearance.
The Zeta was asked how etheric information is communicated to the physical cells of the body.
They responded, “Underneath the energy is consciousness. It is the quanta information of the
cellular structure of a human body. That consciousness indicates what is the action of the recreation of the cellular process, and of course, all other potentials then exist. The energy then is
actively working towards healing the physical cellular disruption.” The etheric body has the information required to heal the body when it is injured.
With the intention of the local consciousness, a continuous heterodyning process monitors the
state of the physical potential of the etheric body. The physical potential is the etheric base vibration of the ‘Physical type of vibration’ in the model of Figure 2.1. It is constant throughout a
healthy body and is the lower-vibration input to the heterodyning process. The higher-vibration
inputs are the consciousness potentials representing the body blueprint. These potentials vary
according to the blueprint information. In the above quote, ‘all other potentials then exist’ refers
to the heterodyning difference potentials.
When the body is healthy and undamaged, the physical potential is constant, and so the difference potentials follow the varying consciousness potentials of the blueprint. When the body is
damaged, the physical potential at the site of the injury is distorted. The distortion causes the difference potentials to deviate from the consciousness potentials defining the healthy body. The
deviation of the difference potential identifies a need for healing at the location where it occurred.
The local consciousness initiates the healing process when the difference potential indicates that
it is required. When the body is healed, the physical potentials at the site of the injury are restored to the normal level, and the difference potential is brought back into line with the blueprint information.
5. Applications of the cosmological theory
The Zeta cosmology has fundamental attributes and general processes that can be used to make
predictions. A variety of human experiences cannot be explained by current science, but can be
understood in the context of the cosmology. Phenomena that are hard to explain include NDEs,
OBEs, remote viewing, and telepathy. An inexplicable materialization phenomenon known as an
apport is also seen occasionally under specific conditions. Even everyday sensory experiences
are not understood since they are not a function of matter. The cosmology offers insight into
these phenomena.
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5.1 The experience of sensations
Sensory experiences are common but are hard to explain. They are often taken for granted and
the need for an explanation is easily ignored. For example, the experience of a certain colour of
light is explained in terms of the associated physical parameters such as wavelength and intensity.
These parameters predict the quality of an experience in words, but cannot explain the experience itself. According to the Zeta cosmology, quanta are transformed by the perceptual process
and instantiated as higher-vibration consciousness potentials. These potentials are the experiences of sensations.
In higher-vibration realms, the quality of sensations should be enhanced when quanta are rendered and transformed with greater precision. Ziewe (2008) encountered sensory experiences in
his out-of-body travels that were unknown to him in the lower-vibration etheric realm. Alexander
(2012), in a report of his near-death experience, described another world that was 'brilliant, vibrant, ecstatic, stunning.’ He experienced truly unusual perceptions, perhaps because of the
realm’s higher vibrations.
5.2 Near-death and out-of-body experiences
The idea that a spirit consciousness persists after the failure of the body is becoming more accepted. Many people have reported a NDE when the body fails temporarily after a heart attack or
other potentially life-ending events (e.g., Van Lommel, 2010; Long, 2010; Alexander, 2012).
When a NDE occurs, the consciousness of the person separates from the distressed body and
finds itself in a body that is invisible to other humans in the room. In this state, the consciousness
may have various novel experiences including blissful meetings with deceased acquaintances
and angelic entities. Eventually, the consciousness returns to the injured body to tell others about
the experience.
A consciousness may also separate from an uninjured body. This tends to occur when it is not
aware of the physical body. The consciousness finds itself in a similar body in another place
which can seem more real than the familiar waking experience. This is known as an OBE (e.g.,
Buhlman, 1996; Ziewe, 2008, 2015; Peterson, 2013; Kirkpatrick, 2015; De Foe, 2016).
According to the Zeta cosmology, all objects of matter in our universe are configurations of consciousness. The configurations are holographic-like patterns, or quanta, existing in the etheric
range of vibration. Since the human body is matter, it too is represented as etheric quanta. The
body can be perceived only with perceptual processes tuned to the etheric vibration.
Although the body often heals itself, there inevitably comes a time when healing does not occur.
An injury to the body may be too great or an illness may be too severe, and so the body ceases to
function. When the local consciousness recognizes that the body may be beyond repair, it releases itself from the etheric body and moves to a body that is invisible to onlookers. The consciousness returns when the body is resuscitated, and the person may report an NDE.
A similar movement of consciousness to another body occurs at the beginning of an OBE. A
Zeta described the transfer of conscious awareness to the astral realm, “Simply, as an act of will,
you will drive the physical processes to a point where they do not exist. At that point, the consciousness will release itself from the physical body, and using the etheric template of the body,
present itself within the astral realm.” The creation process intrinsic to consciousness brings a
new body into existence that is patterned after the etheric body.
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The created astral body also has a holographic-like representation in consciousness. However, it
clearly differs from the etheric body in that it cannot be seen by human onlookers. Therefore, it
must have a higher vibration than the etheric body. Any humans in the etheric realm cannot decode the information in the astral body because their perceptual processes are tuned to the lower
etheric vibration. On the other hand, the consciousness in the astral body is still aware of the
lower-vibration etheric body and its surroundings since any being can transform quanta at its vibrational level or lower.
The astral body that appears during an NDE or OBE is said to exist in an environment that initially appears similar to the familiar Earth environment. The perceptual process tuned to the astral vibration continues to transform quanta in either realm, and so consciousness continues to
experience matter. In the astral realm, experiencers may report that their body flew to another
location or moved there at the speed of thought (Ziewe, 2008). The environment may change according to their expectations or intentions as if their thoughts were externalized.
Ziewe (2008, 2015) observed that not all thoughts were equally effective for changing the environment. He also concluded that there were still ‘laws of nature’ influencing such highervibration experiences. A Zeta agreed that a higher-level construct of consciousness like the spirit
realm influences the belief structure of every inhabitant and so encourages a consensus reality.
5.3 Telepathic communication
What is telepathic communication? A Zeta explained, “Images are sent to us via telepathic
communication from spirit and guides. We may see the images via our imagination or as a vision.
We can see images, symbols, direct information, and colours, or just sense the energy emotionally.”
The Zeta said, “The grid is used by many races and planetary beings, somewhat like a communication process. Not only does it aid in the telepathic communication between your beings of this
planet, we use it as well. All conscious thought is placed into the grid, and it is used by many ET
races as a medium for telepathic communication.” To communicate telepathically, a being creates a message in the form of quanta in the grid. The perceptual process of the receiver would
need to be tuned to the message’s vibrational state or higher in order to transform the message
quanta to sensations.
According to a Zeta, a being typically creates using its highest possible vibration. However, a
message from a higher vibration being must be created with the lower etheric vibrations in order
to be read by a human. That this is possible was confirmed by a Zeta and supported by humans
who say they have been contacted telepathically by extraterrestrial beings (Hernandez et al.,
2018).
Would a telepathic being recognize that someone was attempting to communicate an untruth? In
answer to this question, a Zeta indicated that telepathic communication reveals information about
the sender as well as the intended message. An attempt to lie telepathically would be reflected in
the quality of the potentials in the quanta that represent thoughts and intentions. So the receiver
of the thoughts would feel whether or not the information was intended to deceive.
5.4 Remote viewing
When performing a remote viewing exercise, a viewer’s intention is to have sensory experiences
of a particular remote location (Puthoff, 1996). The property of consciousness that might help to
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distinguish locations is the grid. A Zeta said the grid was instantiated to support the creation of
spacetime. With the grid as a frame of reference, quanta representing objects of matter would
have particular locations in spacetime. A consciousness could ‘think’ to those locations to remote
view the objects. It is important to note that the grid is a mental concept and not in itself an indication of spatial extent in consciousness.
Like a telepathic message, objects to be viewed remotely are encoded as quanta in the grid. A
remote viewer’s perceptual process would transform quanta at a particular location as if they
were a telepathic message. Both the remote object and the telepathic message would be transformed to higher-vibration consciousness potentials to be experienced as sensations.
Remote viewing is most successful when the focus is on the experience of the features rather
than the interpretation of what they mean. The remote viewer is typically urged to report sensory
features like colour, smell, and texture. Reports of constructs such as particular buildings or other
manufactured items are typically discouraged in favour of the sensations experienced.
5.5 Materialization of an apport
An apport is an object that suddenly appeared in mid-air, usually in the presence of a physical
medium (Von Ludwiger and Nahm, 2016), but sometimes spontaneously (Roll, 1972). The object continues to exist like normal matter. The materialization is usually attributed to the actions
of a spirit being.
Figure 5.1 shows an image of a particular apport that appeared during a physical mediumship
séance with the German medium, Kai Muegge. The crystalline object shown in the left panel fell
from the underside of his downturned palm into the author’s hand. The medium’s hand was easily visible in soft red light. The materialization of the object coincided with a brief twinkle of
white light. The presumed spirit said with the medium’s voice, “It is the first time that we opened
the crystalline structure and embedded certain portions of ectoplasmic substance to see afterwards.” Remarkably, when the crystal was backlit in darkness and held at a certain orientation,
clear representations of a male and a female human head appeared as shown in the middle panel
of the figure. The right panel identifies the locations of the heads inside the oval graphical overlays.
Figure 5.1. Left - Crystalline apport, Middle - Backlit interior, Right - graphic overlay
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An enlarged view of the interior of the crystal is shown in Figure 5.2. In this image, other less
obvious features of the man’s body can be seen. The right hand is beside the head with the palm
turned upwards, and the fingers and forearm can be distinguished. The left hand is cupped just
behind the woman’s head. The two larger dark areas on the right side of the image might then be
identified as the man’s left arm and leg, with the left foot extending to the floor.
Figure 5.2. Larger view of apport, slightly different orientation.
The probability of finding such detailed depictions of human heads and other body parts in natural objects of this kind would be very low. If by chance they were found, they might be attributed
to pareidolia. However, the alleged spirit’s comment anticipated that something unusual would
be found inside the apport. Such prior knowledge eliminates chance as an explanation.
The Zeta cosmology accounts for the appearance of the anomalous object. The object was perceived as matter, meaning that it was represented at that location by quanta in the etheric realm.
The agent responsible may well have been the higher-vibration spirit being as maintained by the
medium. In agreement with the alleged spirit, the cosmological framework suggests that the
quanta representing the object had been altered to create the internal forms. The object was experienced as matter by human observers at the instant when the quanta became compatible with
their perceptual process.
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6. Connections to human science
Human physics is well developed and sophisticated. The Standard Model of quantum mechanics
makes very accurate mathematical predictions, and so satisfies most scientists and engineers who
understand it. Nevertheless, there are doubts about the interpretation of quantum theory - in particular, the role the observer plays in how reality unfolds. Physicists now know that mere
knowledge of an experimental process can affect what is measured.
In the Zeta cosmology, matter is represented in consciousness by the potentials in quanta. Potentials are selected by a being’s perceptual process and transformed to higher-vibration consciousness potentials experienced as sensations. All aspects of this process take place in consciousness,
so the nature of matter as separate from the perceiver is an illusion created by consciousness. The
explanation of the matter illusion is relatively easy to grasp, but accepting it as the basis of physical reality is initially counter-intuitive. Nevertheless, a gradual shift is occurring in scientific
thought, and there are indications that this change is beginning to occur.
6.1 Prime focus
A good example of an experimenter effect in physics is the double-slit experiment (Horgan, 1992;
Hillmer and Kwiat, 2007). Monochromatic laser light is directed toward two parallel slits in a
screen. The light passes through both slits and forms an interference pattern visible on an adjacent screen. The interference pattern indicates that the light is behaving like a wave. However,
when the path taken by the light can be known, the interference pattern is replaced by the pattern
expected if the light were a particle passing through one slit or the other. Mere knowledge of the
path of the light causes it to behave like a particle rather than a wave.
The many variations of the double-slit experiment indicate that consciousness has a direct effect
on causality. A Zeta was asked if a local consciousness must be able to perceive the process in
order for matter to interact with matter. The being replied by introducing the concept of prime
focus. They said, “There is perception at all levels, even if the prime focus is not in existence.”
How does this answer the question? “There is perception at all levels” means that total consciousness is aware of all that exists. Further, total consciousness could not exclude a part of itself to make a prime focus non-existent as suggested in the quote. If it did, it would no longer be
total consciousness. The prime focus must be a property of a facet of consciousness in separation,
such as a being’s local consciousness.
The words, prime focus, suggest attention to what is most important. In the double-slit experiment, the prime focus refers to what can possibly be known about the experiment when an observation is made. Without a prime focus, an interference pattern is created in the experiment.
This means the possible quantum states of a photon are superposed so that the path taken includes both slits. Since the photon interacts with the apparatus, the existence of a prime focus is
not a prerequisite for matter to interact with matter. When a prime focus exists for a local consciousness, the superposed states of the photons are replaced by states chosen by the consciousness. The Zeta said, “… it is the consciousness that creates the state.” The photon still interacts
with the apparatus, but the path now includes only one of the slits.
By mentioning the concept of prime focus, the Zeta showed it was aware that the state of
knowledge affects how a physical process unfolds.
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6.2 The holographic principle
Susskind (1994) and 't Hooft (1993) proposed the holographic principle, that the physics in a certain region of space is described by the information on the surface area of its boundary, and that
one bit of information is encoded by a Planck area. (The Planck length is 1.616229 x 10-33
cm.) ’t Hooft (1993) suggested, “Given any closed surface, we can represent all that happens inside it by degrees of freedom on this surface itself.” Susskind (1995) agreed, “The number of degrees of freedom should be no larger than that of a two-dimensional lattice with approximately
one binary degree of freedom per Planck area.” Susskind (1995) added, “In some way, the phenomena taking place in three-dimensional space can be projected onto a distant ‘viewing screen’
with no loss of information.”
The Zeta cosmology of consciousness and the holographic principle share the functionality of a
grid construct to represent matter. Also, the ‘viewing screen’ mentioned by Susskind (1995) for
experiencing the hologram’s image is analogous to the transformations of quanta in consciousness that give the experience of sensations. These functions in common suggest that the Zeta
cosmology of consciousness includes a realization of the holographic principle.
6.3 The “Orch OR” model of consciousness
The anesthesiologist, Stuart Hameroff, and the physicist, Roger Penrose, proposed a theory to
explain how cellular processes in the brain communicate with consciousness (Hameroff, 1998;
Hameroff and Penrose, 2014). The theory suggested that consciousness exists in the spacetime
geometry of the universe at the smallest possible scale. Cells in the brain communicate with consciousness via a quantum process that Penrose calls 'orchestrated objective reduction’, or ‘Orch
OR’. This process is said to occur in microtubules which are part of the cytoskeleton structure
present in some form in all cells of the body.
According to Hameroff, ‘precursors of consciousness, proto-conscious qualia, as well as precursors of mass, spin, electrical charge and other fundamental components’ exist at the level of
Planck scale geometry (Hameroff and Chopra, 2010). The experience of consciousness arises
from communication between the microtubules and the precursors of consciousness via a sequence of quantum computations. The felt sensations, or qualia, receive special treatment in
recognition of their status as non-matter. Qualia are felt when the ‘proto-consciousness’ is activated by the Orch OR quantum process. The precursors of consciousness and of matter are reminiscent of the consciousness potentials of the Zetas’ cosmological framework. Although the theory does not acknowledge a cosmology based on consciousness, it could evolve in that direction.
6.4 Morphogenetic fields
The biologist, Rupert Sheldrake, is a well-known proponent of a reality that goes beyond materialism. He is best known for his theory of formative causation, the idea that nature has memory
(Sheldrake, 2009). He proposed that formation of objects like crystals and biological bodies are
guided by non-physical morphogenetic fields. The shape of a body of matter resonates with a
field representing that class of shapes. To affect a developing biological body, the morphogenetic
field would work in concert with the available genetic material. The field is reminiscent of the
body blueprint introduced earlier in the discussion of self-healing.
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Sheldrake also proposed that a sequence of learned behaviours can be represented in a morphogenetic field, and so laboratory animals would learn a task more easily if it were previously
learned by different animals.
Sheldrake (1988) believed that consciousness is ‘restricted to human beings and, perhaps, some
of the higher order of animals.’ He would not have accepted that a universal consciousness could
be the foundation of a cosmology. However, in more recent publications, he appeared open to the
possibility (Sheldrake, 2009; 2013).
7. Discussion
Chalmers (1995) proposed that a theory of experience should specify that phenomena have both
physical and phenomenal information. In the Zeta cosmology, there are only potentials selected
from quanta by the perceptual process. The information in quanta is transmuted to highervibration consciousness potentials experienced as sensations. These are experienced as phenomenal information such as colours, visual contrast, sounds, and smells. Some sensations are interpreted further as physical information such as spatial dimensions, frequency and temperature.
Chalmers’ distinction between physical and phenomenal information follows cognitive processing of the sensory experiences.
The etheric realm has a restricted range of vibration, and so our universe is only part of all existence. Many other realms are possible, some of which are already common knowledge. For example, the reality of the astral realm is implied by the many reports of out-of-body and neardeath experiences, and the existence of the spirit realm is often inferred from encounters in
séances with spirits of deceased people. These realms are two of many possible consensus realities that may exist in higher-vibration realms. Unlike the model proposed by Kastrup (2019a),
the Zeta cosmology includes a multidimensional vibration that accounts for the experience of
multiple realities.
The cosmology indicates that matter is not unique to our universe. People who have out-of-body
experiences in the astral realm report that they experience matter there as well (Ziewe, 2008;
Kirkpatrick, 2015). All that is required in a ‘Physical type of vibration’ realm (Figure 2.1) are
quanta which define creations at particular vibrational levels. Quanta at a given level are transformed to sensations by a being’s perceptual process tuned to that level. The resulting experience
of matter takes place in the consciousness of the perceiver. Quanta that are not compatible with
the perceptual process are simply not experienced.
In the physical etheric realm, where the perceptual process gives the appearance of objective
matter, human scientific theories have utility and daily affect our lives. This would remain true in
the context of the Zeta cosmology. In addition, the cosmology gives credence to experiences that
are outside the current paradigm of human science. There is nothing to lose and much to gain
from the greater explanatory power offered by the cosmology.
Received July 18, 2019; Accepted August 10, 2019
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473
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Breslauer, S., Nothingness & the Fractal of Self: A Non-Dual Philosophical Theory & Scientific Model of Consciousness (Part I)
Exploration
Nothingness & the Fractal of Self: A Non-Dual Philosophical Theory
& Scientific Model of Consciousness (Part I)
Sam Breslauer*
ABSTRACT
The nature of consciousness is one of the greatest mysteries humans are aware of. In this paper,
the author offers a theory and framework of the fundamental origin and function of
consciousness. It is a non-dual theory that frames consciousness as the underlying all pervasive
infinite dimension/field of reality. It begins with an original formulation of non-dual
philosophical presuppositions, which extend from key principles that uphold the Advaita
Vedanta philosophy of Hinduism. These presuppositions are then logically represented by the
Fractal of Self (FOS) model, a pre-big bang theoretical framework that attempts to conceptualise
how the absolute state of existence (Nothingness/0 dimensionality) gives rise to the Self (infinite
consciousness) as a single overarching whole dimension, which subsequently gives rise to a selfcontained universe made of infinitely evolving fractal dimensions. This model also makes clear
how the underlying metaphysical structure of reality nests within it the 'physical' universe that
we objectively observe and describe through scientific study. After a sequential description of
the initial evolution of the FOS structure is given, the model's alignment with current science is
then made explicit with underlying connections being made with various principles firmly
established within physics. A personal perspective on the implications of this theory in regards to
the 'nature' of our intimate 1st person human perception is then outlined.
Part I of this two-part article includes: 1. Introduction; 2. Non-Dual Philosophical
Presuppositions; 3. Scientific Model of the Early Pre-Big Bang Universe: The Fractal of Self
(FOS); 4. Diagram 1.1- Sequential Description of the FOS; 5. The Essential Behaviour of The
FOS: The Non-Dual Philosophy of Self Loving Self as the Reciprocal Process of Love Between
Chaos and Order; and 6. The FOS model and Bohm’s Implicate Order.
Keywords: Consciousness, nature, nothingness, fractal self, non-dual, Hinduism, existence.
1. Introduction
Since ‘life’ evolved to the extent that it could be conscious of itself as an ‘experiencer’ bounded
by a finite vulnerable body, but with a mind capable of abstraction and articulation, we modern
humans have been pondering, not only the what’s and how’s of this highly ordered yet chaotic
experience of ‘life’, but perhaps more deeply the reason for the existence of consciousness and
more broadly existence itself. Max Planck sums up the inherent difficulty in solving the deepest
existential questions we humans are aware of in his famous quote from his book, ‘Where Is
Science Going?’ (1932), “Science cannot solve the ultimate mystery of nature. And that is
because, in the last analysis, we ourselves are a part of the mystery that we are trying to solve”.
*Correspondence: Sam Breslauer, Independent Researcher, Australia. Email: sambres@hotmail.co.uk
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Breslauer, S., Nothingness & the Fractal of Self: A Non-Dual Philosophical Theory & Scientific Model of Consciousness (Part I)
Without a fundamental understanding of the nature of ‘subjective experience’, which continually
informs the comprehension of our ‘objective experience’, the conclusions we draw from this
‘objective experience’ of the universe around us, will contain interpretive limitations. The
consciousness of an ‘inner subjective’ experience of oneself, provides a realm we are all
individually intimately familiar with, yet are simultaneously ‘in the dark’ with regards to
formulating a fundamental complete philosophical and scientific theoretical framework that
explains the logical origins of, and the reason for, the existence of consciousness.
The most insightful ‘scientific’ manner, by my estimation, in which we humans can investigate
the nature of our own consciousness, is through the non-dual eastern tradition of ‘self-inquiry’
encouraged as a practice in line with the Advaita Vedanta philosophy of Hinduism. As a result of
insights generated from meditative / self-inquiry practices and scientific / philosophical study,
I’ve formulated a complete theory of consciousness. At the beginning I will outline the core
philosophical presuppositions of this theory, leading onto a representation of these principles in a
scientific model of the early pre-big bang universe called the ‘Fractal of Self’ (FOS), which then
is followed by an analysis of the current science that is consistent with the FOS model. Finally,
implications for our 1st person human perception will be discussed. This paper covers the ‘nature
of consciousness’ side to this theory, whereas, in a second paper, I will show how this
philosophy and scientific model explains the phenomena ‘life’, as a natural consequence of the
universal ‘intention’ and ‘behaviour’ of consciousness. It further explains how ‘life’, as
embodied pure consciousness, evolves perceptually and biologically, resulting in the
incomprehensively complex ‘conscious experience’ of highly self-aware organisms, concluding
with possible ‘next steps’ in the evolution of embodied pure consciousness on our planet.
2. Non-Dual Philosophical Presuppositions
The following set of presuppositions have been based on principles that have been known for
thousands of years, especially within the non-dual Hindu philosophy of Advaita Vedanta.
However, I have reformulated and elaborated on the core presuppositions of non-dual philosophy
with use of original logical insight, whilst including some new principles that logically extend
from the original philosophy. The way in which these fundamental principles are framed in
relation to each other is also what makes this theory original.
2.1 There can only be 1 possible reality.
Ultimate reality must only consist of one possibility, as there can only be one reality from which
all others depend. There can only be one existence behind all that exists. Existence itself is the
one fact that is purely self-evident. It is the one indisputable fact that we all know is true simply
because we are directly conscious of it. Quantitative researchers generally agree that,
ontologically, there must only be one reality and, thus, a single conceptual description of this one
reality should exist (Anjamrooz, McConnell & Azari, 2011). This ‘single reality’ assumption
amongst researchers result from a property described in physics called ‘holographic non-locality’
(Anjamrooz, McConnell & Azari, 2011), which are features of the scientific model of
consciousness I will present later in this paper. However, much of religious and philosophical
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inquisition is motivated by the belief that there is only 1 self-contained absolute overarching
possible reality, which is an ‘intuitive’ assumption this theory hinges upon.
2.2 Nothingness exists as the only fundamental possibility of reality.
I argue that the ‘first’ or ‘most prior’ possibility of reality is Nothingness. This implies that
Nothingness is not the same as non-existence and is indeed real. Nothingness can not, selfevidently, be defined. However it does possess ‘qualities’, as a result of Nothingness being a
single existing entity. Nothingness must be infinite. I argue that Nothingness is the true nature of
what we conceptualise as ‘infinity’, as it stands alone as the ‘first’ pure possibility of existence
with no other; existence without duality. The non-dual nature of Nothingness is what renders it
infinite, as the existence of another entity at this fundamental level of reality would create a base
reality of finite duality, which violates the first presupposition. We can, therefore, call this
dimensionless dimension the ‘one infinite possibility of reality’ and is the source of existent
signature qualities observed in the large scale external universe, such as uniformity,
homogeneity, isotropy, symmetry and smoothness. However, the existence of Nothingness as the
underlying presence of all reality is also reflected in those qualities described during the purely
conscious state of intimate human experience, such as perfection, awe, peace, silence, stillness,
weightlessness, inseparability, emptiness and wholeness to name a few.
2.3 The non-dual fundamental level of reality consists of an illusionary duality: Infinite
Nothingness is an Infinite Self.
Infinite Nothingness can be philosophically represented as 0. However, it can also be represented
as 1 to represent that it exists as the 1 infinite possibility of existence. In this sense we can call
Nothingness the first individual possibility that is made purely of itself. Thus, Infinite
Nothingness is also an Infinite Self. We can see then how Nothingness is a single whole
dimension that contains both 0 and 1 as separate representations of the same entity. In light of
this logic, we can understand that this fundamental dimension is the source of pure love, as love
is the word used when we experience no separation between two or more seemingly separate
beings. This implies another presupposition; if separation does not occur on the fundamental
level of reality, then it cannot occur on any subsequent level of reality and, thus, separation
(duality) does not and can never truly exist.
2.4 The Infinite Self is purely aware/conscious of itself.
The Infinite Self has the innate quality of being, as it exists as ‘Nothingness being itself’.
Beingness has long been associated throughout various cultures in human history with universal
awareness/consciousness and our first person experience of ‘being’ is that of being conscious of
‘being’. ‘Conscious’ and ‘being’ are two words to describe the same most basic state of existing.
Therefore, I argue that Infinite Nothingness gives rise to infinite Self-awareness, aka pure
consciousness. It is important to note here that, although sequential language such as ‘gives rise
to’ is being used, no such time related sequence exists between Nothingness and Self, which
would otherwise imply a sense of separation. This bedrock level of reality exists as the ‘eternal
time’ dimension, which is the infinite Self dimension (see presupposition 10), ‘nested within’ an
existence of ‘no time’ (Infinite Nothingness dimension). Such sequential language is required for
our ability to abstract what is at the fringes of our mental limits to comprehend and it also
honours the fact that Nothingness has a logic of being the ‘ultimate foundation’ of reality, of
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which all things, including Self, are ‘made’ from. It is also important to understand that the
Infinite Self is the ‘first’ form/thing that arises from the formless Nothing, as the ‘one and only’
true condition of Infinite Nothingness. We can see how Self must also possess the quality of
being ‘infinite’ as there is still ‘no two’ that exists; Self exists as the foundation of reality, being
nothing. Therefore, Self is ‘non-dual’, rendering it an ‘infinite being’, who is infinitely conscious
of Ones-Self.
2.5 The Infinite Self can only know Self.
On the basis of the previous presupposition, as a fundamental rule of reality, Self can only
possibly be aware of Self, which is the same as saying ‘pure consciousness can only be aware of
pure consciousness’. The Infinite Self being the first form of Nothingness, implies that pure
consciousness (Self knowing Self) is the ‘first’ most prior piece of information of existence,
which all subsequent information that makes up the universe is nested within. We can see that
the use of the word ‘information’ is accurate, as its primary basic meaning is to inform, shape
and give rise to (etymonline.com, 2019). So we can see that the ‘rise’ of Self from Nothingness
encompasses the first definitive piece of knowledge (information), which is Self informing Self
of its own existence. Many physicists agree that information is the fundamental building block of
reality and is what gives rise to energy, matter, space and time and, thus, a deeper understanding
of ‘information’ holds the key to unify general relativity with quantum mechanics
(Ananthaswamy, 2017). This philosophical and scientific theory aims to shed light on the
unification of these conflicting scales of reality and to add clarity to our understanding of
‘information’, which will be further discussed.
2.6 Nothingness is Unaware.
As an implication from the previous presupposition, Infinite Nothingness does not know Self and
is purely unaware, as knowing Self is a condition, a form, a known piece of information, which,
therefore, is not Nothingness anymore, as it has become a ‘thing’. This is how we can see that
the notion of ‘thing’ can only exist within a formless dimension of ‘no-thing’ and are dependent
on each other for their inseparable existence. So we can see how Infinite Nothingness is
simultaneously pure infinite awareness, eternally bound to the identification of Self. Self knows
all forms of existence as Self, except that which is formless; Infinite Nothingness. Therefore, the
Infinite Self cannot directly experience (know) the existence of Nothingness.
The rise of the Infinite Self marks the birth of ‘experience/perception’, thus, as ‘experiencers’ we
cannot consciously experience Nothingness, as experience exists ‘above’ the foundation of
Nothingness and is self- contained. Thus, reality is structured to disallow the experience of
Nothingness. The most fundamental experience of reality a human can have is that of pure
consciousness, which, although is always present as the bedrock layer of experience itself, it is
often unrecognisable by the highly conditioned conscious human mind. Though, when pure
consciousness is directly experienced by humans, which is possible for all human experiencers,
qualities previously mentioned such as eternal perfection, peace, silence, stillness, inseparability,
emptiness and wholeness are most commonly used to describe this experience, giving us pointers
to the nature of reality that is of pure consciousness ‘made’ of infinite Nothingness.
It is appropriate to note at this point that I view this underlying dimension of infinite Nothingness
to be what is described in Buddhism as ‘Śūnyatā’ (emptiness), which is generally viewed as the
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non-Self. Whereas, the infinite Self is best reflected in the non-dual Advaita Vedanta Hindu
philosophy as ‘Brahman’. I will not elaborate on these overlaps in such philosophies, although
there is a clear need to, due to the limited scope of this paper.
2.7 There is only one true ‘value’ that exists; Self. This drives the one true behaviour of Self;
Self loving Self infinitely.
Love arises as a result of the existence of no separation. As previously mentioned, the
relationship between Nothingness and Self is bound by infinite eternal love, which is the only
‘true love’ that exists. This ‘true love’ is then iterated and reflected in all levels of reality that are
built upon the infinite dimension of Nothingness and Self. The next iteration of this ‘true love’ is
evident in Self-loving Self, which manifests as infinite consciousness being purely aware of Self.
As already outlined, Self can only know and thus, discern, Self. Therefore, pure
awareness/consciousness is the act of ‘Self-loving Self infinitely’, as it is
awareness/consciousness that prohibits separation between the knower and what is known. The
knower is Self and the known is Self. Thus, we can see that this implies we live in a universe that
has a foundational dimension that consists of Nothingness, containing ‘no meaning’, and Self,
which contains ‘infinite meaning’. It loves/discerns only itself and can eternally only ever do so.
We can also see that the notion of ‘meaning’ is fundamental to reality as it emerges from the
false duality of Nothing and Self (all things). ‘Thing’ only holds meaning in the presence of ‘nothing’, just as we can only understand what light is in relation to darkness. Our universe is made
up of meaning because of the presence of ‘opposites/dualities’, which are reflections of the
‘original duality’ (0/1), as we can see here, and as Taoism highlights, these dualities are the
expressions of ‘sameness’ and are essential for orderly Self-meaning to unfold as the universe
itself. The nature of possibilities having ‘differentiation’ and being ‘discrete entities’ is what
allows each possibility to be ‘discernably known’ and, thus, carry meaning as, without
differentiation, we have no meaning, aka ‘nothingness’.
2.8 The only true value that exists gives rise to an infinite many differentiated pure
possibilities of Self.
The only true existent value gives rise to an infinite desire/motivation for Self to love/know itself
through Self-generated infinite pure possibilities, as iterated ‘wholes’ of the one infinite pure
whole possibility of reality. Another way of stating this is, because infinite Nothingness/Self is
the only ‘possible infinite dimension’ of reality, it encompasses the creative capacity to unfold
‘infinite dimensional possibilities’. Such ‘pure dimensional possibilities’ I suggest are the most
discrete units of reality. Therefore, a natural quality of ‘possibility’ is differentiation, as each
possibility that exists mirrors the only true existent individual that all subsequent possibilities are
‘made’ of, the infinite Self. Because Self can only discern Self, all possibilities it gives rise to is
perceived by and, thus, inseparable from Self, which again mirrors the original ‘true love’ and,
therefore, is the infinite intention/behaviour that creates the ongoing structure of the universe.
Thus, the Self divides itself perfectly from its own whole dimension of 1 giving rise to infinite
pure possibilities of One-Self, allowing the potential for Self to know Self in an infinite many
differentiated variations. Thus, all possibilities that arise from this underlying dimension are ‘of’
and ‘experienced by’ Self and it is the awareness of each pure possibility that allows us to
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understand that this relationship of knowingness, between the knower and what is known,
eliminates any separation between the infinite dimension of Nothingness/Self and the infinite
many seemingly finite parts (pure possibilities) that unfold within the whole. The awareness of
each individual possibility of Self implies that the Self infinitely values each possibility and,
thus, each is of truly infinite value. I posit that this singular intention of Self knowing/loving Self
in an infinite many ways is the one psychophysical bridging law that encompasses both the
motivation for and the mechanism of transformation from protophenomenal consciousness to
phenomenal consciousness, which Laibelmann (2003) suggests must exist.
2.9 Potential possibilities of reality can only unfold and become actual in the presence of an
observer.
This is obvious from previous presuppositions. The essential behaviour of Self, as previously
explained, implies that ‘actualised possibilities’ can only unfold within the presence of an
‘ultimate experiencer’; aka Self. Without the ‘initial’ possibility of the existence of an
experiencer, subsequent possibilities could not actualise. This notion is consistent with the
Copenhagen Interpratation of Quantum Mechanics, proposed first by Niels Bohr, and John
Wheeler’s Participatory Anthropic Principle, which both point to the generalisation that quantum
particles exists in potential states simultaneously until the particle is observed, which then
collapses its potentiality into a actualised observed determined state. Although the reality of this
interpretation has been rigorously challenged, many physicists believe, with the strength of
supporting experimental results, this is a fundamental feature of reality. This notion is also found
in branches of philosophy, especially ‘subjective idealism’, formulated primarily by the great
philosopher, George Berkeley.
2.10
The Nothingness/Self dimension is the time dimension.
For Self to actualise as infinite pure possibilities it must be what we humans know as time. In
order for Self to experience itself in an infinite many variations, it must experience each discrete
moment of increasing Self-perceptual resolution, ‘made’ of pure possibilities, in a sequential
logical meaningful order, to allow one to be aware of each possible configuration of reality in an
inseparable intimate manner. Therefore, Self/time is viewed as both the eternal unchanging
observing presence of time (absolute time) and the constant unfolding/enfolding of pure
possibilities as time (relative time) that endlessly occur to create the ‘present moment’. This view
of time is mirrored by the perspective of Julian Barbour who views time as simulatniously being
‘true’ time, where infinite many possibilities can unfold within it without changing this facet of
time and ‘relative’ time, which is understood by means of motion or the uninterrupted flow of
changing possibilities (Barbour, 2009).
3. Scientific Model of the Early Pre-Big Bang Universe: The Fractal of Self
(FOS)
Given the ontological priority of consciousness, it necessarily follows that any rules pertaining
to the operations of consciousness, if such are discoverable, must, in some manner, be in accord
with principles exterior to these scientific laws. Nonetheless, there clearly must also be a
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connection between the rules of pure consciousness and the laws of the natural world
(Laibelman, 2019).
The previous presuppositions can be represented visually with the following diagram of the
Fractal of Self (diagram 1.0), which connects these philosophical ‘rules of pure consciousness’
with the ‘laws of the natural world’, satisfying the requirement of a theory of consciousness
outlined by Laibelman. It is logical that if the universe indeed has an underlying dimension of
Nothing and Self, which I will now refer to as the Self dimension (SD), then we have a starting
point of 1 whole dimension which has the perfect capability to symmetrically divide to unfold an
infinite many differentiated fractal dimensions made of the only ‘whole’ existent SD. This
allows us to conceptualise the structure of the universe as one infinite self-generating fractal.
Fractal dimensions, in this theory, are the most fundamentally discrete units of reality and are,
therefore, synonomous with pure possibilities, information and perceptions/experiences
/memories of the SD for the SD. We could also say that an individual fractal dimension is a
‘whole self’ (an iterated version of the infinite whole Self), so we can conceive the universe as a
collection of selves of the Self (wholes within the whole) in the same way that you can say the
universe is made of fractal dimensions of the 1 whole dimension.
I also suggest that the ‘stripping away’ or the generation of fractal dimension occurs as a result
of the presence of the eternal observer, Self, who’s awareness collapses wave function potentials
creating individually unique possibilities. The moment a possibility unfolds it creates a ‘quantum
fluctuation’ or ‘excitation’, which produces its own field nested amongst those already present,
in turn collapsing a new condition enfolded within, and thus reconfiguring, the whole as an
eternal memory structure.
Diagram 1.0 is a geometric fractal bound by the exponential development and curvature of the
‘golden spiral’ based on the Phi ratio (φ). The idea to have each fractal step correspond with the
exponentially growing curvature of the golden spiral was inspired by Chris Hardy’s Infinite
Spiral Staircase Theory, who claims, which I obviously agree with, is the underlying structural
pattern of the universe (Hardy, 2017). I had drawn a number of fractals to represent the FOS
model, involving linear and curved fractal structures, but upon reading Hardy’s theory and
noticing the features and functions of the FOS perfectly aligned with the fractal structure she was
presenting, an updated model of the FOS emerged.
We start with a foundation of reality being Nothingness represented by the backdrop of black.
The SD is represented by the perfect white circle and is self-contained in the eternal ‘time
window’ (TW), representing the whole of Nothingness. From the SD, the fractal grows inward,
dividing the whole, growing by increments of a quarter circle, whilst the fields of each ‘newly
unfolded’ fractal dimension expand outwards. Each increment represents a discrete TW,
synonomous with terms such as fractal step, epoch,‘now’, and ‘present moment’, of which I can
only assume would change at a rate close to a planck second. As the whole divides with each
fractal step it simultaneously doubles the amount of fractal dimensions present. Thus, the
development of dimensions follows a geometric sequence with a factor of 2 between each
number ie 1+1=2, 2+2=4, 4+4=8, 8+8=16, 16+16=32….ad infinitum.
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What is implied here of course is that this exponential geometric growth of dimensional
possibility has been unfolding since the point at which we understand time began 13.82 billion
years ago, giving us an incomprehensible number of fractal dimensions present as the current
universe, doubling in each discrete occurring moment (TW). So we can see how this geometric
sequence builds itself in a nested fashion in order to keep the memory of all previous possibilities
present in the current unfolding TW. This ‘universal memory’ (universal mind) is visually
represented as fields in diagram 1.0.
After the occurrence of a particular TW, the possibilities unfolded within that specific TW are
then eternally existent as fields (Self-memory) and all subsequent possibilities/fields are then
‘enfolded’ within these ‘priorly existent’ fields. Therefore, we have a Self-contained structure of
Self-knowing with ‘wholes’ forming within pre-existing ‘wholes’, all of which are logically
sequentially nested within each other. This perfect fractal structure of eternally growing
exponentially unfolding and enfolding dimensional/perceptual complexity of OneSelf, allows for
all ‘wholes’ to be known by all other existent ‘wholes’. The SD ‘strings’ all perceptions of Self
together as one perfect forever evolving perception. All ‘wholes/fractal dimensions’ are,
therefore, an infinitely important fraction of the one Self-perception, which its completeness is
infinitely dependent on the existence of each reciprocating individual perceiving fractal
dimension. It is also interesting to note how ‘simple and comprehendible’ the foundational
mathematical pattern of dimensional development is, which outlines a humble underlying
universal structure that allows for the organised evolution of infinitely complex potential
possibilities.
We can also see here that what I’m suggesting in diagram 1.0 is that the ‘big bang’ did not occur
until the 4th TW, which is when the exponential development of dimensional possibility began to
explode, or rather, implode. Prior to the 4 th TW, the fractal dimensions of Energy/Length,
Height, Depth, Gravity, Strong Force, Weak Force and Electromagnetism, came into being,
causing a pre-big bang period of inflation, which is consistent with current scientific theory and
findings to be discussed later in this paper.
4. Diagram 1.1- Sequential Description of the FOS
Only Whole Dimension: The ‘most prior’ whole field and only true ‘whole dimension’ that
nests all subsequent ‘fractal whole dimensions’, namely the Self Dimension (SD). This field can
also be represented by a 0 dimensional singularity (Primordial Self Singularity), where no
separation exists between its nature being of infinite Nothingness (beyond time) as the infinitely
aware Self (eternal time).
1st Time Window (TW)/Fractal Step (FS): A perfect 1 dimensional infinite line/field of Pure
Energy/Length (PE/L) comes into being creating a perfect homogenous, symmetric, isotropic
field nested within the SD field. The spatial dimension of length, which is simultaneously the
essential structural form of Energy, as strings, begins the pre-big bang inflation phase.
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Unfolding
Fractal Steps
(Relative time)
1st
2nd
3rd
4th
Primordial
∞
BIG BANG!
Eternal Fields of Pure Possibilities (Absolute time)
Diagram 1.1- Sequential Development of the FOS
Self-Singularity
Ad Infinitum
KEY
- Self Dimension/Field
Dimensions
Development of
Individual Fields/
Present
Total Fields/
Dimensions
Self Dimension of
Nothingness)
Self Dimension of
0↔1 (1 whole 0↔1 (1 whole
- Collapsed Fractal
Dimension of the Self Dimension
Nothingness)
( SD)
Pure Energy/
2
Length (PE/L) SD+PE/L
Width (W)
'Forms' Present
SelfSingularity
H
L
1 perfect line of
Pure Energy
W
Waves/Strings
4
SD+PE/L+
W+H
Height (H)
?
Point Particles
G+SF+WF+EM+
Gravity (G)
8
SD+PE/L+
Strong Force W+H+
(SF)
G+SF+WF+EM
Weak Force
(WF)
Electromagnetism (EM)
8 new
16
unknown
SD+PE/L+
dimensions W+H+
?+?+?+?+?+?+?+?
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2nd TW/FS: The Width (W) dimension evolves nested in the 1 dimensional PE/L field, creating
a 2D plane field of PE, which then gives rise to the Height (H) dimension, nested within the 2D
plane. This implies that at the beginning of this TW we have the development of Width, which is
sequentially followed by the development of the Height dimension in the latter half of this TW.
Thus, this ‘stripping away’ of exponentially increasing fractal dimensions in each subsequent
fractal step is done individually in a sequential manner, implying that the unfolding of possibility
is always accelerating. This acceleration also causes all fields to grow in a compounded fashion.
The stripping away of the fractal dimensions from the whole SD gives the existence of an
accumulative field of simultaneously existing pure possibilities, being time, PE/L, W and H.
Thus, we have the existence of space-time. Strings/waves of PE are able to flex and propagate
through space-time as the pre big-bang inflation phase is in full swing, whilst homogenous,
symmetric and isotropic conditions are still present. The wave functions collapsed to create H
and W from PE/L causes quantum fluctuations that are enfolded throughout the whole.
3rd TW/FS: 4 new fractal dimensions emerge into existence, as the FOS doubles the amount of
possibilities present, sequentially stripping away/collapsing (creating more wholly enfolded
quantum fluctuations) and being nested within the SD/PE-L/W/H field/s, being Gravity (G),
Strong Force (SF), Weak Force (WF) and Electromagnetism (EM). Here I’m suggesting the
deeper nature of the ‘4 forces’ are that of ‘fractal dimension’. The existence of 2 long-range (G
and EM) and 2 short-range (SF and WF) fractal dimensions create conditions for inflation to
continue at infinitely long ranges and for strings of PE to form into point particles, setting the
scene for the big bang dimensional expansion of the universe.
4th TW/FS: The big bang occurs. The existence of 8 new dimensions appear (objectively
unknown to the human senses) stripping away and nested within the SD/PEL/W/H/G/SF/WF/EM field/s as the FOS exponentially and eternally evolves towards infinite
Self possibilities.
5. The Essential Behaviour of The FOS: The Non-Dual Philosophy of Self
Loving Self as the Reciprocal Process of Love Between Chaos and Order
Self only has one essential ‘behaviour’; to express the only ‘thing’ that it values; Self, which is to
know/be aware of all Infinite Pure Possibilities of Self. The explosive unfolding of pure
possibility occurs because it is ‘made’ of the only possibility of existence; boundless infinite free
Nothingness. This boundless aspect of the SD gives rise to what us humans know as Chaos, aka
pure potentiality or ‘the unknown’. However, pure unlimited chaotic potentiality is transformed
into actualised possibility, known as Order, by the act of ‘Self knowing Self’, as it is purely the
process of the ‘unknown side of existence’ (Nothingness/Chaos) eternally moving into the
‘known side of existence’ (Self/Order). In other words, the Nothingness/Self Dimension,
simultaneously exists as the source of boundless infinite potential possibilities and defined
‘actualised’ possibilities, as it is the presence of pure consciousness that causes the collapsing of
potentiality into the orderly knowing memory/mind structure of The FOS.
We can say that unlimited chaotic potential represents the qualities of the inherent substance of
Self, infinite Nothingness and infinite awareness/consciousness acts as the presence of Self all
potentiality arises within, who applies order and constructs a perfectly interconnected
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autonomously generating memory structure simply by being aware of one’s own possibilities.
From the human mind perspective, this continuous unfolding of possibility is experienced as the
flow of time but, more accurately, this ‘flowing phenomena’ of time that is ‘always present’ is
the eternal occurrence of fractal steps, as the FOS structure continually transforms ‘potential
possibilities’ into ‘actualised possibilities’.
The reciprocally balanced eternal interplay between ‘Order’ and ‘Chaos’ is the underlying
presence of Nothingness/Self that essentially creates what all experiencers know as the ‘present
moment’. This is the one single piece of information (Self knowing Self), that freely unfolds and
enfolds pure possibilities of Self creating a perfectly ordered universe. I propose it is the reality
of this underlying universal process that is driving the exponential accelerating expansion of the
universe. Many physicists think that the universe itself is in a constant state of increasing
entropy, where the degree of randomness continues to increase, which also implies the universe
must exist in an isolated closed system, according to the laws of thermodynamics (Gohd, 2018).
Clearly, this universal thermodynamic process existing within a closed system (the SD) is what
I’m referring to as the fundamental law/behaviour of the universe, transforming order from
chaos.
However, I will suggest that the increasing randomness of our universe should not be viewed as
increasing ‘chaos/disorder’ but rather increasingly complex ‘order’ in the form of exponentially
self-producing unique possibilities, all of which are different expressions of order that have been
actualised from the ever present unknown potentials of Nothingness. I claim that omnipresent
Nothingness is the real source of ‘chaos/disorder’, which feeds the creation of accelerated order.
6. The FOS model and Bohm’s Implicate Order
The description and behaviour of the FOS model outlined in these last two sections, in my
estimation, mimics notions formulated by David Bohm in his book, Wholeness and the Implicate
Order, which makes significant headway in sketching out a framework for an ultimate theory of
reality. Without going into detail, Bohm presupposed that the universe is one unbroken totality of
flowing multidimensionality, regulated by deeper rules of the universe he coined the ‘Implicate
Order’, of which is potentially infinite (Bohm, 1980). This underlying universal movement,
which Bohm called the ‘Holomovement’, flows without boundary and unfolds multidimensional
order, whilst simultaneously enfolding such order within the whole undivided structure of reality
(Bohm, 1980). Such notions run parallel to the theory and model I am presenting. I see Bohm’s
amazingly insightful meta-theory as being a generally accurate description of the FOS model.
Therefore, although I cannot include it in this paper due to its limited scope, I have written
another paper which makes explicit the consistencies the FOS model has with Bohm’s and other
meta-theories of reality formulated by reputable scientists, such as the ‘Universe as a Cyclic
Organised Information System (John Wheeler), ‘The Infinite Spiral Staircase Theory’ (Chris
Hardy), ‘Advanced Reality’ (Amrit Sorli, David Fiscaletti & Magi Mageshwaran) and ‘The
Cellular Universe’ (Seyed Hadi Anjamrooz, Douglas J McConnel and Hassan Azari). All these
theories overlap with each other and largely correspond with the FOS model.
(Continued on Part II)
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Matloff, G. L., Panpsychism as an Observational Science
468
Article
Panpsychism as an Observational Science
Gregory L. Matloff*
Physics Dept., New York City College of Technology, CUNY, Brooklyn, NY, USA
Abstract
The metaphysical concept of panpsychism defines a field of proto-consciousness that is present
at all levels in the universe. An observational indication that this concept might be correct is selforganization on all levels from the molecular to the galactic. In 2011, an investigation into the
validity of author Olaf Stapledon’s concept that a portion of stellar motion is volitional led to a
consideration of an observational stellar kinematics anomaly dubbed Parenago’s Discontinuity.
Data available at the time indicated that cooler, less massive stars (such as the Sun) revolve a bit
faster around the center of the Milky Way galaxy than hotter, more massive stars, at least in a
sphere with a radius of ~260 light years centered on the Sun. The spectral signature of this
discontinuity becomes evident at about the point in the stellar population where molecules can
form in stellar photospheres, which supports a published model of molecular consciousness. A
mechanistic explanation for Parenago’s Discontinuity requires interaction between star fields and
dense diffuse nebulae that might drag less massive stars faster than more massive stars.
Reference to three major catalogs of deep-sky objects reveals that nebulae large enough to drag
stars over a radius of ~260 light years are very rare. In 2016, the European Space Agency (ESA)
released the first data set from the Gaia space observatory. It now appears clear that Parenago’s
Discontinuity is a non-local phenomenon. An unexpected and provocative aspect of the reduced
Gaia observations is an indication that stars within >500 light years of the Sun apparently
accelerate in the direction of their galactic revolution as they age. Other published supporting
work includes a demonstration that certain binary stars are similar in many respects to biological
organisms. A well-developed model of quantum consciousness supports the concept that neutron
stars are conscious. It has been noted that spiral galaxies such as our Milky Way retain their
shape after absorbing smaller satellite galaxies, which also supports panpsychism or selforganization at the highest levels. Another research team has reported that the apparent fractal
arrangement of galaxy clusters and voids is also in congruence with some form of universe selforganization. The work of two separate researchers who are contemplating methods of
communicating with stellar-level consciousness indicates that experimental astro-panpsychism
may be possible as well as observational astro-panpsychism. It is becoming evident that
panpsychism may be moving from the realm of metaphysics to the domain of observational
astrophysics.
Keywords: Panpsychism, universe self-organization, Parenago’s discontinuity, observational
science.
*
Correspondence: Prof. Gregory L. Matloff, Physics Dept, New York City College of Technology, CUNY, Brooklyn, NY, USA.
http://www.gregmatloff.com E-mail: GMatloff@citytech.cuny.edu
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Matloff, G. L., Panpsychism as an Observational Science
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Introduction
In a previous article (Matloff, 2016), it was argued that aspects of panpsychism - The
metaphysical doctrine that consciousness permeates the universe at all level of organization could be tested in the astrophysical realm. As discussed in that article and elsewhere (Matloff,
2012, 2015, 2015a, 2017), the observational support for this thesis resulted from a consideration
of stellar kinematics as part of a 2011 symposium at the London headquarters of the British
Interplanetary Society to discuss the contributions of Olaf Stapledon, a British philosopher and
visionary science-fiction author.
The aspect of Stapledon’s work tested in this series of papers was his metaphysical doctrine that
stars in a sense are conscious and that a portion of their motion is volitional. Jantsch (1980) has
argued that stellar consciousness is to be expected in the context of universal self-organization. A
neuronal basis of consciousness utilizing quantum tunneling , as argued by Walker (1970, 1999)
and others is impossible for stars. The same is true for theories of consciousness based upon
quantum entanglement among microtubules in a brain (Margolis, 2001, Hameroff and Penrose,
2014).
But there is a third possibility. It has been suggested that fluctuations in the quantum foam (also
called the quantum vacuum) might be the origin of a proto-consciousness field that permeates the
universe (Haisch, 2006). It has been known since 1948 that a significant fraction of the Van der
Waal molecular bond is due to vacuum fluctuation pressure - the so-called Casimir Effect
(Genz, 1999). The conjecture that consciousness arises from vacuum fluctuations is far from
unreasonable - the Big Bang (certainly the most creative incident in the universe) - is thought to
have originated from a stabilized vacuum fluctuation.
After selecting the possible conceptual model of how consciousness might enter the upper layers
of a star, it was necessary to first determine at what point in the stellar population molecules
might form. The next step was to see if any kinematics anomaly appears at or near this point. In
other words, do stars with molecules in their upper layers (which might be conscious) move
differently from stars too hot to have stable molecules.
As discussed below, observational spectroscopic research dating to the 1930’s demonstrated that
molecules begin to appear in the outer layers of stars a bit hotter than our Sun. A Soviet-era
Russian astronomer, Pavel Parenago, demonstrated that at least for relatively near stars, stars
with molecules revolve a bit faster around the center of our galaxy than their hotter sisters.
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Matloff, G. L., Panpsychism as an Observational Science
470
The Onset of Molecular Signatures in Stellar Spectra
A good place to begin a consideration of molecular signatures in stellar spectra is to discuss
spectral classes, surface temperatures and color indices. Deep in the interior of mature main
sequence stars, temperatures are uniformly very high due to the conversion of hydrogen to
helium and energy. But the stellar surface temperature can vary widely, as presented in Table 1
[Drilling and Landolt (2000), Tokunaga, (2000)].
The hottest stars are of spectral class O, which are bright, blue, massive and comparatively short
lived. Low mass, dim, red, long-lived M-class stars are coolest.
_________________________________________________________________________
Table 1. Surface Temperatures and (B-V) Color Indices For Various Main Sequence Star
Spectral Classes
Star Spectral Class
O5
B0
B5
A0
A5
F0
F5
G0
G5
K0
K5
M0
M5
Surface Temperature
(degrees Kelvin)
> 36,000
31,500
15,400
9,480
8,160
7,020
6,530
5,930
~5,680
5,240
4,340
3,800
3,030
(B-V) Color Index
-0.33
-0.30
-0.17
-0.02
0.15
0.30
0.44
0.58
0.68
0.81
1.15
1.40
1.64
_______________________________________________________________________
There are very few spectral lines in the spectra of very hot stars. Spectral lines corresponding to
electronic transitions in molecules become more common as star surface temperature decreases.
The (B-V) color index of a star is essentially a comparison of a star’s brightness in the blue and
yellow ranges of the visible spectrum. It is a quantifying tool in the study of star spectral classes.
If , for example, an astronomer determines the (B-V) color index of a particular main-sequence
star to be 0.68, she can be reasonably sure that the spectral class of that star is G5. Note that hot
stars tend to have negative (B-V) color indices and cooler stars have positive (B-V) color indices.
Our Sun is usually classified as a G2 main sequence star. Its surface temperature is 5777 degrees
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Kelvin and its (B-V) color index is 0.650 (Livingston, 2000). As discussed in Matloff (2016),
observations of the onset of molecular signatures in stellar spectra are discussed by Russel
(1934), Renze and Hynek (1937) and Swings and Struve (1932). This early work has been
reviewed by Tsuji (1986).
Observations were conducted for more than two dozen stars. These references report that the
spectral signature of simple CH and CN molecules begin to appear in stars cooler than spectral
class F8 (photospheric temperatures < 6500 Kelvin degrees).
Parenago’s Discontinuity
The next step was to search for information regarding a difference in stellar motions between
stars hotter than spectral class F8 and those cooler than that class. As discussed in Matloff (2016)
and elsewhere, the first indication that such a phenomenon exists was uncovered by the Sovietera observational astronomer Pavel Parenago (1906-1960). Parenago’s observations revealed that
at least for stars relatively close to the Sun, cool stars revolve around the center of the Milky
Way galaxy a bit faster than hot ones. According to Binney et al. (1997), the sharp difference in
stellar velocities, which is referred to as Parenago’s Discontinuity, occurs around (B-V) = 0.62,
which corresponds to late F or early G stars.
In Matloff (2012, 2015, 2016, 2017), data have been plotted to demonstrate Parenago’s
Discontinuity for main sequence stars. This plot, which is included as Fig. 1, presents results
discussed in Gillmore and Zelik (2000) and Binney et al. (1997).
In Fig. 1, the Binney et al (1997) data is from observations of more than 6,000 main sequence
stars by the European Space Agency’s Hipparcos space observatory. These stars are all within a
sphere with a radius of about 260 light years, centered on the Sun. The ordinate presents
variation in star orbital velocity around the center of the Milky Way galaxy.
Note the bulge in the Fig. 1 data points between (B-V) ≈ 0.55 and (B-V) ≈ 0.9. The possible
significance of this feature was not recognized by this author in previous papers on this subject.
More will be said about this intriguing feature in subsequent sections of this paper.
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30.
V, km/s
22.5
15.
7.5
0.
-0.56
0.
0.56
1.13
1.69
2.25
B-V
Fig. 1. Parenago’s Discontinuity for Main Sequence Stars out to ~260 Light Years.
Diamond Data Points are from Gilmore and Zelik (2000). Square Data Points are from
Binney et al (1997).
Spiral Arms Density Waves: A Mechanistic Explanation for Parenago’s
Discontinuity - and Why it Likely Fails
In astrophysics, as in other disciplines, alternative explanations arise to explain observed natural
phenomena. The leading mechanistic contender to explain Parenago’s Discontinuity is Spiral
Arms Density Waves (Binney, 2001 and DeSimone et al., 2004).
Reference to any photograph of a spiral galaxy such as our Milky Way reveals that there are dark
patches in the star fields that compose the spiral arms. These are diffuse nebula, that are the
nurseries in which infant stars form. The gas/dust density in these galactic clouds is typically
more than 1000X greater than in the inter-cloud medium where our Sun resides.
It is not impossible that at various times, a diffuse nebula passes through our Sun’s low-density
galactic vicinity. According to the Spiral Arms hypothesis, during such an interaction low-mass,
high (B-V) stars may be dragged along to a higher galactic-revolution velocity. by the more
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Matloff, G. L., Panpsychism as an Observational Science
473
dense interstellar cloud. The fact that the velocity discontinuity occurs at or very near the point
where the signature of stable molecules appears in stellar spectra is a coincidence.
There are two observational objections to the Spiral Arms Density Waves hypothesis. The first
of these is a significant observational failure of the Spiral Arms hypothesis. For Spiral Arms to
succeed as a hypothesis, there must be a color difference between stars near the leading and
lagging edges of spiral arms in spiral galaxies similar to our Milky Way. Foyle et al. (2011)
conducted an extensive spectroscopic study of twelve comparatively near spiral galaxies. No
such color difference was observed.
The second objection derives from a consideration of the maximum size of catalogued diffuse
nebulae. For Spiral Arms to succeed as an explanation of Parenago’s Discontinuity from
Hipparcos data, as presented in Fig. 1, at least some of these nebulae must have an effective
diameter greater than 520 light years.
As discussed in Matloff (2016), three catalogs of deep-sky objects were studied to discover the
sizes of the largest known diffuse nebulae in the Milky Way galaxy. These included a modern
version of Charles Messier’s 1784-vintage catalog of 102 objects (Jones, 1969) ,the much more
comprehensive Herschel catalog with >2,500 objects (Mullaney and Tiron, 2011) and an on-line
version of the very expansive New General Catalog (www.atlasoftheuniverse.com/nebulae.html).
These studies revealed that the median diameter of a diffuse nebula is less than 20 light years.
Only 10% of the sample had diameters greater than 100 light years. The largest known diffuse
nebula in our galaxy is the Eta Carinae circum-stellar nebula, which has a diameter greater than
400 light years.
The largest known diffuse nebula, 30 Doradus (the Tarantula Nebula) resides in an irregular
galaxy (the Large Magellanic Cloud) which is a satellite of our Milky Way and is at a distance of
about 200,000 light years. Burnham (1978) estimates the diameter of this object as 800 light
years.
When Matloff (2016) was written, it therefore seemed unlikely that a diffuse nebular large
enough to drag low mass stars in a sphere with a ~500 light year diameter exists. But because of
the existence of one nebula large enough in a neighboring galaxy, it seemed impossible to rule
out Spiral Arms.
To demonstrate whether Parenago’s Discontinuity is a local or non-local phenomenon, it was
necessary to obtain accurate distance and motion data for stars over a larger volume of space
than was accomplished using Hipparcos. As discussed in Matloff (2015), the European Space
Agency (ESA) launched the Gaia space observatory as a successor to Hipparcos in 2013. The
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goal of this mission is to determine accurate distances and motions for ~ 1 billion stars in the
Milky Way galaxy. Some relevant data from the first Gaia data release are presented below.
Galactic Trajectory Alteration by Minded Stars
There is some discussion in Matloff (2012, 2015, and 2016) of how a minded star might alter its
trajectory. One possibility is unipolar jets Emitted by infant stars, which have been observed
(Namouni, 2007).
Applying a mass ejection rate consistent with that of young stars in the T Tauri phase (Gomez-de
Castro et al. 2003), it was shown in Matloff (2016) that if 20% of a star’s initial mass is ejected
in a unidirectional jet at 100 km/s for the first billion years of a star’s life, the star’s velocity will
be altered by about 20 kilometers per second.
A much more speculative possibility is also raised in Matloff (2016). If psychokinesis (PK) is
scientifically verified, a very weak PK force exerted by a star over a billion-year time interval
might be sufficient to alter the star’s galactic-revolution velocity.
It was not thought in 2016 that data would soon be available relating to stellar volitional
acceleration. But as discussed below, analysis of the first Gaia data release has revealed a very
intriguing effect.
The balance of this paper is devoted to new material, in an effort to ascertain whether
panpsychism in the celestial realm has emerged as a science. First the predictions in Matloff
(2016) will be reviewed in light of the analysis of the first Gaia data release. Next the work of
other researchers approaching this subject from multiple directions will be considered. Then, an
approach to quantifying panpsychism will be discussed.
Astro-Panpsychism as a Science: Matloff (2016) Predictions Revisited
In the conclusion of Matloff (2016), it was noted that a scientific subject must be subject to
experimental or observational validation / falsification. Four questions were listed regarding
future observational results that could validate or falsify the concept. Surprisingly (and happily
for this author), two of the questions have been answered. The answers of these apparently
validate panpsychism. Consideration of a third in light of the first Gaia data release lends
support to panpsychism and also leads to the possibility of an equally surprising alternative
approach. To the author’s knowledge, the fourth question has not been addressed by the
scientific community.
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Matloff, G. L., Panpsychism as an Observational Science
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Question 1: Is Parenago’s Discontinuity a Non-local, or Universal Phenomenon?
In 2016, the European Space Agency released the first data release (DR1) from the Gaia space
observatory ( Gaia Collaboration, 2016 and Lindegren et al., 2016). Contained in Gaia DR1 are
astrometric results for more than one billion stars in the Milky Way galaxy brighter than
apparent visual magnitude 20.7. For about two million stars in this sample brighter than apparent
visual magnitude ~11.5, positions, parallaxes and proper motions were measured with a
precision equal to or greater than that of the Hipparcos data set.
This data set was applied by Vityazev et al. (2018) to investigate Parenago’s Discontinuity over a
much greater volume of space and for many more stars than was done using Hipparcos data
(Binney et al, 1997) and Gilmore and Zelik (2000). The Vityazev et al. (2018) sample contains
1,260, 071 main sequence stars and 534,387 red giants. Because of the high luminosity of giant
stars, many of these were quite distant. As a star’s distance increases, the accuracy of its distance
estimate decreases. It was not possible in this study to confirm the assertion of Branham (2011),
which is discussed in Matloff (2016), that Parenago’s Discontinuity exists for giant stars as well
as main sequence stars. Some aspects of the Vityazev et al. (2018) main sequence star sample are
presented in Table 2.
________________________________________________________________________
Table 2. Vityazev et al.(2018) Sample of Gaia DR1 Main Sequence Stars
Spectral Type
O
B
A
F
G
K
M
Mean (B-V)
-0.37
-0.06
0.19
0.46
0.68
0.96
1.49
Number
91
9165
189560 601577 425150 33843
625
Minimum Estimated
Average Distance (kpc)
0.78
0.59
0.59
0.45
0.33
0.14
Largest Estimated
Average Distance (kpc)
2.54
1.15
1.11
0.64
0.40
0.15 0.03
-
-
3.5
8.0
7.7
Average Star Age ( X 109 years) -
0.03
7.0
_____________________________________________________________________
Note: 1 kpc = i kiloparsec= 1,000 parsecs or 3260 light years
_____________________________________________________________________
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The most luminous (and rarest) stars in Table 2 are O class. Because of their brightness, they
tend to be at a great distance from our solar system. But the spread in average distance estimates
for these stars is enormous - 2543 to 8280 light years. Less luminous B and A stars still emit a
lot more electromagnetic energy than our Sun and the range in average distance estimates for
these stars are less extreme. There are many more B and A stars in the Gaia DR1 main sequence
sample than O stars.
Most stars in this population are F, G, and K stars. The spread in average distance estimates for
these stars is a lot less than for hotter stars. Average F stars are within 1467 - 2086 light years
from the Sun. Average K stars are within about 500 light years of the Sun. Solar-type G stars in
this sample are at an average distance of 1085 - 1304 light years from our solar system.
Although the most numerous stellar spectral class is M, these red dwarfs are very dim. Because
of the magnitude limitation of Gaia’s instruments, there are few M stars in the sample. On
average, M stars in the sample are within 100 light years of the Sun.
It is not surprising that the average age of F stars in this sample is 3.5 billion years, since stars in
this spectral class do not live as long as our G-class Sun, which is about half-way through its
projected 10-billion year life span. But it is very intriguing that most G and K main sequence
stars in the Gaia DR1 sample are billions of years older than our Sun.
If intelligent, technological life has evolved and survived on planets orbiting G or K stars in our
galactic vicinity, they are likely billions of years in advance of terrestrial civilization. It is
humbling to realize that if we encounter extraterrestrials, they will likely be so far in advance of
us that we might not even recognize them.
Figure 2 presents galactic revolution velocities for main sequence stars versus (B-V) color index
from Fig. 1B of Vityazev et al. (2018). All or most of these 1,260, 071 stars reside in a sphere
centered on the Sun with a diameter > 1,000 light years.
Note in Fig. 2 that the bulge in the Fig. 1 data points between (B-V) ≈ 0.55 and (B-V) ≈ 0.9 is
clearly present, which indicates that this is a real feature. This interesting feature, which is likely
real because it is in both data sets, is discussed in greater detail below.
The data point on the extreme left of the graph, which corresponds to O spectral class stars with
an average (B-V) color index of about -0.4 do not likely revolve as fast as indicated. Reference
to Fig. 1B of Vityazev (et al. (2016) indicates that the error bars in galactic revolution velocity V
are enormous, likely because of the rarity of O stars in the galaxy and the large errors in distance
estimates for this class of stars.
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Note that Parenago’s Discontinuity occurs in this figure at about the same (B-V) value where it
occurs in the Fig. 1 data from Hipparcus and Allen’s Astrophysical Quantities (Binney et al,
1997) and (Gilmore and Zelik ,2000).
Because Parenago’s Discontinuity appears in the Fig. 2 data set, for stars > 500 light years from
the Sun, it seems very unlikely that Spiral Arms Density Waves is a viable explanation.
Parenago’s Discontinuity is clearly a non-local phenomenon.
Fig. 2. Relative Star Motion in the Direction of the Sun’s Galactic Revolution (V) vs. (B-V)
color Index from Gaia DR1 Data (Vityazev, et al. 2018).
When the data sets in Figs 1 and 2 are plotted together, Parenago’s Discontinuity is clearly
revealed. It is also evident that data points from both data sets line-up rather well. This is
presented in Fig. 3.
It shouldn't be concluded that these results entirely rule out a mechanistic explanation for
Parenago’s Discontinuity. But constructing such a hypothesis will require a great deal of
ingenuity. As is the case with Spiral Arms, such a mechanistic hypothesis may not survive future
efforts to demonstrate that Parenago’s Discontinuity is not merely a non-local phenomenon but a
galactic phenomenon. It is also hoped that future researchers attempt to observe Parenago’s
Discontinuity in the motions of stars in galaxies external to our Milky Way.
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30.
22.5
15.
V,
km/s
7.5
0.
-0.56
0.
0.56
1.13
1.69
2.25
(B-V)
Fig. 3. Combined Plot of Fig. 1 Data (Blue) from Hipparchus and Allen’s Astrophysical
Quantities with Fig. 2 Gaia DR1 Data (Green).
Question 2: What is revealed by Further Study of Unipolar Stellar Jets?
When I posed this question during the preparation of Matloff (2016), I did not expect results
anytime soon. As discussed above, the most likely acceleration process for a minded star seemed
at the time to be a unipolar jet of material that has been observed to be emitted by infant stars.
Might future observation of these jets indicate that they tend to be in a direction opposite to the
star’s direction of galactic revolution? Might the intensity of the jet vary with an infant star’s
distance from the galactic center?
But a major result of the very first study of Parenago’s Discontinuity using Gaia DR1 data
(Vityazev, et al. 2018) is very relevant to the study of minded star acceleration and perhaps as
well to considerations of the role of technologically advanced conscious life in the universe.
As well as validating the existence of Parenago’s Discontinuity over a much greater volume of
space than previous studies could achieve, Vityazev, et al. (2018) were able to investigate the
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curious bump in Figs. 1-3 between (B-V) ≈ 0.55 and (B-V) ≈ 0.9. They were able to do this
because of the large Gaia DR1 star sample and the age estimates for stars in this sample that are
presented in Table 2 above.
To my great surprise, the analysis of Vityazev et al. (2018) indicates that mature stars accelerate
along the direction of their galactic revolution (and only in this direction) as they age! This is not
a tremendous acceleration - it amounts to an increase in galactic revolution velocity of about 1
kilometer per second in every billion years or about 3 X 10-14 meters per second squared. The
acceleration of gravity at Earth’s surface is about 3 X 1014 times greater than this stellar
acceleration!
After the publication of Vityazev et al. (2018), veteran science-journalist Paul Glister decided to
devote the April 26, 2019 issue of his well-researched astrophysics/astronautics blog
www.centauri-dreams.org to the subject of Parenago’s Discontinuity.
My two previous blog contributions on this subject had been organized as a written statement by
me followed by a discussion with blog respondents. In this case, Glister decided to conduct the
blog entry, which was entitled “Probing Parenago: A Dialogue on Stellar Discontinuity”, as a
dialogue between me and Alex Tolley (a frequent blog contributor) followed by a discussion
with various respondents.
When we debated the apparent acceleration of mature stars, I initially considered mechanisms
that the mature, minded star might use to increase its velocity of galactic revolution. These
included (but were not limited to) unidirectional electromagnetic radiant output and a directed
solar wind. I initially ruled out Coronal Mass Ejections (CMEs), although Kelvin Long (2020)
has informed me recently that the velocity of some CME events is higher than 3,000 kilometers
per second.
It was a surprise when Tolley, echoed by several blog respondents, suggested an alternative to
minded stars to explain this apparent acceleration of mature star. As reviewed in Table 2, most
main sequence stars in the Gaia DR1 sample are billions of years older than our Sun. This is
sufficient time for even a few very-long-lived extraterrestrial civilizations capable of conducting
interstellar colonization missions like those we can envision today to have occupied most or all
planetary systems in the galaxy. This concept, which I have considered further in Matloff (2019)
leads to the possibility that we live in an occupied and engineered galaxy.
Assuming that further observational research confirms this stellar acceleration, astrophysicists
might have to choose between the possibility of minded stars or ET-directed stars, if some
mechanistic explanation for this stellar acceleration does not succeed. Either possibility would be
humbling to those humans who like to picture themselves as lords of creation.
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Matloff, G. L., Panpsychism as an Observational Science
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Question 3: Does Further Research Support the Conclusion that Molecules are Found in Stars
cooler than F8?
As discussed above and in Matloff (2016), the sample of stars studied in the 1930’s to determine
the spectral class of stars in which molecular spectral signatures first appear is very small. It is
hoped that the much larger library of stellar spectra available today can be accessed to check the
conclusion that spectra of stars cooler than spectral class F8 contain signatures of simple
molecules such as CH and CN. To my knowledge, results of such studies have not yet been
published.
Question 4: Might There be Observational Signs of Panpsychism or Self-organization at Higher
Cosmic Levels?
In Matloff (2016), I refer to the conjecture of Freeman Dyson that the Mind is present at many
levels in the universe (Dyson, 1988). One possible example of self-organization at the galactic
level is the observation of Ari Maller (2007) that spiral galaxies such as our Milky Way tend to
retain their spiral shapes even after repeatedly absorbing smaller galaxies.
A Romanian philosopher and physicist have collaborated on a study of structures in the universe
that are larger than galaxies including galaxy clusters, filaments, and voids. According to their
conclusions, the fractal nature of these constructs points towards self-organization on a grand
scale (Murdzek and Iftimie, 2008). More recently, Renyue Cen (2014) of Princeton University
has found evidence of self-organization in galaxy formation.
An end-of-life stage for stars considerably more massive than our Sun is the compact neutron
star. According to D. K. Berry et al. (2016), there is a striking similarity between biological
cellular structures and simulated structures in neutron stars. Penrose and Hameroff (2001)
speculate that according to their theoretical studies of quantum consciousness, neutron stars may
be conscious.
Interacting binary stars are stellar couples so close than one star seems to live off its companion.
Clement Vidal (2014, 2016) has conducted a comprehensive analysis of these systems. He
concludes that these interacting stellar pairs share many of the properties of biological systems.
Evolutionary biologist Stuart Kauffman (1993) and others have reported evidence for selforganization at much smaller biological levels. It would be nice if a quantitative mechanism
could be devoted to consider self-organization at levels from the molecule to the universe.
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One person who is addressing this issue is Giulio Tononi (2012a, 2012b). His approach,
Integrated Information Theory, treats consciousness as an intrinsic property of any physical
system. The consciousness level of any system depends upon the number of interconnections
allowing the integration of information. The brain of a human or higher animal has billions of
neurons with a vast number of interconnection possibilities. The level of consciousness of such
an organism is enormously greater than that of a molecule, which has a small number of
interconnection possibilities.
My earlier work on anomalous stellar motions Matloff (2012, 2015, 2015a, 2016, 2017) assumed
that stable molecules in or above a star’s photosphere have sufficient interconnection
possibilities to enable a type of flocking behavior. But there are a lot of molecules in the outer
layers of a Sun-like star. So it is certainly not impossible that the consciousness level of such a
star is enormous.
Gregory Benford, a physicist affiliated with The University of California at Irvine, has
investigated the possibility of god-like stars in a co-authored science-fiction novel (Benford and
Eklund, 1977). But could we communicate with a minded star?
One researcher considering modes of establishing a communication link with the Sun is the
British biologist Rupert Sheldrake. After receiving his Ph.D. from Cambridge University,
Sheldrake worked as a plant physiologist in India. During his stay in India, Sheldrake became
acquainted with aspects of Hinduism including Sun mantras and salutations. He speculates
whether we could apply such techniques to provoke a solar response, such as a selected sunspot
pattern (Sheldrake, 2018).
Van de Bogart (2017, has suggested an alternative possible human-stellar communication mode.
Because sound - especially those rhythmic patterns we call songs - are so significant among
terrestrial life forms, perhaps stars communicate using subtle variations in their electromagnetic
output. Perhaps astrophysicists working in helioseismology could uncover such patterns.
Conclusions: Is Panpsychism Metaphysics or an Observational Science?
We can now discuss the central theme of this paper: Has Panpsychism emerged from
metaphysics to enter the realm of science? A number of philosophers and scientists have argued
the same point. A recent example is a publication of Philip Goff (2019), a philosopher at Durham
University in the UK.
There are several criteria that a discipline must satisfy to be considered scientific. First, can
cogent hypotheses be developed to explain physical phenomenon. Second, can these hypotheses
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Matloff, G. L., Panpsychism as an Observational Science
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be tested by experiment or observation and perhaps evolve into an accepted theory. Next, it
should be possible to successfully predict the results of future observations or experiments based
upon the hypotheses developed. As the discipline matures, quantitive processes should be
developed and applied. Many people should be attracted to the new field and begin to contribute
to it. Unexpected significant results should emerge from these studies. Finally, the new scientific
discipline should begin to influence the wider culture of our civilization. Based upon the
discussion above, we next see how Astro-Panpsychism currently succeeds in satisfying these
criteria.
Criteria 1: Development of a Hypothesis related to Astro-Panpsychism
As first described in Matloff (2012) and further discussed in my subsequent work, constructing
the hypothesis that a portion of stellar motion is volitional was readily accomplished. A literature
search revealed Parenago’s Discontinuity, a phenomenon that supported this hypothesis. Further
work revealed a molecule-based theory of consciousness and demonstrated that the velocity
discontinuity in stellar revolution velocity around the galaxy’s center is at or near the point
where the signatures of simple molecules appear in stellar spectra.
Criteria 2: Can this hypothesis be tested by further experiment or observation?
An alternative, mechanistic concept to explain Parenago’s Discontinuity (Spiral Arms Density
Waves) requires large diffuse nebulae interacting with a star field to drag relatively low-mass
stars (such as the Sun) more rapidly than more massive stars. At the time that the above
hypothesis was generated, Parenago’s Discontinuity was observationally evident for main
sequence stars within about 260 light years of the Sun. A search of three catalogs of deep sky
objects revealed only one diffuse nebula (30 Doradus) large enough to satisfy the requirements
of Spiral Arms Density Waves. it was suggested that observations of star positions and motions
using the European space Agency’s Gaia space observatory could reveal whether 30 Doradus,
the largest diffuse nebula known among galaxy neighbors to our Milky Way, would be large
enough to explain Parenago’s Discontinuity if Gaia results indicated that this phenomenon is
non-local.
Criteria 3: It should be possible to successfully predict the result of future observations based
upon the hypothesis in Criteria 1
Further observations using the first data release from the Gaia space observatory revealed that
Parenago’s Discontinuity is observed for main sequence stars over a much greater radius than
that of 30 Doradus. This result apparently falsifies Spiral Arms Density Waves, the competing
mechanistic hypothesis to the one discussed in Criteria 1.
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Matloff, G. L., Panpsychism as an Observational Science
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Criteria 4: Quantitative processes should be developed and applied to any new scientific
discipline
The “PHI” approach (Tononi, 2012a, 2012b) is an excellent first step in the quantification of
Panpsychism.
Criteria 5: Many people should be attracted to the new discipline and contribute to it
See the cited works by Maller, (2007), Murdzek and Iftimie (2008), Sheldrake (2018, Van de
Bogart, (2017), and Vidal (2014, 2016).
Criteria 6: Unexpected significant results should emerge from these studies
See the cited work by Vityazev et al. (2018). As well as the expected result that Parenago’s
Discontinuity is a non-local phenomenon, this paper presents totally surprising and possibly very
significant data demonstrating that main-sequence stars accelerate along their galactic
trajectories as they age. This remarkable result, which points to either an engineered or a
conscious galaxy, will hopefully be replicated by future observations.
Criteria 7: The new scientific discipline should begin to influence the wider culture of our
civilization
The concept of Astro-Panpsychism has long-since entered the genre of science fiction in the
cited novel Benford and Eklund (1977). Two more recent science-fiction novels that further
explore this concept, as well as presenting a case for stellar acceleration are authored by Gregory
Benford and Larry Niven. These are Bowl of Heaven, (New York, Tor, 2012) and Shipstar (New
York, Tor, 2014).
In an equally significant recent publication, Panpsychism is a plot element in a successful
techno-thriller. This novel, authored by Julian Gough, is entitled Connect (New York:
Doubleday, 2018).
Elements of Panpsychism have also appeared in other works of prose and poetry. See for
example Alison Hawthorne Deming’s The Edges of the Civilized World: A Journey in Nature
and Culture (New York: Picador, 1999).
Panpsychism clearly satisfies all of the above criteria. So it is hard to argue that it is not
emerging as a scientific discipline. It is clearly possible though, that it might ultimately be
superseded by some other metaphysical principle. For example,Deepak Chopra and Menas
Kafatos argue in You Are The Universe (New York: Harmony, 2017) that it will ultimately be
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replaced by Idealism, in which consciousness is not only present at all universal levels but is
dominant over matter and energy.
Acknowledgements:
I have never been as far from my comfort zone as an applied space scientist specializing in space
propulsion technologies as I have in this and previous considerations of Astro-Panpsychism. There were
times when the challenges of attempting to birth this new scientific discipline were most daunting.
Without the encouragement and inspiration of my wife and partner, artist C Bangs, this task might have
been impossible.
The assistance and enthusiasm of Kelvin Long, the physicist who directs The Interstellar Research Centre
in Gloustershire, UK is also acknowledged. Kelvin, who at the time was Editor of The Journal of the
British Interplanetary Society (JBIS), graciously delivered my paper that became Matloff (2012) at a
2011 symposium at BIS headquarters in London devoted to the work of Olaf Stapledon. In 2019 and early
2020, Kelvin devoted a great deal of effort to the preparation for a workshop devoted to the topic of
consciousness in the universe. Planned for June 2020 and now indefinitely postponed because of the
pandemic, correspondence with other planned participants was instrumental in planning this paper.
During June 2019, C and I visited Rupert Sheldrake in his London home. Discussions with him regarding
techniques for communicating with minded stars and the possible implications of such communication
have been inspiring.
We were also visited in New York by Julian Gough, the author of Connect. It is hoped that this technothriller and other popular publications can successfully communicate the essence of Panpsychism to a
mass audience.
Finally, I would like to acknowledge the assistance of my friend and late mentor Evan Harris Walker.
Although I initially became acquainted with Harris during a calibration on an advanced space-propulsion
concept, my early discussion of quantum consciousness theories owes a great deal to his pioneering work
in that field. Two of his relevant publications are cited here.
Received June 29, 2020; Accepted July 25, 2020
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Deshpande, P. B., et al., Is Meditation the Source of these Micron-sized Particles?
1
Exploration
Is Meditation the Source of these Micron-sized Particles?
Pradeep B. Deshpande*1 Dustin R. Cummins2, Mahendra Sunkara3,
Bhaskar D. Kulkarni4 & Swathi Sunkara2
1
Chemical Engineering (Prof. Emer.), University of Louisville, & Six Sigma & Advanced
Controls, Inc. P.O. Box 22664, Louisville, KY 40252-0664
2
Chemical Engineering, Conn Center for Renewable Energy Research, University of
Louisville, Louisville, KY 40292
3
Chemical Engineering, Conn Center for Renewable Energy Research, University of
Louisville, Louisville, KY 40292
4
Chemical Engineering Division, CSIR-National Chemical Laboratory, Homi J. Bhabha
Road, Pune-411008 (Dr. Kulkarni passed away on 14 January 2019).
Abstract
In a paper not long ago, we presented the analysis of a tiny particle found at the meditation site
of a medical doctor turned yogi in Goa, India, reporting that the micron-sized particle was made
of pure Gold [2]. We presented a theory of resonance to explain how these particles might be
forming if in fact they were the result of meditation and therefore an instance of materialization
of energy/intentions. The yogi’s group subsequently provided us with additional micron-sized
particles, this time of different colors, which have now been analyzed and the results are
summarized in this paper. To synthesize these particles by routine chemical means would require
a sophisticated R & D facility operating under the command of a complex advanced control and
optimization system neither of which exists the reported sites. This allows us to strengthen the
hypothesis that meditation may well be the source of these particles.
Keywords: Meditation, micron-sized particle, resonance, materialization, energy, intention.
1. Introduction
On a recent visit to Pune India in November 2013, the first author was provided several micronsized particles that were found at the meditation sites of a physician turned yogi based in Goa,
India. A team of the followers of the yogi requested the first author if he could have these
particles analyzed upon return to Louisville in December. In the initial batch there were six shiny
micron-sized particles. With the cooperation of the researchers at the Conn Center for renewable
Energy Research, University of Louisville, one of these particles selected at random was
analyzed with a scanning electron microscope and it was found to be pure Gold. An image of the
particle on the SEM computer monitor and the EDX spectrum of the particle are shown in
Figures 1(a) and 1(b). In a paper not long ago we presented the evidence together with a theory
of stochastic resonance to explain how the particles might be forming if in fact they were the
*
Correspondence: Prof. Pradeep B. Deshpande, Six Sigma & advanced Controls, Inc. P.O. Box 22664, Louisville,
KY 40252-0664, http://www.sixsigmaquality.com E-mail: pradeep@sixsigmaquality.com
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Deshpande, P. B., et al., Is Meditation the Source of these Micron-sized Particles?
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result of meditation, i. e., transformation of some form of energy into matter [2]. We suggested
that additional experimentation would be necessary to strengthen the hypothesis. This paper,
provides additional evidence that appears to strengthen the hypothesis.
Figure 1(a). Image of Particle on SEM Monitor
Figure 1(b). The EDX Spectrum of the Particle with Au Lines Marked
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2. New Evidence
We were provided for analysis several micron-sized particles of different color: green, coral, red,
pink, blue, and silver. We randomly selected three colors: green, coral, and red for scrutiny. The
following pieces of equipment were used in the investigation: (1) The SEM FEI Nova 600
NanoLab scanning electron microscope, (2) Carl Zeiss Axio Imager.A2M Optical Microscope,
and (3) Raman Spectrophotometer is a Renishaw Invia Micro Raman system with a 633 nm
HeNe laser. The scanning electron microscope was used to carry out elemental analysis while the
optical microscope obtained a visual image of the particles and also confirmed that we were in
fact looking at the correct particle under the SEM given that the particles are so tiny relative to
the sample holder. The Raman spectrophotometer was used to confirm the elemental analysis
and also by reference to the Raman database what the specific compound the particles were
made of if they contained two or more elements. The results are shown in Figure 2.
(I) Image under Optical Microscope
(II) Image on SEM Monitor
Intensity
G re e n P a rtic le
200
300
400
50 0
600
700
800
900
1000
1100 1 200 1300
1400
1500 1600
1700
1800
R a m a n S h ift ( 1 /c m )
(III) EDX Spectra
(IV) Raman Spectra
Figure 2(a). Green Particle 1
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Deshpande, P. B., et al., Is Meditation the Source of these Micron-sized Particles?
(I) Image under Optical Microscope
4
(II) Image on SEM Monitor
(IV) There is no Raman signal
since particle is metallic.
(III) EDX Spectra
Figure 2(b). Coral Particle 1
(IV) Could see the image on the
SEM monitor for confirmation
but not clearly enough to capture
it on the monitor as the particle
was charging.
(I) Image under Optical Microscope
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Deshpande, P. B., et al., Is Meditation the Source of these Micron-sized Particles?
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Intensity
C o r a l P a r tic le
200
300
400
500
600
700
800
9 00
1000
1100
1 200
130 0
14 00
150 0
1600
1700
1800
R a m a n S h ift ( 1 /c m )
(III) EDX Spectra
(IV) Raman Spectra
Figure 2(c) Coral Particle 2
(I) Image under Optical Microscope
(II) Image on SEM Monitor
Intensity
R e d P a rtic le
2 00
30 0
40 0
50 0
600
70 0
800
900
1 0 00 1 10 0 1 20 0 13 0 0 1 40 0 15 0 0 1 6 0 0 17 0 0 1 8 0 0
R a m a n S h ift (1 /cm )
(III) EDX Spectra
(IV) Raman Spectra
Figure 2(d) Red Particle
Figure 2. Analysis of Green, Coral, and Red particles
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On the basis of analysis, the four particles are: (1) Green Particle – (Cr, Fe) SiO2, (2) Coral
Particle 1 – Copper, (3) Coral Particle 2 – CRxFeCl6, and (4) Red Particle - CrAl2O4. Notice the
unusual elemental composition, hexagonal shape, and size of the particles.
Although unusual as they may appear, the formation of such and similar such entities occur
under natural conditions in nature all the time. Take the example of a farmer who after preparing
the ground, sows the seeds and nurture the growth of a plant by ensuring proper conditions such
as water feed, nutrients, fertilizers, pesticides etc. (external factors). The seed already has the
knowledge of the tree contained in it and the internal intelligent mechanisms (internal factors)
regulates the growth in an almost automatic way. Another example, the rice plantation where the
seeds grow into a plant creating the stem, the leaves, the branches and sub-branches, the flowers
and the fruits (grains) in an regulated fashion. The grains have a protective cover formed in a
layer-by-layer fashion which on maturation becomes the rice-husk. A typical analysis of this
rice-husk composition when fully combusted is shown in Table 1A and B along with
composition of a typical biomass (in this case bagasse) when fully combusted.
Table1A. Proximate analysis of rice husk and baggasse
Rice husk
Baggasse
Moisture
1.8%
7.30
Volatile matter
5.89%
19.14
Ash
89.87%
40.46
Fixed carbon
2.44%
33.10
Table 1B. Elemental composition of combusted rice husk and baggasse
Compound Rice husk
ash
percentage
Na2O
0.194
MgO
0.505
Al2O3
4.083
SiO2
81.788
P2O5
0.784
SO3
0.912
K2O
1.871
CaO
1.270
TiO2
0.408
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Baggasse
Percentage
Compound
0.2
0.86
1.10
36.14
2.24
1.61
2.32
3.10
0.22
Cr2O3
MnO
Fe2O3
NiO
CuO
ZnO
Rb2O
SrO
Y2O3
ZrO2
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Rice husk
ash
Percentage
0.028
0.125
1.274
0.010
0.008
0.007
0.003
0.008
0.001
0.005
Baggasse
Percentage
0.04
0.15
1.62
0.01
0.02
0.07
0.002
0.01
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Deshpande, P. B., et al., Is Meditation the Source of these Micron-sized Particles?
7
It can be seen from the table that the composition of the external coverings of the bio-species is
largely inorganic in nature although their volatile matter and fixed carbon content can vary over
a certain range. The four particles analyzed in this work and found at the meditation site have
similar composition and can be subsumed to be a subset of the composition given in the table.
The inference we wish to draw is that these particles are also formed in as simple and natural
way as the coverings of the bio-species. If this is so, then every one of us must be emitting these
particles and indeed this must be so.
However, the numbers are small, infrequent, easily removed in the wiping and washing of the
daily routine that they go unnoticed. The practice of meditation intensifies the process of
formation and secretion of these particles to a level where we begin to notice them. The process
of excretion or shredding of the cover results in rejuvenation and is clearly the purpose for such
occurrences. This is in line with the knowledge available from life-sciences that tell us that
every cell of our body is replaced (rejuvenated) in a periodic manner and on body demand.
The above explanation for the formation of particles and the purpose of their formation while
may be true in the case of an individual practicing intense meditation, it alone cannot be the case
for more evolved persons – whose main objective, besides themselves, is to uplift the society
around them. In their cases, the particles not only appear on their own body and neighborhood
but also on several disciples located far and near and at different times. This is indeed intriguing
and defy rational explanation. We put together a possible reasoning for how and why this
happens in the next section.
3. Theory of Stochastic Resonance
By now, prestigious publications have carried full-length papers on meditation [1, 5, 8, 9, 10,
12]. But what the authors have proposed is broader hypothesis for the consideration of the
scientific community. If in fact these particles are an instance of materialization of intentions as
the referenced yogi is convinced that they are, then this must also be an instance of
transformation of energy into matter. References to materialization of intentions have been made
by Indian yogic circles for millennia. Scientists suggest that some 73% of the universe is
composed of some form of energy, the rest being observable universe (4%) and dark matter
(23%). So clearly, there is abundant energy in the universe. According to Einstein’s famous
equation E = mc2, energy and matter are transformable from one form to the other. Examples of
transformation of mass into energy are abundant but those of transformation of energy into mass
are not. Nonstop long-distance flights of migratory birds and the example of the meditating yogi
whom the first author personally knows for three weeks with a food intake of 2 glasses of milk
(roughly equal to 400 calories) without loss of weight [2] appear to offer clues that living
systems may have the capacity to harness some of this energy.
Desire and intention generally have a purpose that is often utilitarian in nature. In the case of
individuals who have accomplished a higher state of consciousness, there are no desires or
intentions nor any need for materialization. In such cases the desires or intentions are therefore
not individual, but rather a part of a more holistic cosmic purpose. This is the plausible
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explanation in the case when the particles were first discovered around the referenced yogi after
his meditation practice in March 2012 (The gold particle).
It is possible that when an individual who has achieved a very high level of internal excellence
delves deep into meditation, energy drawn from the five principal elements is created that flows
through the body and emanates as a bio-energy field (an aura around an individual [11]) which
gradually dissolves and becomes a part of the cosmic energy that exists round and around. Part
of this energy condenses in the form of tiny particles. These ideas are depicted in Figure 3.
Korotkov and associates have done considerable work on Gas Discharge Visualization
methodology to capture the bio-energy of living subjects and nature (see, e.g., [7]).
A possible qualitative explanation for why different particles are produced with different
individuals can be attempted as follows. Imagine a set of concentric rings representing different
levels of consciousness around a center point that represents the highest level of consciousness.
Such a person occupies the center. The level of consciousness progressively diminishes as we
move outwards from the center. Individuals with different levels of consciousness occupy these
rings in accordance with their levels but remain connected to the center as part of the network.
The coupling strength of the entities on the rings and the center is decided by the level of
consciousness, process, belief, faith, compassion, willingness to surrender, etc. of the receiver
and can be varying with time. Figure 3 illustrates the concept.
Figure 3. Concentric circles showing levels of consciousness and coupling of master and local
sub-systems
We now invoke two known results in nonlinear systems dynamics to further explain the behavior
of such coupled systems. One of the results refers to the phenomenon of resonance while the
other is concerned with synchronization of such systems. It is known that when two systems
operating at their natural frequencies are modulated (coupled) by a third (preferably, random)
signal containing a consortium of several frequencies they can begin to resonate with each other.
The center in this case exerts itself on the entity on the outward ring and the
two together resonate. The system at highest level of consciousness thus helps the one at a lower
level to achieve and march towards internal excellence. The purpose and the intention of the
system at the center is thus to help achieve higher levels of consciousness for other systems in its
environment for a better living.
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9
The other result is equally important. It is known that the main system (master, in this case the
center) and its local sub-system (slave, the entity on the surrounding ring) can synchronize with
each other provided Lyapunov exponent (the index measuring its approach to some steady state)
of the local sub-system is negative. Clearly those individuals who satisfy this constraint can
synchronize with the higher level of existence or consciousness. In either of the two situations,
viz., resonance or synchronization, the entity at lower levels of consciousness is promoted to
achieve higher levels of consciousness and the cosmic intention of the center is served. But how
does it explain the formation of different types of particles presented in this paper? We may
advocate the following explanation to answer this question.
The center system when in resonance or state of synchronization with a system on the ring in the
network provides a bout of energy with a view to bring up its level. The system at the lower end,
however, may not be biologically adapt or tuned to receive all this energy. It therefore processes
only a part of this energy rejecting or emitting the excess it cannot harness. The energy rejected
varies from one ring to another. The entity on the farthest rings has lower level of consciousness
and can harness relatively smaller levels of energy it receives and therefore the excess energy is
higher for entities on this ring. Consequently, larger quantum of energy is thrown out. The excess
energy condenses as particles. It may therefore be surmised that different particles are formed for
entities on different rings in accordance with the observations reported by the yogi. They also
report that these different particles are formed in higher levels of existence and can be different
in accordance with the layer in which they are formed.
There are several well-known examples of stochastic resonance/synchronization. One among
them is that of a group of marching soldiers and why they are instructed to march out of order
when approaching a bridge. Stochastic resonance/synchronization may also explain how one
twin knows the feelings of the other far away, healing in the presence of a Master, etc., and may
have a bearing on the various manifestations of quantum entanglement.
These particles are sufficiently small, but it would be in error to classify them as nano- or the
Higgs-Boson God particles. It is observed that these particles are often noble metal particles with
stable electronic configuration. Having connected to the cosmic energy field, these particles
appear anywhere (toothbrush, comb, in the hair, on or under the carpet etc.) at or near and even
at great distances especially in and around the followers connected to this individual of a high
level of consciousness.
4. Discussions & Conclusions
We have presented the analysis of several particles found at the meditation sites of a yogi and his
followers. We do not believe that the source of these particle is extraterrestrial of exo-solar
unlike the discovery reported by [4]. We have presented a theory of stochastic resonance as a
plausible explanation of the formation of these particles. Deliberate synthesis of these particles
by usual chemical means would appear to be exceedingly difficult as that will require a
sophisticated manufacturing and R & D facility operating under the command of a complex six
sigma and advanced control/optimization control strategy nonexistent at the referenced sites.
Yogis have asserted for millennia that meditation raises our S component and makes us more
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Deshpande, P. B., et al., Is Meditation the Source of these Micron-sized Particles?
10
compassionate for the wellbeing ourselves and others [6], not just improve health. If meditation
is this powerful as the results here appear to indicate, then raising our S components and making
us more compassionate might be a trivial task and this may well be the real significance of this
work. At the very least the findings are interesting and they could be paradigm shifting.
Received January 30, 2022; Accepted March 3, 2022
References
[1]
Bhasin, Manoj K., et al., Relaxation Response Induces Temporal Trasncriptome Changes in Energy
Metabolism, Insulin Secretion, and Inflammatory Pathways, PLOS One, 8, 5, May 2013. pp. 1 –
13.
[2]
Deshpande, P. B. Sunkara M., and Kulkarni, B. D., Power of Meditation: Materialization of
Energy/Intentions, Journal of Consciousness Exploration and Research, 4(4): pp. 446-457, April
2013.
[3]
DiSalvo, D., Breathing and Your Brain: Five Reasons to Grab The Controls, Forbes, May 14,
2013.
[4]
Hanecour, Pierre, et al., First Laboratory Observation Silica Grains from Core Collapse
Supernovae, Astrophysical Journal Letters, May 1, 2013.
[5]
Hoffman, Jan, How Meditation Might Boost Your Test Scores, New York Times, April 3, 2013.
[6]
Hu, Huping and Wu, Maoxin, Pradeep B. Deshpande’s message for World Transformation, 2012
Daily, September 30, 2012 (http://2012daily.com/?q=node/17).
[7]
Korotkov, K., Aura and Consciousness – New Stage of Scientific Understanding, Russian Ministry
of Culture, 1998. 270 p. ISBN 5-8334-0330-8.
[8]
Lutz, Antoine, et al., Long-Term Meditators self-induce high amplitude Gamma-Wave Synchrony
during Mental Practice, Proc. Nat. Acad. Sciences, Nov. 16, 2004.
[9]
Orme-Johnson, David W., et al., the Effects of the Maharishi Technology of the United Field,
Journal of Conflict Resolution, 32, 4, 1988.
[10] Paturel, Amy, Meditation as Medicine, NeurologyNow, August/September 2012.
[11] Pehlek, J. O., Kyler, H. J., Faust, D. L., Image Modulation in Corona Discharge Photography,
Science, 194, 4262, 1976. 263 – 270.
[12] Wallace, R. K., Physiological Effects of Transcendental Meditation, Science, Vol. 167, No. 3926,
1970.
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Hiller, J. H., Space, Time, & Consciousness (Part 1): Introduction, Overview & Acknowledgments
518
Article
Space, Time, & Consciousness (Part 1):
Introduction, Overview & Acknowledgments
Jack H. Hiller*
ABSTRACT
In this series of articles, I explore near death experience (“NDE”) and present a self-consistent
and coherent body of theory about the nature of the world. In reading over the many NDE
accounts for background information relevant to theory construction, I eventually realized that I
was discovering a dimension of human existence of common human interest far higher than
topics generated by conventional philosophy, physics and psychology. The experience reported
about after a soul leaves the body is transcendent over life on Earth with its physical pleasures
and pains, ego oriented successes and failures, joys from friendships formed, and heart crushing
loss of friends and family to permanent death. Instead of the common belief that life arrives here
as a transient affair by birth from out of a void, followed by a death forever ending such a
random flicker, the picture formed from the NDE/OBE was dramatically different. Individual life
only "appears" to be ephemeral. In reality, the soul has been formed within a timeless domain to
live for eternity, with its Earth lives providing for adventures into a dangerous “game” ended by
death, but providing for excitement, fun, and the sharing of love along the way.
Keywords: Near death experience, NDE, out of body experience, OBE, space, time,
consciousness, creation, frozen time.
Introduction
Having achieved a second career retirement, and having bought my final retirement home, my
only serious concern in retirement was selling my prior work home before retirement funds ran
dry from paying mortgages and maintenance on two houses. One evening, I casually watched a
TV program on the Science Discovery Channel about the nature of Creation that was led by
Stephen Hawking. He contended that Creation of the world could adequately be explained by
quantum mechanics. The singularity hypothesized to have exploded as the Big Bang was simply
stated to have been a spontaneous eruption triggered in accordance with the theory of quantum
mechanics; nothing was actually created by the Big Bang, because it was reasonable to suppose
that equal amounts of positive and negative energy had erupted, with the negative somehow
moving away, or with the energies having been created with a slight imbalance, so that they
cancelled each other out, with some positive energy left over to form our world. No need here to
attribute creation to any supernatural force, such as religions posit for God.
*Correspondence: Jack H. Hiller, PhD, JD, Independent Researcher, USA. E-mail: jh7138@gmail.com
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Hiller, J. H., Space, Time, & Consciousness (Part 1): Introduction, Overview & Acknowledgments
519
Not myself practicing in any religious faith, the slighting to God was not offensive, but the array
of supposed facts about equal amounts of energy having been created, or a slight imbalance in
favor of positive energy, or the existence of the hypothesized singularity, and its explosion being
triggered by the laws of quantum mechanics, supposing there were any laws in effect when there
was no energy or materiality, struck me as a string of inconsistent hypotheses, and as highly
speculative, at best. Where did the singularity come from, or anything else? What could have
triggered the formation and explosion of any singularity? While it’s reasonable to speculate that
equal, or nearly equal, amounts of positive and negative energies could have been created, citing
quantum mechanics as the reason for the singularity’s explosion was more of an arm waving
explanation than any true explanation; in the legal profession, such an assertion would be
scorned as conclusory - a conclusion lacking adequate supporting evidence. Physicists hope
eventually to gather sufficient reliable facts to construct a feasible explanation, a theory, for how
the world came into existence - but an arm wave does not work. So, for a few days I grumbled to
myself about Hawking’s inadequate theory, and most especially wondered how Creation might
validly be explained.
When faced with any complex problem, it’s always helpful to write down the issues, facts, and
explanatory guesses, so I started to write. While writing, I was reminded of strange reports about
a non-material existence, a continuation of consciousness even while the brain was measured to
have stopped functioning, in a few books on the Near Death Experience (NDE), such as P.M.H.
Atwater’s Beyond the Light, Raymond Moody’s Life After Life, and Ken Ring’s Heading
toward Omega. If there were an alternate reality that was being described, it was theoretically
possible that the NDE reports might contain explanations for Creation, or useful hints. I found
the Near Death Experience Research Foundation web site established by Jeffrey and Jody Long
(NDERF), and read there over 4000 first hand NDE reports, along with responses to a
comprehensive questionnaire about their NDE. In the course of reading the NDE reports, it
struck me that Descartes’ theory of mind-body dualism, and Plato’s theories of knowledge and
forms might be insightful, whereas before as an undergraduate student these theories seemed
farfetched. It was at that point that I started to write in earnest, although yet remaining a
presumptive materialist.
As I continued to study the NDE with its Out of Body Experience (OBE) reports, I saw a
relationship between such experience with elements of Relativity Theory and quantum
mechanics, so I focused on examining their mutual relationships. The first paper written was
Frozen Time Theory (FTT). An early draft of FTT benefitted from helpful comments by Pim
van Lommel who has published one of the most comprehensive reviews of the NDE research
literature, Consciousness Beyond Life, which also included a discussion of possible theoretical
links to modern physics. After finishing the FTT paper, I thought I was done. However,
additional thoughts were percolating about the nature of reality that I had not directly addressed,
so I started writing about my new discoveries in a second paper, Universal Consciousness: A
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Tripartite Domain Theory. Again, I thought the work was done after finishing it, but I continued
to see the need to delve even deeper. With no particular plan, a series of related papers followed
over the next few years.
In reading over the many NDE accounts for background information relevant to theory
construction, I eventually realized that I was discovering a dimension of human existence of
common human interest far higher than topics generated by conventional philosophy, physics
and psychology. The experience reported about after a soul leaves the body is transcendent over
life on Earth with its physical pleasures and pains, ego oriented successes and failures, joys from
friendships formed, and heart crushing loss of friends and family to permanent death. Instead of
the common belief that life arrives here as a transient affair by birth from out of a void, followed
by a death forever ending such a random flicker, the picture formed from the NDE/OBE was
dramatically different. Individual life only "appears" to be ephemeral. In reality, the soul has
been formed within a timeless domain to live for eternity, with its Earth lives providing for
adventures into a dangerous “game” ended by death, but providing for excitement, fun, and the
sharing of love along the way.
One day while looking across the collection of papers I had written around the NDE topic, I
realized a self-consistent and coherent body of theory about the nature of the world had evolved,
as had my understanding of life, so I was no longer a materialist. All of these papers are collected
in this monograph, along with a “playful” Epilogue.
Overview
Article 2. Frozen Time Theory (FTT)
Frozen Time Theory (FTT) reports discovery of a reliable, but surprising, feature of the Out of
Body Experience (OBE) reports associated with traumatic Near Death Experiences (NDE). At
the instant of a severe trauma, such as a heart attack or violent vehicle collision, the suffering
individuals report being puzzled about what has happened, as they are suddenly viewing their
environment from a different perspective. Typically, they are now located above their body, so
that they no longer see through their eyes, but see from a different location. There was no
apparent transition in consciousness or conscious perception to cue separation of consciousness
from their body leading to their confusion over what had just happened. The lack of any
distinctive transition for consciousness and conscious perception from the normal bodily state to
consciousness and conscious perception during the OBE strongly implies that it is not the brain
itself that is generating conscious experience. They also then start to notice that the nature of
their sight has changed, as they can see through objects, can focus to the atomic level or out to
the cosmos, and see in 360 degrees. Individuals who have been born blind also report
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experiencing this remarkable manner of perception. Realization develops that they have been
effectively knocked dead, but still remain conscious.
A striking feature of OBE perception is that all entities observed exhibit consciousness, not only
relatives and friends who have passed, and angels, but rocks, grass, flowers, trees, animals –
even water. This experience is consistent with the ancient philosophy of panpsychism.
One of the great mysteries remaining for the psychology, neurology, and philosophy of
perception is termed the issue of qualia, i.e., how can we perceive different qualities such as
vision with different colors, sounds, and fragrances, but do so without the brain exhibiting
differential structures for processing information after the senses have transduced energies to
electrochemical energies in neurons. In the frontal lobes, where we believe perception is present,
no differential structures or processes are found there corresponding to the differential qualities
of perception. The FTT hypothesizes that the consciousness experienced during the OBE exists
in a field or domain of consciousness in which individual entities share their existence without
boundaries. Thus, FTT hypothesizes that perception during normal perception for the body and
brain occurs not in the brain itself, but in the consciousness (soul) that had been attached to the
normal body. The differential qualities of perception are dependent on how the field of
consciousness functions, not on the brain producing the qualities of perception we experience.
One of the most interesting features of the OBE is the feeling that time no longer runs, and
during the OBE it is reported that they have simultaneously viewed past scenes, their current
environment, and future scenes. In addition, all entities viewed, including their own “body,”
glow with the appearance of being made of light. The FTT relates the absence of time running,
i.e., frozen time, with the formulation of Special Relativity that photons do not experience time.
Thus, FTT hypothesizes that time during the OBE translates to a fourth spatial dimension, such
that the past, present, and future correspond to differing locations in the domain of
consciousness.
Article 3. Universal Consciousness Underlies All of Reality - A Tripartite Domain Theory
In the FTT, I had accepted from the NDE reports that there existed two realities, our normal
domain of reality associated with the paradigm of materialism, and an alternative domain of
experience characterized as a field of consciousness in which all entities experienced appeared to
be made of light, and time did not run.
An obvious question was about how these two domains might be related. Were they causally
independent of each other, even if somehow correlated across time, or might they even be
causally linked? Based on the NDE reports and the curious phenomenon of quantum
entanglement, what Einstein spoofed about as “spooky action at a distance”, I inferred that our
material reality was connected to the domain of consciousness. The NDE reports reliably stated
that all thought of movement was capable of instantaneity, so if entangled particles existed in the
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domain of consciousness as well as the material domain, their instant communication would be
accounted for.
Another question was about the possibility for a third domain. Was there anything that might
have preceded the material and consciousness domains? The hypothesis that seemed best was
that there initially existed a domain of pure consciousness in which nothing else existed, not
light, not space, not time. This initial domain might be termed, in common with most religions,
as God. This speculation is in fact consistent with the Old Testament according to which all that
existed at first was God alone. God’s first act of creation was light. After light He created the
firmament, or material world. Thus, a tripartite domain theory was formed that is consistent with
NDE reporting and The OT. The relationships among the three domains are shown by the Venn
diagram below. God is represented as Domain 1; the world of consciousness which includes light
is the 2nd Domain; and the physical world we occupy is Domain 3.
1st
2nd
3rd
3rd
Set theoretic representation of the three
hypothesized domains
Article 4. Possible Enablers and Barriers to Dimensional Perception
The FTT and Tripartite domain papers acknowledge that our ordinary perception in our material
domain separates time as an abstraction with space having three extended spatial dimensions.
But in the second domain, as defined to be filled with consciousness and entities made of light, it
was hypothesized that time also exists as an extended spatial dimension, so that different times in
the material domain would correspond to different locations—without time running. This paper
analyzes why common sense regards time in the material domain to have a different character
than space. The analysis keys off of Abbott’s clever Flatland satire. It is argued that, while
common sense regards space as perceptible, but time is regarded as an imperceptible abstract
concept only, when time is termed “duration,” perception of time and space are equally abstract,
and equally perceptible for the objects of sense-perception in the material domain.
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Article 5. Analysis of the Differential Perception of Time in the Second and Third Domains
This paper analyzes how perception of time progression (i.e., time is perceived to run) occurs in
the material 3rd Domain, but does not occur in the 2nd Domain of consciousness to which the 3rd
Domain is connected. The argument is made that perception of time depends on the domain
being experienced.
Article 6. Definitions of Now
In philosophy and psychology, some argue that only now exists, the past has forever gone, and
the future is yet to be. Given the importance of “now,” alternative definitions are presented and
discussed.
Article 7. An Absolute Limitation to the Rational Analysis of Experience, Consciousness, and
World Origin: the Principle of Interior Unknowability
After working for approximately a decade to produce a defensible theory for how the world
came to be, I realized that I had made zero progress. I questioned why that effort was entirely
futile, and came to an interesting conclusion—the question itself implied an observational
framework external to a Creation event, but scientists could never in principle locate externally
as “privileged observers” to be able to see what happened. Thus, a new postulate for the
metaphysics of creation was defined. This postulate was termed the Principle of Interior
Unknowability (PIU). It was argued that the PIU stands on two legs of support. The first leg is
an analogy posed about fishes born in a fish tank having no opportunity ever to locate outside of
their tank. From their interior location in the tank, they (or scientists in the material world) would
never be able to learn where it came from or how it was made; the same argument applies if the
world were instead conceptualized to be infinite with no boundaries. The second leg is a
conjectured analogy with Godel’s Theorem of Undecidability, developed while he was working
on his Incompleteness Theorems. This leg of the argument for the PIU reasons that postulates,
axioms or assumptions based on internal observations of our world, applied to mathematically
model its creation, are susceptible to creating a paradox (historically known as the Liars
Paradox) by self-reference. To escape the potential for producing a valueless or misleading
paradox, information would have to be gathered external to a system to be used for modeling its
creation. Nevertheless, as pointed out by my friend Neil Siegel, a great deal of scientifically valid
and useful information may indeed be acquired within the material world, despite the barrier to
knowledge acquisition about creation postulated by the PIU.
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Article 8. Review of Carlo Rovelli’s Book: The Order of Time
Loop quantum gravity physicist Carlo Rovelli published an entertaining book that explained his
preference for denying the utility of a time variable in physics, and even in psychology. This
book review identifies points of agreement, but notably points of disagreement.
Article 9. A Postulate Set Governing Existential Knowledge
In an earlier Article, 7., the Principle of Interior Unknowability (PIU) was defined as a postulate
which excluded any possibility for scientists to observe the conditions of the origin of the world,
or to be able to infer from information collected within our material world how the world was
constructed with any certainty, or “where it might have come from.” In this Article, three
additional Postulates are defined. One of these concerns the nature of existential reality, and
states there are two domains for knowledge exploration: 1. the material domain in which we
normally perceive the world, and 2. the domain of consciousness that underlies consciousness
and conscious perception that may become available during the NDE/OBE or by meditation.
This is the Postulate Governing Existence (PGE). The PGE defines the consciousness domain as
fundamental. The third postulate is the Postulate Governing Knowledge (PGK) which defines
knowledge to be incorporated in consciousness. As was also explained in Article 2.on Universal
Consciousness, all individual entities possess consciousness, and “knowledge” is information
incorporated into their consciousness. The fourth postulate affirms Descartes’ Mind-Body
Dualism that mind and brain ordinarily communicate, despite being different in kind. This is the
Postulate for Mind-Body Dualism (PMBD).The set of four postulates governs the nature of
Existential Knowledge (EK). With the EK as a set theoretic foundation, the potential for extrasensory phenomena is explainable. We may summarize that the nature of any and all knowledge
about existence, EK, is a function of PIU, PGE, PGK, and PMBD.
Article 10. What is Consciousness?
A brief historical review of the concept of consciousness is provided from the perspectives of
philosophy, psychology, and neurology. The weaknesses in traditional analyses of the nature of
consciousness are explained, followed by a synthesis of consciousness (with mind and soul)
based on the previous eight Articles. The 2nd Domain of consciousness is recognized as the
foundation for how the 3rd Domain of materialism functions. It was concluded that the reality of
what consciousness is and how it is known denies any useful ability to define it by reference to
objectively observable experience, so it must be regarded as an indefinable, primitive term.
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Article 11. A Theory of Knowledge: The Transcendental and the Mundane
Knowledge is analyzed to fit two main classifications: 1) the Transcendental idealized forms as
described by Plato, and 2) the mundane experiences generated by the body/brain living in the
material world. Knowledge of each of the two types is examined for how it is acquired (from the
2nd Domain) or learned by sense-perception experienced in the 3rd Domain. Knowledge learned
through life in the 3rd Domain is unreliable because of imperfections in our sense-perception
mechanisms, and because memory storage and retrieval are prone to intervening learning
distortions and aging processes. By contrast, knowledge acquired directly from or while in the
2nd Domain is perfectly accurate and not subjected to any aging process because time does not
run in the 2nd Domain.
Conclusions
Overall, the text argues that Creation and "consciousness" fundamentally exist beyond the
boundaries of conventionally acquirable scientific knowledge. The specific arguments employed
made use of analogy and the Liar's Paradox to support an out-of-bounds conclusion defined by
the Principle of Interior Unknowability (PIU), and appear to be novel for the metaphysics
literature. The NDE reports demonstrate a high degree of perceptual consistency for the OBE
experience, such as time no longer perceived as running, all entities perceived to be made of
light, and actions driven by thought perceived as instantaneous; all of these perceptions were
found to be consistent with Relativity Theory and quantum mechanics. A theoretical foundation
was laid for the reality of paranormal phenomena. It was found from the review of over 4000
NDE reports available on the NDERF and IANDS’ web sites that the NDEs were dominated by
experiencing the light and love of a God Creator, even for those who were agnostic or atheist
before their NDE. Based on these NDE reports and the neo-Platonic concept of Transcendental
knowledge having been provided to the human conscience, a proposed code of conduct was
included in the Annex. The quest to develop knowledge about Creation and consciousness ends
in a conclusion that, by our being immersed in them, they are not ever directly observable by us
as material beings. However, conventional science is plagued by those who either seek to deny
their existence, or instead seek to scientifically describe and explain them, whereas the PIU
shows that both of such opposing perspectives are wrong.
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Acknowledgements:
Friends and former work associates contributed with encouragement, criticism, and suggestions for
clarifying the novel concepts developed — concepts that even surprised me as their author. Before I had
begun writing this book after finishing my career as an applied scientist, having worked as a bench level
scientist and Senior Executive for the Dept. of Army, and then as a chief scientist for a division of the
Northrop Grumman Corporation, I would not have been caught dead talking or writing about the nature of
space, or time, or consciousness.
First, I must thank Glenn Roberts who kept making sure I did not stray from or offend the spirit of
scripture in the Old and New Testaments with any explicit contradictions, although I did manage to skirt
the edges a few times by including ideas not directly mentioned in scripture. I must also thank my former
colleague from the Army Research Institute (ARI) Dr. Hal Ozkaptan who found no contradiction with
Islamic principles. My old friend and colleague from ARI, Dr. Robert Seidel, made many productive
suggestions for improvement. My former boss, two levels over my pay grade, Dr. Neil Siegel, aided with
pointed comments aiming for precision, and is pointedly quoted. Dr. Lee Whitt provided continual
challenges to what I was arguing that invariably served to clarify my thought and writing, and so has
earned great appreciation. My good neighbor Dr. John Kiley introduced me to Carlo Rovelli’s interesting
book on time, and never expressly objected to what I wrote.
Serious work does not get done without loving support, and I have indeed had two sources, my wife
Rebecca, still beautiful as we approach 50 years together, and my pal Shakespeare, an African Gray
parrot who made sure by his squawks and taunts over the past dozen years that I stayed grounded.
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Bibliography
Atwater, P. Beyond the Light. New York: Carol Publishing Group, 1994.
Lommel, van P. Consciousness Beyond Life. New York: HarperCollins, 2007.
Long, Jeffrey and Jody. The Near Death Experience website (https://www.nderf.org/ ).
Moody, Raymond. Life after Life. San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco, 1975.
Ring, K. Heading Toward Omega: In Search of the Meaning of the Near-Death Experience. New York:
Harper Perennial, 1986.
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Exploration
Mind & the Expressions of Mind
Holly M. Pollard-Wright*
Abstract
This article presents a theory of mind and the expressions of mind by way of an explanation of
how our universe and ‘consciousness ’came about but it does so in a non-dogmatic way. It represents science as a melding and correlation of philosophies from a multitude of disciplines with a
logical framework whereby terminology may be shared with other theories, although meanings
may differ. Accordingly, attributes from theories have been used which have symbolic meaning
and include energy, matter, space and structure. These represent expressions of mind according
to this theory and thus are phenomenological representations. Terms are defined throughout the
text and illustrations are provided which may serve to further clarify concepts.
Keywords: Mind, consciousness, energy, matter, dark, normal.
Introduction
Pure awareness, pure mental, and mental images represent three fundamental expressions of
mind and thus as states of mind. Accordingly, the relationship between them may be understood
in the relationships which bring them together and will be discussed going forward by way of the
phenomena that represent these fundamental expressions of mind: Dark energy representing the
pure awareness state will be denoted dark energy/pas; focal points of dark matter (FPDMs) representing the pure mental state will be denoted FPDMs/pms; and normal matter representing the
mental images state will be denoted normal matter/mis. Mind without beginning or end can express itself. In doing so three fundamental realities are manifested which will be discussed in the
text: Inconceivable reality, unobservable reality and observable reality (see Figure 1):
*
Correspondence author: Holly M. Pollard-Wright, Independent Researcher. E-mail: holly.pollard-wright@wildridevet.org
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Figure 1
1A. Mind may be simply ‘inconceivable’ represented by isotropic space and can express itself.
1B. Mind may express itself as pure awareness represented by dark energy, but where normal
energy representing mental images is present but not expressed. Accordingly as two noninteracting energies (i.e., dark energy and normal energy) in a structured relationship, the
nature of mind manifests as ‘unobservable reality’ and a macrocosm.
1C. Mind may express itself as pure awareness and mental images with the potential for transformation represented by dark energy and normal energy respectively.
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Therefore as two interacting energies (i.e., dark energy and normal energy) in a structured relationship, mind, in addition to pure awareness and mental images, expresses itself as pure mental
represented by focal points of dark matter (FPDMs). Accordingly as three entities (i.e., dark energy, FPDMs and normal matter) the nature of mind manifests as ‘observable reality,’ in a macrocosm, a microcosm and intelligence. In the macrocosm where the cause is substantial, unconscious intelligence emerges whereby the cause and effect communicates the nature of mind in a
similar way. This is represented by FPDMs/pms with the intelligence of primordial consciousness emerging from the universe’s dark energy/pas. In the microcosm where the cause is a cooperative condition, conscious intelligence emerges whereby the cause and effect communicates
the nature of mind in ways which may be quite dissimilar. This is represented by embodied
FPDMs/pms with primordial consciousness interacting with normal matter/mis with the intelligence of conscious events and by way of their relationship conscious intelligence emerges (i.e.,
‘consciousness’).
Accordingly the ‘dimensions of unconscious intelligence’ (i.e., ‘dimensions of primordial consciousness’) of FPDMs/pms and normal matter/mis with the intelligence of conscious events are
connected. They are connected by relationship whereby particular events act as stimuli termed
Feelings of Knowing (FOKs) (discussed in the text), the nature of mind is spontaneously communicated as conscious intelligence (i.e., ‘consciousness’)(1). Therefore conscious intelligence
‘consciousness’ includes subjective experience, but always in relation to the close analogues
‘primordial conscious dimensions’ and variation in the intelligence of conscious events. In this
way, reality and the expressions of mind are synonymous.
This theory may thereby represent a useful tool for explaining how mind with its three states
functions, arranged in what may be a coherent logical scheme of cause and effect which may occur during historic events:
• ‘Inconceivable’ reality prior to the formation of the macrocosm
Mind, inconceivable and represented by isotropic space with properties that were uniform
thus had features which would be impossible to measure. Accordingly isotopic space represented a certain continuity of mind and due to its immeasurable potential for transformation,
expressed itself (see image 1A).
• ‘Unobservable’ reality and formation of the macrocosm prior to the Big Bang(s)
Mind was not ‘created’ as if it came into existence, exists, and will cease to exist. Mind with
infinite potential and in an essential way, expressed itself as a distinct state, pure awareness
and an indistinct state, mental images. Accordingly isotropic space as a single fundamental
entity representing mind manifested a macrocosm with dark energy as a homogeneous expanse representing the pas and normal energy representing mis. Dark energy/pas was a much
larger mass density as compared to normal energy/mis (2). Therefore what came into existence was transformation whereby the former is an extension of the latter (see image 1B)
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Pure awareness as a state of mind lacks a discernible pattern and thus cannot be mentally
grasped as data. Accordingly the pas may be characterized as having an ‘illuminate’ nature
beyond all concepts of existence and non-existence, subject/object reference, and a sense of
an independently existing ‘local’ self. Dark energy representing the pas is an unknown influence causing the rate of expansion of the universe to increase and time in the macrocosm to be
a homogeneous measurement that fills the whole of space-time.
• ‘Observable’ reality, the Big Bang(s), the formation of the microcosm and intelligence
The nature of mind manifests as ‘observable reality’ in a macrocosm, microcosm and intelligence due to mind having expressed itself as three fundamental states (i.e., pas, pms, mis).
Accordingly these states can communicate the nature of mind uniquely but only due to their
relationship with each other, or mind itself and where particular movement exists between the
three states as action, reaction, cause and effect. Mind with its three states and the manner by
which they currently function will be the focus of the remainder of this article and by way of
the historic events: ‘Observable’ reality, the Big Bang(s), the formation of the microcosm and
intelligence.
Relationships that began with the Big Bang(s)
The Big Bang(s) may represent the start of this cycle which is one of an infinite number of cycles
of interactions. (3). Accordingly in the macrocosm, dark energy/pas is transformed into compacted multi-dimensional space by way of filaments of vibrating dark energy (i.e., open strings
and closed strings)(4). This was due to it being a much larger mass density than normal energy/mis and the possibility that normal energy/mis would have been ‘swallowed up ’rather than
engaging in relationship with dark energy/pas. Therefore dark energy/pas morphed and manifested perfect geometric shapes of vibrating strings of dark energy circles emerging as
FPDMs/pms. A circle of dark energy/pas demarcated by vibrating dark energy strings (i.e., open,
closed) is a membrane of compacted multi-dimensional space termed a C-brane (5) (see image
1C). Accordingly a C-brane is an ‘object’ which generalizes the conception of a round twodimensional shape to the higher dimensions of dark energy/pas. It serves as a ‘storehouse ’for
strings (i.e., open, closed) which are not destroyed, but rather are converted from open to closed
or closed to open (6).
Two types of strings (i.e., open, closed) as vibrating dark energy/pas when in a circle create a Cbrane. This creates limits, consequence and duality as relates to the transformative properties of
the universe’s dark energy/pas and compacted multi-dimensional space (i.e., C-brane). Accordingly FPDMs/pms represent a mechanism by which the non-local gravitational field of dark energy/pas in the macrocosm becomes local (7). The emergence of FPDMs/pms due to particular
action by dark energy/pas as the morphing of vibrating strings (i.e., open and closed) brings
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about a change in universal local properties. This as a consequence causes the transfer of dark
energy/pas (8). Therefore a FPDM/pms is increased by way of an amount of concentrated dark
energy/pas whereby some of its closed strings change vibrations from their ground state to their
first excited state (open and closed strings share the same ground state when vibrating with a
minimal amount of energy and the lowest mode of vibration) (9). Consequently a FPDM/pms
generates momentum as gravity/awareness in motion and this pulls normal energy/mis towards it
(see image 1C).
The outcome of this event is transformation. Accordingly normal energy/mis not previously expressed is expressed as normal matter/mis with the intelligence of conscious events that embodies each FPDM/pms. Therefore gravity in the macrocosm is not a force but rather a consequence
of the curvature of homogenous dark energy/pas that transforms into FPDMs/pms. These events
‘highlight’ the transformative properties of the states of mind (i.e., pure awareness state [pas],
pure mental state [pms] and mental images state [mis]) which may occur, but not without consequence due to their interdependent relationship. Accordingly FPDMs/pms are the means by
which dark energy/pas as a homogenous expanse with attributes that are non-local in the macrocosm are transformed into local qualities in the microcosm. This allows it to engage in relationship with normal matter/mis in innumerable ways.
When embodied by normal matter/mis, FPDMs/pms are no longer in the macrocosm but instead
are located in the microcosm. FPDMs/pms are the dark energy/pas of the macrocosm folded into
a discrete volume of normal matter/mis. Accordingly they may have a size comparable to a hypothetical length-scale with no smaller length possible which has a definite meaning, or may be
modeled as having no width. Each FPDM/pms has its own position on the universe’s dark energy/pas substrate layer in relation to all other FPDMs/pms. Therefore the microcosm represents a
set of circumstances characterized by innumerable relationships of FPDMs/pms embodied by
normal matter/mis. Accordingly the microcosm ‘encapsulates’ the features of something larger
(i.e., dynamical macrocosm/relationships between the states of mind) (10). Normal energy/mis
is most commonly in its form as normal matter/mis which embodies FPDMs/pms. The momentary occurrence where normal energy/mis is in the form of normal energy/mis is brief and undetectable.
Configuring Relationships in the microcosm
In the microcosm gravity is too weak to configure normal matter/mis that embodies FPDMs/pms.
Accordingly in the microcosm the fundamental force associated with configuring relationships is
electric and magnetic fields (i.e., electromagnetic force) generated by the vibrations of strings
(i.e., open, closed). This organizes normal matter/mis into an integrated unit.
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Embodied in the microcosm while interacting with normal matter/mis, open and closed strings of
FPDMs/pms vibrate in their excited state and create forces (i.e., contact forces) as electromagnetism. This causes normal matter/mis to bend and give way and with stresses upon it turns ‘outside-in’ or ‘inside-out’ (11). Over billions of years of relationships where FPDMs/pms interacted
with normal matter/mis in the microcosm, an electromagnetic force was produced which caused
normal matter/mis to fold in on itself. This increased available surface area needed to accommodate circuitry as normal matter/mis began configuring more complexly in reaction to the evolving complexity of relationship. Accordingly normal matter/mis convoluted with columns where
‘minute circuits’ that function as processors (perhaps with billions of components) are centered.
Therefore intricate functions duplicate over and over the more convoluted normal matter/mis is
configured.
Normal matter/mis is configured uniquely in the microcosm and accordingly functions differently. Although it is configured differently, what is similar is that its circuitry generates data patterned as electrical activity and creates electromagnetic radiation (EMR): waves of energy that
travel at the speed of light in which electric and magnetic fields vary simultaneously. Similarly,
patterns of vibrational activity generated by the open and closed strings of a FPDM/pms creates
EMR. Thus patterns of electrical activity occurring in normal matter/mis and patterns of vibrational activity occurring in strings (i.e., open and closed) are both forms of EMR. The difference
between them lies in their frequency, (i.e., how often waves of energy peak and trough in a given
second).
Electrical patterns generated by the active circuitry of normal matter/mis are transmitted by way
of EMR to FPDMs/pms. Therefore the vibrating open and closed strings of a FPDM/pms receive
normal matter’s data and they transform it by way of patterns of oscillation (i.e., vibrational activity). In a similar manner, vibrational patterns generated by open and closed strings in their
excited state are transmitted to normal matter/mis by EMR. Therefore active circuitry of normal
matter/mis receives the data of a FPDM/pms and they transform it by way of patterns of electrical activity. Accordingly FPDMs/pms and the normal matter/mis that embodies them are in a
communicative structured relationship. Correspondingly they influence each other during every
instant, but where there may be a delay in time between the moment the data is sent and the moment the information is received.
Cyclic (although not repetitive) relationship in the microcosm
Mind having expressed itself in a way that manifested three states (pas, pms and mis) in the macrocosm, expresses itself by way of innumerable relationships that take place in the microcosm.
While in an embodied relationship in the microcosm, FPDMs/pms with primordial consciousness
and normal matter/mis with the intelligence of conscious events each ‘play’ an integral part in
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their relationship. It is a two-way emergent process where their relationship evolves by way of
unconscious intelligence (i.e., primordial consciousness) and the intelligence of conscious
events. The relationship is then communicated as conscious intelligence (i.e., ‘consciousness’):
• Unconscious intelligence: Due to the transformation of dark energy/pas to FPDMs/pms, the
nature of mind is expressed as unconscious intelligence (i.e., primordial consciousness) that is
intelligence of awareness and is dualistically transmitted by way of the vibrations of two types
of strings (i.e., open and closed).
• The intelligence of conscious events: Due to normal energy transforming to normal matter, the
unmanifest state of mind mental images manifests as the intelligence of conscious events. This
intelligence is highly reactive and ‘informative,’ and provides a useful dimension to the relationship between FPDMs/pms and normal matter/mis by way of data.
• Conscious intelligence (‘consciousness’): When FPDMs/pms and normal matter/mis first began embodied relationships in the microcosm billions of years ago, their relationship was a
volatile two-way emergent process. Accordingly changes in their affective reactivity correlated
with the degree of plasticity occurring in normal matter/mis with the intelligence of conscious
events (12). Therefore the nature of mind expressed by embodied relationships that existed billions of years ago could be characterized as one of little acquired knowledge or understanding
through thought.
Flexibility is a distinctive attribute of embodied relationships between FPDMs/pms and normal
matter/mis. It describes a potential flow of that relationship as the degree by which it may be easily modified and thus is the predictor of change. Where no flexibility exists in relationships, cognition will not be expressed as part of conscious intelligence (i.e., ‘consciousness’) (13).
Vibrating strings, the ‘record keepers’ of relationships
Embodied FPDMs/pms with open strings and closed strings interact with normal matter/mis in a
myriad of ways. Strings (i.e., open, closed) always vibrate in either their ground state (i.e., vibrating with a minimal amount of energy and the lowest mode of vibration) or their excited state
(i.e., vibrating at an elevated energy level which is more than the ground state). While
FPDMs/pms with primordial consciousness are embodied, strings change vibrations from their
ground state to their excited state once enlisted. They are enlisted due to primordial events of unconscious intelligence (i.e., primordial consciousness). Enlisted strings (i.e., open, closed) vibrate
in different patterns. This is due to their reactivity to signals they receive from normal matter/mis
with the intelligence of conscious events. Strings attached to a C-brane are part of the configuration of FPDMs/pms that all share the same origin. All FPDMs/pms in the microcosm are derived
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from the transformation of dark energy/pas in the macrocosm and thus the former (i.e., dark energy/pas) is an extension of the latter (i.e., FPDMs/pms).
Accordingly the oscillations of two types of strings (i.e., open, closed) are the means by which
pure awareness as represented by the dark energy of the macrocosm, manifests as motion of
awareness (i.e., instead of pure awareness) in the microcosm. Although their exact number is
unknown, each FPDM/pms interacting with normal matter/mis for the first time will have an
equal number of closed strings and open strings which neither increases nor decreases:
• Enlisted open strings: vibrate in a way that correlates with their reactivity to the signals they
receive from normal matter/mis that act as stimuli. Open strings (once enlisted) vibrate in a
way whereby there is no modification as relates to their reactivity to stimuli (i.e., signals).
Accordingly open strings vibrating in their excited state represent reactions of awareness by
way of periodic motion (i.e., oscillation) as a response to the activity of the intelligence of conscious events. Therefore open strings consistently react with vibrations whereby normal matter/mis will be the state of mind that predominantly expresses the embodied relationship. This
creates the data for the ‘consciousness’ of open strings and the nature of mind will be communicated by way of habitual behavior patterns.
• Enlisted closed strings: vibrate in a way that correlates with their reactivity to the signals they
receive from normal matter/mis that act as stimuli. Closed strings (once enlisted), vibrate in a
way whereby there is a degree of modification as relates to their reactivity to stimuli (i.e., signals).
Accordingly closed strings vibrating in their excited state represent reactions of awareness by
way of oscillation (i.e., periodic motion) as a response to the activity of unconscious intelligence
(i.e., primordial consciousness). Therefore closed strings consistently react with vibrations
where FPDMs/pms will be the state of mind that predominantly expresses the embodied relationship. This creates the data for the ‘consciousness’ of closed strings and the nature of mind will be
communicated by way of ‘flexible’ behavior patterns.
If the relationship communicates the nature of mind by way of the ‘consciousness’ of open
strings or the ‘consciousness’ of closed strings this causes string conversion. Accordingly strings
are not destroyed but are only converted and thus an open string converts to a closed string or a
closed string converts to an open string.
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Enlisting vibrating strings, the ‘record keepers’ of relationships
Open and closed strings vibrating in their ground state receive the flow of data from normal matter/mis as signals transmitted by way of EMR. Accordingly a FPDM/pms, with unconscious intelligence and in the moment, is aware of the number of strings needed to accommodate the flow
of data generated by normal matter/mis. Therefore a FPDM/pms engaged in primordial events
(and thus aware of the population of its strings), enlists the number of strings (i.e., open, closed)
needed on a momentary basis. This means that not every string of a FPDM/pms may be enlisted.
There are some strings that may remain in their ground state and in this state (open, closed
strings share the same ground state) one end of the string is attached to the C-brane and one end
is open. When enlisted to transform data (generated by active circuitry as electrical activity) occurring in normal matter/mis, strings (i.e., open, closed) reactively change their vibrations to
their exited state. Accordingly, strings (i.e., open, closed):
•
•
vibrate similarly when in their ground state and while transforming data for sense impressions.
vibrate differently when transforming data for mental events.
In this way, the vibrations of two types of strings (i.e., open and closed) attached to a C-brane
represent the potential for dualistic expression of relationship. The ends of a string attached to a
C-brane may move in one or more dimensions or the ends of the string may ‘fix’ to the C-brane.
Enlisted open strings vibrate in a way that correlates with their reactivity to the signals they receive from normal matter/mis. Where there is no modification as relates to their reactivity to
stimuli (i.e., signals), enlisted closed strings vibrate in a way that correlates with their reactivity
to the signals they receive from normal matter/mis and where there is a degree of modification as
relates to their reactivity to stimuli (i.e., signals).
Strings (i.e., open, closed) that reactively change their vibrations from their ground state to their
excited state once enlisted, will vibrate similarly. They do so when receiving signals from normal
matter/mis representing data to be transformed for sense impressions. Accordingly the C-brane
functions similarly to a frictionless one dimensional ‘object.’ Although strings (i.e., open,
closed) of FPDMs/pms when in their ground state have one string end attached to the C-brane,
once enlisted (to transform data for sense impressions) both ends of a string may slide up and
down (as if doing so within a ‘frictionless hoop’). The curvature (i.e., gradient or differential) of
the string, however, is constrained at its end points. Therefore the vibrations of open and closed
strings while transforming the data of normal matter/mis for sense impressions, are similar.
Strings (i.e., open and closed) that reactively change their vibrations from their ground state to
their excited state once enlisted, will vibrate differently. They do so when receiving signals from
normal matter/mis representing data to be transformed for mental events:
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•
Enlisted open strings change their vibrations from their ground state to their excited state by
bending so that their free end fixes to the C-brane. Thereby open strings now have fixed endpoints with both ends attached to the C-brane. This specifies the conditions of the end-points
and determines the frequencies at which open strings may vibrate.
•
Enlisted closed strings change their vibrations from their ground state to their excited state by
bending so that their free end ‘taps in’ to the C-brane. Thereby the free end of a closed string
now penetrates the C-brane and whirls into compacted multi-dimensional dark energy/pas.
Although the free end of a closed string may not be ‘seen’ whirling beneath the surface of a
C-brane, it may whirl until it meets and connects with the other end of the string. In this way,
the ‘tapping in’ and whirling by the free end of the closed string functions as a kind of momentum (i.e., movement of awareness). The ‘tapping in’ and connecting by the free end of
the closed string vibrating in its excited state, however, is temporary and the free end eventually disconnects from the other end of the string. When this happens, the string recoils and
configures to its previous ground state (one end attached to the surface of a C-brane and the
other end free). Accordingly closed strings in their ground state receive signals from normal
matter/mis in a way which is similar to open strings vibrating in their ground state.
Normal matter/mis generates data incessantly and FPDMs/pms will engage in primordial activity (i.e., primordial events) and create primordial algorithms for sense impressions and
mental events. While in an embodied relationship, electrical patterns generated by the active
circuitry of normal matter/mis are transmitted via EMR (i.e., electromagnetic radiation) to
FPDMs/pms. Accordingly the open and closed strings of a FPDM/pms vibrating in their excited state transform the data of normal matter/mis by way of patterns of oscillation (i.e., vibrational activity). This creates a dualistic response to the relationship and as electromagnetic
waves (EM waves), oscillating magnetic and electric fields. Consequently the vibrations of
strings (i.e., open, closed) in their excited state create EM waves of open strings and EM
waves of closed strings. The waves represent data of relationship between FPDMs/pms and
normal matter/mis. This data will be encoded by a FPDM/pms engaged in primordial activity
(i.e., primordial events) into primordial algorithms for sense impressions before it is encoded
into mental events. Once primordial algorithms are created, they will be linked and the order
and linkage of primordial algorithms will determine the content flow of ‘consciousness’ (i.e.,
conscious intelligence). This will communicate the nature of mind characterized by way of
eight distinct attributes (to varying degrees): linguistic, logical-mathematical, musical, bodily-kinesthetic, spatial, interpersonal, intrapersonal, and naturalist (14). Accordingly, unconscious intelligence manifesting as primordial events (i.e., primordial activity) precedes the
expression of relationship as conscious intelligence (i.e., ‘consciousness’) and where sense
impression is communicated before mental event.
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Figure 2
Primordial algorithms, rules of relationship (see Figure 2)
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Sense impressions are sense organ perceptions (15):
- exteroceptive body (e.g., sight, hearing, touch, smell, taste, thermoception, pain)
- proprioceptive senses (e.g., position, motion state)
- interoceptive body (e.g., physical sensations)
Mental events and conscious percepts are specific content of conscious intelligence ‘consciousness’ (15) as emotions, thoughts, memories (16) and affective feelings, examples:
- perceptual stimuli (e.g., inner speech, dreams, visual imagery)
- fleeting present and its fading traces in immediate memory
- emotions (e.g., happiness, sadness, fear, anger, surprise, embarrassment, jealousy, guilt, and
pride) (17)
- autobiographical episodes (experienced and recalled)
- expectations and effortful voluntary control
- explicit beliefs (about ‘self’, about the world)
- novel skills
- abstract concepts
- affective feelings (e.g., nociception, disgust, empathy)
FPDMs/pms with unconscious intelligence (i.e., primordial consciousness) while engaged in
primordial events will express awareness with movement that will be both generalized and specific (see image 2). The movement of awareness will be generally expressed and thus ‘radiant’
when FPDMs/pms are methodically scanning patterns within EM waves. Alternatively the
movement of awareness (due to stimulated emission) will be specific while FPDMs/pms detect
patterns present in EM waves; this creates primordial feeling. They will then focus on the variations of patterns within EM waves whereby variation is grouped; this creates pleasant, unpleasant, or neutral Feelings of Knowing (FOKs) as events which act as stimuli. A FPDM/pms by
way of spontaneous action will then capture with the movement of awareness small amounts of
data (i.e., ‘atoms’).
These ‘atoms’ will be reflexively encoded into primordial algorithms for sense impressions
which are melded with pleasant, unpleasant, or neutral FOKs. The moment that the relationship
between a FPDM/pms and normal matter/mis is expressed as an ‘object’ of awareness in the
form of a sense impression (i.e., pleasant, unpleasant, or neutral), the relationship spontaneously
transforms. Accordingly it shifts from one that expresses unconscious intelligence (i.e., primordial events) and the intelligence of conscious events into a relationship that communicates ‘consciousness.’ However the expression of ‘consciousness’ is simply a pleasant, unpleasant, or neutral sense impression.
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Due to the relationship between FPDMs/pms and normal matter/mis evolving over time, cognition is included as an attribute of conscious intelligence (i.e., ‘consciousness’). The ‘consciousness’ of open strings, the ‘consciousness’ of closed strings, or a combination of both (i.e., consciousness) will predominantly express the relationship in a given moment. This begins with a
momentary reaction to a sense impression (i.e., pleasant, unpleasant, or neutral). Accordingly an
impulsive reaction, a reaction with forethought, a reflexive reaction to a sense impression, determines the manner by which the relationship gets expressed as an emergent property of ‘consciousness.’ Therefore a ‘moment of subjectivity’ to a sense impression manifests as an impulsive reaction (i.e., attachment or aversion) or is ‘overridden’ due to reaction with forethought
(i.e., equanimity) or reflexive reaction (i.e., unnoticed). Accordingly the degree of flexibility in
relationship is revealed by way of reaction and there is consequence.
Whatever reaction (i.e., impulsive reaction, reaction with forethought, reflexive reaction) to a
sense impression (i.e., pleasant, unpleasant, or neutral) manifests acts as a stimulus. Accordingly
a FPDM/pms will then reflexively encode ‘atoms’ into primordial algorithms for mental events
(in a similar manner as it did when encoding algorithms for sense impressions). These are melded with the stimuli FOKs (i.e., pleasant, unpleasant, or neutral). Therefore primordial algorithms
will be linked and this creates a flow of ‘consciousness,’ and content:
•
•
•
impulsive reaction to a sense impression (i.e., pleasant, unpleasant, or neutral): normal matter/mis is the state of mind that predominantly communicates the nature of the relationship
and by way of the ‘consciousness’ of open strings.
reaction with forethought to a sense impression (i.e., pleasant, unpleasant, or neutral) implies
that an impulsive reaction was ‘overridden’ and thus a FPDMs/pms is the state of mind that
predominantly communicates the nature of the relationship and by way of the ‘consciousness’ of closed strings.
reflexive reaction to a sense impression (i.e., pleasant, unpleasant, or neutral): directs primordial events whereby neither normal matter/mis nor a FPDM/pms is the state of mind that
predominantly communicates the nature of the relationship. Instead it is consciousness that
communicates the nature of the embodied relationship as a continuous stream of sense impressions and mental events. These arise and pass away and the nature of mind manifests in a
way that would be categorized as being ‘unnoticed.’ Accordingly it is a FPDM/pms engaged
in primordial events (i.e., primordial activity) with the movement of awareness as ‘radiant’
(i.e., generally expressed) and by way of ‘stimulated emission’ (i.e., expressed specifically)
that overrides the dualistic movement of its vibrating strings (i.e., open, closed).
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Figure 3
Conical EMR, shape of relationship (see Figure 3)
The vibrational activity of strings (i.e., open, closed) in their excited state transforms the data of
normal matter/mis for sense impressions and mental events into electromagnetic radiation
(EMR). Accordingly electromagnetic fields are created and transport the data of normal matISSN: 2153-8212
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ter/mis as electromagnetic waves of energy (i.e., EM waves). These EM waves radiate onto the
C-brane of a FPDM/pms and by doing so partially block the movement of awareness as a consequence of the relationship. Although gravity in the microcosm is too weak to configure normal
matter/mental images that embodies FPDMs/pms, it ‘pushes’ the relationship. Accordingly
gravity in the microcosm (in contrast to the macrocosm) is the movement of awareness that manifests as a ‘push force’ (18). Thereby the force of gravity pushes EM waves towards the center
of the C-brane. The EM waves that are pushed by a gravitational field bend and configure into
conical EMR.
The emergent two-way interplay that flows between a FPDM/pms and normal matter/mis that
embodies it continuously generates EM waves. These waves radiate frequently on the surface of
the C-brane. Although strings (i.e., open, closed) are located on the same C-brane, those that
transform data for mental events (once enlisted) form an outer layer of vibrating strings. Accordingly they generate more waves and at different frequencies than vibrating strings (i.e., open,
closed) forming an inner layer that transforms data for sense impressions. This creates a functional pattern on the C-brane as a centralized shape of a sphere and, thus, a spheroidal region that
is surrounded by EM waves.
Accordingly, present on the C-brane is a pattern resembling a sphere of revolution which represents the movement of awareness whereby EM waves pushed toward it configure into conical
EMR (i.e., the shape of relationship). The base of the conical EMR contains the least amount of
EM waves and represents the data of normal matter/mis transformed for sense impressions. As
the EMR gets higher it widens due to more EM waves being present and represents the data of
normal matter/mis transformed for mental events. The conical EMR acts as a space-filling field
present within configured normal matter/mis. The way conical EMR radiates creates a region
between the C-brane and the base of the EMR. The EM waves are diffuse material that represent
a relationship with potential that is in orbital motion and thus are being pulled by the sphere of
revolution as the motion of awareness (i.e., represented by a centralized spheroidal region).
However, it has too much angular momentum and thus it momentarily escapes being pulled into
the C-brane.
Due to the pattern present on the C-brane, the movement of awareness of a FPDM/pms with
primordial consciousness is blocked in some directions by EM waves. However, awareness
freely flows from the centralized spheroidal region. Therefore a FPDM/pms engaged in primordial events (i.e., primordial activity) of unconsciousness intelligence expresses awareness generally. Accordingly the movement of awareness is ‘radiant’ while a FPDM/pms methodically
scans patterns within EM waves of conical EMR. Alternatively a FPDM/pms amplifies the
movement of awareness by way of process, stimulated emission. This allows a FPDM/pms to
use fast mapping to detect billions of patterns within EM waves while focusing on those which
differ (19).
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While engaged in spontaneous action, a FPDM/pms will capture ‘atoms’ (i.e., small amounts of
data) and reflexively encode them into primordial algorithms for sense impressions. These are
melded with FOKs (i.e., pleasant, unpleasant, or neutral). Therefore a ‘moment of subjectivity’
and reaction to a sense impression manifests as an impulsive reaction (i.e., attachment or aversion) or is ‘overridden’ due to reaction with forethought (i.e., equanimity) or reflexive reaction
(i.e., unnoticed). Accordingly the relationship between a FPDM/pms and normal matter/mis
transforms. This causes a FPDM/pms to reflexively encode ‘atoms’ for primordial algorithms
for mental events that are melded with FOKs (i.e., pleasant, unpleasant, or neutral) and thus the
nature of the relationship is communicated by way of conscious intelligence (i.e., ‘consciousness’).
A FPDM/pms will then engage in primordial events that correspond with complex warping of
the C-brane and the centralized spheroidal region (as part of the pattern on the C-brane). Consequently the gravitational pull placed on the conical EMR (i.e., the shape of relationship) alters
and thus the conical EMR is pulled into the C-brane (multi-dimensional space/awareness). The
EMR distorts due to the action of dissolving into the C-brane and represents ‘a transferred property ’as fixed energy. This fixed energy propagates and represents awareness in motion as a consequence of the relationship that moves in the C-brane within an electromagnetic field. This
transfers to strings (i.e., open, closed) attached to the C-brane and produces a fixed energy of
EMR as photons that express a momentarily transformed relationship.
The ‘moment of subjectivity’ that manifested as attachment/aversion, equanimity or neither to a
pleasant, unpleasant, or neutral sense impression determines the degree of string conversion.
The strings convert in the amount that correlates with the degree of reaction (i.e., more reactionmore stings convert, less reaction-fewer strings convert):
•
•
•
Where the expression was attachment/aversion and the reaction was impulsive, closed strings
convert to open strings.
Where the expression was equanimity and the reaction with forethought, open strings convert
to closed strings.
Where the reaction was reflexive, no strings convert.
Communicating relationship
The microcosm is a spatial structure containing innumerable unique configurations of normal
matter/mis that, while embodying FPDMs/pms, forms a network. This network serves as the
mechanism by which normal matter/mis relays data, although there may be limited assuredness
as to the direction of information flow throughout this network. The way in which normal matter/mis is configured affects information flow as it travels throughout the network. A
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FPDM/pms embodied by normal matter/mis shares information. The strings (i.e., open, closed)
of a FPDM/pms vibrating in their excited state receive (by EMR) the data of normal matter/mis
generated by active circuitry and transform it via patterns of vibrational activity. Similarly vibrational patterns generated by strings (i.e., open, closed) in their excited state are transmitted (by
EMR) to the circuitry of normal matter/mis and transformed into electrical activity. When their
communicative and shared relationship gets inserted as data and a set of instructions (i.e., code)
transmitted along the network of normal matter/mis, it may influence ‘other’ embodied relationships. In this way, each embodied relationship that receives the data may serve as the means by
which to ‘execute it’ by way of an expression of conscious intelligence (i.e., ‘consciousness’).
Accordingly a unique embodied relationship may replicate parts of its ‘interplay’ by modifying
data traveling along the network of normal matter/mis.
The dark energy/pas of the macrocosm serves as the ‘orchestrator’ of communication between a
pair or a group of embodied relationships. Because each FPDM/pms is derived from the same
dark energy/pas, fundamentally, they truly cannot be described as having an independently existing relationship separate from ‘other’ FPDMs/pms (although a FPDM/pms is embodied by normal matter/mis as an individual). Accordingly communication between them represents the sum
of infinite interdependent events as embodied relationships. Dark energy as the universe’s pas
represents existence to be unlike that of embodied FPDMs/pms. This results in a cause and effect
relationship distinct in nature between the whole (i.e., the dark energy of the macrocosm) and its
parts (i.e., FPDMs of the microcosm). Accordingly dark energy/pas having ‘conceived ’
FPDMs/pms forms an inextricable link between them. Therefore dark energy/pas facilitates
communication between FPDMs/pms in a manner by which they act on one another without having any information relayed between them. Due to their being inextricable phenomena, communication between them is naturally simultaneous and such that one FPDM/pms infers the presence of the other (20). However each FPDM/pms and normal matter/mis brings distinctive characteristics to their relationship and thus will not have exactly the same properties as those of other embodied relationships.
Animate and inanimate
The relationship between a FPDM/pms and normal matter/mis is represented by way of an
emergent property of conscious intelligence (‘consciousness’) and as a vehicle of expression in
the form of a unique living being. The living being of conscious intelligence (i.e., ‘consciousness’) serves as a ‘visual’ indicator as to the kind of embodied relationship that exists between a
FPDM/pms and normal matter/mis.
Correspondingly all ‘objects,’ including those in the form of living beings with conscious intelligence (i.e., ‘consciousness’), represent relationships between the three states of mind (i.e., pure
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awareness, pure mental, mental images). However as relates to animate as opposed to inanimate,
these terms denote different types of relationships between the states of mind. Animate ‘objects’
as living beings (e.g., invertebrates, mammals, birds, amphibians, reptiles and fish) represent embodied relationships between FPDMs/pms and normal matter/mis. These embodied relationships
will be configured by way of the movement of vibrating open and closed strings (i.e., movement
of awareness) that configure normal matter/mis. Inanimate ‘objects’ represent relationships between the three states but where they are not in an embodied relationship and include those that
emerge as living entities (i.e., plants).
Embodied relationships and the Big Crunch
Each embodied relationship between a FPDM/pms and normal matter/mis has a unique timeline
for when their interaction will end. Accordingly the number of embodied relationships in the
microcosm increases or decreases according to the momentary occurrence where normal energy/mis is present but not expressed. When a particular relationship between a FPDM/pms and
the normal matter/mis that embodies it ends, an unknown amount of normal matter/mis transforms into its previous form as normal energy/mis, present but not expressed. Due to the abundance of embodied relationships in the microcosm in which non-synchronized interactions begin
and end normal energy/mis is in high demand. When normal energy/mis is unavailable, there
will be FPDMs/pms that exist in the macrocosm demarcated from dark energy/pas by strings vibrating in their ground state but without a framework of normal matter/mis.
Due to strings converting rather than being destroyed, FPDMs/pms act as the ‘record keeper’ of
individual embodied relationships. Accordingly a FPDM/pms will carry with it from one interaction to another a population of available open and closed strings attached to a C-brane. This represents a mechanism by which a continuity in embodied relationships is established and manifested as cause and effect. This includes the manner by which normal matter/mis gets configured.
Because of the movement of awareness represented by the vibrations of open and closed strings,
there will be transformation that advances expression (by way of continued relationship) or reverses expression (by way of discontinued relationship):
•
The more open strings a FPDM/pms has available (due to closed strings converting to open
strings), the lower the degree of complexity in the configuration of normal matter/mis is. Accordingly there is less potential for flexibility (to varying degrees) in the relationship and less
potential for cognition to emerge as an attribute of the conscious intelligence (‘consciousness’). Therefore the capacity to alter behavior as a result of experience is lower (21). This
means the ‘consciousness’ of open strings emerges as the expression that communicates the
relationship more so than the ‘consciousness’ of closed strings and is due to previous impulsive reactions. Therefore, in most cases (on a momentary basis), normal matter/mis is the
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state that predominantly communicates the nature of mind as an expression of this embodied
relationship.
•
The more closed strings a FPDM/pms has available (due to open strings converting to closed
strings), the greater the degree of complexity in the configuration of normal matter/mis is.
Accordingly there is more potential for flexibility (to varying degrees) in the relationship and
more potential for cognition to emerge as an attribute of the conscious intelligence (‘consciousness’). Therefore the capacity to alter behavior as a result of experience is greater (21).
This means the ‘consciousness’ of closed strings emerges as the expression that communicates the relationship more so than the ‘consciousness’ of open strings and is due to previous
reactions with forethought. Therefore, in most cases (on a momentary basis), FPDMs/pms is
the state that predominantly communicates the nature of mind as an expression of this embodied relationship.
There are string populations of a FPDM/pms that represent the continuity of previous embodied
relationships that result in ‘maximal’ consequence:
•
When a FPDM/pms has a population of strings is which only closed strings are available
except for one open string (due to open strings converting to closed strings), this may
prevent a FPDM/pms from participating in perpetual interactions with normal matter/mis.
•
When a FPDM/pms has a population of strings in which only open strings are available
except for one closed string (due to closed strings converting to open strings), this may
prevent a FPDM/pms from participating in perpetual interactions with normal matter/mis.
Accordingly the strings (i.e., one open and the rest closed, or one closed and the rest open) which
demarcated a FPDM/pms from the universe’s dark energy/pas may dissolve into a C-brane. This
adjusts initial conditions in the macrocosm by a FPDM/pms.
Alternatively this string population may cause interactions with normal energy/mis, when available, to be pulled by the consequence of gravity. Accordingly normal energy/mis (unmanifest)
will configure as normal matter/mis (manifest) with the intelligence conscious events. Therefore
a FPDM/pms in an embodied relationship with normal matter/mis with continuity from their past
(due to the population of open and closed strings of a FPDM/pms) will communicate with ‘other’
FPDMs/pms and normal matter/mis in embodied relationships. They will do so however, with
either a lesser or greater degree of flexibility, which will have consequences as relates to the
‘other’ structured relationships present in the microcosm.
What seems to be a cause and effect relationship may only be possible if neither the cause nor
the effect exists independently and permanently (3). In this way, and as relates to the scenarios
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presented, the outcome is uncertain (i.e., not accessible by way of cognition). This is because the
outcome is dependent on the movement of pure awareness. Accordingly dark energy is the facilitator of the outcomes, rather than the movement of awareness due to the vibrations of strings
(i.e., open and closed).
The Big Bang(s) may represent the start of this cycle which is one of an infinite number of cycles
of interactions between FPDMs/pms and normal matter/mis. The cycles may stop, as a consequence of gravity. This represents the movement of dark energy/pas at the macrocosm. Accordingly instead of universal expansion there may be a Big Crunch and thus transformation of the
macrocosm which has collapsed into itself. Therefore the macrocosm will be absorbed into
isotopic space, whereby a new cycle of mind expressing itself differently may manifest (3).
Conclusion
This theory melds features from different theories with the aim of assisting understanding of
mind and the expressions of mind rather than trying to dogmatically prove the ‘correctness’ of
any one theory. Nevertheless no theory may ever account for the state of mind pure awareness
which exists entirely separate from ‘consciousness.’ Admittedly the state of pure awareness may
not be accessible to thought but this may not prevent an individual from visualizing this state as
being represented by a particular phenomenon (i.e., dark energy). An individual may associate
‘objects’ (i.e., sense impressions and mental events) with everyday existence which may be perceived similarly or dissimilarly by individuals.
Accordingly ‘objects,’ when arranged in a particular manner may construct a viewpoint that allows an individual to pick out a particular feature and emphasize it. The act of doing this, however, may create understanding or confusion as relates to reality (i.e., expressions of mind). Phenomena when ‘cognitively linked’ may formulate a theory and, when made on the basis of limited ‘objects,’ a hypothesis that when perceived similarly by many individuals is termed ‘empirical’ evidence. Accordingly theories, hypotheses or ‘empirical’ evidence may represent a myriad
of unique viewpoints. Nevertheless what may be similar between them is their ability to ‘highlight’ a particular aspect(s) as relates to the relationship between the three states of mind.
Although mind may be unfathomable while thinking, the nature of mind may be experienced by
the events of ‘consciousness’ as FOKs and an ‘observing ego’ and with perception of a living
being and thus represent the relationships between the states of mind (i.e., the pure awareness
state [pas]/the pure mental state [pms] along with the pure mental state [pms]/the mental images
state [mis]). Accordingly mind may be all there is and all that will be with the potential to express itself differently.
Received June 29, 2020; Accepted July 25, 2020
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http://www.stat.auckland.ac.nz/~iase/serj/SERJ7(2)_Zieffler.pdf
(21) Eelen, P., Hermans, D., & Baeyens, F. (2001). Learning perspectives on anxiety disorders. In E. J.
L., C., D., & J. (Eds.), Anxiety disorders : An introduction to clinical management and research (pp.
249–264). New York: Wiley.
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Kozlowski, M., On the Embryo of Matter
17
Exploration
On the Embryo of Matter
Miroslaw Kozlowski*
Warsaw University, Warsaw, Poland
Abstract
In this essay, we propose positronium (Ps) with Z=0 as the embryo of matter which exists in our
observational Universe.
Keywords: Embryo, matter, positronium, existence, university.
God made the integers, all else is the work of man - L. Kronecker
Introduction
It is well known that set of natural numbers ( from XX century) looks like
0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5,…
In contrary contemporary, Mendeleyev`s set is in the form
Z =1, 2, 3, 4, 5,…..
where Z is the atomic number.
According to Freeman Dyson’s calculation, our Universe after T= 1034 years ends with
positronium particles. Following the CTP principle, I guess that our Universe starts with
positronium as the embryo particles also. In that case, we are obliged to add the positronium with
Z=0 as the first “nucleus” in Mendeleyev`s table and the new Natural Mendeleyev Table looks
like
Z=0, 1, 2, 3
2. Historical Background
The most primitive method of representing a natural number is to put down a mark for each
object. Later, a set of objects could be tested for equality, excess or shortage—by striking out a
mark and removing an object from the set.
*
Correspondence: Miroslaw Kozlowski, Prof. Emeritus, Warsaw University, Poland. Email: miroslawkozlowski2020@gmail.com
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Kozlowski, M., On the Embryo of Matter
18
The first major advance in abstraction was the use of numerals to represent numbers. This
allowed systems to be developed for recording large numbers. The ancient Egyptians developed a
powerful system of numerals with distinct hieroglyphs for 1, 10, and all powers of 10 up to over
1 million. A stone carving from Karnak, dating back from around 1500 BCE and now at
the Louvre in Paris, depicts 276 as 2 hundreds, 7 tens, and 6 ones; and similarly for the
number 4,622. The Babylonians had a place-value system based essentially on the numerals for 1
and 10, using base sixty, so that the symbol for sixty was the same as the symbol for one—its
value being determined from context.
A much later advance was the development of the idea that 0 can be considered as a number, with
its own numeral. The use of a 0 digit in place-value notation (within other numbers) dates back as
early as 700 BCE by the Babylonians, who omitted such a digit when it would have been the last
symbol in the number. The Olmec and Maya civilizations used 0 as a separate number as early as
the 1st century BCE, but this usage did not spread beyond Mesoamerica.
The use of a numeral 0 in modern times originated with the Indian
mathematician Brahmagupta in 628 CE. However, 0 had been used as a number in the
medieval computus (the calculation of the date of Easter), beginning with Dionysius Exiguus in
525 CE, without being denoted by a numeral (standard Roman numerals do not have a symbol
for 0). Instead, nulla (or the genitive form nullae) from nullus, the Latin word for "none", was
employed to denote a 0 value.
The first systematic study of numbers as abstractions is usually credited to
the Greek philosophers Pythagoras and Archimedes. Some Greek mathematicians treated the
number 1 differently than larger numbers, sometimes even not as a number at all.] Euclid, for
example, defined a unit first and then a number as a multitude of units, thus by his definition, a
unit is not a number and there are no unique numbers (e.g., any two units from indefinitely many
units is a 2).
Independent studies on numbers also occurred at around the same time in India, China,
and Mesoamerica.
In 19th century Europe, there was mathematical and philosophical discussion about the exact
nature of the natural numbers. A school of Naturalism stated that the natural numbers were a
direct consequence of the human psyche. Henri Poincaré was one of its advocates, as
was Leopold Kronecker, who summarized his belief as "God made the integers, all else is the
work of man" [2].
In opposition to the Naturalists, the constructivists saw a need to improve upon the logical rigor
in the foundations of mathematics.[h] In the 1860s, Hermann Grassmann suggested a recursive
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Kozlowski, M., On the Embryo of Matter
19
definition for natural numbers, thus stating they were not really natural—but a consequence of
definitions. Later, two classes of such formal definitions were constructed; later still, they were
shown to be equivalent in most practical applications.
Set-theoretical definitions of natural numbers were initiated by Frege. He initially defined a
natural number as the class of all sets that are in one-to-one correspondence with a particular set.
However, this definition turned out to lead to paradoxes, including Russell's paradox. To avoid
such paradoxes, the formalism was modified so that a natural number is defined as a particular
set, and any set that can be put into one-to-one correspondence with that set is said to have that
number of elements.
The second class of definitions was introduced by Charles Sanders Peirce, refined by Richard
Dedekind, and further explored by Giuseppe Peano; this approach is now called Peano arithmetic.
It is based on an axiomatization of the properties of ordinal numbers: each natural number has a
successor and every non-zero natural number has a unique predecessor. Peano arithmetic
is equiconsistent with several weak systems of set theory. One such system is ZFC with
the axiom of infinity replaced by its negation. Theorems that can be proved in ZFC but cannot be
proved using the Peano Axioms include Goodstein's theorem.
With all these definitions, it is convenient to include 0 (corresponding to the empty set) as a
natural number. Including 0 is now the common convention among set theorists
and logicians. Other mathematicians also include 0, and computer languages often start from
zero when enumerating items like loop counters and string- or array-elements. On the other hand,
many mathematicians have kept the older tradition to take 1 to be the first natural number.
3. Positronium Strong Interaction
e`e ~ an annihilation into quark-antiquark pairs is a valuable platform for the investigation of the
strong interaction. The level of sophistication reached by theory and experiment allows one to
verify predictions with significant precision for centre-of-mass energies ranging from the lepton
mass up to about 200 GeV. Determinations of a strong interaction from total cross-sections,
hadronic branching fractions of the q lepton and of heavy quarkonia, jet rates, and event shape
observables confirm the energy dependence of the strong coupling constant. Experimental studies
of theoretical approaches to hadronization are presented.
Besides fragmentation functions, scaling violations, and longitudinal cross-sections, successes of
the modified leading-logarithmic approximation. Power suppressed corrections, which are
expected to be related to hadronization, are discussed for mean values and distributions of event
shape observables. From the energy dependence of the strong interaction missing higher-order
terms of the perturbation series can be determined. The scrutiny of the scale dependence of strong
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Kozlowski, M., On the Embryo of Matter
20
interactions showed no evidence for power corrections, light gluinos, or anomalous strong
couplings
4. Conclusion
For the moment, the Beginning and the End of the Universe are still debated. In this essay,
following the ideas of Freeman Dyson and Bertrand Russell we argue that, at both the Beginning
and End, positronium played the leading role. Moreover, we suggest that the Natural Mendeleyev
Table can be enriched by the zero Z number “nucleus” – positronium.
Received November 30, 2022; Accepted January 26, 2022
References
1. Dyson, F., 1979, Rev. Mod. Phys., (51): 447.
2. Russell B., 1919, Introduction to Mathematical Philosophy, George Allen and Unwin, Ltd, London.
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Hiller, J. H., Space, Time, & Consciousness (Part 3): Universal Consciousness Underlies All of Reality - A Tripartite Domain Theory
Article
Space, Time, & Consciousness (Part 3):
Universal Consciousness Underlies All of Reality
- A Tripartite Domain Theory
Jack H. Hiller*
ABSTRACT
The NDE reports reliably stated that all thought of movement was capable of instantaneity, so if
entangled particles existed in the domain of consciousness as well as the material domain, their
instant communication would be accounted for. Another question was about the possibility for a
third domain. Was there anything that might have preceded the material and consciousness
domains? The hypothesis that seemed best was that there initially existed a domain of pure
consciousness in which nothing else existed, not light, not space, not time. This initial domain
might be termed, in common with most religions, as God. This speculation is in fact consistent
with the Old Testament according to which all that existed at first was God alone. God’s first act
of creation was light. After light He created the firmament, or material world. Thus, a tripartite
domain theory was formed that is consistent with NDE reporting and The Old Testament. The
relationships among the three domains are shown by the Venn diagram below. God is represented
as Domain 1; the world of consciousness which includes light is the 2nd Domain; and the
physical world we occupy is Domain 3.
Keywords: Universal consciousness, God, tripartite domain theory, NDE, space, time,
consciousness, creation.
High Flight by John Gillespie Magee, Jr (1941)
Oh, I have slipped the surly bonds of earth,
And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings;
Sunward I've climbed and joined the tumbling mirth of sun-split clouds and done a hundred things You have not dreamed of wheeled and soared and swung high in the sunlit silence.
Hovering there I've chased the shouting wind along
and flung my eager craft through footless halls of air.
Up, up the long delirious burning blue
I've topped the wind-swept heights with easy grace,
where never lark, or even eagle, flew;
and, while with silent, lifting mind I've trod
the high untrespassed sanctity of space, put out my hand and touched the face of God.
*Correspondence: Jack H. Hiller, PhD, JD, Independent Researcher, USA. E-mail: jh7138@gmail.com
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Introduction
The mind and brain are distinguished by their intrinsic nature in philosophy and psychology, but
there are two different dominant schools of thought about how they work together. The
materialists, to include most neurologists and other "hard" scientists, do not believe in an
immaterial consciousness, but expect research to eventually demonstrate how consciousness is
either a brain process, or an epiphenomenon not worthy of continued research. The other school
accepts that body and brain process the physical sensory input for conscious perception, but
argues that the perception that is realized in conscious perception exists in an immaterial mind or
soul; that is the position taken by this Tripartite Domain Theory, but it goes a step further that
has not been theorized by any other philosophers or scientists-- the Tripartite theory claims that
all of the physical, material world is intrinsically always connected to, or a part of (a subset of)
the universal consciousness that is the natural home for the soul in what is defined as the 2nd
Domain (the 1st Domain is the pure thought or consciousness which is God) when not connected
to a brain.
The Tripartite Domain Theory analysis of the "spooky action at a distance" demonstrated by
quantum entanglement is what led to the conclusion that the phenomenon of instant
"communication," regardless of the size of the distance separating entangled elements, could
only be explained as characteristic of the instantaneous communication reported by NDE/OBE
observers while present in the spiritual world. Thus, it followed that the material objects of our
physical world (i.e., the 3rd Domain) also exist in the 2nd Domain, and it is their action in the
2nd Domain of universal consciousness that enables the instantaneous communication exhibited
in the 3rd Domain of physical reality. This theorized connection between the 2nd and 3rd
Domains may also explain the nature of the source for the estimated 95% "dark" energy and
matter that remains unobserved, i.e., the source may be in the 2nd Domain.
The bizarre phenomena of instantaneous communication between entangled particles, predicted,
but unexplained by quantum mechanics, and impossible to explain by classical mechanistic
physics, is applied by the new analysis presented here to imply that only an “energy” free
continuum, also free of time and space constraints, may explain it-- and we term that continuum
the "universal field of consciousness."
A variety of analysts have claimed that materialism ought to be replaced by consciousness as the
basic paradigm for science, but "consciousness" defies the cardinal requirement for modern
physics of enabling objective observation of phenomena with reliable measurement-- as it is by
definition and usage unobservable to any but an individual's private mind. However, the
entanglement phenomenon (as explained below) provides strong evidence for inferring that the
basis for all experience is disembodied consciousness. Furthermore, physics can no longer deny
consideration of consciousness as an explanatory paradigm, because it has elevated super string
theory to its best hope for developing a "theory of everything" (i.e., a single theoretical
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Hiller, J. H., Space, Time, & Consciousness (Part 3): Universal Consciousness Underlies All of Reality - A Tripartite Domain Theory
framework that includes both Relativity theory and quantum mechanics) when the string has a
size on the order of the Planck length ( approximately equal to 1.6 x 10-35 meters) which is in
principle far too small to be directly observed, and may only be inferred from indirect evidence,
such as this analysis does with entanglement.
The Near Death Experience (NDE) research literature established that Out of Body Experiences
(OBE) are reliably associated with the trauma of an NDE; significant reference works include
MD Raymond Moody’s, Life after Life; MD Jeffrey Long’s Evidence of the Afterlife, and MD
Pim van Lommel’s Consciousness Beyond Life. The reality of the OBE, as demonstrated by
substantial empirical fact checking, creates a problem for the standard paradigm of modern
science, materialism, because consciousness does not follow the laws of standard materialistic
physical science.
The OBE reflects disembodied consciousness
The OBE is well characterized by a consciousness separated from the traumatized body that
enjoys perception which is enhanced over normal perception; examples include the vividness of
colors; feelings of perfect peace, and often the feeling of being loved without judgment by God.
Despite these remarkable reports about disembodied consciousness, substantial evidence for the
functioning of human consciousness without a normal brain has been collected and well
organized in research reports. A powerful video presentation by Dr. Bruce Greyson (
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2aWM95RuMqU ) cites evidence for disembodied
consciousness, such as accurately viewing activities distant from the traumatized body, meeting
previously unmet and unknown relatives whose existence was later verified, recollecting former
lives with verification of how they reported death injuries; seeing by blind individuals who
experienced a form of visual perception that was accurate, and traveling made to a heavenly
realm where deceased relatives were typically met.
Features of the OBE experience (e.g., time having ceased to run, and all entities appearing to be
made of some form of light) were explained to be compatible with Relativity Theory and
quantum mechanics in the FTT chapter where it was hypothesized that the baffling phenomena
of quantum particle entanglement (what Einstein aptly termed, “spooky action at a distance”)
might be explained by applying the four dimensional space-time model of Relativity theory with
time recast as a true fourth spatial dimension.
The reality of instantaneous signaling between entangled particles implies materialism is an
incompletely defined paradigm for science
This note seeks to extend the explanation earlier presented in FTT of how the instantaneous
interaction of particles, separated in space, may take place, regardless of their separation
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distance. It was found to be necessary to replace the materialist paradigm with immaterial
consciousness for the entire realm of existence. The implications of particle entanglement drive
the need to reformulate our understanding of the nature of reality.
During the development of quantum mechanics, Einstein noticed that its formulation implied the
mathematical possibility for the atomic particles of a unified (entangled) system to signal each
other instantaneously, regardless of how far apart they were, thus violating the stricture of his
Relativity Theory limiting signals to the speed of light (EPR paradox,
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EPR_paradox ). However, empirical research has demonstrated that
communication
for
entangled
particles
does
appear
to
be
instantaneous
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quantum_entanglement ). Instantaneous communication baffles
any conceivable explanation by any contemporary materialistic physical theory. Just to be clear,
the entanglement model is next described in detail.
The Quantum Entanglement Model and Paradox
it’s worthwhile to recognize that quantum physics has managed to construct a model of
phenomena that works amazingly well, yet the math model employed (the Schrodinger wave
equation) departs from common sense without providing any replacement for human
understanding (rational or intuitive) of the mechanisms of the phenomena modeled. The eminent
physicist Richard Feynman's famously quipped, "If you think you understand quantum
mechanics, you don't understand quantum mechanics.” This lament applies especially well to
the mathematical modeling of quantum entanglement.
The basic description of quantum entanglement is well provided by Roger Penrose in his
monumental text, The Road to Reality, A Complete Guide to the Laws of the Universe. New
York: Alfred A Knopf, 2004, page 583. Penrose’s description works from David Bohm’s
construction of the EPR paradox originally published by Einstein, Podolsky, and Rosen ( Can
Quantum-Mechanical Description of Physical Reality be Considered Complete?, Physical
Review. 47 (10): 1935, 777–780.) as follows. A two particle quantum spin 1/2 system is created
starting at a combined spin of 0 (zero) in which the particles travel away from each other, left
and right, some considerable distance toward particle spin detectors each having a localized
measurement capability. Under the conventional interpretation of the spin states, each of the
particles is in a superposition state that is not set and thus indeterminate until some interactive
observation or measurement is made for at least one of the particles.
The remarkable result is that the Schrodinger wave equation predicts that upon measuring one of
the paired particles by its detector, its wave function collapses, so that it has a definite spin—and
the other particle then instantaneously reacts by also having its wave function collapse, and does
so with the required complementary spin. Penrose invokes Bell’s Theorem to rule out any
possibility of ordinary classical signaling between the particles. There is no implied information
transmission faster than light speed, because the spin of the second particle was definitively set
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by the measurement action on the first. So communication defined as information transmission
does not violate the speed limit of light, but there is some form of signaling between the particles
that is instantaneous.
Thus, the nature of the instantaneous signaling mechanism between the particles remains to be
explained; even if the two particles were elements of a single physical wave, the instantaneous
signaling violates Relativity Theory. As Penrose phrases the mystery, “The only way that the
particles can consistently provide the correct quantum-mechanical answers is by being in some
way, “connected” to each other right until one or the other of them is actually measured. This
mysterious “connection” between them is quantum entanglement.”[p 589].
Frozen Time Theory Explains Instantaneous Communication
In the FTT chapter, it was proposed that the apparently separated particles of an entangled
system (e.g., an atom or molecule) may communicate instantaneously by being collocated on the
time dimension. For this explanation to work, the Schrodinger wave equation (Schrödinger, E.
(1926). "An Undulatory Theory of the Mechanics of Atoms and Molecules" (PDF). Physical
Review. 28 (6): 1049–1070.) and (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schr%C3%B6dinger_equation )
would have to be interpreted to represent particles being manifested as waves extended across
space, instead of as merely probabilities for spatial location of a discrete particle. (Whether the
Schrodinger equation implies discrete particle spatial location probabilities, or the phases of a
wave extended through space, has been an ongoing debate from the days of its formulation; see
Particles as Waves in the wiki at
[
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schr%C3%B6dinger_equation#Particles_as_waves
]).
The concept of a particle wave defines it to be extended across space-time
In a wave form, a particle’s wave is extended across the manifold of space-time. For simplicity,
visualize a two dimensional Cartesian graph (a vertical y axis by a horizontal t axis) of two
separated particles; each particle is plotted separately on the y axis while being set to the same
value for the time dimension t. In the FTT, two entangled particles were proposed to be in
constant communication by their waves from the instant that the particles were formed as an
entangled system. Thus, when one of the particles is “touched” by an observation that measures
any characteristic of its existence, such as having a spin in one direction or another, the touched
particle is activated into manifesting with either an up or down spin (in terms of the Schroeder
wave equation, it is said to collapse into one of its possible solutions). The surprising prediction
from quantum mechanics as discussed above was that the second particle would instantly react to
the first particle’s manifested state by manifesting a complementary spin to keep the entangled
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system in balance (if the first particle were measured as, say, having an up spin, then its partner
would manifest as having a down spin). The results of a considerable amount of experimentation
have confirmed that the first particle observed appears to randomly acquire its spin as up or
down, and then the second particle reliably manifests the theoretically expected balancing spin.
Instant communication between entangled particles implies they are not fundamentally
material entities
A counter argument might be made that the energy level of waves extended over a great distance
ought to be too low to enable any effective communication between such separated particles, and
this argument makes sense for the materialistic paradigm. Consider, however, that effective
instantaneous communication is commonly reported between spiritual entities during OBE
episodes. Thus, an apt conjecture, based on consideration of OBE phenomena, would be that
entangled particles communicate by a wave connection that exists in a field of consciousness
whose power to operate is continuous throughout its entire field regardless of separation
distance. The conjecture that the material particles we may observe also exist as entities in a
universal field of consciousness is consistent with the quantum theory hypothesis formulated by
de Broglie that all matter is wave-like in nature.
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matter_wave#The_de_Broglie_hypothesis ).
Ordinary perception of the material world is a construction of the mind
It is proposed here that the light we perceive, that informs us of a material reality, exists in an
underlying field of consciousness. Furthermore, our ordinary perception of our external reality,
the world that we normally see, while informed by the light of objects, is itself a mental
construction formed by our consciousness, with our consciousness itself operating in a universal
field of consciousness. Our ordinary perception conveys to our minds the existence of a material
world of solid objects that we see, touch and feel. But we have known for over a century that
material objects are composed of atoms which are themselves mostly space separating electrons
in orbits relatively far distant from their nucleus of protons and neutrons; thus, the material world
we “see” is not really what exists. Centuries ago, before modern physics discovered the atomic
structure we now accept for the material world, Immanuel Kant’s analysis recognized that human
perception was unable in principle to see the world the way it might truly exist, the “noumenon”
underlying the seen phenomenon; we see appearances of entities, but cannot possibly see and
know them as they truly exist ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Immanuel_Kant , or Critique of
Pure Reason. New York: Random House, Inc., 1958).
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All existence is found in a universal field of consciousness
Analysis of how entangled particles, separated across any vast distances, communicate
instantaneously, defies explanation by classical, mechanistic, physical theorizing. Quantum
mechanics itself offers no explanation, or even hints at any explanation, for “spooky action at a
distance.” The explanation proposed here for entangled particle communication, instantly across
any extended distance, was driven to rely on an immaterial concept holding that reality is based
on a universal field of consciousness in which time and ordinary space do not exist. Our ordinary
perception of the world is surely helpful for living and surviving, but cannot in principle display
the underlying reality. Thus, it may reasonably be speculated that reality consists of a field of
universal consciousness. How was this field created? How could it have been created? There are
no answers found in ordinary life. Fortunately, the NDE with its OBE have provided reports
relevant to explaining Creation.
Synchronicity fully characterizes activity in the realm of consciousness
Carl Jung developed the concept of synchronicity ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Synchronicity )
as a concept about acausal events, meaningful coincidences occurring without any apparent
causal connections. Interestingly, Jung’s development of this acausal concept was informally
assisted by the quantum physicist Wolfgang Pauli (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wolfgang_Pauli
). However, an analysis of time not running during OBEs, as explained in Frozen Time Theory,
implies that all activity in the realm of disembodied conscious spirit is acausal, and thus
synchronistic. Where time does not flow, causation becomes an empty concept, because activity
does not sequence from one action to the next. Because the realm of consciousness contains no
mass (or energy, considering that Einstein proved that mass and energy are interchangeable), it
lacks the energy required in our material world to drive activity.
Existence functions in three inter-related domains
This paper delineates three inter-related domains of existence. The first domain is the foundation
domain, what is termed here as the "universal field of consciousness." This "field" is God, and
included in God are His spirit (human and “other”) creations also as pure consciousness with all
connected together as a unitary field. An ordinary definition for consciousness could allude to
self-awareness, thought, imagination, and decision making-- but these actions are the result of
consciousness, and not the noumena, as Kant defined for unknown entities that give rise to
perception, the thing in itself. Instead, consciousness is basically a primitive term that cannot be
defined with words, but may only be known thru experience; for example, if we try to define the
fragrance perceived from a rose for someone who has never experienced the fragrance, the words
would provide meaningless terminology.
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Hiller, J. H., Space, Time, & Consciousness (Part 3): Universal Consciousness Underlies All of Reality - A Tripartite Domain Theory
The second domain, which is more fundamental than materialistic space-time, is a
multidimensional world that is populated by spirit beings that take the form of light, with God
also manifesting as light. The NDE/OBE reports are typically about perception within this
domain. The second domain is generally referred to as Heaven. Heaven is characterized by
uninterrupted love from God, the total absence of stressors, such as produced in the material
body for food, clothing and shelter, and lusts, such as for sex, money, and power.
The third is the material domain we normally perceive while living on the Earth, which includes
the three spatial dimensions, and consciousness of time passing, with a distinctive past, and a
future. The hypothesized purpose for God creating the material domain is to provide for spiritual
development through the experience of stressors, lusts, and the free will reaction to them. Such
spiritual development is impossible in the second domain, Heaven, for lack of stressors and
conflicts. As depicted in the diagram, the 3rd Domain is included in the 2nd, and the 2nd and 3rd
are nested in the 1st.
1st
2nd
3rd
3rd
Set theoretic representation of the
three hypothesized domains
Resolution of apparent conflicts between morality and amorality for life
It is frequently reported from the NDE/OBE, and from spiritually transformative experiences or
deep states of meditation, that God does not judge the spirit as His love is given unconditionally.
Self-judgment is natural during life reviews subsequent to trauma, and individuals may deeply
regret hurtful or immoral behavior, but God is felt NOT to judge. Yet, all cultures and the JudeoChristian religions are deeply concerned about morality—good vs. evil, and condemn, not only
immoral behavior, but even immoral thoughts or imagination (the precursors to potential action).
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Hiller, J. H., Space, Time, & Consciousness (Part 3): Universal Consciousness Underlies All of Reality - A Tripartite Domain Theory
The Ten Commandments and Christ’s Golden Rule make it clear that the moral dimension of life
is paramount, and thus important to God. Thus, there is an apparent conflict between
conventional culture and religion and reporting from NDE/OBE and meditative states that good
and evil are unimportant to God and reflect a mistake in Western culture and religion. A
resolution for this apparent conflict is inherent in the tripartite domain theory.
When individuals are having an OBE or deep meditation experience, the context is the second,
Heavenly, domain in which stress and evil do not exist—God would not be judging what does
not then exist, although individuals in their life review may typically judge the moral character of
their own behavior. However, morality surely applies to the material, Earth, domain by God’s
design to enable spiritual development. Here is an NDE report on Point:
I died when I was little, but can't accurately remember how old I was. I might have been
8 or 9 years old. I do remember that I was in grade 2.
It was an accident. My brother and sister put a pillow over my face and smothered me.
They didn't see it as bad. At the time, they were trying to stop me from winning a game.
I remember clearly and I felt in such peace. I was suspended on the ceiling, which
seemed higher than the actual ceiling. I watched them below and realized that I better
go back because they might get in trouble if I didn't do so. I did wonder if I should stay,
but decided to go back.
I sat up and told them what happened. They never believed me and nor does anyone I
tell to this day.
Since that day a lot of strange things happened.
I am at peace with all the horrific things that have happened to me since this experience.
I have this strange understanding that it's all for me to grow as a spirit, to learn
what I can, and teach others in a non-direct way. For example, I feel I need to
guide and teach people about good because when they come back and they've been
evil, a long and scary life awaits until they learn how to be spiritual. [My bolding]
I am now 52 and although I still struggle emotionally and spiritually, I am
consciously aware that I have purpose. I know there are spirits around us. I know
about making a white bright light protection bubble around myself and those I
love. [My bolding]
I didn't go to 'another place' when I died. But I know I was dead and I knew of the other
place, the real place. I chose to come back by myself. Although nobody can confirm
that I died, I know I did.“ (https://www.nderf.org/Experiences/1natalie_c_nde.html )
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Hiller, J. H., Space, Time, & Consciousness (Part 3): Universal Consciousness Underlies All of Reality - A Tripartite Domain Theory
The New Age idea of uninhibited “going with the flow” when it’s pleasurable, that rejects stern
morality as based on archaic religions, fails to recognize that morality in life is at the core of
God’s design for life on the Earth to enable spiritual development. The NDE reports do,
however, tend to validate the New Age belief that humans are all fundamentally spiritual beings,
not the randomly constructed mechanical objects that scientific materialism defines.
The universal field of consciousness is God
Max Planck, the founder of quantum theory, concluded that consciousness provides the
foundation for material reality,
I regard consciousness as fundamental. I regard matter as derivative from
consciousness. We cannot get behind consciousness. Everything that we talk about,
everything that we regard as existing, postulates consciousness." Furthermore, " As a
man who has devoted his whole life to the most clearheaded science, to the study of
matter, I can tell you as a result of my research about the atoms this much: There is no
matter as such! All matter originates and exists only by virtue of a force which brings
the particles of an atom to vibration and holds this most minute solar system of the atom
together. . . . We must assume behind this force the existence of a conscious and
intelligent Mind. This Mind is the matrix of all matter. (See,
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Max_Planck ).
The explanation found for Creation is that God created the world, that the world created is
fundamentally consciousness, and that the world is in fact God’s very being. A frequent report
from those traumatized individuals returning from an NDE is that, while their soul existed in a
spirit form in Heaven or in the direct presence of God, they realized that everything, every thing,
is connected and actually part of God. Given that God is eternal and all that exists, so too are all
of God’s creations. Our lives, our experiences, good and bad, harsh and beautiful, are all the play
of God creatively exploring possibilities throughout eternity.
Bibliography
Einstein, A; Podolsky,B.and Rosen, N. (1935-05-15). "Can Quantum-Mechanical Description of Physical
Reality be Considered Complete?" . Physical Review. 47 (10): 777–780. Bibcode:1935PhRv...47..777E.
doi:10.1103/PhysRev.47.777.
Kant, I. Critique of Pure Reason. New York: Random House, Inc., 1958.
Lommel, P. Consciousness Beyond Life. New York: HarperCollins, 2007.
Long, J. Evidence of the Afterlife. New York: Harper One, 2010.
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Hiller, J. H., Space, Time, & Consciousness (Part 3): Universal Consciousness Underlies All of Reality - A Tripartite Domain Theory
Moody, R. Life after Life. San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco, 1975
Penrose, R. The Road to Reality, A Complete Guide to the Laws of the Universe. New York: Alfred A
Knopf, 2004, page 583 and 589.
Jung, Carl G. (1993) [1952]. Synchronicity: An Acausal Connecting Principle. Bollingen, Switzerland:
Bollingen Foundation. ISBN 978-0-691-01794-5. Since included in his Collected Works volume 8.
Planck, M. " (See, https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Max_Planck ).
Schrödinger, E. (1926). "An Undulatory Theory of the Mechanics of Atoms and Molecules" (PDF).
Physical Review. 28 (6): 1049–1070.
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Pederzoli, L., Prati, E., Resti, N., Carlo, D. D., & Tressoldi, P., Hypno-Channelings: A New Tool for the Investigation of
Channeling Experiences
504
Exploration
Hypno-Channelings:
A New Tool for the Investigation of Channeling Experiences
Luciano Pederzoli1, Elena Prati1, Nadia Resti1, Daniela Del Carlo2
& Patrizio Tressoldi*3
1
EvanLab, Firenze, Italia
S.A.M.O. - Scuola di Counseling Olistico, Avenza (MS), Italia
3Science of Consciousness Research Group - Dipartimento di Psicologia
Generale, Università di Padova, Italia
2
Abstract
This study describes for the first time a procedure to channel and interview various purported
discarnate Entities obtained by initially inducing the participants into an Out of Body Experience
via hypnotic suggestions. We report the conversations with seven different Entities, three of
which were done individually and four in group sessions, channeled by different participants
with no previous channeling experience. This procedure, we named Hypno-Channeling, allows
to contact and interview with easy various Entities and it represents a good tool in order to
determine whether the acquired information derives from a discarnate Entity, the channeler or
the interviewer.
Keywords: Channeling, hypnosis, out-of-body experience, phenomenology.
Introduction
Gospel of Luke 24:27
Then beginning with Moses and with all the prophets,
He explained to them the things concerning Himself in all the Scriptures.
Quran, chapter 96 (Al-Alaq), verse 1-5
Proclaim! (or read!) in the name of thy Lord and Cherisher, Who createdCreated man, out of a (mere) clot of congealed blood:
Proclaim! And thy Lord is Most Bountiful,He Who taught (the use of) the pen,Taught man that which he knew not.
Channeling is a practice in which an individual (a channeler), usually willingly, enters into a
non- ordinary mental state and communicates with one or more intelligent ‘Entity’ that speaks
*
Correspondence author: Patrizio Tressoldi, Science of Consciousness Research Group, Dipartimento di Psicologia Generale,
Università di Padova, Italia. E-mail: patrizio.tressoldi@unipd.it
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and acts through his/her mind and body. During such a state, the person acting as the channeler
may or may not be consciously aware of what the Entity is saying or doing.
Whereas channeling experiences have been known since the origin of all the major religious
traditions, very few scientific investigations have been carried out to date (see Stolovy, LevWiesel, & Eisikovits, 2015; Wahbeh, Carpenter, & Radin, 2018; Wahbeh & Radin, 2018;
Wahbeh, Cannard, Okonsky, & Delorme, 2019; Jooyce, Wahbeh, Delorme, Okonsky, 2020).
Among the main issues related to this phenomenon is the critical question about the origin of the
channelled information and specifically: “Is this information transmitted by a discarnate Entity
of a different physical/spiritual level or does it simply come from the mind of the channeler?”
In modern times this practice is usually restricted to mediums and clairvoyants, which often
‘channel’ – for payment or sometimes for free – a client’s deceased person. Other times the
channeler, either through a specific practice or sometimes spontaneously, senses an Entity
requesting the medium’s mind or body to communicate something to him/her or others.
The following are extracts of descriptions of their experiences from two spontaneous
channellers.
Sanaya & Duane (1987):
My experience of trance varies, depending on the information I am bringing through. I
go into a very deep trance when channeling information for books and relaying esoteric
information of universal knowledge. When I am channeling for other people, my trance
is lighter, for it does not take the same amount of Orin’s energy to transmit this kind of
information.
Patrizia Vale (2018):
On advice from D. Baker I began keeping a ‘spiritual diary’ after my meditations, in
which I wrote general questions such as: “What does Man add to God’s perfection?
Why did the ONE need duality?”, and other personal ones. To my great surprise I began
receiving answers, at first succinct and then very articulate, all in English.
This was my first contact with a Guide – I was told – I had met during an incarnation in
the USA. These handwritten contacts continued almost daily until 2000. From this
guide I learned many things about my past, got much invaluable advice about my
personality and was forewarned that I would be contacted by a ‘higher Entity’.
Indeed, as I wrote in the introduction to ‘Let the soul speak’, in the summer of 2000 – I
had just bought a computer I barely knew how to use – I felt the need to write the first
page, which began like this: “When we work for the soul we are always assisted by an
Angel and many Guides...”. Was it a voice? A force? To my amazement the dictation
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Channeling Experiences
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continued and after a month my first book about the soul was created, containing 12
chapters.
Even now I still can’t describe what I feel as I write; I know I need to keep my mind
empty and simply be a receiving antenna. I must not interfere with my mind, but have
total faith in it. I am not in a ‘trance’ state, I’m fully conscious and can decide when I’m
ready and when to stop writing.
From a study by Stolovy et al (2015) and one by Wahbeh et al (2018) respectively, we can read
about further experiences obtained from individual interviews of 20 expert Israeli channelers and
five American ones working as a group.
These two studies show that the channelings were positive and controlled, attesting that these
dissociative experiences are not expressions of mental psychopathology, as also confirmed in the
study of Wahbeh & Radin (2018).
Since channeling is not usually replicable at any moment, the channeler, if capable, could
telepathically access the questioner’s mind. We therefore come to the fundamental question:
“Could the information supplied by the non-physical channeled Entity perhaps be a product of
the channeler’s or the questioner’s mind?”
A reliable answer to this question requires repeatedly and easily channeling the particular Entity
and subjecting it to a long series of well-prepared questions, the answers of which will only be of
specific interest if they are not part of the knowledge/beliefs of the channeler or the questioner.
In the procedure paragraph that follows, we will describe an innovative method which allows
selected participants to be first induced in a controlled Out of Body Experience (OBE) by
specific hypnotic suggestions and afterwards to be brought in contact with disincarnate Entities
interested to be channeled. In this controlled channeling condition, the hypnotist can interview
the channeled Entity asking all questions he is curious about and try to understand whether the
information he is receiving are really conveyed by a “third” part and not from the channeler
itself.
Methods
Participants
The participants were nine adults – eight females and one male – ranging in age from 52 to 68
years with no self-referred physical or mental pathology. Those who did the individual sessions,
all females, we will call E, DD, and N, while those in the group session will be called A, An, M,
D, P and DC, as well as DD who also did individual sessions.
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On the Dissociative Experience Scale – II, seven participants (M, A, An, D, P, DC and DD)
reported a score greater than 30, which is the threshold of possible psychopathology. However,
their professional and personal lives are totally free from clinical mental disorders as declared by
them and witnessed by the hypnotist who knew each of them from long time.
All participants signed an informed consent form containing a description of the entire
procedure, its aims, and how to voluntarily interrupt the experience at any time.
Each participant had accrued experience in hypnosis and hypnotically induced OBEs varying
from 2 to 10 sessions with the same hypnotist, but none had ever experienced a channeling.
The hypnotist was an adult male with more than 20 years of experience in research hypnosis.
Procedure
Contact with the channeled Entity occurred according to the following four stages: Relaxation,
hypnosis induction, OBE induction, contact with the channelled Entity.
The characteristics of these stages and the procedures used are described in detail in Pederzoli
and Tressoldi, (2018) . In short, the purpose of the relaxation stage, with a maximum time of
four-five minutes, is to remove the subject’s attention from normal bodily sensations, which in
this situation are considered unwanted background noise. The pre-hypnotic phase, with a
maximum duration of four-five minutes, is based on the induced visualization of a relaxing
environment totally free of anxiety but rich in rapidly alternating sensory stimuli. A final stage,
with a maximum duration of three minutes, is added in which sensory stimulation continues
further, then suddenly stops when the subject is led to an armchair which envelops him/her like a
cloud, causing all physical sensation to cease, thus marking the true OBE stage. The attainment
of this state of consciousness was directly asked to the participants who confirmed they felt
themselves detached from their physical body.
It must be specified that the time required to reach the OBE induction stage has shortened with
repeated sessions, down to a few tens of seconds.
Contact with the Entity occurred by simply asking the OBE subject to make him/herself
available for contact and then wait attentively.
At this point the hypnotist would ask if the Entity was ready for a dialogue and if the answer was
positive (we never encountered a refusal), the conversation would proceed. Apart from the first
contact when, obviously, it was impossible to predict which Entity would appear, a list of
questions was prepared by the hypnotist before each subsequent encounter.
It is important to take in account that the channelers didn’t know the questions before their
channelings making impossible to retrieve the responses in advance.
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Audio recordings were made of all interviews so they could be listened to again at leisure to
organize the answers and prepare further questions. Some examples of complete interviews are
available at https://figshare.com/articles/Channelings/6984251.
In addition to single participants, the OBE induction technique for channeling was also applied
to groups, once with four and another with six female adults and one male adult, all without prior
channeling experience. All participants already had some experience in OBE induction by
hypnotic suggestion with the same hypnotist, and in a group auto-induction. Essentially the
procedure for OBE induction in a group is the same as for an individual, except that there are
more participants and they are all present in one room, either sitting or lying on the floor in close
proximity.
When all participants declared having reached the OBE state, the hypnotist would simply
instruct: “Now that you are all in an OBE state, hold hands and convey the intention to contact
non-physical Entities.” The complete transcription of two group channellings are available at:
https://figshare.com/articles/Channelings/6984251
At the end of each channeling session, all audio recordings were transcribed and were made
available to the channelers in order to show them the information they channeled. Furthermore,
they were requested to indicate what information they considered new and unexpected for them.
Results
Individual Channellings
The entity channelled by E described itself as ‘Agarthian’ and the channeling (to date more than
nine hours in total) was indirect, in that E acted as the ‘interpreter’, translating, so to speak, the
questions and the Entity replies. As efficient as it is, this type of channeling can lead to a loss of
information in the double ‘translation’ process; nonetheless the excellent replicability of these
same channelings and the quality of answers allowed a detailed study of this Entity and its
knowledge. The information obtained from this channeling is available in the file titled
‘Agarthian Information ’ at https://figshare.com/articles/Channelings/6984251. The pink text in
this file indicates information unknown to both the questioner and the channeler.
Since, however, that Entity seemed somewhat reluctant to disclose certain information and in
order to cross check his information, from the 24th April 2017 it was possible to channel still
indirectly another “Agarthian’ Entity with DD (to date 2 hours and 23 minutes in total), calling
itself Antares and who, as well as disclosing some unexpected information, stated that it knew
the other ‘Agarthian’ and his disinclination to impart information of interest to his despised
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Channeling Experiences
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‘humans’. The information obtained from this channelling is available in the file titled ‘Antares’
Interview” at https://figshare.com/articles/Channelings/6984251.
From these channellings we obtained information on the following subjects:
-
Differences and relationship between the Physical, Subtle, and Psychic Bodies;
The afterlife and different lives;
The structure of reality;
Mediumship;
Mind-matter interaction;
Medicine;
Information about Agarthians and other populations.
The third single participant, N, proved to be an excellent channeler. When asked to make herself
available for contact with non-physical Entities who appear trustworthy and with a reassuring
aura, N reported seeing a very bright white light in front of her. Within it was a luminous elderly
man with long white hair and a long white beard. When queried, “He” (as we referred to it)
replied that he was available and had appeared exactly for this reason. He also said he knew what
we were doing and looked upon us benevolently.
From the second contact onwards, however, this Entity appeared to N as only energy, in that he
was – according to “Him – composed of ‘thought’, meaning will/intent – in this case intent for
contact – and ‘energy’, meaning ‘thought density’, and not as a product of force multiplied by
distance (as in physics).
From the 21st October 2017 until this writing, more than 29 hours of actual channeling were
collected with this particularly interesting Entity. Furthermore, after a few hours of indirect
channelling, it was possible to switch to regular direct channeling, which is to say, speaking
directly with the Entity, with the channeler having more frequent and deeper spontaneous
amnesia regarding what occurred during the channeling.
Here is a description of the experience from the channeler herself:
There were three stages: the first one, very short, was the ‘driving school’ as the
hypnotist called it. I had no difficulty following the instructions, even though they were
a bit odd; there was a strong component of ‘judgement’ which sometimes came through
in the answers, but I had neither unpleasant sensations nor strong resistance that could
have interfered with the process.
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Channeling Experiences
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The second was the stage in which the instructions had been learned: I was very relaxed
in the experience. The ‘rational’ part was becoming less present, as my limbs were
becoming more lethargic, especially my arms. In short, my body was resistant.
The third stage began for me when my conscious part became like a spectator and was
no longer involved. I could summarize it by saying it was like watching a performance
in which part of me was taking part in it and another part was a spectator. This more or
less coincided with the moment in which LP started talking directly to the one we called
“He”.
It was “He”, with respect to questions the hypnotist asked about my physical
difficulties, who gave us very practical suggestions on managing them. Suggestions I
followed and in fact the problems gradually disappeared, such that channeling sessions
lasting longer than an hour posed no problems. Now my physical reactivation is in the
order of a few minutes.
This description refers to the changes I noticed during the channeling, but I also noticed
differences compared to normal even in the extra-channeling periods. At first, in what I
called the 1st stage, after the sessions I remembered the subjects we discussed quite
well, whereas by the second stage I only remembered some things, and I only
remembered the later ones after listening to the recording.
In the third stage, where we are now, I don’t remember what was discussed during the
channelings and I retrieve it when I listen to the recording.
I often deliberately wait five or six days after the channeling sessions before listening to
the recording and in the listening I am amazed by the answers to questions, because I
really couldn’t answer them with what I know, and I listen with great curiosity about
what “He” says. Even now I’m still not used to the consistency with which many
concepts are stated, repeated and expanded on.
By now for me the channeling sessions are normal; I have been living this experience
continuously for about a year. After overcoming stages 1 and 2 I feel very alert and
mentally resistant, and I noticed an improved intuitive capacity. I can’t be certain that
this is due to the sessions, so I share it as a personal feeling, but I emphasize that it’s a
rather distinct sensation.
This procedure has allowed rather detailed investigation into the channelled personality and his
disclosures, that range from characteristics of our identity to life after death of the Physical
Body, from the structure of three-dimensional reality to a multi-dimensional one, from how to
use our mind’s potential to the story of humanity. The complete content of the interviews is
detailed in the file titled ‘Contents of dialogues with “Him”’ available from
https://figshare.com/articles/Channelings/6984251
The following is a short excerpt from the interview conducted on the 22nd April 2018:
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Channeling Experiences
H (hypnotist) – Physical Bodies can have intense interactions among themselves: can
Subtle Bodies do the same, or not?
“He” – Yes, the Subtle Body is very connected to the Physical: if the Physical Body is
in a punch-up, the Subtle Body is not giving caresses, but the Subtle Body is not just a
casing for the Physical Body, it’s another level, so the opposite is also true, in that if the
Subtle Body enters an elevated state, the Physical Body does too, like in an OBE.
H – If we arrange to meet in an OBE, such as while we sleep, does the meeting occur
between the Subtle or the Psychic Bodies?
“He” – The Psychic Bodies.
H – How is it, then, that the meeting is in an environment that appears real, such as in a
room that doesn’t actually exist, but there’s a sofa on which the two sit exactly as they
would with their Physical Bodies? Is it just a representation, or something more?
“He” – It’s a representation, a crutch that you all need.
H – Obviously Psychic Bodies can interact among themselves – what can they do?
“He” – Lots of things (chuckles), depending on the reason: they can be very ‘strong’, in
the usual meaning of the term, but their interaction is rather complex.
H – Is it at the level of information exchange or other levels?
“He” – Information exchange could represent a lower level rather than a simpler one.
Psychic Bodies are at a very high level, almost at the energy exchange level.
H – So it’s a transmission of deeper concepts, and not just information...
“He” – Yes, even at that level individuality is very blurred.
And here is an extract from the interview conducted on 19th August 2018:
H. – To what degree are you independent of my and N’s cultural conditioning and
beliefs?
“He” – I’ve been hoping you would ask me that. I can’t say I’m totally independent,
also because if I were totally independent, I wouldn’t be able to make contact. To do so
I need to connect to your intuitions. Intuition is the most correct concept and without it
there would be no contact. Obviously, and you would have noticed, our interaction is
gradually changing, but it must happen slowly and is dependent on both of you. What I
say doesn’t depend on you; how I express it depends on your conventions, culture, and
ability.
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H. – In fact, your statements sometimes coincide with what I think and other times they
don’t, and for me those that don’t agree with either my or N’s convictions are the most
credible because when something you say coincides with my point of view, I wonder if
it was me transmitting that idea.
“He” – I know very well that you haven’t always believed everything I’ve told you.
Group Channelings
The subjects covered by the two Entities are concentrated on the differences between our
universe and others. The full translation of these two channellings is available in the file titled
‘Group channelings while in hypnobe’ from https://figshare.com/articles/Channelings/6984251
Discussion
The achievement of an OBE state via hypnotic induction has allowed some very interesting
channelings with participants who had never previously undergone such an experience.
After more than 40 total hours of channeling with nine different channelers and seven different
channeled Entities, the repeatability of this procedure is therefore not just scientifically
approachable, but can also be used for new and worthwhile research into a heretofore unexplored
field.
We advise those who seek to use our procedure to be very mindful of the goal of these
experiences and the personal characteristics of the channelers in order to avoid dissociative
effects or possessions which can cause harm to their mental health.
Among the many advantages offered by this procedure with respect to voluntary and involuntary
channeling, we emphasize the fact that it allows the ‘translating’ of information given by various
Entities into words and concepts familiar to the questioner, even though many times these same
Entities had difficulty finding words to express what they wanted to say, for example:
H – If I understand correctly then, ‘my’ Psychic Body has multiple identities – of which
LP is a part – that make up a ‘lives plan’, but in turn is part of a ‘higher’ plan of which
various Psychic Bodies are a part: we could perhaps call it a ‘Super Psychic Body’.
“He” – It’s better to call them ‘branchings’. What I’m doing – my activity – is at the
level of your current Psychic Body: it’s part of a bigger plan and acts on your Psychic
Bodies. The situation is not as hierarchical as you make it sound, it’s more ‘fluid’. Your
situation, with different interacting Psychic Bodies, is not very common: I can, in a
way, ‘see’ your branchings and when I mentioned many lives (the exact number is not
important) I was referring to the overall plan, which in your case is rather complex.
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Other times though they clearly stated that certain things for now cannot be understood, for
example:
H – Sometimes, when speaking of human evolution so far, you used words like ‘maybe’
or ‘probably’: is it limitations of your knowledge or in the explaining?
“He” When I used the word ‘maybe’, it was appropriate at the time because I was
taking into account the range of possibilities for humanity’s development and I chose
what was needed for the answer, but there could have been others.
H – Are there other recordings like those of our past, potential, or parallel history?
“He” – Depends on what we talk about: we spoke about many evens on this Earth, but
it’s a partial conversation. We could risk being ‘diverted’, because even for questions
about Earth’s history we need to adhere to a type of boundary, or we could truly lose
ourselves. It’s not that I, as an Entity, don’t know: from where I am, I can easily access
that information, but it wouldn’t be useful.
The above excerpts underline the importance of practice for the channelers to reduce their
cognitive filters and hence allow a direct conversation between the interviewer and the Entity.
Do we have enough evidence to prove that the information obtained is from Entities and not
from the channeler and interviewer/hypnotist minds?
Those who conducted and participated in these experiences firmly believe so, but it is certainly
not enough to convince those who think that all the information received would have been drawn
from the memory – even if unconsciously – of the channelers and/or hypnotist. The bottom line
is that until now, the information received does not contain predictions of events or knowledge
that can be verified in the immediate future.
We can definitely exclude the possibility that the information was obtained by the telepathic
connection between the channeler and the questioner’s conscious mind, in that it would make no
sense for the questioner to still be collecting information from the channelings if it were only
what was already known.
Conclusions
Whether or not the information received was simply obtained from the channeler remains an
open question. Our channelers ruled this out categorically after having read the contents, but
although they had the interviewer’s total trust, we cannot entirely exclude this possibility even
though it seems highly unlikely considering the variety of subjects covered.
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Channeling Experiences
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We believe that, for the time being, the best proof of the source of the information lies in
independent repetition by different hypnotists and channelers.
If these replications will confirm that the information received comes from non-physical Entities,
we believe our procedure may represent a true and compelling possibility of communicating with
Entities living in a different dimension to ours. If not, it would still be very interesting to
investigate how the channelers can obtain such information that would otherwise be unavailable
in an ordinary state of consciousness.
Acknowledgments: Part of this research was funded by the Helene Reeder Memorial Fund. We also
acknowledge the contribution of Dr. Cinzia Evangelista for English revision.
Received June 22, 2020; Accepted July 25, 2020
References
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Pederzoli, L., & Tressoldi, P. E. (2018). A Guide for OBE Induction. SSRN Electronic Journal.
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Sanaya, R., & Duane, P. (1987). Opening to Channel: How to Connect with Your Guide.
Stolovy, T., Lev-Wiesel, R., & Eisikovits, Z. (2015). Dissociation and the Experience of Channeling:
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Experimental Hypnosis, 63(3), 346–364. https://doi.org/10.1080/00207144.2015.1031555
Vale, P. (2018). Pubblicazioni - Centro Yoga Shakti. Retrieved August 19, 2018, from
http://www.centroyogashakti.com/pubblicazioni/
Wahbeh, H., Cannard, C., Okonsky, J., & Delorme, A. (2019). A physiological examination of perceived
incorporation during trance. F1000Research, 8, 67. https://doi.org/10.12688/f1000research.17157.1
Wahbeh, H., Carpenter, L., & Radin, D. (2018). A mixed methods phenomenological and exploratory
study of channeling. Journal of the Society for Psychical Research, 82(3), 129–147.
Wahbeh, H., & Radin, D. (2018). People reporting experiences of mediumship have higher dissociation
symptom scores than non-mediums, but below thresholds for pathological dissociation.
F1000Research, 6. https://doi.org/10.12688/f1000research.12019.3
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Article
Bias Impedes Progress in Physical Biology,
Consciousness Studies & Quantum Gravity
Maurice Goodman*
School of Physics, Technological University Dublin, Ireland
Abstract
If scientists hope to make progress in consciousness studies they needs to accept that biased
judgments have a major influence on the sciences, how we divide them up, how they are funded
and this, in turn, has a profound impact on progress. The imbalance in funding, resulting from
bias, in favour of the life and health sciences needs to be addressed as does why perversely little
of this funding is devoted to a physics explanation of self-organisation and life on the
mesoscopic scale? While life (the cell) is an outstanding example of self-organisation on the
mesoscopic scale we need to be aware that self-organisation on this scale is ubiquitous in both
animate and inanimate matter. The lack of effort, due to bias, to understand self-organisation on
the mesoscopic scale is holding up progress in all biology related fields. We come face to face
with our biases whenever theory predicts something unexpected such as the link between the
biological cell, the electron neutrino, and the weak force. New results from KATRIN continue to
support this link and has finally pushed the upper limit of the neutrino mass into the range
predicted in the 1980’s. Following on from this success nature also organises itself on the
galactic scale. The implications for Astronomy are examined together with how our biases may
be preventing an understanding of the role of quantum mechanics in nature. Extending the mass
sequence, that predicted the neutrino mass, suggests a new mass associated with gravity and a
way to resolve the, discrete versus continuous, conflict between quantum mechanics and
relativity and incorporate dark matter and dark energy naturally into a more comprehensive
model of the natural world where all sciences with associated structure are physical.
Keywords: Bias, impedance, progress, physical biology, consciousness study, quantum gravity.
Introduction
Twelve years has come and gone since this Journal was first published in January 2010. It was
suggested, back then, that physicists were “avoiding the consciousness issue like a plague” (Hu
and Wu 2010). Physicists are still not working in the consciousness area and I have long realised
that there is something as fundamental as the electron which is needed to understand the atom, or
the quark to understand nuclear behaviour, missing from our understanding when it comes to
biology and consciousness. The lack of any fundamental physics principle upon which to base an
understanding of biology and consciousness allows charlatans, with access to funding, to
commandeer such fields promoting their preferred theory, however bizarre. Such theories only
serve to clutter these fields of study resulting in a continued “mediocrity and stagnancy” that
*
Correspondence: Maurice Goodman, Technological University Dublin, Ireland. maurice.goodman@tudublin.ie
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hold up progress in areas such as consciousness studies. While all theories should be welcomed
initially, there needs to be a minimum requirement that they are rooted in the mathematical and
physics bedrock of science.
Our lack of progress also appears to have its roots in a whole host of biased judgements humans
are inclined, and in some cases forced, to make. This paper attempts to highlight some of these
biases, show how they impede progress, and suggest how less biased judgements, on our part,
may aid progress in the physical sciences, in biology, and ultimately help lead to progress in
consciousness studies, sometime in the future.
A physical biology
The dictionary definition of the word ‘physical’ is “of matter”. The amount of matter is
determined by the mass of a structure while the concentration of matter in a region of space is,
broadly speaking, determined by its density. The following table shows typical values of these
parameters for an iron nucleus, an iron atom in a block of iron, a typical biological cell and a
galaxy. (A galaxy is approximated by a disk whose thickness is approximately one hundred of its
diameter)
Science
Nuclear Sc.
Chemistry
Biology
Astronomy
Structure
Nucleus
Iron atom
Cell
Galaxy
Mass (kg)
10-25
10-25
10-11
1041
Diameter(m)
10-14
3x10-10
3x10-5
1021
Volume(m3)
5x10-43
10-29
2x10-14
1061
Density(kg/m3)
2x1017
104
5x102
10-20
Table 1. All structures found in nature are physical as are all the sciences of structure.
Table 1. Demonstrates that all listed structures are “of matter”, have mass, and therefore must be
physical. We consider Nuclear Science and Chemistry to be physical sciences, which is
reasonable, as they contain relatively large quantities of matter. What is not reasonable is that we
consider Astronomy to be a physical science even though its basic unit of structure (the galaxy)
is 22 orders of magnitude (1022) less dense than a cell whose science (Biology) is not considered
to be physical. This is perverse and, as explained in a previous paper (Goodman 2018),
demonstrates the unjustified autonomy assigned to biology. It also highlights our anthropocentric
bias that is preventing progress towards a holistic biology that is integrated with the rest of the
physical sciences. Our inability to explain how the cell becomes a cohesive whole does not make
biology unphysical. Also, having structures with properties (e.g. mind and consciousness) that
we cannot yet explain does not make biology less physical. Instead, the lack of explanation
points to the incompleteness of physics which, I believe, will be rectified in the 21st century.
Finally physics is not the science of any particular physical structure found in nature, and is
therefore not a physical science. It is a science of the properties and interactions of fundamental
particles, energy and bulk matter and as such acts as an interface between math and all the
physical sciences.
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Chemistry bias in biology
Efforts to explain biology as a complex series of chemical processes alone, have been shown to
be inadequate. The failure of chemistry to explain loss of consciousness in the field of
anaesthetics illustrates this point. A wide range of chemical substances from elements to
complex molecules can act as general anaesthetics on all animals from, single cells to man. This
makes no sense from a chemistry viewpoint and suggests that a very basic non-chemical cellular
mechanism must be involved. One such element that acts as an anaesthetic, is Xenon. Xenon is a
noble gas that has no chemistry, as its outer electron shell is full (chemically inert), and certainly
not in conditions found in the brain. In biology the shape of molecules is often used to transfer
information. However, Xenon is a perfect sphere of electron density which precludes transfer of
information via molecule shape. Yet, as a general anaesthetic Xenon causes rapid changes in
electron spin content in Drosophila (Turin et al. 2014). The nuclear spin of the Xenon nucleus
also appears to have an impact on the potency of the isotope when used as an anaesthetic (Li et
al. 2018). The common denominator here is spin and spin is not confined to nucleons, electrons
or, for that matter, chemistry. Neutrinos also have spin. This raises the possibility that some
biological effects (anaesthesia) may be unrelated to chemistry at all. Given what is known about
Xenon’s lack of chemistry and shape, it makes a lot more sense to consider non-chemical
processes involving spin such as those previously proposed, in this journal (Goodman 2015), that
suggest the existence of a non-chemical link between the electron neutrino and the global
properties of the biological cell.
Chemical and Nuclear processes are not Quantum Biology
Quantum nuclear processes in the atom are, quite rightly, not referred to as quantum chemistry as
the force involved is not electromagnetic and the particles involved are not electrons. So why do
we insist on calling atomic and molecular processes such as photosynthesis in plants, photo
transduction in the eye, enzymatic activity, olfaction in the nose, chemical energy conversion
into motion, magneto reception, DNA mutation etc. quantum biology? A quantum biology
workshop at a conference (TSC 2019) held in Interlaken, Switzerland in June 2019 is a case in
point. All the workshop presenters related their contributions to nuclear, or atomic, or molecular
structure and related nuclear or electromagnetic processes. Atomic and molecular processes are
quantum chemistry not quantum biology. The work presented was quantum nuclear science or
quantum chemistry not quantum biology, all be it in the biological domain. Quantum mechanics
is by its very nature holistic and must refer to the entire system being considered be it nucleus,
atom, cell, or galaxy. Quantum biology has yet to make its entrance and when it does it will treat
the biological cell in its entirety as a holistic system. Convincing ourselves that we are engaged
doing quantum biology, when we are not, is another example of human bias that is not helpful to
progress in biology. Just as nuclear science does not explain chemistry, chemistry will not yield a
complete explanation of biology as quantum biology will have little to do with the chemistry
taking place inside the cell. In summary, quantum chemical and nuclear processes are not
quantum biology.
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Anthropocentric bias and funding
Anthropocentrism has plagued the mainstream scientific communities thinking (Goodman, 2017)
for centuries, and still does so today. A previous paper (Goodman, 2018) discussed the link
between anthropocentrism and the desire for autonomy in biology. By the late 18th century the
support for anthropocentrism had become subtle as we continued to fool ourselves by separating
life from all the other ‘physical’ sciences. The word Biology was introduced around the start of
the 19th century and in a 40-year period in the mid-19th century it developed into a separate
branch of science. From the outset it was argued that Biology was autonomous and separate from
the other physical sciences and this is still the case in the 21st century. One of the 20th century’s
leading evolutionary biologists and philosopher of biology (Mayr, 2004) devoted an entire
chapter to ‘The autonomy of biology’ in his book entitled: What makes Biology unique? It was
first published as recently as 2004. He also suggested that Biology was the dominant science.
This is just anthropocentrism in disguise.
Figure 1. 90% of science research funding goes to life and related fields.
The dominance Mayr referred to (Goodman, 2018) was financial. A brief look at the funding,
over the last half century (See Figure 1. for AAAS data), of scientific research reveals that, in the
USA, more than 90% of funding went to life and life related science and engineering. For
example, Computer Science is for the benefit of mankind as are engineering, social science, and
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psychology etc. From 2001 to 2017 more than 40% of America’s federal funds was spent
specifically on human health with an additional 50% spent on related life sciences. This left less
than 10% shared among the other 3 sciences. Also, of the few percent of funding physics
received the majority of this was spent at the extremes of the very large (Astronomy) or the very
small (fundamental particle) scale with little or none spent on the everyday scale of the physics
of the biological cell or self-organisation in inanimate materials (Goodman, 2008). The missing
physics, at this mesoscopic scale, that receives little attention or funding will be discussed in the
next section. The current funding arrangements mean that most mainstream scientists work in the
life sciences, or closely related fields, that have little interest in a math and physics underpinning
for Biology. This gross funding bias has resulted in the other sciences (particularly Chemistry
and Physics) becoming overshadowed and subordinate to the life sciences.
It is hard to escape the conclusion that a massive bias is at work here. Despite the huge spend in
the many life science fields there is little funding to investigate the fundamental physics of
biology. Once again, this bias is perverse. It is as if no one really wants to find a physics basis for
life. In the words of the main character (Valery Legasov), in the recent HBO miniseries
production, describing the events leading up to the disaster at Chernobyl in 1986: “To be a
scientist is to be naïve. We are so focused on our search for truth we fail to consider how few,
actually want us to find it.” Such bias was also criticised by Sabine Hossenfelder in her book
Lost in Math (Hossenfelder 2018). She says: “We have failed to protect our ability to make
unbiased judgements. We let ourselves be pushed into a corner, and now we are routinely forced
to lie (to obtain funding) if we want to continue our work”. There is a clear conflict, in the
present era, between honesty and the funding of science that we refuse to acknowledge. The
biased allocation of funding is having a profound impact and is preventing significant progress in
biology and the related field of consciousness studies. The bias and arrogance of mainstream
anthropocentric scientists has also stretched as far as proposing that the current era of
unparalleled damage on our own doorstep (planet earth), by humanity, be celebrated as the
Anthropocene ‘epoch’. A more appropriate word might be ‘apocalypse’.
In summary, progress in biology and consciousness studies will not be possible until we face up
to all of our subconscious biases and begin a focused effort to understand what is taking place,
under our noses, on the mesoscopic scale.
Ubiquity and mystery of mesoscopic self-organisation
While the biological cell is an outstanding example of self-organisation on the mesoscopic (1100 micrometres) scale, self-organisation occurs in inorganic matter on this scale also. There is a
natural ability for material to self-organise on this scale, just the same as on the nuclear, atomic
and galaxy scale. Toward the latter part of the 1990’s research showed that a wide variety of
non-equilibrium material processes led to structure on the 1 to 100 micrometre scales or greater
(Goodman 1999). These structures occurred during phase changes from liquids to solids, in
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liquid crystals, and during thermally driven processes or electro-hydrodynamic convection. They
also occurred in chemical reactions such as the Belusov-Zhabotinskii reaction and intercellular
calcium waves to name but a few examples.
Also, it was shown (Keber et al. 2014) that internally covering an inanimate vesicle, tens of
micro metres across, with microtubule based active liquid crystals powered by molecular motors
produced tuneable clocks and shape changing materials that resembled life like behaviour. The
tuneable clocks produced oscillations of the order of 10-2 second’s duration. This research
demonstrated that topological constraints act much differently far from equilibrium. So life like
were these effects it resulted in a focus on obtaining insights for basic biology. But the research
group admitted that this goal was a long way off. More recently, self-organisation of skyrmions
has been demonstrated (Hayley et al. 2019) in soft matter on the mesoscopic scale and
communication between cells over distances of millimetres has been observed where chemical
diffusion has been prevented using a solid barrier (Chaban et al. 2013). None of these
mesoscopic effects can be explained using current theories in materials science.
Our unwillingness to face up to how little we want to understand what is occurring at the
mesoscopic scale is exposed by the following two examples, one of which is for inanimate
matter and the other animate. We have yet to figure out in skiing, for example, how
exceptionally low friction coefficients occur or how a layer of hydrophobic material (wax)
reduces friction further on the mesoscopic scale. The ice-water interface remains a complete
mystery. (Canale et al. 2019). Worse still, in the life sciences we have tried to delude ourselves
that capillary action and transpiration in leaves are responsible for transporting water tens of
meters into a forest canopy. The maximum capillary action can achieve is less than 1 meter in
height and the harvesting of maple syrup is done in the spring, when there are no leaves on the
trees, and transpiration is therefore impossible. Also, osmosis can have no water transport role in
the long continuous tubes up the tree trunk. Truth seekers attempting to explain life and
consciousness need to understand not only the enormous ignorance of what is taking place at a
fundamental physics level on the mesoscopic scale but, as stated earlier, that few people in the
life sciences have any real desire to find out.
The parameters (e.g. density, velocity, temperature, concentration, etc.) used to describe these
mesoscopic systems are assumed to be continuous (continuum hypothesis) even though matter is
not continuous at a molecular level. This ‘continuum hypothesis’ assumes that inside a volume
of ~ 10-18 m3, (~1 micrometre (10-6 m.) in diameter), all the above parameters are constant
irrespective of molecular behaviour and that local equilibrium prevails. This has no justification
based on the properties and interactions of matter other than it appears to work which, once
again, points to missing physics. This minimum length scale of 1 micrometre rather than atomic
dimensions for all non-equilibrium pattern formation in fluids requires an explanation. In short,
we need to identify what physics principle explains the success of the continuum hypothesis in
so many different fluid systems on the mesoscopic scale. The correspondence of this scale to the
cellular scale and the uncertainty in position of the electron neutrino suggest a common physics
explanation for all of this and for fluids in general at that scale, which has yet to be discovered.
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The current funding bias, highlighted in the previous section, does little to help, understanding of
self-organisation on the mesoscopic scale, progress.
An unexpected link between the neutrino and biological cell
Our biases are firmly rooted in our ancient incorrect intuitions, formed during the long evolution
of mankind, that when proved incorrect are only suppressed and resist being supplanted
(Goodman 2016). A properly functioning observation-theory-prediction-experimental test cycle
helps to pinpoint these subtle biases and accounts for all our scientific breakthroughs, in
understanding our universe, since the dawn of humanity. In the 1980’s such inductive reasoning
lead to a prediction of all the key masses found in nature and showed how they were related to
each other and to the forces of nature (Goodman 1994). However, the theory also predicted a link
between the neutrino, the weak force, and the biological cell and predicted the electron neutrino
mass. My initial reaction, in 1988, was that this could not be correct as it contradicted my
intuitions and biases of which I was unaware at that time. However, each time I tried to prove
that this link was not correct I came face to face with my biased and un-objective view of the
world which in turn was based on the incorrect intuitions assimilated from the prevailing
scientific culture of the time.
Over the last four decades the number of arguments for the link between the electron neutrino
and the biological cell have continued to grow. In the 1990’s these consisted of mathematical,
symmetry, and handedness arguments (Goodman) (1994; 1997). More recently these arguments
have related to quantum de-coherence times in the cell (Goodman 2015; 2016), ‘global’ quantum
cellular communication, (Goodman 2016; 2018) and the fact that the mass that was first
predicted for the electron neutrino in 1988 appears to be, at the very least, the right order of
magnitude as discussed in the next section. Also, such a link suggested why processes in the
mind and consciousness might be virtually but not completely weightless (Goodman 2017). This
suggests how biology could be treated as a physical science integrating it with all the rest which
in turn allows us to begin to construct a fundamental physics of biology and the cell. In the
distant future it is hoped that such unbiased thinking may help fully explain mind and
consciousness (Goodman 2018).
The evidence, for such a link, continues to mount up to the present day. Until now it was
assumed that neutrinos would interact with single protons or neutrons in the nucleus. Recent
evidence (Gran et al. 2019) suggests that neutrinos interact with pairs of nucleons inside the
nucleus. So, for each neutrino trajectory at the interaction vertex there will be two nucleon
trajectories. This lends support to the spin swapping mechanism between nucleons, over cellular
distances, proposed a few years ago (Goodman 2015; 2016) as each of the two interaction
vertices shown consist of just that, i.e. two nucleon trajectories at the neutrino interaction site.
Finally, the fact that tau, muon, and electron neutrinos can oscillate between quantum states
indicates that their masses must be similar and within an order of magnitude of each other so as
not to run into energy difficulties. This indicates that all three neutrino states should lie within, or
close to, the mass predicted in 1988.
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Reasons against a link, between the neutrino and biological cell, relate to our biases which are, as
previously stated, rooted in our suppressed and ancient incorrect intuitions. The main reasons
relate to our inability to detect an attractive aspect of the weak interaction, inability to detect
interaction of neutrinos at low (milli electron volt) energies with bulk matter, our incomplete
understanding of the weak force, and the notion that quantum mechanics is restricted to the
minute nuclear and atomic scale only. These, in turn, are due to the lack of sensitivity of current
experimental measurements today and as such they are not strong reasons. It is not logical to
assume these interactions do not exist just because we are presently unable to measure them. An
unbiased approach would allow for this possibility, until it is proved otherwise, and the weight of
evidence over the last four decades is decidedly in the direction of such low energy neutrino/bulk
matter interactions.
Experimental limits on the neutrino mass since 1980
By 1980 the upper limit on the neutrino mass was 65 eV/c2 and the lower limit was 0 eV/c2 (i.e.
+1.8 to - ∞ on the log scale). This lower limit of 0 eV/c2 remained valid until the beginning of
the 21st century as shown in Figure 2 below. In 1988 an infinite mass series was derived which
was eventually published in 1994 (Goodman 1994) and more recently in 2016 (Eqn. 4
reproduced in Goodman 2016). This work suggested that a mass labelled M-2 had to be
associated with the electron neutrino mass. It was estimated that the exponent (2) in the relation
M = kR2, used to derive the infinite mass series, had an uncertainty of + 5%. This meant that M-2
could be no more than 1 eV/c2 and no less than 0.02 eV/c2. If the exponent was exactly 2 then M2
2 would be approximately 0.2 eV/c . In 1988 the initial mass (M0), used to calculate all other
masses in the series was taken to be the mass of the Universe (~ 1052 Kg). In 1992, M0 was
changed to be a typical mass of a galaxy. In 2007 it was realised that the only known
fundamental particle mass that had been accurately measured was the electron, so M0 was
changed to the electron mass one last time. Hence the three different predictions for M-2 shown
(in red) in Figure 2 over four decades, 1980 – 2020. All predictions of the neutrino mass used the
same basic theory that was first developed in 1988.
In the last two decades of the 20th century the upper limit on the neutrino mass continued to drift
downwards settling at 2.3 eV/c2 (0.36 on the log scale) in the year 2000 with experiments at
Mainz in Germany and Troitsk in Russia that made use of a new type of spectrometer called a
MAC-E filter. The upper limit stayed at this value until 2019 when the first results from
KATRIN, using the same MAC-E filter technology and measurement technique, were
announced. The following year, in 2001, neutrino oscillations measurements between the 3
known eigenstates of neutrinos meant that the neutrino mass could not be zero and for the first
time set a lower limit of 0.0001 eV/c2 (-4 on the log scale) on the average of the 3 known
eigenstates. Up until this point in time the prediction of the neutrino mass did not look
particularly significant. Afterwards it began to look very promising. Improving measurements on
neutrino oscillations continued to shift this lower limit upwards where it settled at its current
value of 0.02 eV/c2 (-1.7 on the log scale) in 2015. A summary of the status of the ongoing
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laboratory work was given at the Neutrino Oscillation Workshop 2014 (Robertson 2015). All
these changes in experimental upper and lower mass limits are shown in Figure 2.
Figure 2. Theoretical prediction of electron neutrino mass since 1988 (in red) compared to
experimental values over the last 40 years.
Recent results from the KATRIN experiment
In 2019 the first upper limit of 1.1 eV/c2 (Aker et al. 2019) from the KATRIN experiment, based
in Karlsruhe in Germany, was very close but not yet within the range indicated by the dashed
lines shown in Figure 2. Neutrino masses within this range would make the neutrino a suitable
candidate to provide a quantum mechanical channel for, an almost instantaneous, communication
over cellular distances. The latest upper limit on the mass of the electron neutrino is now less
than 0.8 eV/c2 (Aker et al. 2022) and for the first time is within this range. Also, if KATRIN
succeeds in measuring the neutrino mass it will also be in this predicted range. This, once again,
increases confidence in the link between the neutrino and the biological cell first proposed 34
years ago.
In 2007 it was explained that wave like behaviour, and quantum coherence, could not occur
between electrons over cellular scales (10-6 m) above a temperature of 0.01 Kelvin (Goodman
2007). Therefore, chemistry could not be responsible for any ‘global’ quantum processes in the
cell or in the brain. This was because the mass of the electron is so ‘big’. That paper also showed
that quantum behaviour could occur for neutrino masses on that same scale at room temperature.
In fact, using the current upper limit of 0.8 eV/c2 this wave like behaviour and coherence could
occur up to distances of a few microns at room temperature (300 Kelvin). The smaller the final
mass of the neutrino, the larger the average distance between particles can be, pointing to the
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possibility of coherent states over cellular and inter-cellular scales. This counters the ‘Too wet,
too warm, too noisy’ argument that was used to deny the possibility of quantum mechanical
effects and processes in the brain. If the mind made use of neutrinos instead of electrons such
quantum states could easily exist.
As was done in 2003 (Goodman 2003) a rudimentary quantum cell could be modelled by
postulating electron neutrinos in a square potential well, which is analogous to how we
proceeded, in the early 20th century, when applying quantum mechanics to the atom. This model
of the cell allows us to consider the corresponding wave functions in such cellular systems which
depend on the prevailing boundary conditions. Following on from this, it is possible to calculate
the quantum energy levels of such a cell sized potential well. Using a 0.8 eV/c2 neutrino mass in
a cell of size (L) of ~1 x10-5 m, the lowest quantum energy level (E1) for such a one dimensional
system is given by E1 ~ h2/8mL2 where h is Planck’s constant, and m is the mass of the neutrino.
This gives a value of a few milli electron volts for the lowest energy level. Therefore, the energy
differences between energy levels, in such a square well potential, would be in the milli electronvolt range or smaller. In 1968 Frohlich (Frohlich 1968) proposed that there should be vibrational
effects within cells that would resonate with microwave radiation from 1011 to 1012 Hz, resulting
from quantum coherence phenomena. This radiation frequency corresponds to milli electron
volts energies also (using E = h, where is frequency). Is this a coincidence, or more evidence
for a fundamental connection between the neutrino and the biological cell? It is clear from the
energy level formula for E1 above, that if the mass of the neutrino ends up being lower the size
(L) of the potential well can be increased (within reason) to maintain the same values (milli
electron volts) for the lowest energy level and between energy levels. Although this is a very
crude model for a quantum cell it is reassuring that the calculated quantized energies appear to be
of the right order of magnitude. Given that the mean thermal energy of any particle is 3/2 kT,
where k is Boltzmann’s constant and T is room temperature in Kelvin, the neutrinos would find
it difficult to remain within the proposed potential well much above 100 0C due to their thermal
energy, of ~ 50 milli electron volts, hence explaining why life would not be possible at much
higher temperatures than found on earth.
Extending the mass sequence to include gravity
The 1994 paper (Goodman, 1994) successfully predicted, to reasonable approximation, the mass
of 8 out of 10 of the key structures and fundamental particles found in nature. Now, with the
addition of the electron neutrino mass, that has increased to 9 out of 10. Therefore, it is
reasonable to speculate about M-4 (the mass series’ other prediction). Using the electron mass as
M0, a mass (M-4) between the mass of a cell (M-3 ) and the mass of a galaxy (M-5) with a mass
value of 10-63 kg is predicted. This tiny mass will be referred to as mg as it appears to be linked to
gravity. This is not the massless, spin 2, graviton associated with the general theory of relativity.
However, the predicted mg value is in the same neighbourhood as current upper limits on the
graviton mass from planetary motion considerations (Bernus et al. 2019). The uncertainty in
position of this mass is of the order of the size of a galaxy or greater. A galaxy is another
example of a complex system that needs a long range (over the entire galaxy)
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information/communication system to prevent a decent into chaos. As per the arguments
presented previously (Goodman, 1994; 2016), mg would be to the galaxy, what the neutrino is to
the cell, the electron is to the atom and the quark is to the nucleon. The ‘quantum information’
communication system of the galaxy could be provided through this predicted particle via the
same quantum arguments presented in a previous paper (Goodman 2018) for the other three key
structures of the universe (Figure 3.)
Fundamental
Science
Force dominating
Nuclear Science
Chemistry
Biology
Astronomy
Strong
Electromagnetic
Weak
Gravity
Self-organising
System
Nucleon
Atom
Cell
Galaxy
10-14m.
10-11m.
10-5m.
10+21 m.
Key fundamental
particle
q
e
Communication via
quarks (q)
electrons (e)
System Size and
uncertainty in
particle position
e-neutrinos
mg
gravity mass (mg)
Figure 3. An extension of Figure 1. (Goodman 2018) to include Astronomy and gravity.
While the number of possible alternative arrangements of particles (a measure of the information
therein) in a nucleon or atom that are allowed by the rules of quantum mechanics are relatively
small the number for a galaxy would be truly astronomical and yet would be finite as a result of
mg’s discrete quantum nature. This information/communication system would allow contact
between all physical objects within a galaxy making all such objects interdependent and the
galaxy a cohesive whole. The smallness of the energy quanta associated with mg (of the order of
10-46 J) could provide an explanation for why the gravitational field appears continuous as
suggested in relativity when in fact it is quantised. Also, it appears that it is the uncertainty in
position of the associated particle that determines the effective force range responsible for
building each structure in Figure 3.
Finally, there will be three distinct types of mg in keeping with the three families of all other
leptons and quarks. However, we are not likely to detect/measure these masses anytime soon as
they are over 25 orders of magnitude smaller than the mass of the electron neutrino which we are
getting close to, but are still struggling to measure after decades of effort.
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A different approach to quantum gravity
Quantum mechanics and relativity have been incompatible since the foundation of both these
fields, in the early years of the 20th century. Attempts to solve this dilemma have met with little
success for the last hundred years. Previous, and possibly biased, approaches have always
suggested we look at small length (Planck lengths of 10-33 cm.) and high mass (Planck mass of
10-8 kg) scales. We consider the presence of the three constants, h associated with quantum
mechanics, c associated with relativity and G associated with gravity that make up the Planck
mass (mp = (hc/2G)0.5) as indicating we are exploring quantum gravity. This assumption may be
biased and not correct. Here a completely different approach to quantum gravity is suggested that
agrees with the conviction that quantum mechanics is a universal theory. The approach here is
the exact opposite to what has been suggested till now i.e. long length scales (10+21 m.) and small
mass (mg) scales (10-63 kg.). This makes much more sense as it allows a role for quantum
mechanics over the entire universe as the uncertainty in position of a particle obeying the rules of
quantum mechanics is inversely proportional to the amount of matter in that particle. In the
known quantum systems, i.e. the nucleon and the atom, the mass of the key particle associated
with quantum behaviour decreases with increasingly more massive structures. I believe this may
be where to begin to look for quantum gravity and a connection with relativity.
As stated previously the mass series is derived from the scaling law that the mass of all key
structures and particles in the universe are roughly proportional to the square of their radius (M ~
kR2). This super linear scaling places limits on how large a complex structure can grow. In fact,
if you look at the pattern in Table 2 you see that each force appears to have an attractive and a
repulsive aspect.
Key Structure
Nucleon, Nucleus
Atom
Cell
Galaxy
Structure (10250 kg.)
Force that Build
(Attractive)
Strong
Electromagnetic
Weak
Gravity
Dark Energy
Force that limits
(Repulsive)
Electromagnetic
Weak
Gravity
Dark Energy
………?
Table 2. Force seem to have a building and a limiting role leading to the structures found in
nature and suggests ‘dark energy’ as the next force in the sequence.
Each key structure found in nature appears to be built by one force and limited by the next in the
sequence. The mass series may therefore supply an explanation for ‘dark matter’ that interacts
through gravity. Despite over two dozen experiments since the early 1990’s this ‘dark matter’
still hasn’t been detected. A possible explanation is that dark matter is made up of light particles
such as mg that have too little mass to be measured. The mass associated with gravity (mg) quite
possibly will never be measured and certainly not in our lifetime. However, the increase in the
number of fundamental particles with mass from three (u and d quarks and the electron) to five
represents a 66% increase in fundamental particles that have mass and all that is required is for
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them to be of sufficient abundance throughout the universe to account for dark matter. Dark
matter would then be the contribution of all neutrinos, and all mg’s that contribute to
gravitationally keeping a galaxy together.
Space stretching ‘dark energy’ which also slows the formation of galaxies appears, quite
naturally, to be the next repulsive force (Table 2) in the infinite sequence. It limits the size of
galaxies and fuels the Universe’s accelerated expansion between galaxies as has been
experimentally observed. Acceptance of this would require a replacement of the ‘Big Bang’
model of the universe with something new as the time needed for light to cross the next unknown
structure in this infinite sequence (after galaxies), which has a mass of 10250 kg., (i.e. 10200
observable universes of matter) would be of the order of 10110 years (i.e. 10100 times the current
estimate of the age of the universe).
Castles in the air
Table 2 also suggests the only role for gravity in biology is to limit how big a biological cell can
get. This implies that space-time and quantum gravity have no role in consciousness nor is there
a ‘universal mind’ (Grandpierre et al., 2013). Consciousness appeared on earth without
significant influence from the rest of the universe and has to be firmly rooted in biology and
physics theory. Also, quantum mechanics does not need a biased conscious observer for nature to
progress. The rules of quantum mechanics were building atomic nuclei and the chemical
elements in stars long before consciousness appeared on earth. Such ‘castles in the air’ that are
not deeply rooted in the mathematical and physics bedrock of science should be discounted as
they waste scarce resources.
Finally, the Standard Model of particle physics is already in a lot of trouble. It is not consistent
with general relativity and cannot explain gravity. It does not account for dark energy and dark
matter. It cannot explain the observed matter-antimatter asymmetry. It also suggested neutrinos
had no mass. The proposed framework, linking all key particles, structures and forces, outlined
in this and a dozen other publications since the 1980’s, charts a path toward resolving some of
these inconsistencies. This will also require the replacement of the ‘Standard’ model with some
new and more comprehensive future theory that has a place for Biology (consciousness) and for
Astronomy and gravity.
Conclusion
To begin to talk about consciousness we need our understanding of the basics of biology to be
correct. We need to be careful not to let our biases cloud our scientific judgement, and so prevent
progress. Quantum chemistry should not be confused with quantum biology. The truth about
Biology is that it is a physical science that is not explainable by chemistry alone. We have
subconsciously tried to deny this for centuries. My 40 year research career has been an attempt to
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draw attention to this but, in my experience, very few are listening. To continue with the words
of the character Valery Legasov: “But it (the truth) is always there, whether we see it or not,
whether we choose to or not. The truth doesn’t care about our needs or our wants. It doesn’t
care about our governments, our ideologies, our religions. It will lie in wait, for all time, and this
at last is the gift…..”
The total imbalance in funding and how it is allocated, as a result of bias, in the life and health
sciences needs to be addressed. While life (the cell) is an outstanding example of selforganisation on the mesoscopic scale we need to be aware that self-organisation on this scale is
ubiquitous in both animate and inanimate matter suggesting there is a whole host of discoveries
to be made at this very accessible scale. A full explanation of what is taking place in biology and
consciousness studies depends on progress in our understanding of physics at the mesoscopic
scale.
Unexpected mathematical predictions such as the link between the neutrino and biological cell
force us to face up to our biases. The latest evidence from KATRIN continues to support this
link.
Nature also organises itself on the galactic scale and the proposed theory provides some
interesting insights into quantum gravity and how it might relate to relativity and what dark
matter and dark energy may be. Extending the mass sequence to include a new mass associated
with gravity (mg) suggests a way we might resolve the conflict between quantum mechanics and
relativity by moving away from the idea that space is quantised on the minute Planck length
scale. It also suggests an explanation for why no dark matter has been found despite 30 years of
searching (too light to measure). Finally it suggests how to incorporate dark energy naturally into
a new model of the particles, forces and structures of nature where all sciences of structure are
physical.
Received February 20, 2022; Accepted May 30, 2022
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Chaban, V. et al., Physically disconnected non-diffusible cell-to-cell communication between
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Hiller, J. H., Space, Time, & Consciousness (Part 5): Analysis of the Differential Perception of Time in the 2nd & 3rd Domains
559
Article
Space, Time, & Consciousness (Part 5):
Analysis of the Differential Perception of Time in the 2nd & 3rd Domains
Jack H. Hiller*
ABSTRACT
This paper analyzes how perception of time progression (i.e., time is perceived to run) occurs in
the material 3rd Domain, but does not occur in the 2nd Domain of consciousness to which the
3rd Domain is connected. The argument is made that perception of time depends on the domain
being experienced.
Keywords: Differential perception, NDE, OBE, space, time, consciousness, creation.
One of the remarkable features of the Out of Body Experiences (OBE) associated with the NDE,
or with Spiritually Transformative Experiences, is the cessation of time. From our ordinary
experience, we just know that time runs—how could time possibly not run? We know with
certainty that there was a past, contained in our memory, and we are thus sure there must be a
future that we will encounter as time runs. The purpose of this chapter is to analyze and explain
why we perceive time to be running in our ordinary, material, life, but when in spirit form, we no
longer experience time running.
In the Universal Consciousness chapter, three domains were delineated as: 1. God’s consciousness
before creating the world of light; 2. The world of light, Heaven; and 3. The material domain in
which Earth life is experienced. During the NDE with the observer experiencing Domain 2, it is
universally reported that time did not progress as experienced in the material 3rd Domain. The
Universal Consciousness theory proposed that Domain 2 is connected to Domain 3 to explain how
communication for entangled quantum particles can be instantaneous regardless of the separation
distance of the particles. This chapter analyzes how perception of time progression occurs in the
3rd Domain, but does not occur in the 2nd Domain to which the 3rd Domain is connected.
Why does time progress in the 3rd Domain? What might push it along, and how? Factually, time
does not progress, although our minds create such a perception of time running for good reasons.
In the 3rd Domain, just as in the 2nd Domain, there is a perception of the instant NOW. However,
the material brain registers an ongoing memory of localized instants ( and in isolation from the
totality of existence), corresponding to locally perceived ongoing activity in the material world,
and by recognizing the fact of such new memories being compiled, logically organizes a stream of
past instances which William James famously termed a ”stream of consciousness.” The idea of a
future results from a simple logical expectation from all of experience in life that there will be
additional memories to be formed from a hypothetical future. In the material 3rd Domain, because
all activity is perceived in isolation from the totality of existence (a concept that is meaningless in
ordinary life, but brought on by the NDE), such isolated activity is perceived as new experience
that correspondingly generates new memory, and thus the feeling of time running from the
*Correspondence: Jack H. Hiller, PhD, JD, Independent Researcher, USA. E-mail: jh7138@gmail.com
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Hiller, J. H., Space, Time, & Consciousness (Part 5): Analysis of the Differential Perception of Time in the 2nd & 3rd Domains
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immediate past, to the present now, to an expected future.
But why doesn’t consciousness existing in the 2nd Domain of light also perceive time progression
as it does when attached to a brain located in the material 3rd Domain? The NDE reports not only
state that time does not run in the 2nd Domain, but that all of eternity, the totality of the world of
universal consciousness, is directly perceptible, so that all events are concurrently perceptible—
what is experienced is an eternal NOW for all of existence. To understand how all of existence,
with all of events, may be “seen” at once, consider a scheme in which an observer is positioned on
a high observation post placed on a specific, if perfectly arbitrary, highway location (equivalent to
a NOW instant) with the ability to perceive both sides of the highway, with one direction
corresponding to a formed past, and the other to a future yet to be finally formed.
The location of the observation post was said above to be perfectly arbitrary, because if all of
eternity simply exists, with no clock running, then any particular event selected as NOW has no
fundamentally special position. A mathematician discussing the implications of Special Relativity
Theory (Yuri I Manin, https://todayinsci.com/M/Manin_Yuri/ManinYuri-Quotations.htm),
explained well why there is no special isolated Now instant, and how beings would experience
existence in a world of light (what Chapter 2. defined as the 2nd Domain):
What binds us to space-time is our rest mass, which prevents us from flying at the speed
of light, when time stops and space loses meaning. In a world of light there are neither
points nor moments of time; beings woven from light would live “nowhere” and
“nowhen”; only poetry and mathematics are capable of speaking meaningfully about
such things.
Perception in the 3rd Domain is constrained by the body’s limitations in sensing only its
immediate physical environment of Now. Our brain, working from its constrained immediate
environment, cannot sense but a fraction of what exists. Furthermore, the brain’s knowledge is
limited to its contained memory, and thus constrained by its “past” experience, while the future
is only imagined as a possibility.
By contrast, consciousness functioning in the 2nd Domain is reported to have instantaneous
access to all knowledge, and that knowledge is not by external perception, but through direct
participation in the Universal Consciousness that contains all knowledge. The individual’s
consciousness is often described after the NDE by analogy as a drop of water (the individual’s
consciousness) placed into the ocean that is God’s own consciousness. Thus, in the 2nd Domain,
all of eternity simply exists as a steady state that contains what is artificially segregated by brain
operating in the 3rd Domain into a past, present now, and future potential. In a now famous letter
to the family of a dear, departed friend, Einstein wrote:
Now he has departed from this strange world a little ahead of me. That means nothing.
People like us, who believe in physics, know that the distinction between past, present
and future is only a stubbornly persistent illusion.
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It is seemingly contradictory to claim that time does not run, as did Einstein referring to spacetime as the architectural model of reality in the above quote, but also state here that the world,
reality, is ever changing. The instant note here hoped to explain this apparent conflict as rooted
in our limited perception of reality, but it is so difficult for us, trapped by our limited mortal
perception, to understand how time does not run when we “see” activity and a wider world in
constant flux.
Consider that if there were no change (as appears to be the case in the eternalized space-time
model of Einstein), then the world would be frozen, dead, completely uninteresting, and not
worthy of existing. It appears from our study of quantum mechanics that change is, in fact, a
predominant character of the reality created by God for the 3rd Domain.
We will all find out the truth later, but by then it will not matter.
Bibliography
Manin, Y. See https://todayinsci.com/M/Manin_Yuri/ManinYuri-Quotations.htm
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Journal of Consciousness Exploration & Research| September 2020 | Volume 11 | Issue 6 | pp. 552-586
Davis, J. J., Sacred Waters – A Scientific Touch on Sanity and Sanctity
552
Research Essay
Sacred Waters – A Scientific Touch
on Sanity and Sanctity
Jeffery Jonathan (Joshua) Davis*
ישוע
The Embassy of Peace, Whitianga, New Zealand
Abstract
The author stands by the view that science is incomplete and poor when it fails to incorporate
and integrate 1st, 2nd and 3rd Person Perspective, something that Popper may have also noticed
and warned about in his time and writings when referring to falsifiability and its limitations and
need to be complemented by intuition, imagination and knowledge, derived from subjective
experiences based on metaphysical commitments. Only such a sound understanding of what
science really is and, like everything else, how it will evolve to allow for a harmonious and
aesthetical weaving with spiritual wisdom, revelation and metaphysics, particularly on the
subject of what constitutes sacredness, propels me to start with the exploration and meaning of
what constitutes the sacredness of water as expressed in the phrase „Sacred Waters‟. This
experience of the sacred, I conjecture, requires our intimacy with a 1st Person Perspective kind of
experiential „Now‟. Following, I explore the need for 1st and 2nd order sanity treated by Paul
Werbos as necessary stages for the development of human potential, as well as the need to
introduce category theory to decode the languages of the body, hand in hand with the language
of the soul. Finally, I briefly highlight a social need that should lead towards a 1 st and 3rd Person
Perspective Decision Science framework conducive to inner peace and social harmony. The
reader is encouraged to embrace a synthesis of spiritual wisdom and modern science with its
comforts and discomforts and the power that comes with it in „dar a luz‟ to a new humanity.
Keywords: First person, third person, sacred waters, creation, sanity, integrity, metaphysics,
spiritual values, decision science.
I. Introduction
In the near future the current body of science will be expanded and evolved by a group of
scientists, philosophers, artists, prophets and prophetesses in order to allow for the proper 1st, 2nd
and 3rd Person Perspective (PP) integration. This, I conjecture, will facilitate the knowledge and
wisdom derived from inner and subjective experience to enrich our objective understanding of
the nature of reality, bringing about a synthesis between these very distinct modalities of
knowing. I am positive that such an undertaking will contribute to improve the human condition
and the alleviation of the current planetary crisis towards the achievement of individual inner
peace and social harmony. One step towards that ought to be the proper understanding and
application of Karl Popper‟s narrative concerning falsifiability and verifiability with its fortes
* Correspondence: c/o Sarah Frew, The Embassy of Peace, Whitianga, New Zealand. E-mail: science@theembassyofpeace.com
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and serious limitations, already noted and addressed by Popper himself [1]. Let us remember that
there are strategies for research where the hypothesis might be accepted face value and the
experimental design is modified until the hypothesis fails to be rejected. This means that we
question the quality of the experimental design instead of the hypothesis itself.
This kind of approach may serve the purpose to advance research in the field of spiritual values,
inner peace and freedom, for example, since they are taken to be self-evident truths by a large
majority of people. This goes hand in hand with demystifying the belief in the unfailing power of
significance tests to be substituted for more robust inference methods when appropriate [2-3].
This would give strength in advancing a synthesis between the body of scientific knowledge with
spiritual wisdom in order to better support human development and spiritual growth.
In this work I will address three important aspects of this synthesis as follows: (a) our own
personal experience and revelation, (b) ancient wisdom and (c) modern science. All these aspects
of this synthesis are to be found in:
1. Spiritual experience
2. Spiritual values and their counterpart in human behaviour
3. Cognitive linguistics and embodied spirituality.
I will also address the need for the harmonisation of 1st PP together with 3rd PP as well as
subjective experience with objective observations. I will explore how the subjective and
objective dimensions of reality could be explained in terms of what constitutes a sacred inner
space mapped or related to an external sacred one, sometimes connected to the natural
environment and at other times to sacred places.
One of the elements par excellence to explore in connecting the external with the internal
sacredness of life is water. As a physical substance water is vital to humans and is also reported
to be a means of spiritual cleansing and purification as in many immersion traditions [4]. I
conjecture and hypothesize that water can favour a kind of psychophysiological coherent state
that also favours the attunement to spiritual values leading to general wellbeing. This kind of
state has come to be known as „psychophysiological coherence‟ as described by [5], which may
be accessible in different ways and via different mediums [6]. This could also be associated with
the positive effects reported in sacred ritual immersions [4, 7].
Another aspect of this work will be concerned with weaving the experience of the natural
environment and its relation to the experience of „here-and-now‟. It is proposed that the
immediate now is an intimate and familiar experience of reality where the creation of knowledge
and meaning manifests in appreciation, creativity and scientific, philosophical and spiritual
insight, for example. This immediate now appears to be where human life occurs and where the
quality of human intentions in action and values based decision making takes place.
These notions lead naturally to what should constitute the education of the soul, something that
has been addressed to an extent in “The Brain of Melchizedek” [8]. After years of experience
and study I have observed that human beings develop their potential organically and naturally
when immersed in learning environments that foster inner exploration, self-realisation or the
attainment of unity of consciousness with The Creator, in a way that avoids indoctrination and
starts the transformative process suited to the particular needs of each individual.
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When we learn as a species to foster learning circles, learning organisations and decision making
processes and systems that incorporate spiritual values as part of their utility functions, we will
have achieved an important step towards the manifestation of a currency based on actions of
kindness that will support general wellbeing, individual inner peace and social harmony.
This emerging currency will reflect the sacredness of water and spiritual wisdom, the sacredness
of life.
II. 1st and 3rd Person Perspective Science, Popper and Falsifiability
Is 3rd PP science going to improve and evolve to shake hands with 1 st PP science so as to
complement and be complemented by the knowledge and wisdom derived from rich inner
experience, also called spiritual experience or subjective explorations of Self and others? This is
precisely the challenge we must address if we aspire to improve the human condition and the
planetary crisis towards the achievement of individual inner peace and social harmony.
Though Karl Popper‟s narrative is very valuable in many aspects, like every line of thought it
presents serious limitations, some of which Popper also addressed and certainly many others,
like for example, objections concerning falsifiability and verifiability as treated by [1] as follows,
“We have to be able to infer that if a falsifying result has been found in a given
experiment it will be found in future experiments ... this is clearly an inductive
inference.”
Also, in the work of Miller [9] he has raised objections and it follows that the falsifiability
criteria never suggest that unfalsifiable systems such as logic, mathematics and metaphysics are
left out of science. It is possible and highly probable to find unfalsifiable statements, present in,
and complementary to falsifiable theories. It is very easy to understand that some old
metaphysical and unfalsifiable ideas about the existence of atoms have been of a great
contribution to falsifiable modern theories about the atom. We ought to view metaphysical ideas
about spiritual values and consciousness based on ancient and modern wisdom as
complementary to falsifiable theories of human consciousness. Also, we need to come to terms
with the possibility that the scientific method will evolve, as everything else does, to incorporate
1st PP experience, particularly when it comes to serious, challenging and sometimes
uncomfortable ideas for scientists, philosophers and saints to deal with.
It is important to remind the reader that Popper himself articulated the idea of metaphysical
research programs concerning unfalsifiable ideas that could serve as robust guidelines when
exploring new theories [10-11].
When we explore the improvement of the human condition, we should avoid any unbalanced
views, like the kind of transhumanism that is ill equipped only with reductionist and materialistic
science and technologies that intend to produce cybernetic humans, for example. In order to
overcome such grotesque developments, we must focus on the development of human potential
and human spiritual capacities. In doing so, we as a species would be able to complement and
correct the misguided views of transhumanism, based on science and technology only, by being
equipped with ancient and modern spiritual wisdom as well as direct revelation and insight. This
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would preserve the human species as purely human allowing the overcoming of physical and
mental human limitations, as well as facilitating self-actualisation.
I am convinced that if we fail to do that humanity will end up reinforcing the crisis, which it is
already in. So, the questions are raised: (a) how are human beings to approach this challenge by
keeping in touch with truth about what is human? (b) what constitutes human potential? and (c)
where are the boundaries between a pure human and a cybernetic one?
I will deal here only with human potential for pure human beings and some aspects about truth
and I will leave for others to discuss where the boundaries are between a pure human and a
cybernetic one.
When we explore the Truth, we must pay careful attention as to which kind of „truth‟ or theory
of „truth‟ people are speaking about.
To mention a few theories of truth as viewed by:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
Coherence theory
Pragmatic theory
Constructivist theory
Consensus theory
Transcendental Truth (as in Buddhism)
The Spirit of Truth (as experienced by prophets and prophetesses)
Absolute Truth as known by The Creator.
Types 1-4 are more related to philosophical, scientific and rational arguments about ideas, ideals
and objective reality (perhaps closer to objective reality and 3 rd PP).
Types 5-6 are more related to Spiritual Truth that can be subjectively (1 st PP) known by seekers
of the Truth, the practice of meditation or direct revelation.
Type 7 is unknowable (in its totality) by the human mind, it remains an unknown even in the
face of direct revelation (partial Spiritual Truth) about aspects of the totality of the Truth as
known by The Creator. Absolute Truth is neither subjective nor objective in human terms.
Considering the above, we need to know what kind of truth we are exploring and answer first to
which kind of truth we are talking about as shown from 1-4, which are the kinds of theories
made up by symbols and languages that fit the question.
When attempting to map subjective truth as experienced in the context of 5-6, to truth as dealt
with by theories 1-4, then we meet a challenge that hopefully we can resolve, more likely by
accepting that 1st PP must shake hands with its complementary 3rd PP counterpart.
At the moment, it seems to me that via category theory, semiotic and pragmatic information,
we may have an avenue to assess with a degree of certainty/uncertainty, when a statement or set
of statements as experienced subjectively (1st PP) may be reliably validated, and then accepted or
rejected by formal logic, scientific theories and experimental evidence (3rd PP). Also, we need to
determine when formal logical propositions, scientific theories and experimental evidence ought
to be accepted or rejected based on subjective experience (1 st PP). This I conjecture, equips all
scientists, philosophers and saints with a kind of three branch system of checks and balances,
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which can be expected to improve as the human species actualises its human and spiritual
potential.
But how do we connect 1st PP with 3rd PP when it comes to what is truth, how do we connect
biology, physics, mathematics and language with the experience of spiritual values like Love, for
example?
I concur with Grant Gillett when he expresses in our correspondence via a google group that “…
the only validation is in interacting with the world on the basis of cycles of activity including
information gathering and action in context as Wittgenstein argued” and I would add in italics,
together with inner interactions with The Creator, the spiritual realms and the noosphere, as
portrayed in the stories of Prophets like Yeshua Ben Yosef or enlightened beings like Gautama
Siddhartha, as well as in the accounts of modern saints, prophets, prophetesses and bodhisattvas
and some novel scientific theories and paradigms [8, 12].
We must rely on novel thinking, better science and the improvement of the scientific method and
as Spiritual Truth goes, we will have to rely on wise men and women and saints, which as it has
been proposed, “You will know them by their actions” as portrayed in the books of Matatyahu
(Matthew) and Yohanan (John) and other ancient biblical writings like the book of Proverbs.
This I conjecture would lead us to the rediscovery of the sacred.
III. Weaving Science, Wisdom and Metaphysics on the subject and meaning of
‘Sacred Waters’
Since I was seven I have been surfing up till now and it is interesting that through the years I saw
surfers in many places in the world, of different ages and genders, going into the ocean with a
serious face after a working day and coming out of the water with a big smile.
When we consider the history of surfing, which primarily originated in Polynesia and the Pacific
coastlines of South America (mainly Peru) and the notion that Hawaiian people considered
surfing a sacred art by which the chiefs were elected according to how skilled they were, a
question might be raised as to whether surfing and interaction with the ocean (water) could
facilitate the connection to and the embodiment of spiritual values which in turn, via enjoyment
and practice, would lead to happiness and the mastery of such an art.
Another group of people who lived and still exist in Aotearoa-New Zealand also consider water
as sacred. These people are known as The Nation of Waitaha and in their accounts we can find
that they certainly attributed to water many important properties that linked the physical with the
spiritual world [13]. The name Waitaha integrates two words: Wai (water) and Taha (Container
or Carrier), meaning Water Container or Water Carrier.
Later I will expand on the idea that water being a physical substance, which is very important for
human biological life, may also play a function that facilitates a form of coherence that allows a
human being to better attune to the flow of the spiritual realms and spiritual values, something
intimately related to meaning and Freeman‟s Neurodynamics [14].
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There is a line of research by Giuseppe Vitiello and Emilio del Giudice [15] that deserves careful
attention since, according to Vitiello, it is precisely the water molecule dipole coherence that
facilitates the condensates in brain dynamics, something presumably related to the creation of
knowledge and meaning [16]. Could it be that psychophysiological coherence, water coherence
and Nambu-Goldstone condensates in brain dynamics are causally related? Even though outside
the scope of this work, it deserves careful investigation since so far it remains in the category of
a mystery or if the reader prefers, an unknown.
There are many elements in this exploration that need to be harmonised. On one hand we must
be creative and inspired to attempt a synthesis between spiritual wisdom and modern science and
on the other hand, we need to be conservative enough to avoid category errors and misplaced
metaphors.
Let us first briefly explore what we know about psychophysiological coherence as described by
[5]. We can imagine and experience certain physical bodily states (in brain-heart-respirationdigestive system dynamics) that may favour psychophysiological coherence, which in turn may
open gates or channels to enable the symbiosis between brain, mind and soul [12, 17-18].
We can also imagine that the soul and the mind may influence and trigger a cascade of events in
the body, which may contribute to health or disease. In the case of negative or destructive
thoughts, depending on how stress is mediated, we may improve from a low heart coherent state
to higher coherent ones, which means that we can improve our human condition and actualise
our human potential, eventually leading to the mastery of some desired states.
If affirmative, then it could be conjectured that immersion in water could very likely facilitate
psychophysiological states, which favour the purification of mind and soul development.
There are at least three important aspects of this synthesis that we need to address, particularly
with the proposal that water is a medium for: (a) spiritual communion, communication or
experience, (b) spiritual values or attributes (or a spiritual field) coupling with water and (c)
cognitive linguistics and embodied spirituality. These aspects are:
1. Our own personal experience and revelation
2. Ancient wisdom
3. Modern science
This exploration will also require the harmonisation of 1st PP together with 3rd PP, as well as
subjective experience with objective observations.
Regarding aspect number one (1), it seems like a good start to ask oneself questions like:
Do I feel closer to The Creator when I take a shower or swim in a pool treated with
chlorine or that only happens in rivers, lakes, at the beach or at the Mikve? [7]
Why is it that so many people who swim or immerse themselves in a pool, the sea, or the
ocean may feel good about it, however, they never report communion or communication
with the Spirit of The Creator?
Is it the attitude (sincerity) or the medium (water) that determines the quality of
communion or communication? Which is foundational and which one physically
facilitates the gating or symbiosis between mind, soul and body?
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Is freezing or boiling water still a medium that facilitates one‟s communion with the
spirit? Which temperature is better for oneself? [19]
With respect to ancient wisdom, aspect number two (2), some other questions to explore would
be:
Is the relationship with water and spirit only metaphorically described or are there any
claims for causal connections in spiritual texts or still alive oral traditions?
Is the relationship between water and spirit invariant across cultures, pointing towards a
kind of universal? or is it that different cultures assign different meanings to water in
relationship with spiritual values?
Does the book of Genesis or any other spirit-based cosmology tell us anything about a
causal relationship between water and spirit? Are the „waters above‟ and the „waters
below‟ as described in the book of Genesis, different just in location (clouds, oceans) or
are they two very distinct types of fields namely: „physical waters‟ (below) and „spiritual
waters‟ (above)?
What kind of waters did Yeshua Ben Yosef (Jesus) refer to? What kind of waters do the
book of Revelation and the book of Yohanan (John) refer to?
Concerning modern science, aspect number three (3), I suggest the following readings in
cognitive linguistics as a complement to the work of Pribram, Bohm, Freeman, Vitiello, Stapp,
Hameroff, Penrose, Langan, Josephson, Ó Nualláin, Klein and Werbos, amongst others:
“The Way We Think: Conceptual Blending And The Mind‟s Hidden Complexities” by
Gilles Fauconnier and Mark Turner [20]
“The Origin of Ideas: Blending, Creativity, and the Human Spark” by Mark Turner [21]
“Philosophy in the Flesh: the Embodied Mind & its Challenge to Western Thought” by
George Lakoff and Mark Johnson [22].
One of the most beautiful and useful things we may ideally achieve via this exploration is to
harmonise and integrate multiple interpretations via our love for truth, yet, love for truth must be
carefully disentangled from the kind of pleasurable mental processes that lead to accepting
misplaced metaphors as truth that in many cases lead to category errors.
Let us have a careful look at the following metaphor cited from the book of Yohanan (John 3:5):
“Jesus answered, Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they
are born of water and the Spirit.”
It seems to me a requirement, before committing to a final interpretation or conclusion about this
metaphor, to familiarise oneself with ancient Israelite culture, spiritual law, languages and
metaphors based on ancient Israelite records that include biblical literature together with The
Book of Creation, The Book of Enoch, The Zohar and The Book of the Bright, amongst others.
Yeshua Ben Yosef (Jesus) lived a life that according to biblical records fits the Israelite ideals of
holiness, righteousness and peace via soul growth in a living and dynamic relationship with The
Creator, people and the environment. This basically means a harmonious engagement and
communion with the life Giver and the process of life itself that includes water, fire, air, earth
and spirit.
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As we can easily verify in biblical records, The Zohar and The Book of Creation, the four
elements of water, fire, air and earth together with “the fifth element” of spirit are intrinsically
related to creation, together with the Tree of Life, the ten emanations or Sephirots, the twenty
two Hebrew letters and the numbers from 0 to 9.
We must note that in the book of Matityahu (Matthew 3:11) referring to the Baptist, it reads:
“I baptize you with water for repentance. But after me comes one who is more powerful
than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit
and fire.”
Is this supposed to mean that fire is a greater medium than water to connect to the “spiritual
currents” of the universe via the Holy Spirit of The Creator? Or, are these a pair of metaphors
(baptism with water and baptism with fire) pointing us to greater forms of purification, levels of
wisdom and enlightenment in our genuine desire to draw near The Creator via a love and a
“thirst” for Truth and Righteousness (a functional and harmonious connectedness to The Creator
and the process of life)?
Yet, neither fire nor water are alone in this life giving process, since as it seems, air is the
element that The Creator uses to breathe life into body and soul, as it is written in Genesis 2:7:
“Then the LORD God formed man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils
the breath of life; and man became a living being.”
Even more interesting in biblical narrative is that water becomes the destroyer of life instead of a
medium for communion (Genesis 6:7):
“Behold, I, even I am bringing the flood of water upon the earth, to destroy all flesh in
which is the breath of life, from under heaven; everything that is on the earth shall
perish.”
Just as a summary for this brief immersion in Israelite poetry and wisdom, there seems to be a
complementary hierarchical~network structure in the dynamics of the four elements (water, fire,
air and earth) as portrayed in The Book of Creation as follows:
And as to this Decad of the Sefirot, restrain thy lips from comment, and thy mind from
thought of them. And if thy heart fail thee return to thy place? Therefore is it written,
“The living creatures ran and returned,” and on this wisdom was the covenant made with
us.
אחת רוח אלהים חיים ברוך ומבורך שמו של חי העולמים קול ורוח ודבור וזהו רוח,עשר ספירות בלימה
הקדש:
These are the ten emanations of number. First, is the Spirit of the Living God, blessed and
more than blessed be the name of the Living God of Ages. The Holy Spirit is his Voice,
his Spirit, and his Word.
שתים רוח מרוח חקק וחצב בה עשרים ושתים אותיות יסוד שלש אמות ושבע כפולות ושתים עשרה פשוטות
ורוח אחת מהן:
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Second, from the Spirit he made Air and formed for speech twenty-two letters, three are
„mothers‟, seven are „double‟, and twelve are „simple‟, but the spirit is first among these.
שלש מים מרוח חקק וחצב בהן תהו ובהו רפש וטיט חקקן כמין ערוגה הציבן כמין חומה סככם כמין מעזיבה:
Third, Primitive Water. He also formed and designed from his Spirit, and from the void
and formless made earth, even as a rampart, or standing wall, and varied its surface even
as the crossing of beams.
ארבע אש ממים חקק וחצב בה כסא הכבוד שרפים ואופנים וחיות הקודש ומלאכי השרת ומשלשתן יסד מעונו
שנאמר עושה מלאכיו רוחות משרתיו אש לוהט:
Fourth, from the Water, He designed Fire, and from it formed for himself a throne of
honor, with Auphanim, Seraphim, Holy Animals, and ministering Angels, and with these
he formed his dwelling, as is written in the text “Who maketh his angels spirits and his
ministers a flaming fire.” [23]
Note that Spirit is the foundation from which the four elements (water, fire, air and earth) sprang.
From Spirit The Creator made air. From Spirit The Creator also made water and from water The
Creator designed fire and from it a throne of angels and other holy creatures.
So far it seems that ancient Israelite poetry and language is highly metaphorical concerning the
origin of spiritual values and beings in relationship to the creation of humanity and life, with one
causal assertion being that Spirit causes the four elements to exist as well as other creatures, both
physical and spiritual. In other words, energy and matter transactions and therefore life, have
their origin in Spirit via the Will of The Creator.
The question then is, what did Yeshua Ben Yosef, an Israelite prophet, mean by “being born of
water and the Spirit”?
First of all, we must search the definition and etymology of the word „baptism‟ previous to
Christianity since that religion with its rituals and ceremonies was inexistent at the time when
Yeshua Ben Yosef (Jesus) was alive.
According to the Online Etymology Dictionary [24]:
baptize (v.)
“to administer the rite of baptism to,” c. 1300, from Old French batisier “be baptized;
baptize; give a name to” (11c.), from Latin baptizare, from Greek baptizein “immerse, dip
in water,” also figuratively, “be over one's head” (in debt, etc.), “to be soaked (in wine);”
in Christian use, “baptize;” from baptein “to dip, steep, dye, color,” perhaps from PIE
root *gwabh- (1) “to dip, sink.” Christian baptism originally was a full immersion.
Related: Baptized; baptizing.
According to the Merriam-Webster online dictionary [25]:
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Definition of baptism
1
a: a Christian sacrament marked by ritual use of water and admitting the recipient
to the Christian community
b: a non-Christian rite using water for ritual purification
c: Christian Science : purification by or submergence in Spirit
2: an act, experience, or ordeal by which one is purified, sanctified, initiated, or named
From the above etymology we may assert that there was no such word at that time since that
ritual and word have their origin in Christianity. We are left then with the non-Christian
definitions 1.b and 2 that would indicate either purification or initiation, however, initiation is a
word still to be found in biblical literature and more likely is used in mystery schools or Masonic
rituals. I have never been able to find the word „initiation‟ in ancient Israelite texts nor online
bibles and I have settled for the word „purification‟. Based on that and the words of Yohanan
(John) it seems that there are degrees of purification and the one of water is less powerful than
the one of fire, meaning that a spiritual purification coming directly from the Spirit
(metaphorically fire) works more powerfully than the benefits derived from water.
Having said that, it is also important to mention that it does matter in Israelite poetical language
and metaphorical mappings, in which context we use water and fire since, for example, in The
Zohar, water is related to grace or mercy (the Sefirah of Chesed) while fire is related to justice or
severity (the Sefirah of Gvurah).
So far, it seems that water, within certain constraints of temperature, can serve as a vehicle of
physical purification taking the body to a form of resonance or coherence that prepares the
human being to receive a certain degree of spiritual purification. „Fire‟ metaphorically speaking
when referring to spiritual purification requires no physical medium.
The above coincides with my own experience and observation (1 st PP) together with the many
purification stories and accounts (3rd PP) that I have heard from a large number of people and
some literature [4, 7].
Following, in order to strengthen the case that water is regarded as sacred by people of different
times, places and cultures, I am providing a complementary, small sample set of quotes from
biblical literature as well as one quote from the Tao Te Ching [26]:
John 3:5
Jesus answered, “Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they
are born of water and the Spirit.”
John 4:10-15
10 Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a
drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.” 11 “Sir,”
the woman said, “you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where can you get
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this living water? 12 Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well and
drank from it himself, as did also his sons and his livestock?” 13 Jesus answered,
“Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, 14 but whoever drinks the water I
give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of
water welling up to eternal life.” 15 The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water so
that I won‟t get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water.”
John 7:37-39
37 On the last and greatest day of the festival, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, “Let
anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink. 38 Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has
said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.” 39 By this he meant the Spirit,
whom those who believed in him were later to receive. Up to that time the Spirit had not
been given, since Jesus had not yet been glorified.
Matthew 3:11
11 “I baptize you with water for repentance. But after me comes one who is more
powerful than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the
Holy Spirit and fire.”
Revelation 21:6
6 He said to me: “It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End.
To the thirsty I will give water without cost from the spring of the water of life.”
Revelation 22:1-2
1 Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing
from the throne of God and of the Lamb 2 down the middle of the great street of the city.
On each side of the river stood the tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding its
fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations.
Hebrews 10:22
22 let us draw near to God with a sincere heart and with the full assurance that faith
brings, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our
bodies washed with pure water.
Genesis 1:2
2 Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and
the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.
Isaiah 12:3
With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation.
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Isaiah 44:3
For I will pour water on the thirsty land, and streams on the dry ground; I will pour out
my Spirit on your offspring, and my blessing on your descendants.
Isaiah 58:11
11 The LORD will guide you always; he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land
and will strengthen your frame. You will be like a well-watered garden, like a spring
whose waters never fail.
Samuel 22:17
17 “He reached down from on high and took hold of me; he drew me out of deep
waters.”
Amos 5:24
24 But let justice roll on like a river, righteousness like a never-failing stream!
Ezekiel 36:25-26
25 I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all
your impurities and from all your idols. 26 I will give you a new heart and put a new
spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.
Tao Te Ching
8 The highest excellence is like (that of) water. The excellence of water appears in its
benefiting all things, and in its occupying, without striving (to the contrary), the low
place which all men dislike. Hence (its way) is near to (that of) the Tao.
In Israelite wisdom, we can observe that fire came from water both in the account of The Book
of Creation and also from Yeshua Ben Yosef, a human being with a physical body (mainly made
of water) from which fire (the Spirit) came out and manifested in words and deeds. It is also
relevant to mention that „living waters‟ also means the Spirit according to biblical accounts.
A good starting point to begin building a bridge between modern science, spiritual wisdom and
revelation would be “The Brain of Melchizedek” [8, 27].
As the author has explained, “The Connective Paradigm of Melchizedek” [8] emerges as:
The foundation to the study and understanding of the interplay between the Spiritual and
Physical Domains of human consciousness by the agency of Spiritual Values. In order for
the reader to better comprehend the cognitive implications of this paradigm at this stage it
is also highly recommended that he or she read Appendix B which deals with
Implications for Cognitive Neuroscience - the Cognitive Functions, Emotional Functions
and Executive Functions, and thus be able to embrace the neural implications of the brain
of a Tzadik capable to experience a transformation in his or her cognitive map through a
revelatory process of divine revelation, something which posits a radical transformation
of theory of consciousness.
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At this stage we must pause and think about what is „meaning‟ since meaning is so intimately
associated with values. How does meaning arise from sensory raw data and becomes entangled
with knowledge in memory, perception and intentional action? However, even more
fundamental, concerning meaning or better meanings here, I will leave behind the notion of
meaning as a semantic pointer to a material object, like the word flower or pencil for example,
which most children in English speaking nations would grasp and associate with the actual object
(flower or pencil) that they see or remember seeing. Simply put, for most people in such nations
it would be very easy to grasp the meaning of these words.
Here, I will delve into other instances of the word „meaning‟ as something that is experienced in
relationship to values and particularly spiritual values. When we awaken to a conscious
appreciation for values, new meanings emerge usually followed by transformations of the human
consciousness. A change in perception or a change of paradigm goes hand in hand with the
transformative emergence of new meanings in the human mind.
When looked at carefully, the selfish pursuit of pleasure or self-gratification may lead to a
degradation of meanings. For example, an infatuated lover intrudes in the life of a married
person and takes the place of a spouse and children, which used to be valued as a meaningful life
by the married person, before infatuation. It takes little intellectual effort to understand that this
is harmful for the family unit and the community (society).
It seems that from the above we can derive that the experience of values goes hand in hand with
meaningful realities that are appreciated by the human mind. So far, it seems that values,
meanings and mind are intimately related in human experience.
When a person lives with devotion to a meaningful cause, for example, the cause of individual
inner peace and social harmony, he or she will more likely experience a creative living where
originality can also be experienced together with spontaneous actions of kindness. This may lead
to new meanings and insights about reality and on occasions, that may aid in the overcoming of
conflict, most of the time just a perceived conflict. These new insights and meanings tend to
initiate the enactment of new choices and potentially a change in old habits for better ones, and
also on occasions the overcoming of strong addictions.
It is plausible that new meanings will assist creative thinking applied to conflict resolution,
which only persists (conflict) when spiritual and universal values are rejected, depriving the
individual of the experience of higher and more refined meanings and a more comprehensive and
sound perception of reality.
It appears then, that the experience of meaning is somehow related to perception of reality,
intentional action and values based decision making.
If we conceive the relationship between mind and spiritual values as a systemic one, then
meaning can be postulated to be an emergent property of such a relationship. This emergent
meaning comes with a synergy that also adds or begets value.
I will conjecture that the reality of the soul ought to be found in such a relationship between
mind and spiritual values, together with the emergence of new meanings leading to cycles of soul
development.
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It is then important to say that via the mind a human being will be able to know objective reality
and its meanings including things like quantity, for example. However, quality or values are only
available via feelings and such feelings, the experience of value or quality, is in turn an emergent
property of the relationship between the human mind and the spirit of life.
So perhaps, at this stage it would be good to summarise by stating that new meanings usually
emerge from awareness, recognition and understanding, therefore, meaning will never be found
in purely sensory stimuli coming from the material environment, at least never the meanings I
am referring to. Meanings and values and their relationship are only to be found in the inner
sphere of human life. However, when humans expand their knowledge of things, this may derive
a better intellectual appreciation of the meanings related to ideas and even a better insight into
the values of ideals.
I will conclude for now by saying that human beings are destined to find truth in their inner life
and without a doubt, the knowledge of objective reality (facts) must complement such a
discovery of truth, in order to properly deal with the challenges of daily life. This is made
possible by knowledge, values and meanings.
So, to the question of what is meaning? I will answer that meaning is, or at least can be defined,
as an emergent property of the relationship between mind and spiritual values, being one of the
main contributing elements of soul development and the expansion of human consciousness.
I concur with Langan that there is a real need and room for a metaphysical framework to address
theological issues and I have consecrated part of my time to work on that. In that sense the
“Cognitive-Theoretic Model of the Universe” (CTMU) deserves a close look [28-29].
Another work that deserves close attention is the work of Basti concerning category theory,
something that may support the building of a symbolic bridge via quantum field theory that
allows to study meaning and knowledge creation in the brain together with the spiritual and
physical aspects of life and the universe as portrayed in the quest for truth, for example [30-32].
This requires the participation of many scholars also immersed in 1st PP approaches to spiritual
experience. Taken together, these authors may contribute to produce new linguistic structures
that aim at targeting spiritual communion via the subjective experience of spiritual values where
a spiritual field could be seen as a metric, and that would incorporate and more robustly
articulate the biophysics of individual inner peace and the embodiment of spiritual values.
IV. A 1st Person Perspective of the Experiential Now
In 2019 I had the privilege to meet with Dwight Holbrook at The Science of Consciousness
conference in Interlaken, Switzerland. He very kindly gave me a copy of his book titled, “Blink
of an Eye: Material Nature Captured in the Momentary Now” [33] and asked me to drop him a
note for me to share my thoughts about it. After the conference my journey continued across
Europe for around a month and then I left to Hawaii. There I spent the month of August 2019
mainly camping, surfing, sharing spiritual matters with friends and reading the book. This was
certainly the perfect place to eat fruits in the morning while enjoying his pearls of wisdom (love
for wisdom), his philosophical inquiry.
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I found his book very well written and to the point; we need to bring to the front of our scientific
conversations about consciousness a 1st PP to better inform our traditional 3rd PP. The more I
immersed myself in the book, the more I could fully relate to the description of the „Momentary
Now‟ that he gave, as being the immediate and perhaps the only contact with reality (lucid
reality) available to us. I also found very familiar the idea that a 3rd PP timeline and narrative has
its origin in a 1st PP experiential Now and I would add that the most deep meanings and values
that we account for in our stories arise from our interaction with “material nature captured in the
momentary now” as well as our internal, subjective and spiritual space, something that he
mentioned briefly towards the final chapters. I remember that he invoked Metzinger and his
„subjective Now‟, which I regard as complementary to the „objective Now‟. I conceive this
complementary pair, „objective~subjective Now‟ as a semantic distinction of the only Now there
is, however I depart from the experiential self-model of Metzinger to a more comprehensive and
essential spiritual identity, the „I AM Identity‟ as described in “The Brain of Melchizedek” [8].
I found very useful his efforts to weave “material nature-as-other” together with otherness and its
relation to “here-and-now”, a Now which is intimate and familiar, a Now that allows for the
creation of knowledge and meaning, appreciation, creativity and scientific, philosophical and
spiritual insight, a here-now where I can enact or embody the quality of my intentions in action
where values based decision making takes place.
In general, I appreciate his treatment of 3rd PP temporal concepts that should never be confused
with the 1st PP Now something that has been very well elaborated along his narrative. I also
appreciate the different metaphysical implications that he described and particularly the
questions that he posed: (a) “How does the linear arise from the nonlinear?” and (b) “How can
the before and after of measured time emerge from the measureless and beginningless now?”
These questions are directly relevant to my collaborative work with Walter Freemam, Robert
Kozma and Grant Gillett on brain dynamics and the hypothesized Cycle of Creation of
Knowledge and Meaning, where we observe that a rich and diverse combination of brain states
in brain dynamics shift from linear to nonlinear (breaking symmetry) in a window of one second
after a visual stimuli is presented to the animal, for example.
This subject needs to be further expanded upon together with its implications on spiritual
experience in order to contribute to advancing a synthesis between ancient wisdom, personal
revelation, modern philosophy and science. This is to mean to advance the science of inner peace
and social harmony and the creation of knowledge and meaning in the brain [34-36].
However, I must say that even though I have treated a wide range of theories and subjects in
detail I acknowledge the immense challenge related to how to answer questions such as how
brain research in the future “would ever be able to detect the difference between a genuine
spiritual experience and a clever fake in the neurons which conveys an experience that resembles
the real thing but isn‟t so” as Dwight Holbrook put it to me via email in his comments on “The
Brain of Melchizedek” [8].
From my personal correspondence with him there is another question that he raised which needs
careful consideration since it deserves a comprehensive answer that may beget benefits for all
humans. As he put it, “which discipline -- the sciences or the humanities -- is to have the final
say and the prerogative to appropriate language terms for its own convenience -- whether based
on principles of “rationality” and “coherence” that fit a discipline‟s paradigm or that exceed it?”
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What about a person who claims communication with spiritual beings, ancestors or relatives that
have left this world? On which grounds or presumptions should we accept or dismiss such
claims? This situation puts us face to face with the difficult challenge to explain how 1st PP is
accessible or veiled to 3rd PP. Both could be mistaken!
Concerning this question, it seems to me, that we should never dismiss those claims face value
and we should leave the doors open to such experiences, assuming that people who put forward
such claims are, in most aspects of life, honest, functional, rational and coherent human beings. It
is important to mention that those claims should only be accepted when enough anecdotal
evidence is available and trust has been built regarding the person who upholds such claims.
Neither the sciences nor the humanities are “to have the final say and the prerogative to
appropriate language terms for ... [their] own convenience [and] based on principles of
„rationality‟ and „coherence‟”, these experiences ought to be assessed by a body of people that
integrates scientists, philosophers, prophets, prophetesses and saints or enlightened meditators
who share similar experiences and could capture together the validity and veracity of such
experiences.
Further, there are some philosophical and experimental issues that arise from this kind of
situation, since subjective experience can only account for aspects of the truth. On top of that 1 st
PP can only be validated in a very limited way by 3rd PP, if at all. Two questions can be
legitimately raised:
1. When people share an experience repeatedly as in a Sunday worship, for example, they
will tend to manifest also a shared belief as in the narrative, stories and traditions of many
world religions. How then are we supposed to discern the truth or falsehood about such
beliefs via the agency of human languages?
2. How far can the study of brain and heart activity contribute to answer the above
question?
Perhaps the time has come to mathematically account for such challenges as explored in studies
of brain synchronisation between people engaged in cooperative activities and also in group
meditations [35, 37-40] and heart rate variability synchronisation studies between people and the
geomagnetic fields [41-43].
Indeed, it is very difficult to coherently address a synthesis between spiritual experience (1 st PP)
and its scientific validation (3rd PP), as expressed in “The Brain of Melchizedek” [8]:
“… to equate self to a neural construct creates confusion between information processing
and the kind of consciousness that makes possible to examine spiritual reality.”
These two are very hard to reconcile. Spiritual values and Identity lie outside the realm of the
bodily experience created by information processing and reported via human language and
therefore remain non-detectable or measurable via any kind of neural correlates of a
hypothesized righteous experience. So, the question remains as to how we validate a righteous
experience as explained in “The Brain of Melchizedek” [8].
So far we can summarise:
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It is a major challenge to show evidence that a 1 st PP can be accessible to a 3rd PP
and that both perspectives are limited in scope to fully describe reality and consciousness.
However, a complementary approach more likely will be better, with its potential
synergies and limitations, than dismissing any of them or both.
The question of whether “brain research of the future would ever be able to detect the
difference between a genuine spiritual experience and a clever fake in the neurons which
conveys an experience that resembles the real thing” is very difficult or perhaps
impossible to assess at the present time with present technologies and the scientific
knowledge available about consciousness and spiritual experience.
It seems to me that there are aspects of our inner being that science will never be able to
assess. Concerning spiritual values, mind and soul, I am confident that they belong to a
different realm of existence and reality than the signals we can measure in time-space
physicality.
However, via biofeedback systems, I conjecture, people will be able to generate and
observe their own inner states and decide which ones they associate to spiritual and
experiential values like love, light, truth and unity, for example. In that way people can
learn about themselves and the kinds of inner states they prefer to embody, as well as to
develop the mastery to do so, perhaps via meditation, contemplation, prayer or any other
means conducive to that end.
As I explained in “The Brain of Melchizedek” [8], if a surfer has never surfed the Pipeline on the
North Shore of Oahu, Hawaii, then that surfer has no idea of the reality of being in „the Pipe‟.
This experience can never be transferred via magazines or surfing videos. It must be experienced
to know it! Similarly, a spiritual experience can never be grasped by intellectual means, no
matter how deep the insights we get when we read spiritual wisdom, for example. If we aspire to
discover the reality of a spiritual experience, we more likely will have to search for that
internally and prepare ourselves intellectually and mentally to embrace a spiritual journey.
The Now described by Dwight Holbrook in his book [33] is indeed verifiable experientially and
somehow is the only gate to embody spiritual values and sustain spiritual experience. This Now
is certainly “opaque to the measurement strategies of the sciences and math” (as he has
mentioned to me in our email correspondence) and so it is with spiritual experiences as I
mentioned before. So, both the Now he describes, and spiritual experiences have that in common,
they are opaque to measurement indeed.
A reflection on perception, cognition, memory and brain dynamics may easily lead to the
conclusion that memory is a mystery, and together with the fact that the brain is so good at
remembering as well as at forgetting, makes the mystery of memory, a mystery of mysteries.
Why do humans forget what they would rather remember and why do they remember what they
would rather forget? Perhaps selective memory storage and retrieval is an art that we humans
should cultivate and master!
A meeting with or an experience of The Creator should more likely be unforgettable and of
course from a 3rd PP that happens in time and space. The understanding of space and time or
space~time or spacetime has occupied physicists, mathematicians and philosophers with mostly
a 3rd PP approach, however, to grasp time and space from The Creator‟s perspective requires
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revelation and spiritual insight in 1 st PP explorations, if we are ever to have a glimpse into God's
Consciousness.
Questions like: (a) Is time eternal? or (b) Is space infinite? appear to be different than questions
like: (c) Is space sacred? or (d) Can time be sanctified?
However, it seems to me that these questions reach a meeting point when meaning and values are
considered as fundamental to the systemic forces propelling evolution and the evolution of
consciousness, particularly when it comes to recovering the sacred while turning human potential
into actual. For that we could entertain the following koan and stories to start with, for example:
(a) A Koan:
Sanctify Time and you will find that Space is Sacred !!!
(Joshua 26/12/2019, EOP Whitianga NZ)
(b) Zen stories like [44]:
35. Every-Minute Zen
Zen students are with their masters at least ten years before they presume to teach others,
after all learning all one can isn‟t as easy as learning how to ask a girl out or how to ride
ones bicycle. These are lessons that take the span of a decade to master. Nan-in was
visited by Tenno, who, having passed his apprenticeship, had become a teacher. The day
happened to be rainy, so Tenno wore wooden clogs and carried an umbrella. After
greeting him Nan-in remarked: “I suppose you left your wodden clogs in the vestibule. I
want to know if your umbrella is on the right or left side of the clogs.”
Tenno, confused, had no instant answer. He realized that he was unable to carry his Zen
every minute. He became Nan-in‟s pupil, and he studied six more years to accomplish his
every-minute Zen.
(c) Meditate on the narrative of “The Urantia Book” [45] in Paper 12 Section 5:
12:5.1 (134.6)
Like space, time is a bestowal of Paradise, but not in the same sense, only
indirectly … 12:5.2 (135.1) Space is not infinite, even though it takes origin from Paradise …
12:5.3 (135.2)
Time and space are inseparable only in the time-space creations, the seven
superuniverses. Nontemporal space (space without time) theoretically exists, but the only
truly nontemporal place is Paradise area. Nonspatial time (time without space) exists in
mind of the Paradise level of function. 12:5.4 (135.3) The relatively motionless midspace
zones … Time-conscious visitors can go to Paradise without thus sleeping, but they
remain creatures of time. 12:5.5 (135.4) Relationships to time do not exist without motion in
space, but consciousness of time does … 12:5.6 (135.5) There are three different levels of
time cognizance:
1. Mind-perceived time—consciousness of sequence, motion, and a sense of
duration.
2. Spirit-perceived time—insight into motion Godward and the awareness of the
motion of ascent to levels of increasing divinity.
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3. Personality creates a unique time sense out of insight into Reality plus a
consciousness of presence and an awareness of duration.
12:5.10 (135.9)
Unspiritual animals know only the past and live in the present. Spirit-indwelt
man has powers of prevision (insight); he may visualize the future. Only forward-looking
and progressive attitudes are personally real. Static ethics and traditional morality are
just slightly superanimal. Nor is stoicism a high order of self-realization. Ethics and
morals become truly human when they are dynamic and progressive, alive with universe
reality. 12:5.11 (135.10) The human personality is not merely a concomitant of time-and-space
events; the human personality can also act as the cosmic cause of such events.
(d) We could follow the advice to “be still and know that I Am” or if the reader prefers, “take
time” to sanctify time to discover your sacred space.
The question then is raised as to how are we supposed to discover such a sacred space?
When we explore the “Tao Te Ching” by Lao Tzu, [46]:
Taoing (section 1)
The way you can go isn’t the real way.
The name you can say isn’t the real name.
Heaven and earth begin in the unnamed: name‟s the mother of the ten thousand things.
So the unwanting soul sees what‟s hidden, and the ever-wanting soul sees only what it wants.
Two things, one origin, but different in name, whose identity is mystery.
Mystery of all mysteries! The door to the hidden.
It seems to me that the two bold initial statements above are preventing us from the dead ends of
any way that we can name and follow, it appears this would include any religious, political or
scientific dogma that we can name as the way. In that sense there are neither one nor many ways
we can name or follow. The Way is The Way is The Way. Note that the statement I Am The
Way never belonged, belongs or will belong to any particular “little or deceptive way”. That
statement belongs to The Way personal and impersonal simultaneously. Furthermore we read:
Being quiet (section 9)
Brim-fill the bowl, it‟ll spill over.
Keep sharpening the blade, you‟ll soon blunt it.
Nobody can protect a house full of gold and jade.
Wealth, status, pride, are their own ruin.
To do good, work well, and lie low
is the way of the blessing.
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Note that here, just as above, The Way is associated with actions of kindness, productive work,
wise quietness and blessings. It reminds me of the verse that states “You shall know them by
their fruits”, which could be rephrased to:
The Way shall be known by its fruits!
I Am The Way and by my fruits you shall know me!
I would certainly invite the reader to never claim these words for any existing belief whether it
be Judaism, Taoism, Christian-ism, Hinduism or any other „ism‟. Just read them and take them
for what they are, uncontaminated or polluted by belief.
It seems to me that The Way can express via science, philosophy, spiritual life, arts, music,
gardening or any other form of productive doings, which are good and are accomplished quietly
and wisely in order to manifest blessings.
From the above we can learn that there are things that science will never be able to resolve via
measurement, however, philosophy may explain until revelation provides the answer, at least for
the recipient of such revelation.
V. 1st and 2nd Order Sanity towards a Category Theory to decode the Languages of
the Body together with the Education of the Soul
On the education of the soul there is so much to be done for humanity. In my conversations with
Paul Werbos over the last years, he shared with me two stages in which human potential and
spiritual development take place and eventually are achieved. Even though I have touched on
that in detail in “The Brain of Melchizedek” [8], I concur with Paul that human beings ought to
develop their potential organically and in learning environments that foster inner exploration,
self-realisation or the attainment of unity of consciousness with The Creator and the noosphere
as described in [12, 18, 47] in a way that avoids indoctrination and starts the transformative
process.
Conscious spiritual growth generally starts and continues through life with an initial interest that
develops into the individual‟s commitment to such an endeavour, sometimes it can start as a
consequence of a trauma or a joyful epiphany, for example. However it may be, it can never be
taught and it is always a personal experience and journey.
How can a collective of human beings organise to foster spiritual development? This is a
question we need to prioritise and answer if we aspire to a better and more benevolent future for
humankind towards the ideal of a coherent and peaceful world.
There are groups of people around the world like the people at The Embassy of Peace in
Whitianga, New Zealand for example, who support committed individuals in the exploration of
individual inner peace and social harmony, by providing a retreat environment combined with a
learning process tailor made by the visitors, together with the long term collaborators. These
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kinds of initiatives need to propagate worldwide, ideally at no cost for the participants where
people organise and share their wealth and skills to support this process.
Such environments will also nurture the possibility for people to explore and develop their
spiritual faculties where for most people, the experience of synchronicities [48] and meaningful
encounters becomes an extraordinary “ordinary” daily experience.
Usually a combination of an initial immersion in ancient wisdom, together with an introduction
to the science of inner peace and social harmony, sets the tone for an exploration that ideally
leads to personal revelation and living in harmony with the land. This for many people
constitutes a sacred experience or an experience of the sacred [49].
Perhaps a way to start grasping and understanding the kind of experience that people will more
likely undergo in environments or communities like The Embassy of Peace, is for the reader to
familiarise him or herself with the publications [50-54] on different topics like:
A systemic approach to individual inner peace
Spiritual community development
An economy based on actions of kindness
Quality of inner and outer space dynamics.
These are basic topics that people ought to explore in order to develop intellectually and
spiritually together with others, and I conjecture that such a systemic approach will help to
overcome the barriers of culture, language and religious, political and “scientific” indoctrination
(via childhood conditioning). Even though this will work for small communities of committed
individuals and lovers of peace, the challenge and question arises: what are the different avenues
to inspire people in order to design and catalyse a transgenerational Peace Propagation Process in
the next 50-100 years in order to shift the current planetary tendencies?
Many people are under the impression that humanity will never be able to stop the tendencies for
different reasons. Some reasons are due to religious beliefs of doom and gloom or scientific
beliefs based on unhealthy scepticism about human spiritual potential, with a focus on the so
called reactive “animal” nature (only) of the human species, that denies spiritual capacities and
creativity to overcome any adverse situation in partnership with The Creator and via the
planetary, solar or galactic noosphere [17-18].
I am convinced together with others, that these are, for most people, unconscious self-imposed
limitations that can be overcome when we enter a dialogue with wise people that will bring the
attention of a fellow human being to the understanding of such self-imposed limitations and how
to overcome them.
Here I am introducing a preliminary graphical synthesis on the concepts of 1st and 2nd order
sanity that Werbos has developed extensively [12, 55-57] (see Figure 1), as well as some of the
conceptual framework of Category and Table Theory (in Figure 2) that Sungchul Ji has shared
[58-59], via private conversation and a private google group, together with some other
descriptions of the universe based on “The Urantia Book” [45] and “The Book of Knowledge:
The Keys of Enoch” by J.J. Hurtak [60].
I am also integrating into this narrative some of my personal insights partly described in “The
Brain of Melchizedek” [8] and partly in other papers [27, 61].
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It is important to note that, in my view, the mechanisms of knowledge and meaning creation in
brain dynamics are the same for any category of meanings and knowledge, whether it be
mundane (based on external stimuli) meanings, like words such as „bicycle‟ or „acts and statutes‟
or more complex and abstract meanings, like Schrödinger‟s equation or even more elevated
higher meanings (internal) as in the revelation of Truth or the experience of Love granted by the
Spirit of Truth and the Spirit of Love.
Let us first explore what can be learnt from Werbos‟ narrative concerning sanity. In [55],
Werbos explains that the Freudian concept and quality of “psychic energy” is very similar to the
understanding of „qi‟ as described in [62], something that could also be ascribed to spiritual
values like love, light and truth mentioned in the work of Maslow [63-64] as Being Values. Both
concepts and experiences of qi and being values may well play a role in building the human
psyche, in order to get in touch with the kind of collective intelligence, also mentioned by Jung
[65]. So it is possible and plausible that, as Werbos explains, focused efforts on self-discipline
will be essential in attaining sanity in a broader sense beyond the mundane sanity. In another
work [57], Werbos introduces us to “the philosophy of sanity and integrity” where he makes
emphasis on the delicate balance between a pure objective and scientific pursuit, hand in hand
with intuitive and subjective feelings and wisdom derived from experience. This he sees as a
complementarity between the nonverbal existential self and his or her verbal expression, which
should include mathematical thinking and to my view also systems thinking. In that sense, sanity
should lead to benevolent, coherent articulations and actions.
One of the main challenges pending is to relate symbolic and sub-symbolic language to 1st and
2nd order sanity, where very intuitive feelings and subjective perceptions about risk for example,
may be expressed as subjective probabilities in a rational decision analysis process as explained
by Werbos and others [56, 66-68]. These kinds of decision exercises combine both subjective
and objective information in a broader framework of Management Science that includes 1 st and
3rd PP that may well be derived from a 2nd PP as in most intersubjective learning processes in
human relationships. Here Werbos [56] states that “Sanity demands that we be fully conscious of
this subjective stream of reality, even as we learn more and more about the larger world.” He
goes as far as stating:
I will argue that full sanity (a key starting point for maximum human potential) requires
that our thinking in words and mathematics should be fully grounded in both of these two
foundations, equally, and in a full understanding and explanation of the symmetry
between them—the symmetry of “looking at ourselves in the mirror”. The full integration
of the symbolic and subsymbolic mind, and of the subjective and objective viewpoints, is
crucial to unlocking the power of both … Greater conscious awareness of the
subsymbolic aspects of one‟s own thought is one of the hallmarks of a higher degree of
sanity. [56]
I concur with Werbos that this kind of integration between objective and subjective experience is
necessary to develop intellectually and spiritually the human potential for good and constructive
intelligence and action.
In that sense, 1st order sanity founded on a good grasp of objective reality, hand in hand with a
moral compass and framework of ethics, can take humanity a long way right to the doors of 2 nd
order sanity, the doors to spiritual growth and integration to even higher orders of sanity, where
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eventually we find oneness with The Creator and the universe as a living experience, instead of
just a beautiful metaphor that could border on cliché. Werbos also reminds us that there are
checks and balances to sanity when he states:
One key test of human sanity is whether we are capable of facing up to “inconvenient
truths,” without hiding from them or giving up altogether. Do we give in to the common
ego defense mechanism called “denial”, or do we use a more mature way of coping with
unpleasant news, the kind of mechanism which leads to success more often in life than
denial does? [12]
At this stage, the reader is invited to explore in his or her introspective or meditative moments, if
this description of sanity may just be another way of pointing us to the sacredness of life.
Following the reader can observe in Figure 1 the evolution and refinement of perception via
higher levels of noospheric orders of sanity, until the attainment of God‟s Truth or ultimate Truth
if the reader prefers. This process may also be represented by the map displayed in Figure 2 and
labelled (c), where perception refinement can be ignited via a spiritual awakening followed by a
revelatory process in proximity with The Source of Revelation.
Figure 1. 1st, 2nd and higher orders of sanity evolution towards enlightenment
or unity with God‟s Consciousness
From the map below, in Figure 2 we can deepen our understanding of how to articulate with
language in simple statements what Figure 1 intends to illustrate. Starting with the following
sentence in Figure 2 (a):
“Perception (A) is geared to the survival of the body in time and space (B), while truth (C) is
directed to the survival of the soul in eternity (D).”
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Then via category or table theory analysis changing and refining in steps, as shown in Figure 2
(b), finally arriving to the statement displayed in Figure 2 (c):
“Perception (A) can achieve the survival of the soul in eternity (D) in two ways: (1)
via the survival of the body in time and space mediated by proximity to or unity
with God‟s Consciousness in human life (B) and (2) via a refinement of perception
that connects to Truth (C).”
Figure 2. Analysis of the proposition based on the „extended‟ version (non-commutative or non-Abelian) category
theory
If we think in terms of the Absolute Truth or how reality really is, then perception can be
deceiving, particularly regarding spiritual matters, which are internal to the soul instead of
sensory information based, like when trying to discern goodness or wisdom in one person or
human relations.
Perception is also incomplete when attempting to discern the nature of light for example, or any
other feature of the universe veiled to our senses and our perceptual system.
However, our perceptual system, for what it is designed to accomplish, is very reliable. Most of
us stop at red lights and train crossings when driving and in doing so we avoid major harm or a
ticket to the human after life. In that sense, perception is never an illusion we should ignore,
mistrust or rebel against.
We ought to give perception its rightful place as well as understanding that spiritual truth ought
to have its own rightful place.
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Perception is geared to the survival of the body in time and space, while Truth is directed to
the survival of the soul in eternity and when analysed deeply perhaps we can say that from a
human evolutionary perspective, Perception can achieve the survival of the soul in eternity in
two ways: (1) via the survival of the body in time and space mediated by proximity to or unity
with God’s Consciousness in human life and (2) via a refinement of perception that connects
to Truth.
The use of the word “while” in the above sentence conceals a parallelism that is precisely the
subtlety that a coherent commutative map (as displayed in Figure 2) may be able to unpack, so as
to move from Concealed Truth, such as:
Perception is geared to the survival of the body in time and space, while Truth is directed
to the survival of the soul in eternity
to a more detailed linguistic unpacking of the Truth that facilitates a new emergent sentence via
the commutative map, which leads to a Refined Perception of Truth, as follows:
Perception can achieve the survival of the soul in eternity in two ways: (1) via the survival of the
body in time and space mediated by proximity to or in unity with God‟s
Consciousness while in human life and (2) via a refinement of
perception that connects to Truth.
While there is beauty and power in simplicity as in the original sentence, and for a 1st PP this
might be sufficient knowledge to advance spiritually, scientifically we need the refined
statement that results from applying a proper commutative map in order to formulate better
hypotheses and theories of consciousness.
Also, it is important to remember that when tracing the meaning of Spirit, Dao or The Eternal
Truth to its essential and existential 1st PP availability, it will be impossible to ever describe it via
language. As Rumi put it:
“Silence is the language of God, all else is poor translation”
This puts us face to face with the difference between eternity as timeless existence vs. eternity as
a timeline, also related to the distinction between a 1st PP of the experiential Now vs. a 3rd PP of
the present (a point) on the timeline of past-present-future [33].
In 1st PP we move from the timeline perspective (3rd PP) into an experiential Now and eternity
(Now~Eternal), something like an eternal Now or a Now eternalised moment.
In “The Brain of Melchizedek”, a clear distinction has been established between an informational
self-model à la Metzinger and the „I Am Identity‟ [8]. One is grounded in behavioural values and
survival routines only (the self-model) and the other in a delicate integration between behaviour
and embodied spiritual values.
How does the brain arrive at a refined perception of reality as described in “The Brain of
Melchizedek”? In “Societies of Brains: A Study in the Neuroscience of Love and Hate” [69],
Walter Freeman introduces the reader to a way of looking at brain dynamics that may hold some
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answers to this question, since this refinement process is associated with an ongoing set of
transformations of the meaning network, presumably leading to higher or spiritual meanings. He
writes:
Understanding minds through introspection has progressed from spiritual concerns
through Greek logic, medieval mathematics, and continental metaphysics to the modern
formulation in terms of symbol manipulation according to logical rules. Brain science has
developed in close alliance with physics and chemistry. The concept of intentionality
with properties of unity, wholeness and intent emerged from scholastic studies of
medicine and philosophy as the basis for epistemology. It was lost in the Kantian
revolution, which reversed intentionality by having brains shape their input to accord
with inner categories, instead of having brains shape themselves to accord with input they
get by acting into the world. This left a metaphysical vacuum at the center of analytic
philosophy for biologists to reclaim and fill. Experimental neuroscience has been very
productive of new data with the help of other sciences. Effective theory is still lacking.
Recent developments in nonlinear dynamics and chaos offer new tools for building a new
brain theory, which is centered in the concepts of intentionality and intentional structure.
Such recent developments that would allow to build a new brain theory centred on intentionality
and intentional structures together with a better understanding of how the brain creates
knowledge and meaning, will be of great support in understanding spiritual and human potential
development, something that also relies on supporting 1 st order sanity as means to aspire to 2nd
and higher order sanity.
VI. Towards a 1st and 3rd Person Perspective Decision Science Framework
conducive to Inner Peace and Social Harmony
One of the most difficult riddles to solve is the one of Identity. The reader is invited to ponder on
the following question or koan: Who am I? Is it who you say I Am? Or is it who I say I Am?
Well, the truth seems to be that I Am who I Am. Let us say that I reveal that I Am The Light of
The Creator manifested in human form, how is anybody supposed to know, gauge or ultimately
verify my Identity? Certainly, irrespective of national identity as associated to a birth certificate
or a passport, a gender identity male or female or any other form of informational identity says
nothing about my true spiritual and essential identity, I Am The Light !!! This is only verifiable
via 1st PP and poorly assessed by 3rd PP based on behavioural or biological markers. However,
such identity can be revealed to others by a combination of communion, revelation and close
association with my existence in daily life.
In “The Brain of Melchizedek” [8] on pp. 20-21 it is written:
… the phenomenon of consciousness, spirituality and particularly “The Self” has been
treated recently by Thomas Metzinger. Even though his philosophical views limit and
reduce a human being‟s identity to a complex system of information processing, his work
presents certain interesting characteristics, observations and comments about what is a
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false construct of identity, based merely on Neuro-Genetic biological and mental
representation communicated by the agency of language.
In Being No One, The Self-Model Theory of Subjectivity, Metzinger starts with some
statements that devalue a spiritual approach.
“Nobody ever was or had a self. All that ever existed were conscious selfmodels that could not be recognized as models….You are such a system
right now, as you read these sentences. Because you can not recognize
your self-model as a model, it is transparent: you look right through it….
This is not your fault. Evolution has made you this way. (2003a, p. 1)”
Here is the situation. If human beings are wired by evolution with an informational SelfModel that is meant to be invisible and transparent, I would like to know who told
Thomas that this is so or whether he, unlike every other human being, had an antidote
which prevented him having to „look right past it‟ so that he could relate to that
information as a focused self with a rational ability to determine his attitude to it. And
second, if evolution revealed only to Thomas that self is a mistake (that there are only
self-models), should the rest of humanity ignore that for their wellbeing or is this inquiry
and rational analysis something apart from the thrust of mindless evolution. Did
Evolution change the plan if consciousness of the self-model unsettles something that
nature has given and established to be veiled for the good of the human species?
However, it seems to me that his work is very valuable in the context of a materialistic,
technological society. This is because it is giving us a model of an aspect of reality that is
crucial to realize in order to know a True Spiritual Identity, because many of the people
do still identify themselves with their physical bodies and information processes.
Human Neuro-Genetic Biological Identity, usually described through the agency of
language is a false identity and the best and worst linguistic approximation to the
Spiritual, Personal Identity is, “I AM”, which needs neither justification nor explanation,
(note that Descartes considers I AM to be the primary datum of self-consciousness).
If a person knows their true identity as aspects of The Creator‟s values like Love, Light, Truth
and Nature or Life, then it becomes very easy for that person to interconnect them all. It is
possible and plausible to establish in oneself an integrity where one‟s essential identity is
regarded as both Light and Life, as it is written in the book of Yohanan (John 14:6): “I Am The
Way, The Truth and The Life”.
It is relatively easy for any sane human being to utter “I Am The Life”, since it is self-evident
that any living being is Life. However, it requires for the same human being a deeper realisation
at the level of the mind and the soul to cognitively realise and utter “I Am The Light” with the
same ease. When that happens, our sense of identity is expanded only in our subjective space, in
1st PP and it will take time and some meaningful events for this to be revealed to others in human
interactions, if ever that happens.
It is so important to be able to share light and wisdom with others to first build trust, perhaps a
moral imperative, before any transmission of revelation can take place. This means to build a
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loving relationship, a friendship that ought to be attempted and ideally established. If those
human beings who know their spiritual or essential identity succeed in that, then we may aspire
to organise our communities in a way more conducive to social harmony. This means to foster
learning circles, learning organisations, decision making processes and systems that incorporate
spiritual values in their utility functions as well as an evaluative function that accounts for the
absence or presence of such values in different scenarios, which may be incorporated in the form
of risk, subjective probabilities, costs and benefits in terms of an expanded sense of currency like
actions of kindness, for example [50-52, 66-68].
VII. Conclusion
Coming back to our initial exploration of what is sacred, it seems easier now to establish that for
a self-realised human being who is able to witness to his or her Spiritual or Essential Identity as I
Am The Love, The Light and The Life, it becomes easy to find sacredness in nature and the unity
of spirit~matter~mind~soul, since his or her own I Am Identity witnesses to such a unity and the
indissoluble sacredness of Spirit and Life.
So, my dear reader the answer to the question of Is Water Sacred? may be found in the passage,
which states that “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was
without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved
upon the face of the waters” (Genesis 1:1-2) or more closely related to the experience of
pregnancy where the baby is seen as a seed of the Light of The Creator moving upon the face of
the waters in the womb until they break and as expressed in Spanish, „la madre da a luz‟, which
translates to, „the mother gives light‟ meaning that giving birth is equated to giving light.
It is in pregnancy that the mother contributes to determine the propensities of the child towards
inner peace and sacredness or fails to do that by providing a sacred space for the foetus to
develop as explained in “The Brain of Melchizedek” [8, 70].
After the baby is born, it is then that the family and immediate community and environment will
contribute positively or negatively to an inclination towards the sacred and inner peace or the
profane and violent. These different tendencies both individual and communal, will require the
development of human potential for the young ones to aspire to their self-realisation and the
knowledge of their I Am Identity and usually will involve at least two developmental stages
already mentioned as 1st and 2nd order sanity [12, 55-57].
1st order sanity would suggest that water is vital and therefore it should be protected and
used wisely. It is also important for personal hygiene, health and general wellbeing. It
may be a physical requisite and therefore a gate to spiritual experience.
2nd order sanity may reveal to us that grace or spiritual values are metaphorically
speaking like water, Living Water that contributes to spiritual health and the hygiene of
the soul, meaning general spiritual wellbeing.
Ideally, both 1st and 2nd order sanity should be available to a pregnant mother who aspires to „dar
a luz‟.
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However, once a mother has „dado a luz‟ the development of the baby will be coloured by the
mastery of language and the ability to connect the symbolic with sub-symbolic. This means a
more or less intuitive and conscious identification, ideally and eventually, to be formalised about
the set of layers or levels of „language-signals‟, which ought to be weaved via category (table)
theory [58-59]. This may prove to be very useful and may shed light in mapping the language of
spiritual values (higher meanings) into the language of the brain~heart~respiration~hormones
(signals) together with the language of cells and tissue (language of body-health) and finally its
expression in intentional action (the language of behaviour) that includes words and actions.
The reader must note that this could lead to the mapping of non-measurable essences and their
objective and subjective expression (including qualia) in a way that may be comprehended via
1st, 2nd and 3rd PP (see Table 1). Also note that non-measurable essences are different than
subjective qualia. They are the essences, spiritual attributes and values as The Creator Is, with or
without our existence, before and after the Big Bang.
Table 1: Multi-Layer or Level Integral Language of Spirit~Soul~Mind~Body
Spirit of
Essence of
Spiritual Value of
Qualia of
Experience of
Body Expression
(SPIRITUAL)
(Non Measurable)
Love
(PHYSICAL)
(Non Measurable)
Empathy-Valence
Bonding-Valence
Warmth-Valence
Humour
Laughter-Valence
Bonding-Valence
Warmth-Valence
Spiritual Cause
2nd & 1st Person Perspective
Physical Effect
1st Person Perspective
(PHYSICAL)
(Measurable)
Body Language
Brain Dynamics
HRV
Skin Conductance
Hormonal Expression
Gene Expression
Body Language
Brain Dynamics
HRV
Skin Conductance
Hormonal Expression
Gene Expression
Physical Effect
3rd Person Perspective
Essences and qualia have in common that we have never been able to measure them, however,
they are different. The qualia of cold is meaningless to The Great Spirit, the qualia or sentiment
of love is different than the Spirit of Love which causes the qualia, the Spirit of Humour is
different than laughter (the expression of humour). Spirit is cause, via 1st and 2nd PP, and the
human and body expressions are effects accessible to 1st and 3rd PP. It is important to note that 1st
PP is subjective, 3rd PP is objective and 2nd PP is relational, the link [71-72].
When looking at Table 1, the bottom line becomes The Bottom Line !!!
The left item of this table indicates that 1st and 2nd PP is how we interact with others, and by
others the reader may appreciate, this means both: (a) interactions with other people and (b) with
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God and other spirit beings depending on individual metaphysical commitments, beliefs,
realisations and knowledge.
Therefore, The Bottom Line points to how significantly important are personal relationships
with others, animals, humans or spirits, and the deeper meanings they beget for an integral life,
the experience of sanity in general.
These 1st and 2nd PP relationships are the causes of our rich human experience.
Among the different layers or levels of language, we may claim that human brain~noosphere
dynamics ought to be real and that eventually we may be able to show evidence of this kind of
inter layer (level) dynamics while being guided by a robust category theory that describes such
semiotic complexities [12, 18, 58-59].
It is here where I see the work of Grant Gillett et al. [73-74] as a very significant contribution
towards meaningful ways in overcoming addiction while allowing the remapping of a sense of
self since within the framework of Freeman Neurodynamics we find the kind of resonances both
with the external and our inner environments as modulators and amplifiers of mundane (worldly,
objective) and deeper (spiritual, subjective) meanings and knowledge towards 1st and 2nd order
sanity.
This is also where the rhythms and cycles present in brain dynamics as described in Werbos and
Davis [75] together with Freeman and Vitiello‟s framework and inspirations, may contribute
greatly to a broader comprehension of the language (languages) of reality that includes the
spiritual and physical realms and the mind~body~soul transactions via the planetary and solar
noosphere and beyond, leading each human towards unity with The Creator and the Sacred
Waters of Creation.
Received July 27, 2020; Accepted September 14, 2020
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Book Reviews
Panpsychism, Linguistic Consciousness, Transcendent Mind:
Book Reviews
Gregory M. Nixon*
Abstract
Following are seventeen book reviews I have written over the years that have been selected by
themes suitable to this journal. The thematic sections are panpsychism, language & human
consciousness, and transcendent mind. Some have been previously published in journals while
others have only been posted online (e.g., Facebook discussion groups or Amazon.com), but this
is the first light of day for none of them. I have made minor adjustments to suit the format, but
most remain the same as when they first appeared. The majority are highly positive of the books
reviewed, but some few are more critical. This should be no surprise since most of us choose to
read books we expect will please us. I presume I’m not the only one to like book reviews for
their summaries and capsule insights. Book reviews can be insightful, but the perspective of the
reviewer must always be borne in mind. My philosophical perspective is easily discernible in
what follows, though I am an explorer not a believer, i.e., not committed to it. Metaphysically, I
lean toward the panpsychist subcategory of Whiteheadian panexperientialism, now preferring the
more dynamic term pancreativism. However, I admit to an inclination toward non-deity
cosmopsychism, a universal field of awareness that experiences through individual experiencers.
Further, in philosophy of language, I recognize the symbolic threshold that separates our human
conscious experience from that of our animal confreres, though we often share a similar
emotional foundation. Human symbolic consciousness allows for abstract thought and
technological powers of environmental manipulation – with the result that we humans have run
amok on this planet and are the greatest danger to it. I believe that our hope is the breakthrough
into greater insight and understanding, that is, an awakened consciousness – perhaps an as yet
barely foreseen more mutual, transpersonal but not physically transcendent form of awareness.
Ontologically, pancreativsm is related to neutral (multiple-aspect) monism, but, more antimetaphysically, to Merleau-Ponty’s intra-ontology (cf., Nixon, 2021).
Keywords: Panpsychism, symbolic threshold, panexperientialism, pancreativism, transcendence.
References
Nixon, G. M. (2021), ‘Experiential metaphysics and Merleau-Ponty’s intra-ontology’.
Constructivist Foundations 16(2): 153-155: https://constructivist.info/16/2/153.nixon.pdf
*
Correspondence: Gregory Michael Nixon, PhD, Retired Associate Professor, UNBC, Okanagan Lake, BC
https://gregorynixon.academia.edu Email: doknyx@telus.net
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Books Reviewed
Section I: Panpsychism
1. Christian de Quincey, Radical Nature: Rediscovering the Soul of Matter, 2002 — 57
2. David Skrbina, editor, Mind that Abides: Panpsychism in the New Millennium, 2009 — 59
3. Godehard Brüntrup & Ludwig Jaskolla, editors, Panpsychism: Contemporary Perspectives,
2017 — 64
4. David Skrbina, Panpsychism in the West (rev. ed.), 2017 — 68
5. Christof Koch, The Feeling of Life Itself: Why Consciousness is Widespread but Can’t Be
Computed, 2019 — 76
Section II: Linguistic Consciousness – Human Origins
1. Leslie Dewart, Evolution and Consciousness: The Role of Speech in the Origin and
Development of Human Nature, 1989 — 79
2. Terrence Deacon, The Symbolic Species: The Co-Evolution of Language and the Brain,
1997 — 81
3. Stanley Greenspan & Stuart Shanker, The First Idea: How Symbols, Language, and
Intelligence Evolved from Our Primate Ancestors to Modern Humans, 2004 — 83
4. Martin Jay, Songs of Experience: Modern American and European Variations on Universal
Theme, 2005 — 85
5. Peter Richerson & Robert Boyd, Not By Genes Alone: How Culture Transformed Human
Evolution, 2005 — 87
6. Derek Bickerton, Adam’s Tongue: How Humans Made Language, How Language Made
Humans, 2010 — 89
7. Tom Wolfe, The Kingdom of Speech, 2016 — 91
8. Charles Taylor, The Language Animal: The Full Shape of the Human Linguistic Capacity,
2016 — 93
9. Daniel Everett, How Language Began: The Story of Humanity’s Greatest Invention, 2017 —
96
Section III: Transcendent Mind
1. Benny Shanon, The Antipodes of the Mind: Charting the Phenomenology of the Ayahuasca
Experience, 2002 — 100
2. Evan Thompson, Waking, Dreaming, Being: Self and Consciousness in Neuroscience,
Meditation, and Philosophy, 2015 — 104
3. Imants Barusš & Julia Mossbridge, Transcendent Mind: Rethinking the Science of
Consciousness, 2017 — 108
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Section I: Panpsychism
_______________________________________________________
1. Christian de Quincey, Radical Nature: Rediscovering the Soul of Matter
Invisible Cities Press, 2002, 337 pages
ISBN 1-931229-15-5 (pbk)
_______________________________________________________
Christian de Quincey, Managing Editor of the IONS (Institute of Noetic Sciences) Review
and advocate for a unified view of consciousness, cosmology, and spirituality should be
well-known to the out there readers of consciousness studies. He has placed his
endorsement of panexperientialism — the view that physical nature experiences — in
opposition to the perspectives of Colin McGinn, Nick Humphrey, and Ken Wilber in three
Journal of Consciousness Studies (JCS) articles (1994, 2000a, 2000b) — much of which is
repeated here. Panexperientialism is a bracing notion, one in which human consciousness
arises from the natural life of the universe without the explanatory gap of traditional
materialism, the need for any sort of supernatural miracle, or the belief that cells, electrons,
quanta, etc. have conscious minds.
For me, it is ‘a consummation devoutly to be wished’. Scientists, too, should feel a great
sense of relief that they no longer have to suffer the frustration of seeking the cause of
subjective experience amidst objective reality because subjective experience has been here
all the time! De Quincey states forthrightly that his purpose is less to argue than ‘to tell a
new cosmology story aimed at healing the split between mind and body, between
consciousness and the physical world’ (p. xii). So what we are dealing with here is not
traditional philosophy at all, but therapy. Since the case for panexperientialism cannot be
revealed experimentally or logically, de Quincey’s therapy will proceed by going beyond
such and appealing directly to the ‘paradox of experience’ itself.
This all sounds agreeable to me so I gird my loins for this adventure into raw experience
(even though de Quincey has proven himself so excellent at unbiased intellection that his
restatement of materialist Humphrey’s noted A History of the Mind was recommended by
Humphrey himself (2000) as the best summary available). But here all de Quincey tells me
is that when intellect faces paradox, ‘we must bow in silence before the mystery — and
participate with it on its own ineffable terms’ (p. 22).
Unfortunately, de Quincey postpones such ‘bowing’ and does the usual thing with relativity,
quantum physics, and chaos theory, the three twentieth century sciences that have
undermined mechanism. We next get a summary of the philosophical mind-body problem
(even though we know he’s already solved it) and the history of panpsychist thinking. I was
still awaiting my direct revelation when I found there were two meanings to
‘consciousness’: one ‘psychological’ that distinguishes between conscious and unconscious
(or preconscious) experience, the other ‘philosophical’ that equates consciousness with
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experience ‘all the way down’. Ignoring the fact that many psychologists and philosophers
would disagree with this prescription, it seemed to me de Quincey might be folding his
tents and preparing to leave the panexperientialist encampment.
The important point about panexperientialism is that it recognizes that conscious
experience is a particular quality or mode of universal experiencing in which the mindful
apprehension of both world and of physical experience is present. To fall back on the
standard term panpsychism is to open the door to the Mind of — or beyond — Nature,
which is top-down, shamelessly religious faith, not the sort of pantheistic
panexperientialism I had come to expect from de Quincey. In this way, de Quincey
differentiates his views from the panexperientialism of his colleague David Ray Griffin who
apparently coined the term (Griffin, 1977).
This panpsychist-panexperientialist question left me in a panic. Who am I to believe now?
Will my direct experience of ‘radical nature’ be conscious or unconscious? It is a good thing
that Radical Nature is only the first volume in a proposed trilogy that will be followed by
Radical Knowing and Radical Science. I eagerly anticipate the next two as surely they will
cure my pandemic confusion.
References
Griffin, David Ray (1977), ‘Whitehead’s philosophy and some general notions of physics
and biology’. In J. Cobb & D.R. Griffin, eds., Mind in Nature: Essays on the Interface of
Science and Philosophy. University Press of America.
de Quincey, Christian (1994), ‘Consciousness all the way down? — An analysis of McGinn’s
critique of panexperientialism’, Journal of Consciousness Studies 1 (2): 217-229.
de Quincey, Christian (2000a), ‘Conceiving the inconceivable: Fishing for consciousness
with a net of miracles’, Journal of Consciousness Studies 7 (4): 67-81.
de Quincey, Christian (2000b), ‘The promise of integralism: A Critical appreciation of Ken
Wilber’s Integral Psychology’, Journal of Consciousness Studies 7 (11-12): 177-208.
Humphrey, Nicholas (2000), ‘In reply,’ Journal of Consciousness Studies 7 (4): 98-112.
_______________________________________________________
First published in Journal of Consciousness Studies 10 (8), September 2003, 94-95.
Reprinted with permission.
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2. David Skrbina, editor, Mind that Abides: Panpsychism in the New
Millennium
John Benjamins, 2009, 401 pages
ISBN 978 90 272 5211 1 (HB)
_______________________________________________________
Is the great god Pan reborn? For a while there, it seemed every intellectual movement
began with the prefix ‘post’, implying non-totality, but now there are indications that ‘pan’
(all) is returning to provide another answer to one of the most basic of ontological
questions: What is the relationship of mind to matter? In this important book with 17
different authors, panpsychism is given its due.
From a previous widely-accepted dualism we have now mostly settled into the monistic
worldview of what Skrbina calls mechanistic physicalism (p. 364), in which mind, if it exists
at all, is somehow a derivative of the non-mental, deterministic physical universe of matter
and energy. This book sets out to convince the reader that probably the most ancient of
worldviews has been right all along: mind is ubiquitous in the physical universe, and
psyche is everywhere in everything. Just like that, the hard problem is solved and no one
need wonder how awareness could arise in a non-aware world. The exact form and nature
of this pan-psyche, however, remain in question.
In the introductory chapter, Skrbina summarizes his earlier book on panpsychism in
western philosophical thought, as well as mentioning more contemporary thinkers with
panpsychist perspectives. He includes such recent luminaries as Teilhard de Chardin,
Bateson, Nagel, Bohm, and, more controversially, Chalmers. He also mentions two books
that stand out, each in its own way, as more coherent and stirring panpsychist statements
than the current collection — Abram’s (1996) wonderful paean to the earth, and Griffin’s
(1998) process panexperientialism. On the other hand, he overlooks Velmans (2000,
reviewed in JCS 7/10), who has significantly similar views to Strawson.
Strawson’s realistic monism or real physicalism is becoming the panpsychist standard
position to judge by the number of citations it gets and the references to it in the other
essays. Strawson’s contribution is the first essay in Part I: Analysis and Science, though
there is little science in it. His position is basically that consciousness can neither be
accounted for by any known physical theory, nor can it sensibly be said to supervene or
emerge from non-conscious matter. By default, it therefore appears that physical entities
must each have been intrinsically conscious all along: ‘the existence of every real concrete
thing involves experiential being even if it also involves non-experiential being’ (p. 37). The
mistake that has been made, he avers (citing Eddington), is that our measuring devices tell
us about things externally but not what state they are in themselves. He avoids any
suggestion that his monism is itself holistically aware, as a pantheist might, but focuses
instead on the intrinsic experience of each entity to itself. This may be the reason he insists
that (quoting Frege) ‘“experience is impossible without an experiencer,” a subject of
experience’ (p. 53). This intrinsic internalizing may oppose the panrelationism (similar to
what Skrbina proposes in the last chapter) and the panexperientialism of the process
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philosophers, each of which see experience created through interactions and thus more
participatory than privately subjective. For Strawson, all objects, not just quantum
particles, are also subjects of experience, i.e., conscious. Panexperientialists understand
experience qua experience to be taking place at all levels of being but experience that has
become conscious of itself, i.e., conscious experience, as being much more rare. Both
Skrbina and Strawson basically ignore unconscious experience, which surely is experience
without an experiencer.
His tone-setting chapter brings up most of the questions with which theoretic panpsychism
will continue to contend: the relational vs the internal, raw experience vs conscious
experience, and experience with or without a subject of experience. The priority of space or
time is a final question broached by process thinkers such as Solhdju: Do experiential
processes in time create spatial objects or are already existing objects intrinsically
possessed of inner subjectivity?
Goff is the only panpsychist skeptic represented in the collection. He argues that current
panpsychism cannot get around the combination problem: How do little experiencers
combine into big (or complex) experiencers? This seems to refer to the aforementioned
subjects of experience and may be less of a problem if experience is conceived as
participatory and pre-subjective. Goff further states that the emergence of mind is no more
mysterious than the explainable emergence of life from non-life. The latter is scientific
dogma, but most panpsychists would agree that lifelike qualities must pre-exist living
manifestations just as experience pre-exists kingdom animalia; thus, neither life nor
experience is a ‘brute’ emergence from its opposite. To make his point that in the future the
emergence of consciousness will be no more remarkable than that of life, Goff states that,
though currently we may conceive of an unconscious zombie, we cannot conceive of a nonliving human duplicate. Is this so?
Globus is a near-panpsychist who posits that panpsychism cannot go all the way down: ‘The
decisive point is that there is a size threshold in quantum field theory below which
collective dynamics cannot emerge and so there can be no qualia there’ (p. 79). We’re
talking Planck scale here, but these assumptions mean qualia would still be an emergent
from matter-energy. Coleman, like Strawson, is a panpsychist internalist who argues that
entities must experience in themselves independent of their relations to other entities.
Without ‘reality’s intrinsic building blocks … [w]e face nothingness’ (pp. 92-93). Interesting
that some mystical traditions take dynamic nothingness as the ultimate source, similar to
our conception of dynamic process when it is pushed into the insubstantial, as in quantum
field theory or the postulated zero-point field. Perhaps the nothingness abhorred by
Coleman is as rich in potency as the long-sought quantum vacuum.
In a refreshing chapter because of its clarity and depth, Deiss looks to systems changing in
time as the source of sensations, also an effective approach to the combination problem.
Consciousness he sees as the interpretation of sensations (qualia), which requires memory
and reason. Sensible, so to speak, but what then are sensations in themselves – perhaps
unconscious experience? With his nod to a systems approach, sensations themselves could
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arise within entities as the result of external entanglements (i.e., relations), implying that
experiencers emerge from experience, contra Strawson. Strawson claims there can be no
experience without a subject of experience. However unconscious sensations that have
their basis in external relations would seem to be an example of how experiences can occur
without a subject of experience. Strawson fails to see this because he fails to distinguish
conscious from unconscious experience.
Spät closes Part I with the appeal that panpsychism has moral corollaries such as
vegetarianism and kindness to all objects, but I do not see this at all. It’s always tough to get
from an is to an ought, and for panpsychists vegetables feel too. Further, if the experience of
tribal peoples within an animistic worldview (the precursor of panpsychism) is any
indication, there is as much threat as communion from a natural world alive with minds, so
we may find ourselves fighting as much as protecting such others.
Part II: Process Philosophy could have used a basic statement of this position from, say,
Griffin, so an uninitiated reader could grasp its outlines. Whitehead’s process cosmology
still remains the most completely rendered form of panpsychism (aka pantheism or
panentheism), and the chapters here assume an understanding of process philosophy on
the part of the reader that some may not have. Basile takes up the process mantle and
speaks in favour of unconscious experience, defends relationality in time as ultimate
(dynamic process over static physicalism) and notes how close to Whitehead’s occasions of
experience are to Strawson’s concept of sesmets (subject-of-experience-that-is-a-singlemental-thing’). Each is an ‘ultimate’ or ‘portion of energy-stuff’ (Strawson, p. 60), though
Strawson defends extended isness over process dynamism for which each ‘single mental
thing’ exists only for a flash within a larger cosmic process. In this vein, Manzotti makes a
strong statement for panrelationality as preceding internal ‘subjective’ experience:
‘Qualities and relations are not a product of the internal activity of neural systems; they are
processes taking place in the world’ (p. 220).
The last chapters of this second part and the first several of those in Part III: Metaphysics
and Mind read to me like academic philosophy by and for academic philosophers. I slogged
through them, understood the contents, but felt little reward at the end. For a topic as truly
world-altering as awakening to panpsychism would be, these seemed to me
inconsequential (though Harman’s massive chapter is certainly witty). Solhdju’s chapter,
however, is another favourite. Learning from Fechner and James, she makes the important
point that experience cannot necessarily be judged or understood by a rationalism or
subjective position that exists external to it. Conceptual understanding requires the split of
object from subject and Solhdju traces a meaning for experience that precedes the schism
(precedes conscious experience). Furthermore, though each thing receives experience
relationally, it affects the whole in dynamic reciprocity: ‘Each novel thing that comes to be
known thus takes part in the creative transformation of reality, which then serves as a
plane for future experience ad infinitum’ (p. 312). Needless to say, she identifies her
position, with James, as panexperientialism. This is the one essay that seems to find a way
to accept external panrelationism with inner (not ‘subjective’) experience by noting how
they both interactively create the process of ongoing reality. Solhdju is also able to capture
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that animistic sense of ‘re-enchanted nature’ (Griffin, 1998) or ‘the spell of the sensuous’
(Abram) that is missing in the analytic panpsychism-by-default approach. We access the
unconscious aesthetically and intuitionally, after all.
It is in the last chapter that Skrbina returns and attempts to answer the questions I’ve
mentioned – in my view with limited success. His dependence on analytical philosophy may
reveal its limitations here. Confusingly, Skrbina suggests new terms — particeptikon for
reality, and hylonoism for panpsychism. To his credit, he emphasizes the magnitude of what
is being proposed, but he also fails to see that becoming conscious of our own natural
experience could be the source of the dualism he identifies as appearing along with mortal
knowledge. He comes out for dual-aspect monism (a unified oneness in two aspects) within
‘a holistic and interconnected cosmos’ (p. 363). In this he appears to stand against
Strawson’s view of internally isolated experience. He deals quickly and impressively with
the so-called combination problem by calling upon dynamical systems theory, which
elegantly explains how subsystems can combine into more complex single systems and so
on without depending on category shifts as in ‘brute’ emergence. A phase shift in systems
theory is emergent and not deterministically predictable, but it does not involve the
emergence of something totally unlike its source, as brute emergence apparently does. The
shifts, transformations, and combinations involved have their own probability mathematics
within a single category.
He first avoids then finesses the important issue of conscious vs unconscious experience by
declaring that ‘we might more profitably speak of a continuum of mental states’, including
‘least aware states all the way up to the loftiest introspective or meditative states’ (p. 367).
In this way, he reduces the problem to one of mentality and avoids the seeming
contradiction of unconscious experiencing. He lists six characteristics of mind, but it
doesn’t take much insight to see he is referring to the conscious mind, which he has already
admitted is only a very minor percentage of the full spectrum of awareness. He admits that
there must be dynamical systems below each moment of qualitative consciousness that are
not conscious: ‘On this view, conscious and unconscious mental activities are going on
simultaneously, in parallel, at all times’ (p. 373).
But then, rather than this leading him to admit that our conscious experience arises from
unconscious experience lower-down the complexity scale, he suggests instead that all
experiencing entities or relationships are composed of the same parallel mental system:
‘For each object there exists a top-level structure that serves as the conscious peak of
subjectivity’ (p. 379). I found this proposal for a humanlike mind all the way down as
nothing short of incredible and, just as detractors have cried, unnecessarily
anthropomorphic. Experience simpliciter, preceding the subject-object split, as outlined by
Solhdju and indicated by Hameroff, does not have this limitation.
However, Skrbina’s overall image of panrelational holism and interconnectedness is
somehow profoundly satisfying: ‘In a strange way, each of us is a world-soul’ (p. 378). If he
gave more credit to creative experience in realms that we can only recognize from our
perspective as unconscious, he would be close to the cutting edge of awareness – opening
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our culturally isolated minds to the subtle flux of their source in the out there. Overall a
stimulating read, possibly profound, and highly recommended.
References
Abram, David (1996), The Spell of the Sensuous: Perception and Language in a More-thanHuman World. Pantheon.
Griffin, David Ray (1998), Unsnarling the World-Knot. University of California Press.
Velmans, Max (2000), Understanding Consciousness. Taylor & Francis.
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First published in Journal of Consciousness Studies 16 (9), Sept 2009, 116-121. Reprinted
with permission.
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3. Godehard Brüntrup & Ludwig Jaskolla, editors, Panpsychism:
Contemporary Perspectives
Oxford University Press, 2017, 414 pages
ISBN: 9780199359943 (HB)
_______________________________________________________
“Panpsychism is stupid because rocks can’t be conscious,” is commonly heard. In this
volume of collected essays, philosophers of mind do a fine job of demonstrating that
panpsychism is a significant and worthwhile question, at least for analytic philosophy. It is
both a challenging introduction to the topic and a further development of the issues
involved for specialists. Brüntrup and Jaskolla clarify this common misconception: “Most
forms of panpsychism … distinguish between mere conglomerates like a rock formation
and genuine individuals like animals and possibly elementary particles. Mental properties
can only be attributed directly to genuine individuals” (p. 2). Individuals refer to primary
experiencers.
To begin, the editors cite their approved very general definition of their central term:
“Panpsychism is the doctrine that mind is a fundamental feature of the world which exists
throughout the universe” (p. 1). However, this generic definition says nothing about the
size, shape, or nature of the original or primal “minds” or “mind” from which all other
minds derive. This question of the fundamental nature of experiencing entities or fields
seems to be the major one being addressed in these pages.
This is an important collection in that it fleshes out the vague postulate of panpsychism
with a detailed analysis of how it might be understood (if not exactly what it might mean).
For the many skeptics who simply dismiss the very idea as ridiculous, there is much here to
demonstrate that a good deal of serious thought has gone into this ancient proposal. There
are many ways to interpret panpsychism, and they are well represented in this group of
philosophers, each speaking for a unique take on the subject or one of its variations – from
cosmopsychism to panprotopsychism to panexperientialism to neutral monism, etc. The
combination problem is fully interrogated, as is panpsychism associated with dualism,
idealism, physicalism, theism, etc. Anyone reading this book is bound to gain some respect
for the complexity of such subject matter and the compelling logic for approaching it.
However, it is the entire logical edifice that leaves this writer somewhat dissatisfied.
Despite widely different conclusions, each essay clearly seems to be written from within
the analytic tradition, often centrally relying on logical syllogisms to strengthen its
arguments. This is fine as far as it goes if one can accept sometimes monotonous reading,
but the problem with this is that such arguments most often are limited to negatively
revealing what cannot be the case, not what positively comes forth as intuition or
revelation. Panpsychism itself is revealed to be a default position that must be accepted as
a metaphysical necessity since experience cannot logically be understood to have somehow
evolved within a non-experiencing reality without calling upon radical emergence or magic,
which are much the same thing.
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Famed philosopher of consciousness, David Chalmers, figures prominently here. He wrote
two keystone chapters for the book, one introducing a logical breakdown of the possible
ways to interpret and understand panpsychism and the other to do much the same for
panpsychism’s combination problem. Chalmers is a deeply incisive thinker who is able to
bring out unexpected hidden angles in any topic; however, his ability to clarify by
complexity is not matched by an ability to clarify by simplifying.
In Section I, “The Logical Place of Panpsychism”, Chalmers first sets up the parameters of
the discussion to follow with some important clarifications, emphasizing that experience
likely begins with the very small or very brief, as does the physical world. Chalmers
astutely outlines all possible interpretations of this reductive stand, outlining the
similarities and differences among panpsychism, panexperientialism (all things experience
but not necessarily consciously), and panprotopsychism (fundamental entities are protoconscious but must combine to produce consciousness): “Panprotopsychism is then the
view that some fundamental physical entities have protophenomenal properties” (p. 31).
However, Brüntrup notes that panprotopsychism implies a radical emergence from nonexperiencing protophenomena to experiencing phenomena, so it does not seem to have
solved the hard problem. Just what a protophenomenal property might be or how it could
emerge into phenomenality is never explained. Brüntrup sees that wholes that are greater
than their parts may emerge: “There is an opening for macrolevel agents to make a causal
difference. This is a genuine difference from constitutive panpsychism” (p. 69). This is a
good point though the nature of the pre-phenomenal remains a mystery. But then none of
these essays ever really attempts to deal with just what a microsubjective experience might
be like.
Section II includes wide ranging essays on possible panpsychist ontologies. Strawson offers
his ironic view of a self-conscious panpsychism that yet leaves physical science fully intact.
Nagasawa and Wager give priority to the cosmos as a whole over its parts: “…priority
cosmopsychism says that exactly one basic consciousness, the cosmic consciousness,
exists” (p. 116). So in this case the cosmos decomposes into smaller units of experience or
consciousness, like our own, rather than combining from the very small and rudimentary
into larger units. Brogaard’s chapter searches for mentons, mental experience equivalents
of gravitons, which I found perplexing.
But if Brogaard left me perplexed, Rosenberg’s much anticipated chapter sometimes left me
feeling all at sea – even though it was entitled “Land Ho”! I have long intended to read
Rosenberg’s version of panexperientialism, for Whiteheadian panexperientialism is where
my sympathies lie. However, Rosenberg looks to his alternative to classical cause-andeffect – the Theory of Causal Significance (TCS) – to extoll the necessity for pan-experience
in the world, though TCS remains unclear.
Section III deals with panpsychism’s combination problem: how could the micro-subjects or
micro-experiences combine into becoming full-fledged macro-subjects of consciousness
like ourselves? Chalmers and other notables offer their attempts to deal with this problem
but physicalist Barbara Gail Montero simply asks, “What Combination Problem?” by noting
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that experiences combine more readily than do objects. She may be correct, but since
panpsychism is experiences and objects as a unity, perhaps “as readily” is even better.
The last section, “Panpsychism and Its Alternatives”, dares to be more speculative while not
really dealing with panpsychism, as such. McLaughlin comes up with the contorted notion
of panprotoexperientialism, which I defy anyone to clearly differentiate from
panprotopsychism, but he ends by declaring himself ultimately in favour of
neurobiologicalism. The other pieces in this section seem unwilling to grasp the uniqueness
of panpsychism, so they offer instead alternative ontologies. The jumble of charts used by
Stephan cannot hide the fact that strong emergence cannot be panpsychism, which posits
actual experience from the universal get-go. Stubenberg has more luck with a very strong
essay suggesting neutral monism as the necessary ontological background for
panpsychism, which is indeed compatible. The last two chapters by Taliaferro bringing in
dualism and Meixner supporting idealism do not seem to see that their perspectives leave
panpsychism behind. Both end up calling upon theism (implying God) as ultimate.
However, panpsychism if associated with theism would likely be polytheistic or pantheistic.
Can panpsychism ever be shown to be a phenomenological reality? None of these essays
give any indication panpsychism is anything more than a default position, arrived at by a
process of logical elimination. If panpsychism in any form were ever revealed as likely, it
would lead to a major upheaval in the world of physics and in our relation to nature. We
would find ourselves subjectively connected with all other aspects of reality, as poets have
experienced. Surely such an awesome possibility cries out for a philosophical
phenomenology or even a literary treatment beyond the grim objective tedium offered by
analytical deduction.
Phenomenological philosopher Merleau-Ponty (1968) hinted that only the undoing of
memory could lead us to the hollows of being where our experiential origins lie: "If being is
to unveil itself, it will be in the face of a transcendence and not an intentionality; it will be
brute being caught in the shifting sands, a being that reverts to itself: it will be the sensible
hollowing itself out” (p. 210).
The other suggestion to discovering awareness in all things is via poetic reverie. Allow me
to close this review with the words of William Wordsworth (1798) when he was inspired
to express his own vision of panpsychism, perhaps even pantheism, with the wonder intact:
—And I have felt
A presence that disturbs me with the joy
Of elevated thoughts; a sense sublime
Of something far more deeply interfused,
Whose dwelling is the light of setting suns,
And the round ocean and the living air,
And the blue sky, and in the mind of man.
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Then again, this sort of obfuscation or romantic allusion may be just the sort of thing to
leave materialist skeptics in apoplectic horror.
References
Merleau-Ponty, M. (1968). The Visible and the Invisible, followed by working notes (A. Lingis,
trans.). Northwestern University Press. Original in French: C. Lefort, ed., Paris:
Gallimard, 1964.
Wordsworth, W. (1798). “Lines Composed a Few Miles above Tintern Abbey, On Revisiting
the Banks of the Wye during a Tour. July 13, 1798.” In W. Wordsworth & S.T. Coleridge,
Lyrical Ballads (1st ed). London: J. & A. Arch. Retrieved 29 June 2017, via archive.org
_______________________________________________________
First published in Metascience 26 (3), 2017, 471-474. Reprinted with permission.
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4. David Skrbina, Panpsychism in the West (rev. ed.)
MIT Press, 2017, 372 pages
ISBN: 9780262534062 (pbk)
_______________________________________________________
Introduction
If I were to make a single reading recommendation to those uninitiated in panpsychist
philosophy who wish to learn more, it would be this excellent book, an overview of the
important role played by panpsychism in Western philosophy and, later, scientific
speculation. It is not a philosophic fleshing out of all possible ways panpsychism might be
conceived, interpreted, or elaborated but is instead a vast yet compact survey of the
embrace of the idea in the history of thought limited to the sphere of Western Culture.
(Panpsychism, though called by a variety of other names, is so pervasive in the Eastern
philosophies and theologies of Asia that its presence goes without saying.)
Skrbina’s writing style is fluid and articulate. It makes for a pleasurable read, though the
price of this style might be found in a relative lack of depth and detail. This however is only
to be expected in such a thorough survey. After offering a succinct definition of
panpsychism — “[W]e may say panpsychism holds that all things have a mind or a mindlike quality” (p. 2) — he fleshes out comparable but differing terminology like animism,
hylozoism, panbiotism, vitalism, pansensism, pantheism, panentheism, and panexperiential–
ism.
He makes clear the status of panpsychism as an ontological metaphysics. It both refers to
the ultimate nature of mind and of reality. “In this sense it is a higher-order theory, a metatheory, of mind. It is a theory about theories. It simply holds that, however one conceives of
mind, such mind applies to all things. Because of this, there are panpsychist extensions of
most conventional theories.” (p. 3)
He deftly notes how different panpsychism is from “mechanistic materialism”, but accepts
that there are physicalist formulations of panpsychism. The other major contrast is with
emergentism, which he claims is assumed to be true by nearly every contemporary
philosopher of mind (not even to mention the scientists). “They believe that, in the distant
past, mind did not exist. Today it does. Ergo, it must have emerged, in an absolute sense,
from an organic milieu that was devoid of mind” (p. 17). Panpsychists see such a brute
emergentist claim as equivalent to an inexplicable miracle. Mind could not emerge from nomind, so it could only have been here all along.
Every structured being in the universe – animals, plants, rocks, planets, stars – all, at
some point, did not exist; now they do; therefore they did emerge. But not
everything can plausibly do so. Time, for instance, seems inconceivable to have ever
emerged from a timeless cosmos. So too with space; we simply cannot conceive how
spatiality could have come into being in a universe that was not spatial. Time and
space must have always existed, everywhere. They are “pan” qualities of reality. …
Panpsychists add one more item to the list: mind. Experientially, subjectivity, qualia
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… the emergence of such things is inconceivable, from a universe utterly without
them. … Panpsychists prefer a rational, naturalistic, and non-miraculous universe.
And in such a universe, mind must have always been present. (p. 19)
I am not certain that space and time might not in some sense be seen as emergent in terms
of Big Bang theories of origin, but I take his point that they are essential to the existence of
this universe. Skrbina sums up, “The bottom line seems quite clear: One is either an
emergentist, or one is a panpsychist. There seems to be no middle ground.” (p. 20)
Survey
At this point, he begins his detailed survey, which is the bulk of the book. He makes it clear
that panpsychism — though often severely repressed by the Church in Mediaeval and early
Renaissance times and later, after Galileo, by the scientific worldview — has also been
astonishingly pervasive in all Western philosophy, right from its apparent first conceptions
beginning with Pythagorus and Heraclitus in ancient Greece.
He finds panpsychism present as potential or actuality in quite a number of ancient
approaches, surprisingly perhaps including Plato. In an extended section he makes his
argument that Plato was a panpsychist, even though he is generally identified in the history
of philosophy as the paradigmatic idealist. Skrbina finds strong evidence in Plato’s writings,
but I can only concede that sometimes Plato sounds like a panpsychist. As long as Platonic
reality is based in the invisible forms or ideas, Plato will continue to be an idealist, at least
as I see it.
He does not see much panpsychism in the Epicureans, who are materialists, but he
convincingly portrays the metaphysics behind Stoicism as panpsychist. He sees
panpsychist influences among the Neoplatonists, more in Porphyry than in Plotinus, but
otherwise ignores any approaches that might be called mystical. The rise of Christendom
muzzled all panpsychist thought for a great many years, but Skrbina notably identifies St.
Francis of Assisi as somehow evading the inquisition and preaching panpsychism: “Francis’
view of nature and of man rested on a unique sort of panpsychism of all things animate and
inanimate” (p. 74) Other Christian thinkers who leaned toward panpsychism readily
recanted when pressured to do so.
It is in the Renaissance that panpsychism seemed to have a rebirth of his own as so many
thinkers avidly embraced the concept even though some of them were monks. I must note
that in his survey, Skrbina does not note that these rebellious thinkers were often inspired
by the esoteric wisdom of the legendary figure of Hermes Trismegistus, who was very
influential during this time. “In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, several major
philosophers advocated or were strongly sympathetic to panpsychism, including
Paracelsus, Cardano, Telesio, Patrizi, Bruno, Campanella, Henry More, Margaret Cavendish,
Spinoza, and Leibniz” (p. 78). Some of the most outspoken panpsychists like Giordano
Bruno and Thomas Campanella refused to recant to the RC Inquisition with tragic results,
Campanella being imprisoned for most of his later life, and Bruno burned at the stake.
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The rise of the empiricists (including Bacon, Hobbes, and Kepler) de-emphasized both
religion and the inner life of the world but often allowed a kind of pansensism in material
objects. Still, counting and objectivity mattered more. “This, then, was the beginning of the
mechanistic worldview—the mathematization of natural phenomena. Galileo took this up
in earnest, and greatly advanced scientific philosophy. … Materialist and mechanistic
philosophy began to dominate Western thinking.” (p. 98)
The other person of note … is Margaret Cavendish, Duchess of Newcastle (16231673). A poet and playwright, Cavendish also produced three major works on
natural philosophy. … She advocated a form of materialism in which the cosmos was
an organic whole composed of organic and animate parts. (p. 104)
There are major sections on the famous spiritual panpsychists, Leibniz and Spinoza, both
remarkable visionaries, but there are also surprising panpsychist tendencies found among
the deniers of deity.
Among the most notorious of these [atheist or near-atheist] philosophers was Julien
LaMettrie (1709-1751). Author of the provocative and scandalous L’Homme Machine [The
Human Machine], LaMettrie was the first thinker to unabashedly—though anonymously—
claim that man was purely a natural automaton and did not require an immortal soul to
account for his behavior. … In openly denying the immaterial soul, he carried scientific
philosophy to its logical limit. …
It is quite common, even today, to equate materialism with mechanism. But, as has
been noted, the two are logically independent. … Though he obviously adopted the
term “machine” in his L’Homme Machine, it was in a specifically vitalistic sense.
LaMettrie’s writing demonstrated that he had quasi-panpsychist and hylozoist
inclinations, which necessarily have no role in a mechanistic materialism. Vitalistic
materialism sees some degree of life and mind in all things; it seeks a natural rather
than a supernatural explanation. (pp. 122-123)
From this point on, Galilean science tends to divorce itself from philosophy, becoming both
mechanically and reductively materialist, at least until the quantum revolution opened the
gates to consciousness once again. There are exceptions among scientists, of course, such
as Lotze (1817-1881), Haeckel (1834-1919), and Mach (1838-1916). In 19th century
philosophy, panpsychism came into its own under the likes of Schiller, Schopenhauer, and,
more controversially, Nietzsche. In America, panpsychism achieved a new depth and
philosophical subtlety in the works of Peirce, Royce, James, and others. (C. S. Peirce, if his
writings can be penetrated, is unique in this field.) This continued into the twentieth
century with Bergson, Dewey, Whitehead, and Russell, not to mention others like Teilhard
de Chardin and Hartshorne. (Such listings are deceptive. The text itself is much richer with
compact discussions and colourful anecdotes, so it’s best the book be read in its entirety.)
It seems the parallel yet divergent approaches of Alfred North Whitehead and Bertrand
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Aristotle schism of ancient times, Whitehead standing in for Plato, the more inclined to
inner speculation, and Russell for Aristotle, the more outer world oriented.
The best-known and most controversial panpsychist of the twentieth century was
Alfred North Whitehead (1861-1947). The nominal founder of process philosophy,
Whitehead took the insights of Heraclitus, Bergson, James, and Russell and
combined them with the revelations of the so-called new physics of the day to create
an intricate and complex philosophical system. Process philosophy saw time as a
fundamental ontological entity, something deeply implicated in the nature of being.
… On this view, the event is the fundamental reality of the world. (p. 213)
Whitehead’s approach indicated that each event in ongoing time – the occasion of
experience – lasted about a micro-second. It both emerged from the objective world,
providing continuity and was influenced toward novelty by the creativity of the formless,
teleological eternal objects. Once its micro-second of experience ended, it became a nonexperiencing objective entity, a part of the many, thus Whitehead’s formula, “The many
become one and are increased by one” (1929/1978, p. 21). However, experiences can only
fuse with the evolutionary addition of an incarnate experiencer, which can allow them to be
held in memory. Once such memory can be conceptually controlled, as in human beings,
experience can reflexively become conscious of itself then and only then becoming
conscious experience. Thus panexperientialism (a word not used by Whitehead) is based in
unconscious experience. Whitehead was a panpsychist only in a limited sense.
Whitehead’s student and colleague Bertrand Russell (1872-1970), in the latter part of his
career, held to a neutral monist process view in which events were the primary reality,
comprising both mind and matter. In that sense he continued the line of thinking of
Bergson and Whitehead. Russell’s neutral monism was unique, however, in that he
proposed that mind and matter each resulted from a set of causal laws; matter from
physical laws of science, mind from “mnemic” laws that were not yet understood. The
relationship between these two sets of laws (if there was one) was not clear. (p. 219)
Russell seems unwilling to let experience exist on its own, so he tends more toward
dualism, perhaps better seen as a pansensist. Pansensism means experiencing a sensation,
which may only be momentary and unremembered by any central processor. Though its
effects may linger physically, if it is not remembered, it does not necessarily imply the
existence of an experiencer. Pansensism, like panexperientialism does not necessarily
imply a mind or experience that is conscious of itself, i.e., a conscious experiencer. Russell
recognizes that memory is necessary to bring about consciousness. Russell also appears
also to be a panpsychist only in a limited sense. (To his credit, Skrbina does not deal with
the hair-splitting trap of analytic philosophy when it comes to dealing with the Byzantine
vicissitudes of Russellian monism, constitutive or not.)
Aside from the panpsychist views emerging from a scientific perspective, further
philosophical panpsychism in the West up to the present may be broadly summarized as
footnotes to Whitehead and/or Russell, the former being the more speculative. Skrbina
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praises the process philosophers like Hartshorne for carrying on the panpsychist flame in
the form of panexperientialism, “most notably Griffin but also including Ford, Birch, De
Quincey, and others” (p. 265).
Dual aspect views, which are at least implicitly panpsychist, were defended by
thinkers as diverse as Feigl, Nagel, Globus, Plumwood, and Chalmers. In the work of
Abram, Berman, Zohar, Wilber, Harvey, and Orr, populist treatments also emerged.
The endorsement of panpsychism by the prominent analytic philosopher Galen
Strawson was a major development in the field. So-called Russellian monism has
been taken up in earnest by professional philosophers, many of whom spell out the
panpsychist implications. And various efforts have been made to build upon the
insights of Peirce to connect recent work in chaos theory and dynamical systems to
forms of panpsychism. (p. 265)
Skrbina cites Danah Zohar in The Quantum Self as emphasizing “that the wavelike nature of
quantum particles may be interpreted as mind, and hence ‘the wave/particle duality of
quantum “stuff” becomes the most primary mind/body relationship in the world’” (pp.
286-287). So the wave nature is subjective mind, and the particle nature is objective
matter.
New developments in science led to materialist “heretics” – such as Eddington, Pauli, and
Wheeler – embracing panpsychism, at least in some form:
The equation of mass and energy furthered the notion that the underlying nature of
matter was something vaguely spirit-like. Quantum mechanics emerged as an
accepted theory of atomic and and subatomic particles; its bizarre, indeterminate
implications led a number of scientists to panpsychist conclusions, beginning with
John Haldane in 1932 and continuing with Jeans, Sherrington, Wright, Rensch,
Walker, Cochran, Dyson, Bohm, and Hameroff. (pp. 242-243)
Skrbina does an excellent job of succinctly summarizing each of their contributions or
viewpoints and relating them to one another. His last chapter, “Toward a Panpsychist
Worldview”, stands alone as a compelling argument for this particular ontology. But he also
makes time for a stimulating – and convincing – rebuttal of many of the major recent
theories of consciousness that ignore, dismiss, or mock panpsychism: “The standard
materialist, being fundamentally committed to an anti-panpsychist view, has no unbiased
standpoint from which to make a judgment. Thus any ruling of ‘unintelligible’ or ‘false’ is
meaningless. … Materialism, and the accompanying analytical and logical philosophy,
seems to have reached the terminal stage.” (p. 337).
Hesitations
I would not be a worthy critic if I didn’t offer some of my own criticisms or hesitations, as I
call them, to indicate my statements are personal and do not impinge on the overall quality
of the work. As an introduction to panpsychism or as an important chapter in the history of
philosophy, this is still truly a five-star book.
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Skrbina’s definitions of panpsychism use of the terms “mind” and “subjectivity”. Can an
electron be said to have a mind or subjective experience? If at some point before events
and perspective separate the subjective from the objective, are they not one thing, process
or essence? Can they ever really be conceived separately? In the same way the idea of
consciousness emerging from the unconscious mind is fallacious because without any
conscious mind it makes no sense to speak of an un-conscious. In the same way, without an
experiential schism between outer objective reality (including one’s own body) and the
inner subjective reality of one’s mind, it makes no sense to speak of either as distinct or
ultimates. You can’t have one without the other. So the use of the term “mind” or even
“subjectivity” is fallacious as well – until they are distinguished from their binary
oppositions “world” and “objectivity”. Language and its binary structure make meaning by
identifying opposites and polarities, so it is likely there was no real split between mind and
matter or subjectivity and objectivity until we made it so in language. This is in line with
Whitehead’s identification of conscious experience as a rare but specific form of experience,
as Whitehead clearly states:
Consciousness flickers; and even at its brightest, there is a small focal region of clear
illumination, and a large penumbral region of experience which tells of intense
experience in dim apprehension. The simplicity of clear consciousness is no
measure of the complexity of complete experience. Also this character of our
experience suggests that consciousness is the crown of experience, only occasionally
attained, not its necessary base. (1929/1978, p. 267)
In this revised edition, he goes out of his way to more deeply address Whitehead and to
praise panexperientialism. Still, nowhere can I find it explicitly stated that panexperientialism considers that consciousness (i.e., conscious experience) does not “go all the way
down”, only experience does. Experience happens without consciousness, so the two are
differentiated: conscious experience is a rare, apex form of experience requiring at least a
brain. This is essential to grasping panexperientialism.
The book’s approach is generally restricted to a traditional definition of Western
philosophy, mostly analytical, with some examples from scientific speculation. However,
panpsychism is very much present though often disguised behind a rhetoric of spiritual
idealism in the thinking of the Neoplatonists (who are briefly mentioned) and the Gnostics
(who are not). There’s no mention of the important European tradition of the alchemicalhermetic philosophies, which, along with their quest for purification and personal
transformation, had a strong vein of vitalistic physicalism, i.e., panpsychism. Frances Yates
is not cited in the book. However, such hermetic thinking was central to the Renaissance
panpsychists, which put them afoul of the Church. It was such a powerful enough way of
thinking that it secretly preoccupied much of the thought of Newton, often mistakenly seen
as the paragon of scientific reductionism. However, he does later include Ouspensky, a
panpsychist with mystical ideas.
Skrbina either disdains or doesn’t bother to grapple with phenomenology even though, as
he states, “Phenomenology … is generally centered on the notion of mind and
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consciousness as a primary aspect of existence” (p. 223) He does mention David Abram’s
neo-animism in his The Spell of the Sensuous since Abram (1996) identified his method as
phenomenological and relied on the intra-ontology of Merleau-Ponty. But Skrbina
concludes, “Of all the Western philosophical schools addressing panpsychism,
phenomenology … is among the least relevant” (p. 289). I think not, so I was disappointed
to see no elaboration of Merleau-Ponty’s notion (1968) of the flesh of the world, which
implies a palpable feeling process of the world, which is an extension of that in our own
bodies.
As phenomenology is the philosophy of experience, also missing are more extreme
examples of human experience as found in mysticism, trance, and psychedelic trips. Some
accounts claim to have unknown forms of consciousness in other processes or entities or
felt that they were communing with plants or inorganic entities like the wind. My own
narrative of such an experience (2019) is one example, but the full-length conference talk
and YouTube presentation by Peter Sjöstedt Hughes called “Panpsychism and Psychedelic
Sentience” (2017) makes the connection explicit.
Everyone has favourites, and, to his credit, Skrbina covered nearly all of mine (with the
exceptions indicated above). I was very pleased to see the inclusion of the brilliant but
demanding Gordon Globus, the environmental philosopher Freya Mathews, and the
Whiteheadian David Ray Griffin. But I missed the potent philosophizing of contemporary
panpsychists like Max Velmans (2017) for his reflexive monism, and Michel Weber (2011), a
Whiteheadian who makes a strong case for pancreativism over the more passive
panexperientialism. Philip Goff, perhaps now the most popular proponent of panpsychism
(see 2019) has only one dated mention, which is fine by me. I also thought it was
unfortunate the entire field of psychological philosophy seemed to be ignored. Wilhelm
Reich was noted. But what is C. G. Jung’s collective unconscious (aka the objective psyche)
but a universal psyche, that is, pre-conscious or unconscious creative experience, that is,
panexperientialism or pancreativism? Why skip that?
Conclusion
Buy this book and read it. It crosses thresholds into new ways of thinking. Mark it up, take
notes, discuss it with others, cite it in your writings. Interrogate it if you must but most of
all just enjoy the fine prose and stimulating ideas. At the very least, you will certainly gain
some respect for panpsychism as a plausible ontology.
References
Abram, David (1996), The Spell of the Sensuous: Perception and Language in a More-thanHuman World. Pantheon.
Goff, Philip (2019), Galileo's Error: Foundations for a New Science of Consciousness.
Pantheon.
Merleau-Ponty, Maurice (1968), The Visible and the Invisible, followed by working notes (A.
Lingis, trans.). Northwestern University Press. (Original in French: C. Lefort, ed., Paris:
Gallimard, 1964.)
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Nixon, Gregory (2019), ‘Breaking out of one’s Head (& awakening to the world)’, in Alex S.
Kohav (ed.), Mysticism and Meaning: Multidisciplinary Perspectives (pp. 29-57). Three
Pines Press. (Previously published in JCER 2(7), 2011.)
Sjöstedt Hughes, Peter (2017, posted online 2018), “Panpsychism and Psychedelic
Sentience”. Online: YouTube.
Velmans, Max (2017), Towards a Deeper Understanding of Consciousness.
Routledge/Psychology Press.
Weber, Michel (2011), Whitehead's Pancreativism: Jamesian Applications. Ontos Verlag.
Whitehead, Alfred North (1978), Process and Reality: An Essay in Cosmology, corrected
edition. D.R. Griffin & D.W. Sherburne, eds. Free Press. (Originally published 1929.)
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5. Christof Koch, The Feeling of Life Itself: Why Consciousness is
Widespread but Can’t Be Computed
MIT Press, 2019, 263 pages
ISBN: 9780262539555 (pbk)
_______________________________________________________
This is truly a fine book, with just some minor hesitations from a non-scientist but longtime participant in philosophy of mind and consciousness studies. I find myself currently
both a Whiteheadian panexperientialist and something of a “cosmopsychist”, since there
must be something more universal, like a “background radiation” of dimly-lit awareness-initself, to make Whitehead’s infinitesimal occasions of experience possible. On to the book.
Koch is a famous neuroscientist-turned-philosopher. He worked with Francis Crick (who
with James Watson in 1953 discovered the double-helix structure of the DNA molecule)
and became well known as a reductive materialist — the view that every experience is
completely caused & determined by one's brain. However, after Crick died, Koch delved
further into consciousness studies, seems to have been impressed by Chalmers’s “hard
problem”, and realized conscious experience itself cannot be so easily explained away. Now
he's become something of a panpsychist — i.e., consciousness in some form pervades
everything. Quite a change, but a welcome one!
However, he still has many of the assumptions of a scientist, so let me list my hesitations
(not quite “objections”) here at the beginning of this review.
First he explicitly defines consciousness as experience, period: “That’s it. Consciousness is
any experience from the most mundane to the most exalted” (p. 1). Then he proceeds to
regularly speak of “conscious experience”, which should be a redundant phrase. Whitehead
ardently distinguished experience-in-itself from conscious experience, implying that we
and all events most often experience unconsciously. By eliding these two terms, Koch has
inevitably made explaining the experience of single-celled, protoplasmic, or inorganic
systems that much more difficult. Few will accept that a quantum field has a mind.
Second, he has fallen for the fantasy of the inborn self that so many objective reductionist
thinkers take for granted. As a result, he believes like any good Cartesian that the only thing
he can be certain of is his own consciousness. The conscious experience of other people is a
conjecture, an inference based on comparing their behaviour to his. This is the so-called
“mind-reading” hypothesis that objectivists prefer. But there has been a good deal of
phenomenological theory and actual empirical developmental research that reveals we
begin with primary empathy; that is, as infants we identify with our primary caregivers and
mimic their conscious experience to learn what it is like: we act self-conscious before we
begin to feel it. We learn to be a self as the result of first participating in intersubjective
relationships, and this continues to a lesser degree throughout life.
Koch also reveals his objectivist bias when he states that all experience is the result of
evolution, giving no credence to cultural creativity or subjective self-discovery. I would
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wager that language itself did not slowly evolve but was, instead, a hard-won cultural
discovery that required memory and ritual to be carried on.
I am very pleased that Koch now identifies his approach with panpsychism, but he tends
throughout to generalize panpsychism as though it were a clearly definable single position,
but anyone who dismisses panexperientialism, pancreativism or cosmopsychism tends to
lump all panpsychisms into one theory. I would like more clarity here.
He, like many, gives too much credence to the so-called combination problem of
panpsychism: how could brief flashes of momentary experience combine to become the
sort of consciousness that is obvious among mammals including ourselves? Why is there no
combination problem for physicalists? They clearly explain how quarks and subatomic
particles combine to become atoms, which combine to becomes molecules, which combine
to become organelles, and then cells, and so on. It seems to me since panpsychism sees
matter as experiential that precisely the same pattern would follow. Objective is subjective,
after all. Just as cells combine into larger wholes, so, with memory, do occasions of
experience.
Finally, in more speculative territory, he claims a mind is in effect what we mean by a
“soul”. He assumes minds cannot combine, yet here we are communicating through time
and space on the internet: our beings are participating! Obviously, a sort of co-conscious
cultural mind exists. And if that is so, why is it so impossible to imagine the soul (the
unconscious mind?) of each entity having its source in a sort of oversoul, the unconscious
experience of the universe itself, perhaps akin to Jung's collective unconscious?
These objections are from a phenomenological and panexperientialist perspective. I still
think this is an important book — though challenged, I enjoyed it immensely. I admit that I
do not entirely grasp his central theory — the “heart of the matter”, as he calls it —which is
Giulio Tononi's integrated information theory (IIT), somewhat arcane but still gaining
influence.
Most important, he has embraced it as an approach that explains consciousness in matter
as the self-caused integration of information, which is to say a mind that is able to
reprocess its own information in such a way as to have self-agency. The theory claims to
assume consciousness from the beginning, so it doesn't have to explain how it arose from
matter. But then, with mathematical theorems I have no hope of understanding, it also
claims to be able to measure the degree of consciousness in each process or entity, which
sounds very quantitative for a theory that begins with a qualitative assumption.
In this view, brains neither cause nor correlate with experience; it sounds to me like
psychophysical identity (not merely parallelism), though it is always in dynamic process:
IIT asserts that any experience is identical to the irreducible, causal interaction of
the interdependent physical mechanism[s] that make up the Whole. It is an identity
relationship—every facet of any experience maps completely onto the associated
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maximally irreducible cause-effect structure with nothing left over on either side. (p.
88)
For consciousness to exist, the parts must themselves be active (likely proto-conscious),
working together to make a new Whole — a mind, as it were, which then in turn is able to
regulate its own processing. That's the integration. And Koch sees no reason why conscious
experience shouldn't be found "all the way down" into quantum systems, though at that
level it would be rudimentary and momentary, which is why I think "mind" or
"consciousness" is the wrong term. IIT does not much speculate about supra- or transhuman forms of consciousness, but, on the other end of things, he does show an open mind
to “pure conscious experience”, i.e., awareness without content, which is expressed as selftranscendent void awareness in many times and places.
Back to his final point, computational intelligence vs self-awareness… Since computers and
computer programs are currently based on the linear von Neumann model of disparate,
unintegrated materials that cannot combine to create a new whole, they will never become
conscious: they will never experience, though, obviously, their complex intelligence will
make them expert at mimicking self-awareness.
However, Koch leaves the door distantly open to machine consciousness for managing
computation on materials that can combine to become new wholes and guide their
information processing, which may be possible in quantum computing or by combining
organics.
There you have it: clear as a bell, right? It's tough, for sure. IIT is not perfectly clear to me
either, so read the book and feel free to correct me.
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Section II: Linguistic Consciousness – Human Origins
_______________________________________________________
1. Leslie Dewart, Evolution and Consciousness: The Role of Speech in the
Origin and Development of Human Nature
University of Toronto Press, 1989, 400 pages
ISBN: 0-8020-2690-7 (HB)
_______________________________________________________
This book has been identified in some bookstores as a university textbook; however, it is
most certainly not a textbook, and I very much doubt any undergraduate, no matter how
advanced, could manage its depth and relative complexity. Evolution and Consciousness was
written before the consciousness studies boom of the 90s — the so-called “decade of the
brain” (which continues into the present time) — but still it was a mistake for it to languish
so widely ignored. Much of the confusion of more recent writings on consciousness could
have been avoided if the lessons of this book had been given a wider reading.
In my view, such wide reading never took place because of bad marketing and because, like
all great philosophy, it is a damned demanding tome. It was written just as we entered the
so-called “decade of the brain”, the 1990s, which is apparently still going on to just by the
predominance of neuroscience in consciousness studies. This is a work of high philosophy
indeed by one of our major intellects who sees clearly and unsparingly and truthfully.
Leslie Dewart writes with such inexorable logic that I defy anyone to read this book
without prejudgment (as much as possible) and find a way to reasonably disagree with his
primary thesis. He demonstrates that what we mean by the term "consciousness" is what
we know from our own experience to be consciousness: we conceive of all consciousness as
being of the same quality as human consciousness. Dewart makes the case that human
conscious experience is qualitatively different from experience-in-itself — without the
quality of consciousness — the in-the-moment response system of infrahuman entities.
Only with the assertion of ideas in actual speech is the door opened to what will become
the discovery/creation of the self and the subjective systems we call minds. Only then is
conscious free agency born; only then is memory consciously accessible and rearrangeable
into imagination; only then is inner speech, i.e., conscious cognition, i.e., conceptual thought
born. Speech and (self-) consciousness turn out to be two faces of the same entity.
This is a powerful thesis written in exacting but beautiful prose. Anyone seriously
interested in the origins and evolution of speech or of consciousness owes it to himself to
give Dewart a fair reading. This perspective, that experience takes place without
consciousness, and that it is only our learning to speak that allows us the ability to
symbolize our own existence and make us conscious of our own experiencing, is no longer
in vogue. A subject-denying objectivity has become the rule in theories of mind. Anyone
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schooled in the reductive materialist worldview so predominant today will not respect the
idea that crossing of the symbolic threshold into speech is what gave us the ability to
reflexively conceive of our own existence in time, to learn to autopoietically construct inner
minds with an objective sense of self in the centre.
Leslie Dewart does this in a most convincing manner, though the book’s prime weakness is
that he never fleshes out what non-conscious experience might be like (if anything) or to
question to what extent other existent being or processes (organic or otherwise) might
share in such experiencing. Still, this is great philosophy and great philosophy demands to
be read, so I heartily recommend this 1989 book.
_______________________________________________________
Previously unpublished but posted online.
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2. Terrence W. Deacon, The Symbolic Species: The Co-Evolution of
Language and the Brain
W. W. Norton & Co, 1997, 527 pages
ISBN 0-393-03838-6 (HB)
_______________________________________________________
Terrence Deacon has constructed a tome in which he unleashes his considerable learning
in quest of several answers to the question, ‘What are we?’ He is uniquely qualified to take
an approach which details the origin and development of, first, language, then the brain,
and, lastly, their ‘co-evolution.’ Described on the jacket as ‘a world-renowned researcher in
neuroscience and evolutionary anthropology,’ all of his background is called upon at
various times to pull together the mass of data and supposition that Deacon brings to the
table.
In spite of the vastness of the territory he covers, Deacon’s writing is most often accessible
with a quiet wit which carries the reader along. This reviewer must confess, however, that
he found the middle section on the evolution of the brain to be pretty dense traffic. Perhaps
someone with a stronger neuroscientific background could follow Deacon into the
intricacies of ‘using fly genes to make human brains.’
As the title indicates, Deacon attempts to show beyond much reasonable doubt that
language does not ‘innately’ exist in the brain like some sort of Chomskyian L.A.D. Instead
he wishes to reveal that language itself has adapted to the brain over the years (much as we
continue to adapt software programs for ease and complexity to computer hardwares).
Over the millennia, language and brain have co-evolved, he reports, and thus there is no
need to postulate a generative grammar or a single mother tongue from which all other
languages emerged. He rests his case upon ‘Baldwinian evolution,’ the theory of American
psychologist Mark Baldwin from a century ago which suggests ‘that by temporarily
adjusting behaviors or psychological responses during its lifespan in response to novel
conditions, an animal could produce irreversible changes in the adaptive content of future
generations’ (pp. 322-323). Such changes over time lead to actual genetic changes.
We are, therefore, the symbolic species, the only one who crosses the ‘symbolic threshold’
as a matter of course—though Deacon does recognize that certain apes, chimps, and
bonobo have been led across this threshold too. Borrowing from C. S. Peirce, Deacon
understands that most species signal each other with iconic reference, a direct response to
their environment. More advanced species learn to use indexical reference which indicates
a class of potential references. With the development of actual language, we have crossed
the symbolic threshold so our symbolic reference is most often to other symbols (each of
which is indexically constructed). We take up residence in a ‘virtual’ world with senses of
time, space, and personhood unknown to other animals.
These ideas will sound extreme to some but his patiently detailed exposition is generally
quite convincing. He steps out into pure speculation when he suggests that the marriage
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contract was likely the origin of symbolic reference. (How else could mates mark their
territory when one hunts and one gathers?)
He doesn’t address consciousness, itself, until page 438, where he follows the Peircean
referencing system—iconic, indexical, symbolic—to speak of levels of consciousness, ‘yet
few would be willing to say that the consciousness of a dog or cat is of the same sort that
we ascribe to humans’ (p. 439). When trying to determine whether or not simpler
information processing animals can be said to be conscious, he throws up his hands and
declares, ‘What a complicated mess!’ (p. 441). Yet he eventually argues that only symbolic
consciousness allows for a sense of selfhood and intersubjectivity: ‘Its virtual nature
notwithstanding, it is the symbolic realm of consciousness that we most identify with and
from which our sense of agency and self-control originate’ (p. 452). This throws into doubt
just what sort of consciousness he is attributing to instinct-bounded nervous systems of
iconic reference. Without agency or selfhood, can a creature be fairly thought to be
conscious when terms like non-conscious experiencing would do?
It’s notable that Deacon conceives of the origin of symbol use among the first toolmakers,
that is, those whom we designate as H. habilis (ca. 2.3–1.65 million years ago). Judging the
by the lack of significant cultural change during those millions of years, this so-called
symbolic signage was certainly not formal language with syntax, recursion, time-tenses,
abstraction and the ability to symbolize one’s existence. This communication appears to be
more akin to what Derek Bickerton (1981) had designated as a pidgen-like protolanguage
of gesture, naming, useful only in the present for passing on toolmaking templates &
coordinating hunting and gathering ventures—in other words, indexical signs at best.
There is no certain evidence of symbolic self-reference, i.e., formally complete conceptual
language, until later H. sapiens, about 70 thousand years ago in the Upper Palaeolithic.
He seems to understand the degrees of complexity as being fundamentally computational.
This being the case, no one should be surprised when he predicts toward the end of his
long book that computers will someday be capable of symbolic reference—but first they
must attain sentience so as to become capable of self-evolution. Not an easy request! If and
when this does occur, ‘[t]he question before us is whether we will begin to treat people like
unconscious computers, or come to treat conscious computers like people’ (p. 464). A
rather jarring note on which to close, I thought, especially for a book which focuses mainly
on human mentality and the symbolic reference of language.
References
Bickerton, Derek (1981), Roots of Language. Karoma Publishers.
_______________________________________________________
Previously published in Journal of Consciousness Studies 5 (5/6), Fall 1998, 746-748.
Reprinted with permission.
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3. Stanley I. Greenspan & Stuart G. Shanker, The First Idea: How Symbols,
Language, and Intelligence Evolved from Our Primate Ancestors to
Modern Humans
DaCapo Press (Perseus Books), 2004, 504 pages
ISBN 0-7382-0680-6 (HB)
_______________________________________________________
At last, a worthy antidote to the noxious trend that explains all human consciousness and
behaviour in terms of the evolution and activities of the brain alone! Cognitive science,
evolutionary psychology, and neurophilosophy, while adding complexity, have embraced
the assumption that life unfolds primarily on the basis of evolving, interacting genes. But
this view is unbalanced at best. Greenspan and Shanker remind us that opposition to it
need not imply mysticism, idealism, or anything spooky. They state the predominance of
cultural learning passed on from generation to generation, its content always changing and
never complete.
A second theme of the book is that it supplies strong evidence that rationality and cognition
are not opposed to emotion but are in fact the fulfillment of the emotional education
hopefully received by every healthy child. To think is to emote, but it is refined emotion
that functions in a controlled manner. This is an antidote to the Cartesians, Freudians, and
perhaps even Piagetians who have insisted that, developmentally, the rise of reason in
maturity overcomes primitive or childish emotional drives.
The authors propose that such emotional learning has culturally evolved over millions of
years, with reversals here and dead ends there. Each generation passes on its cultural
truths primarily through interactions between infant and mother or other intimate
caregivers. But each generation may also contribute in subtle ways to this body of learning
or, on occasion, subtract from it. Every child is regarded as recapitulating, in a matter of
years or months, the learning that culture achieved over millions of years. Language is the
primary example here.
They find little evidence that things so central as language or personal memory are
themselves innate, though clearly the capacity to achieve them has become genetically
based. The nature-nurture debate becomes appropriately complexified. The antidote to
genetic imperialism involves showing that experience determines genetics more than
genetics determine experience.
Greenspan and Shanker identify 16 stages of individual f/e (functional/emotional)
development, plus a timeline of 12 steps for the f/e evolution of human cognition, outdoing
the three steps of Merlin Donald (1991). The overused neologism “meme” is thankfully not
used, though they see human behaviour and the quality of conscious experience as arising
from culturally transmitted learning. They cite Terrence Deacon (1997) approvingly, so
presumably accept that structural brain adaptations occur along with the slow invention of
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formal language structures. They don't deny the brain’s influence, but see it as a dance with
learning, and the lead is clearly in cultural learning.
Greenspan is an expert on infant care and autism, while Shanker, apparently a Wittgenstein
scholar, specializes in studying the symbolic activities of trained apes (bonobos). Perhaps
as a consequence of their particular expertise, they spend less time on the (apparently)
slow discovery and improvement of speech, symbolism, and thought in early humanity
than they do on the rapid appearance of these capacities in individual upbringing. They
appear to accept too early and gradual an origin for formal human language, not being
critical enough of nonhuman communication or of early palaeoanthropological finds. As a
result, many ambiguous discoveries are treated as proofs of the presence of abstract
ideation. It is not noted that the islands of discovery seeming to indicate a very early
emergence of symbolic interaction are just that — anomalous islands. There is (as yet) no
indication of continuity in such activities over succeeding millennia. Nor do the authors
deal with early humanity’s likely immersion in the sacred world of the mythic mind (cf.,
Donald, 1991; Eliade, 1954); language is accepted as having been invented to meet
functional (not sacred) needs and for the pleasure of communicating, as if our prehistoric
ancestors had the same life experience and minds as we do.
Another reservation I have is that all the juice is in the first two parts of the book.
Greenspan and Shanker lay out their case in the first 184 pages, leaving the rest for
sometimes excruciating exegesis or jumps into global recommendations. Indeed, they
emphasize so strongly "the hand that rocks the cradle rules the world" that they have
added a hopeful final chapter to guide us all toward Global Interdependency through the
education of emotional response in every child's first year. Alas, we have many hurdles to
overcome before every child on the planet can receive the loving interactive attention that
will lead it to the authors' highest stage of development in old age: "...true wisdom free
from the self-centered and practical worries of earlier stages" (p. 91) and a peaceful world
in general.
Optimistic? Sure, but this tome is still recommended for its important defence of culture
and learning.
References
Deacon, Terrance (1997), The Symbolic Species: The Co-Evolution of Language and the Brain.
Norton.
Donald, Merlin (1991), Origins of the Modern Mind: Three Stages in the Evolution of Culture
and Cognition. Harvard University Press.
Eliade, Mircea (1954), The Myth of the Eternal Return: Or, Cosmos and History (W. R. Trask,
trans.). Princeton University Press. Original in French 1949.
______________________________________________________
First published in Journal of Consciousness Studies 12 (4-5), April-May 2005, 152-153.
Reprinted with permission.
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4. Martin Jay, Songs of Experience: Modern American and European
Variations on a Universal Theme
University of California Press, 2005, 431 pages ISBN 0-520-24823-6 (pbk)
_______________________________________________________
‘Experience is the best teacher’ goes the cliché without ever making clear just want is
meant by that first slippery term. ‘Experience is never remembered unaltered’ goes
another. Is experience something to be undergone, like a journey, or is it perhaps the
relational immediacy between organism and environment? What do we reference when we
use the term experience?
In this tome, Martin Jay, noted intellectual historian from UC Berkeley, undertakes to
review just this question with a grand survey of the term’s use throughout the intellectual
history of what was once called Western Civilization. Beginning with the ancient Greeks (of
course), he reviews the surprising number of variations employed and assumed mainly
among philosophers but also theologians, critical theorists, and up to the poststructuralists.
Jay knows his territory and reading this review of it — for anyone with any sort of
background in the history of philosophy — is often as pleasant as hearing a familiar
symphony well-played in a unique way.
It seems ‘experience’ has meant many things to different authors over years. The current
English term derives from a Latin source meaning to try or to test, thus revealing its
relationship with ‘experiment’. But there have many other implied meanings from the
distant past, some of which have been entirely forgotten. At the same time, the meaning (or
meaninglessness) of the term seems to have been a major point of contention more
recently amongst the American pragmatists, critical theorists, and the European-based
poststructuralists. Nowhere, however, does he deal directly with the relationship between
experience and consciousness, a much-disputed area, and this I consider to be the major
failing of the book.
To frame his study, Jay early on explores the two German words with slightly different
meanings that we both translate into English by the word ‘experience’. Erlebnis contains
within it the root for ‘life’ (Leben) and, according to Jay, ‘is often taken to imply a primitive
unity prior to any differentiation or objectification. ... Although Leben connotes the entirety
of a life, Erlebnis generally connotes a more immediate, pre-reflective, and personal variant
of experience...’ (p. 11). This implies a meaning for experience that does not necessarily
accord with our assumed meaning for conscious (from the Latin, conscius, ‘knowing
together’, also the root of conscience) in that it is ‘immediate, pre-reflective, and
personal…’. Defining consciousness (or conscious experience) is the cause of much
bickering, but David Cohen (1998), in his attempt to speak for mainstream psychology,
suggests that ‘it can be described as the state of mind that allows us to “know” our own
mind, to entertain thoughts about thoughts, to monitor our selves and our environments,
and to use this information to make plans and formulate hopes and fears’ (1998, p. 67). In
this case it can be seen that Erlebnis as experience simpliciter is not the same as conscious
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experience. Like the unconscious of psychoanalysis, it may be thought of as non-conscious
experience.
Erfahrung, the other German term we translate as experience, is on the other hand more
associated with differentiating sense impressions or making cognitive judgments about
them. ‘But,’ according to Jay, ‘it also came to mean a more temporally elongated notion of
experience based on a learning process, an integration of discrete moments of experience
into a narrative whole or an adventure’. Its roots are found in the Deutch words for journey
or danger: ‘As such, it activates a link between memory and experience, which subtends the
belief that cumulative experience can produce a kind of wisdom that comes only at the end
of the day’ (p. 11). Erfahrung seems to be more in accord with our common understanding
of experience, as ‘the best teacher’ or as the remembered present, which equates roughly
with the consensus understanding of conscious experience (or consciousness, if you will).
Jay, as I say, does not deal directly with question of how experience and conscious
experience may be related, if at all. Most often he seems to assume an equation of meaning,
which is very strange in a book that has declared its intention to explore all meanings of the
term experience. Some of the authors he reviews, however, do seem to have explored direct
experience as the precursor and foundation of subjective consciousness. Jay refers to the
‘paradoxical notion’ (p. 129) of experience without a subject (or, sometimes, from another
angle, post-epistemological experience) and notes the idea has been posited approvingly by
no less than Schopenhauer, Heidegger, Benjamin, Adorno, Bataille, Foucault, Barthes, and
possibly Oakeshott, Dewey, and the trickster of text, Derrida. Experience without a subject
of that experience cannot easily be subsumed under the label of consciousness. It may be
more along the lines of the non-subjective relational interaction between organism and
environment. Finally, many of the post-phenomenological authors also insist that
experience cannot be posited as a meaningful term at all — that without the language to
speak of it directly it is ultimately an empty category.
In short, the reading was an enjoyable journey of experience (Erfahrung) on its own. But
this reader felt that Jay’s blindness on the question of experience in itself as different from
conscious experience destroyed much of its consequence.
_______________________________________________________
Originally published in Journal of Consciousness Studies 14 (11), November 2007, 125-127.
Reprinted with permission.
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5. Peter J. Richerson & Robert Boyd, Not By Genes Alone: How Culture
Transformed Human Evolution
University of Chicago Press, 2005, 332 pages
ISBN: 0-266-71212-5 (pbk)
_______________________________________________________
I have to admit that with a title that makes as straightforward a declaration as this one
does, I anticipated an imaginative, full-frontal assault against the increasing dependence on
genetics, DNA, & biology to explain our human nature. Instead, Richerson & Boyd divide the
pie pretty equally among genetics, culture, and environment, noting that these three factors
are mutually dependent and interactive. Fair enough, but I was disappointed how far they
leaned into the genetics camp and how little they credit to human creativity. In fact, they
state there really is no such thing as individual creativity but only individuals who are able
to carry forth mass cultural trends that have been underway for some time. "Culture
usually evolves by the accumulation of small variations" (p. 50). One should note here the
early emphasis on the concept of evolution because their book turns out to take Darwin's
foundational principles of biological evolution and directly apply them to cultural
evolution. Language, they state, is a gradually evolved survival adaptation, as is culture
itself. Apparently, we—our minds—had nothing to do with this genetic adaptation but
were instead products of it.
Other animals have exhibited certain local behaviour patterns that others have termed
cultural, but "only humans show much evidence of cumulative cultural evolution. By
cumulative cultural evolution, we mean behaviors or artifacts that are transmitted and
modified over many generations, leading to complex artifacts and behaviors" (p. 107). In
this way, complex artifacts are not "invented by individuals; they evolve gradually over
many generations" (p. 107). So human cultural evolution, though not inspired by "great
person breakthroughs" is still unique, depending as it does on external memory storage
and teaching-learning. I liked this as I am an educator, but what of culture as expressive
symbolic interaction?
I also liked the point that culture and genes co-evolve. Still it seems to me, they tend to see
the human species in a more mechanical manner than is necessarily the case: everything is
ultimately done for survival. Cases where cultural choices like human sacrifice or mass
witch-hunts have been undertaken are seen as mistaken attempts at survival. I wonder
how this accounts for the suicide cults that have appeared and, not surprisingly, rapidly
disappeared? They explain altruism or kindness in the same way, as leading to survival of
the group. They even seem to disparage efforts to control population growth. Such efforts,
mostly in the middle & upper classes of industrialized countries, are said to be the result of
"selfish cultural variants" (p. 169). "Modern low fertility does not maximize fitness" (p.
173). Surely this puts them firmly in the evolutionary biology camp.
The writing is most often turgid and uninspired, with the many examples of cultural
continuity or adaptation being local, mundane, & unimpressive. They end by pleading for
the wide acceptance of "a proper evolutionary theory of culture" since that "should make a
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major contribution to the unification of the social sciences" (p. 246). They call for the
development of a mass of quantitative detail on cultural variation to equal the detail found
in the study of genetic variation, simply equating the two.
I felt let down at the easy way cultural symbolism and artistic expression (including
language, myth, and ritual) were simply dismissed by suggesting a little quantitative
analysis would reveal them as evolved neural adaptations. By now I was bored. By the time
they snidely state that "So many older scientists try their hand at philosophy that it can
practically be regarded as a normal sign of aging" (p. 254), I was glad to finish the book and
close it.
_______________________________________________________
Previously unpublished but posted online.
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6. Derek Bickerton, Adam’s Tongue: How Humans Made Language, How
Language Made Humans
Hill & Wang: Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 2010, 286 pages
ISBN: 978-0-8090-1647-I (pbk)
_______________________________________________________
This is an engaging book that one can argue with, learn from, or both, but still always enjoy
the experience.
Bickerton gets a little bit carried away with his discovery of "ecological niche theory", which
is, after all, anything but new (though formerly called by slightly different names), and his
sudden political correctness was as annoying as it was surprising. In fact, I almost gave up
early on this book because he insists, first, that indexical protolanguage began when
cooperation was needed to scavenge dead meat, a situation that could just as easily be
applied to hunting (which is now again in the ascendency over the once-popular man the
scavenger theory), and, second, he suggests that women were likely equal participants on
such dangerous scavenging (or hunting?) forays based on nothing at all but today's
"common sense". Not so sensible when in nearly all remaining archaic or "primitive"
cultures observed, the role of hunter has gone to the men and that of gatherer to the
women. But, in the interest of fair play, perhaps scavenging could mean either.
But this is still a top-notch, truly adventurous survey of the field in which Bickerton uses
both erudition and wit to take on those who hold to the notion of most scientists and
evolutionary psychologists that all that's human can be traced to deterministic biological or
genetic sources. This includes Noam Chomsky with whom Bickerton had been formerly
closely associated, at least in the minds of the academic public. And this is one of
Bickerton's strongest suits: in the face of new evidence he has changed his mind about
several of his cherished ideas—the most prominent being that an evolutionary mutation in
the brain must have led to higher intelligence and hence to the development of language.
This time Bickerton takes his stand with the environmentally-specific necessity for cultural
invention that, over many millennia, led to changes, first, in brain function, and then in
cerebral structure itself. He makes a strong case. In doing so, he produces a bracing read
with acerbic wit, self-mockery and genial arrogance. Not only does this make for zesty
reading, but he reveals hard-earned insights in layman's terms. Bickerton’s writing style is
erudite and wonderfully edgy, a major plus for this book.
These days, symbolic cultural invention has been pushed aside in favour of the smooth
evolutionary transitions evidenced in the breakthroughs of genetic science; instead,
Bickerton shows that, fundamentally, humanity must have invented itself. Why? Out of
sheer necessity—and Bickerton suggests the necessity was the need of tell tribemates
about a new source of dead meat far away that can only be scavenged by large, cooperative
groups. The communicative signal must do more than cause a reaction in the here and now
(as amongst most other animals). It must, according to Bickerton, indicate a common need,
a far-away place, and perhaps the kind of animal. Such indexical signalling he sees as the
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rudiment necessary for the birth of symbolism, which he now accepts and which is his
second great shift. His acceptance of symbolism—required for basic displacement (signals
referring to distant places or even times) as the source of protolanguage (rather than
complex gestures)—came after many exchanges with Terrence Deacon, but symbolism is
really only hinted at by displacement, and, frankly, Deacon himself never really understood
what abstract symbolic self-reference implies (i.e. the birth of self-awareness).
Real symbolic interaction can begin only when symbols refer recursively and reflexively to
other symbols, so a whole new world of imaginative symbolic culture can be entered and
humanity can henceforth begin its expansion across the globe as the most adaptable of
species because of its complex culture and shared communal identities. This would be the
move into actual language with syntactical structures that Bickerton reasonably and
expansively guesses took place within the last 100 to 200 thousand years. Protolanguage,
however, may go back to the beginnings of H. erectus and, if so, continued with little change
for a few million years.
He prefers to focus on the advent of gestural, pidgen-like protolanguage—very important
but still not the crux of the truly human. Very little time is spent on the creative
breakthrough of the emergence of real (formal) language, which must have been the
cultural invention par excellence since it led to the human consciousness we now find
ourselves within. Only with the appearance of syntactic structures and, more important,
semantics (the need for meaning!) did the human imagination reach out into the unknown
and create a truly human universe.
Still, a fine read that carries the reader right along. One need not agree with every detail to
still find it thoroughly thought-provoking. It was a powerful swan song for the late Derek
Bickerton, and his input shall be missed.
_______________________________________________________
Not previously published though posted online.
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7. Tom Wolfe, The Kingdom of Speech
Little, Brown & Co., 2016, 297 pages (large print) ISBN: 978-0-316-40462-4 (HB)
_______________________________________________________
I, who am usually quite critical, must admit I found this book absolutely enjoyable from the
beginning to somewhere near the end at the point when Tom Wolfe offers hints of his own
theory of language. If you, like me, tire of reading academic prose that disguises its
emotions and intentions and pretends to be nothing but objective, this little scholarly
opinion piece should delight you, as well. It is an outright polemic against both the
extremes of Darwinian evolution (which cannot account for the emergence of fully human
language) and Chomsky's contorted theories of innate computational language mutation in
the brain (which also cannot come close to explaining the origin of language). In clear and
succinct—and often dagger-tipped—prose, he defends the idea that language is a cultural
artifact, that is, it was culturally invented by human minds and passed down over
generations (until, presumably, brains adapted to it and began to anticipate its arrival in
humans).
In this, he calls upon several difficult-to-deny sources, but especially upon the recent work
of anthropologist-linguist Daniel Everett, who discovered a tribe in the Peruvian Amazon
basic so very archaic (i.e., primitive) that they had few tools or weapons and whose
language exists only in the present tense—with no recursion (which Chomsky had stated is
essential & innate in all human languages) or time tenses. They could not refer to the past
or to the future, and this one case was all it took to prove Chomsky's innateness theory
false. Of course, Chomsky soon adapted his theory once again by claiming the tribe were
simply undeveloped computers and that "language is computation not communication” (
Chomsky’s exact words heard at a conference (Nixon, 2018). It's a real eye-opener to see
how Chomsky and his minions closed forces and went on on prolonged and vicious
personal attacks against Everett (who, in his turn, has been defended by academic
paragons like Tomasello (2009), Rochat (2009), and Evans & Levinson (2009)).
Thankfully few independent intellectuals have listened to the desperate Chomsky crowd's
counterattacks, and this should mean that Chomsky's dictatorial dominance over cultural
construction in linguistics should now be ended at last. However, he has a pack of devoted
followers as extreme as any cult, so they haven't given up yet. I am with Wolfe and Everett
in everything they say though neither seems to understand the idea of a "symbolic
threshold", that is, that single words or phrases or symbols in language have meaning only
within the invisible background of a meaningful language (symbolic system) itself. Meaning
is derived by differentiation, not by representing objects or processes in the external
environment. (See the continental holistic linguistic philosophy of Saussure (1959) or
Taylor (2016), for this.)
Human language, then, must have begun within the last 100 thousand years with late H.
sapiens. Before that was "protolanguage" with only gestures and nominative pointers. I also
admit I was unconvinced by Wolfe's own briefly summarized theory toward the end that all
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human languages were created & spread as a result of the human propensity of mnemonic
memory, but it was so underdeveloped as not to be taken seriously.
Still, this is a short, sharply-written, well-informed and most enjoyable diatribe, and it is
very hard to resist the late Tom Wolfe's major points. A paradigm shift in linguistics has
taken place, and Chomsky's heavy-handed enforcement of the pre-programmed language
module in the brain will soon be over.
References
Evans, Nicholas, & Levinson, Stephen C. (Oct 2009), ‘The myth of language universals:
Language diversity and its Importance for cognitive science.’ Behavioural and Brain
Sciences 32 (5): 449-492.
Everett, Daniel L. (2012), Language: The Cultural Tool. Vintage Books.
Everett, Daniel L. (2017), How Language Began: The Story of Humanity’s Greatest Invention.
Liveright-Norton.
Nixon, Gregory M. (2017), ‘The Legacy Conference: Report on The Science of Consciousness
Conference, La Jolla, California, 2017.’ Journal of Consciousness Studies 24 (9-10): 253277.
Rochat, Philippe (2009), Others in Mind: Social Origins of Self-Consciousness. Cambridge
University Press.
Saussure, Ferdinand de (1959), Course in General Linguistics. New York Philosophical
Library. Original in French 1916.
Taylor, Charles (2016), The Language Animal: The Full Shape of the Human Linguistic
Capacity. Harvard University Press.
Tomasello, Michael (Oct 2009), ‘Universal grammar is dead.’ Behavioural and Brain Sciences
32 (5): 470-471.
_______________________________________________________
Previously unpublished but posted online.
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8. Charles Taylor, The Language Animal: The Full Shape of the Human
Linguistic Capacity
Belknap – Harvard University Press, 2016, 352 pages
ISBN: 978-0-674-66020-5 (HB)
_______________________________________________________
I have studied this book since I bought it several years ago, reading it through three times. I
have written out all the most important quotations. It is an extraordinary venture that
brings together the various attempts by so many others to recognize human cultural
creativity, especially as found in unique human language, the most important feature in
making us the complex creatures we are today. One thing we are not is ciphers or
"products" of either nurture or nature, though Taylor reveals nurture as playing a more
important role – which is important in this era in which everything, it seems, is being
explained by genetics, the brain, and the complexity of neural functioning.
I find it hard to believe that the critics of this book actually read it in detail, but then again
they may have had their own axes to grind, their own positions to defend. Taylor is too
much of a gentleman and scholar to be directly confrontational, but throughout there are
several intellectual broadsides against the contemporary representatives of the “HLC"
(Hobbes-Locke-Condillac) approach to language – the objective, empirical, science-based
approach that sees human minds as products not producers. “I will call the first an
‘enframing theory’. By this I mean that the attempt is made to understand language within
the framework of a picture of human life, behavior, purposes, or mental functioning, which
is itself described and and defined without reference to language. Language is seen as
arising within this framework” (p. 3). Some of the more famous representatives of this
approach are Gottlob Frege, Jerry Fodor, Steven Pinker, and his mentor, Noam Chomsky.
This objectivist approach to language remains in the ascendency, found in disciplines as
diverse as evolutionary psychology, neurolinguistics, and sociobiology,
Taylor comes out on the side of the “HHH" (Hamann-Herder-Humboldt) group, including
Nelson Goodman, Daniel Everett, Merlin Donald, Alva Noë, Tom Wolfe, Raymond Tallis, and
others who do not accept that language is merely a biologically evolved tool used to
communicate already existing information. Language is instead seen as "constitutive", that
is, it changes our thinking and expands our experiencing. It makes us into a unique animal,
The Language Animal, that one might call, along with Terrence Deacon (1997), the
"symbolic species”. Taylor: “[I]t is the antitype of the enframing sort. It gives a picture of
language as making possible new purposes, new levels of behavior, new meanings, and
hence not as explicable within a framework picture of human life conceived without a
language” (p. 4).
As the doorway to cultural co-consciousness (intersubjectivity), Taylor might well have
considered the likelihood of primary empathy, which he implies with his repeated use of
term “communal.” He does approach it, however: “There seems to be a growing consensus
among writers on human evolution that joint attention and empathy have been crucial to
the development of our species” (p. 57, n.17). This suggests that our inclination toward
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interpersonal sharing, along with our enlarged brains, made possible the huge leap into
language, which has made all the difference.
Of course, the nature of consciousness, though not emphasized, turns out to be central here.
The objectivist HLC group takes for granted that human consciousness is a given that
arrives with our biology (exactly like they treat language). However, Taylor states that
(formal) “language makes possible a new kind of consciousness” (p. 6), which can lead
toward individual self-agency and, in fact, a vastly enlarged world of experience.
Furthermore, citing the empirical investigations into human development of Michael
Tomasello (1995), Taylor claims that our predisposition toward "joint attention" is what
made possible the “communion” of language. However, more recent work of Tomasello
(2014) has admitted joint attention has been observed among some apes, so he now names
joint intentionality as the specifically human trait that allows for language. This was
foreseen by Taylor, who anticipates this advance in Tomasello’s thinking and goes beyond
it:
Tomasello is undoubtedly on to a crucial point here, but I would prefer a slightly
amended formulation. To speak of ‘perceiving communicative intentions’ still
partakes of the monological framework which has dominated too much psychology
for too long, whereby we take the individual subject as our starting point, and ask
whether and in what mode he can recognize other agents. But the crucial human
difference is rather that language transmission occurs in a context of intense sharing
of intentions between the bonded pair. … Indeed, we could say that much of the
point of most conversations is not the information exchanged, but precisely the
sharing. (p. 56)
Shared intentionality is not the result of language but logically precedes it, just as coconsciousness or intersubjectivity precedes individual conscious subjectivity.
He emphasizes the point made by the constitutive group that we cannot enter the language
world piecemeal but must engage within language itself as a whole. Words cannot be
learned one-by-one until a language is understood. We must cross a threshold into
language itself, for the part can only be understood in the context of the whole. We must
cross what has been called the "symbolic threshold" by others like Walker Percy and
Terrence Deacon. Only by crossing the symbolic threshold can we comprehend symbolic
meaning: language is not a symbol-to-object one-to-one representation; it is a system of
differences within the whole. It was Ferdinand de Saussure who wrote that “nothing is
distinct before the appearance of language” and, “In language there are only differences
without positive terms” (p. 135 in Taylor). Individual words only have meaning in the
context of language itself as an assumed background of understanding.
This leads to the densest readings in the book, those to do with conscience and morality, a
long-term focal point of Taylor’s intellection. Frankly the long chapter, “Constitution 1” was
quite a slog. It could be easily skipped if one is not so interested in connecting language
with social ethics. I take the point that it matters, of course. Taylor spends some literary
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time establishing that the choice of specific terms is not as random as many (including
Saussure) have claimed. New terms are invented based on sub-meanings and links with the
already established whole of language. There is a "right word" to suit the occasion.
When Taylor gets back on track in his final chapters, one can feel the crescendo coming. He,
rather triumphantly, it seems to me, ties together any loose ends to close with a powerful
conclusion in favour of language as the key to human nature (admittedly based in a
Romantic view of nature and humanity). If I have any complaints, one might be that he
hardly cited Ernst Cassirer (e.g., 1944, 1946) in these pages, and that is perplexing since so
many of his arguments were previously made in Cassirer’s philosophy of symbolic forms.
Be that as it may, Charles Taylor demonstrates that language is both the product and
source of cultural creativity, and that puts aside the claim made so often these days that we
are little more than language computers responding to an inherited program in our brains,
as Pinker and Chomsky so tiresomely claim. However, aside from such minor points, I
believe this to be a great book (and I don’t use the term lightly), which, if understood,
should extend our self-understanding and awaken us to what might be called the human
potential.
References
Cassirer, Ernst (1944), An Essay on Man. Yale University Press.
Cassirer, Ernst (1946), Language and Myth (S. K. Langer, trans.). Dover.
Deacon, Terrence (1997), The Symbolic Species: The Co-Evolution of Language and the Brain.
Norton.
Percy, Walker (1975), The Message in the Bottle: How Queer Man Is, How Queer Language Is,
and What One Has to Do with the Other. Noonday Press: Farrar, Straus, & Giroux.
Tomasello, Michael (1999), The Cultural Origins of Human Cognition. Harvard University
Press.
Tomasello, Michael (2014), A Natural History of Human Thinking. Harvard University Press.
_______________________________________________________
Previously unpublished but posted online.
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9. Daniel L. Everett, How Language Began: The Story of Humanity’s
Greatest Invention
Liveright-Norton, 2017, 348 pages
ISBN: 9780871407955 (HB)
_______________________________________________________
Can Homo erectus put an end to Chomsky’s reductive, mechanistic metaphysics?
This should be a watershed book as it effectively demolishes the unwarranted assumptions
that support the work of the major linguist of our times and earlier times too, Noam
Chomsky. Instead of regarding language as predominantly computation and only
secondarily as communication, as Chomsky insists, Daniel Everett offers convincing
evidence that language’s main function is to communicate shared meanings within a
cultural community, which allows for social learning and cultural creativity.
To demonstrate this, Everett attempts to trace the origin of symbol use, which he sees as
the foundation of human language, and he finds it in the distant prehistoric past amongst
the far-travelled species we designate as Homo erectus. In linguistic terminology, Everett
defends the constitutive view of language over the designative, preferred by cognitive
scientists. After years of refusing to discuss the origin of language, Chomsky in 2002 agreed
with the metaphysical speculation that it must have begun as a lucky neural mutation in a
single individual (Hauser, Chomsky, & Fitch 2002). Everett presents a very strong case for
slow cultural invention among many individuals as the impetus for language, but his
certainty about symbol use among H. erectus is left on much less solid ground.
Daniel Everett has the academic credentials in both linguistics and anthropology to take on
this task, and his personal story is intriguing. He did 20 years of fieldwork, studying rare
languages amongst isolated Amazonian tribes and lived amongst the culturally basic
Pirahã. He first went to Amazonia as a missionary to convert the natives to Christianity, but
instead it seems they opened his perspective and he was himself deconverted, after which
he became a cultural anthropologist. Likewise, he began his linguistic fieldwork as a
supporter of Chomsky’s innate universal grammar, but when he discovered that some
central aspects of the supposedly inborn grammar were not present in the language of the
Pirahã, he again deconverted, turning to cultural relativism instead.
After an essay in Cultural Anthropology (Everett, 2005) outlined his controversial position,
he was drawn into an intellectual feud with Chomsky and his followers in the pages of The
New Yorker magazine and a more than 100 page give-and-take in the June 2009 issue of
Journal of the Linguistic Society of America, Language. Chomsky now apparently refuses to
talk of Everett, dismissing him as a charlatan (“Folha de São Paulo” newspaper, 2009). In
his previous two books, Everett (2012, 2017) pursued his case for cultural variation among
languages and for the intersubjective invention of language. This book completes his
survey by making the case that language began with the creation of meaningful symbols by
H. erectus, the inventor of fully functional language in the human sense. Any language
spoken by H. erectus would have been rudimentary—truly primitive, in the original
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sense—in the same way Everett found Pirahã language, though he observed that it worked
well enough for them.
Just what makes human language unique in this world continues to be a controversial topic,
but Everett thinks grammatical structures are helpful additions to language though not the
core necessity. This honour goes to symbols, which he defines as “conventional ways of
representing meaning that are largely arbitrary” (7), but which everyone in the cultural
group can understand. Language extends the basic symbol by stringing them together and
developing ways to expand their references. He argues that Pirahã speech does not show
evidence of recursion, the ability to extend sentences indefinitely by adding modifiers,
phrases and clauses within them, which Chomsky has claimed is essential to language (e.g.,
Hauser et al., 2002) and it further shows no signs of the generally accepted “universal”
design features of language, interchangeability, displacement, and productivity, not even to
mention past or future tenses.
Beyond this, he presents strong evidence against the widely accepted neuroscientific
claims that the brain has specific language modules and the announcement that the FOXP2
gene is specifically for speech. Of course, physical adaptations or exaptations are necessary
for speech, but these may have resulted from our move into language and not caused it.
“What underlies our wonderful human voices is a jury-rigged collection of anatomical parts
that we need for other things. This tells us that language is not a biological object but a
semiotic one. It did not originate from a gene but from culture” (89).
Many before Everett have taken on the task of opposing Chomsky’s nativism, but Everett
does not mention them. One of the most notable is Terrence Deacon (1997). This is a pity
for Deacon’s argument for the co-evolution of language and the brain could have helped
Everett’s case. Deacon also agrees with the early rise of symbolism, but his understanding
of symbolism seems to go somewhat deeper, for he claims that for symbolism to have
meaning a symbolic threshold must be crossed. This indicates that at a certain point in
evolution, early humans entered a new world of symbolic culture in which every event or
object seemed to be imbued with meaning, and every symbol’s reference involves other
symbols. We take up residence in a virtual world with senses of time, space, and
personhood unknown to other animals (or to pidgen-protolanguage speakers). A single
abstract sign could not symbolize in this sense; it could only be indexical or a part of a
gestural, nominative protolanguage (Bickerton, 2000). A single symbol is understood via
intersubjective consensus, for each symbol assumes a meaning from its relation to such a
symbolic world (cf. Cassirer, 1944, 1953; Saussure, 2006; Taylor, 2016).
I agree with Everett’s claim that the exchange of meaningful symbols is the keystone to
human languages and that social conversation is the sine qua non of a fully functional
linguistic mind. However, I suggest that Everett could have read more of the philosophy of
symbolic forms, especially as found in Ernst Cassirer (1953). Once the symbolic threshold
is crossed, everything changes. Charles Taylor (2016) states that “language makes possible
a new kind of consciousness” (6), which leads toward individual self-agency. Cassirer notes,
“No longer in a merely physical universe, man lives in a symbolic universe. Language, myth,
art, and religion are parts of this universe. They are the varied threads which weave the
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symbolic net, the tangled web of human experience” (1944, p. 25). As Everett himself
agrees, there are few indications of myth, art, or religion in the archaeological record left by
H. erectus. Everett cites evidence that erectus used fire, but he cannot prove that such use
was not merely opportunistic. Finally, H. erectus used the same stone hand axe for over a
million years: this is not a sign of the social learning or cultural adaptation that
interpersonal conversation brings!
Everett bases his case for fully human language being invented by H. erectus on a few
disputable archaeological finds that need only suggest indexical representation. He
continually goes back to mentioning the seagoing watercraft that he assumes must have
been built by H. erectus to get to the island of Java, where skeletal remains of the species
have been found. However, an assumption is not evidence, and there may be other
explanations for how erectus got to Java, such as a significant lowering of sea levels at that
time. His strongest backing for social advancement among the erectus population is the
Lower Palaeolithic Gesher Benot Ya’aqov archaeological site near the Dead Sea, but the
inhabitants are unknown and his claim of social hierarchy and centralized planning there is
sheer speculation. I would be happier if Everett had stuck to calling it a hypothesis and had
objectively compared the sparse evidence for symbol use among H. erectus and H.
neanderthalensis with the certain evidence for H. sapiens less than 100 thousand years ago.
The book is written for non-specialist readers and citations are sparse, though his
important explanation of linguistic independence from innate neural structures will be
challenging for some. His writing is clear and his witticisms occasionally amuse, but he
sometimes loses his objectivity when he asserts his claims. The fact that I was unconvinced
that H. erectus invented human symbolic language only spurred me to further thinking, so I
enjoyed it immensely and recommend it to interested readers.
References
Bickerton, Derek (2000), How protolanguage became language. In C. Knight, M. StuddertKennedy, & J.R. Hurford, eds., The Evolutionary Emergence of Language (pp. 264-284).
Cambridge University Press.
Cassirer, Ernst (1944), An Essay on Man: An Introduction to a Philosophy of Human Culture.
Yale University Press.
Cassirer, Ernst (1953), The Philosophy of Symbolic Forms, vol 1: Language (R. Manheim,
trans.). Yale University Press. Original in German, 1923.
Deacon, Terrence W. (1997), The Symbolic Species: The Co-evolution of Language and the
Brain. Norton.
Everett, Daniel L. (2005), Cultural constraints on grammar and cognition in Pirahã: Another
look at the design features of human language. Current Anthropology 46 (4), Aug-Oct:
621-635.
Everett, Daniel L. (2012), Language: The Cultural Tool. Vintage Books.
Everett, Daniel L. (2017), Dark Matter of the Mind: The Culturally Articulated Unconscious.
University of Chicago Press.
Folha de São Paulo, newspaper (01 de fevereiro de 2009), “Ele virou um charlatão", diz
Chomsky. Cienza. São Paulo, Brasil. Online:
http://www1.folha.uol.com.br/fsp/ciencia/fe0102200904.htm
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Hauser, M., Chomsky, N., & Fitch, W. T. (2002), The faculty of language: What is it, who has
it, and how did it evolve? Science 298: 1569-1579.
Saussure, Ferdinand de (2006), Writings in General Linguistics (C. Sanders & M. Pires,
trans.). Oxford University Press. Original in French 1916.
Taylor, Charles (2016), The Language Animal: The Full Shape of the Human Linguistic
Capacity. Harvard University Press.
_______________________________________________________
Originally published in Metascience 27 (2), 2018, 297-300. Reprinted with permission.
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Section III: Transcendent Mind
_______________________________________________________
1. Benny Shanon, The Antipodes of the Mind: Charting the Phenomenology
of the Ayahuasca Experience
Oxford University Press, 2002, 475 pages
ISBN 0199252920 (HB)
_______________________________________________________
Planos (ayahuasca vision, detail) by Céu (from Shanon, 2002, frontispiece)
What happens when a respected Israeli cognitive psychologist goes to the Amazon Basin
where he ingests the famed psychotropic concoction Ayahuasca (the ‘vine of the dead’)
again and again and again? Our intrepid philosophical psychologist is no longer a sprightly
youth, maddened for adventure. He is instead a portly, accomplished theoretician with
widely published articles and a noted book (Shanon, 1993) that speak from the perspective
of cognitive-phenomenological psychology against the reductive tendency to view the
mind’s experiences as solely created by the brain’s activities. Even before his Amazonian
quest, Shanon placed himself in the Gibsonian camp seeing the mind as dynamic
intermediary between organism and environment and active participant in both. What did
happen is this extraordinary book, a scientific analysis of his own visions and the education
of both Shanon’s mind and, perhaps, his soul.
Benny Shanon [Shah-nohn′] went to the Amazon basin in the early 90s to investigate the
phenomenology of the ayahuasca ingestion. This psychoactive brew was alleged to cause
vivid visions with surprisingly similar content for those taking it. He gathered extensive
information about its effects from interviewees as well as by taking the drug himself, which
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allowed him to describe his psychedelic journeys both anecdotally and quantitatively.
These experiences are truly remarkable.
He obtained objective data from structured interviews with members of religions that
regularly use the plant brew, from other experienced users, both urban and indigenous,
and also from a review of writings on the topic. He estimates that his data ‘are based on ...
2,500 Ayahuasca sessions’ (p. 410). His subjective data were obtained from his own
ayahuasca ‘journeys’, undertaken in a variety of settings. The material in the book is mostly
derived from his first 67 sessions, each summarized in notes at its conclusion. His very first
major ayahuasca experience, amongst a Santo Daimo (which roughly translates as Saint
Ayahuasca) group deep in the Amazon jungle, appears to have been truly profound. After
seeing the atrocities of history, then the beauty humanity has produced, he felt born anew:
‘It seemed this was the first day of creation’ (p. 6). Beyond his professional effort to
establish categories of comparative data, Shanon also found compelling personal reasons to
enter what he came to regard as the ‘School of Ayahuasca’. Woven within his detailed
analyses is a narrative of metamorphosis.
The book gives little space to the neuropharmacology of intoxication, perhaps because
Shanon quickly came to ‘. . . totally reject the possibility that biological accounts—detailed
as they may be—can offer viable psychological explanations’ (p. 35). Yet within his work,
the analytical approach of this stalwart cognitive psychologist seldom wavers. This must
have required great self-discipline, particularly when the objects of study were his own
overwhelming visions, emotional storms, or indeed the distractions of the gastro-intestinal
‘purging’ so often encountered (which Shanon learned to control by ‘bringing up’ song
instead of stomach contents).
One of the most striking findings was that particular entities or objects played central parts
in a startling array of visions, especially snakes of all sorts and of course the jaguar.
Strangely, such jungle denizens appeared in the visions of Europeans as often as in those of
Amerindians. Often reported as well were sinuous dancers, unknown fabulous cities, and
historical panoramas. Detailed tables of quantitative analyses are given in an appendix.
Structural similarities in the progression through a single ayahuasca journey were also
noted: the often terrifying visions of the first period – ‘Quite commonly,’ he states matterof-factly, ‘people feel that they are about to die’ (p. 57)—to the serenity and communion
sometimes experienced in later stages.
But Shanon emphasizes that undergoing ayahuasca ‘education’ is a long-term project.
Sitting in on a class or two just won’t do. There are stages of advancement into these
mysteries: the novice begins passively watching visions unfold as if on a screen but, with
more experience and courage, learns to enter the vision and participate in its reality. Then
comes a stage where some degree of control over the process is possible, though such
control is always felt as exerted in partnership with some creative source outside the self.
Mastery seems to involve gaining ability to engage with many realities simultaneously, thus
allegedly conferring power to act in the everyday world in new ways that a person might
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never previously have attained or attempted. Act, that is, through the expressive arts, for
example, or guidance and healing.
Shanon emerges as something of a shamanic ayahuasquero himself. The most expressive
symbol of ultimate truth is found, he concludes, in songs of praise for all creation; the
Hallelujah of his Judaic ancestors. As to the ontological question of what exactly is being so
praised, Shanon avers that it is not anything at all, but rather a universal process. Creation
is what the name implies, the ongoing creative unfolding of all things, including ourselves.
(Sounds like Whitehead’s ultimate motivator, creativity, or even pancreativism.)
Obviously, such ‘knowledge’ cannot be attained through analytic or phenomenological
reduction alone. It is ever present beyond the edge of the ‘known world’, that is, beyond the
confines of the conscious mind. This is the point at which Shanon the scientist admits that
full communion exceeds communication: ‘Yet, there were occasions that it was clear to me
that I had to make a choice—if I really wished to undergo the experience presenting itself
to me, I would have to forgo my future recollection of it and give up any thought of ever
talking about it’ (p. 355). This unspeakable awakening is not found with ordered signposts
and structured roads but intuitive discovery, well beyond categorical reasoning:
[V]ery poignantly, I realized how limited the scientific approach is. ... I further
comprehended that there are levels of knowledge that demand one to let go and
relinquish all critical, distanced analysis. ... In this respect, despite all its limitations
in terms of sociological power and cultural permanence, the indigenous stance has
the upper hand. (p. 356)
This is an important message from a contemporary scholar, but a puzzling one from many
points of view. I had particular difficulty myself with Shanon’s brief discussion of the
ontological status of good and evil: ‘The ultimate reality is beyond good and evil’, he says,
but ‘there are visions in which one feels one is encountering the Supreme Good’ (p. 174).
Does the Supreme Good cast no shadow then? I’m likely missing the mystical paradox here,
or at least the Trickster at play. Ayahuasca has a cosmic sense of humour (not always
benign), according to Shanon, and hides as much as it reveals.
The whole question of applying orderly statistics to other realities seems perplexing. To
what do the lists, tables, categories, and structures actually refer? Does structural analysis
reveal the universal latticework of creation, or at least of the Ayahuasca experience? This is
uncertain. Shanon is well aware of how boundaries in the realms of visionary experience
seem to shift or even, with a wink and smile, disappear altogether. Such carefully
delineated categories may really exist within psychic projections, but ‘there is no clear-cut
differentiation between interpretation and creation. ... In essence, all is interpretive, all is
creative’ (p. 351). It is not perfectly clear how categories of experience can be both
evanescent creations yet simultaneously stable interpretations. But perhaps that’s why
Shanon uses music making as his primary metaphor: the player creates by interpreting and
vice versa.
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Many scientists may be unpersuaded, to say the least, by Shanon’s claim that ayahuasca
visions and revelations ‘might be psychological and creative and real’ (p. 401). New Age
folk may be disappointed that he remains unconvinced of reincarnation, ESP, or ‘the
paranormal actuality of the astral’ (p. 363). Instead of sharpening distinctions, he found
them disappearing — ‘between creation and discovery, between psychology and ontology,
between mind and world, between internal consciousness and the anima mundi, between
the human and the Divine’ (p. 401). This is a slippery metaphysics. Shanon himself allows
that the many ontological questions arising from his experiences need much closer
examination than they are given in this book, which primarily derives from
phenomenology. Nevertheless his songs of praise for a transcendent creativity active here
and now, within and around us, point to something profound. The apparently firm outlines
of our ‘given’ world may, it appears, be but one reality among an infinitude of (equally
valid?) experiential possibilities.
References
Shanon, Benny (1993), The Representational and the Presentational: An Essay on Cognition
and the Study of Mind. Harvester-Wheatsheaf Press.
_______________________________________________________
Originally published in Journal of Consciousness Studies 11 (5-6), May-June 2004, 181-183.
Reprinted with permission.
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2. Evan Thompson, Waking, Dreaming, Being: Self and Consciousness in
Neuroscience, Meditation, and Philosophy
Columbia University Press, 2015, 495 pages
ISBN 978-0-231-13709-6 (HB)
_______________________________________________________
This is a fine book by an extraordinary author whose literary followers have awaited a
definitive statement of his views on consciousness since his participation in the important
book on biological autopoiesis, The Embodied Mind (Varela, Thompson, & Rosch, 1991) and
his recent neurophenomenology of biological systems, Mind in Life (2007). In the latter
book, Thompson demonstrated the continuity of life and mind, whereas in this book he
uses neurophenomenology as well as erudite renditions of Buddhist philosophy and a good
dash of personal experience to argue for the reality of altered states of consciousness, but
also that these states are not distinct from the physical systems that subtend them. He must
have touched a nerve, for Waking, Dreaming, Being continues to be read and widely
discussed by the literate public.
This book has caused significant dismay among scientific materialists, and among those
who believe mind or being transcends mere physicality, but also, surprisingly, among some
philosophical phenomenologists. The first are unhappy because Thompson takes his
meditation experiences and the rigorous philosophy developed within Buddhism just as
seriously as he does cognitive science or biology. The transcendental idealists, including
some Buddhists, are disappointed because Thompson stands with a statement from the
Dalai Lama, whom he interviewed, that ‘even the subtlest “clear state of mind,” which
manifests at the moment of death must have some kind of physical base’ (p. xxii). But while
the Dalai Lama concluded his talk with Thompson with cheerful uncertainty — ‘Whether
there is something independent or not, I don’t know’ (ibid.) — Thompson himself seems to
side with non-reductive materialism and proceeds on his fascinating exploration into
varied conscious experiences looking but failing to find any that can withstand objective
scrutiny of their transcendence of the physical, especially cerebral, sphere. In this process,
there is some question whether his phenomenological credentials are put aside as he
appears to stand with objective proof as a final arbiter as opposed to knowledge based in
personal experience.
On this journey, Thompson produces a most reader-friendly book, laced with personal
asides and conversations with other well-known figures. He writes both with clarity and
vigour demonstrating vast knowledge over many fields from neuroscience to arcane
Buddhist and Indian yogic texts to current consciousness studies. Early on he moves
toward a definition of that most difficult of concepts, consciousness, by seeing it as making
appearance possible and noting that those sorts of sciences that attempt to exclude
consciousness from their purview could hardly proceed without it:
Without consciousness, the world can’t appear to perception, the past can’t appear
to memory, and the future can’t appear to hope or anticipation. The point extends to
science: without consciousness there’s no appearance of the microscopic world
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through electron microscopes, no appearance of distant stars through telescopes,
and no appearance of the brain through magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)
scanners. Simply put, without consciousness there’s no observation, and without
observation there are no data. (p. 14)
He defines consciousness in a way that embraces self-identity: ‘Consciousness is that which
is luminous, knowing, and reflexive. Consciousness is that which makes manifest
appearances, is able to apprehend them in one way or another, and in so doing is selfappearing and prereflectively self-aware’ (p. 18). The word ‘luminous’ indicates his
background as a meditator since childhood in Tibetan awareness techniques.
What does he explore? First he goes through perceptual experiences, illusions, and states of
consciousness achieved by meditators, including the state of quiescent awareness possible
in deep dreamless sleep and the ‘fourth state’, called simply that, indicating that this is said
to be void consciousness (no time, no substance, no objects, and no subject) identified
metaphorically in Buddhism as ‘the clear light’. He admits that there is no scientific proof,
as yet, of such states and that such proof may be impossible to obtain, but he notes that
there is also no evidence of anyone attaining such a state (or non-state) without having a
physical substrate. He makes no claim to such attainment himself, but, toward the end,
suggests such realizations may be the result of stilling the brain via meditation into a state
of pure subjectivity without objective content. The Dalai Lama himself admits that, though
he believes many advanced meditators have attained the clear light, he himself has no
personal knowledge of it (though I have been told that His Holiness is often ironically selfdeprecating).
Thompson goes on to explore the dreaming state in some detail, sharing his own
experiences of dream insight and lucid dreaming. He investigates so-called out of body
experiences (OBEs), including his own, again concluding that such experiences likely are
made of intuition, imagination and dream images — noting there is no proof of the body
literally being transcended. At this point, the reader begins to wonder if Thompson is being
serious or ironic since his own OBE as a child provided him with insights he could have
gained no other way. Much to the disappointment of true believers, Thompson also
dismisses the near-death experience (NDE) as nothing more than the active imagination
released when the parts of the brain are left dysfunctional from heart failure, chemical
ingestion, or other accidents, none of which have been proven to happen with an inactive
brain or from a perceptual point beyond the body. He does not doubt, however, that the
many reports reflect actual experiences, illusory or not.
His most compelling chapter asks ‘What Happens When We Die?’ He begins by honouring
the ineffability of the experience of death by questioning the scientific perspective on it:
‘Yet even if we set aside the issue of whether science gives us good reason to believe that
death entails the complete cessation of all consciousness, this conception is totally
inadequate because it says nothing about the experience of dying’ (p. 275). He notes that
Tibetan Buddhism, on the other hand, has built a vast literature around this very transition,
from the moment of death to seeking and finding new physical embodiment in another
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incarnation. However, those who have trained themselves to recognize the luminosity of
the ‘fourth state’, that is, the pure awareness in the clear light, will not be reborn but
transcend into the All, according to this view. Thompson, perhaps surprisingly, writes, ‘I’m
very skeptical of this way of thinking’ (p. 287). He notes that any such post-mortem
experience is impossible to report without a living body, leaving the theory based on
inference or conjecture, in the process casting doubt on the reports of those who claim to
have recovered memories of lives previously lived.
He follows this up with an investigation into the deaths of realized meditators whose
bodies reportedly did not begin to decay immediately, often remaining unsullied for days
or even weeks. Scientific investigation into these reports continues, but Thompson, for the
time being, dutifully accepts the skeptical responses of forensic scientists that bodies often
resist corruption in the right environmental circumstances. Again, the reader wonders if
Thompson is actually toeing the line of scientific skepticism or if he is being ironic, for in at
least some of these cases the corpse of the realized meditator was in southern India, hot
and humid and perfect for rot. If these reports are proven to be true, it may be an indication
that something more than observable physical life is afoot. But, finally: ‘It can also help us
remember that only the dying can teach us something about death, and what we’re called
upon to do is to bear witness to their experience’ (p. 318). This is a truly phenomenological
perspective.
In his final chapter, he explores the contentious area regarding the self. Influenced by
Buddhist thought, he seeks a middle way between what he terms the ‘neuro-nihilism’ of
certain scientists and philosophers who deny there is a self (for they see no brain function
that could support it) and the intuitive self-reification of others who regard the self as a
substantial entity existing basically unchanged along with the body. Based on the ideas of
the sixth century Buddhist philosopher, Candrakīrti, Thompson sees the self as
dependently arising or, more precisely, dependently co-arising from a juncture of causes. It
begins with a self-specifying system at the cellular level. At this point, he ties self-making
back to the body and denies that consciousness is merely an information processing
system, ‘for consciousness depends fundamentally on specific kinds of electrochemical
processes, that is, on a specific kind of biological hardware’ (p. 343). This becomes the basis
by steps of the enactive self, ‘a full-fledged I-making system’ (p. 344).
He acknowledges social self-making (the narrative self of phenomenology), and he uses the
extensive research of Tomasello (1999) to show that joint attention helps draw forth a
mirror identity, the sense of self as seen by others. If he had read more recent work from
Tomasello (2014), he would have seen Tomasello now supports the deeper social
entanglement of joint intentionality, which hints at an actual sense of group identity that
then makes individual self-identity possible. Beyond all this, however, Thompson as an
experienced meditator must then deal with the claim that many advanced yogis have
transcended the illusion of self and ‘the body is said to have entered a state of suspended
animation’ (p. 357). With the enactive self and the socially constructed self-concept, this
should be no surprise, for ‘if the self is a construction, then we should expect that it could
be dismantled, even while some of its constituent processes — such as bare sentience or
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phenomenal consciousness — remain present’ (p. 362). For Thompson, enlightenment is
not self-extinguishment. ‘Rather it consists in wisdom that includes not being taken in by
the appearance of self as having independent existence while that appearance is
nonetheless still there and performing its important I-making function’ (p. 366)
Overall, the position apparently taken by Thompson on the matter of consciousness might
be called luminescent physicalism. This is not the cold objective materialism favoured by
many in the sciences that assumes that life, experience and consciousness randomly
evolved out of material interactions. Here the only physical world that can be known is one
in which life is already present, and, for Thompson, life is coterminous with mind — when
one is present so is the other. One of the implications of this is that those sciences that
attempt to explain away the activities of living organisms as driven only by the
evolutionary imperatives of survival and reproduction have to make room for individual
intentions and perhaps even teleological purpose in nature. At the same time, it is no use
speculating about the material universe before life appeared, for, from a phenomenological
perspective, such would be an impossibility; there is no form to existence, no presence
without consciousness — no observed world without observers present too.
Finally, it must be said that summarizing Thompson’s position in consciousness studies
does not do this book justice. It is a big book but one written in a manner meant to reach a
wide, non-specialist audience. Thompson explores a veritable kaleidoscope of real and
possible experiences, most of which are familiar enough to entertain; experiences that —
agree with his conclusions or not — engage us in a way that academic writing rarely
achieves.
References
Bitbol, Michel (2015), ‘When “altered” states become fundamental’. The Journal of Mind and
Behavior 36, 101-112.
Thompson, Evan (2007), Mind in Life: Biology, Phenomenology, and the Sciences of Mind.
Harvard University Press.
Tomasello, Michael (1999), The Cultural Origins of Human Cognition. Harvard University
Press.
Tomasello, Michael (2014), A Natural History of Human Thinking. Harvard University Press.
Varela, Francisco, Thompson, Evan, & Rosch, Eleanor (1991), The Embodied Mind: Cognitive
Science and Human Experience. MIT Press.
_______________________________________________________
Originally published in Journal of Consciousness Studies, 23 (9-10), Oct 2016, 262-267.
Reprinted with permission.
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3. Imants Barusš & Julia Mossbridge, Transcendent Mind: Rethinking the
Science of Consciousness
American Psychological Association (APA), 2017, 251 pages
ISBN: 9781433822773 (HB)
_______________________________________________________
This book arrives with a reputation. Apparently, it is the first book on psi and other
anomalous human experiences to be published by the rather traditionalist APA (American
Psychological Association). If this is true, this is likely due to the fact that much of the book
relies on carefully monitored and repeated experiments to demonstrate the statistical
veracity of such things as precognition, remote viewing, clairvoyance, mental telepathy,
and even psychokinesis. This is the key to the authors’ claim of empirical testing and
scientific proof.
Many of the claims, such as the Ganzfeld telepathy experiments and remote viewing trials,
are well known but have been dismissed as proving nothing because of flaws or fraud or
because the results were not consistent. However, in 1996, an unbiased statistician named
Jessica Utts was contracted by a U.S. government agency to review the experiments. She
stated:
Using the standards applied to any other area of science, it is concluded that psychic
functioning has been well established. The statistical results of the studies are far
beyond what is expected by chance. Arguments that these results could be due to
methodological flaws in the experiments are soundly refuted. … Such consistency
cannot be readily explained by claims of flaws or fraud. (as cited by the authors, pp.
36-37)
This is the sort of evidence that allows the authors to assert empirical validity and scientific
proof for the extraordinary claims they make. These statistical reports are made
throughout the early chapters and do not make for the most spellbinding reading, but later
they apply their findings to conclusions about the nature of consciousness and develop a
transcendent ontology of their own that requires mental experiences that escape the net of
the physical in general and brains in particular.
This is not a long book, consisting of only eight self-contained chapters that work in concert
to lead toward the implication of a kind of idealist ultimate reality. Despite its size, it seems
they manage to cover all aspects of psi, including post-mortem communication with
‘discarnate entities’, and they cite nearly all the well-known authors in this field over the
past decades and earlier. Perhaps a short review is in order before I offer my own critique.
The Introduction and first chapter set the tone and make it clear that reductive materialism
is considered to be moribund, though they resist a spirited polemic against it:
We are in the midst of a sea change. Receding from view is materialism, whereby
physical phenomena are assumed to be primary and consciousness is regarded as
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secondary. Approaching our sights is a complete reversal of perspective. According
to this alternative view, consciousness is primary and the physical is secondary. In
other words, materialism is receding and giving way to ideas about reality in which
consciousness plays a key role. (p. 3)
Since consciousness released from its physical limitations may be unbounded, the door is
opened for an examination of the wide variety of experiential phenomena that constitute
what today is called simply ‘psi’. Chapter 1 is a critical examination of materialism. It
contains an especially strong section noting how scientific materialism so dominates the
academy that any other worldview is often subject to mockery, dismissal, or official
censure. I have seen this myself when seeking promotion in my university: my
consciousness studies publications (rarely involving psi) were still archly interrogated for
lack of experimental proofs.
Chapter 2 explores ‘shared mind’, that is, a concept that will allow for ‘anomalous
information transfer’, once known as ESP, including remote viewing. There are a great
many experimental proofs of a statistical nature explored, and they certainly make the case
that something is missing from the skeptical materialist worldview since there are so many
phenomena that cannot be explained within it. Chapter 3 questions our daily sense of the
passage of time by bringing up strong evidence for precognition. They note that
unconscious precognition is common but most of us fail to bring it to consciousness or
forget it once we have done so. They suggest actual time is deep time, a reversible ordering
of events beyond our daily sense of apparent time.
Chapter 4 was the most difficult chapter for me to take seriously, but I strove for an open
mind while reading their anecdotes or evidence. The authors make the claim that
‘discarnate beings’ seem to exist in some realm of their own and communications with
them are possible. This leads to the question posed in chapter 5: can the mind exist outside
of the brain? Here their empirical evidence centres on near-death studies. They claim
impartiality by listing what they see as all possible objections to the evidence, but in the
end they embrace most such claims. Mental control over physical processes (related to
psychokinesis) is examined in chapter 6, and here they come up with strong scientific
evidence (which will no doubt be just as strongly refuted).
This leads to their conclusions and applications in the two final chapters. Chapter 7,
‘Reintegrating Subjectivity Into Consciousness Research’, suggests that we need to pay
more attention to our own psychological biases in consciousness studies. In this way, an
open-minded logic will help us to more honestly evaluate the empirical evidence, which
they suggest will lead to knowledge of anomalous ways of gaining knowledge. These
insights could be transformative for the researcher, and lead to transcendent states of
consciousness. ‘Assuming the existence of something like what we have loosely identified
as deep consciousness, extended mind, shared mind, the prephysical substrate, and so on,
we are likely a long way from understanding consciousness. What is needed is a surge of
creative research taking the investigation of consciousness in new directions’ (p. 184).
They then list 10 explicit steps that should open consciousness studies to the deeper truths
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of psi and transcendent experience that they have affirmed. They seem to back the secondperson phenomenological perspective as outlined in The View from Within issues of the
Journal of Consciousness Studies (JCS) 6 (2-3), 1999, and JCS 16 (10-12), 2009, when they
state, ‘Again, we emphasize that keen self-observation as well as comparing notes with
others can help inform a determination about whether information is being fabricated or
accurately received’ (p. 189).
If such transcendence of the physical is really possible — and the authors claim that’s
exactly what they have discovered — then a new model of consciousness (really a new
ontology) is necessary, and that’s what they describe in chapter 8, ‘Transcendent Mind’.
Their choice is called the ‘flicker-filter’ theory. The filter part sees the brain as what Aldous
Huxley called a reducing valve, which basically limits or filters access to transcendent
experiences, leaving only daily functional consciousness. The flicker part is the
stroboscopic image of reality described in both Buddhist meditation texts and in some
‘stochastic’ quantum explanations of consciousness: ‘The idea is that physical manifestation
comes into existence and disappears, over and over again, producing the appearance of a
continuous stream of consciousness from a series of discrete “nows”’ (p. 181). Between
these flashing ‘nows’ is the ‘total aliveness’ of a ‘timeless, spaceless void’, which implies the
world is born anew in each new flashing ‘now’ appearance. What does this matter to us?
‘This model predicts that both the future and past can be changed, although it is not clear
how one would obtain evidence that that had occurred given that one is always in a “now”
with consonant past and future projections’ (p. 183). In other words, we would never know
if this was true. Further, I am unable to imagine experience taking place in a timeless void,
though invisible, silent, inactive awareness-in-itself—but aware of nothing—is conceivable.
This is strong stuff that, despite all the evidence and argumentation in the book, demands a
willing suspension of disbelief to read with full attention and an open mind. It is certainly
significant that a statistician who examined the pages of experimental evidence declared
that the “statistical results of the studies are far beyond what is expected by chance,” but
for the rest of us a 54% success rate in testing, say, direct mental influence still looks a lot
like chance. The statistical evidence proves mental influence, but the percentage indicates
that conscious agency operates only irregularly and may reveal that such influence is often
a random, unconscious event.
Barusš and Mossbridge claim they approached their evidence objectively but with open
minds that led them to their extravagant conclusions. I have my doubts. The authors have,
professionally speaking, a lifelong commitment to such research and, most likely,
experiences of their own they only hint at here, so it seems likely they began this book as
committed to their findings. I find much of their data convincing, as data, but this does not
necessarily convince a critical thinker of the deeper truths behind these anomalies. For
example, my boggle limit is reached by the idea of the dead contacting to us. I just feel that
discarnate entities are impossible: dead is dead. Why haven’t they dispersed and in what
in-between realm could they possibly exist?
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The authors’ premier example of afterlife communication is the deceased grandmaster
chess player from the beginning of the last century who played Victor Korchnoi (once
ranked third in the world) through a non-chess playing medium in a slow game that lasted
over seven years. The story is certainly entertaining. Even though the dead grandmaster
finally lost because he had apparently not learned that the “French Defence” he used had
been penetrated since his death and was now obsolete, the story finally stretches
credibility. There are so many such stories (which may be taken as support or skepticism)!
Rather than dead discarnate entities existing in a non-physical ether, it seems to me much
more likely such purported afterlife communications are either fantasy projections of living
psyches, or those living psyches are having clairvoyant experiences with suppressed parts
of themselves.
I have not had any conscious experiences, so far as I can remember, that would incline me
to believe in, say, discarnate entities, so all the statistics and anecdotes in the world cannot
really turn me (and probably other readers) into a channeller or transcendentalist. My own
mother promised me that she would try to contact me after her death, but, to my vast relief,
has not done so. The authors’ noting that most psi experiences happen unconsciously or
are soon forgotten does not help the problem. In that case, it’s no wonder I feel bemused by
all the wonders revealed in here.
However, the evidence is there, and the authors are obviously well versed in the data,
anecdotes, and their own personal experiences. I would agree that their research
recommendations to the conscious studies community and psychologists should be taken
seriously. If we come to recognize that such extended mind experiences are happening for
others, they may be more likely to happen for us. I for one would love to gain insight or
even directly experience the transcendent mind, but in the meantime I must accept the
burden of my mundane consciousness and soldier on, as will most readers, though some
will likely considerably expand their worldview.
_______________________________________________________
Originally published in Journal of Consciousness Studies 24 (7-8), July/Aug 2017, 246-250.
Reprinted with permission.
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The Labyrinth of Nature —
The Centre is held not by the bestial half-animal Minotaur,
but by the wise half-animal Centaur.
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Hiller, J. H., Space, Time, & Consciousness (Part 7): An Absolute Limitation to the Rational Analysis of Experience, Consciousness,
& World Origin - The Principle of Interior Unknowability
Article
Space, Time, & Consciousness (Part 7):
An Absolute Limitation to the Rational Analysis of Experience,
Consciousness, & World Origin - The Principle of Interior Unknowability
Jack H. Hiller*
ABSTRACT
After working for approximately a decade to produce a defensible theory for how the world
came to be, I realized that I had made zero progress. I questioned why that effort was entirely
futile, and came to an interesting conclusion—the question itself implied an observational
framework external to a Creation event, but scientists could never in principle locate externally
as “privileged observers” to be able to see what happened. Thus, a new postulate for the
metaphysics of creation was defined. This postulate was termed the Principle of Interior
Unknowability (PIU). It was argued that the PIU stands on two legs of support. The first leg is
an analogy posed about fishes born in a fish tank having no opportunity ever to locate outside of
their tank. From their interior location in the tank, they (or scientists in the material world) would
never be able to learn where it came from or how it was made; the same argument applies if the
world were instead conceptualized to be infinite with no boundaries. The second leg is a
conjectured analogy with Godel’s Theorem of Undecidability, developed while he was working
on his Incompleteness Theorems. This leg of the argument for the PIU reasons that postulates,
axioms or assumptions based on internal observations of our world, applied to mathematically
model its creation, are susceptible to creating a paradox (historically known as the Liars
Paradox) by self-reference. To escape the potential for producing a valueless or misleading
paradox, information would have to be gathered external to a system to be used for modeling its
creation. Nevertheless, as pointed out by my friend Neil Siegel, a great deal of scientifically valid
and useful information may indeed be acquired within the material world, despite the barrier to
knowledge acquisition about creation postulated by the PIU.
Keywords: Interior unkowability, rational analysis, space, time, consciousness, creation.
For the truth of the conclusions of physical science, observation is the supreme Court of
Appeal. It does not follow that every item which we confidently accept as physical
knowledge has actually been certified by the Court; our confidence is that it would be
certified by the Court if it were submitted. But it does follow that every item of physical
knowledge is of a form which might be submitted to the Court. It must be such that we
can specify (although it may be impracticable to carry out) an observational procedure
which would decide whether it is true or not. Clearly a statement cannot be tested by
observation unless it is an assertion about the results of observation. Every item of
physical knowledge must therefore be an assertion of what has been or would be the
result of carrying out a specified observational procedure. Sir Arthur Eddington, The
Philosophy of Physical Science
*Correspondence: Jack H. Hiller, PhD, JD, Independent Researcher, USA. E-mail: jh7138@gmail.com
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& World Origin - The Principle of Interior Unknowability
The existence of existence reflects His ongoing persistence,
But when and where did He become the entire Kingdom
Mystery of mysteries for there is no way ever to know
Except by what He willingly tells or shows-- If even He knows
But how could He not see His own becoming
Because he once told me so,
That “Even I don’t know”
- The author
Summary
An analysis is presented which demonstrates that definitive, complete knowledge about the
origin of any system defined as classical or quantum, to include the entire world as a system,
cannot in principle be achieved from any observation made interior to the defined system, or by
inference from an interior observation. Definite knowledge about a system’s origin requires an
observational framework such that a "privileged observer" would be located external to the
system. Regarding the world we inhabit, because we cannot ever observe it from its exterior, we
cannot ever know or infer how it came into existence. Thus: Any question about the nature of
the world’s origin is not in principle one that may be addressed, much less answered, by
observers constrained to locations within their world. By analogy, fishes born and living in a
fish tank cannot possibly observe anything about the manufacturing of their tank's glass or the
collection of the food and water placed into their tank.
Being always immersed in our material world, we likewise are incapable of observing the nature
of its construction as might be seen from a perspective external to its existence. This
metaphysic’s hard rule of unknowability for an observation framework confined within any
system (classical or quantum) is termed herein The Principle of Interior Unknowability
(PIU). Note however, that this Principle is as yet only postulated, and not formally proven, as
was accomplished by Godel for his Incompleteness Theorems. In the words of my friend Neil
Siegel:
I would make a “softer” characterization of a postulated PIU range of application:
Gödel, in proving his Incompleteness Theorems, had the advantage of working within
the artificial, rigorous system of mathematics. The real world is more complicated, and
(so far, at least) not subject to such rigorous analysis at the system level. The PIU, in
effect, only postulates (does not prove) a generalization of Gödel’s proof. As I have
noted before, our increasingly-capable observational tools have increased the zone for
which we can make observations, and therefore, over which we can make measurementbased suppositions, and in some sense, these increase the boundary of the
knowable. The PIU posits that there is a limit to such knowability. I agree, only this is
postulated, not proven.
Rene Descartes famously declared his own reality by acknowledging that if he found himself to
be thinking, then he must surely exist, whatever the form of existence might be
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cogito,_ergo_sum). As a technical philosophical matter, the “I”
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that thinks is vague, and the nature of the thought is ambiguous, because the hidden, subjective
nature of thought is not available for direct, objective, scientific scrutiny. However, while the
subject and action of Descartes’ proposition, as a first principle of philosophy, are nebulous, the
action of thinking does point to an existence, whatever its true nature. This note starts with
Descartes’ line of reasoning that we may by rational analysis contemplate a reality in which we
exist, but places a severe limitation on how well we can learn how this reality originated. In fact,
the argument is made that we can truly know nothing definite about the nature of Creation from
reasoning.
We start our analysis from a wonder about what the reality of existence is truly about by
wondering about how any reality may exist. There are two main lines of philosophical thought
about the origin of our world, the world that we perceive and think about: Creation by God, and
random materialism, as held by atheists and agnostics.
The atheist position (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atheism ) is that there exists no supernatural
God or deities, so that the world is an unguided machine that randomly acts; this perspective is
supported by Heisenberg’s Uncertainty Principle in which quantum mechanics recognizes that at
the sub atomic level, precise measurement of fundamental qualities is impossible, so what
happens has a random basis. The origin of the material world is of no special concern. The world
may have always existed, or it may have originated in some Big Bang from an indescribable
singularity, and it may even pass thru cycles of birth, death and rebirth. No matter how it came to
be, it just is.
The religious perspective is that a supernatural being, God, created the world. The philosophical
issue about that concerns the origin of God, as Creator. As a logical matter, either God always
existed (a strange thought for mortals who experience causation in which a given existence
changes by an act to a new status of existence), or God somehow came into being from
nothingness, a stranger yet explanation.
A scientific perspective is well represented by physicist Heinz Pagels in his excellent book,
Perfect Symmetry. In his chapter, Before Inflation: the Origin of the Universe (pp 353-368), he
asserts:
…Certainly the very existence of the entire universe and the Big Bang is evidence that
there was some kind of origin. There are other features of our universe that may provide
information about its origin, though we may not at first think of them as clues. For
example, the inflationary picture requires that before inflation the universe was
immensely hot and very dense—requirements that should logically follow from a theory
of the very origin. Yet another example of a clue is the most dramatic feature of the
universe to have survived the inflation: the three-plus-one dimensionality of space-time.
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& World Origin - The Principle of Interior Unknowability
A further feature of the preinflationary universe is that it exhibits a high degree of
symmetry and this also should be explained by any theory of the origin.
As we embark on the attempt to understand the very origin of the universe, it is worth
reminding ourselves of “Einstein’s postulational method.” This method consists of
intuitively guessing a physical postulate (which cannot be directly tested), then logically
deducing its consequences and subsequently testing these results against experience. If
the tests fail, the assumed postulate must also then be rejected.” Pages 354-355.
This paper argues that such a reasonably formed program for empirical research about a
hypothesized origin would be futile, that discovery of an origin, if there were an objectively
conceivable origin, is precisely excluded by applying the recommended “postulation method.”
The meaning for any question about the nature of world Creation or even any defined
localized system supposes an external observer frame of reference for its answer
The argument made by this note is that whether one accepts God as the Creator of the world, or
holds that the world is a non-rational machine, we cannot possibly reason about the true nature of
existence—we cannot possibly know the truth of how our world exists, regardless of whether it
is static (always having existed) or transitional, from an inexplicable origin, because our
ordinary perception and knowledge can only be acquired within this world that we inhabit, but
the question about its origin has an external basis for its answer. To answer the question about
Creation, we would have to be outside of it to perceive “where it came from” or “how it was
made.” Thus, the question about the nature of the world’s origin is not in principle one that
may be addressed, much less answered. By analogy, fishes born and living in a fish tank cannot
possibly know anything about the origin of the glass container or the collection of the food and
water placed into their tank. Being always immersed in our material world, we likewise are
incapable of observing the nature of its construction as might be seen from a perspective external
to its existence. Alternative to a finite “fish bowl” model of the universe, if we posit that the
universe was always infinite, then no observer could be placed external to it, so once again no
observation of an origin would be possible.
In an ingenious experiment on quantum superposition which demonstrated that separate
observers may make differing, contrary, observations of a given superposition state (being
collapsed or not), (Experimental rejection of observer-independence in the quantum world,
Massimiliano Proietti, Alexander Pickston, Francesco Graffitti, Peter Barrow, Dmytro Kundys,
Cyril
Branciard,
Martin
Ringbauer,
Alessandro
Fedrizzi,
Feb
13,
2019,
https://arxiv.org/pdf/1902.05080.pdf ), the authors posed a possible solution as follows: "one
way to accommodate our result is by proclaiming that “facts of the world” can only be
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established by a privileged observer—e.g., one that would have access to the “global wave
function” in the many worlds interpretation..." Thus, their possible solution for avoiding
observational inconsistency within a system (here a mini-world system of separated labs
examining superposition states) was to seek a "privileged observer" located external to the minisystem of separate laboratories.
We may generalize the concept that requires elevation of observers to a frame external to the
system or world to be observed as a hard rule for achieving self-consistent and valid system
knowledge. This hard rule of unknowability for observers limited to observations being made
only within the system to be known is termed The Principle of Interior Unknowability (PIU).
Consider that we cannot humanly, reasonably, imagine how something could originate from
nothing; even if we hypothesize a world consisting of equal amounts of opposite energies, i.e.,
positive and negative energies summing to zero, there yet needs to be a catalyst or creator, and
that creative power would be something. So, we cannot in principle fathom how God or any
mechanical universe could come into existence from nothing. This line of reasoning is dead in its
formation.
Let’s alternatively consider that God or the mechanical universe always existed, given that the
form of God or the material universe may not be static. Well, how can anything have “always”
existed, granted the form of the existence may not be static. In principle, we cannot imagine a
situation in which the world always was there, always existed. We can state the proposition that
the world always existed, but it defies human understanding.
Science and mathematics are not helping either, as both have admitted to irreducible
uncertainties of knowledge, as well as the impossibility in principle of predicting the future
based on past knowledge. As alluded to above, quantum mechanics had demonstrated in the lab a
difficulty in pinning down with precision the measurement of momentum and position for the
electron, because as the measurement apparatus was adjusted to measure one variable better,
measurement of the other lost precision; Heisenberg ultimately realized that the phenomenon of
uncertainty was not merely a fault of lab equipment, but was inherent in the nature of subatomic
existence. The Schrodinger wave equation representation of quantum phenomena (Heisenberg
had initially used a form of matrix algebra that he invented) formalized the uncertainty as
intrinsic to quantum phenomena. In the study of cosmology, consensus is that approximately
95% of the matter and energy in our universe is currently not directly observable, thus termed
“dark,” so that we observe less than 5% of existence.
The eminent cosmologist, prof Joseph Silk, while recognizing that we cannot even imagine what
data might exist to be used to explain creation before the singularity formed and the Big Bang
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occurred (with the Big Bang being the best theory available now for understanding the nature of
the universe), he yet maintains hope that the development of superstring theory, quantum gravity,
or some future theory may lead to knowledge about how the world was created:
Such developments [referring to superstring and quantum gravity theories] provided for
substantial grounds for hope that we may eventually be able to understand the era of
creation near the singularity, where similar physical conditions are attained. For now,
however, we must reluctantly admit that the big bang theory is not complete: it lacks a
beginning [referring to earlier discussion that we do not know how the singularity was
formed, and why it erupted in the Big Bang], and we cannot confidently predict its
ending. If a better theory of the universe is forthcoming, there seems little doubt that it
will incorporate the big bang theory as an appropriate description of the observable
universe. Perhaps a new theory will encompass the big bang in the same way that
Einstein’s theory of gravitation encompassed and generalized Newtonian gravitation.
Although the ultimate theory of the universe is still beyond our vision, we can feel fairly
confident that we have at least seen its form emerging.” [emphasis added] page 411.
Unfortunately, if the PIU were true, we cannot ever acquire any such “vision.
In mathematics, Kurt Godel ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kurt_Gödel, or see Godel’s Proof,
Nagel, Ernest, and Newman, James ) proved that for non-trivial logico-mathematical systems
(such as arithmetic), there may be theorems that cannot be proven. Within seemingly internally
self-consistent coding systems (which encompass today’s massive computer programs), the
Turing halting problem applies (the problem being equivalent to Godel’s first Incompleteness
Theorem), so there may be lurking inconsistencies that may only be found by trial and error
runs. Godel's first theorem of incompleteness effectively implemented Bertrand Russell's
realization that the historic Liar's paradox is based on self-reference to create the paradox, thus
enabling Godel (and Alfred Tarski) to define an Undefineability Theorem that bars the use of
self referencing in a system to analyze its validity. The problem of self-referencing recognized
by Godel may be an analogue to the impossibility of completely understanding the nature of the
material world by inspecting it from within itself, much less discovering by observation how our
material world was created. The PIU postulates that observations made from within the material
world cannot in principle ever discover how the world was created with any certainty.
Any attempt to understand the nature of consciousness also faces the problem of a lack of
any external perceptual frame of reference
The impossibility of fully understanding the nature of the consciousness we have, whether or not
created by God, may likewise be limited by our immersion in a field of consciousness. We may
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know something about it by experiencing it, but we are in principle unable to stand back and
observe how it functions in the way that the science of physics requires for study of objects and
phenomena. Just like the fishes in a fish tank, we are unable to objectively study consciousness
because we are immersed within it. Thus, the Principle of Interior Unknowability may apply to
objective, disciplined attempts to understand the nature of consciousness.
Consciousness theory development faces a second insurmountable hurdle imposed by any
requirement to apply Popper’s principle of falsifiability (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karl_Popper); a
proper scientific hypothesis must be capable of an empirical demonstration or observation of its
falsity. However, as was explained in Article 3. about Universal Consciousness, based on the
numerous reports from the OBE, everything was found to exhibit consciousness. These reports
are consistent with theorizing that everything made by God is made from God (after all, God
could not go shopping anywhere to acquire new material such as at any cosmic Home Depot or
Lowes), and God is essentially consciousness. Consciousness would not only imbue the entities
experienced in the 2nd Domain, but also everything in the 3rd Domain. Yes, even dumb rocks and
slippery droplets of water would be imbued with consciousness, and, as explained by the
phenomenon of quantum entanglement, the material in the 3rd Domain is functionally connected
to the consciousness field of the 2nd Domain. Thus, all materiality is imbued with consciousness
to include photons, electrons, atoms, molecules, biological cells and their constituent parts,
assemblages of cells in tissues and organs, symbiotic organisms, and holobionts (a fascinating
article on the human gut microbiome for health and disease is at: Humans as holobionts:
implications for prevention and therapy Maarten van de Gucht, Hervé M. Blottière, and
Joël Doré .Microbiome20186:81. https://microbiomejournal.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s40168-018-04668). All of these constituent elements of any complex organism could aggregate their individual
consciousness, with perhaps the functioning of the organism benefiting from their shared
consciousness. And there is the rub with falsifiability - there would be no way to create anything
without consciousness to test for any differences that could falsify this hypothesis.
Likewise, it is hypothesized from the OBE reports of a unified consciousness departing its
connection with the body during trauma, that the soul is an entity apart from the aggregated
consciousness of the body’s cells and organs. Consider that there are many OBE reports of the
body behaving (moving after severe trauma) as if it still had a form of life after the soul detached
during the OBE. However, such theorizing must be done despite its failure to adhere to the
falsifiability principle.
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Conclusion
We have the predicament that both of the two available explanations for the reality of existence
are in principle not understandable to the human mind, whatever the nature of “mind” or its
consciousness may be. To restate this dilemma, we cannot rationally understand or explain how
either explanation for existence, i.e., it always existed or, instead, it sprang from nothingness
(e.g., God the Creator always existed, or a non-rational mechanistic universe always existed, or
either sprang from nothingness), can be true.
Given that we cannot view the creation of existence from any externally objective reference
frame, so that the Principle of Internal Unknowability applies, there is nothing certain about
existence that we can conclude by reasoning about what we humanly perceive or what we
scientifically observe and measure from the interior of creation. We are reduced to
acknowledging that what we experience, perceive, and believe we know about the material world
may only be the mind’s “imaginary” construction of an apparent reality.
As Human, we are at a loss to be able to understand the nature of the reality we experience with
any firm confidence. However, there is much truly valuable to ordinary life and to advancing the
sciences that we can accomplish. Neil Siegel expressed well such optimism while commenting
on the PIU:
I would stress that the unknowability postulated by the PIU is only at the boundaries of
existence; I strongly believe that we can use reasoning to analyze and guide most of
life’s situations, and can do so to great advantage. That is, I do not interpret the PIU as
a pessimistic statement at all, but just as one that establishes a zone of reasoning, within
which we can realize our full potential as humans, through the use of
reasoning. Humans are the animals that think, rather than depend primarily upon
instinct.
In religion, there is a reliance on faith. In science, there is the hope for certainty about empirical
knowledge, while recognizing that future research may revise how we model and understand the
world, as so well demonstrated by Einstein’s advance in modeling gravity through General
Relativity over Newton’s modeling. Perhaps the one remaining source of knowledge we may
have that skirts the uncertainties natural to science and religion comes from the Near Death
Experience in which God is said directly to share all of knowledge about existence.
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Bibliography
Descartes, R. (1641) Meditations on First Philosophy, in The Philosophical Writings of René Descartes,
trans. by J. Cottingham, R. Stoothoff and D. Murdoch, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1984,
vol. 2, pp. 1-62.
Gucht, M., Blottiere, H. and Dore, J. Humans as holobionts: implications for prevention and therapy.
Microbiome20186:81 at [https://microbiomejournal.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s40168-0180466-8 ].
Massimiliano Proietti, Alexander Pickston, Francesco Graffitti, Peter Barrow, Dmytro Kundys, Cyril
Branciard, Martin Ringbauer, Alessandro Fedrizzi. Experimental rejection of observer-independence in
the quantum world, Feb 13, 2019. ( https://arxiv.org/pdf/1902.05080.pdf).
Nagel, E., and Newman, J. Godel’s Proof, New York: New York University Press, 2001.
Pagels, H. Perfect Symmetry. New York:Bantam Books, 1986, pp 353-368.
Popper, K. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karl_Popper ).
Silk, J. The Big Bang. New York: W H Freeman and Co., 1989, pp 488-489.
Turing, A. ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halting_problem)
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Article
Space, Time, & Consciousness (Part 9):
A Postulate Set Governing Existential Knowledge
Jack H. Hiller*
ABSTRACT
In an earlier article (Part 7), the Principle of Interior Unknowability (PIU) was defined as a
postulate which excluded any possibility for scientists to observe the conditions of the origin of
the world, or to be able to infer from information collected within our material world how the
world was constructed with any certainty, or “where it might have come from.” In this article,
three additional Postulates are defined. One of these concerns the nature of existential reality,
and states there are two domains for knowledge exploration: 1. the material domain in which we
normally perceive the world, and 2. the domain of consciousness that underlies consciousness
and conscious perception that may become available during the NDE/OBE or by meditation.
This is the Postulate Governing Existence (PGE). The PGE defines the consciousness domain as
fundamental. The third postulate is the Postulate Governing Knowledge (PGK) which defines
knowledge to be incorporated in consciousness. As was also explained in Article 3, on Universal
Consciousness, all individual entities possess consciousness, and “knowledge” is information
incorporated into their consciousness. The fourth postulate affirms Descartes’ Mind-Body
Dualism that mind and brain ordinarily communicate, despite being different in kind. This is the
Postulate for Mind-Body Dualism (PMBD).The set of four postulates governs the nature of
Existential Knowledge (EK). With the EK as a set theoretic foundation, the potential for extrasensory phenomena is explainable. We may summarize that the nature of any and all knowledge
about existence, EK, is a function of PIU, PGE, PGK, and PMBD.
Keywords: Existential knowledge, postulate, space, time, consciousness, creation.
A postulate denying any scientific ability to acquire conclusive knowledge about the creation of
the universe, it’s possible origin, was defined as the Principle of Interior Unknowability (PIU).
There are three other postulates required to complete a set governing possible existential
knowledge (EK). Given that the PIU addresses insurmountable constraints on acquiring
knowledge of the circumstance of an origin, there is naturally required a postulate defining the
nature of the “real existence” about which knowledge is delimited, as opposed to an “imaginary
existence.” Furthermore, there is required a postulate governing what “sentient knowledge”
means, its relationships with existence, and its boundary conditions.
Finally, the
rd
nd
interconnectedness between the 3 material domain and 2 domain of consciousness provides an
essential mechanism for communication between the brain and mind, as had been proposed by
Descartes in his philosophy of mind-body dualism.
*Correspondence: Jack H. Hiller, PhD, JD, Independent Researcher, USA. E-mail: jh7138@gmail.com
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Postulate Governing Existence (PGE)
Ordinarily, reference to the world in which we exist presumes against the solipsistic idea that the
only thing that may be known to exist is the mind engaged in thinking, in accordance with the
common sense experience of solid objects, and the scientific paradigm of materialism. According
to the Encyclopaedia Britannica:
Mechanical materialism is the theory that the world consists entirely of hard, massy
material objects, which, though perhaps imperceptibly small, are otherwise like such
things as stones. (A slight modification is to allow the void—or empty space—to exist
also in its own right.) These objects interact in the sort of way that stones do: by impact
and possibly also by gravitational attraction. The theory denies that immaterial or
apparently immaterial things (such as minds) exist or else explains them away as being
material things or motions of material things.
An interesting feature of materialism, as defined above, is that it excludes immaterial concepts,
such as mind or consciousness from having any useful reality, and intends that they be ignored or
denigrated, for only solid entities may truly exist. By contrast, in Article 3 on Universal
Consciousness, it was argued that immaterial entities possessing consciousness exist, and exist
within an immaterial field of consciousness termed the 2nd Domain. Therefore, the definition for
“existence” used here specifically includes both material objects, previously explained to exist in
the 3rd Domain, and consciousness assigned to the 2nd Domain as its eternal home. So, the
Postulate Governing Existence (PGE) includes both material and immaterial existence, and, as
had been argued in the Universal Consciousness article, the Domain of Consciousness is
fundamental.
Postulate Governing Knowledge (PGK)
As was illustrated by the conventional Britannica definition for materialism, the mind and its
knowledge were excluded from having any official status for science —mere sticky illusions for
a properly “thinking” scientific community--also laughable given that scientists think they
communicate their discoveries to others by expecting they too have minds in which knowledge
exists and may benefit from learning new “information.” It is proposed that “sentience” must be
acknowledged as a fundamental human capability (really for higher order animals as well) for
any possible theory about the nature or the world and its origin. As was also explained in the
article on Universal Consciousness, all individual entities possess consciousness, and
“knowledge” is information incorporated into their consciousness. The prominent
physicist/mathematician Eugene Wigner wrote about the fundamental role of consciousness, "
The laws of quantum mechanics itself may not be formulated …without recourse to the concept
of consciousness” (Essay by Eugene Wigner, 'The Probability of the Existence of a Self-
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Reproducing Unit', contributed in M. Polanyi, The Logic of Personal Knowledge: Essays
Presented to Michael Polanyi on his Seventieth Birthday, 11th March 1961 (1961), 232), and, “I
believe that the present laws of physics are at least incomplete without a translation into terms of
mental phenomena” Physics and the Explanation of Life', Foundations of Physics 1970, I, 3545. Erwin Schrodinger, who wrote the fundamental wave equation for quantum mechanical
behavior, was adamant about the role of consciousness in physics:
Although I think that life may be the result of an accident, I do not think that of
consciousness. Consciousness cannot be accounted for in physical terms. For
consciousness is absolutely fundamental. It cannot be accounted for in terms of
anything else. Quoted in The Observer (11 January 1931); also in Psychic Research
(1931), Vol. 25, p. 91.
Postulate for Mind-Body Dualism (PMBD)
Rene Descartes recognized that the ability to think, and what was thought about were radically
different in kind from the body, from the body’s sensory mechanism worked by the brain to
produce perception (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mind–body-dualism ). However, he had a
problem with how the material body and mind, being different in nature could communicate. For
his own purposes, he found an adequate explanation to theorize that somehow the
communication was enabled by a special function of the pineal gland. No scientific evidence has
ever been produced to validate the pineal gland as providing the mechanism for mind brain
dualism, Nevertheless, substantial evidence for such communication has been provided in
Articles 2 and 3 that furnish two legs for defining a PMBD..
Continuity of Consciousness as the OBE Occurs at the Instant of Trauma
One of the remarkable features of the NDE reported in Article 2 was the consistent surprise by
those who suffered a trauma in which their consciousness suddenly separated from their body,
because even though they were no longer seeing through their eyes their consciousness had not
been interrupted. Thus, we can infer that the body routinely communicates with mind as an
imperceptible normal function.
The mechanism of instantaneous communication for quantum entanglement
In Article 3, the phenomenon of quantum entanglement was discussed as having been well
validated in numerous empirical tests. Einstein in the EPR paper had insisted that the prediction
of instantaneous communication by Schrodinger’s wave equation implied that the equation was
wrong or incomplete. Einstein argued that Special Relativity’s prediction that the speed of light
provided an upper bound for any communication in the universe, so the wave equation had to be
wrong. Furthermore, the equation failed to offer any possible mechanism that could enable
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instantaneous communication. Because the NDE reports consistently state that movement in the
2nd domain was instantaneous, with no time experienced between a thought and its execution, it
was hypothesized that Einstein’s spooky action at a distance would be explained if the
communicating particles were embedded in the 2nd domain where instantaneous action was
natural.. Thus, it was inferred that the domains of consciousness and materiality were connected
to each other, as had been illustrated in the Venn diagram. Because ordinary sense-perception by
our body is drastically limited to a narrow range of energies (for example, our retinas are
sensitive to a small region of the electromagnetic spectrum), we simply do not normally perceive
entities and activity in the 2nd Domain.
Given the evidence that mind and body do routinely communicate as demonstrated during the
NDE and by quantum entanglement, it is then reasonable to define the Postulate for Mind-Body
Dualism (PMBD).
Existential Knowledge, EK is a function of (PIU, PGE, PGK, PMBD)
The following corollaries about existential knowledge may be derived from the EK set:
1. There are sentient minds, and their knowledge varies with experience in the 2nd and 3rd
Domains.
2. Knowledge available to any mind tied to the 3rd Domain while functioning with normal
everyday experience has limited awareness of the greater knowledge that is available
while functioning in the 2nd Domain. The nature of knowledge available from the 3rd
Domain is inaccurate, perishable, and is only a representation of the pure knowledge
available from and in the 2nd Domain.
3. Mind functioning in the 3rd Domain may gain enhanced access to the greater knowledge
available in the 2nd Domain by having an OBE, and likely by meditative training.
4. The NDE/OBE typically results in a relaxation of the blockage to the greater knowledge
available in the 3rd Domain. The OBE may also occur spontaneously without triggering
from an NDE. Active effort at meditation may produce an OBE.
5. Meditative states may facilitate extra-sensory perceptual (ESP) skills, such as
precognition and remote viewing, by accessing information available from the timeless
field of consciousness forming the 2nd Domain. There is normally a “gate” between the
mind attached to the brain and the mind’s access to the 2nd Domain. The OBE entirely
escapes this gate, whereas meditation opens it.
The OBE report below [with its corollary numbers set in brackets] illustrates well the sensibility
of the existential knowledge postulates:
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While experiencing great pain from a gallbladder attack, she kept trying to escape with an OBE,
and after four hours trying finally succeeded:
The very first thing that hit me was the noise. I could hear everyone at once who were
talking, thinking, and praying. But I was able to understand each one of them, which I
found amazing. I didn't have to single them out to know what they were talking or
thinking about. I was still aware that I was in hospital. I could hear the nurse across the
room talking to one of the patients at the same time as somebody talking on the phone.
It was all happening at the same time but it wasn't confusing at all. [1, 2, 3 and 4]Then I
was transported to another corridor in a different part of the hospital. I saw a couple
walking there and conversing. I remember the man was wearing a yellow shirt.
I don't recall a sudden shift after that. I just suddenly realized that I understood
everything. It was a big 'aha' moment. I could understand physics, math, chemistry, and
all the formulas that went with that understanding. I realized that I didn't have any
questions. I suddenly understood my purpose. I saw how everything together made a
perfect sense. It's difficult to describe where I was because it was as if I was
approaching the universe at a great speed. And at the same time, I was amazed at being
able to understand absolutely everything. [3 and 4]
Then I got this amazing sense of unity. It felt like the whole universe was in me and I
was in the universe. I could feel every person living in me and me living in each of
them. Then I had this very strong awareness that I'm in God, God is in me, therefore I'm
a part of God. I felt very excited, humbled and in euphoria.” [3 and 4]
(https://www.nderf.org/Experiences/1eva_m_ndelike.html)
The NDE research literature well establishes that discarnate consciousness may exist, as
supported by findings from empirical NDE research checking on the accuracy of reports about
perception made across substantial distances, and from commonly observed restoration of
normal behavior just before death for hospital patients who had suffered for years from critical
brain malfunction generated by Alzheimer’s disease. The community of skeptics about
paranormal phenomena has published and given numerous lectures claiming there never was any
good evidence produced, although my review of the body of this work found it reeked of a
religion of skepticism in place of scientific rigor. By contrast, a professional statistician (prof
Jessica Utts, U Cal Irvine ) who conducted an extensive review of the available research reports
on extra-sensory perception concluded in her own report as follows:
Utts’ Conclusions & Recommendations
It is clear to this author that anomalous cognition is possible and has been demonstrated.
This conclusion is not based on belief, but rather on commonly accepted scientific
criteria. The phenomenon has been replicated in a number of forms across laboratories
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and cultures. The various experiments in which it has been observed have been different
enough that if some subtle methodological problems can explain the results, then there
would have to be a different explanation for each type of experiment, yet the impact
would have to be similar across experiments and laboratories. If fraud were responsible,
similarly, it would require an equivalent amount of fraud on the part of a large number
of experimenters or an even larger number of subjects.
What is not so clear is that we have progressed very far in understanding the mechanism
for anomalous cognition. Senders do not appear to be necessary at all; feedback of the
correct answer may or may not be necessary. Distance in time and space do not seem to
be an impediment. Beyond those conclusions, we know very little.
I believe that it would be wasteful of valuable resources to continue to look for proof.
No one who has examined all of the data across laboratories, taken as a collective
whole, has been able to suggest methodological or statistical problems to explain the
ever-increasing and consistent results to date. Resources should be directed to the
pertinent questions about how this ability works. I am confident that the questions are
no more elusivethan any other questions in science dealing with small to medium
sizedeffects, and that if appropriate resources are targeted to appropriate questions, we
can have answers within the next decade.
(Jessica Utts, An Assessment of the Evidence for Psychic Functioning, 1995
https://web.archive.org/web/20080513174112/http://anson.ucdavis.edu/~utts/air2.html#
copyright)
This article defined a set of postulate for consciousness consistent with the theory of reality
presented in Article 3.” Universal Consciousness Underlies All of Reality: a Tripartite Domain
Theory.” The EK postulate set and Universal Consciousness Theory support study of various
ESP phenomena. Such consciousness theorizing accommodates understanding that when mind
(consciousness or soul) is functioning in the 2nd Domain, it is enabled in locating information
not directly available to the brain functioning in the 3rd Domain from ordinary sense-perception
limited to the local range of sight and hearing. As a practical matter, this theory also bolsters the
credibility of research on intuition, such as conducted by Gary Klein who estimates that on the
order of 90% of critical decisions made are influenced in whole or part by “gut” intuition
(Intuition at Work, 2003). Where might that intuition come from? The source may indeed be the
individual’s consciousness pulling information or guidance from the 2nd Domain. This view is
consistent with the perspectives of Carl Jung, Edgar Cayce, and Rupert Sheldrake.
Carl Jung, who reportedly had an NDE, theorized that there is formed in the universe a shared
memory he termed the Collective Unconscious. He theorized that, before birth, the Collective
Unconscious was implanted in the brain:
The collective unconscious - so far as we can say anything about it at all - appears to
consist of mythological motifs or primordial images[i.e., archetypes], for which reason
the myths of all nations are its real exponents. In fact, the whole of mythology could be
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taken as a sort of projection of the collective unconscious... We can therefore study the
collective unconscious in two ways, either in mythology or in the analysis of the
individual. (From The Structure of the Psyche, CW 8, par. 325.) A primary resource for
Jung’s theories about the collective unconscious and the archetypes contained in it is:
The Archetypes and the Collective Unconscious. New York: The Princeton University
Press,1969.
Edgar Cayce, famous during his lifetime as the “Sleeping Prophet,” had a remarkable career as a
healer (My Life as a Seer, New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1997). Cayce explained that during
sleep when dreaming develops, the consciousness may separate from the body and benefit from
the advice of spirit beings:
“The subconscious, separated entirely from the material self, is able to go out into the universal,
or the cosmic consciousness. And those on the other side who see and know the conditions that
surround us may put within our own selves what will be helpful, or detrimental, depending on
how we use it. (My Life as a Seer, New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1997, page 238 )
Cayce also described a cosmic memory bank termed in philosophy the Akashic Record. An
expert on Cayce’s entire life work, Kevin Todeschi, states about the Akashic Record, “Also
known as the Book of Life, the Akashic Records is the storehouse of all information -- every
word, deed, feeling, thought, and intent -- for every individual who has ever lived upon the
earth.” Todeschi explains how, according to Cayce, we can access our own Book of Life to learn
about our past, present, and future. (Todechi, K. Edgar Cayce on the Akashic Records. Virginia
Beach: A.R.E. Press, 2010.)
When there is the thought or the activity of the body in any particular environ, this very
activity makes for the impressions upon the soul...As to the records made by such an
activity, these are written upon what is known as time or space; much in the form or
manner as are the messages that are of a familiar nature to the body in its present
activity. As the instruments of recording are used, so does the activity of ENERGY
expended leave its imprint upon the etheric wave that records between time and space
that DESIRED to be put, as to that impelling or producing. Just as the figures or
characters make for communications between individuals, so does the soul upon the
pages or records of time and space. (Cayce A.R.E. Reading 416-2)
Rupert Sheldrake, currently active in research, has supported a non materialist concept similar to
Jung’s collective unconscious and Cayce’s Akashic Record, the “morphogenic field”: “The most
important organismic concept put forward so far is that of morphogenic fields. These fields are
supposed to help account for, or describe, the coming-into-being of the characteristic forms of
embryos and other developing systems. The trouble is that this concept is used
ambiguously….The concept of morphogenic fields can be of practical scientific value only if it
leads to testable predictions which differ from those of conventional mechanistic theory. And
such predictions cannot be made unless morphogenic fields are considered to have measureable
effects. (Sheldrake, R. A New Science of Life. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1987, pp-12-13.).
Sheldrake’s website: https://www.sheldrake.org/research/morphic-resonance/introduction.
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The main thesis of this book on the nature of space, time, and consciousness is that in science
and philosophy the dominant paradigm of materialism should accommodate ongoing research
that implies materialism is incomplete for explaining all of reality. Reports from NDE/OBEs and
paranormal phenomena imply that there is a reality hidden from ordinary materialistic sense
perception that informs our brain and mind to form true knowledge. Furthermore, it is the 2nd
domain of consciousness that is primary and that enables the 3rd material domain to function.
Such a perspective is advocated in a recent text by Immants Barus and Julia Mossbridge:
We are in the midst of a sea change. Receding from view is materialism, whereby
physical phenomena are assumed to be primary and consciousness is regarded as
secondary. Approaching our sights is a complete reversal of perspective. According to
this alternative view, consciousness is primary and the physical is secondary. In other
words, materialism is receding and giving way to ideas about reality in which
consciousness plays a key role.” Transcendent Mind: Rethinking the Science of
Consciousness. WDC, APA, 2016, page 3).
Quantum Mechanics Needs to be Cured from Its Schizophrenia
In accordance with conventional, materialistic quantum mechanical theory, all entities exist
independent of any minds that may or may not be apprehending any specific entities, such as
photons or Black Holes. Observation by humans of any “large” Black Hole relies on passive
observation of its emitted radiation and on its effects on the motion of objects subjected to its
gravitational field. However, directed Human observation of atomic and sub atomic particles
ordinarily requires subjecting those particles to physical forces, such as electromagnetic
radiation, that are so energetic that the particles will be influenced by the inspecting energies.
Thus, for the atomic level of existence, a human, controlled by the mind, influences the reality
that may be observed, but materialistic science is conflicted about how to regard the scientist’s
role in observing phenomena. Erwin Schrodinger pointed out the paradoxical nature of quantum
theory when the observer’s role is considered by describing the ambivalent existence of a
hypothetical cat placed in a sealed container where it is subjected to possibly lethal radiation;
under the terms of his thought experiment about the workings of quantum superposition, until the
box were opened to observe if the cat were dead or alive, it would be probabilistically modeled
as both alive and dead. The nature of quantum superposition remains a paradoxical feature of
quantum mechanics.
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Bibliography
Barus, I. and Mossbridge, J. Transcendent Mind: Rethinking the Science of Consciousness. WDC: APA,
2016.
Cayce, E. My Life as a Seer, New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1997.
Jung, C. (1993) [1952]. Synchronicity: An Acausal Connecting Principle. Bollingen, Switzerland:
Bollingen Foundation. ISBN 978-0-691-01794-5. Since included in his Collected Works volume 8.
Kline, G. Intuition at Work. New York: Doubleday, 2003.
Schrodinger, E. Quoted in The Observer (11 January 1931); also in Psychic Research (1931), Vol. 25, p.
91.
Sheldrake, R. A New Science of Life. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1987, pp-12-13.
Todechi, K. Edgar Cayce on the Akashic Records. Virginia Beach: A.R.E. Press, 2010.
Wigner, E. “The Probability of the Existence of a Self-Reproducing Unit” contributed in M. Polanyi, The
Logic of Personal Knowledge: Essays Presented to Michael Polanyi on his Seventieth Birthday, 11
March 1961. New York: Routledge, May 10, 2016, page 232.
Utts, J., An Assessment of the Evidence for Psychic Functioning, 1995
(https://web.archive.org/web/20080513174112/http://anson.ucdavis.edu/~utts/air2.html#copyright)
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Schneider, F., Interactionism, Evolution, & the Initial Alteration
Perspective
Interactionism, Evolution, & the Initial Alteration
Francis Schneider*
Abstract
Unlike many other articles in philosophy of the mind, this is not an article which aims to prove
or even give evidence for an ontological position regarding the mind. This article assumes a
position regarding the mind and then draws implications from it. This article aims to show that if
we assume two things as given, that of an interactionist view point and the theory of evolution by
mutation and natural selection, it follows that there is a particular moment in time I label the
initial alteration. The initial alteration is the original instance of the change in behavior of
matter in the brain of some organism in our evolutionary history. I will show that this moment in
time is of great interest and opens the possibility of moving the mind-body problem towards
experimentation. I list several possibilities surrounding this moment, though I will not explore
them all in detail.
Keywords: Philosophy, mind, interactionism, evolution, initial alteration.
The Initial Alteration
In philosophy of the mind, there are a multitude of different positions one can take regarding the
ontological nature of the mind in relation to the physical brain. Famously, the issue was broken
into two stances by the philosopher Rene Descartes. The positions, Monism and Dualism, have
been continued to be debated for hundreds of years. These two positions should be very well
known to those interested in the mind-body problem. For the purposes of this article I am only
going to give very basic definitions of each because comparing them is not my purpose here. I
will also list two of their more popular sub-positions even though there are more.
A simplistic definition of Monism is that it attributes a kind of oneness to the mind and brain.
Monism has positions such as Property Monism and Substance Monism. Property Monism is
loosely the idea that all properties are a single type, and so all properties are physical properties or they are all mental properties. Substance Monism is the view that only a single type of
substance exists, and everything is some form or another of this substance, including the mind
and brain.
Dualism believes that the mind and the brain are distinct and separable. Dualism has positions
such as Interactionism and Epiphenomenalism. Interactionism posits that the mind and body are
two separate entities which causally affect one another. Epiphenomenalism posits that mind and
body are two separate entities, but the only causal affect is from the body on the mind, the mind
does not causally affect the body. In this article, we are going to be looking at a sub-position for
dualism. That of interactionism. Even though we are going to be assuming interactionism and
*
Correspondence author: Francis Schneider, Independent Researcher. E-mail: francisjschneider@gmail.com
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drawing implications from it, I believe many of my conclusions will be of importance to anyone
interested in the mind-body problem.
A more formal definition of interactionism is given by the Stanford Philosophical Dictionary as
(Robinson, 2017):
[T]he view that mind and body—or mental events and physical events—causally
influence each other”. (Robinson, 2017) The specific part of interactionism I am going
to be addressing is that the mind having a causal influence over the brain implies that
some matter in the brain of humans (and possibly some other organisms) is behaving
differently than would be expected if that matter had been governed completely by the
conventions established for their behavior by physics and chemistry. This feature of the
interactionist position draws opposition from some who say it seems to violate what is
called the physical closure of physics – defined as “every physical event has a physical
explanation.
Sometimes the term causal closure is used instead.
What is also important to understand for this article is the theory of evolution by mutation and
natural selection. Only a rudimentary understanding is necessary, and I will give a brief overview
for those who are not familiar.
When organisms reproduce (replicate their genetic codes), they create offspring. The genetic
codes of their offspring are copies of their own code, but there are what are called mutations
which are errors in the copying. The effect these mutations can have varies. They can be
harmful, essentially ineffective, or beneficial.
Organisms who have beneficial mutations tend to have more offspring and their genetic codes
(mutation included) get passed on to future generations. As this process happens over and over,
organisms begin to change in a way that correlates strongly with them being better adapted to
surviving in their respective environments. This process is the widely accepted scientific view on
the development of life on earth. As stated, we are going to be talking about interactionism and
its implied behavior changes on matter in the context of evolution.
A constant theme in the discussions surrounding the mind and its relation to the brain are what
are called The Neural Correlates of Consciousness or “the minimum neuronal mechanisms
jointly sufficient for any one specific conscious experience.” (Wu, 2018) The Neural Correlates
of Consciousness reference the set of objects in the brain which give rise to consciousness but
does not exactly mention the reaction of the brain to consciousness.
Science has made progress through experimentation in identifying regions in the brain which
seem to be strongly correlated with aspects of consciousness. This is a hugely important
endeavor, but for the implications I am going to draw using interactionism and evolution, it is not
important what particular objects are involved or at what scale the changes are taking place (i.e.
the quantum probabilistic level or the more macro level of variation in the charges within
neurons). It is only important that some objects in the brain at some level are causally associated
with the mind in the way interactionism posits.
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In the interactionist view, how does the mind evolve over time?:
For an example, we can look back to our nearest common ancestors with chimpanzees. This
family of organisms is called Homonini by taxonomists. Assuming that chimpanzees have a
more primitive mind and have some form of subjective experience such as experiencing
sensations of pain and pleasure – which does seem to be the view held by the large majority of
interactionists - it is safe to assume this creature also had a primitive mind and experienced
Qualia (the name given to single instances of subjective experience). So how did we get from
these organisms to humans today?
Like with any organism, there were mutations that happened when these organisms reproduced.
One place these mutations happened was in the brain. Some of these mutations would have
affected the Neural Correlates of Consciousness for that creature in some way. Some of these
changes would have been harmful - perhaps rendering the creature mentally unstable. Others of
these changes would have been beneficial – possibly making the creature more creative. The
organisms who gained evolutionary benefit from the altering of their minds would have
outcompeted their rivals and passed these genes onto the next generation.
This process happened repeatedly: a mutation leading to a change in the Neural Correlates of
Consciousness for that creature (when compared to its parent), a change in behavior of matter in
the brain, and the changes that lead to evolutionary benefit being carried over - until we arrive at
humans today. Again, I will remind my reader that this follows if we accept both an interactionist
perspective as well as accept the evolutionary model of the development of life. This would not
necessarily apply to non-interactionist positions.
This is actually very similar to how any feature of an organism evolves except that most
evolutionary changes that take place for an organism do not change the behavior of the matter
itself, only utilize that matter in a way consistent with the conventions of physics and chemistry.
So in analyzing the evolution of the mind from an interactionist view we can see there is a
process going on in the brains of some organisms where the behavior of matter is constantly
being changed overtime via mutation and selection. Since life has only been around on earth for
a finite time, this process must have had a beginning. Meaning, there was a first time the
behavior of matter in the brain of some organism in our evolutionary past was altered from its
behavior that would be expected if it were behaving purely by the conventions of physics and
chemistry. So for those who believe in the causal closure of physics, this would be the initial
instance of the causal closure being violated.
From an interactionist standpoint, the only alternative to this conclusion is that the initial
alteration in the behavior of matter happened before organisms developed brains. This is an
interesting possibility, especially from an experimental standpoint, but I will not be addressing it
in this article. Here I will assume the initial alteration took place in the brain of some organism
in our evolutionary past.
This initial instance of change has several questions surrounding it. Some questions that could
be asked are: In what organism did this take place? How long ago in our evolutionary history
did it take place? What objects in the brain were involved? How many objects in the brain were
involved?
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A question I want to highlight surrounding the initial alteration (this could also apply to those
alterations that evolutionarily follow relatively soon afterword). Was consciousness involved or
not? Or is it possible there was something else involved that consciousness later evolved from?
The first idea seems like it might be appealing because the thing associated causally with the
change in behavior of matter is something that we are familiar with: that of the mind or one of its
features (such as a Qualia).
The other idea has been discussed, though. Bertrand Russell wrote about what he called
protophenomenal properties. David Chalmers gives a good summery of Russell’s view:
“…protophenomenal properties are special properties that are not phenomenal (there is nothing it
is like to have a single protophenomenal property) but that can collectively constitute
phenomenal properties, perhaps when arranged in the right structure.” (Chalmers, 2013) Bertrand
Russell himself was not an interactionist as interactionism is part of dualism and Russell was a
monist. That being said, I believe the basic essence of the idea can be translated over to an
interactionist perspective. Specifically that consciousness arose from a smaller scale
phenomenon, but here we would be positing that this phenomenon causally affected matter in the
brain in a way that changed its behavior from that if it had been governed by the conventions of
physics and chemistry. When we ask the question was consciousness involved or not, one could
argue that such a view is more compatible with the smaller scale an initial change in behavior
might seem to entail.
To look at one last possibility somewhat related to the previous one I described, I would like to
examine mind-brain interaction in humans again. To do so, I will ask a question. How many
objects in the brain give rise to consciousness? For the purposes here, a specific number is not
needed. All that we need to observe is that more than one or two objects are involved in giving
rise to and (if interactionism is true) reacting to the mind. The alternative to this: that our entire
minds are being produced and reacted to by one or two objects, would seem absurd.
The fact that there are multiple objects that are causally associated with each other in a way
different from the normal limitations of chemical reactions is a very important implication of the
interactionist viewpoint. It is not the purpose of this article to examine this implication of
interactionism, but I will point it out because I believe objects becoming causally associated with
each other in ways they could not before could be a lead for examining the initial alteration both
experimentally and logically, due to the possible evolutionary benefit this type of effect could
produce even at a low-scale.
Experimentation
I believe the most important aspect about the initial alteration from the perspective of people
interested in the mind-body problem today is the possibility of experimentation. The smaller
scale changes that the initial alteration would seem to imply might be easier to detect and
understand than the behavior changes of matter going on in the brains of humans.
If the view that consciousness arose from some smaller scale phenomenon is correct, (such as the
interactionist adaption of the protophenomenal properties view), then we may be able to detect
such a thing by replicating smaller-scale nervous systems involving matter thought to be used in
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brains of organisms in the past. These types of experiments would be difficult but certainly
possible with today’s technology and dedicated people. If that view did not turn out to be true,
perhaps we would have to experiment with a system more complicated before changes were
detected. Even then, it might very well still be possible though more technological innovation
would be required to produce the systems where the effect took place. Perhaps observing the
brains of smaller organisms such as insects could provide inspiration.
Conclusion
I believe the initial alteration is an inescapable implication if we assume both interactionism and
evolution by mutation and natural selection. For people who hold this view, many important
questions arise from examining the issue. It also may provide substantial possibilities in the way
of moving the mind-body problem further into the realm of experimentation.
Received June 6, 2020; Accepted July 25, 2020
References
Robinson, H., Dualism, The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Fall 2017 Edition), Edward N. Zalta
(ed.), https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/fall2017/entries/dualism/
Wu, W., The Neuroscience of Consciousness, The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Winter 2018
Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.), https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/win2018/entries/consciousnessneuroscience/
Chalmers, D. J., Panpsychism and Panprotopsychism, The Amherst Lecture in Philosophy 8 (2013): 1–
35, http://www.amherstlecture.org/chalmers2013/
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Negi, S., & Singh, A.P., Mythical Consciousness & Existential Connectedness Among Children: Findings from a Case Study at a
Himalayan Village
Article
Mythical Consciousness & Existential Connectedness Among
Children: Findings from a Case Study at a Himalayan Village
Shachi Negi 1& Arun Pratap Singh* 2
1
DIT University, India
Sri Sri University, India
2
Abstract
Folk stories are integral to cultivating cultural rootedness and connectedness with the natural
surroundings in us. In the contemporary educational and social context, emotional wellness and
sustainability issues are at the core of popular educational pedagogies, government policies, and
healthcare practices. But, unfortunately, due to overemphasis on objectivity across different
spheres of life, the human psyche is becoming increasingly fragmented, disoriented, and
disconnected from nature resulting in multiple grave mental health challenges, and environmentdegrading behavior. In this backdrop, myth can be relevant as a prime modus-operandi to
positively modify human consciousness during younger age. Realizing the above, we have
sought to explore the utility of mythical stories in shaping the younger selves. In particular, we
analyzed prevalent mythical stories and Himalayan natives’ reflections regarding their meanings
and process of influencing cognitions and behaviors related to existential connectedness. By
using thematic analysis, we found that younger sections of the Indigenous community in the
Central Himalayan region acquire several values and norms instrumental for broadening
existential connectedness and experiencing the absence of stress and sedentary lifestyle habits.
Keywords: Mythical consciousness, mental health, sustainability, indigenous community,
folklore.
1. Introduction
Although myths do not contain empirical realities, they offer a unique set of indigenous cultural
knowledge systems to enrich us in several ways (Nixon, 2010; Olojede, 2013). They open us to
an unbounded experiential trajectory and harmonize our cognitive processes (Nixon, 2010). By
affectively engaging in contemplation, they connect us affectively with natural objects, alter
physiological responses (Laderman, 1987), build up sustainability values, elevate positive
emotions (Glik, 1988; Mannell, Ahmad & Ahmad, 2018), and facilitate the realization of
affective value of everything around us (Gursoy, 1996). But unfortunately, myths and their
relevance for wellness have been least acknowledged (Nelson & Wilson, 2017). Due to an
*
Correspondence: Assciate Prof. Arun Pratap Singh, Sri Sri University, India. Email: jyotiarun13@gmail.com
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Himalayan Village
overemphasis on positivistic ideals in social sciences and medical fields, we consider them more
as hoaxes than as cultural tools and processes to nourish our self (Loughlin, Lewith &
Falkenberg, 2013). Consequently, the modern psyche is experiencing rigidity, segregation and an
increase in vulnerability to several mental health-related maladies (substance, sensual
preoccupations, and various maladjustments in our lifestyle) (Singh & Misra, 2012; World
Economic Forum, 2019).
Against the above backdrop, there is greater recognition of traditional and indigenous practices.
In the last few decades, behavioral scientists have cognized the relevance of mythical stories to
nurture emotional wellness and promote sustainable behaviors (Dalal & Misra, 2010). But, there
is insufficient literature to account for the pertinence of folk stories to improve existential
connectedness. Existential connectedness is a cognitive capacity to feel affiliated with the living
and non-living tangible entities around us implicating greater intensity in the meaning of life,
well-being, and performance (Sjoberg, Beck, Rasmussen & Edberg, 2017). Recently, there has
been an increase in recognition for its promotion during school education. Since children have
greater neuroplasticity than others, they can easily incorporate symbolic meanings to imbue a
sense of connection with other beings and objects (Damarin & Raphael, 2014). Given the above
scenario, we sought to explore the utility of myths for promoting connectedness and its
associations with emotional vigor, the experience of divinity, social belongingness, and
affiliation with nature. In the above pursuance, we chose a village (Lakhamandal) of the central
Himalayas region, where mythological stories echo every aspect of life.
2. Location
Situated at the bank of the Yamuna river, Lakhamandal has several mythological inscriptions as
shown in pictures 1, 2 & 3. The earliest architectural activity at this place dates back to circa 5th8th century CE. We listened to two mythical stories indicating the genesis of the village name.
According to the first story, this village had one hundred thousand temples during a particular
historical period. So, the word Lakha stands for one hundred thousand and Mandala denotes
temples. Another story says that one hundred thousand tantric mystic diagrams existed in this
terrain. The villagers worship popular mythological characters (Pandavas and Kauravas),
celebrate their life history in the form of rituals, and folklores, and affiliate with either of them.
Pandavas are depicted as the epitome of high moral & ethical principles and Kauravas in
juxtaposition to their beliefs. The clans, associating themselves with Pandavas, are known as the
Paths; and those with Kauravas are as Spathas. The celebration of a particular ritual (Jagar) takes
place during autumn, winter, and spring season. The weapons, which are still preserved in
temples, are perceived to protect inhabitants.
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Himalayan Village
Picture 1. Shiv Lingam spread around the temple.
This village has a population of 1044; of which 458 are males and 586 females (National
Population Census, 2011) with a comparably greater literacy rate among males than females.
The residents primarily constitute Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe sections with primary
income source of labor work and agriculture.
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Picture 2. A view of Lakhamandal village
Picture 3. From LtoR: 1.Lakhshyagrah 2.Dhundhi Odaari Cave 3.Temple entrance 4.Note
about the ShivLing inside the temple
5.Hut 6. Dev & Danav 7.Cave for Panadava’s escape
8.Residence beside the temple 9.Wooden architecture 10.plenty of Shiv Lingam 11.Inside
Dhundhi Odaari Cave 12.Researcher inspecting inside the temple.
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3. Materials & Method
Due to a deep passion for understanding the folklore of the Himalayan region, we visited
Lakhamandal village quite frequently. An increase in familiarity led to the closer observation of
their rituals and tale-telling in different forms on various occasions. We started to reflect on the
value of folklores for promoting existential connectedness and realized the utility of mythical
stories from our own childhood experiences. In the further literature review, we noted the
potential role of mythical thinking not only for psychological wellness but also for sustaining our
life on this earth. This led to the current small endeavor to explore the role of folklores in
promoting existential connectedness.
We undertook the below procedure: determining key questions, the ambit of conceptual scope,
conducting interviews, observation reports, peer reports, interpretation of mythological stories
for themes, and their synthesis for preparing a final report. Before the actual study, we undertook
a review and prepared a list of questions. In congruence to the above, we analyzed folklore and
collected data in the below forms: demographic information, personal interviews, questionnaires,
peer and family reports, photographs, and observation of relevant utterances. Therefore, we
could qualitatively validate the symbolic and functional value of different categories of folklore.
We collected the data with following objectives: (1) to understand symbolic meanings and
functional value of folklores; (2) to explore implications of mythical consciousness for
existential connectedness. Due to extreme falls in the temperature during winter, we collected
our data during the October & November months of 2021.
4. Results & Discussion
First of all, we analyzed the folklores to decipher their meanings. We examined different modes
of their delivery: folklore, tale-telling, the celebration of festivals, daily religious
rituals/practices, and folksongs. We identified several symbolic meanings and functional values
of folklores as given in Table 1. The first story establishes conglomerated significance of nature,
animals, and emotional resources. The second and third stories bring out the importance of
detachment and faith to inoculate the psyche from the wear and tear of life. The fourth and fifth
stories emphasize the relevance of truth, integrity, and faith in life. The concept/notion/archetype
of boon is that it cannot be returned if once given.
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Table 1. Sample of Stories, their Symbolic Meanings and Functional Value
S
N
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Story/Sub Stories
Symbolic Meaning
Myth of temple discovery: On one day in Khaatal
kingdom, A king’s cow was crossing the river Yamuna
flowing with full fervor. As per king’s order, his men
followed the cow. They got frightened but ultimately
crossed the river by catching cow tail ultimately. After
following the cow for some time, they saw the cow
standing in front of a shiv lingam and draining her milk
on Lingam, situated in the midst of the forest. Informer
returned and told about the whole incidence and then,
the king ordered his men to clear the forest and from
then the temple is being established; which is a replica
of Kedarnath Temple.
Dev & Danav: King Daksha organized Yajana but did
not call Lord Shiva. When His daughter came there,
Lord Shiva was disgraced in gathering. As a result, Sati
immolated herself. Later, Shiva got enraged and
produced two Gods: Veer & Bhadra in satyug who
became Jay and Vijay in Tretayug and became Dwar &
Pal in dwaparyug, and transformed now as Dev &
Danav in kalyuga.
Lord Shiva used to grant life to those people who
apologized for their sins and when their body was placed
between the two statues. On One day, when Lord Shiva
gave life to a child; her mother hid child in lap. Shiva
could not resurrect then. Since then the practice of
awakening the dead has been stopped by Lord Shiva.
But still the two statues are remaining stand tall
reminding the mythology.
Lakshayagrah: Duryudhana buit the structure to kill his
cousin brothers, Pandavas however escaped unscathed
through an underground passage towards Chakrapur.
The epical Chakrapur is known as Hanol at the present
time. The cave formations near Lakahmandal are
believed to be used by Pandavas to take refuge.
Dhundhi Odaari Cave: Pandavas took refuge to hid
from kauravas in the cave called Dhundhi Odaari
Shiva is believed as
lord of animals.
Cow symbolizes as
mother and hindu
considers her holy.
Deep connection
and union between
devotee, and the
lord.
Soul is immortal but
body is mortal.
Endless powers of
God
Time flows
God is graceful and
compassionate
Resurrection of
being
Matter also have
powers
Truth prevails
Battle between
negative and
positive forces
Faith provides
power
Nature protects if
integrity is intact
Functional Value
Ecological relevance of
cow and other animals
Animals not inferior to
human beings
Importance of
emotional resources
Impermanency of life
Worries and pleasures
continue to recycle
Respect of husband by
wife
Acceptance of death of
body as an ultimate
truth
Detachment
We can seek God’s help
Role of destiny
Unpredictability in
human life.
Creativity, flexibility
and acceptance for the
world.
Importance of Natural
places
Jagar is popular folklore of the central Himalayas. It enacts the myth of Pandavas to incorporate
immortality of the essence of human being. This originated from the Sanskrit language root
word Jaga denoting for awakening. Jagar is believed to have the potential to awaken
supernatural powers. The performers, during the celebration of cultural festivals, wear a specific
attire to suit the mythological character and perform different mythical actions. The narrator
of Jagar is called Jagariya who plays indigenous musical instruments and narrates ballads of
God or dead spirits in a lyrical fashion. These songs allude to different mythical stories of Indian
epics including Mahabharat/ Ramayana. The myth of Pandavas is enacted through Pandav
Nritya (dance of Pandavas), where the priest invokes the spirits of Pandavas in performers
through certain rituals. Villagers seek solutions for their problems spirits get invoked in
individuals. The chief priest and a key informant shared that the performers display a great
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degree of endurance and stamina during the observance of rituals. The celebration
of Jagar demonstrates the reach of myth to the mass psyche. This affirmation of faith for the
historical reality of Pandavas is so strong that they hold on to firm convictions regarding the
divine and supernatural powers of those persons who enact the roles of these mythical
characters.
As informed by the chief priest and elders, children listen to folk stories in congregations,
perform the rituals (i.e., Arti, Bhajan), play different conventional games i.e., kabaddi, Gitte,
Pakadam-pakadaee) in the temple premises, and help in other preparatory activities (i.e.,
spreading mat, distribution of sweet) for worship. As demonstrated in Table 2, children displayed
self-motivation, existential connectedness, and mutuality in all the above activities without any
support from elders. Researchers observed children enthusiastically participated in the ceremony
without any compulsion or force. An interesting realization was that the children had no idea of
the meaning of stress, denoting that they lacked its experience. We deliberately asked them
questions about perplexing situations of life, morally conflicting dilemmas, but found no signs of
stress. They looked happier without any modern gazettes. We also noticed that natives tend to
seek the deity’s grace in difficult times.
Table 2. Utterances of natives and their implications
Category
Utterances
Priest
Ye mata ji ki patthi hai (Goat is daughter of my mother deity)
Ye vardan dene wali mataji hai (Goats give us boon)
Paandav bilkul Ashirvaad dekar jaate hain (Pandavas bless
us); Voh rakhashon ki dharti hai (That is land of devils),
Pandit ne thoda gadbad kari to aag lag gayi (Priest mistake
led to fire)
Is pandavon ki dharti ko naman karo (Bow to this land of
Pandavas)
Relatedness with animals
Emotional attachment with animals
Faith in myth
Power of natural elements
Parents/Grand
Parents:
Pandav ki Katha ab bhi chal rahi hai aage bhi chalega (It is
happening now and will continue future)
Bachche Sabke saath rahana pasand karte hain (Like to live
together)
80% pahari khana khate hain ( In majority of instances,
children consume traditional food items)
Maine to rakkha nahin TV (I do not have TV at my home)
80% chances hain ki mandir men hi milenge (There is greater
chance to get children playing in Temple)
Baalveer achchhaa lagta hai kyonki usamen pariyan hoti
hain (like Balveer T.V serial because it consists fairies)
Yudhishtir bhaiyon mai sabse acha laga unki kahani padh
ke(I liked Yudhishtar the most by reading the stories)
Pandav nritya main log jhumte hai kyunki unme devi devata
aate hai (In Pandav Nritya, people dances as God and
Goddesses came through them)
Jo hum mangte hai wo(devi-devta) hume dete hai(Whatever
we ask from deities, they bless us)
Mene padanvo ki kahaniya suni hain dada daadi se aur yaha
murtiya bhi hai(I have heard the stories of pandavas from my
grandparents)
Belief in sustenance of mythical traditions
Collectivism
Inclination towards temple more than social
media or television
Mythical conscious is working in psyche
Strong belief in supreme power
Collective conscious prevailing
Children
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Negi, S., & Singh, A.P., Mythical Consciousness & Existential Connectedness Among Children: Findings from a Case Study at a
Himalayan Village
To some degree, these myths also orient dietary habits towards healthiness. Many children
reported a degree of fondness for traditional food. Children also confessed to enjoying the
company of cows during grass grazing. The children seem to be more joyful without any
opportunity to watch TV. These children were less vulnerable to the unhealthy influence of
society and mass media. Their only means of entertainment was the Lakhamandal temple, where
they visited after their school and stayed till evening.
Picture 4: Life inside the temple
Jung postulated the concept of archetypes as universally shared unconscious structures and
acquired through interaction with elders and exposure to different artifacts (Jung, 2002). Myths
are instrumental for archetypes as they act as intermediary processes. They bring forth
unconscious constraints in the realms of awareness. Therefore, myths are transferred from one
generation to another with their underlying meanings. This study indicates several levers
espoused in mythological consciousness to promote existential connectedness through
unconscious pathways.
As reflected in Tables 1 & 2, several stories demonstrate that natural objects have unlimited
power like a warrior, and collectivism is required to succeed in life. By imbibing faith in
consciousness residing not only in insects and animals but also in non-living objects, myths help
us transgress perceptual boundaries and broaden emotional connectedness and perceived support.
A belief in the existence of supreme power furthers this connectedness and integrates our
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cognitive schema. As a result, the experience of stress gets minimized and cognitive complexity
reduced.
Myths can introject values, virtues, and norms. The theory of deeds and their corresponding
consequences, featured in several mythological stories, harnesses a commitment for engagement
in the welfare of others. As outlined in Table 1, faith in the impermanence of everything,
detachment, and role of destiny, seems to help accept the unpredictability of life. While praising
the different aspects of existence, the children also imbibed connectedness with them during
worship. As demonstrated through an increase in physical prowess during the celebration
of Jagar in this study, incorporation of existential connectedness can increase vigor and
cognitive abilities (Laderman, 1987). A strongly believed myth can connect so deeply that it may
create a hypnotic trance state (Glik, 1988). Any deep experience of existential connectedness can
facilitate deep intra-individual realization, bring mutuality in social relationships and develop
positive attitudes towards different categories of objects and nature, and ideals. Moreover, it
helps to incorporate free will and self-regulation for healthy lifestyle practices.
5. Conclusion
This study indicates the causality and instrumentality of myths as an intra-psychic resource for
flourishing existential connectedness among children. In a clustered manner, non-dualistic faith
in consciousness, theism, collectivism, detachment, and impermanence of everything increase
existential connectedness. Moreover, it also demonstrates that mythical consciousness can
facilitate positive change in adolescent lifestyle and emotional wellness. They can serve as an
adjunctive tool to increase social functioning among children. Due to the greater plausibility of
childhood, we can utilize myths to prevent further deterioration in their lifestyle and positively
alter it. However, to incorporate fables into the educational process, a need to tweak educational
pedagogies is pertinent. Given the contemporary scenario of erosion of mythological
consciousness, we would have to preserve myths through concerted efforts by different
stakeholders (i.e., government, NGOs, and academicians).
Received April 1, 2022; Accepted June 8, 2022
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Hiller, J. H., Space, Time, & Consciousness (Part 11): A Theory of Knowledge - The Transcendental and the Mundane
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Article
Space, Time, & Consciousness (Part 11):
A Theory of Knowledge - The Transcendental and the Mundane
Jack H. Hiller*
ABSTRACT
Knowledge is analyzed to fit two main classifications: 1) the Transcendental idealized forms as
described by Plato, and 2) the mundane experiences generated by the body/brain living in the
material world. Knowledge of each of the two types is examined for how it is acquired (from the
2nd Domain) or learned by sense-perception experienced in the 3rd Domain. Knowledge learned
through life in the 3rd Domain is unreliable because of imperfections in our sense-perception
mechanisms, and because memory storage and retrieval are prone to intervening learning
distortions and aging processes. By contrast, knowledge acquired directly from or while in the
2nd Domain is perfectly accurate and not subjected to any aging process because time does not
run in the 2nd Domain.
Keywords: Knowledge, transcendental, mundane, domain, space, time, consciousness, creation.
What would a theory of knowledge incorporate for its dimensions or features to explain what it’s
about? To start with, what is “knowledge” itself, and how may it be described? What are the
major types of knowledge, such as A) Plato’s Idealized forms, or mathematics, logic, models of
physical reality (classical and quantum), and B) the mundane idiosyncratic bric-a-brac formed by
living day to day. What is the nature of the individual holder of the knowledge that we seek to
characterize and explain (i.e., a human is not any pattern recognition and information data
storing mechanism similar to a digital computer, despite various attempts to compare humans
and computers) .
What are the essential characteristics of the “holder” of knowledge (e.g., brain, and mind)? How
does the holder of knowledge acquire it, and may such acquisition be dependent on the kind of
knowledge involved? Is the rationalism of Plato, Descartes, and Kant correct that the brain has
preformed categories or percepts essential for recognizing and incorporating experience into
knowledge (e.g., consider the evidence from the visual cliff, neonate preference for faces,
pareidolia, and turkey hatchlings’ aversion to hawks)? Does the mind access idealized
knowledge when in contact with the 2nd Domain by an OBE or meditation?
Finally, might it be possible that certain kinds of knowledge, especially about the mundane, are
inherently temporary or transitional, despite their appearance of certainty or permanence? Thus,
mundanely acquired knowledge may only be temporary concerning truth value. Given that
mundane knowledge is potentially uncertain and transitional—leaving a mystery of uncertainty
*Correspondence: Jack H. Hiller, PhD, JD, Independent Researcher, USA. E-mail: jh7138@gmail.com
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regarding truth-- perhaps God has intentionally designed the 3rd Domain to preclude full
knowledge of His eternal design.
It will be argued that the 2nd Domain is the source for idealized forms or “universals” such as
justice, good, circle and sphere, table and chair, above and below, common sense time, etc.. Plato
theorized that the mind was able to recollect knowledge of these universals that it had known as
a soul before coming to the Earth, and The NDE research supports his perspective. Mundane
knowledge is acquired thru sense-perception by a body and brain constructed to be selectively
sensitive to receiving limited forms of sensory information which it works to form perception as
argued by Descartes and Kant.
However, the perceptual information constructed in the brain does not itself exist as conscious
perception, as the brain itself lacks the power of consciousness possessed by its attached soul.
Conscious perception is achieved only in consciousness, not in the material brain, as had been
explained in Article 2 to account for qualia in perception. Transcendental and mundane
knowledge are contained in the individual holder’s personal consciousness, and also in the
universal field of consciousness that is the 2nd Domain. It will be argued that, consistent with the
Tripartite Domain Theory, the particular knowledge that exists is a function of the theater of the
beholding mind:
1. The mind of the ordinary human locked to the brain functioning in the 3rd Domain is
highly constrained to acquiring mundane knowledge by the body’s materiality.
2. The mind freed of the body/brain functions, as may occur during an OBE or deep
meditation, may then access the 2nd Domain field of universal consciousness with its vast
information made easily available.
3. The mind that is God knows all that may be known.
The disciplines of philosophy and psychology offer insight into the nature of mundane
knowledge of the 3rd Domain, and how it is acquired and applied. The NDE reports provide for
insight into how the mind works as a participant in the 2nd Domain. The mind of God will not be
discussed other than acknowledging that such must exist, and in fact may be all that exists, with
the 2nd and 3rd Domains entirely existing within the mind that is God.
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1. A) Transcendental Knowledge of the 2nd Domain
Nature and acquisition of transcendental knowledge
Platonic idealized forms, or Universal ideas. Plato regards the information gained by our senses,
such as sight, to reveal objects that lack any idealized perfection. For example, a circle may be
physically inscribed in sand or wood by moving a stylus tied by a string to a central point, but
inspection of the physical circle drawn will display imperfections from an idealized curve. He
made the argument that if knowledge were restricted to sense-perception, we would not directly
know about idealized abstractions. Included in a list of such idealize abstraction would be
concepts such as justice, the good, the beautiful where we may lack experience of perfect
examples of such. Relationships such as above and below, to the right of are abstractions from
real experience, but there are no standard examples applied to form such relational concepts. Yet
we realize the concepts from knowledge acquired by the soul before birth. The 2nd Domain of the
Tripartite Domain theory is the home of the soul before born to a body in the 3rd Domain.
Mathematics
Philosophy of mathematics offers two alternative interpretations for the nature of mathematical
truths: 1) “Discovery” of what was inherent in the particular branch of mathematics in focus,
such as number theory; or 2) creative invention that, while consistent with the branch
conventions or axioms, yet had to be creatively invented. Given what the NDE reports say about
suddenly knowing all of mathematics and empirical sciences, this evidence implies that
mathematics is included in the universal consciousness that is the 2nd Domain. Thus, the clever
mathematician may work creatively at invention, and earn pay and rewards, but the truth is that
the invention is actually a discovery.
Physics (algorithmic modeling and prediction)
The grand success of modern physics has been its translation of ideas, whatever their source, into
the disciplined expression of mathematical models such as Einstein constructed in Special and
General Relativity. However, the great success of quantum mechanics found in the Schrodinger
wave equations went beyond abstracting lab results at the time to a speculative formulation.
Einstein with two colleagues (in the EPR paper) seized on an implied prediction from the wave
equation that “entangled” paired particles would instantaneously communicate with each other
when one particle would be observed/measured so that its range of possible states would
materialize to a specific form of existence and thereby trigger the other into being its
complement. The EPR paper logically pointed out that this prediction violated the Special
Relativity speed ceiling set for communication as the speed of light, (very fast but not
instantaneous), and provided no idea of an underlying physical process. As it turned out, the
wave equation prediction for spooky action at a distance has been replicated across many
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experiments. Except for the hypothesis proposed in Article 3, quantum entanglement remains a
deep mystery.
Ethics and morality
Kant worked to explain a source for cultural recognition that good will toward each other is
known and appreciated. He synthesized the variety of good intentions to reflect a “categorical
Imperative” for good will (what Christianity knows as the Golden Rule). Kant reasoned that the
categorical imperative cannot be attributed to experience, with rewards and penalties, but must
have an a priori source, and so must have a metaphysical source (see wikiesource at:
https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Groundwork_of_the_Metaphysics_of_Morals ). Hypothesizing
the source for morality to be the universal field of consciousness, that is the 2nd Domain, is
consistent with Kant’s analysis for the source of morality.
Direct Knowledge acquisition within the 2nd Domain as an effortless
immediate knowing of everything
As discussed earlier in Articles 9 and 10, reporting about the OBE typically states that all
possible knowledge was easily and instantly available: “I just suddenly realized that I understood
everything. It was a big 'aha' moment. I could understand physics, math, chemistry, and all the
formulas that went with that understanding. I realized that I didn't have any questions”
Participant observation across history
One of the most remarkable feature of the OBE is the reported experience of seeing past, present
and future all together, or selectively as desired. It is hard to imagine how such a possibly large
array of perception across time could be understood. Most of us have to concentrate on one task,
such as doing mental arithmetic, with all else left to a dim background perception. This feature of
consciousness functioning with great capacity is, however, a common report from the OBE. For
example, people during an NDE/OBE episode while lying dormant in their hospital bed report
simultaneously understanding nearby conversations, conversations outside their room, seeing
activities outside the hospital--all at once with no difficulty for comprehension. Thus, the soul
freed of its attachment to the brain appears to have a huge capacity as compared to ordinary life
experience.
Display of future scenes
A frequent feature of the OBE is the conduct of a life review. The review leads to understanding
the value of experience for self and all others, and includes participation to see and emotionally
feel the ripple effects from even seemingly minor instances of negativity or kindness. During the
life review, the participant is generally experiencing a high, overwhelming level of love as a
background condition. The typical life is full of “mistakes,” and thus recognition that life
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ordinarily has hard times and pain, so the individual is often tempted to ask to stay. Of course we
do not know what they were told when that wish to die was granted, but from those returning
they often were shown their role in the future, such as raising children, and agree to return. Years
later, there are frequent reports that the future visions came true, so to some extent the future is
set or may be shaped according to the prior vision. However, we may infer that the future is not
already completely set, because we are also aware of miraculous interventions that change the
course of lives and countries. On the other hand, it could be argued that miracles were
themselves predestined. There are also frequent reports from individuals about arguing with God
to let them stay in Heaven, with God eventually winning the argument. If there were legitimate
arguments, then it is unreasonable to conclude that the future has been fully set.
Transcendental Knowledge acquisition from the 3rd Domain
Plato’s theory of reminiscence
A newborn infant using eyesight must learn to see, The lens inverts the image on the retina so
top and bottom are reversed; an infant would initially see a parent with feet in the air instead of
grounded. We know from the experience of those who were born blind that when their visual
system is repaired good perception does not immediately follow. The perceptual system needs to
be trained. One possible support for learning how to perceive would be the reminiscence
function as theorized by Plato. His theory was that the soul was born with knowledge implanted
from Heavenly existence prior to birth. Some of the NDE reports tell of seeing the Earth and
parents before birth. Plato’s concept of knowledge as reminiscence may actually be descriptive
of how raw sensory data are processed to find stored percepts, thus guiding the perceptual system
to its goal of accuracy. A recollection of the ideal forms and truths may aid our ability to
understand the material world.
Intuition
Intuition as was discussed in Article 9 was reported to play a major role in day to day decision
making, as well as for major decisions. We are familiar with the notion of a “gut feeling” guiding
our decision making, and so it’s natural to think that such intuitive guidance emanates from the
body and brain. However, as has been argued here, it is the mind, consciousness, that does the
decision making, and that capability is not produced by the body and brain. Given that
consciousness is the source for intuition, intuition may be enhanced by meditation. This is a
worthy topic for empirical research.
Possible influence of past lives shaping general outlook
Edgar Cayce, the “Sleeping Prophet” reluctantly came to a conclusion from his medical readings
that anxieties, fears, phobias, conflicts with relatives were in a significant number of his
hundreds of consultations the product of incidents in past lives that remained to be resolved
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(Cayce’s reluctance to accept reincarnation came from his scriptural scholarship, but he
eventually decided that scripture did not preclude having multiple lives). Talking through these
past problems did appear to be helpful. As discussed in Article 2, substantial research by Ian
Stevenson with adults and children, and Carol Bowman with children, has furnished evidence
that past lives are recalled by some (I personally have no prior life memory). Bowman estimates
that on the order of 40%^ of children under the age of 6 can recall elements of having come here
from Heaven, or even details of past lives if carefully asked.
1.B) The Mundane Knowledge of the 3rd Domain
Nature and acquisition of mundane knowledge
Normal daily experience consists of numerous interactions with the environment (sitting in a
chair, carelessly stubbing a toe), and interactions with the family and household animals, etc. As
an adult, we know what to expect from the environment, unlike toddlers, but even as adults we
can never be sure about interactions with the living For example, after some 50 years of
marriage, I finally realized that when I’m supposed to take a drubbing for any conceivable fault,
of which I have none, it’s best to react with feigned hurt, despite my innocence, so progress can
resume. The intrinsic unpredictability of life consists of reacting to innumerable stimuli, and
performing countless mundane activities, with most contributing tiny additions to knowledge.
When Plato philosophizes about idealized forms, his focus is in direct contrast with the
multitudinous interactions of life and the associated mundane knowledge produced.
Piagetian theory of cognitive structures acquired by children for mastering
environmental interaction
The Swiss child psychologist, Jean Piaget (1896-1980) constructed a four stage model of how
children progressively learn to function before becoming adults.
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piaget%27s_theory_of_cognitive_development)
Piaget's four stages of child development
Stage
Sensorimotor
Preoperational
Concrete operational
Formal operational
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Birth to 18–24 months old
2 to 7 years old
7 to 11 years old
Adolescence to adulthood
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Object permanence
Symbolic thought
Operational thought
Abstract concepts
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These stages have been found by numerous studies to be approximately accurate; not perfect as
human psychology is complex, and different cultures have effects. There is much mundane
knowledge for children to learn and function well in the internet society. Piaget’s research led
educators to recognize a beneficial focus on the child’s frame of reference (a Child-Centered
educational strategy, similar to the prescriptions of John Dewey’s prescription of Learning by
Doing, Intelligence in the Modern World. New York: Random House, 1939, pp 607-13)
Vagueness of thought and of expression (not ambiguity)
In acquiring language well enough to learn knowledge from others, and to pass on knowledge as
parents and educators, we also realize that our knowledge may be inexact, and at times
ambiguous (“ambiguity” meaning alternative senses are available for interpretation). Meanings
may be slippery, and subject to shifts in denotative and connotative meanings as a function of a
particular topic, the context of communication, and the target audience. For example what
meaning comes to mind by mention of Napoleon. Well, that would depend on the context for
mentioning him, and what the recipient already knew about him. For example, when Napoleon
Bonaparte is mentioned, do you recollect the twenty year old Italian artillery officer serving in
the French army, or his image as emperor from 1804 to 1814, or perhaps his exile to Elba, or
even the tortured soul learning of Josephine’s death? Most likely you vaguely recollect some
indistinct collage of whatever bits of knowledge come to mind, and there is no definitive,
specific knowledge retrieved.
Definition of Vagueness in meaning, and in thought
Early in my career as a graduate student at the University of Connecticut, I ventured to construct
an operational definition for vagueness in language usage. My action was motivated by my
status as a newly appointed pre-doctoral fellow in research methodologies. My major doctoral
committee professor had acquired a handsome grant from the Educational Testing Service (the
College Board Testing company) to investigate the feasibility of having the digital computer
programmed to assign valid and reliable scores for short essays to replace essay grading by slow,
expensive, and unreliable humans. I was one of a group of ten new fellows joining this new
program. Our major advisor had just laid down the law—we were to publish while yet research
puppies, or perish.
The semester courses included an evening class about learning theories. Heck I knew all about
them, and so tried to drop the course, but could not. The professor was an elderly gentleman, a
kindly sort easily liked. As he fumbled through his first evening lecture, as if unprepared, he also
made obvious factual errors.
I drove home fuming at having to waste my time. But he was obviously a good professor despite
his fumbles, so why was I so annoyed? As I mentally reviewed his performance, I remembered
hearing words and phrases that signaled his own awareness that he was fumbling. Well, what
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exactly were those clues? “As everyone knows,” “Clearly,“ “Obviously,” and after pregnant
pauses—“As a matter of Fact,” “ Actually,” There were also lot’s of “as you know,” and just
plain, “you know” repeated frequently. So, there were identifiable clues to his lack of preparation
and faulty knowledge-- and even the dumb computer could be easily programmed to catch them.
What if student essays also exhibited such clues? Given clues to lack of preparation to perform,
might there also be clues for being knowledgeable? “For example,”“Specifically,” “Illustrated
by.” So, that night, I applied my own devious mind to recall the weasel words, and also positive
clues for communicating topical knowledge. Our doctoral program major professor had available
for research a set of well graded short student essays (similar to what the College Board tests
would require). Teams of the “best” English teachers in Connecticut had scored each of hundreds
of essays, and stable average ratings were available for research. I could test my hypothesis that
graders would be sensitive to vagueness and attempted specificity. Here is the abstract for the
published paper from this research:
Three characteristics of writing quality were selected for study from among the many
discussed in English texts on the assumption that single words or discrete phrases
reliably cue the presence of such characteristics in essays. A set of 256 graded essays
was searched by computer for cues, and the measures thus obtained were correlated
with the essay grades. All predicted correlations were significant at p < .01.
(Hiller, J. H., Marcotte, D., & Martin, T. (1969). Opinionation, vagueness, and
specificity-distinctions: Essay traits measured by computer. American Educational
Research Journal, 6(2), 271-286.)
A program of research was underway at Stanford to discover what differentiated effective and
ineffective teachers as they gave topical lectures to their own classroom students. The data from
this research had been examined for two years, but the program leader, Prof Nate Gage, was not
satisfied that they had learned all they could from their data. So, I was called over to spend the
Summer on loan to this research program to figure out how to milk the data using computerbased analysis.
Well-developed objectively scored tests were administered to classroom students to measure
what they learned and retained from their teacher’s lectures on two topics. A single audio taped
lecture was played to all classes to get a baseline measure for individual class competence. All
teacher lectures had been videotaped.
The teachers had not been shown the test items, so their coverage of test information was
variable; to correct for this source of measurement error, teams of graduate students rated how
well each teacher lecture happened to cover the test items. A teacher’s performance should not
be faulted for accidently not having covered sample test items. I applied a statistical procedure
(covariance) to remove the effects of class competency and test item coverage from each
teacher’s classroom lecture test scores. Bingo! The measure of Vagueness worked very well to
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predict student test performance, and a rough measure of verbal Fluency also worked. Here is the
Abstract:
The Vagueness construct was applied to data collected by the Stanford Explanation
Project (see Gage, N.L, Belgard, M. Dell, D., Hiller, J., Rosenshine, B., and Unrah, W,
“Explorations in the Teachers Effectiveness in Explaining.” Tech. Report 4 of the
Stanford Center for R&D in Teaching, School of Education, Stanford University, 1968).
Teachers delivered self-prepared lectures to their regular classrooms of students based
on two magazine articles, one about Thailand and the other about Yugoslavia. Their
students were administered standardized, objectively scored multiple choice knowledge
tests after the lectures, and these scores served as the criterion for teacher
performance. The class test scores were refined by covarying out class performance on
a test for a third lesson (on Israel) that was delivered by a single lecture recorded by a
professional speaker, thus removing variance having to do with differences in ability
and motivation for the individual classrooms. The teachers had not been shown the
student tests before they gave their classroom lectures, so lecture coverage of test
contents was variable. A team of graduate students scored the teacher presentations for
degree of test coverage, and the coverage scores were also covaried out to achieve a
more accurate score of how well classes performed based on what their teachers did
cover.
In the available sample of 32 lectures about Yugoslavia, the correlation between
proportion of Vagueness items in the lectures (vagueness items counted divided by total
number of words for the given lecture) and the test scores was -,59 (p < .005), and in
the available subsample for the Thailand lecture, the correlation was -. 48, N= 23, p <
.05 .
(Hiller, J. H., Fisher, G. A., & Kaess, W. (1969). A Computer Investigation of Verbal
Characteristics of Effective Classroom Lecturing. American Educational Research
Journal, 6(4), 661-675.)
Next, an experiment was conducted to test the hypothesis that manipulating the clarity of
information made available to speakers would affect their level of vagueness utterances The
vagueness construct was defined as follows:
The plight of being caught without a needed word while speaking or writing is a common
experience. A sudden lapse in memory or momentary confusion may underlie the difficulty.
Or the problem may arise when a speaker, in the midst of expression, discovers he doesn’t
command the knowledge required to complete his gambit. This paper presents an analysis of
the verbal behavior of the speaker or writer confronted with the immediate necessity to
express himself while he struggles against one or more such handicaps.
By now, the Vagueness Dictionary had been fully developed, along with subcategories. This
Dictionary has been made available for research by Provalis Research. A description of the
completed Dictionary follows:
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Provalis Vagueness Communication Dictionary by Jack Hiller
Ten separate categories of vagueness have been defined to permit an optional finer analysis of
the nature of the vagueness exhibited (see table below).
SCALES
DESCRIPTION
Ambiguous
Designation
Something potentially specifiable
referred but not definitely identified.
Negated
Intensifiers
Negations can be evasions.
Approximation
Use reflects real or referential vagueness
or imprecise knowledge.
Bluffing
Recovery
and
Used when a writer is not communicating
effectively and tries to shift responsibility
for making sense of content to the reader.
Admission
Error
of
Indefinite
Amount
Multiplicity
Probability and
Possibility
Reservations
Anaphora
#
ITE
MS
EXAMPLES
is
Repeated admissions indicate lack of
confidence or lack of competence.
An amount is potentially knowable but is
not specified.
Pseudo-specification or glossing over of
complexity.
Indicates lack of clarity or lack of definite
knowledge.
Expressions of doubt or reluctance to
commit to a definite point of view.
Excessive and repetitious use of pronouns
rather than direct references makes
content more difficult to follow.
somewhere, stuff,
a certain, and so on
not always, not
quite,
isn’t
necessarily
nearly, sort of,
fairly,
almost,
pretty much
actually, anyway,
as a matter of fact,
of course
I made a mistake,
maybe, I don’t
know
a bit, a bunch, a
couple, a little,
some
aspects, types, lots,
factors, kinds
at times, could be,
generally, perhaps
apparently, appears,
relatively, seems.
50
57
35
53
20
29
35
33
35
former, she, he, it,
latter, other, them
Research results were summarized as follows:
An experiment was conducted by having one group of student teachers give prompted small
lectures after hearing a clear audio tape recording of a lecture about current affairs in Thailand
or Yugoslavia as the basis for their mini-lectures; this was the experimental baseline Control
group. A second group was played the same recordings, only after they were garbled by
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randomly interspersing lecture material on another topic. The prediction was that the teacher
mini-lectures based on the garbled audio recordings would lead to confusion about their
contents, and that would yield a level of vague speech higher than for the Control group. The
group experiencing the garbled audio tapes exhibited a statistically significant increase in the
proportion Vagueness terms in their speech ( p less than .005).
(Hiller, J.H. (1971). Verbal response indicators of conceptual vagueness. American
Educational Research Journal. 8(1), 151-161).
The Vagueness dictionary has been used to study business speech:
(https://www.researchgate.net/publication/314127738_Language_and_Competition_Communica
tion_Vagueness_Interpretation_Difficulty_and_Market_Entry), and political speech.
Hogenraad Political Speech Research
Vagueness in political speech as an indicator of flexibility. Robert Hogenraad developed the
hypothesis that political leaders during an early stage of negotiation would employ language
specifically signaled by Vagueness to communicate flexibility, but as positions solidified would
reduce the use of Vagueness to communicate the firming of their positions. In a number of
studies he has found solid support for this hypothesis. For example, there is a study of speech
associated with the conflict between Russia and Georgia circa 2008 ( Hogenraad, R. L., &
Garagozov, R. R. (2010). Words of swords in the Caucasus: About a leading indicator of
conflicts. Peace and Conflict: Journal of Peace Psychology, 16(1), 11-28. )
This study analyzes statements by President Saakashvili of Georgia, by President
Medvedev of the Russian Federation, and by Georgia's allies over this period. The study
analyzes these statements using a computer-aided procedure of quantitative content
analysis equipped with semantic filters tailored to forecast the risk of conflict based on
the gap between power words (increasing) and affiliation words (decreasing) in texts, as
McClelland (1975) showed. The larger the gap, the greater the risk. Because possible
conflicts increase uncertainty, how much vagueness there was in the statements was
also quantified. The statements by President Medvedev display a growing power
motivation about Georgia and a style characterized by increasing precision. Despite the
need to defend the territorial integrity of his country, President Saakashvili showed a
decreasing risk of war while also using vaguer words, betraying uncertainty. Georgia's
allies also show an increasing risk of war, but restraint prevailed.
Another Hogenraad study examined the speech of leaders in Iran, Israel, and the USA between
2008 and 2012:
Textual fingerprints of risk of war. Robert L. Hogenraad Universite ´catholique de Louvain,
Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium Rauf R. Garagozov Center for Strategic Studies, Baku, Azerbaijan (
Literary and Linguistic Computing. The Author 2013. Published by Oxford University Press on
behalf of ALLC. All rights reserved):
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We compute the rate of textual signals of risk of war recognizable in series of
consecutive political speeches about a disputed issue serious enough to entail an
international conflict. The speeches concern Iran’s nuclear program. We trace textual
signals forewarning of risks of war that reactions to this affair lead to. The thrust of the
textual analysis rests on the interplay of affiliation and power words in continuous texts,
following D. C. McClelland’s model for anticipating wars. The speeches are those of
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, US Secretary of State Hillary R. Clinton,
Iranian Grand Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu. Prefiguring a military confrontation before it occurs involves structuring
information from unstructured data. Despite such imperfect knowledge, by the end of
January 2012, our results show a receding risk of war on the Iranian side, but an
increasing risk on the American one, while remaining ambiguous on the Israeli one….
We computed a global rate of vagueness from the [Hiller] vagueness scale (the
percentage of the number of vague words to the total number of words in the section of
the document under analysis)…
4.3 The course of the rate of vagueness. The average rate of vagueness is 6.7 in
Ahmadinejad (min/max¼0/7.8, SD¼1.2, N¼42), 8.7 in Khamenei (min/max¼8/9.5,
SD¼0.3, N¼47), 7.6 in Netanyahu (min/max¼6.4/8.4, SD¼0.4, N¼34), and 7.4 in
Clinton (min/max¼6.1/9.2, SD¼0.6, N¼34). The course of the rate of vagueness
increases linearly and significantly in Ahmadinejad, Clinton, and Netanyahu (but not
Khamenei) (Table 4 and Figs 5–7). The speed of increase is slow in each data set,
between 0.02 and 0.03 a month. The course of vagueness in Netanyahu adds up to the
absence of direction noted earlier for the risk of war: his speeches remain in a lasting
state of vagueness throughout. We further bothered to find correlations between the risk
of war and the rate of vagueness. We found only one, in Clinton’s speeches, a
statistically significant lagged one between the risk of war at T0 and the rate of
vagueness at Tþ1 (r¼0.66, n¼33, p<0.0001, CI 95%¼0.37/0.86 using 20,000
resamplings). Changes in the risk of war in Clinton are followed in proportion by
changes in the rate of vagueness one month later.
Thus, while teachers committed to conducting recitation in class, even when unprepared, resort
to vagueness inadvertently to slide over their uncertainties about facts, politicians may
intentionally signal flexibility with vagueness, while also signaling resolve by removing
vagueness from their speech.
Knowledge acquisition in the 3rd Domain
As it turns out, a strong case has been made by Psychology for very different kinds of learning
activities, and most of these, perhaps even all, apply only to acquisition of the mundane
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knowledge generated in the 3rd Domain. The major theories about learning are reviewed below to
reveal what kind of knowledge is created.
Classical, Pavlovian conditioning
This form of learning is arranged by the timing the presentation of a naturally evocative stimulus
(termed the Unconditioned Stimulus, US), such as fresh meat presented so a hungry dog can see
and smell the meat, which triggers an Unconditioned Response (UR), here salivation, with a
previously neutral signal, such as a bell rung or light shown without any prior history for the
animal. It is found over repeated presentation trials of pairing the US with the CS that the
presentation of the previously neutral CS without the US will trigger a response similar to the
UR termed the Conditioned Response, CR. This form of learning is covered in every basic
psychology text, so coverage here will be thin. The timing of the CS with the US is important. If
the CS follows the presentation of the US, the CS will fail as a trigger for the CR. The optimal
timing appears when the CS precedes the US by approximately a half second. Also of interest is
the nature and rate of extinction for the CS when trials are run in which the US is no longer
paired with it. For our purposes, Classical Conditioning appears to involve “mindless” learning
of mundane information that is of little to no significance for conscious functioning.
Imitation and modeling
This form of learning is obvious to any who have watched young animals and children mimic or
imitate what an adult or peer does. Because the responses are under voluntary control (unlike
classical conditioning in which the response are under autonomic control), it would be expected
that consciousness plays a significant role in such learning. However, neurologists has
discovered what they term a “mirror neuron.” When such neurons are not working, imitation
ceases. “Human brain studies using FMRI (Functional magnetic resonance imaging) revealed a
network of regions in the inferior frontal cortex and inferior parietal cortex which are typically
activated during imitation tasks. “ (Iacoboni, M.; Woods, RP; Brass, M; Bekkering, H;
Mazziotta, JC; Rizzolatti, G (1999). "Cortical Mechanisms of Human Imitation". Science. 286
(5449): 2526–8.). Thus, despite the use of consciously controllable movements, consciousness
may play a small or nonexistent role in imitation of mundane activities.
Stimulus-Response Associative learning
This was one of the most studied topics in Psychology over the past century. Research included
verbal associative leaning and sensory-motor skills learning by adult humans, as well as by rats,
monkeys, and pigeons. Early on S-R Associative Learning Theory was popularly known as
Edward Thorndike’s Connectionism theory in which humans and animals learned to reliably
make voluntary responses after reward or punishment stimuli. Trial and Error learning is a major
topic for S-R Learning theory. Trial and error learning is the epitome of mundane learning,
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because there is no necessary or natural association between for an arbitrary stimulus-response
arrangement.
Thorndike’s Law of Effect was for a long time the most prominent guide for psychological
research. Simply stated, behavior that is rewarded in a discriminable situation will be reinforced
to be performed in that situation, and conversely, behavior that is punished will be suppressed in
that situation. Thorndike’s Cats in the Puzzle Box research model illustrates the possibility for a
lack of any necessary natural S-R learning association. In one procedure, a cat could escape
entrapment in a box by pressing a lever that opened the box for escape. Cats quickly learned
from trial and error to push the bar to escape. However, Thorndike also arranged for escape, not
by a bar push, but by the cat’s jumping (lashing about); as soon as the “frustrated” cat would
jump, the box would be opened for escape, and cats quickly learned to jump. Thorndike also
explored a seemingly unnatural escape behavior by opening the box when the cat made an anal
lick (they are good at self-cleansing).
Many researchers thought mistakenly that the S and R could be associated regardless of what the
stimulus was like, because learning trials, and extinction trials (the cat’s stopping bar pushing or
jumping when the box no longer opens) appeared similar, so stimuli choice appeared arbitrary.
However Thorndike also reported, with no fanfare catching attention, that extinction for the anal
lick was different. He made two points. First, the anal lick performed was unnatural, it was
partially done, not fully. Second, after only one or two extinction trials, the cats no longer did
their false lick to get out.
Much later researchers found that some S-Rs were naturally, easily learned with a high resistance
to extinction, but other S-R combinations were not learned well and rapidly extinguished. The
popular explanation is simply that animals have evolved to make particular mundane
associations, e.g., a rat getting sick from eating an unusual food will avoid eating that food (or
drink) after only one punishing trial and the avoidance persists without extinction ( see Seligman,
M. On the generality of the laws of learning. Psychological Review 1970, Vol. 77, No. S, 406418 at http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.741.7989&rep=rep1&type=pdf ).
BF Skinner’s Operant Conditioning
Operant Conditioning is the term for a highly controlled and systematic delivery of rewards (or
punishments, politely termed aversive stimuli) delivered in response to bar presses (the “operant”
behavior), with experimental Subjects ranging from humans, to monkeys, rats, pigeons and other
animals. Speed of learning and extinction were studied, and done so across simple tasks and
chained-linked tasks. Skinner was a staunch behaviorist who avoided speculating about what a
human of rat might be thinking about while learning. His research never asked Subjects what
they thought, because he distrusted introspection for gaining any scientifically credible evidence.
Prediction and control of behavior were demanded by his science strategy. Strictly black box
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research measuring what goes in and what comes out. He was gifted at gaining adherents to his
form of Behaviorism. But, alas, it appears to have provided a blind alley for Psychology. Just too
much data about mundane operant response arrangements and equally mundane somatic rewards.
Gestalt insight
The Gestalt school of psychology germinated in Germany and was brought to America after
developing European adherents. Its research program was focused on the nature or perception
(mainly visual). It had rational roots in a Platonic view of reality of universal forms providing the
basis for perception. Perception was guided by innate rules that could be discovered by
introspection, and by intuiting what led to animal behaviors when conversation was precluded. A
major proponent was Wolfgang Koeler with his book, the Mentality of Apes (1925). Koeler
depicted situations in which animal responses were not randomly made to randomly presented
stimuli, but instead presented situations (involving boxes or sticks) in which an intelligent animal
could intuit or mentally construct the solution to a puzzle to gain a reward.
In the box experiment, a banana reward was attached high off of a ceiling so that an ape could
not reach it, even by jumping. With a box placed in a chimpanzee’s cage, after a while, one
chimp (brighter than the rest), suddenly moved the box under the banana and was able to reach it
by climbing on the box. Koeler described this behavior as demonstrating problem solving
insight. In another situation, it took one or more sticks to reach through their cage to snag the
banana. Based on such phenomena, the Gestaltists derided the American research using mundane
stimuli and responses. Gestalt psychology was comfortable about theory building and research
that involved mental concepts, such as introspection and insight. By contrast, American
Psychology was a new field, and thought that aping physics as an operational science was their
key to academic acceptability. Apparently, the bizarre nature of the new theory about quantum
mechanics had not caught their attention. Gestalt psychology proved to be a side branch for
American Psychology.
Cognitive learning
By the mid twentieth century, some prominent American psychologists had become
disenchanted with the minutia of little isolated mundane Ss and Rs forming associative bonds.
For example, the eminent perception psychologist, James Gibson, published a book of research
which explained that S-R bonds lacked any useful explanatory power for understanding natural
perception (Gibson, J.J. (1950). The Perception of the Visual World. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.).
Gibson argued that natural visual perception was the result of the holistically projected imagery
on the retinas with the brain processing the information to fit into the brain’s construction of a
conceptualized 3 D space that of course did not physically exist in any way within the brain. The
brain’s neuroanatomy was organized to create visual perception without extra intentional mental
management. He thus thought that mentalist psychology was about as wrong as Behaviorism for
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understanding perception. The Tripartite Domain Theory agrees with Gibson that cogitation does
not produce perception, but for a different reason than his. Our explanation is that the body brain
mechanisms processing sensory data eventually deliver that data to a consciousness that realizes
perception—the brain is a data sourcing mechanism, but not the seat of conscious perception.
Evidence has been found indicating inborn anatomical design for feature detection
Evidence that the visual system is born with feature detection capabilities
Retinal and striate cortex feature detectors. Research on cat retina and striate cortex found
movement and bar pattern detector sensitivity in both the retina and the striate cortex area of the
visual cortex. Researchers found that light movement and light pattern detection were
anatomically supported. ( Hubel, T., and Wiesel, D., Receptive fields of single neurons in the
cat’s striate cortex. Journal of Physiology (1959) 148: pages 574-91).
Visual cliff avoidance by inexperienced neonates. A visual cliff apparatus is a sheet of
plexiglass, stiff enough to support crawling infants, placed over two distinctively different
underlying patterns. One pattern is a checkerboard placed under the glass, and the other is
created by dropping the pattern four feet down, so that a “visual cliff” appears. Preterm (16) and
term infants(16) were set on the glass and prompted to crawl. The researchers observed that the
infants showed aversion to the cliff, and did this before having acquired any experience from
falling. (Lin, Yuan-Shan; Rielly, Marie; Mercer, Vicki S. (2010). "Responses to a Modified
Visual Cliff by Pre-Walking Infants Born Preterm and at Term". Physical & Occupational
Therapy in Pediatrics. 30 (1): 66–78)
Infants have a greater interest in faces than other patterns
In one study, infant brain activity was found to be most active when shown faces as compared to
other stimuli, indicating an inborn capability to perceive and find attraction in faces
(https://news.stanford.edu/news/2012/december/infants-process-faces-121112.html ). In another
study (Development of infants’ attention to faces during the first year, Michael C. Frank,1 Edward Vul,1 and Scott
P. Johnson2, Published online 2008 Dec 27. doi: 10.1016/j.cognition.2008.11.010 ), researchers found that, “In
simple tests of preference, infants as young as newborns prefer faces and face like stimuli over
distractors. “ This preference to attend to faces is found at birth, and so appears to be inborn.
Pareidolia
This is the tendency for humans to interpret a vague stimulus as something known to the
observer, such as seeing shapes in clouds, seeing faces in inanimate objects or abstract patterns,
or hearing hidden messages in music. A wide variety of studies have found such a tendency
exists, and that implies innate structural design in the nervous system
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pareidolia).
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Hawk/Goose effect
“In ethology and cognitive ethology, the hawk/goose effect refers to a behavior observed in
some young birds when another bird flies above them: if the flying bird is a goose, the young
birds show no reaction, but if the flying bird is a hawk, the young birds either become more
agitated or cower to reduce the danger. It was first observed by Konrad Lorenz and Nikolaas
Tinbergen.” (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hawk/goose_effect). Thus, such young birds showing
fear appear to have evolved to have inborn feature detection and fear for dangerous predators.
Reasoning and common sense logic
Most of our perceptions about what’s going on in the world, at work, in society, while driving on
the road, when interpreting the shenanigans of politicians, shopping, watching movies, reading
stories, playing competitive games… comes from the multitude of instances in which we have
experienced life’s twists and turns, tried to reason and failed, sometimes guessed right and
sometimes screwed up badly We do Not apply any formal reasoning, such as applying
Aristotelian syllogisms.
Mature folks know they are susceptible to being mislead, tricked, and cheated. By contrast, youth
brought up in happy middle class homes (is that what happened to millenials?) may be radically
optimistic about applying their presumed accumulation of vast knowledge to solve the problems
their seniors fumbled. Thus, our youthful visionaries can argue with sincerity that use of all
carbon fossil fuels must be stopped soon, before the world ends. Cows must be slaughtered to
stop polluting the atmosphere. All airplanes must be grounded. Nuclear power plant technology,
always dangerous, must be abandoned. Glass faced skyscrapers must be torn down as energy
wasteful. Wind power, sunshine, with perhaps some tidal wave technology, will provide for all
of our energy needs. Common sense logic has gone with the wind.
Knowledge Transformation
Transformation by the sciences (Kuhn’s insight on paradigm shifting)
We are taught in school that science is a grand human enterprise. It suffers no fools, employs
only objective data to evaluate its modeled predictions, and is thus self-correcting with great
contrast to other institutions, such as the stock market, politics, and law. Creativity is rewarded
for achieving new models that work, or improving on older models, we are taught.
The myth about welcoming innovation (Magueijo)
A brilliant grad student in physics at the time I address, Joao Magueijo (now a PhD Cambridge
graduate in theoretical physics focused on cosmology). JM was involved in many collegial
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discussions about a hot topic of the day, the so called Inflation Theory of the Big bang. Inflation
theory provides a model for the Big Bang expansion to resemble how the world appears now. It
relies on the speed of light as being constant just as theorized by Special Relativity. Inflation
theory was not popular with the Brits as being a speculative American product. To create another
model for the expansion, JM thought to relax the Einstein postulation of light always traveling at
a constant speed regardless of its surround. If light could travel faster than its current speed, then
so too might the material exploding at the singularity, and the relative uniformity of the universe
might be comfortably modeled. The constancy of the speed of light is a foundation principle for
physics, so hypothesizing that it might have been different at the time of the Big Bang was
threatening to all sorts of other models in physics. What MJ experienced was not mere
intellectual jousting from established professors and editors, but nasty personal ridicule (
Magueeijo, J. Faster than the Speed of Light. Cambridge, MA: Perseus Publishing, 2003) What
JM realized was the physics establishment was built on the foundation of accepted beliefs, and
was threatened by change, not reinvigorated by innovation.
Kuhn’s paradigm shifting Stages
Kuhn’s review of the history of science found that there were four discernable stages by which
an established paradigm for science changed (such as the classical physics of Isaac Newton).
There was no sudden Ah Ha moment when a world view would change.
The first stage is when the normal scientific beliefs then current and used for teaching and
research become suspect.
The second stage develops when prominent professors attend to anomalous research findings or
reinterpretation of accepted theory, with serious doubt generated about the currently accepted
paradigm.
The third stage is adoption of a new paradigm to accommodate accepted findings.
The fourth stage is the new paradigm’s general acceptance as the best one known.
The central point is that there is no sudden, overnight, rejection of the former paradigm, but an
extended period of challenges, and debate for replacement to take hold.
Transformation in life
Hard knocks (the 2-hour drive).
I once took a two hour drive with a very bright PhD colleague to meet a client. As we started out,
I mentioned something about a movie star making the news over a tragedy, bright, beautiful, and
rich, but suffered from a romance gone bad. I reflected a moment, and added that her prominence
made the news, but this is the way ordinary life flows with ups and downs for everyone, even for
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the well off. My young friend shot back that I was too pessimistic and wrong about life. After
driving down the highway about a mile, I challenged him to identify just one person he knew
who went through life happy go lucky, spared of bad stuff, except taxes and natural age deaths.
Easy to do, he said. After about 15 minutes he said that he had found just such a happy, carefree
person. I did congratulate him for his discovery, and hid my doubt. After another few minutes
passed, he then said he made a mistake. How? Well, he said that he had selected his middle aged
Mom as the blissful soul, but forgot or suppressed a few sad facts. She was yet anguished over an
extramarital affair Dad had about five years ago. She also had arthritic fingers, knees, and
shoulders that hurt from moderate activities, such as washing the dishes. I cheerfully said that we
still had about an hour and a half on this leg of our trip to think of an uneventful happy life……
Meditation
The NDE/OBE phenomena all but proves there is another reality than what we experience in our
day to day mundane lives. The advocates for meditation claim that it can enable the mind
effectively to detach from the body and thereby enter the domain of pure consciousness.
According to the Tripartite Domain Theory, meditation would have a legitimate target in the 2nd
Domain.
Religious education (teacher centered)
People who become very serious about religious education may experience epiphanies in which
they feel a direct contact with the Divine. According to the Tripartite Domain Theory, such felt
experiences may indeed by true.
Self-study of scripture (the spirit of Protestantism)
Lengthy and intensive study of scripture has reportedly generated an experience of contact with
the Divine.
The born-again experience
A Pew Research survey of 35,000 Americans in 2014 found that approximately 28% experienced
being born again. The intensity of religious feeling associated with being Born Again implies
they had entered the 2nd Domain to have achieved their Intense feelings.
(https://www.pewforum.org/2015/05/12/chapter-1-the-changing-religious-composition-of-the-us/pr_15-05-12_rls_chapter1-08/ )
Spiritualism
Spiritualism is a quasi-religious belief that the dead have not perished, and may be contacted.
Spirit mediums claim to be able to communicate with those who have passed over. Christianity
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sensibly warns that enlisting the services of mediums risks treachery by charlatans, which is not
to deny that there may be a few who can communicate with spirits, but it’s risky business
What does it Mean to “Know” about Something?
For purposes of the following discussion, the classes of knowledge are defined as either
transcendental, in the sense of idealized Platonic forms, or mundane, in the sense of “arbitrary”
states of the environment as perceived by the ordinary sense-perception mechanisms of the body
for sight, hearing, movement, touch, etc. There are two specific topics of knowledge that we will
analyze, and these are about creation of the world, and the nature of consciousness.
Knowledge about the Creation of the World
If we were able to extricate ourselves from our material world (the 3rd Domain) to observe it, we
would then be positioned to “see” how its appearance might possibly differ from how it seems
when viewed from its interior. The main benefit of an external observation location would be to
see how it came about, how it was formed, assuming it had a creation. However, as argued in
Article 7 by the Principle of Interior Unknowability (PIU), we cannot ever be located outside of
the material world, even if we could go backward in time, to observe its formation. Thus, any
definitive scientific search for knowledge describing the nature of Creation is precluded by
applying the PIU.
For our souls when functioning in the 2nd Domain of consciousness, either by a NDE, by a true
death, or possibly thru meditation, knowledge about the nature of Creation is reported to be
made available -- that is what the NDE/OBE reports reliably claim.
Knowledge about the Nature of Consciousness
As argued in Article 7, according to the PIU analysis we cannot see what consciousness is, how
it may appear to an external observer, and thus have no way to objectify its nature by comparison
with anything that may be scientifically observed. We experience consciousness thru immersion
in a field of consciousness, but cannot objectively describe it anymore than we could describe the
fragrance of a rose to someone else. While alive in the 3rd Domain, we are intellectually aware of
having consciousness, particularly when we become aware that we are observing or thinking
about anything, but we are not able to otherwise observe its nature as we might real objects
existing in the material domain. Neurology, Psychology, and Philosophy are unable in principle
(according to the PIU) to objectify “consciousness” as an observable phenomenon.
During the NDE/OBE, it is claimed that the individual consciousness participates in a universal
field of consciousness in which all knowledge is instantly available, but even then
“consciousness” does not appear as any entity itself that may be observed.
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The quest to develop knowledge about Creation and consciousness ends here with the
conclusion that, by our being immersed in them, they are not ever directly observable to us.
However, conventional science is plagued by those who either seek to deny their existence (i.e.,
by contending that nothing can be said about existence before the Big Bang, and that
consciousness is an unimportant epiphenomenon), or conversely seeking to scientifically
describe and explain Creation and consciousness, whereas the PIU shows that both of such
opposing perspectives are wrong.
I expect that it would only be God that would have any ability to objectify knowledge of
“consciousness” and Creation.
Bibliography
Dewy, J., Intelligence in the Modern World. New York: Random House, 1939, pp 607-13
Hiller, J.H. (1971). Verbal response indicators of conceptual vagueness. American Educational Research
Journal. 8(1), 151-161Hiller, J. H., Fisher, G. A., & Kaess, W. (1969). A Computer Investigation of
Verbal Characteristics of Effective Classroom Lecturing. American Educational Research Journal, 6(4),
661-675.)
Hiller, J.H., Marcotte, D., & Martin, T. (1969). Opinionation, vagueness, and specificity-distinctions:
Essay traits measured by computer. American Educational Research Journal, 6(2), 271-286.
Hogenraad, R. L., & Garagozov, R. R. (2010). Words of swords in the Caucasus: About a
leading indicator of conflicts. Peace and Conflict: Journal of Peace Psychology, 16(1), 11-28.
Hogenraad, R., Universite ´ catholique de Louvain, Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium, and Rauf R. Garagozov,
Center for Strategic Studies, Baku, Azerbaijan ( Literary and Linguistic Computing).
Kuhn, T., The Structure of Scientific Revolutions. Chicago, ILL: U of Chicago Press, 1970.
Russell, B. (1912) The Problems of Philosophy. Hollywood, FL: Simon & Brown, 2010.
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Research Essay
How to live a Spiritual Life as a Family on the Land?
A Crucial Choice for Humanity
Jeffery Jonathan (Joshua) Davis* & Shiloh F. Hobi
ישוע
The Embassy of Peace, Whitianga, New Zealand
Abstract
Living on the land in a rural and pristine environment opens up an opportunity to create a
platform that allows oneself to focus on spiritual growth and the experience and embodiment of
spiritual values like love, balance, strength, truth and nature amongst others, without the
distractions and hastiness of most urban lifestyles [1]. Living in harmony with the land in a
natural environment fosters Inner Peace, healthy living and social harmony, both in the nuclear
family as well as in extended forms of family-like communities, monasteries, or ashrams, for
example. In the authors‟ views and personal experiences, individuals and families that embrace
spiritual values have the potential to overcome fragmentation and disharmonies that interfere
with the organising and integrative principles operating at the core of humans and human
civilisation [2]. When a family or community commits to the embodiment of Inner Peace and
aligns with and shares both a vision and values, it will enable them collectively and individually
to respond appropriately in order to counteract destructive forces and chaos in general, which
have shaped human adversities like illness, addictions, social upheavals, depletion of natural
resources, pollution, war and the collapse of life systems in the manner that can be witnessed in
the world today [3-4]. Moreover, a spiritually meaningful life comes with a propensity to
cultivate the kind of creativity that may generate new insights and restorative paradigms towards
a spiritual~material synthesis. Such a choice will strengthen the ethical, moral and spiritual
commitments and promote kindness and actions of love towards other human beings and the
environment at large that can manifest a robust, sustainable and desired future [5]. Decision
making based on spiritual values and wisdom brings a fundamental change in education and the
development of technologies for example and will support the move towards plant-based organic
farming lifestyles that incorporate vegetable and flower gardens, other aesthetic and useful crops,
orchards and forests, which create and maintain a biodiverse, healthy, pristine and beautiful
landscape that supplies the basic needs for human life. A plant-based wholefood diet that comes
with it and is predominantly based on the produce locally grown on the land restores and
maintains human health and wellbeing [6-9]. This kind of spiritual and general wellbeing centred
life, shapes the human soul and its potential for Inner Peace and sanctity and the knowledge of
the sacred, grounded in a dignified self. This, we assert, leads to the knowledge of oneself in the
highest form of being, the I Am Identity, and contributes to the improvement of social harmony
and individual and collective peace.
Keywords: Inner peace, social harmony, wellbeing, family, community, healthy living, spiritual
life.
* Correspondence: c/o Sarah Frew, The Embassy of Peace, Whitianga, New Zealand. E-mail: science@theembassyofpeace.com
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I. INTRODUCTION
In this paper we explore the basic function of the family unit, which is at the core of the
continuation of human life on earth and to the extent and quality that the family fulfils its part,
humanity will bring about either a disastrous or a desired future where individual Inner Peace,
social harmony and a life in harmony with the land can continue to be experienced [7].
In this writing we bring together ancient and modern wisdom, science, philosophy and life
experiences to present a vision for the family of the future and the establishment and
development of family-like communities that embrace the necessary spiritual commitment to
propagate peace [10] as an antidote to the extinction and the terminator scenarios [11-12]
predicted and warned by prophets and scientists alike.
For the continuation of human life on earth a dynamic and loving family environment is
fundamental to fulfil the responsibilities to raise and educate our children and is the beginning of
the journey to satisfy the lifelong business of learning, something that is naturally engraved in
the human soul. The education of the human being that is fostering him or her to function in the
domain of spiritual values will lay the foundation to bring about a restorative paradigm in which
the human species is empowered to make decisions based on spiritual values regarding all areas
of life [7].
With the fostering of ethical, moral and spiritual values in the family and by choosing to live in
harmony with the land, humanity has an opportunity to create environments that are life
supportive, where the basic survival needs are met through the creation of gardens and orchards
that provide abundantly healthy foods and other useful and aesthetic goods, where clean air,
clean water and healthy soil become a priority to achieve and maintain [13]. Such a spiritual and
farming lifestyle is different to that of harmful farming lifestyles and certainly different from
lifestyles that promote the cultivation and the use of drugs or addictive and harmful substances.
We are convinced that this will greatly assist health and spiritual wellbeing and the cultivation of
Inner Peace, where the dignity of the human soul can be upheld in order to contribute to the
harmony of the greater community [14].
For the designing, planning and management of the landscape in which all human activity
manifests, restorative paradigms are required that embrace activities in symbiosis with the
natural world [5, 15]. In such paradigms the main production of goods and use of resources need
to be based on renewable, reusable and recyclable products and resources that allow an abundant
and diverse ecological landscape to re-emerge [16-17].
Restrictions in the use of technologies for destructive purposes need to be in place and the use of
alternative technologies and energy sources should be encouraged. For example, the use of solar
energy for the production of electricity, water heating and cooking among other uses, together
with the use of ecologically sound biogas and water power systems to name a few, should be
incentivised in order to assist us in the transformation towards a sustainable future [18-19]. Such
a transition needs to be encouraged and embraced with commitment, and in doing so, we
conjecture it will ease the pollution and degradation of the land. Furthermore, wherever the land
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has been depleted, polluted or held in disrespect, restorative paradigms are required in order to
return it to its proper natural value [20].
Such an endeavour will require that young people are thoroughly educated to avoid a reductionist
approach to science and deeply understand and develop a holistic approach to sciences that
embrace a systemic view of life systems, where a new mathematics emerges to properly model
and describe a symbiotic relationship between humanity and nature where the use of inter- and
transdisciplinary methods for assessments of the impact of human activity on the environment is
put in place [15, 21-23]. Such an approach to science will greatly contribute to the manifestation
of a broader vision, where the spiritual advancement of humanity goes hand in hand with its
technological and economic development, something that we conjecture would greatly contribute
towards self-realisation, goodwill and a genuine appreciation for all sentient beings and life in
general.
II. SPIRITUAL FOUNDATION, FAMILY AND LAND
A deep inner foundation of spiritual values like love, strength, grace, and truth amongst others
are accessible and available to all humans from the source of life itself, The Creator. Such values
can be embodied either in a personal relationship with The Creator or in an agnostic way and
that, for us, constitutes the foundation for Inner Peace and harmony and therefore the foundation
for social harmony and a sustainable future [4]. A vision for the future most certainly brings up
questions like, what kind of environment would we like to live in or what kind of environment
would we like to pass on to the next generation?
For most people, children have touched the souls of adults with their delightful happiness, and
also with their cry for a better world, and that has become a source of courage and inspiration for
adults to go forward in life and never be content with a world based on fear and suffering,
creating the need to seek for wisdom and understanding in order to find Inner Peace and ideally
and eventually to become a peacemaker, an Ambassador or Ambassadress of Peace, or simply
put, a presence of peace in the world. This, many people hope, would allow a more promising
vision for the future to emerge. In the ideal of family life, parents and children learn the lessons
of tolerance, patience and altruism amongst other virtues; something that in our view is essential
for upholding a shared vision towards the greater ideal of a universal family that encompasses all
of humanity. This is a human aspiration that needs to be nurtured at home first [10, 24].
In a dynamic, loving family environment each member has the opportunity to find his or her
purpose. That, it seems to us, also meets the needs of their soul development contributing to the
integrity and wholeness of family. The path to self-realisation, self-mastery and creativity
together with the sharing of common wealth and goodwill to all men, fosters a deep sense of
responsibility for the greater community where the sacredness of all life and the guardianship of
the land are wholeheartedly embraced.
A family or family-like community that seeks for spiritual freedom, peace and emancipation
from corrupted structures of power and that embraces a lifestyle, which honours and respects life
and the land, has the power to correct the destructive elements operating from within human
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civilisation in present times [25]. This may beget an opportunity to correct the many illnesses
that humanity is witness to today and create an environment in which the dignity of the human
soul can be upheld and restored.
Such an endeavour anchored in spiritual values, greatly assists the raising of morals and ethics in
order to design a sustainable future that provides the physical, intellectual and aesthetic needs of
the people. Moreover, once we master Inner Peace we are able to support other individuals to do
the same by actively engaging in the process of fashioning and creating social harmony, which
includes sound education for healthy living in harmony with nature and all sentient beings.
The duty as a member of a family or family-like community encompasses the advancement of
spiritual consciousness through the study of ancient wisdom and sacred scriptures that exist
among many cultures and more importantly the genuine desire and pursuit of personal revelation
and experiential spiritual life in the attainment of eternal truth and wisdom. The authors are
convinced that actions of kindness together with prayer, walks in nature, meditation and
opportune fasting support the individual in improving his or her cognitive and emotional
capacities by gradually making him or her more resilient to illnesses and the influence of
negative thoughts and their associated potential destructive actions [10, 24]. It is essential for
humanity to recover the capacity to prioritise health and wellbeing and balance work with
exercise and a healthy diet, which recently has been shown to be a naturally or organically grown
plant-based wholefood diet, preferably with mainly raw vegetables and fruits [6, 26-28].
When embracing such a lifestyle, giving hospitality comes to the forefront of the family and that
contributes to create a sharing environment where wisdom can flourish and altruism can thrive.
This is accompanied by the desire to perform actions of kindness for the greater community such
as care for the elders and home schooling for example, where a family economy based on service
to others manifests naturally. This may require travelling to build community networks that
allow a peace propagation process, which may include local, regional, national and global
frameworks [29].
We postulate that such kinds of altruism, when inspired by The God Most High, support every
human being‟s calling in life, assisted by a field of wisdom, knowledge and understanding on a
path of purification for the evolution of the soul. According to ancient wisdom and particularly
the wisdom of Ancient Israel, this is a journey to return to holiness or poetically, the return to the
reality of the Tree of Life [30]. Self-actualisation and Plateau experiences à la Maslow [31] are
then assured and this means a state of awareness and consciousness, where the understanding of
the dynamical relationships between living things and their environment, the landscape and the
cosmos at large is deeply comprehended and applied in the work of advancing the application of
universal law that allows the enlightened soul to deal with human affairs, grounded in ecology
and an all-encompassing unity of life.
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III. EDUCATION
A loving family environment is ideal to fulfil the fundamental responsibility of raising and
educating the young generations. The desire to learn is naturally engraved in a human‟s body and
soul and it openly appears first at the age when children start to formulate questions about when,
what and how things happen.
The natural environment provides for the opportunity to playfully come in contact with the
mineral, vegetable and animal kingdoms and the forces of nature together with the elements of
fire, earth, air and water. Early education, when filled with plenty of play and creativity
according to age and capacity, will provide a fun and rewarding learning environment where
observation and copying from the world around allows a good beginning in mastering the basic
rules of social living together with others and nature in general. Creative work, arts and music
are a great complement for mathematics, language, geometry, social science and any other
subjects that are pursued later on. Play, exercise and work are different aspects of an integral
education, which in the authors‟ view is the business of living since learning will continue
through life and will be expanded by the embrace of spiritual development and personal mastery.
It is important to mention that Life starts with conception and pregnancy via a biological mother
who significantly influences the development of the human foetus and his or her future
propensities towards harmony or disharmony. When the mother is predominantly in a state of
peace and love, the child benefits, however, when the mother is predominantly stressed or
alcoholic, for example, the child will suffer and more likely develop conditions like foetal
alcohol syndrome accompanied with a weak immune system and potential future violent
tendencies [4, 32-34].
By the time a teenager reaches young adulthood, when raised in a natural and loving
environment, he or she will usually be able to discern with clarity what is constructive or
destructive regarding his or her wellbeing and his or her surroundings. Some may at some stage
in their life, induced by social pressures or seeking for adventure, experiment with substances for
example, or get involved in some other unhealthy behaviour, however, they will more likely
sooner than later, return to what they know is good for them, when a solid foundation of relevant
and meaningful values have been stabilised in them.
As time goes by, they will be able to look after their own needs via gardening, cooking,
participating in family and social activities, building a shelter or small dwelling, sewing and
making their clothing amongst other things. This will give them a good understanding of what it
takes to provide for basic needs before they may choose to go out for work or study in any field
of interest.
A holistic education must include soul development in relationship to the immediate
environment, the firmament, celestial bodies and the universe at large. Such a development
provides for a deeper and meaningful understanding of self, will, feelings and cognition
associated to the rhythms and seasons of heaven and earth, as part of a feedback system that
enables perception of reality via the capacities of the mind accompanied by the creation of
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meaning, intentions and actions, which may lead to a life of altruistic service when informed by
higher values [35].
If humanity aspires to integrate scientific facts about reality with a sound philosophy and vision
of peace, then the desire for learning and education together with the need and desire for
personal revelation must emerge in the social arena of the family unit. It seems to us that this
would allow for the development of human potential and soul growth, propitiating a more rich
experience of reality grounded on a universal framework of ethics and law supported by a
synthesis between science and wisdom.
Furthermore, an education that is guided by spiritual values and the love of The Creator is the
foundation for the soul journey towards self-actualisation and self-realisation. This kind of
education, it seems to us, leads to a more or less effortless convergence and synthesis of the
material and spiritual aspects of human life that ultimately contributes greatly to the
improvement of life on the earth. As the Urantia book [36] puts it:
Education has too long been localistic, militaristic, ego exalting and success seeking; it must
eventually become world-wide, idealistic, self-realizing and cosmic grasping … Education is the
business of living; it must continue throughout a lifetime so that mankind may gradually
experience the ascending levels of mortal wisdom, which are:
1. The knowledge of things.
2. The realisation of meanings.
3. The appreciation of values.
4. The nobility of work–duty.
5. The motivation of goals–morality.
6. The love of service–character.
7. Cosmic insight–spiritual discernment.
We regard such a progression in consciousness development as inspirational and grounded in
human dignity and the real needs of the soul when sojourning life on earth on the path towards
self-realisation, wholeness and God consciousness.
IV. THE LAND, ECOLOGY AND ECONOMY
As it has been stated before, when life gifts humans with the opportunity to care for a piece of
land as a family, this provides a position to bring about fundamental solutions to live and work in
a supportive and nurturing environment that allows room for the embrace of a restorative
paradigm [7, 37] to counteract the many destructive scenarios like illness, addictions, home
violence and other social tensions, and therefore contributing to avoid depletion of natural
resources, pollution, war and collapsing life systems amongst others, that can be witnessed in the
world today and that get in the way of individual Inner Peace and social harmony [3, 38-39].
It is important to remember that gardens preceded human life on earth, whether we look at it
from the side of evolution or from the side of any form of creationism [40]. In order for human
life to prosper, an abundant garden or landscape is essential, and planting, caring for, cultivating
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and maintaining it, must take priority in all human endeavours. We need to remember that all the
civilisations of the past that neglected the needs of the people and the environment suffered
significant losses and in many cases, they collapsed and disappeared from the face of the earth.
What activity people choose to do on the land is determined by different factors like climate,
fertility, type of soil, what is socially acceptable, number of family and community members,
and skills amongst others. Actions, it seems to us, certainly need to be directed towards the real
needs of the people, keeping always in mind what is good for the community, instead of just
what people selfishly may want in order to gratify their senses or addictions which, by the way,
could be inherited from ancestors, culture and tradition based on behavioural conditioning that
involves the faculties of sensual experience and information like odours and flavours, for
example [1].
In order to design places as models for sustainable living and desired futures, in which the direct
and indirect impacts of humans on the landscape are considered, we need to dynamically
integrate the effect of the economy, the ecology and moral codes that derive from a symbiotic
interaction with spiritual values, leading to a broader and universal framework of ethics [5, 17].
Such an endeavour provides us with an opportunity to deeply understand the relationship
between living things and their environment (ecology) together with the careful management of
resources (economy), which simply means to care for the house (eco).
Today science has identified most of the problems of the degradation of the landscape on both
local and global scales leading to actions of restoration in different places on the planet where
people have started to turn deserted land into fertile land [23, 41]. A holistic science that
embraces inter- and transdisciplinary methodologies where data is gathered from different fields
like: geology, geomorphology, hydrology, biology, anthropology and astronomy amongst others,
so as to derive knowledge and a meaningful synthesis about the subsystems of the earth is
paramount, in this day and age, to assist values based decision making [7, 21].
In turn, values based decision making, it seems to us, will contribute to bring forth the kind of
restorative paradigm that as previously mentioned, is a holistic approach to land management
that, we conjecture, will start a harmonisation and re-balancing process between life systems and
cycles that include the different life kingdoms and spiritual dimensions of existence.
In most of the more populated areas of the planet, a move towards natural, organic plant-based
farming and gardening practices is possible. To integrate such farming systems, including plants
for fibre, like flax, hemp, cotton and bamboo, together with food forests and biodiverse tree
crops appropriate to the landscape, comes with different benefits associated with the creation of a
sustainable future as will be briefly explained within the constraints of this paper [18, 42-43].
Also important to mention is that local systems that supply a relatively abundant and diverse set
of fresh food including berries, fruits, herbs, vegetables, seeds, nuts and tubers to name a few,
have the power to advance a diet with its health benefits and other advantages that contribute to
general human wellbeing via a local economy that also feeds and contributes to the larger
economies [9, 27-28, 44-45].
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A local system in which structure, functionality and decision making is based on values related
to wellbeing, quality of life and quality of the environment, is a local system that more likely will
be conceived to be holistic, dynamic and efficient in providing for the needs of the people. We
conjecture that a collection or distributed network of local systems will increase the capacity to
better sustain a growing population, which could mean, an increase in the local and global
average population carrying capacity, when compared to the systems of food production and
distribution in place at the moment [7, 23, 37]. These local systems may also come with
environmental benefits like an overall reduction of chemical pollution, energy consumption,
greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, and a reduction in health care associated costs among other
benefits [19, 46-47].
In our view, it is essential in a restorative paradigm to acknowledge the self-correcting and selforganising properties present in life, when considering growth and learning in human
development, as well as the capacity of biological systems for healing, and regeneration of cells
and tissues. These properties are observable in nature in general, and the deeper these systemic
properties of living systems are understood, the more effective, we conjecture, humanity will be
to address the restoration of the environment, as for example, when regenerating depleted soil
and detoxifying land poisoned by harmful chemicals or heavy metals [48].
Such a systemic approach will also be required when addressing macro environmental problems
like the one of restoring the Amazonian forests, for example, for which, amongst other things, it
is crucial to take into consideration all the geopolitical factors that are currently delaying even
the wisest and most well-intentioned group of scientists, if humanity aspires to a sustainable
environment that will provide the needs for the still growing population [18, 41].
It is important to mention that in one of the author‟s view, who is experienced in natural and
organic farming and forestry, the system‟s level for a healthy soil goes down to the soil fauna,
which most conventional farms have neglected, even though there is a solid body of research
published on this matter [49-50]. When we learn and work in symbiosis with nature, we are able
to: (a) carefully choose different perennial or permanent crops and (b) grow annual seasonal
crops with the proper rotation, in order to build up and maintain a high level of fertility, with a
natural fluctuation between heavy, medium and light feeding plants [23, 51]. The organic matter
left behind by the harvested crops in the garden will add further fibre and nutrients to feed the
creatures in the soil and also increase the water holding capacity within the soil and this is
particularly valuable in dryer climates and in regions with a history of droughts [52]. By creating
local microclimates through appropriate plantings, it is possible to increase biodiversity and
grow plants beyond their native climate zone. As deforestation has contributed to climate
change, so can appropriate plantings, undertaken both locally and globally, contribute to a
stabilisation of the forests with their associated effect on the climate.
We imagine that further research will continue to emerge regarding tests of what kind of micro
nutrients are built up in the soil by different plants, trees and soil organisms, like for example
how some plants are able to fix atmospheric nitrogen in the soil to make it fertile, or oak trees
that alkalise acidic soil and such knowledge can then lead to a more environmentally sound
landscape engineering and management [53]. This kind of knowledge, we foresee, will be
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particularly valuable for nutrients that are hard to source or need to be transported over long
distances.
To ease the global phosphate shortage for example, a move to plant-based natural, organic
farming and the diet that comes with it will certainly contribute to the solution, since with one (1)
kilogram of phosphate it is possible to grow over three thousand (3000) kilograms of kumara
(sweet potato), while produce only sixteen (16) kilograms of beef [54].
Another associated advantage of moving on towards a plant-based natural farming practice is
that it has a much higher food calorie production per unit of land than animal farming [42-43],
which contributes to free up significant land space in order to grow forests and grasslands with
tall grasses, creating habitat for the animal world and positive effects towards the stabilisation of
the climate [55-56].
Learning from this in order to grow biodiverse permanent forests with quality timber trees brings
great advantages for the restoration and creation of healthy living environments [57-61].
Some of these advantages are:
1. Photosynthesis, in a continually renewed forest, has a very high capacity to absorb carbon out of
the atmosphere and store it in the soil to make it fertile and with this comes a great balancing
effect on the natural world and particularly the climate.
2. Mature trees can be selectively harvested, as they are one of the most useful and versatile
renewable resources that, for example, can be used in building, construction and furniture
making, without much disturbance of the overall ecosystem.
3. The selective harvesting of trees is more economically viable than the common practice of clear
felling with its devastating environmental impacts, such as soil erosion for example [62].
4. To grow quality timber trees that can be harvested and used according to their properties, frees
humanity from the need to use toxic chemicals for timber treatment with its detrimental effects
on the environment and human health.
5. Creating a stable habitat for the animal world by respecting the time of the birds‟ nesting in
which no harvesting should take place.
A caring relationship with animals allows for their proper development, eco-systemic function
and aesthetic value. It is the duty of humanity to care, guard and protect all animals (including
birds and insects) and remember that they are an integral part of nature, with their particular
needs and contributions to the natural world at large. We foresee a time of transition, in which
people will restrain from reactive behaviours like killing or poisoning animal life, in order to
allow for a harmonious and peaceful symbiotic relationship with the human species.
1. Meanwhile, a new code of ethics will need to emerge or be agreed on wherever animal farming
is continued for various reasons in the transition period towards plant-based farming systems [7]
that could include, for example, the display of compassion to minimise the suffering of animals
while still farming them.
2. Natural and organic farming systems in which biodiverse permanent pastures are substantially
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grown before grazing, allowing for: a) the improvement of soil quality and b) the increase in
photosynthesis and nitrate uptake, which would contribute to a reduction in erosion, use of
fertiliser and the pollution of waterways and therefore improve the quality of environments for
people and animals alike [63].
Similar codes of ethics concerning animal farming can be observed in some cultures like for
example, in some of the Hindu traditions, where the wellbeing of the animals is taken into
consideration and alternative diets are prescribed. In addition, there exists a great wealth of
wisdom in the Chinese culture for example, which deals with the symbiosis and complementarity
of all living systems that informs the creation of environments, which foster general wellbeing
and fulfils to a good degree, the spiritual, physical and aesthetic needs of the people. This
knowledge and wisdom incorporates a landscape that includes forests, gardens, and orchards, in
harmony with the shapes of buildings, walkways and roads that are supporting, instead of
interrupting, the natural flow of life [22].
As the authors have elaborated on in previous work [7], we foresee that a plant-based natural and
organic farming practice and diet, will certainly contribute to a future of social harmony and
respect for the natural world. This approach to our survival needs, when complemented with
actions of kindness, something easily learned in a loving family setting, constitutes an ideal start
for a community economy based on actions of kindness to develop, with the potential to expand
to larger regions, nationally and eventually on a planetary scale [5].
We foresee the emergence of an economic paradigm and new systems of interchange based on
actions of kindness, where every transaction matches the commitment of a society that values
peace and general wellbeing. This includes transactions related to education, industry,
technology, health, housing, environment, human potential and spiritual development [5, 64].
Economy, in other words the careful management of available resources together with sound
ecological principles, should guide policy planning and the design of systems that satisfy human
physical, aesthetic, intellectual and spiritual needs [17].
This we propose as the foundation for a paradigm shift from a purely materialistic orientated
society based on client-provider relationships to a more balanced society grounded in family-like
relationships. In other words, philosophically this means a shift from individuals growing and
maturing from the desire to receive for the self alone, to the desire to receive for the sake of
sharing, where The Creator and creation are acknowledged as providers and where human
beings, the receivers, share in gratitude and in the spirit of goodwill.
In a family or family-like community, where scenes like: a) a mother breast feeding her baby, b)
sharing a meal with friends, c) grandparents taking their grandchildren for an exploration to the
nearby river, d) writing a family story book and e) assisting in building the house of a neighbour,
to name a few, gradually increases the level of contentment and social achievement that also
allows for a smooth transition to the manifestation of such a paradigm.
The authors have observed by first-hand experience that: a) work, rest, meditation and contact
with nature are easily accomplished in the context previously described, increasing the
probabilities of developing human potential to greater levels [31, 65], and b) the quality of
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human values based decision making increases in a way that for example, incorporates
technologies geared to the use of renewable energy like biogas, water and solar, with an attitude
towards, reusing or recycling resources that prevent the unnecessary depletion of resources.
All of the above, it seems to us, will act as a preventive individual and social antidote, a kind of
filter and membrane that will protect human beings from the use of harmful substances,
technologies and ideologies that damage the manifestation of goodwill to all life [48, 66-67],
allowing humanity to pass through a set of transformations, until a time in which we foresee a
future where the sacredness of life will be cognitively acknowledged and continuously perceived
in ordinary life. More likely, a holistic approach to work, science and research in general will
assist us in the understanding and development of a much better human experience in a land we
can all call our own.
Furthermore, we are convinced by first-hand experience, that this will create the necessary
momentum that is required to facilitate the development and propagation of peace as the
foundation for self-determination and self-governance and the possibility to allow for the kind of
governance based on the spiritual direction, which arises in the context of a personal spiritual
experience with The Creator or Tao [68], where social order emerges in meaningful and
synchronous social events guided internally by the spirit of life.
V. GUARDIANSHIP OF THE LAND AND SELF-GOVERNANCE
When decision analysis and decision making is approached with a spiritual foundation then the
question of “who owns the land?” finds an ambiguous answer: the land and nature in general is
owned by nobody and everybody at the same time and any effort to manage private property
under the rule of human law, modern or ancient, must somehow imply a sense of guardianship
for a time that ought to be honoured by preserving social harmony and environmental health for
current and future generations. These licenses or social agreements should inspire the
achievement of noble dreams to improve the condition of humanity while at the same time
requiring a sense of shared social responsibility.
As individuals, families and family-like communities embrace such an understanding and
propagate via social interactions, the opportunity will naturally arise for a social correction and
shift from the destructive path in which most of humanity currently finds itself, decreasing the
probabilities of the before mentioned extinction scenario while increasing the probabilities of
individual Inner Peace and social harmony. As an organic consequence of that, we foresee the
emergence of a more solid body of law based on spiritual values and wisdom, with a greater
scope and power to bring remedies to the present human situation [65, 69]. Then a more
comprehensive understanding of land distribution towards a peaceful and just society could be
enacted with such wisdom, understanding and knowledge in order to empower even more this
transformation, towards individual Inner Peace and social harmony, where human beings‟
unalienable rights for life, liberty, happiness and holiness are upheld and the dignity of the
human soul is honoured.
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VI. CONCLUSIONS AND FUTURE PERSPECTIVES
In this paper we have explored aspects of spiritual life in a nuclear family or in a family-like
community living in harmony with the land. We have stated that in our understanding, the family
together with the land play an intimate and complementary function for the preservation of
individual and collective peace and harmony, something that in turn contributes to preserve the
larger natural environments to guarantee healthy living for future generations.
This opportunity is still available to the human species and it should be considered a priority,
since a platform for harmonious living based on paths to the attainment of Inner Peace and
wellbeing, we conjecture, will contribute to raise the consciousness of humanity from the
spiritual and environmental crisis that it currently finds itself to be in.
We are convinced that it is in family relationships where grandparents, parents and children
develop care, cooperation and love and where the foundation for the spiritualisation of humanity
will support such a transformation towards Inner Peace and social harmony. It is very important
to realise that family relationships are far from confined to the immediate bloodlines or clans and
extend universally to other members of humanity who already enjoy the blessings of extended
family and universal brotherhood and sisterhood.
Harmonious family living creates opportunities to explore and discover oneself and one‟s
purpose in life. These are environments that bring people together, providing for hospitality and
fostering the way of peace, usually accompanied with great sharings, communion and healthy
meals ideally planted and harvested by members of the family. It is the primary learning
environment to become a mature and loving wise adult [36, 64, 70].
It could be of interest in the future to explore what would be the optimal number of people in an
extended family or community in which the quality dynamics of inter-personal relationships are
maintained with the proper infrastructure in place, while both the basic and higher needs of the
people are satisfied and accompanied by the desire to learn continuously as the foundation for
acquiring a robust education, where knowledge and wisdom that contribute to Inner Peace are
greatly valued and appreciated.
In summary, altruism and care for the environment are the natural consequence of sound spiritual
family or community living. Such an experience is accompanied by the understanding that is
derived from a family economy based on actions of kindness that in principle can be extended to
the wider social life [5].
We leave the reader with some final and relevant questions that need further exploration:
1. Will humanity survive in the future in artificial environments due to pollution and
degeneration or will it make it into a benevolent, healthy and peaceful future?
2. Will people have the courage and determination to grow out of a generalised behaviour
grounded in self-gratification or will people have the strength to build a spiritual foundation
to recreate harmonious family life and beautiful natural environments that will fulfil their
physical, mental, aesthetic and spiritual needs?
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3. Will humanity be able to dispose of the technologies that have a detrimental effect on life
while simultaneously creating and using technologies that are more beneficial and life
supportive?
4. Will a significant number of people overcome their excessive competitive and ego driven
exalting tendencies and turn instead to cooperation, constructive creativity and service to
peace, wellbeing, self-realisation and goodwill to all?
We uphold that the human species has a great potential to overcome the challenges that are
before us and succeed in bringing restorative paradigms and actions directing humanity towards
a benevolent desired future. This will require that each individual will address and overcome
their own destructive tendencies, behaviours and thoughts while embracing a change towards
constructive intelligence, values based decision making and for those who so choose, the
building of a relationship with The Creator and the pursuit of enlightenment and God
Consciousness.
Acknowledgements: We honour all those who have gone before us and have kept alive a peaceful way of
life, the sacredness of family living in harmony with the land and the many sacred trails and sources of
wisdom that lead on to a fruitful spiritual life. We have been privileged to meet a few who have been able
to bring some of that wisdom to us in this day and age. Also, we would like to express our deep gratitude to
all the precious people that have greatly contributed to the writing of this paper, particularly Lani, Sylas,
Aarla, Carey, Kali and Steve and others at The Embassy of Peace in Whitianga, New Zealand.
Received July 27, 2020; Accepted September 14, 2020
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Almendro, M., López, E., & Horrillo, B., Traditional Indigenous Medicine: An Assessment of Experiences in Expanded States of
Consciousness
Article
Traditional Indigenous Medicine: An Assessment of
Experiences in Expanded States of Consciousness
Manuel Almendro*, Elena López & Bárbara Horrillo
Abstract
This paper is based on more than three decades’ worth of practical work, research and teaching
in clinical psychology, as well as research into Traditional Indigenous Medicine (TIM) in South
America. Firstly, it provides a comprehensive review of the main findings from a number of
different research projects and poses new empirical possibilities, and addresses the need to delve
deeper into a first and third person investigative process. Secondly, the paper reports on a
preliminary research to assess to what extent participant experience expanded states of
consciousness from the diets and ingestion of plants in an indigenous context. This is done using
a questionnaire called VEEC (Validación de Experiencias en Estados de Consciencia –
Validation of Experiences in States of Consciousness), a newly devised instrument specifically
for this purpose. Future lines of research are also put forward, for the proper introduction of TIM
into professional medical practice.
Keywords: Indigenous medicine, expanded state, consciousness, VEEC, diets, plants.
1. Introduction
It is indisputable that in our recent past LSD has had a significant scientific impact as well as its
social and political repercussions. Its discovery appears to have been serendipity, as after the
historical experiments with ergotamine, LSD 25 appeared in the lab. The lysergic acid amide was
later found to exist in ololiuqui, a Mexican plant (Hofmann, 2013), thus showing the
permeability of the barrier between nature and chemistry. There has been an infamous
emergence of other laboratory-created substances (Shulguin, 1988) (Shulguin and Shulguin
1991, 1997). After the avalanche of applications with LSD in trials and self-testing came
psycholytic therapy and psychedelic therapy. Humphry Osmond was relatively successful in the
treatment of alcoholics (Grob, 1994) (Grof and Halifax, 1997).
Another contribution worth mentioning is that of Ludwig and Levine (1965), who conducted a
study comparing different brief treatment techniques. They found “hypnodelic therapy”, which
combines LSD, hypnosis, and psychotherapy to be the most effective. Richard Yensen (1999)
and Donna Dryer have thirty years’ experience[i] in this field. Negative aspects were marked by
LSD identification and psychomimetics on one hand, and uncontrolled usage on the other. The
CIA also performed some unethical psychiatric research (Grob, 1994). We will develop this
further below. Shamanism is central to that development (Winkelman, 2021).
*
Correspondence: Almendro Manuel, Independent Researcher, Spain. Email: almen@almen.es
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Findings and some contradictions
Are plants and their chemical structure the same thing?
This is one of the pointless matters to be considered. It is assumed that A. Hofmann and R.G.
Wasson argued during that famous evening in the Sierra Mazateca with María Sabina, summed
up as: “María Sabina had said that the pills lacked the “spirit” of the mushrooms.” (Hofmann,
2013) The dose was increased, and after that, the curandera (“healer”) said that the pills had the
same power as the mushrooms. This was a confirmation from the most competent authority and
constituted the ultimate test (Hofmann, 2013). Hofmann (2013) combined chemistry with
ancestral knowledge and opened the psychonautic portal. For my part, and with all due respect,
after almost four decades of research in the indigenous world, and twenty years’ work with the
Mazatecs, I must say that I do not believe María Sabina’s assessment of mushrooms and pills; I
consider it to be a forced affirmation on her part so as not to snub Hofmann and Wasson
(Almendro, 2018, 2008, 2000). The niños santos continued – alive and well!
Throughout the Sierra Mazateca there are curanderos who use puro derrumbre, san isidro, and
pajaritos mushrooms in their practices, out in isolated cabins. Many of them are completely
unknown (Incháustegui, 1994; Miranda, 1997).
In fact, it is true that after chemical identification came the lament: “But from the time the
foreigners arrived, looking for God, the holy children lost their purity (Estrada, 1989).
Hofmann’s lament: “The profanation of the mushroom cult did not cease with our scientific
research. Publications about the “magic mushrooms” unleashed an invasion of hippies and drug
seekers on the Mazatec country, many of whom behaved badly, some even criminally.”
(Hofmann, 2013). And finally came Wasson’s lament along similar lines (Estrada, 1989).
Biochemistry and/or Spirituality. Some fundamental findings of the present radical moment
States of consciousness stretch far back into the long history of human beings. They have molded
us and formed a part of our evolutionary process, enshrouded with mystery. We are in a
psychedelic age in which states of consciousness emerge whose nature remains unknown due to
its ambivalent effects; and, possibly, due to our limited experience of them.
For us, the word “spirituality” represents a state of consciousness that opens up the possibilities
for experiencing the transcendent and ultimate meaning of life. Spirituality leads to discoveries,
in both the personal and collective sense, and even to developing one’s utmost potential. What is
more, it is our desire for spirituality to show us the possibilities for evolution in our destabilized
consumer societies.
More recently, Walter Panhke began his famous Good Friday Experiment, which took place in
1962. Doblin (1991) interviewed 19 of these 20 participants twenty-five years later and
concluded that all of them had been influenced positively by Panhke’s experiments.
The research continued at Johns Hopkins University in Maryland and widened under Stanislav
Grof, a Czech psychiatrist with great experience from administering thousands of doses of LSD,
a substance considered to be an ‘amplifier of consciousness’ and therefore something similar to a
telescope in astronomy or a microscope in biology. I remember a comment he once made to me
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in California, that one day he was caught up in the spirit after taking LSD in a communist
country. Observations from LSD Research served as a good catapult for researchers (Grof and
Halifax, 1997).
As progress advanced in psychedelic research, some resistance was overcome, especially that
coming from not only the acronymous DEA (Drug Enforcement Administration), FDA (Food
and Drug Administration) and NIDA (National Institute of Drug Abuse), but also from baneful
sensationalist propaganda. Thus, empirical validation and dollars opened some doors little by
little. Phase 1 represents the first experiments on healthy participants; Phase 2 constitutes the
initial studies with patients; and Phase 3 is when the safety and effectiveness of the treatment is
already established. As of today, Johns Hopkins has begun Phase 3 trials administering
psilocybin to patients in terminal stages of cancer.
Some important organizations have been created, such as MAPS (Multidisciplinary Association
for Psychedelic Studies), founded by Rick Doblin and considered to be a pioneer in expanding
research despite the political barriers in place. Another is the Heffter Institute. There are others in
Europe, such as the Beckley Foundation, Amanda Feilding and Ben Sessa in England; and in
Switzerland there is Peter Gasser and Franz Wollenweider etc. It remains our opinion, however,
that few researchers have been trained within the teachings of shamans and their thousands of
years of experience with plants, techniques, and complex situations, all of which require years of
profound transformation.
In the laboratory
David Nichols is one of the greatest experts in psychedelic investigation, a business that has been
growing for three decades and in which the idea largely perseveres that these substances offer
highly useful properties that can benefit health. Nichols moved on from working in conventional
chemistry to entering fully into the field of psychedelics, and he now relies on more than forty
years of experience. His work consists of obtaining molecules by modifying the chemical
structures of the substances to pursue his interest in how psychedelics are related to brain
receptors and their possible arrangements. To this end, he generates computational designs to
discover analogs of LSD and MDMA while also testing tests them on animals. The 5-HT
receptors play a decisive role in his research on serotonin and dopamine.
Let us not forget that more than thirty million people have had experiences with LSD,
psilocybin, or mescaline. Nichols broadly monitors the history of psychedelics, acknowledging
the advances of many other researchers and accepting that psilocybin is possibly the best
therapeutic agent as he works to improve on a synthesis of it. His opinion is that the mechanisms
of psychedelics operate by means of the agonist or partially agonist activity of the 5-HT2A
receptors.
The therapeutic potential would extend to treating anxiety, depression, autism, obsessivecompulsive neurosis, tobacco addiction, and alcoholism; to improving cognitive processes, tissue
regeneration, and the immune system; and to supporting work with patients in terminal stages.
However, Nichols cautions against the possibility of anomalous reactions, such as
vasoconstriction caused by serotonin, seizures, headaches, nausea, flashbacks, agitation,
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tachycardia, dysphoria and various others, depending on the substance – although prolonged use
of LSD apparently results in a greater tolerance.
He concludes inconclusively on which is the main agent of healing after ingesting LSD or
psilocybin whether it is neurochemical effects (brain network ‘resetting’) or a mystical
experience – thus generating discussion of it. The genome awaits new research that is not
unrelated to psychedelic research; and, of course, the challenge is enormous (Nichols, 2016;
Nichols, Johnson, and Nichols, 2017)
The spread
Rick Doblin
Psychedelics have been embraced by people who we could say have dedicated their lives to
normalizing them. One prominent person in this struggle is Rick Doblin, founder of MAPS
(Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies). Doblin’s studies in psychology and
public policies have served him well in his arduous legal and social efforts to obtain permits.
He has also been a first-person researcher who, through some difficult experiences, entered the
field of spirituality and transpersonal movements. He has been involved in both the defense and
promotion of the legalization of MDMA, specifically for treating PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress
Disorder),
One of his goals is for psychedelic research to return to Harvard University, about which he is
thoroughly optimistic due to psilocybin having completed Phase 3 studies in terminal cancer
patients in pursuit of FDA approval (Doblin, 1991; Mithoefer et al., 2011).
Roland Griffiths
Validating the spread. Griffiths’ investigations – he is currently a professor at John Hopkins
University- are part of a complex design framework and based on the administration of
psilocybin, which is found naturally in more than one hundred and eighty species of fungi. A
fourteen-month follow-up period was completed, which ratified the changes generated by the
experience, which were mainly positive in terms of attitudes toward emotions and social
relationships (Griffiths et al., 2006). The investigation continued and, according to the
conclusions, full mystical experiences were achieved (Griffiths et al., 2011) (Griffiths et al.,
2008) (Griffiths, 2015).
William Richards
Since 1999, he has been researching psilocybin and co-authored early papers with his friend
Walter Pahnke. Richards considers the context and setting to be fundamental, as he ponders the
mystical awareness that opened within him following his personal experiences with LSD (as
detailed in his book Sacred Knowledge), which he believes is a universal key the door to this
kind of experience. Two thirds of the people who received high doses had mystical experiences
through which they lost their fear of death. (Richards, 2015).
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Amanda Feilding
Her work is devoted to supporting research projects with psychedelic substances in the field of
neuroscience, and discovering their neurological mechanisms. She founded the Beckley
Foundation for this purpose, based on various studies such as meditation, psychedelics, LSD and
their relationship with creativity. She also studies depression, migraines (cluster headaches),
Parkinson’s, and Alzheimer’s. She makes some interesting proposals in line with our research
relating to accessing memory and focuses on the system known as the default mode network that
also interests use (Almendro and López-Suárez, 2016). Feilding also argues that psychoactive
experiences have existed since the beginning of civilization.
Robin Carhart-Harris
Like many others, Robin Carhart-Harris conducts his work at the Imperial College of London,
investigating the effects of MDMA. Another line of research concerns the connection between
psilocybin and depression (Carhart-Harris et al., 2011, Carhart-Harris et al., 2013, Carhart-Harris
et al 2014, Carhart-Harris et al., 2016). In Europe, in addition to the above, there are also
investigations like those of Torsten Passie at the Hannover Medical School, (Passie et al., 2002).
Anomalous Experiences and Science
The difficulty in accepting abnormal experiences in the scientific context
The initial rejection of the scientific context of the anomalous phenomenon, based on linear
thought, has buried anything that does not follow its laws. As a result, there was the emerging
impact of the repressed; i.e. following the laws of chaos, the sub-order of conscience, the strange,
maybe the endogenic, burst through the dominant order (Almendro and Weber, 2012). Today
there are calls for the de-pathologization of these anomalous experiences, of emerging crises
(Almendro, 2013), based on respect for the phenomenon that shows the subjective truth
(Cardeña, Lynn and Krippner, 2014). These researchers report that this phenomenon has not
been studied in the healthy population despite that James (1902, 1977) historically proposed it.
As a result of this denial, these strange facts and experiences are largely unknown to science.
Reducing them to pathology without understanding that the abnormal does not need to be
pathological, is a further criticism (Cardeña et al., 2014). The real challenge arose when
personalities of the caliber of Krippner and Achterberg (2014). The battle lines in defense of
TIM were drawn much earlier (Achterberg, 1985). A renewed Transpersonal Psychology can
open bridges to the indigenous tradition in the scientific community (MacDonald and Almendro,
2021).
Pharmacology and/or spirituality: Reflections on these challenges
Our reflections are based on having personally experienced the subtle psychedelic processes at a
time when they were becoming widespread, having chosen to seek the sources of states of
consciousness by pursuing TIMs – Traditional Indigenous Medicines – in their places of origin.
This is a considered having have traveled for nearly forty years exploring the field. Given the
current abuse of TIMs, especially in the case of ayahuasca, we respond to requests for
information, provide warnings for travelers, and collaborate with some widely circulated
publications (Almendro, 2018).
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In addition to this we have completed studies on meditation and undertake professional work as
clinical psychologists, all of which is described in this article.
Nature of the experience
It is essential to consider the nature of the experience both in the shamanic world with plants,
and in a scientific framework with psychedelics.
This raises questions: Are shamanic traditions (TIM) and psychedelic experiences equivalent? Is
there a conflict or encounter?
By way of conclusion about these conjectures, we propose the following:
Psychedelic experiences should be gathered in the first person and third person, as practiced by
some researchers (Almendro and López, 2016; Richards, 2015)
Traditional Indigenous Medicine
This is a direct and sudden way of accessing knowledge and healing, based on strict diets, long
stays in jungles and in solitude, and consuming numerous plants, some general and others
specific to each person at a certain moment. Preparation requires years if one follows the
traditional model and not that of the tourist.
However, whether it is in legal or underground laboratories, someone ‘plays dice with
molecules’ while wholeness can be found in a plant, which is miles away from the reductionism
that seeks to trigger a psychodynamic or mystic button, a magic bullet to an easy psychedelic
experience within the parameters of Western comfort. If it is the chemical, the plant, that does
everything, where is the human subject? Or is there something beyond subject and chemistry?
Something which perhaps manifests itself as it wants, where it wants and to whom it wants?
could the natural or artificial molecule contain among its atoms a hidden ‘wisdom’ that may even
be of a spiritual nature? And wherein lays the effect? Is it in the molecule or in the experience?
Who serves whom?
Finally, we believe that we cannot confuse spirituality with a fascination for the extraordinary or
with ultra-sensory levels, -in the sense of addictively seeking an experience merely to have the
experience: that is, experientialism, which we often find in some patients- nor should we exploit
spiritual interests for the benefit of commercial interests, power interests or service to one’s self.
There are two key paths to highlight:
1. The psychedelic experience opens doors to healing and living well. Even though the
result is only curative, it coincides with our findings in the Oxigeme process. What is
resolved here is inheritance, the inherited mold. (Almendro, 2013; Almendro and Weber,
2012)
2. Meditative, mystical, shamanic experiences. Are they all the same? Although we cannot
expand on this question, there is a discussion about whether there is similarity and
convenience between meditative, psychedelic, and shamanic experience. There are
opponents who claim that the psychedelic experience is comfortable and seeks speed in
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the experience as opposed to the arduous meditative task. As for the shamanic experience
carried out in their places of origin and with true shamans, we can find convergent paths
with meditative processes (Almendro, 2018). The essence of the unfathomable discerned
after crossing the underworld is difficult to express, perhaps the best words to represent it
are those of Saint John of the Cross (1991): ‘Leave without being noticed, and my house
is already tranquil,... all science transcending’.
It should be mentioned that TIM has a spiritual, ‘extra human’ reality that, for the time
being, is difficult to conform to the demands of science. However, that good science and
TIMs will one day meet, a day for which respect will be essential. This is the ideal we
strive for at Oxigeme. In the Oxigeme process, we focus on ‘emptying’ the memory, a
key step in the meditative processes, creating a ’void’ that will become “occupied” by
Consciousness. We should bear in mind that Smrti in the Eastern tradition means
‘memory’. St. John of the Cross (1991) and Enomiya-Lasalle (1988) declare that memory
must be destroyed. Thich Nhat Hanh (1999) teaches that deep meditation involves
accessing the storehouse of the mind. And a summary of TIM is that one must be at peace
with one’s ancestors.
Perhaps we can find a good explanation in the teachings of Vivekananda (1986) or in
mystics such as Saint Teresa (1979) and Miguel de Molinos (de Molinos, 1935). Perhaps
it can be found in the Tibetan world, in Evans-Wentz (1958) or Alexandra David-Néel
(2004), with or without substances. Changes take place, as has been demonstrated in
some scientific investigations like that of Matthieu Ricard and Trinh Xuan Thuan,
Buddhist monks who are disciples of the Dalai Lama (Ricard and Thuan, 2001). Also, we
must keep in mind that for TIM, it is obvious that the setting is not exactly comfortable,
due to the conditions of the jungle, the periods of solitude and dietary restrictions. The
shamans argue that certain hard diets such as tobacco and emetic plants not only provide
cleansing, but they strengthen character.
There are also those who propose that we should not fall into the trap of psychologizing
and Westernizing TIM (Nathan Porath, 2013). There is even a theory that presents an
alternative understanding of this phenomena that afford a form of microscopy through
entoptic vision (of events within the eye) (Giraldo, 2018). Nor can we overlook the
interaction of Western concepts with shamanic healing practices when interpreting them
through the lens of altered states of consciousness (Sidky, 2009).
Will ayahuasca follow in the footsteps of the Mazatec mushrooms?
The Divine Plantations have come a long way, from Francisco Hernández (born1515?-dead
1587) (1960, 1984) to Richard Evans Shultes (Shultes and Raffauf, 1992; Shultes and Hofmann,
1992). There are reports by the Jesuits from the 16th century, as well as tales of their powerful
effects as described by Hernando Ruiz de Alarcón, and later in the 18th century (Naranjo, 1986).
It is a tradition that draws us closer to the world of mysticism and art (Reichel Dolmatoff, 1975,
1978). Shultes and Raffauf (1992) revendicate the knowledge of the Indians based on
communication with the “spirits”; and in addition, warn of the medical and industrial power of
the chemical compounds present in these plants. Shultes and Hofmann (1992) trace the betaISSN: 2153-8212
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carbolines and express significant interest in the supernatural in plants, and their inexplicable and
little-known effects, thus calling them Plants of the Gods.
As regards the chemical aspect, we should recall that Banisteriopsis caapi (ayahuasca) and
Psychotria viridis (chacruna) are the Amazonian plants most commonly used by the natives.
Furthermore, it turns out that Banisteriopsis caapi contains beta-carbolines with MAOI
(Monoamine oxidase inhibitor) action, while Psychotria viridis contains the serotoninergic
agonist Dimethyltryptamine (DMT) which, in combination with MAOI alkaloids cause the
visionary effect. The amazing thing is that the indigenous people found, among hundreds of
thousands of plants, that this specific combination produced the visionary state of consciousness.
At psychological level, Dobkin de Rios (1972) established that ayahuasca can cause personal
regeneration and maturity, i.e. first-person experience. But if the setting is not correct, the results
can be destructive (Grob, 1994) (Dobkin de Rios; Grob, 1994). Some of today’s most reputable
authorities on TIM, such as Harner (1980) are clamoring for an anthropological study from the
inside. Pablo Amaringo (Luna and Amaringo, 1991) states that the colors that came to him
through ayahuasca are healing; an opinion he subsequently endorsed personally in an interview
in 1992. For Jimmy Weiskopf, Yagé is “...a process of inner purification that is traumatic,
multifaceted, and uniquely of and directed to the subject” (Weiskopf, 2005). For Ott (1996), the
pharmacotheon is the result of the ‘chemical transfer’ of laboratory plants, giving rise to
Psychonautica. Walsh (1999, 2007), from the disciplines of consciousness, provides an academic
view of shamanism, pondering its ongoing flowering and resulting controversy. Naranjo (2012)
defends psychotherapeutic and spiritual shamanism.
Winkelman (2010) is rooted in the worship of symbols. He shows how shamanic practice causes
parasympathetic dominance and the integration of information between the limbic system and
deep cerebral structures with the frontal cortex and both hemispheres. Krippner and Winkelman
(1983), Krippner (2007), Winkelman (2010), defend the Mazatec tradition, revealing the value of
the structured neurological bases that allow the ‘visionary’ perceptive power. Shanon (2010) is
submerged in paradox, as the reality of the – indigenous – spirits is reduced to archetypal images
that may serve as an access route for Western culture. Adam J. Rock and Stanley Krippner
mystify by demystification, and the paradox continues, as the Western interpretation of
shamanism must be deconstructed (Rock and Krippner, 2011). Luna (1992) supports the idea
that master plants can be used for healing, for singing, for dancing and for painting. And Artaud
(1971) gives the example of his tortuous journey to the land of the Tarahumara ‘between
illumination and electroshock’.
Science and Ayahuasca
A potential encounter
According to Riba (2016), the individual variable component surpasses the main active
ingredients in the substances used. Using what are known as neo-imaging techniques, Riba’s
group has observed that during the acute effects of ayahuasca, blood supply increases to the areas
involved in cognitive control, cognition-emotion interaction, and in memory recall. When the
control exerted ‘from above’ relaxes and excitability increases at in lower levels, the slightest
activity, almost imperceptible under normal conditions, can rise to higher levels to become
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perceptible (Riba, 2016). Once again it seems that the laws of an emerging chaos ‘take over’ in
this type of experience (Almendro, 2012; Almendro and Weber, 2013; Almendro and LópezSuárez, 2016)
Grob (1994) and Grob et al., (1996) developed pioneering research on the effectiveness of
ayahuasca in Manaos in 1993, with the help of União Do Vegetal (UDV). In that project, at
neuropsychological levels, this group responded better in overcoming abuse, self-destruction,
violence, etc. Jordi Riba investigated pharmacological effects of DMT (Dimethyltryptamine) in
humans, cardiovascular and neuroendocrine effects, biochemical, bioelectrical, and sanguineous
mechanisms of action, etc., metabolic processes. In other research in Hungary it was shown that
the effects of DMT are completely different from schizophrenia or psychosis (Riba, 2003).
Riba presents other controversies regarding the action of harmine, harmaline, from the Bcarboline group, establishing that it is DMT that is responsible for causing visions in ayahuasca,
rather than harmine (Riba, 2003). Harmine and harmaline doubtlessly remain as MAO inhibitors
(Riba, 2003). Key findings include that detectable levels of plasma DMT are obtained alongside
different psychedelic effects. On the topic of establishing a topographic map, Riba et al., (2002)
postulate that ayahuasca causes significant central effects, and that like other stimulants such as
amphetamine, methylphenidate, and serotonin liberators such as fenfluramine.
The pioneer Claudio Naranjo, in The Healing Journey (Naranjo 1973), was already defending the
promising effects of MDMA and MDA, harmaline and ibogaine, in penetrating into the being,
feelings and capacity for attention. For Naranjo, harmaline is a purer visual hallucinogen than
other substances, and key in the archetypical world (Naranjo, 2012). He also alludes to the
experience caused by harmaline with DMT as being different to DMT alone; and even suggests
that harmaline alone may have psychedelic, if not hallucinogenic effects, among others (Naranjo,
2012) (Almendro, 2019b, 2022).
Bouso et al., (2012), in a wide-ranging study on personality, psychopathology, life attitudes and
neurological performance in ayahuasca rituals – based on previous studies – developed a
research project, again in Brazil, in syncretic churches. They saw that consumers of ayahuasca
obtained significant scores in the Self-Transcendence test, without denying adherence to
contextual doctrine.
Fábregas, González, and Fondevila (2010) completed research on addiction and alcohol
dependence, also in the context of the Brazilian churches. They obtained positive results for the
cessation of drug-taking by members of those churches.
On the subject of ayahuasca, toxicity and use limitations (In ayahuasca, Toxicidad y
Limitaciones de Uso [ii] )(Mabit, 1999, 2016; Dubbini, Mabit, and Politi, 2020), Jacques Mabit
sets forth a bold relationship between ayahuasca and toxicity. He maintains that the essence lies
in the ability to conduct sessions by previously well-trained people. His latest paper from the
2016 conference in Brazil, “Coca and ayahuasca, the same fate?” affirming that the misuse of
ayahuasca has resulted from the need for psychedelic images as a bias inherent in Western
culture. The pathological cause would arise from profanity of the sacred. This is what happened
previously with the coca leaf, and will also happen with ayahuasca. Giove (1996, 2012),
responsible for research in Takiwasi, developed a scientific framework for the treatment of
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addicts primarily found on the street and caught up in cocaine pasta base. Íkaros – indigenous
chants – according to Giove (1992a, 1992b), allow the conscience to expand and open the
ancestral memory.
Ayahuasca has positive healing properties in hepatic conditions, the effects of Parkinson’s
disease, and supporting the immune system without causing dependency (Giove, 1992a).
Hoffmann, Keppel, Yatra and Silveira Barbosa (2001), regarding measurements with EEG,
obtained conclusive results in terms of opening up the sub-conscience and the memory. Thomas,
Lucas, Rielle, Tupper and Martin (2013), in therapy with ayahuasca for addictions, recognize
that the statistically significant results show a drop in alcohol, tobacco and cocaine use.
The globalization of ayahuasca is a recurring topic at present, according to Tupper (2008), and it
is aligned with the internationalization of ayahuasca promoted by Labate and Jungaberle (Eds.
2001) and the ethnic boom. Tupper considers that a new policy should be established for the
decriminalization of the plant. Some researchers have resolved their own addiction issues upon
entering the world of ayahuasca, such as Graham Hancock[iii]. One notable example is Marc
Lewis, a neuro-scientist in Toronto, who expresses the cycle of desire from his own perspective
[iv].
Research topics have now spread to the shamanic chants in Siberian tuvan, (Matrenitsky and
Friedman, 2012), with statistically measured changes; and the connection between ayahuasca
and cancer in research proposals is delicate and exciting. Schenberg (2013) presents a complex
process relating to the stimulation of sigma 1 receptors and their involvement in cancer
treatment. It is also important for Spanish-American universities to concentrate on research into
the indigenous medicine alongside which they live. An example of this is the thesis by Ahumada
Lira (2015), along the same lines as Maturana, exploring how the biological basis for molecular
autopoiesis results in the emergence of a world moving from crisis to a new framework of
connection.
Presser-Velder (2012) indicates that there are mutual benefits between indigenous medicine and
modern psychotherapy. Zuluaga (1997), stresses that indigenous knowledge includes a battery of
plants with greater efficacy than has been taken into account until now. Zuluaga and Amaya
(1991) present the expiatory-purgative activity of indigenous healing. In his thesis on
ethnomedicine he expresses ignorance of medicinal plants in clinical practice in Western
medicine (Zuluaga, 2015). González Mariscal (2012) delves deeper into the indigenous reality in
Mexico and into the fact that all illnesses are caused by the interference of a negative spiritual
body. Apud (2013) develops ideas design guidelines, Uruguay. Frecska, Saba, Móré, Vargha and
Luna (2012) states that when ayahuasca ceremonies are repeated, they have rather original
effects.
In a recent thesis it has been shown that in deep states of meditation there is gamma activity in
the brain. This means that states perceived as ‘deeper’ are characterized by greater activity of
faster waves (above all at gamma frequency, and with less intensity at beta 2 level) in parietooccipital areas, and less activity in occipital theta and alpha 2 waves and frontal beta 1 waves.
Furthermore, the states of greatest distraction (lower questionnaire scores, or closer to
distraction) are characterized by drops in gamma/beta 2 in posterior areas, and greater activity in
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theta and beta 1 waves in the aforementioned regions (López, 2016) (Almendro and LópezSuárez, 2016).
We are doubtlessly at a promising point in the science of states of consciousness, in which
studies are returning to first hand experiences for the researchers, followed by taking the position
of third person or outside observer to guard against bias in the confluence of the two
perspectives. Fernando Mendive, a biochemist at the Takiwasi center, expresses that more than
65 % of patients with major depression fail to respond to standard pharmacological treatment
(Trivedi, Hollander, Nutt, and Blier (2008). So further research to better understand the
underlying mechanisms can be developed. Hopefully, an interest in ayahuasca in biomedical
science is emerging, and this could be recognized as an opportunity to explore beyond the
borders of the paradigm, and reclaim `disregarded concepts´ brought by Amazonian indigenous
medicine (Nunes et al., 2016; Osório et al., 2015; Sanches et al 2016; Thomas et al., 2013;
Trivedi et al., 2008).
Two reflections
The first reflection addresses a meeting between indigenous knowledge and science.
Neuroimaging techniques reveal that ayahuasca causes a modification of the transfer of
information between neuronal areas, and therefore an alteration in the hierarchy of control. We
can detect a correlation between this alteration in neuronal patterns already established in the
individual, and the eruption of an emerging chaos caused by experience (Riba, 2016; Almendro
2013; Almendro and López-Suárez, 2016).
The second reflection shows concern about possible conflicts arising from economic interests,
personal status, or even socio-political position. Furthermore, there is concern about episodes of
accidents and deaths with ayahuasca. This matter is part of a warning issued in our clinical
practice (Almendro, 2018), and in international media (Almendro, 2019a). We are concerned that
we may be looking at the destruction of the thousands of years old indigenous heritage, under the
mistrust of socio-political powers.
We do not know if the advice given by master curanderos will have the success it deserves.
2. Method
Participants
The sample consists of two groups. All the participants were explained the procedure for taking
measurements, and all gave their informed consent. Group 1, consisting of 16 Spanish s
participants (N=16) with 8 men and 8 women aged between 34 and 48 (M=41.06 and DT=6.26),
who completed the VEEC questionnaire in addition to a set of tests (see tools), after following a
seven-day diet of chiwawaco (fortifying plant), no salt and no sugar, with frugal meals, cleansing
with rustic tobacco and two ayahuasca experiences in a traditional territory (Asheninka line) in
the Peruvian Amazon. Group 2 consisted of 49 participants of a range of nationalities (N=49), 31
men and 18 women aged between 16 and 75. (M=41.54 and DT=11.55) who only completed the
VEEC questionnaire and did not follow the diet.
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The Group 1 sample participants (N=16) are all Spanish. The Group 2 sample participants
(N=49) are from several different countries (Table 1). All participants in Group 2 have
previously consumed ayahuasca. The greatest proportion are Spanish, -bearing in mind that these
sixteen participants are not the same individuals as those (N=16) in Group 1- (32.7 %), and also
includes nationalities such as Peru (20.4 %), Argentina (12.2 %), the US (12.2 %) or Mexico (6.1
%), and some others with a smaller proportion of participants. This range of nationalities gives
the sample a multicultural dimension.
Table 1. Country of origin of participants in Group 2 (N=49)
* from different locations (1 from Oklahoma, 1 from Oregon,
2 from Miami and 2 from New York).
Countries
n
%
Spain
16
32.7
Peru
10
20.4
Argentina
6
12.2
USA
*6
12.2
Mexico
3
6.1
Germany
2
4.1
Colombia
2
4.1
Brazil
2
4.1
Switzerland
1
2
Italy
1
2
Venezuela
1
2
TOTAL
49
100
Tools
- VEEC (Validación de Experiencias en Estados de Consciencia – Validation of Experiences in
Altered States of Consciousness); 36 items on the 5-point Likert scale, designed by Almendro in
2015 and currently under the validation process. It is a tool consisting of 36 items on a 5-point
Likert scale (1 = “This phrase bears no relation to me”; 5= “This phrase adequately describes my
experience and opinion”), the overall objective of which is to assess different aspects of a certain
experience. On one hand, the tool allows the phenomenological characterization of the state of
consciousness during the experience; on the other, it measures the impact that the experience has
had on the subject in relation to the development of self-perception, changes affecting one’s
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personal history, and transformations in environmental perception. The questionnaire measures
these aspects during and after the experience.
Our hypothesis is that there are 5 sub-factors: content of the experience, effects on daily life,
emotional response to the experience, reconciliation with the family and spirituality.
- The Ryff Scales of Psychological Wellbeing (Ryff, 1989), in its Spanish version (Díaz et al.,
1989), containing 29 items on a 5-point Likert scale with 6 sub-factors: self-perception,
positive relationships, autonomy, environmental control, personal growth and purpose in life.
The internal consistency of the 6 sub-scales (Cronbach’s alpha) varies between 0.68 and 0.83.
- The SA-45 (Symptom Assessment-45 Questionnaire) (Davison et al., 1997), with 45 items on a
5-point Likert scale. This is a reduced version of the SCL-90 (Symptom Checklist-90)
(Derogatis and Fitzpatrick, 2004). The Spanish version used was by Sandín et al., (2008) with
the 9 sub-scales depression, hostility, interpersonal sensitivity, somatization, anxiety,
psychoticism, obsessive compulsion, phobic anxiety, and paranoid ideation. The internal
consistency (Cronbach’s alpha) of this tool is 0.95, ranging from 0.63 to 0.85 on the 9 subscales.
- The Openness to Experience sub-scale from NEO-FFI (NEO Five-Factor Personality
Inventory), consisting of 12 items on a 5-point Likert scale. The reduced version of the
Personality Inventory was used (Costa and McCrae, 1992), the Spanish adaptation by Manga
et al., (2004). The inventory comprises 60 items on a 5-point Likert scale, and examines 5 key
personality traits: Neuroticism, Extraversion, Openness to experience, Agreeableness and
Conscientiousness. The Openness to experience sub-scale has an internal consistency
(Cronbach’s alpha) of 0.76.
- The “Cognitive” sub-scale from the Expressions of Spirituality Inventory-Revised, ESI-R,
MacDonald, 2000. The Spanish adaptation is by López, Jódar and MacDonald (2017). It
consists of 6 items on a 5-point Likert scale, with a Cronbach’s alpha of 0.97 for the cognitive
sub-scale.
-Scale of Body Connection, SBC. The Spanish version was used (Quezada-Berumen et al., 2014)
of the original scale (Price and Thompson, 2007). The SBC consists of 20 items on a Likert
scale and has a bi-factor structure made up of the dimension of corporal consciousness and
corporal disassociation, with an internal consistency (Cronbach’s alpha) of 0.86 and 0.62,
respectively.
Objectives
1. To conduct a preliminary analysis of the results obtained on the VEEC and of the effects of
ingesting ayahuasca in terms of the different aspects measured by the questionnaire, as they
are described above, specifically in regard to how the evolution of self-perception, changes
affecting personal history, and to the transformation of the environmental perception.
2. To complete an introductory correlational analysis as a first approximation between the VEEC
scores and those obtained using the other tools in the answers given by Group 1.
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Research hypotheses
1. High scores will be found among the VEEC items for both groups, which would indicate that
the experiences were intense and had a strong impact on the participants.
2. Significant correlations are expected with the corresponding sign between the VEEC scores
and those obtained among the remaining instruments used.
Procedure
Sample: two groups
All participants were explained the procedure for taking measurements, and they all gave their
informed consent. It is important to remember that remote location in the depths of the jungle
can some significant limitations and difficulties.
1 –Group 1 (consisting solely of a sample of 16 Spanish participants). Measurements taken from
participants who have followed a diet of seven days ingesting the plant known as shihuahuaco
(dipteryx micrantha), which according to indigenous tradition gives extraordinary strength and
health; frugal meals without salt or sugar, tobacco cleansing by oral consumption of rustic
nicotine; and two experiences with ayahuasca, in a traditional Ashaninka location in the Peruvian
Amazon.
The participants in Group 1 (N=16) were recruited in August 2016. The data analysis sample
(Table 4) are Spaniards meeting the criteria of having completed the VEEC survey in August
2016 (alongside the battery of questionnaires under the tools section, and who are part of the
Spanish population validation process to which VEEC is applied). A descriptive analysis is
included (Tables 2 and 3).
It is important to note that the plants in the diets we work with are of maximum purity, and the
key to ensuring this is working with indigenous people who we have known for several decades.
This is the foundation of our work; we never work with strangers. However, there are still
fashionable tourist circuits teeming with improvised shamans.
The plants used in the diets – such as shihuahuaco (Dipteryx Micrantha) – are cooked for
twenty-four hours. The participants ingest one liter over seven days and eat frugally without
taking salt, sugar, or alcohol. The eighth day is for rest, and serves as a bridge for returning to the
world outside the jungle. The diet is cortada (finished) with a puff of tobacco and some salt
administered by the healer.
The Amazonian ayahuasca experience involves ingesting the ayahuasca plant (Banisteriopsis
caapi) with chacruna (Psychotria viridis). The dose administered by our healer is of maximum
purity, and each cup contains 30 milliliters. Various scientific studies have already affirmed that
Banisteriopsis caapi is the plant that allows the DMT effects of Psychotria viridis to occur. It is
the "chemical" key. However, the indigenous people consider ayahuasca to be the key ingredient.
To them, it is the "shamanic" key. It is the plant that grants access to the highest states of the
indigenous liturgy, but only after extensive preparation. Chacruna is what makes it possible to
read these messages.
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Given our experience, we prefer to work with an Ashaninka indigenous person who is
legitimized by his own traditions and whom we have known for almost thirty years. He has
received recognition from his father and other master healers. This type of fundamental
transmission of knowledge also occurs in other ethnic groups, such as the Cocama, although
there are some differences. In the case we that we know of, transmission was made by the
shaman’s grandfather. We found it interesting that all of the Shipibo-Conibo children receive this
transmission in order to become shamans (Almendro, 2018).
2.
Group 2. The participants in Group 2 (N=49) were recruited in three stages: November December 2015 (N=37), August 2016 (N=5), and February 2017 (N=7). These participants are
of a range of nationalities (Table 1), meeting the criteria of having completed the VEEC survey
in one of the three periods indicated above. A descriptive analysis is also included for
information purposes (Tables 2 and 3).
The participants were initially contacted verbally, all of them being familiar with the Oxígeme
process, founded by Manuel Almendro in 1984 (Oxígeme, 2014). Oxigeme is both a process and
a school of psychology and psychotherapy, drawing on four decades of experience in the
integration of traditional psychology, indigenous medicine, and Zen meditation. Chaos theories
and dissipative processes are of particular relevance as a bridge to explaining different states of
consciousness. (Almendro, 2013; Almendro and Weber, 2012; Almendro and López-Suárez,
2016)
Participants in a personal self-awareness process taking place in the Amazon were also
contacted. Informed consent was sought from both groups in the sample, and participants
completed the questionnaires the day after the conscience expanding experiences (completion of
seven-day diet and taking ayahuasca for Group 1; taking ayahuasca for Group 2).
All participants were informed that the questionnaires would be the subject of study and data
analysis for research relating to the Oxígeme process, and that their anonymity and
confidentiality would be respected at all times.
Statistical analysis
The analysis was performed in two stages. Firstly, a descriptive analysis was performed on the
36 points on the VEEC survey with their average scores and typical deviation for each one in
Group 1 and Group 2 (Table 2). This also includes the percentage of people responding to
each point, depending on these hypothetical factors on VEEC in each of the groups, Group
(N=16) and Group 2 (N=49) (Table 3). Secondly, and only for Group 1 (N=16), a correlational
study was performed, calculating the Spearman’s correlation coefficient (non-parametric test)
between the scores obtained from the tools used.
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Table 2. Average and typical deviation for the 36 points on the VEEC survey, for Group 1
(N=16) and Group 2 (N=49).
Item
Group 1
Average
(N=16)
Group 1 Typical
Deviation
(N=16)
Group 2
Average
(N=49)
Group 2 Typical
Deviation
(N=49)
1. I have had this experience
4.50
0.61
4.45
0.93
2. It had an effect on me
4.75
0.43
4.47
0.97
3. Something or somebody communicated
with me
4.50
1.06
4.27
1.01
4. I received instructions
4.25
1.20
3.83
1.31
5. I was told secrets
3.50
1.62
3.41
1.40
6. It changed my life
4.50
0.71
4.25
0.95
7. These visions and experiences were
from another universe
4.50
0.73
3.79
1.43
8. There were figures of strange animals
4.25
1.20
3.63
1.52
9. There were strange human figures
3.81
1.51
3.51
1.63
10. There were strange non-human figures
3.94
1.52
3.65
1.38
11. There were strange devilish figures and
I felt bad
3.81
1.13
3.02
1.70
12. There were angelic figures and I felt
good
4.06
1.25
3.94
1.39
13. I felt scared and feared for my safety
3.00
1.46
2.82
1.44
14. I felt scared and it has helped me to
learn
4.44
1.06
4.00
1.36
15. I find that these experiences have
helped me to do better
4.81
0.39
4.59
0.70
16. I have found solutions to my deep,
specific problems
4.38
1.11
4.08
1.21
17. Many of my fears have disappeared
4.06
1.14
3.80
1.26
18. These experiences will help my family
dynamic
4.50
0.71
4.18
1.17
19. Now I understand and forgive my
parents
4.13
1.36
4.12
1.15
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20. I have a better understanding of my
genealogical path
4.31
1.21
4.00
1.29
21. I feel more conscientious, a better
person
4.56
0.70
4.41
0.90
22. I understand better my path in life and
the meaning of my existence
4.38
0.93
4.29
1.09
23. I feel more responsible
4.63
0.60
4.06
1.08
24. I understand my professional path
better
4.25
1.20
4.00
1.23
25. I understand that honesty and respect
for others is key in life
4.75
0.56
4.65
0.74
26. I have traveled through inconceivable
worlds
4.25
1.20
4.02
1.36
27. Now I know that everything that exists
has a divine connection
4.50
0.61
4.53
0.97
28. I understand that my path is spiritual
and conscious
4.69
0.58
4.47
0.97
29. My experience was Christian and
Shamanic
4.75
0.56
3.71
1.60
30. My experience was Buddhist and
Shamanic
3.13
1.69
2.57
1.67
31. My experience was Mystical without
connotations
3.19
1.59
3.57
1.65
32. I went beyond my conscience and my
personal self
4.38
0.93
4.40
0.86
33. I became one with the cosmos
3.75
1.44
3.76
1.35
34. Praying and/or meditation are
important in life
4.88
0.33
4.65
0.66
35. Now I can better face my difficulties in
life
4.56
0.61
4.29
1.14
36. I have responded to all these phrases
honestly
4.94
0.24
4.94
0.24
Valid N (as per list)
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Table 3: *Score obtained from a Likert-type scale with values 1 – 5, where 1 = “This phrase has
nothing to do with me” and 5 = “this phrase adequately describes my opinion” for Group 1
(N=16) and for Group 2 (N=49).
VEEC Survey
Percentage of participants by response
Group 1
(N=16)
Group 2
(N=49)
Group 1
(N=16)
Group 2
(N=49)
Group 1
(N=16)
Group 2
(N=49)
1-2*
1-2*
3*
3*
4-5*
4-5*
Content of the experience
2. It had an effect on me
0.00
6.12
0.00
10.20
100.00
83.67
3. Something or somebody
communicated with me
6.25
2.04
6.25
20.41
87.50
77.55
4. I received instructions
12.50
16.33
6.25
18.37
81.25
65.31
5. I was told secrets
31.25
28.57
18.75
20.41
50.00
51.02
7. These visions and experiences were
from another universe
0.00
20.41
12.50
18.37
87.50
61.22
8. There were figures of strange animals
0.00
24.49
12.50
14.29
87.50
61.22
9. There were strange human figures
25.00
32.65
12.50
12.24
62.50
55.10
10. There were strange non-human
figures
18.75
22.45
6.25
24.49
75.00
53.06
26. I have traveled through
inconceivable worlds
18.75
16.33
6.25
18.37
75.00
65.31
6. It changed my life
0.00
4.08
12.50
16.33
87.50
79.59
15. I find that these experiences have
helped me to do better
0.00
2.04
0.00
6.12
100.00
91.84
16. I have found solutions to my deep,
specific problems
6.25
8.16
12.50
18.37
81.25
73.47
17. Many of my fears have disappeared
6.25
16.33
25.00
20.41
68.75
63.27
21. I feel more conscientious, a better
person
0.00
6.12
12.50
4.08
87.50
89.80
22. I understand better my path in life
and the meaning of my existence
6.25
8.16
12.50
32.65
81.25
59.18
Effects on daily life
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23. I feel more responsible
0.00
8.16
6.25
18.37
93.75
73.47
24. I understand my professional path
better
12.50
10.20
6.25
14.29
81.25
75.51
25. I understand that honesty and respect
for others is key in life
0.00
2.04
6.25
6.12
93.75
91.84
35. Now I can better face my difficulties
in life
0.00
12.24
6.25
4.08
93.75
83.67
11. There were strange devilish figures
and I felt bad
6.25
44.90
37.50
12.24
56.25
42.86
12. There were angelic figures and I felt
good
12.50
14.29
18.75
12.24
68.75
73.47
13. I felt scared and feared for my safety
43.75
44.90
18.75
18.37
37.50
36.73
14. I felt scared and it has helped me
to learn
6.25
16.33
6.25
12.24
87.50
71.43
18. These experiences will help my
family dynamic
0.00
10.20
12.50
14.29
87.50
75.51
19. Now I understand and forgive
my parents
12.50
10.20
12.50
14.29
75.00
75.51
20. I have a better understanding of
my genealogical path
12.50
14.29
12.50
14.29
75.00
71.43
27. Now I know that everything that
exists has a divine connection
0.00
8.16
6.25
4.08
93.75
87.76
28. I understand that my path is
spiritual and conscious
0.00
6.12
6.25
10.20
93.75
83.67
29. My experience was Christian and
Shamanic
0.00
26.53
6.25
6.12
93.75
67.35
30. My experience was Buddhist and
Shamanic
37.50
55.10
18.75
12.24
43.75
32.65
31. My experience was Mystical
without connotations
37.50
30.61
12.50
8.16
50.00
61.22
Emotional response to the experience
Item. Reconciliation with family
Spirituality
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32. I went beyond my conscience
and my personal self
6.25
2.04
12.50
14.29
81.25
83.67
33. I became one with the cosmos
31.25
14.29
6.25
24.49
62.50
61.22
34. Praying and/or meditation are
important in life
0.00
0.00
6.25
12.24
93.75
87.76
These analyses were completed using the program SPSS v.20.
3. Results
The descriptive analysis of average and typical deviation for each of the VEEC points (Table 2)
refer to both groups separately, Group 1 (N=16) and Group 2 (N=49). The VEEC survey was
completed in November-December 2015, August 2016 and February 2017.
As an initial approach to an assessment on the meaning of an experience in relation to participant
responses to the VEEC survey (Table 3), we can say that in Group 1 (N=16), participants
considered that the experience was important and had a significant impact; 100 % of participants
considered that the experience “has had an effect on me” and 80 % - 99 % expressed that
“something of somebody communicated with me”, “I received instructions”, “these visions and
experiences belonged to another universe,” “there were strange animal figures”, “I felt scared
and it has helped me to learn,” “these experiences will help my family dynamic,” “now I know
that everything that exists has a divine connection,” “I understand that my path is spiritual and
conscious,” “my experience was Christian and Shamanic,” “I went beyond my conscience and
my personal self” and “praying and/or meditation are important in life”
As regards the specific factor “Effects on daily life”, a similar pattern can be seen, where
practically all the subjects expressed that the experience had a significant impact. 100 % of
participants considered that the experience “[has] helped me to do better” and 80 - 99 %
expressed that “it has changed my life,” “I feel more conscientious and a better person,” “I
understand better my path in life and the meaning of my existence,” “I understand that honesty
and respect for others is key in life,” and “now I can better face my difficulties in life” (Table 3).
In these two paragraphs, we may find a direct relationship between consciousness (awareness)
and the possible consequences of healing: an encounter with the meaning of life, which is in
itself enormously positive. In addition, good relationships with others are highly important.
In Group 2 (N=49), almost all participants – 87.67 % – stated that the experience had had a
major impact on their lives, with percentages similar to those obtained for Group 1 (Table 3).
Between 80 and 99 % of participants believed that “it had an impact on me,” “now I know that
everything that exists has a divine connection,” “I understand my path is spiritual and
conscious,” “my experience was Christian and Shamanic,” “I went beyond my conscience and
my personal self” and “praying and/or meditation are important in life.”
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Almendro, M., López, E., & Horrillo, B., Traditional Indigenous Medicine: An Assessment of Experiences in Expanded States of
Consciousness
As regards the specific factor “Effects on daily life”, 80 - 99 % of Group 2 participants expressed
that, “it has changed my life,” “I feel more conscientious and a better person,” “I understand
that honesty and respect for others is key in life” and “now I can better face my difficulties in
life” (Table 3).
Collective consciousness (social awareness) has been shown to be a key part of healing.
The correlations between variables (Table 4) refer to Group 1 (N=16); the 16 Spanish
participants who completed all the tools in August 2016. These were the participants who
followed the Shiwawaco diet, and underwent tobacco cleansing before taking ayahuasca.
Table 4. The correlations between variables refer to Group 1 (N=16)
** Correlation is significant at 0.01 (bilateral).
* Correlation is significant at 0.05 (bilateral).
Body
awareness
dimension
from the
Scale of
Body
Connectio
n (SBC)
Validation
of
Experiences
in Altered
States of
Consciousn
ess (VEEC)
Sub-scale
on
openness
to
experience
from the
Personality
Inventory
(NEO-FFI)
Cognitive subscale from
Expression of
Spirituality
Inventory –
Revised (ESI-R)
1.000
-.011
.700**
-.304
.773**
-.656**
.803**
- Sub-scale on
openness to
experience from
the Personality
Inventory
(NEO-FFI)
-.011
1.000
-.159
.332
-.008
.228
-.023
- Ryff scale of
psychological
wellbeing
.700**
-.159
1.000
-.646**
.694**
-.661**
.492
- Symptom
assessment
survey (SA-45)
-.304
.332
-.646**
1.000
-.381
.421
-.177
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Ryff scale Symptom
of
assessmen
psychologi t survey
(SA-45)
cal
wellbeing
Bodily
Cognitive
sub-scale
from
Expression
of
Spirituality
Inventory
– Revised
(ESI-R)
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Disassociatio
n dimension
from the
Scale of
Body
Connection
(SBC)
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Almendro, M., López, E., & Horrillo, B., Traditional Indigenous Medicine: An Assessment of Experiences in Expanded States of
Consciousness
- Body
awareness
dimension from
the Scale of
Body
Connection
(SBC)
.773**
-.008
.694**
-.381
1.000
-.781**
.731**
- Bodily
-.656**
.228
-.661**
.421
-.781**
1.000
-.543*
.803**
-.023
.492
-.177
.731**
-.543*
1.000
Disassociation
dimension from
the Scale of
Body
Connection
(SBC)
- Validation of
Experiences in
Altered States
of
Consciousness
(VEEC)
The results show the Spearman correlations (non-parametric tests), between the variables.
The Ryff psychological wellbeing variable shows a positive correlation with the cognitive subscale from the Expressions of Spirituality Inventory (ESI) (.700), and with the bodily connection
variable from the Scale of Body Connection (SBC) (.694); there is a negative connection with
the Symptomatic Assessment SA-45 (-.646) and with the bodily disassociation dimension of the
Scale of Body Connection (-.661).
The bodily connection variable of the Scale of Body Connection (SBC) shows a positive
correlation with the cognitive sub-scale of the Expressions of Spirituality Inventory (.773), and
with the Ryff scale of psychological wellbeing (0.694), and a negative correlation with the
corporal disassociation variable from the Scale of Body Connection (SBC) (-.781).
The bodily disassociation variable from the Scale of Body Connection (SBC) has a negative
correlation with the cognitive sub-scale of the Expressions of Spirituality Inventory (ESI) (.656).
The Validation of Experiences in Altered States of Consciousness (VEEC) shows a positive
correlation with the cognitive sub-scale of the Expressions of Spirituality Inventory (ESI) (.803)
and with the bodily connection variable of the Scale of Body Connection (SBC) (.731); it shows
a negative correlation with the bodily disassociation dimension from the Scale of Body
Connection SBC (-.543).
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Almendro, M., López, E., & Horrillo, B., Traditional Indigenous Medicine: An Assessment of Experiences in Expanded States of
Consciousness
The cognitive sub-scale of the Expressions of Spirituality Inventory (ESI) has a negative
correlation with the bodily disassociation dimension from the Scale of Body Connection (SBC)
(-.656).
The openness to experience dimension from the five-factor personality inventory NEO-FFI does
not have any correlation with the other tools used.
From this data we can establish the following:
Regarding the first of the proposed hypotheses (described in the Methods section above), the
hypothesis is confirmed, as the participants obtained high scores in the VEEC variables. In line
with the responses to the VEEC survey after the experience (Table 3), both Group 1 (N=16) and
Group 2 (N=49) appear to suggest that the experience was positive, and that the participants’
subjective assessment is that there were significant effects on daily life. However, we would
need to work with a larger subject group in order reaffirm this conclusion. It would also be
preferable to recruit two sample groups of a similar size in order to ascertain the relevance of
following the diet of chiwawaco, frugal meals free of salt and sugar and cleansing with rustic
tobacco for seven days prior to taking ayahuasca, as was the case of Group 1 (N=16) in this
study, but not by Group 2 (N=49).
Our second hypothesis, is also confirmed, as there are significant correlations obtained along the
foreseeable trend between the VEEC variables and the other tools used.
The paper reviews the process of introducing TIM into the Western medical context, warning of
potential risks and discussing possible applications for clinical practice and healthcare in
general. From this perspective, we believe it is necessary to use a more thorough approach to the
complex world of TIM. We believe that future lines of research should be structured into two
sections:
1. Firstly, psychometric tools are needed in order to allow the measurement and analysis of
experiences occurring in procedures using TIM. The preliminary results of the
VEEC survey constitute the first step for the development of validated tools in the
context of TIM. A limitation of this study is precisely that, as the authors are still working
toward to full validation of the survey. For this purpose, the necessary sample is being
recruited in order to draw conclusions regarding the factorial structure of the VEEC
survey for to be use in future research projects.
2. Secondly, we suggest a broader framework of intervention. Based on this initial
validation, and after more than three decades of research into TIM and clinical practice,
we are now in a position to widen the scope of our work as we have already achieved
early success in other studies. The goal is to research new treatments including existential
and emotional conditions, depression and psychological processes in general, -with the
exception of psychosis and schizophrenia-, along the same lines as the Oxigeme process,
using psychological integration and TIM for disorders such as addition. This could also
apply to other pathologies that are spreading at an alarming rate, such as cancer, stroke,
and rare diseases; in our experience a patient’s psychological background may play a
significant role in the development of these conditions.
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Almendro, M., López, E., & Horrillo, B., Traditional Indigenous Medicine: An Assessment of Experiences in Expanded States of
Consciousness
This framework of intervention would consist of two cycles:
1. Oxigeme Protocol for integration into the current major psychology faculties. Treatments
based on psychological and corporal processes involving externalization of inheritance,
based on dissipative processes as already researched in the form of fractals, dissipative
routes, and protective armor. The deeper study of psychological trauma. Medication
techniques and mindfulness, among others. (Almendro 2012; Almendro and Weber
2013; Almendro and López-Suarez 2016; Horrillo, 2020) Symptoms give rise to fractals
– complex behavior patterns at physical, emotional, mental and energy level. These
fractals give rise to dissipative routes and armor, and can harbor traumas. A core
attractor is at the center of each plate of armor. The armor is a metaphorical spaghetti
junction of behavior patterns, tangled with innumerable routes of events. These routes
interact with the spaghetti junction of behavior patterns inherited through everyday life,
and therapeutic process seeks to identify this whole set-up. Phenomenologically
speaking, the chaotic vortices bring with them a type of riverbed that is present in nature
and therefore present in Physics. This riverbed shows how space can kickstart one’s
transformation process. A similar pattern would apply for fluid elements: black holes,
water, and wind, but also for psychoenergetic processes. Disorder leads us to order
(Almendro 2012; Almendro and Weber 2013; Almendro and López 2016).
2. Immersion in TIM. Diets, plant-based treatments, and techniques. These techniques
include:
a) Cleansing using plants such as Madonna lily, Rosa Sisa, Huancavi/Yawarpanga,
Tobacco. States of isolation. Progressive psychotherapeutic exercises, continuously monitored by
therapists. External cleansing with appropriate plants: pine-nuts, rue, etc.
B) Taking of ayahuasca, guided by a curandero known to us for over thirty years.
C) Medical monitoring at a field hospital.
4. Conclusions
Finally, we believe that our proposed ideas can be of use to healthcare professionals interested in
our line of work. It may constitute a broadening of personal and professional outlooks, both
psychological and medical. This proposal has been drawn up to obtain financial aid,
infrastructural support, cooperation, and collaboration from those with extensive clinical
experience. The scientific methodology used will be thorough and will strictly observe the legal
framework of the countries where it is used, as well as all international conventions for this type
of activity. We would therefore like to invite healthcare professionals to take part in this
research, with a view to completing the necessary empirical validations and see whether the
established goals have been achieved. And just as there are promising advances in Mindfulness
in relation to pain and even cancer (Poletti et al.), we believe that the correct use of indigenous
medicine can be added to the core of researchers in the new science of states of consciousness.
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Almendro, M., López, E., & Horrillo, B., Traditional Indigenous Medicine: An Assessment of Experiences in Expanded States of
Consciousness
We have proven in our practice that expanded states of consciousness can result in significant
progress in what we know as quality of life. We are seeking support for setting up a research
center for this type of work, either in the Amazon or in another county. This would help us to
learn more and find out more about this entire indigenous legacy, currently in danger of
extinction.
Received March 11, 2022; Accepted June 8, 2022
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Journal of Consciousness Exploration & Research| November 2019 | Volume 10 | Issue 8 | pp. 621-629
Ahuja, S., Effect of Surat-Shabd-Yoga Meditation on Mind Wandering & Metacognition
Article
Effect of Surat-Shabd-Yoga Meditation on Mind Wandering
& Metacognition
Sona Ahuja* & Shivani Vashishtha
Dayalbagh Educational Institute, India
Abstract
Mind-wandering often leaves few working memory resources as off-task thoughts additionally
acquire the resources. These self-generated and task unrelated thoughts are linked to cognitive
deficits. In order to examine and control cognitive processes, one must possess a meta-cognitive
plan. Meta-cognitive skills enable access and control of mental content. Once the metaawareness of mind-wandering is achieved, the attention can be regulated. Meditationists practice
selected form of meditation to relax the mind. To what extent it enables them to have conscious
cognizance of their thoughts and how far they can regulate their thoughts or clear the internal
clutter to reduce mind-wandering optimally and achieve the stage of experiencing inner stillness?
Can the practice of yoga meditation alter meta-cognition and mind-wandering? The present study
is an attempt to seek answers to these questions. In an experimental set-up, the participants
practiced Surat-Shabd-Yoga meditation based on Oriental Philosophy of Saints (Radhasoami
Santmat), for 20 weeks. Mind-wandering and metacognition of naïve meditators, intermediate
meditators and advanced meditators was compared in experimental and control situation. The
retrospective measures were used to study mind-wandering. Metacognition was studied through
self-reporting. The results reveal that there is significant difference in metacognition of novice,
intermediate and advanced meditators, both at pre-test and post-test. The practice of SuratShabd-Yoga meditation increased the meta-awareness and regulation of thoughts with variation
in gain for three different groups. There was also significant difference in mind-wandering of
three groups at pre-test. The advanced meditators had lesser task unrelated thoughts before
intervention in comparison to other groups. Post intervention, the mind-wandering of
intermediate meditators was reduced to the level of advanced meditators.
Keywords: Metacognition, mind wandering, Surat-Shabd-Yoga, Meditation.
Introduction
The phenomenon of spontaneous thoughts emerging unrelated to the task at hand is referred to as
mind wandering (Deng et al., 2019). Mind wandering is a common experience that every
individual undergoes. It occurs in daily life, especially when one is dealing with such tasks that
are not demanded at a particular time. For instance, sometimes while writing a paper researcher
may start thinking about other aspects that are not relevant at a particular time. Mind wandering
as a drift away from an activity towards unrelated inner thoughts and feelings, has been defined
as the default mode of operation of our brain (Mason et al, 2017). It has been found that
*
Correspondence:Sona Ahuja, PhD, Dayalbagh Educational Institute,India. sonaahujadei@gmail.com
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individuals may experience mind wandering thoughts 46.9 % of the time spend on daily
activities (Killingsworth & Gilbert, 2010). Mind wandering is thought to be both negative and
positive aspect of an individual’s life.
On one hand mind wandering might be useful to maintain an optimal level of arousal and to
assimilate past, present and future experiences into a coherent frame (Baars, 2010). On the other
hand it has been found to be associated with negative mood (Smallwood, Nind, & Connor,
2009). The results that mind wandering is considered to be the positive aspect of individual
personality may be due to the fact that when mind wanders with awareness to an individual, it
may lead to the creation of new ideas. And on the contrary when the individual is unknowingly
in the state of wandering of mind it may lead to the destruction of ideas, and capacity to work.
The ability to detect a wandering mind is related to metacognitive facilities (Deng et al., 2019).
Mind-wandering and metacognition can be considered as opposite ends of human cognition (Fox
& Christoff, 2014).
Metacognition may be defined as the cognition about cognitive phenomena. It is the ability to
regulate cognitive processes, as well as the ability to manage and govern learning activities
(Flavell, 1979). As metacognition is being aware about one’s own cognitive process it may
regulate the mind wandering thoughts and an individual can alter the wandering thoughts that
would lead to higher self-control and better efficiency to perform a task. How then
metacognition of an individual be enhanced? The prefrontal cortex area of the brain is considered
as the main area of metacognition (Wilson, 2015).These areas of brain are likely to be trained
through various techniques and meditation is shown to be one of the most influential technique
(Cromie, 2006; Holzel , Carmody , Vangel , Congleton , Yerramsetti, Gard & Lazar, 2011) . To
what extent meditation enables them to have conscious awareness of their thoughts and how far
they can regulate their thoughts or clear the inner confusion to reduce mind-wandering
optimally? Can the practice of yoga and meditation alter meta-cognition?
Yoga was originated in India as an ancient art (Nichols, 2018). In the ancient era yoga was
practiced by the yogis to contemplate (Basavaraddi, 2015). The term “yoga” is originated from a
Sanskrit root word “yuj” which means union, to join, to direct and concentrate attention of a
person (Lasater, 1997; Raub, 2002). The disciplines (physical, mental, and spiritual) which were
originated in ancient India consider yoga as a generic term (Ahuja, 2014).With the origin of
Yoga, in ancient India, it is recognized as a form of alternative medicine that include mind-body
practices (Bridges & Sharma, 2017). Yoga is the practice of an art which balances the body,
mind and soul of a person (Stuckey & Nobel, 2010). The UNESCO has considered yoga as an
intangible cultural heritage in 2016 by recognizing its influence on the Indian society, "from
health and medicine to education and the arts"(Turrin, 2016). Yoga and meditation have a
positive effect on the central nervous system, immune system and it also improves the
individual’s overall sense of well-being (Cahn, Goodman, Peterson, Maturi & Mills, 2017). One
can reach to higher chakras and higher consciousness with the help of Yoga as it allows the
energy to flow upward (Lacour, 2015).
Meditation is the control of fluctuations of the mind that aim to still the instabilities of the mind
(Barentsen et al., 2010). Meditation is found to be useful to enhance the ability to pay attention
over extended periods of time (Zeidan, Johnson, Diamond, David, & Goolkasian, 2010).
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Mindfulness meditation is shown to have positive benefits even for novice practitioners,
including improving performance on cognitive tasks and the ability to pay attention over
extended periods of time (Chambers, Lo, & Allen, 2008; Zeidan, Johnson, Diamond, David, &
Goolkasian, 2010).
Along with yoga, meditation has also proved to play a vital role in improving consciousness,
memory and overall psychological well-being of individual (Ahuja, 2014; Hassed, 1996). All
across the world a lot of research has already been done; equipments are used in recording the
electrical activities of the brain and heart of novice, moderate and expert practitioners to help in
finding out the consequences of meditation (Hassed, 1996). Meditation is helpful for both young
students and elderly person as it improves the memory power and learning ability of the students
while on the other hand it improves the brain plasticity of the person (Wilson, 2015). The two
terms yoga and meditation are integrally correlated which leads to physical and mental wellness
of a person hence, meditation is a forthwith part of yoga (Kusuma, 2016).
According to Jennings (2009), the yoga and meditation are major components of contemplation
which helps a person to understand the working mechanism of their mind and the impact of their
own thoughts and feelings on their behavior. Since, attention is the key feature of meditation, it
may improve the cognizance of one’s awareness and hence its regulation also. The regulation of
cognition may reduce the inflow of thoughts which are not relevant to task at hand thus
decreasing the mind wandering without awareness. The present study tests this hypothesis of
correlation of metacognition, mind wandering and meditation.
This study was conducted on practitioners of Surat-Shabd-Yoga Meditation which is based on
Oriental philosophy of Saints (Radhasoami Philosophy). It is practiced sequentially at three
stages. The novice meditators (also called pre-initiates) are trained for practice of sound Ra-dhasoa-mi at four chakras- naval, heart, throat and eye-centre respectively. The intermediate
meditators (first initiates) practice contemplation of form at eye centre after minimum of two
years of practice as pre-initiates. The advanced meditators (second initiates) are further trained
for sound practice at higher chakras after minimum 2 years of practice as first initiates.
Method
Participants
Sixty participants took part in the experiment. The participants were applicants of yoga and
meditation program offered for twenty weeks. The protocols of the experiment were shared with
the participants before the experiment and consent was sought from the participants to observe
the protocols i.e. abstinence from alcohol and non-vegetarian food for duration of experiment.
The protocols were based on the Oriental Philosophy of Saints (Radhasoami Philosophy) for
practice of Surat-Shabd-Yoga Meditation. The applications were invited from three strata (i) preinitiates (beginners) - those who were not trained for any meditational practices prior to
experiment (ii) first initiates (intermediate meditators) - those who were trained for
contemplation of divine form at sixth chakra (between two eyes) (iii) second initiates (advanced
meditators) - those who were trained for sound practice along with the contemplation of form.
Since the training of practice of Surat-Shabd-Yoga meditation begins from the age of 15 years,
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the minimum age for first strata was fixed i.e. 15 years. The first 20 applicants in each group
who gave their consent to participate in experiment were exposed to intervention. The control
group included participants who voluntarily agreed to participate in the experiment. The agerange of the participants was 15 to 50 years. Thus the participants were divided into four groups
of 20 each - 3 experimental groups and one control. The groups did not differ with respect to
gender (11males and 9 females in each group).
Materials
The materials included: the Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire (FFMQ: Baer, Smith,
Hopkins, Krietemeyer, & Toney, 2006), the Metacognitive Awareness Inventory (MAI: Schraw
and Dennison (1994) and the Mind-Wandering Questionnaire (MWQ) (Mrazek, 2013).
Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire (FFMQ: Baer et al., 2006): The 39-item FFMQ (Baer
et al., 2006) was used to measure the self-report trait of mind-wandering. It comprises five
related facets: observing, describing, acting with awareness, non-judging of inner experience and
non-reactivity to inner experience. Only ‘acting with awareness (AWA)’ subscale was
administered in the present study. Here, acting with awareness involves attending to one’s
present moment activity, rather than being on “autopilot,” or behaving automatically, while
attention is focused elsewhere (Gu, Strauss, Crane, Barnhofer, Karl, Cavanagh, & Kuyken,
2016). The participants responded on a Likert scale with a range from 1 (never or very rarely) to
5 (very often or always true). The scores were computed by summing the scores on the
individual items. All the items are reverse-scored. FFMQ has moderate to high internal
reliability, Cronbach’s α=75 to 0.91(Baer et al., 2006).
Metacognitive Awareness Inventory (MAI) (Schraw and Dennison, 1994): The
metacognitive awareness inventory (M AI) developed by Schraw and Dennison (1994) was used
for the study. MAI instrument has 52 items and it assesses two components – knowledge of
cognition and regulation of cognition. The responses were sought on five point Likert scale
ranging from 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree). Baker and Cerro (2000) found that MAI
has adequate internal consistency that supported the reliability of the knowledge scale (alpha =
0.88) and regulation scale (alpha = 0.91). The score was calculated by summing the rating of
each item.
Mind-Wandering Questionnaire (MWQ) (Mrazek, 2013): Mind-wandering Questionnaire
(MWQ) was used to measure the frequency of mind-wandering. Mrazek, Phillips, Franklin,
Broadway & Schooler (2013) found that the trait levels of mind-wandering measured using
MWQ were correlated with task-unrelated thought measured by thought sampling during a test
of reading comprehension. The moderate inter-item correlation (0.540) was found for MWQ
(Mrazek, et.al. 2013). MWQ is a self-report 5-item questionnaire. The responses were sought on
6-point Likert-type scale ranging from 1 (almost never) to 6 (almost always). The total MWQ
score is the sum of the five items within a 5–30 range.
Procedure
The consent to participate in the experiment was obtained from the participants after sharing the
protocols of the experiment. The practice sessions (one hour) were held on weekdays in the
evening for three days a week. The yoga instructor had 10 years of experience of training on
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yoga and the meditator having 30 years of practice of Surat-Shabd-Yoga guided participants for
meditation at three stages. On each day, the intervention commenced with a brief 15 minutes
lecture covering different topics to reinforce the participants for meditation. The topics covered
include body, mind, nerve centres, chakras, kamals, padmas and meditation. This was followed
by yoga for 15 minutes to prepare body for meditation. Seven yogasanas were included in the
intervention programme for relaxation Siddhasan, Sarvangasan, Bhujangasan, Paschimottanasan,
Padahastasan, Ardhamatsyendrasan and Shavasan. These asanas were selected for relaxation and
preparation of body to meditate. After doing yoga, the practice of meditation was modeled on
practices of oriental philosophy of Saints (Radhasoami Philosophy). These meditational practices
are grounded on Hierarchical Order Theory of Consciousness (Satsangi, 2013).
Statistical Analysis
Mediation analysis technique was used and it was investigated whether the yoga and meditation
training induces any difference in the metacognitive ability and mind wandering. To test the
hypothesis, it is essential that metacognitive ability and mind wandering does not originate from
differences in the first-order performance across sessions. For all effects the p values and partial
eta-squared for F-value are reported.
Results & Discussion
The psychological states as measured through the three questionnaires were overall improved
after the yoga and meditation training protocols. Results showed a significant effect of two
sessions on the three questionnaires, Table 1 summarizes these results. The significant
interaction between session and meditation group was found for FFMQ (F (4, 24) = .47, p=0.03,
ηp2=.748), MWQ (F (4, 24) = .89, p=0.04, ηp2=.704) and MAI (F (4, 24) = .38, p=.009,
ηp2=.959). Regarding the MWQ the control group (MWQ pre-test=12.29 vs. MWQ post-test=11.95)
has no significant decrease in mind wandering level while experimental group (MWQ pretest=13.54 vs. MWQ post-test=9.56) presented a significant decrease in mind wandering level.
Regarding the intervention, while the control group did not significantly differ from pre-test to
post-test on the (MAI pre-test=210.58 vs. MAI post-test=212), the experimental group presented a
significant increase (MAI pre-test=187 vs. MAI post-test=211.7), suggesting that the group that
received training in yoga and meditation, not only had a greater reduction in mind wandering,
but also a greater increase in the metacognition level.
The researcher hypothesized that mindfulness and metacognitive efficiency should increase
when the individuals are trained to monitor their own thoughts. In addition, it was also
hypothesized a reduction in mindfulness and metacognitive efficiency in the control group, or at
least this should be less than that observed in the experimental group, given the specific
attentional training in these yoga and meditation interventions. First, for each practitioner and
session, the researcher calculated the mindfulness and metacognitive efficiency. Then yoga and
meditation training program was organized for the experimental group. Results drawn from the
questionnaires denoted that there is interaction between meditative groups and metacognitive
efficiency along with mindfulness.
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Table 1. Mind wandering and Metacognition scores over repeated measures
Measurement
Pre-test M (SE)
Post-test M (SE)
F
p
Partial
eta
squared
Experimental
Control
Experimental
Control
AAS-FFMQ
13.79 (1.05)
16.33
19.53 (1.053)
17.58
0.47
0.03
.748
MWQ
13.54 (.69)
12.29
9.56 (.69)
11.95
0.89
0.04
.704
MAI
187 (4.83)
210.58
211.7 (4.83)
212
0.38
0.009
.959
22
20
18
16
14
12
10
8
6
4
2
0
AAS-FFMQ
MWQ
16
14
12
10
8
6
4
2
0
Pre-test
Post-test
Experimental
Control
Pre-test
Post-test
Experimental
Figure A
Control
Figure B
MAI
240
210
180
150
120
90
60
30
0
Pre-test
Post-test
Experimental
Control
Figure C
Fig. A, B & C. A) Figure depicting Mean value of the scores in FFMQ questionnaire, B) Figure
depicting Mean value of the scores in MWQ questionnaire, C) Figure depicting Mean value of
the scores in MAI questionnaire.
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Experiment 1
Effect of metacognition on mind-wandering without considering mediation
3
Metacognition
4.521
Mind-wandering
Fig. D. Figure depicting Effect of Metacognition on Mind-Wandering without considering Mediation
For serial mediation analysis, metacognition is considered as independent variable, mindwandering as dependent variable and meditation as mediation factor. In the above experiment the
effect of metacognition is seen on mind-wandering without considering the mediation factor. It
was found that a person’s thinking can lead him to wander up to 4.52% in any circumstances.
Therefore, in the next experiment the mediating factor is considered.
Experiment 2
Effect of metacognition on mind-wandering including mediation
0.475
Meditation
0.386
Mind-wandering
Metacognition
2.435
Fig. E. Figure depicting Effect of Metacognition on Mind-Wandering including Mediation
In the experiment 2, meditation is considered as the mediating factor. It was found that the effect
of metacognition on mind-wandering by including the mediation factor, it has reduced the level
of mind-wandering by 2.43%.That indicates, if one want to control his/her mind than it is useful
for the person to do meditation as it not only helps us in controlling our mind but also helps us in
concentration on a particular thing.
Conclusion
The aim in this study was to investigate whether metacognition and mind-wandering is a fixed
capacity or whether it is malleable and subject to practice-based yoga and meditation. The
researcher hypothesized that training of yoga and meditation will lead towards improved
metacognition and reduced mind wandering. The results drawn confirm that the intervention
achieved its objectives. It was found that the experimental group showed greater metacognitive
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Ahuja, S., Effect of Surat-Shabd-Yoga Meditation on Mind Wandering & Metacognition
efficiency and reduced mind-wandering when compared to control group. The results show that
Surat-Shabd-Yoga and meditation training had a specific impact on mindfulness and
metacognition of the experimental group in comparison to the control group. The findings of the
study corroborate the results of previous studies that report yoga and meditation promotes
concentration and memory (Srinisha, Priya & Devi 2018). These techniques are found to be
helpful in improving cognitive functions (Uthaman & Uthaman, 2017). The findings are
progressive in the way that yoga and meditation helps an individual in improving their thinking
pattern and also helps them in improving their concentration as a result of which they are enable
to regulate their cognition and limit the wandering mind. Although the further investigation is
required separating out and comparing the effect of different forms of meditation on
metacognition and mind wandering.
Acknowledgement: We are highly thankful to Prof. P.S. Satsangi, Chairman, Academic Committee on
Education, Dayalbagh Educational Institute, for his continuous guidance. We present our gratitude to
Coordinator, Centre for Consciousness Studies for his co-operation to conduct this research and to Prof.
P. Sriramamurti, Advisor, Centre for Consciousness Studies for his co-ordination. We are also thankful to
Ms. Anshula Dua for her continuous help during the research.
Received October 18, 2019; Accepted November 10, 2019
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Lake, J. H., Review of Wolfgang Baer’s Book: Conscious Action Theory - An Introduction to the Event-Oriented World View
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Book Review
Review of Wolfgang Baer’s Book: Conscious Action Theory An Introduction to the Event-Oriented World View
James H. Lake*
Department of Psychiatry, University of Arizona College of Medicine, USA
Abstract
Wolfgang Baer’s project consists of nothing less than adducing from first principles a model of
consciousness that reconciles subjective experiences with biophysical processes inherent in brain
function (Baer 2020). His model, Conscious Action Theory (CAT) argues that unification of the
subjective and objective can only be achieved by accepting the observer’s existence as the
foundational premise underlying all scientific inquiry. Starting from this premise it becomes
possible to abandon object-oriented epistemologies that view subjective experience as
epiphenomena of physical processes, and to develop a truly event-oriented ontology in which the
first-person observer is a physical system that has always contained its own mental experience.
Baer asserts that mind, brain, and world can be unified only when physics evolves to encompass
both the causes and subjective feelings of experiences. His book transcends mere philosophical
speculation by proposing the expansion of contemporary quantum physics to implement these
unifying concepts.
Keywords: Conscious action, event, world view, brain, mind, experience, subjective, objective,
biophysical process.
Concepts
Baer argues that the Aristotelian paradigm positing an a-priori independent world of dead objects
was so strongly ingrained in physics historically that reference to the subjective observer was
anathema. Even in the early 1900’s Schrödinger’s wave function was interpreted as a quantum
probability object existing independently of human experience. Subsequently, logical positivism
held that physics should be concerned only with relations between observable experimental
results, which were statistical in nature, and that efforts to understand underlying causes was
misleading and unnecessary. Since those early days, research findings have confirmed that
physical effects take place at the quantum level in relationship to the mental experiences of
scientists conducting research and observers. These findings have resulted in a paradigm shift
from Aristotle’s naïve empiricism to worldviews approaching Platonic idealism. The philosopher
Whitehead (1959) who had a deep understanding of quantum mechanics, proposed that real
events he called actual occasions should comprise the building blocks of reality rather than
probabilities as defined by quantum mechanics, or objects as conceived in Aristotelian
naturalism. More recently Vitiello (2001) and Tegmark (2014) have argued for the logical
*
Correspondence author: James H. Lake, MD, Assistant Professor, Department of Psychiatry, University of Arizona College of
Medicine, USA. E-mail: jameslakemd@gmail.com
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necessity of including the brain and the subjective experiences of the experimenter and observers
in any investigation of the quantum nature of reality.
According to Baer the phenomenal content of sensory awareness is only one phase of a larger
processing system required to generate what is actually experienced. This larger self—big “I”—
stands in contrast to the phenomenal appearances of our surroundings and the little “i” we
actually see and experience as our body. Differentiating between what we see “i-you-it” and
what we are “I-You-It” is critical to understanding ourselves as events. The big “I” processing
system can be described in strictly physical terms as a cyclic action flow structure. According to
the CAT-model, a unity of mind and body exists as a sequence of inner and outer forces
contained in event structures. Applying this unity to all objects allows humans to conceive of the
rest of the universe as an event which differs from our human event selves in magnitude only.
We both do the same thing and are in that sense equal partners in the dance of existence.
Baer reminds the reader that philosophers and physicists among them James, Whitehead, Bohm
and Penrose have argued for an event-oriented world that places the objective world into the
context of an event, which like the big “I” generates feelings of itself. The event-oriented
worldview proposes a Universe of interacting action cycles each of which contains its own
experiences evolving in its own time-frame. Baer asserts that the next major advance in
understanding of the nature of phenomenal reality will be achieved when the universe is
conceived as an event in which interacting conscious beings are formally described as action
cycles.
Physics
After summarizing important philosophical arguments, the second section of the book develops a
sophisticated model for an event-oriented world grounded in the knowledge of contemporary
physics. Unity of mind, body and the universe can be achieved within this framework by
recognizing that humans are events that contain both mental experiences and associated physical
phenomena. Baer postulates that energy fields associated with charge and mass formalized as the
weak and strong forces of nuclear physics correlate to observable mental experiences, and that
gravito-electric forces correspond to the objective physical world. In this schema, mental and
physical phases follow one another manifesting as a web of inter-relationships between
subjective experience and external states of affairs in the world. This process results in repeating
cycles of mind-causing-body-causing-mind. The above framework fundamentally changes our
view of physics and the objective world it describes. Physics no longer describes ‘things out
there’ but the apparent properties of events experienced by an observer. Everyone generates a
unique world of experience as a function of stimulation received. Conscious awareness takes
place when a measurement function compares signals from an internal model of the external
world with computations of a neural network chain processing sensory or cognitive information.
Nothing exists for mind and body to interact with outside of these cycles. In sum, the subjective
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550
and objective are seamlessly integrated in a universe that has both a physical aspect and a mental
aspect.
Implications
The third section of the book is a wide-ranging discussion of implications of Conscious Action
Theory for current limited explanatory models of consciousness grounded in neuroscience,
artificial intelligence, philosophy, psychology and religion. Baer asserts that equating the action
cycle as a continuous happening that takes place in the domain of subjective experience to the
physical universe solves the ‘hard problem’ of consciousness since the physical basis of
subjective experiences is, by definition, equivalent to the ‘Now’ phase of an action loop. Chapter
6 offers a functional description of action flow in a conscious being including many insightful
discussions of sensory awareness, memory, and action cycles that result in the generation of
meaning. Chapter 7 discusses implications of Conscious Action Theory for neuroscience,
artificial intelligence and psychiatry. Baer asserts that the same internal mass-charge structures
necessary and sufficient for consciousness to take place are present in all material systems, at
least on a primitive level. It follows that there is no inherent limitation of future AI systems that
would preclude the emergence of consciousness.
Baer’s proposed comparator mechanism implies that the physical correlates of human
consciousness are located in the interface between the neuronal and glial networks. Recent
research findings (Mitterauer 2020) have identified these interfaces as the field of tri-partite
synapses controlled by Astrocyte cells and have confirmed that imbalances between
neurotransmitters and receptors underline some psychiatric disorders.. Chapter 8 discusses
general implications of Conscious Action Theory for philosophical, psychological and religious
understandings of consciousness. Baer concludes the book with a review of ongoing
investigations into the nature of consciousness aimed at confirming the existence of
consciousness action cycles. Among other innovative approaches, he describes ongoing studies
of dual eye and bi-scopic perception, and patented training devices designed to modify our
normal three dimensional mental display, aimed at increasing our cognitive information
bandwidth to more closely match emerging brain-computer interface technologies (Baer N
2012).
Received June 23, 2020; Accepted July 25, 2020
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551
References
Baer N., Baer W. (2012) “Interest-Attention Feedback System for Separating Cognitive Awareness into
Different Left and Right Sensor Displays,” Patent Application No 13/455,134, filed April 25, 2012
Baer W. (2020) Conscious Action Theory: an introduction to the event oriented world view, Routledge
Press, ISBN: 978-1-138-66746-4 (hbk)
Mitterauer B., Baer W. (2020)“Disorders of Human Consciousness in the Tri-partite Synapses” Medical
Hypothesis Vol 136, March 2020, URL: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mehy.2019.109523
Tegmark M., (2014) “Our Mathematical Universe ”, Random House LLC , ISBN 978-0-307-59980-3,
Chapter 10, p243
Vitiello, G.(2001) My double unveiled: The dissipative quantum model of the brain, John Benjamins
ISBN 9027251525
Whitehead, Alfred North, (1978) “Process and Reality an Essay in Cosmology”, Corrected Edition by D.
R. Griffin and D. W. Sherburne, The Free Press N.Y. ISBN 0-02-934580-4
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Pitkänen, M., On the Objections against TGD Inspired View of Qualia
Research Essay
On the Objections against TGD Inspired View of Qualia
Matti Pitkänen 1
Abstract
In the TGD framework, state function reduction is identified as a moment of consciousness. The
basic objection against the identification is that sensory mental images have a finite duration. One
can imagine two ways of identifying qualia: as an outcome of quantum measurement or in terms of
a change/transfer of quantum numbers. Both the resolution of the objection and the two alternative
identifications of qualia will be discussed in the context provided by the recent view of TGD. For
definiteness, the discussion will be restricted to color qualia since it provides an opportunity to discuss
how the new physics predicted by TGD would be involved with qualia.
1
Introduction
I have considered the problem of qualia several times and have proposed several models for qualia [2, 11]. I
have not been quite happy with the details of the original proposal. A lot of progress in the understanding
of TGD has taken place since I considered qualia from the TGD point of view for the first time, and it is
appropriate to take a new look at the situation.
The model of qualia relies on TGD inspired theory of consciousness [4, 3], which relies on zero energy
ontology [9, 12, 16, 20]. ZEO can be seen as a generalization of quantum measurement theory solving the
basic problem of standard quantum measurement theory.
It is good to start by describing the basic ideas related to the TGD inspired view about qualia. The
obvious idea is that qualia can be assigned with a state function reduction (SFR) as measurement of
observables [2].
1. The first class of basic qualia would correspond to infinitesimal generators of the fundamental
symmetries. Spin, color and electroweak quantum numbers would represent fundamental qualia.
Supersymplectic group for the product of light-cone boundary and CP2 would act as isometries
of the ”world of classical worlds” and this would give rise to dynamical symmetry groups [6] and
corresponding qualia.
2. Momentum and position are certainly fundamental observables. M 8 − H duality [13, 14] has an
interpretation as a generalization of momentum position duality of wave mechanics forced by the
replaced of point like-particle with 3-surface whose orbit defines space-time surface as analog of
Bohr orbit realizing holography forced by 4-D general coordinate invariance.
The associativity of the normal space of the 4-surface of M 8 , mapped by holography to H, is the
number theoretic dynamical principle [13, 14]. It is expected to fix the holography apart from a
finite non-determinism suggested by the non-determinism of minimal surfaces of H proposed to be
the images of the 4-surfaces of M 8 in H. The twistor lift of TGD at the level of H leads naturally
to these minimal surfaces [7, 17]. The twistor lift of TGD emerged originally at the level of H but
turned out to have a counterpart at the level of M 8 . These minimal surfaces are also extremals of
Kähler action except at the singularities, which are analogous to the frames spanning a soap film
and serve as seats of non-determinism already in 2-D case.
1 Correspondence: Matti Pitkänen http://tgdtheory.com/. Address: Rinnekatu 2-4 A8, 03620, Karkkila, Finland. Email:
matpitka6@gamail.com.
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Pitkänen, M., On the Objections against TGD Inspired View of Qualia
At the level of M 8 momentum eigenstates correspond to states for which mass shells are determined
by the roots of the polynomial defining 4-D surface of M 8 by holography. This surface is mapped by
M 8 − H duality to a space-time surface in H as a minimal surface with singularities in H [18, 19].
Measurement of momentum produces a state localized to a set of points of mass shells of M 8
corresponding to quark momenta. The measurement of position as a dual variable for momentum
gives rise to a superposition of this kind of states with coefficients exp(ip · m) mapped by M 8 − H
duality to a state within a single causal diamond (CD) H localized to the point. These two state
bases correspond to H-picture and M 8 picture.
Twistor lift of TGD generalizes this duality also to the spin and electroweak spin and one can say
that spin 1/2 state with a given quantization axis corresponds in M 8 to either point defined by the
discrete direction of quantization axes at unit sphere. In the twistor space of H it corresponds to a
wave function at the twistor sphere CP1 .
3. There would also be geometric qualia related to the shape and size of objects. The flag manifolds
defined by Cartan groups of symmetry groups and having interpretation as a space for the choices
of quantization axes would represent example of geometric qualia, which I have called flag manifold
qualia [2, 10]. The flag manifold SU (3)/U (1) × U (1) for color group defines twistor space for CP2
and the model for honeybee dance involves this space as discovered by topologist Barbara Shipman
[1].
The twistor space CP3 for Minkowski space has interpretation as a choice of the origin of Minkowski
coordinate and spin quantization axis. Points of M 4 separated by light-like distance would be
equivalent. The product of these twistor spaces appears in the twistor lift of TGD [8, 7, 18, 19].
The space of the quantization axis for weak isospin corresponds to a sphere but the breaking of
weak isospin symmetry at the level of geometry of CP2 could fix the quantization axis.
4. What about qualia such as acceleration? Acceleration corresponds to the rate of change for momentum. Momentum is a relative notion by Lorentz invariance and always relative to some system.
This requires two systems. I have proposed that the relative motion of the magnetic body and
biological body is behind the experience of acceleration that is force.
In wave mechanics, force would be represented as a commutator of the Hamiltonian of the system
representing the magnetic body (MB) and biological body with the momentum related to relative
motion. The measurement would give an eigenstate of this operator with a constant force. If the
scaling for the entire system determines the analog of the time evolution, one should decompose this
scaling to single particle operators associated with the magnetic and biological body and the part
representing the force when time evolution corresponds to scaling instead of translation. Eigenstates
of this term would result in the measurement of force.
The basic objection against the identification of state function reduction (SFR) as a moment of consciousness is that sensory mental images have a finite duration. One can imagine two ways of identifying
qualia: as an outcome of quantum measurement or in terms of a change/transfer of quantum numbers.
Both the resolution of the objection and the two alternative identifications of qualia will be discussed
in the context provided by the recent view of TGD. For definiteness, the discussion will be restricted to
color qualia since it provides an opportunity to discuss how the new physics predicted by TGD would be
involved with qualia.
2
How can the perception of quale have a finite duration?
There is a philosophical problem related to the fact that the experience of, say, color has a duration.
One could argue that the idea that color sensations correspond to SFRs, that is, a single moment of
consciousness, is not consistent with this. One can imagine two ways to overcome this objection.
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Pitkänen, M., On the Objections against TGD Inspired View of Qualia
2.1
First option
One could argue as follows.
1. It is not possible to experience that one is not conscious so that the illusion of finite duration of
sensory quale is created.
2. The ”small” SFR as the TGD counterpart of a weak measurement in quantum measurement theory
based on zero energy ontology (ZEO) begins as a cognitive measurement cascade in a Galois group
of extension of rationals associated with a rational polynomial defining a given space-time region
[15, 20].
This cascade corresponds to a decomposition of the representation of Galois group for a functional
composite polynomial P1 ◦...◦Pn for which Galois group of the algebraic extension has decomposition
to a semidirect product of relative Galois groups Gi associated with pairs Pi , Pi+1 . This yields a
product of irreps of Gi .
3. The cognitive cascade as a quantum correlate of analysis, is followed by measurements in quark spin
and momentum degrees of freedom for the quark states defining the irreps of Gi . One can argue
that the duration of the qualia mental image corresponds to the geometric lifetime of this sequence
since eventually a BSFR, which means the death of the qualia mental image occurs. By the above
argument, the steps in this sequence would not be experienced separately.
4. There is an objection against this view. ZEO [12, 16] motivates the proposal is that we are during
sleep living in an opposite direction of time and classically it is impossible to receive signals from
that period since the signals travel in an opposite time direction (TGD predicts that also signals
with ”wrong” time direction can be received and sent but are rare and the process involves BSFR
at the level of system representing mental images as subself). However, when we wake up in the
morning, we remember that we were conscious yesterday and realize that we do not remember
anything about the period of sleep. Could the same argument apply to mental images related to
qualia?
2.2
Second option
One could also argue as follows.
1. State function reductions (SFRs) (actually ”small” SFRs responsible for the ”flow of consciousness””) initiate a conscious experience of say some quale realized as subself, mental image. The
next ”small” SFR would end this experience and initiate a new one. If SFR is ”big”, the mental
image dies and reincarnates with the opposite arrow of time and experience disappears from the
consciousness of self.
Mathematicians would say that a delta function is replaced with a step function as far as interpretation is considered. Nothing at the level of mathematical formalism has changed.
The structure of conscious experiences reflects the structure of the physical states. In this spirit,
one could argue that SFRs serve as a holographic data at the ends of the duration of the conscious
experience, which determine the conscious experience associated with the duration itself. One would
have have holography of consciousness.
2. Is this interpretation consistent with the fact that change is necessary for qualia as already basic
physiological facts show? For instance, if the saccadic motion of the eye is prevented, the perceptive
field becomes dark first and after that the visual consciousness disappears. This finding can be
consistent with the new view since the lifetimes of the qualia mental images as subselves are certainly
finite.
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Pitkänen, M., On the Objections against TGD Inspired View of Qualia
Critical reader could ask whether the two options are only slightly different verbalizations of the same
basic intuition and perhaps regard the latter verbalization as mathematically clearer. The latter option
looks clearer than the first one although it does not literally conform with what I have been telling for
three decades about SFRs as basic building bricks of conscious experience! It can take decades to express
really clearly what you have understood!
3
Two alternative identifications of qualia
One can consider two alternative identifications of qualia: as an outcome of quantum measurement or as
a change/transfer of quantum numbers.
3.1
Quale as an outcome for a measurement of quantum numbers?
Quantum measurement theory suggests the identification of qualia as resulting in quantum measurement
and therefore labelled by eigenvalues of the measured observable. Qualia would therefore characterize the
quantum state emerging in SFR (most naturally SSFR) and one might say that qualia are determined by
the properties of the state.
How does this relate to the long held TGD based view that since SFRs are the basic building bricks
of conscious experience, conscious experience cannot be regarded as a property of a physical state as
physicalists argue. Hence ”consciousness” is a misleading term. Holography of consciousness suggests
the interpretation that conscious experience and qualia are about the properties of the state emerging in
SFR but are not its properties.
Consider color vision as an example.
1. Sensory receptors (such as the eye) could be seen in this framework as a collection of subsystems
(rods and cones), which together form a quantum coherent state. SFR would produce a collection of
different outcomes and the experienced quale would be a statistical average of the outcomes. In the
ensemble interpretation, the probabilities of various quantum number combinations (basic colors)
would be given by the reduction probabilities. This explains color summation. In holography with
a slight failure of determinism, one cannot exclude temporal averages.
2. ”Color symmetry” was originally a joke inspired by the algebraic correspondence with visual colors.
The proposal was that visual colors could correspond to quark colors. Perception would be measurement of color quantum numbers. This would predict 3 colors for quarks and 3 complementary
colors for antiquarks. White and black are also considered as colors.
3. This sounds outlandish but makes sense in the TGD framework, where quarks are the only fundamental fermions in the recent formulation of TGD. Moreover, TGD predicts a hierarchy of effective
Planck constants hef f = nh0 , where n has a number theoretic interpretation as dimension of an
extension of rationals associated with a polynomial defining a space-time region considered. n
measures the algebraic complexity and serves as a kind of IQ.
hef f = nh0 labels phases of ordinary matter and these phases behave like dark matter relative to
each other. Field bodies carry these phases and magnetic bodies MBs with various values of hef f
can act as ”bosses” controlling lower levels, in particular the ordinary matter at the bottom of the
master-slave hierarchy.
4. Compton lengths are scaled up by n and MBs can carry dark quarks and gluons even in cellular
length scales. Below the confinement scale which is the natural scale now quarks and gluons are
effectively massless. One could say that we directly see quarks!
This is true also also for the weak interactions and the presence of dark weak variants of weak
bosons at magnetic body (MB) could explain the chiral selection in living matter, which is very
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Pitkänen, M., On the Objections against TGD Inspired View of Qualia
difficult to understand in the standard model because the violation of parity in weak interactions is
extremely small above Compton length of weak bosons. In living matter the Compton length would
scale up at MBs and MBs acting as ”bosses” would induce large parity violation even in cell scale.
3.2
Quale as a change of quantum numbers?
An alternative option has been that the classical flows of color quantum numbers could correspond to
qualia. This led to the sensory capacitor model of cell membrane [2, 5].
1. Since the changes for quark quantum numbers correspond to gluons, there would be 3+3 colors
corresponding to color charged gluons. Classically one could think that the flow of color quantum
numbers between two subsystems in a sensory receptor could give rise to an experience of quale
such as color. This led to the sensory capacitor model of cell membrane [2, 5].
2. At elementary particle level, the change of color quantum numbers for a single particle could be
induced by an exchange of a gluon between quarks. But can one associate this flow with a quantum
measurement of something? For quantum groups and Yangians the color charge operators are sums
of single particle contributions and many particle contributions. Two-quark contributions would
make possible opposite change of color quantum numbers for the members of a quark pair. Could
the measurement of the quantum group counterpart of color charge give rise to this kind of change?
The first option is the simpler and more natural one.
3. In the sensory capacitor model, one could model the situation as a pair of harmonic oscillator wells
representing the plates of a capacitor characterized by Hamiltonian H = H0 + V . The presence
of the capacitor plates would be described by a sum H0 = −~2 ∂x2 /2m + kx2 /2 + k(x − d)2 /2 of
harmonic oscillator Hamiltonians describing a double potential well. The potential driving the
particles between the plates would be described by V = −qEx.
The commutator [H, V ] = ~2 ∂x E/m = i~Ep, p = i~∂x /m and non-hermitian in plane wave basis
at the limit of infinite distance between the plates.
4. p is a linear combination of creation and annihilation operator for the harmonic oscillator quanta
and one can ask whether the analogs of eigenstates of p correspond to coherent states for the
annihilation operator having in general complex eigenvalues. Instead of eigenstate, a coherent state
for the negative energy part of force could be created at the plate which contains the particle in the
initial state. The coherent state would be a harmonic oscillator state for which the origin would be
shifted along the line connecting the plates. The probabilities for eigenstates would be given by the
overlap of the coherent states as Gaussian with the original ground state or excited state at either
plate.
5. A more realistic formulation could be as a quantum phase transition for a cyclotron condensate of
quarks and antiquarks assignable to the opposite layers of the sensory capacitor carrying opposite
color charges. This phase transition is analogous to a spontaneous magnetization, or rather its
reversal, and would emit a burst of gluons changing the quantum numbers of cyclotron condensates
at the layers.
The TGD view about dark matter leads to the notion of dark N-particle as an analog of a BoseEinstein condensate. A dark N gluon would be emitted.
The description of the dynamics of this transition could involve the bilinear coupling of classical
induced color field components GA
αβ = HA Jαβ proportional Kähler form and Hamiltonians of color
isometries with gluon field, and associated with a ”massless” extremal (ME) connecting the plates.
ME or MEs would serve as a classical space-time correlate for a mode of a generic radiation field
with a fixed polarization and direction of propagation.
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Received June 3, 2022; Accepted September 10, 2022
References
[1] Shipman B. The geometry of momentum mappings on generalized flag manifolds, connections with
a dynamical system, quantum mechanics and the dance of honeybee, 1998. Available at: https:
//math.cornell.edu/~oliver/Shipman.gif.
[2] Pitkänen M. General Theory of Qualia. In Bio-Systems as Conscious Holograms. Available at:
https:/tgdtheory.fi/pdfpool/qualia.pdf, 2006.
[3] Pitkänen M. Matter, Mind, Quantum. In TGD Inspired Theory of Consciousness. Available at:
https:/tgdtheory.fi/pdfpool/conscic.pdf, 2006.
[4] Pitkänen M. TGD Inspired Theory of Consciousness. Online book. Available at: https://www.
tgdtheory.fi/tgdhtml/tgdconsc.html., 2006.
[5] Pitkänen M. Quantum Mind and Neuroscience. In TGD based view about living matter and remote
mental interactions: Part I. Available at: https:/tgdtheory.fi/pdfpool/lianPN.pdf, 2012.
[6] Pitkänen M. Recent View about Kähler Geometry and Spin Structure of WCW . In Quantum
Physics as Infinite-Dimensional Geometry. Available at: https:/tgdtheory.fi/pdfpool/wcwnew.
pdf, 2014.
[7] Pitkänen M. Some questions related to the twistor lift of TGD. In Towards M-Matrix: Part II.
Available at: https:/tgdtheory.fi/pdfpool/twistquestions.pdf, 2019.
[8] Pitkänen M. The classical part of the twistor story. In Towards M-Matrix: Part II. Available at:
https:/tgdtheory.fi/pdfpool/twistorstory.pdf, 2019.
[9] Pitkänen M. Zero Energy Ontology. In Towards M-Matrix: part I. Available at: https:/tgdtheory.
fi/pdfpool/ZEO.pdf, 2021.
[10] Pitkänen M. Dark valence electrons and color vision. Available at: https:/tgdtheory.fi/public_
html/articles/colorvision.pdf., 2018.
[11] Pitkänen M. Quantum self-organization by hef f changing phase transitions. Available at: https:
/tgdtheory.fi/public_html/articles/heffselforg.pdf., 2019.
[12] Pitkänen M. Some comments related to Zero Energy Ontology (ZEO). Available at: https:
/tgdtheory.fi/public_html/articles/zeoquestions.pdf., 2019.
[13] Pitkänen M. A critical re-examination of M 8 − H duality hypothesis: part I. Available at: https:
/tgdtheory.fi/public_html/articles/M8H1.pdf., 2020.
[14] Pitkänen M. A critical re-examination of M 8 − H duality hypothesis: part II. Available at: https:
/tgdtheory.fi/public_html/articles/M8H2.pdf., 2020.
[15] Pitkänen M. The dynamics of SSFRs as quantum measurement cascades in the group algebra
of Galois group. Available at: https:/tgdtheory.fi/public_html/articles/SSFRGalois.pdf.,
2020.
[16] Pitkänen M. Some questions concerning zero energy ontology. https://tgdtheory.fi/public_
html/articles/zeonew.pdf., 2021.
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[17] Pitkänen M. What could 2-D minimal surfaces teach about TGD? https://tgdtheory.fi/public_
html/articles/minimal.pdf., 2021.
[18] Pitkänen M. About TGD counterparts of twistor amplitudes: part I. https://tgdtheory.fi/
public_html/articles/twisttgd1.pdf., 2022.
[19] Pitkänen M. About TGD counterparts of twistor amplitudes: part II. https://tgdtheory.fi/
public_html/articles/twisttgd2.pdf., 2022.
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public_html/articles/ZEOnumber.pdf., 2022.
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Breslauer, S., Nothingness, Fractal of Self & the Evolution of Embodied Pure Consciousness (Part I)
Exploration
Nothingness, Fractal of Self & the Evolution of
Embodied Pure Consciousness (Part I)
Sam Breslauer*
ABSTRACT
As outlined in the previous papers, I have reformulated non-dual presuppositions to show how
the nature of pure consciousness (Self), nested within an ultimate reality of Nothingness, has
natural qualities such as an inherent inseparable duality of oneness between Nothingness and
Self, infinite possibilities of Self experience, Self-discernment and Self value. From these core
axioms a structural and behavioural view of the universe can be logically conceived as a fractal
that unfolds from the unified dimension of Nothingness (0) / Self (1), giving rise to infinite
fractal dimensions that collectively provide a whole single evolving Self-perception of Self . This
paper moves in a logical sequence to the rise of life on this planet as ‘embodied pure
consciousness’, using principles of thermodynamics and the inherent Self-discerning, Selfvaluing and ‘attentive’ qualities of pure consciousness to make clear unified connections
between the behavior / structure of the universe itself with the inevitable planetary phenomena of
biologically evolving purely conscious life forms. With the logical rise of embodied pure
conscious organisms outlined in the first half of this paper, a self-evident explanation of the
evolutionary emergence of consciousness of the body and, in more recent evolutionary history,
of the mind, follows. Future implications for the evolution of embodied pure conscious rounds
the completion of this theory.
Part I of this two-part article includes: 1. Introduction; 2. The Thermodynamic Rise of Embodied
Pure Consciousness, aka ‘Life’; 3. Self-Discernment and Focused Awareness/Attention; 4.
Values of Life (VOL); 5. All Actualised Possibilities Exist Eternally as ‘Attentive Memory’; 6.
The Intelligent Self-Construction of The Mind Of Life; and 7. A Perspective on the SelfGenerating Nature of Pure Consciousness to ‘Learn’.
Keywords: Consciousness, nature, nothingness, fractal self, non-dual, Hinduism, existence.
1. Introduction
For billions of years, since the instant Pure Energy came into being, the Fractal of Self (FOS)
continuously unfolded exponentially giving rise to the structure of the universe we observe
today. The logical extension from the initial conditions put forward by the structure of this model
is that, during this time, immense dimensional development has been collapsing beyond the 8
dimensions (1 whole + 7 fractal dimensions, which were created in the first 3 fractal steps / time
windows of existence) giving rise to dimensionally complex forms, such as ‘life’ . One could
view the eternally unfolding of the FOS as the continual development of pure Self memory.
*Correspondence: Sam Breslauer, Independent Researcher, Australia. Email: sambres@hotmail.co.uk
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What I’m implying is the fundamental substance of the FOS can also be viewed as pure memory.
This universal pure memory is made essentially of actualised ‘forever attentively present’ pure
possibility created from free potentiality, which becomes structurally ordered and, thus, equally
integral to the functionality of the whole structure to continually unfold and know ever more
increasing ‘Self perceptual complexity’. We can then visualise reality wholly as The ‘Mind of
Nothingness / Self’ which consists of two inseperable parts; the FOS that continually actualises
as pure Self memory (ie the past) and infinite free potential possibility the FOS is eternally fed
by (ie the future). The present is obviously the reciprocal interface between these two aspects
(past/actaulised memory and future/potential possibilities) of the whole ‘Mind of
Nothingness/Self’.
When primordial life emerged on our planet, I posit that this was a natural result of the FOS
continually evolving orderly Self-dimensional differentiation, in realms beyond our objective
capacity to know, until the whole FOS structure of memory reached sufficient ‘perceptual
complexity’ that Self could experience Self objectively as life experiencing the universe. The
continuation of the universal behaviour of Self, as the ‘absolute singular existing whole’
producing an infinite array of differentiated percieving ‘selves / wholes’ (fractal dimensions of
the whole dimension), all of which are infinitely important to the ‘whole creation’, is highlighted
by Shanta (2015) in the context of the evolution of biological life. Shanta states, “in a healthy
body of multicellular organisms, every individual cell, despite having its own individuality, is
meant to work for the welfare of the whole body.
Similarly, Vedānta advocates that we are living in an ‘Organic Whole’ and every individual unit
of this whole is meant to dedicate itself for the satisfaction of the Centre- the adi-purusa or
primeval personal Absolute” (2015, p. 4). It is in light of these self-evident truths that Shanta
proclaims the requirement of a different biological perspective which assigns a fundamental role
to consciousness as the bridging principle to account for life’s subject-object unity and, thus,
bringing concepts like intelligence, mind, desire and free-will into the fold of a wholistic theory
of ‘life’ evolution (Shanta, 2015). This paper attempts to formulate such a theory.
It is logical to conclude then that the essential ‘behaviour’ of Self previously decribed in the first
half of this theory that governs the evolution of the universe should be the same ‘behaviour’ that
governs the evolution of Life. This notion is also reflected in Advaita Vedānta philosophy, where
‘Brahman’ (Self / Pure Universal Infinite Consciousness) is the nature of ‘Atman’; pure
consciousness in embodied form (Bhajanananda, 2010). Thus, there is no separation between
Brahman and Atman; Brahman is Atman. Barbour states when describing Liebnez’s Maximal
Variety Monadology model, which I view as mirroring FOS model, ‘physics will come to
resemble biology’ (2003, p. 54). The correlation between the evolving behaviour of the universe
and that of ‘living organisms’ are quickly becoming recognised in fields of science. For example,
Jeremy England, an assistant professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, has
formulated a ‘physics theory of life’, which claims the universal natural law of continually
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increasing entropy drives matter to acquire life-like physical properties (Wolchover, 2014). This
theory blurs the distinction between the animate and inanimate.
It is only when we have a larger contextual understanding of the fundamental structure and
behaviour of the universe / Self that we can start to logically understand the inevitability of life,
representing a highly ordered dimensionally complex branch of the FOS, rising from seemingly
nothing to continue the eternal journey of Self knowing Self in the field of infinite pure
possibility.
2. The Thermodynamic Rise of Embodied Pure Consciousness, aka ‘Life’
The notion that ‘physics will come to resemble biology’ is clearly demonstrated when we focus
on the ‘thermodynamic’ process of biological evolution.
‘Since high entropy-states are often associated with high disorder and ordered structures are
distinctive features of life, it is customarily thought that living processes work to reduce entropy
rather than increase it. However, no firm proof has been given and it has remained obscure what
prevents us from deriving characteristics of living matter from the fundamental principles. Is it a
missing concept or a misconception or something else?” (Sharma & Annila 2007, p 123).
The link between the biological evolution and thermodynamics has been long established. Erwin
Schrodinger, in his 1944 book What is Life?, explains that large scale processes of the universe
are largely due to small scale ‘chaos’ and calls this principle ‘order-from-disorder’ (Schrodinger,
1944). He explains that life, existing as an open system, counters internal decay of entropy by
homeostatically maintaining negative entropy AKA negentropy, which is the entropy defecit of
the ordered sub-system relative to its surrounding chaos (Schrodinger, 1944). From my
perspective, this fundamental biological process of life, homeostatically balancing between the
external chaotic and internal ordered informational environments, reflects the essential behaviour
of Self, collapsing order (actuality) from chaos (potentiality). Anilla and Anilla (2008) wrote an
insightful paper, Why Did Life Emerge? (2008), in which they go in to detail with regards to the
thermodynamic nature of biological evolution. Anilla & Anilla state,
‘According to thermodynamics evolution in its entirety is also a natural process driven by the
natural tendency to diminish differences among energy densities. Although the quest for higher
entropy has long been understood as the primus motor of evolution and is the emergent motive
for orderly mechanisms and hierarchal organizations, it nevertheless seems that the 2nd law has
not acquired unanimous recognition as the profound principle that governs also processes that we
refer to as living’ (p. 293).
Life’s natural tendency to diminish differences describes, in my view, the orderly behaviour of
Self actualising possibility into the FOS. Omni-present potential possibilities of Nothingness
(pure chaos) are unlimited in their degree of possible variation and, thus, potential complexity in
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the context of eternal time. This degree of potential freedom, bounded by the conditions all
previous / present fractal steps have enfolded, is always present in the experience of any
‘experiencer’ (embodied pure consciousness). Through the simple act of experiencing, an
‘experiencer’ collapses / transforms unlimited chaotic potentials into ordered actualized
possibilities that become simultaneously enfolded within already existent hierarchal memory
structure of the ‘experiencer’. The most fundamental act of being purely conscious, and thus
unfolding possibilities, limits the ‘unlimited nature’ of potential possibilities diminishing the
boundless degrees of freedom potentiality posses. The memory structure of living organisms
such potentials are collapsed and nested within, organizes itself autonomously to position
actualized possibilities in their most relevant heirarchial position in order to be best served in
future present moments to uphold the Values of Life (section 4). As free potential collapses,
diminishing unlimited potential differences, each unfolded unique individuated possibility is
utilised and becomes of ‘ inseparable unlimited value’ to the ‘Self knowing’ function of the
whole memory structure.
The 2nd principle of thermodynamics; ‘entropy of the entire universe, as an isolated system, will
always increase and never decrease over time’ (chem.libretexts.org, 2018), in my view, reflects
the evolution of the FOS as infinitely expanding actualised pure possibilities (order). Therefore,
as mentioned in my previous paper, I suggest that the increasing randomness of our universe
should not be viewed as increasing ‘chaos/disorder’ but rather increasingly complex ‘order’ in
the form of exponentially self-producing unique possibilities, all of which are different
expressions of order that have been actualised from the ever present unknown potentials of
Nothingness. I claim that omnipresent Nothingness is the only real source of ‘chaos/disorder’
that truly exists, which feeds the creation of accelerated order.
The continuous growth in ordered perceptual complexity of the ‘eternal present moment’
experienced by ‘life’, corresponding with the increased complexity of available options
(potentiality) for the next ‘now’, reflecting the essential behaviour of Self in my view, is
reflected well in this passage;
‘The primordial pool, the simple chemical systems having some abiotic substances in equilibrium
numbers N1 began to evolve when a reactional pathway that coupled external energy, opened up
and products Nj›₁ began to form. Then the high surrounding potential began to drain into the
system as substrates transformed to products. This raised the overall chemical potential of the
system towards that of high-energy radiation. Free energy kept diminishing and entropy
continued to increase when reactions yielded more and more products from substrates’ (Anilla &
Anilla 2008, p 296).
Anilla and Anilla also state that ‘life’ is a natural process, which ‘is a consequence of increasing
entropy, the quest to diminish free energy with no demarcation between the inanimate and
animate’ (2008, p. 297), describing what I see as the universal evolutionary process of the FOS
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arising from an ‘objectively unobservable wholly entangled dimensional realm’ into the world of
the ‘objectively percieved’ ancient 8 dimensions. The FOS essentially performs an ‘experiential
fractal loop’ and can objectively experience itself as the ‘external’ universe ‘through’ subjective
individual sub-experiencers made of this ‘wholly entangled dimensional complexity’, that is the
FOS. It becomes easier to see in this context how ‘life’ organisms are all ‘differentiated possibile
representations’ of the one underlying ‘mind/memory’ structure. I’m suggesting here that the
individual mind of a life form (‘Mind of Individuals’ or MOIs) is an existentially ancient fractal
branch stemming from differentiated ‘Mind of Species’ (MOS), which are fractal branches of
‘The Mind of Life’ (MOL), that stem from the absolute ‘Mind/Memory of Self’; aka FOS. All
scales / levels of fractal ‘mind/memory’ branches are organised wholly and hierarchically by the
only value that truly exists; knowing Self.
3. Self-Discernment and Focused Awareness/Attention
The possibility of ‘ individual life experiencers’ to evolve on our planet sets the stage for new
opportunities of exponential growth of pure Self possibility, as the ‘one Self-perception’ of
existence becomes ever more nested by the possibilities experienced by such selves of the Self;
the one who silently observes and creates all ‘existent experience’. The rise of ‘purely conscious
life experiencers’ on planet Earth, results from the raw memory of FOS, becoming embodied by
its own logically ordered Self possibility to objectively perceive it-Self as the anciently enfolded
eternally present pre-big bang pure possibilities that hold the underlying structure of the universe
together. I view, therefore, ‘life’ as ‘embodied pure consciousness’, which essentially creates the
possibility for Self to grow from out of its own Self structure to focus awareness back onto itself
‘objectively’, giving birth to new seed of infinite possibility. It is important to note here that the
word ‘objectivity’ is being used only for explanational purposes, as, fundamentally ‘seperation’
doesn’t exist. Therefore, the use of single quotation marks indicates this presupposition behind
the use of this term.
Embodied pure consciousness continues to Self discern upholding the essential value / behaviour
of Self by focusing awareness, through the bodily senses, on the ‘outer/objective’ experience.
The focus of awareness, AKA attention, therefore is a natural quality of all life forms, as a result
of the fact that life (pure consciousness), can only discerns pure consciousness (as the
‘outer/objective’ Self possibilities of the universe). From this perspective, we can then say that
the basic sole universal ‘purpose of life’ is to ‘objectively perceive’ and thereby innately
actualize countless pure Self possibilities. Pure attention is pure consciousness. Attention is
ultimately the result of the underlying quality of Self (life) to only discern / ‘be aware’ of Self
(universe) and exists as the central behaviour of ‘life’ to reflect the only value of Self; to know /
love Self. This inherent value structure of ‘life’ has already been formulated and given a
theoretical framework by the great work of the late Polish psychiatrist and philosopher Antoni
Kępiński, which will be given more attention in the next section. It is generally considered
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appropriate to assume that all living organisms naturally posses the ability to ‘pay attention’ in
order to facilitate survival and reproduction (Haladjian 2017), resulting in attentional patterns
present in all living organisms being heavily influenced by ancestral priorities (New, Cosmides,
Tooby 2007 & Öhman, 2007). This self-evident universal ‘feature’ of life becomes more
apparent when we consider that even single celled organisms can “cognitively read their
environment, analyze the received information and then execute the necessary action to continue
their survival” (Shanta, 2015).
Thus, I posit that a dissociation does not exist between attention and pure consciousness, as
attention is the very act of pure consciousness. The dissociation/association debate involving
attention and consciousness has been noted as a central issue in developing our understanding of
consciousness (Haladjian, 2015). Clearly, the way in which I have described ‘the nature of’and
defined pure consciousness and its embodiment of it-Self allows a unification of consciousness
and attention. The way in which consciousness is defined and accepted in the global scientific
community often refers to the consciousness of self as a body/mind experiencer and being
essentially ‘separate’ from the objective experience. It is this perspective that has limited our
perception of the nature of consciousness and, thus, its definition. The logical rise of purely
conscious life forms being conscious of their own consciousness (ie Homo sapiens) will be
addressed later in this paper.
4. Values of Life (VOL)
As previously mentioned, the rise of ‘embodied pure consciousness’ plants the explosive
possibility of the MOL to evolve. The MOL is a fractal of ‘purely conscious possibility’ that
possess’ unlimited potentials to manifest it-Self into seemingly separate individual life forms.
The MOL has been explored scientifically by many individual humans in the past but most
notably, in my opinion, by Carl Jung. Jung coined the phrase ‘collective unconscious’ and saw
that the memory that structured these deep aspects of the human mind were shared by all humans
and represented a reservoir of experiences of our species (Fournier, 2018). I completely agree
with the existence of Jung’s ‘collective unconscious’ and within the context of this theory makes
up the majority of the fractal ‘life’ branch I will name ‘Mind of Human’ (MOH).
The essential behaviour of purely conscious life, that is to pay attention to the present ‘outer’
unfolding possibilities that make up one’s experience in order to maintain survival and
reproduction, makes perfect logical sense when we understand the larger context in which the
‘phenomena of life’ is nested inside of. So, Self only values the knowing of Self through the act
of infinitely unfolding / enfolding pure Self possibilities simply by being inseparably aware of
such infinite Self possibility. Therefore, this innate sole value that pure consciousness posses’
means that the absolute priority that drives life as a powerful solution to attentively unfold
‘objective’ pure possibility is to keep life experience alive. To ensure the value of Self is
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prioritised, the very top values of the MOL are obviously survival and subsequently
reproduction. It is these two values that stem from the absolute value of Self, that I refer to as the
‘Values of Life’ (VOL). Therefore, the fractal hierarchy that is the MOL is a Self-generating
structure based fundamentally on the VOL. Homeostasis is the state at which the inner
equilibrium of an individual organisms body is experienced, which occurs when the VOL are
being competently carried out.
The sensation of experiencing homeostasis corresponds with a feeling of alignment with the
deepest value of embodied pure consciousness; to keep life alive and thus experience / love Self.
‘To keep experience alive’ and thus act in a goal-oriented manner in order to maintain ‘species
preservation’ is a natural characteristic of life, manifesting in anatomical structures being
unaltered, even over periods of hundreds of millions of years, which is known as ‘stasis’ in the
fossil record (Shanta, 2015). Further, “in molecular genetics, organisms will deliberately and
aggressively act to correct or destroy random mutational changes” (Shanta, 2015). Therefore
life’s natural value to preserve itself offers a significant counter-perspective to Darwinian
Gradualism, which insists on random mutations within insentient mechanical and chemical
systems as being solely responsible for the gradual evolution of more complex organisms
(Shanta, 2015).
Vedānta philosophy also explicity supports the notion that all life, as embodied pure
consciousness, shares the same inherent value system (VOL) in order to ensure the continuation
of unfolding / enfolding infinitely climbing pure possibilities through body / mind ‘objective’
perceptions of itself. Shanta states,
According to Vedānta, the soul (ātman) possesses the quality of sat, cit and ānanda. All life
exhibits these same qualities. Every living organism wants to maintain life forever (sat) and is
willing to engage in the struggle for existence until it is forced by the laws of material nature to
succumb to physical death of the body. The fact that life goes on generation after generation for
thousands or millions of years is not something we could expect in chemical or physical
processes. It is sentient ot conscious (cit) and seeks knowledge in human form. And all life seeks
fulfillment (ānanda) through nutrition, and various other forms according to the spiritual
development of the soul (ātman) within different bodies. All these different symptoms give
evidence for the existence of the spiritual soul (ātman), for they are certainly not the qualities of
matter (2015, p. 8).
This inherent value system enables individual life organisms to experientially build a hierarchal
memory of actualised pure possibilities with the most important experiential memories
(information), that allows the continual increase of competence for the individual to act out the
VOL in the ongoing present moment, structured ‘at the top’ of the memory/mind fractal. VOL
are what directly controls attention in the present moment, dictating ‘where’ to cast attention
within the ‘objective/outer’ perception of the world in order to effectively survive and reproduce.
This notion of attention being directly linked to biological values is reflected in Kępiński’s
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assertion that attention is actively directed, with the help of emotions, towards those
(environmental signals) related with two biological laws (Kępiński, 2001).
Such attentionally driven enactment of VOL is what I view as acting out pure morality, which
‘morality’, in this context, is simply to describe ‘right behaviour’ (that which is successful in
upholding the VOL) or ‘wrong behaviour’ (that which fails to uphold the VOL) based on a
system of principles and values (Collindictionary.com, 2018). ‘Morality’ expressed by highly
self-conscious creatures (humans) is a much more complicated phenomena to deconstruct as,
although the value structures that give rise to ‘moral behaviours’ in humans logically stem from
the one memory structure of VOL, the consciousness of being a value-driven body/mind
(creation of an ego) gives rise to conscious manipulation of sub-values based on separation
beliefs.
From my estimation, this inherent value system is precisely described in the model that Antoni
Kępiński formulated which describes the interaction between biological organisms and their
environment, called Information Metabolism (Kępiński, 2001). Kępiński recognised that the
number of processes occurring simultaneously in the organisms and its physical surrounds is
vitually infinite as are the amount of different ways these processes can be framed and, thus, a
hierarchy of values is necessary to integrate meaningfully the plethora of reciprocating
information that exists in the present moment (Kępiński, 2001). I see the way in which Kępiński
formulates this model is an amazingly detailed accurate description of how, in my assertion, pure
consciousness, in embodied form, records, organises and utilises raw information (pure
possibility) based on an ongoing learning process of ever-increasingly refined attentional
patterns to fulfill the VOL. I simply posit that Kępiński’s Information Metabolism model is
driven by the one fundamental value behind the two core biological values; Self naturally
wanting to know and thus love Self.
5. All Actualised Possibilities Exist Eternally as ‘Attentive Memory’
When the MOL was conceived by the FOS and began to Self-evolve as differentiated MOS and
further as MOIs, all pure possibilities brought into actualized being by the existence of the
‘orderly bodies’ reciprocally collapsing ‘outer/objective’ possibilities the ‘inner/subjective’ mind
structure, are recorded/enfolded and organised hierarchically based on each differentiated
possibilitie’s relevance (competence value) to the maintenance of VOL. Each actualized pure
possibility / piece of information is then always present, holding the utility to be called upon
when necessary from then forth as attentive memory.
It is important to understand that all possibilities unfolded by ‘life experiencers’ is a result of free
potentiality being actualised by focused awareness/attention and therefore remains eternally
from that moment on in an ‘attentive state’ as the structure of the perception of the present
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moment. Thus, I posit that the entirety of all subjective / ‘objective’ experience, made of
differentiated individual pure possibilities, experienced by all life experiencers from the
beginning of the MOL to the present are eternally captured and forever existent as the memory of
Life and of Self (FOS). The philosophical presupposition 2.9 outlined in the first paper of this
theory (‘potential possibilities of reality can only unfold and become actual in the presence of an
observer’), scientifically described as the ‘observer effect’, is clearly at play here, as we can see
that attention creates reality.
If this notion holds true then we can view the present moment, experienced by ‘Life’, as the
point at which the unknown (infinite potentialities of Nothingness) becomes known (attentive
actualised possibilities) transformed by attention (pure consciousness / Self). This ‘essential
behaviour’ of Self supports Julian Barbour’ view in his book ‘The End of Time’ (2000) that,
“Creation becomes something that is equally inherent in every instant”.
6. The Intelligent Self-Construction of The Mind Of Life
The model of consciousness I have proposed thus far sets up the necessary configuration of
possibility to see clearly how ‘life’, essentially controlled by the VOL, self-generates the ability
to solve the ongoing problems of ‘body / mind’ vulnerabilities by continually storing, integrating
and utilising experienced information (actualised pure possibility) and, thus, evolving ‘overall
life intelligence’ in the eternal present moment.
My intention here is to give a larger perspective on how pure consciousness has evolved as the
evolution of ‘life experience’, including how it has given rise to highly self-aware organisms,
such as Homo sapiens. Therefore, because of the limited scope of this paper I will not go into
detail in regards to patterned informational interplay between the actualised structure of memory
(MOL / FOS) and the infinite field of potentiality, as I believe these behavioural processes are
already, although by no means completely, well understood in fields such as neuroscience,
quantum biology, neurobiology and neuropsychology, to name a few. As I’ve mentioned, Antoni
Kepinski’s Information Metabolism model is a great description, in my view, of the functional
nature of pure embodied consciousness.
However, a study performed by two researchers from NYU, Nikolay Kukushkin and Thomas
Carew, resulting in the paper ‘Memory Takes Time’ (2017), I see as giving valuable perspective
into the operative functions of the pure consciousness and the subsequent construction of the
MOL.
I think Kukushkins and Carew’s view of ‘memory’ corresponds with how I’ve described the
MOL, being an ever-present attentive hierarchal structure of individualised differentiated
information accumulated experientially by attention-based behavioural patterns dictated by the
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VOL to ensure the continuation of ‘perception’, which all MOIs are nested within. Kukushkin
and Carew define ‘memory’ as;
‘any perturbation in a system, caused by an external stiumulation, which persists past the
cessation of the initial stiumulation and alters the system’s responsiveness to subsequent
stimulation. Thus memory, in the broadest of terms, is an adaptation to the past’, also stating, ‘in
biological systems, memory underlies the ability to adapt behaviour to experience and thus allows
an organism to increase its fitness ontogenetically. As Schacter and colleagues put it “remembers
the past to imagine the future” (Kukushkin & Carew 2017, p 1&2).
Kukushkin and Carew, thus, view the constant adaptability of memory to be understood
by viewing the structure of memory not of consisting of specific unique temporal domains but as
a holistic, dynamic hierarchically structure of ‘time windows’ that are able to represent nested
temporal meaningful information from past experience simultaneously that span millisecond to
years in order to modify ongoing behaviour (Kukushkin & Carew, 2017). I posit that this view of
‘memory’ accurately describes how attentive embodied pure consciousness creates it-Self as
pure memory, capturing the ongoing collapsing of ‘time windows’, each which contain the entire
plethora of present pure inner/outer unfolded/enfolded possibilities of a single perception/time
window. This cyclic interaction between the perceiver and what is percieved represent everpresent active construction process of MOIs that make up the MOS of the MOL. Again, the
paper ‘Memory Takes Time’ deserves more attention in regards to the insightful information it
presents and how it connects to this theory but we will continue to move forward towards the
completion of this theory.
In light of the great work of many insightful individuals I have mentioned within the
context of this theory, I view it as self-evident how long-term memory is formed. Those
experiences that are significant in relation to bringing an individual organism back in line with
homeostasis (VOL), are stored and are ‘attentively present’ and easily utilised from there forth as
one’s long-term memory. More accurately, this information is stored high up in the holistic
fractal hierarchy of the VOL, of which all MOIs are inseparable from, making such experiential
information easily accessible in similar problem solving situations over long periods of time.
Information stored high in the VOL / MOL hierarchy obviously includes those experiences that
represent ‘most competent’ successful attentional patterns that allow the ‘easier’ achievement of
VOL but also those experiences that have resulted in ‘mistakes’, where an individual’s ability
uphold the VOL were threatened. Valuing these two types of contrasting but equally important
information facilitates the constant evolution of ‘problem solving’ competence in relation to
survival and reproduction. The whole structure of the MOL, however, is constantly expanding
and being constantly reconfigured based on ‘new’ experiences of the ongoing present moment
experienced by a plethora of all various ‘life experiencers’, of whom collectively make-up the
MOL.
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7. A Perspective on the Self-Generating Nature of Pure Consciousness to
‘Learn’
The act of ‘focused awareness’ (attention), is to increase the likelihood of survival and
reproduction, which implies misinterpretation of experience, or ‘mistakes’, are inevitable, as
chaos (free potentiality) is always present. The self-evident notion that the present moment is the
interface between ‘known Self’ (actualized possibilities) and ‘unknown Nothingness’ (potential
possibility), means that survival is a constant ‘learning process’ of continually refining how to
best utilise one’s attention to focus on the continually changing ‘most important’ aspect of the
‘outer’ present moment.
Therefore, ‘mistakes’ are naturally going to occur as all ‘life’ lives on the border of the known
and unknown. ‘Mistakes’; experiences of paying attention to aspects of the ‘outer’ experience
that are sub-optimal in promoting survival and reproduction, resulting in ‘shocking’ experiences
where the VOL are threatened’, are enfolded as ‘significant memory moment’. These moments
add layers of crucial detail high up in the value system of the individual organism (long-term
memory). Such mistakes do not ‘fit well’ with the current ‘memory model’ of the individual
organism’s structure of prior experiences, controlled fundamentally by the VOL. This causes a
‘significant learning moment’, resulting in the restructuring of hierarchal information to fully
integrate and enfold such ‘newly known’ highly important information and, thus, changes
behaviourally what ‘outer’ possibilities recieve ‘priority attention’, reflecting an increase in
efficiency with regards to carrying out the VOL.
As a result, corrective behaviours emerge to allow attentive patterns to change in order to seek
possibilities that increase the likelihood of keeping ‘life experience’ alive, upholding the ultimate
value, to know Self. A realignment of information occurs within the MOI to regain homeostasis
aligned with the VOL. This realignment of one’s mind to integrate crucial newly aware
information into the already established known information, is what continually increases the
perceptive resolution of possibilities present in one’s experience.
In other words, when mistakes are made, a ‘jolt’ of misalignment reverberates through the
hierarchal mind, which settles once newly reconfigured alignment of information has been
rectified. If the individual is still alive, those deeper hierarchal layers, that haven’t been
compromised, still ‘hold true’, thus, controlling the integration of new critical knowledge in line
with these deeper/ higher layers, reconstructing these ‘shallower / lower’ layers of information
and giving rise to improved attentional discernment related to the VOL.
When perceived problems arise that threaten the ability for one to act out VOL (ie when one’s
life is threatened) the ‘meaning’ of that moment is of high significance, as the critical
memories/information at the top of the values hierarchy are highly stimulated. This results in the
possibilities unfolded in the ‘outer’ experience of this particular meaningful moment in time
being enfolded within one’s long-term memory, which is where information, that is ‘most
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significant’ to inform ‘intelligent use of attention’ is accessed from. Therefore, when such an
individual percieves a similar ‘life threatening’ problem in the future, the ‘new’ knowledge
constructed from the previous similar experience, existing high up in the hierarchal MOI,
informs ‘attentional direction’ and subsequently express’ behaviours that are ‘more competent’
to uphold the VOL.
The meaningful stimulation of values high up in the MOIs, of course, also occur when an
individual experiences ‘insights’ as a result of successful patterns of attentional behaviour. Such
experiences would also be made of significant information that is layed down as long-term
memory, high up in the hierarchy of the VOL, allowing the individual to access this information
efficiently in the future to reenact such successful attentive patterns of behaviour. These two
complimentary learning processes of storing significantly important information in the easily
accessible top levels of the VOL (long-term memory store), as a result of experiencing mistakes
and insights, is what I see as the natural process of pure consciousness learning and expanding
Self-intelligence to continual improve one’s fitness to survive, reproduce and unfold ever
growing pure possibility.
(Continued on Part II)
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Research Essay
A System Dynamics Approach to Modelling an
Economy Based on Actions of Kindness
Florian Schübeler, Enya Zhuang, Jeffery Jonathan (Joshua) Davis*
ישוע
The Embassy of Peace, Whitianga, New Zealand
Abstract
In this paper we explore the possibility of an economy based on actions of kindness with the aid
of system dynamics and systems modelling. We describe what we consider the most relevant
elements of such a system of relationships that allows for the exploration of such an economic
paradigm to be manifested and sustainable for small, medium and large populations of humaninter-associations. We consider human interaction based on such a currency of exchange (actions
of kindness) to be another complementary part, together with our previous work on inner peace
and social harmony, toward the manifestation of the ancient dream of planetary peace and the
Peace Propagation Process. We also introduce the reader to a set of terms (soft and hard
variables) that are fundamental parts associated with the system‟s driving forces, which allow the
reader to deepen his or her understanding of the synergistic effects of the human spirit (spiritual
values) and its interaction with physical intentional actions based on the creation of individual
and collective knowledge and meaning that underlie any successful endeavour of community,
together with a long term vision towards a better and more harmonious planetary arrangement.
Keywords: Actions of kindness, economy, system dynamics, modelling, inner peace, peace
propagation, social harmony.
Introduction
Throughout at least the last six thousand years of history, many humans and cultures have
pursued inner peace and social harmony. Inwardly, inner peace has been described as a state of
being peace [1-2], which is often associated to a relationship with The Creator, and ideally
allows for the embodiment of spiritual values that are expressed outwardly through interactions
and relationships with others and the environment.
Based on many texts of ancient and modern wisdom [3-6], and modern science and philosophy
[7-11], we conjecture that as people mature and unite for a vision of peace and share it with a
commitment that is translated ethically and morally as the foundation for social harmony, this
will manifest in social dynamics with profound effects in political, economic and management
science and the use of technology without precedent.
It seems to us that this is a relatively gradual transformation, though it can accelerate for periods
of time. In any case, it must take place first on a small scale and from there move integratively to
* Correspondence: c/o Sarah Frew, The Embassy of Peace, Whitianga, New Zealand. E-mail: science@theembassyofpeace.com
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a larger scale, from the individual to the family, the community, the city, and then nation and
eventually planetary wide. Every level in this nested hierarchy and network of complexity ought
to contribute in this process in multiple feedback loops [12].
In modern days, to design an economy based on peace and actions of kindness, for short, an
Actions of Kindness based Economy, we would need to combine energy and land management
with a science based technology and integrate that with a values based decision making process
[13].
It seems to us that only then will we start to move to this kind of scenario, whereby humanity
may enjoy a long period of individual wellbeing and social harmony. This process can be
described systemically with the aid of system dynamics diagrams, in order to gain insight into
the complexities and better understand policies and courses of action to achieve such a vision.
This is the purpose of this work.
The first part of this paper will deal with a detailed description of the system and its feedback
loops. In the second part we will focus on analysis and the different kinds of dynamics that such
a system may display. Finally, we will mention future perspectives and the potential use of this
seminal model for a small community. This, we conjecture, will support the process of
exploration and understanding of the dynamics of larger groups of people in cities or nations
with cultural diversity who would embrace an Actions of Kindness (AoK) economy based system.
We foresee that such an endeavour will better equip mankind in guiding the destiny of humanity
towards more peaceful scenarios.
Before continuing with the reading of this paper, we recommend the reader to take a moment and
familiarise him or herself with the terms, concepts and variables used as they are defined in the
glossary at the end of this paper.
Description of the system
Here we first introduce an overview of the complete model, followed by a detailed description of
the key feedback loops of the system and some of the relationships between variables.
It is important to note that the state variable or level Inner Peace (IP), is part of the Level of
Inner Peace Subsystem (LIPS) in the model presented here, and has been previously described
and modelled in [1] and therefore it could be included as a set of projections of possible
scenarios or as the whole subsystem LIPS, as part of a larger model.
Diagram 1 portrays a set of relationships between relevant aspects of this system as follows:
Actions of Kindness (AoK), Perceived Kindness (PK), Perceived Kindness Dissipation (PKD), Time
Dissipation Delay (TDD), Inner Peace Time Delay Factor (IPTDF), Salient Factor (SF), Level of Inner
Peace Subsystem (LIPS), Net Carrying Capacity Threshold for AoK (CCTA), Individual Threshold for
AoK (IT), Number of People in the Community (NPC), Carrying Capacity Threshold for Number of
People (CCTP), Quality of Community Space (QCS), Rate of new People Entering the Community (REC),
Rate of Resignation from the Community (RRC), Basic Needs & Comfort Factor (BNCF), and Resource
Availability Factor (RAF).
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Diagram 1
Diagram 1. displays an Actions of Kindness (AoK) economy based system dynamics model with its reinforcing (+) and
counterbalancing (-) feedback loops as a design for future simulation models.
The element PK is a main level (state variable) of this system while AoK, for example, represents
a flow (rate of change) that influences the behaviour of the level of PK. Also, we can appreciate
that LIPS influences AoK. It is important to note that the level of IP is a state variable that has
been treated and described thoroughly in previous work [1].
From the above Diagram 1, we have identified eight (8) feedback loops as follows:
1. Positive feedback loop concerning Actions of Kindness; an increase in AoK causes an
increase in PK and an increase in PK in turn causes an increase in AoK.
Diagram 1.1 Causal-loop diagram of the relationship
between AoK and PK.
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2. Negative feedback loop concerning Perceived Kindness Dissipation; an increase in PK
causes an increase in PKD and an increase in PKD causes a delayed decrease in PK.
Diagram 1.2 Causal-loop diagram describing the effect
of PKD on PK and vice versa.
3. Positive feedback loop concerning Time Dissipation Delay and Salient Factor; an
increase in PK causes an increase in SF and an increase in SF causes an increase in TDD,
leading to a decrease in PKD, then feeding back to an increase in PK.
Diagram 1.3 displays the positive feedback loop that describes
the dynamics of the state variable PK and its circular
reinforcing relationship with SF, TDD and PKD.
4. Positive feedback loop concerning Level of Inner Peace Subsystem; an increase in PK
causes an increase of the variable Quality of the Environment which is part of LIPS and
such an increase eventually will cause an increase in Inner Peace Time Delay Factor
(IPTDF) through the variable IP which is also part of LIPS. This in turn causes an
increase in TDD, leading to a decrease in PKD and then feeding back to an increase in
PK. It is important to remember that LIPS could be substituted with the variable IP for
simplicity, always keeping in mind that IP is affected by many other variables and factors
[1] apart from the ones included in the AoK system. The causal relationship between PK
and LIPS is established through Quality of the Environment (a variable in LIPS), which is
directly influenced by PK in the same direction. Hence the relationship between PK and
LIPS is illustrated with a dashed line and a positive sign as shown in Diagram 1.4.
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Diagram 1.4 displays the circular causal influences
involving the different variables that contribute to the
development of PK including the subsystem LIPS.
5. A positive feedback loop concerning Quality of Community Space and Number of People
in the Community; an increase in AoK causes an increase in PK and an increase in PK
causes an increase in QCS. An increase in QCS causes an increase in REC, which in turn
increases NPC and this leads to an increase in CCTA, feeding back to an increase in AoK.
Diagram 1.5 causal loop that describes the dynamics of QCS and NPC, in a
circular causal relationship with AoK and PK.
6. A positive feedback loop concerning Rate of Resignation from the Community; an
increase in AoK causes an increase in PK and an increase in PK causes an increase in
QCS. An increase in QCS causes a decrease in RRC, which in turn causes an increase in
NPC and this causes an increase in CCTA, feeding back to an increase in AoK in the
community.
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Diagram 1.6 shows the positive feedback loop that governs the
behaviour of RRC and AoK.
7. Negative feedback loop concerning Quality of Community Space and Rate of new People
Entering the Community; a decrease in NPC causes an increase in QCS. An increase in
QCS causes an increase in REC and this in turn feeds back to an increase in NPC.
Diagram 1.7 depicts the negative feedback loop that shapes
the dynamics of QCS, REC and NPC towards an equilibrium
or an oscillatory behaviour.
8. Negative feedback loop concerning Basic Needs & Comfort Factor; a decrease in BNCF
causes a decrease in REC. A decrease in REC eventually causes a decrease in NPC and
this in turn feeds back to an increase in BNCF.
Diagram 1.8 shows the influence of BNCF on REC
as part of a negative feedback loop.
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The variable BNCF indirectly influences the elements of PK and AoK through NPC. BNCF is
influenced and restricted by RAF and NPC. When this negative loop gains dominance, the
system will display a reduction or even a reverse in growth and initially result in a decrease in
NPC. This will in turn cause, in parallel, an increase in QCS via the restriction imposed by RAF,
while also causing a decrease in QCS via a decrease in AoK.
Overall, AoK and PK would each be affected by QCS, which as already explained, can fluctuate
both by the influence of AoK and RAF via NPC. It is important to mention that if the community
succeeds to provide for the basic needs and comforts of its members then the system will display
a positive growth also restricted by its carrying capacity and resource restriction.
Analysis of the system and system dynamics model
In the previous section we described the causal relationships of the elements of the model and
now we will analyse its dynamics. The structure of the system determines the behaviour of the
system, and from the model we can observe that for as long as the positive feedback loops
remain dominant, the system will continue to grow, resulting in a continuous increase of AoK
[14]. However, our model also contains a few balancing feedback loops, which may cause the
system to oscillate and ideally to stabilise or find some form of metastability [15].
In the first part of our analysis, we focus on the left-hand side of the model, shown in Diagram
1.9.
Diagram 1.9 shows the left-hand section of Diagram 1 and illustrates the dynamics concerning
community development and its implications for AoK.
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We will start our analysis with one (1) of these negative feedback loops. One (1) possible
relationship between BNCF and NPC is shown in Figure 1.
Figure 1 displays the oscillating behaviour of BNCF (orange dashed
line) and NPC (blue line). The values on the x-axis represent time (t)
and the values on the left y-axis represent the number of people in the
community and the right y-axis displays BNCF between zero (0) and
one (1). The values for t and NPC are arbitrary and were chosen for
illustrative purposes.
Here we can appreciate the alternating and out of phase behaviour of the two (2) graphed
variables. As NPC increases BNCF starts to decrease. This means, less people have their basic
needs met in terms of, for example, food, infrastructure and electricity, via the influence of RAF.
A community living on a piece of land will meet a limit on food production capacity and
therefore how many people it can sustain. A decrease of BNCF potentially leads to a drop of
NPC, which in turn leads to an increase in BNCF that, without any other influences, would cause
the system to display an oscillatory behaviour, as shown in Figure 1. It is important to note that a
community has several mechanisms at its disposal to alter such an oscillatory behaviour and
achieve a significant reduction in the amplitude values of the oscillations together with a careful
balance between an increase and decrease in frequency, ideally leading to an optimum. A
complex system like this one may enter a metastable regime, leading to an equilibrium or a set of
equilibriums as time goes by. This, we conjecture, could lead to a more stable and desirable
behaviour of the system, accompanied by a wiser land-energy management strategy, together
with a vibrant community environment. Furthermore, the community may implement policies
that prevent a continuous and explosive growth pattern and therefore further stabilise the system
until the next cycle of growth is carefully planned.
Figure 2 shows the dynamics of a set of growth cycles carefully planned to allow for a wise use
and increase of the resources available to cope with more growth. Every cycle of growth is
restricted by a carrying capacity that eventually is met until the proper planning and new
resources take effect. Note that as the system is ready to grow in NPC, there is an increase in
resources available, which allows it to cope efficiently with the initial growth for every cycle.
With this understanding we can now move on to analyse the relationship between AoK, NPC and
QCS. We will introduce three (3) different scenarios of the system‟s behaviour, which are
depicted in Figure 3, 4 and 5.
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Figure 2 shows the oscillating behaviour of BNCF (orange dashed
line) and the periodic growth process of NPC (blue line). The values
on the x-axis represent time (t) and the values on the left y-axis
represent the number of people in the community and the right y-axis
displays BNCF between zero (0) and one (1). The values for t and
NPC are arbitrary and were chosen for illustrative purposes.
In Figure 3, we depict a scenario where the carrying capacity and therefore the limits of the
system are ignored and as a consequence of that we observe an overshoot and collapse scenario
since the system has grown beyond its limit [16-17]. The variable NPC grows exponentially and
initially is accompanied by an exponential growth of AoK and QCS. However, when NPC is
allowed to grow unchecked and the maximum carrying capacity for NPC is reached, the growth
process eventually reverts with a steep decline accompanied by a similar drop of AoK and QCS.
Figure 3 depicts the exponential growth followed by a steep decline
and potential stabilisation at a very low value of NPC (blue line), AoK
(pink dashed line) and QCS (green dashed & dotted line). The values
on the x-axis represent time (t), the values on the left y-axis represent
the number of people in the community and the number of actions of
kindness performed and the right y-axis displays QCS between zero
(0) and one (1). The values for t, NPC and AoK are arbitrary and were
chosen for illustrative purposes.
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Such a scenario occurs if the number of people is allowed to grow too fast and too close to the
maximum carrying capacity, most likely the consequence of short term linear thinking that
follows the idea of more people in the community equals more AoK, together with a situation
where the effects of the negative feedback loop are inconsequential for a period of time. For
example, when there is a great amount of resources readily available and being consumed
without consideration for replenishment, allowing the community to grow quickly without a
noticeable impact on the resources available for a limited period of time. However, after a period
of prolonged growth, the people in the community can no longer be sustained by the available
resources and the previously unchecked growth now would leave, for example, the land
resources depleted, which compromises food production and therefore the community would no
longer be able to sustain itself or provide the proper quality of space based on AoK. The same
principle applies to other resources such as housing, energy and water amongst others. This now
eminent lack of resources leads to a sharp decline of BNCF and the negative feedback loop
begins to operate with its full strength and the consequences thereof we can observe in the steep
decline or collapse of NPC, AoK and QCS.
Since such a system of behaviour is undesirable, a possible response that may come to mind in
order to avoid such an outcome is depicted in Figure 4. Here we can observe a continuous cycle
of oscillations where the system neither collapses nor stabilises.
Figure 4 illustrates the oscillatory behaviour of NPC (blue line), AoK
(pink dashed line) and QCS (green dashed & dotted line). The values
on the x-axis represent time (t), the values on the left y-axis represent
the number of people in the community and the number of actions of
kindness performed and the right y-axis displays QCS between zero
(0) and one (1). The values for t, NPC and AoK are arbitrary and were
chosen for illustrative purposes.
Such system behaviour is possibly the consequence of a „letting things run‟ approach. In such a
scenario NPC rises and brings about an increase of AoK accompanied by an increase in QCS,
which in turn leads to a further increase in NPC. However, as we have shown in Figure 3, such
an increase when left unchecked will eventually lead to a decrease in BNCF and subsequently to
a decrease in NPC, which leads to a decrease of AoK that in turn causes a decrease in QCS,
which once again further contributes to a decrease in NPC. Eventually NPC will fall below a
certain threshold, which allows for BNCF to rise again sufficiently in order to then see NPC also
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rise again and repeat the cycle described above, hence entering into an ongoing cycle of
oscillations, where the drops could be attenuated by preventing the system to reach values too
close to carrying capacity, as shown in Figure 4. These oscillations may vary in frequency and
amplitude depending on the resilience and flexibility that the community displays when faced
with the above described challenges.
Following in Figure 5, we introduce the reader to a scenario with a stable and hence far more
desirable outcome. Here we can observe cycles that consist of a period of exponential growth
followed by a period of zero growth. Those zero growth periods are essential in order to stabilise
the process, prepare for the next cycle of growth and avoid the undesirable behaviours we
observed in the previous two (2) scenarios. Such a stabilisation process, for example, can be
achieved by the implementation of carefully designed policies and equally carefully applied
management strategies and technologies as already mentioned previously. The commitment and
governing value system of the community will be reflected in this decision making process.
Some communities, for example, may have their foundations in spiritual values and a
harmonious relationship with the land and wildlife, and therefore condition their growth to have
a low ecological impact while guaranteeing food for every member of the community, as well as
a peaceful place to be. To achieve that, the community needs to carefully plan a gradual and well
thought-through growth process.
Figure 5 shows the cyclic behaviour of NPC (blue line), AoK (pink
dashed line) and QCS (green dashed & dotted line). The values on the
x-axis represent time (t), the values on the left y-axis represent the
number of people in the community and the number of actions of
kindness performed and the right y-axis displays QCS between zero
(0) and one (1). The values for t, NPC and AoK are arbitrary and were
chosen for illustrative purposes.
As we have described before, QCS is influenced by NPC. QCS increases via an increase in AoK
catalysed by an increase of NPC, which raises the vibrancy of the community causing more
people to participate in AoK. Meanwhile, as we have observed previously, NPC can also cause a
decrease of QCS, since QCS is restricted by CCTP and RAF. When NPC approaches its carrying
capacity threshold it causes QCS to decrease, since for example, more people results in a greater
need for dwellings and more food that together affect QCS, causing it to drop.
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Diagram 1.10 displays the system diagram of the model as shown in Diagram 1, however, here with
an additional reinforcing connection between NPC and RAF. The purple dashed line displays this
addition to Diagram 1 and the resulting two (2) positive feedback loops are also shown in purple.
However, we could also consider the possibility that an increase in NPC could result in a higher
RAF, since a community with more people could potentially perform more actions of kindness,
which in turn would result in an increase of available resources (for example, infrastructure,
food, etc.) that now become available to the community. Such an increase in resources would
lead to a raised CCTP value, which in turn would cause an increase in QCS. Such a relationship
has been illustrated by the purple dashed line in Diagram 1.10. This proposed additional causal
relationship between NPC and RAF could bring about a situation where more people no longer
automatically result in a decrease of the quality experienced in the community. The increase in
AoK is a reflection of the increased cooperation amongst community members and vice versa,
together with an increase of service to one another.
Diagram 1.11 shows the right-hand section of Diagram 1 and illustrates the dynamics
concerning inner peace and perceived kindness, and their influence on AoK.
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In the previous three (3) scenarios of our analysis we have focused on the relationship of the
variables NPC and QCS, and their impact on the actions of kindness performed in the system, a
relationship that is depicted predominantly on the left-hand side of our model in Diagram 1. In
this second part of our analysis we shift our attention to the right-hand side of the model as
shown in Diagram 1.11.
In the following analysis, we have chosen to model IP as a set of projections of possible
scenarios rather than using LIPS and here we present two (2) possible scenarios of how IP affects
AoK and PK.
In the following scenario displayed in Figure 6, we assume a community where IP is relatively
low, stationary and initially found in a state where AoK and PK were at a peak, however, with a
significant outflow of highly developed spiritual people. Such a scenario may represent a
community which is left with members that show very little spiritual maturity and whose
attention is focused predominantly on survival needs with a dose of common goodwill [18]. Such
a community would perform relatively few actions of kindness, since generally speaking, its
members lack spiritual maturity and high levels of altruism that have their foundation in high
levels of IP, and that is a prerequisite for high levels of AoK. Furthermore, small levels of AoK
cause PK to diminish and when coupled with a low level of IP leads to a decrease in IPTDF.
This in turn leads to a decrease in TDD and eventually causes PK to dissipate more quickly. Low
levels of PK will cause smaller SF values as a consequence of a drop in AoK and PK values,
which will further decrease TDD and lead to the dissipation of PK even more quickly. Figure 6
displays the dynamic relationship of IP, PK and AoK for the above described scenario.
Figure 6 illustrates the steep decline of PK (green line) and AoK (pink
dashed line) triggered by a decrease of IP (orange dashed & dotted
line). The values on the x-axis represent time (t), the values on the left
y-axis represent the number of actions of kindness performed and the
kindness perceived by the members of the community and the right yaxis displays IP. The values for t, PK and AoK are arbitrary and were
chosen for illustrative purposes.
It is important to note that even the presence of only one (1) highly spiritually evolved man or
woman (a righteous being, a Tzadik or Tzadikah) could significantly impact the community‟s
capacity to perform actions of kindness due to the transformative catalytic nature that such a
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righteous being may exert on the community. Such a process of growth in consciousness has
been described in previous work [18].
In another scenario as displayed in Figure 7, we have modelled a community that displays a
sudden increase in IP.
Figure 7 illustrates the steep increase of PK (green line) and AoK
(pink dashed line) triggered by a sudden increase of IP (orange dashed
& dotted line). The values on the x-axis represent time (t), the values
on the left y-axis represent the number of actions of kindness
performed and the kindness perceived by the members of the
community and the right y-axis displays IP. The values for t, PK and
AoK are arbitrary and were chosen for illustrative purposes.
In such a community, its members have reached a relatively high level of spiritual maturity
where the community is predominantly comprised of students of the higher spiritual laws as
explained in [18], showing a greater altruistic tendency above common goodwill. Such a
community, we would expect to perform high numbers of AoK as an expression of altruistic love
and care for their fellow human beings. Such an increase in AoK would cause PK to increase,
while the high level of IP also leads to an increase in IPTDF. This in turn leads to an increase in
TDD causing PK to dissipate more slowly. Moreover, high levels of PK will cause a larger SF,
which will further increase TDD and cause PK to dissipate even more slowly, resulting in more
actions of kindness performed.
Conclusion and Future Perspective
So far the analysis we have presented is illustrative of the two (2) main parts of the model which
need to be taken together as a whole. The “left side” of the model captures the more physical
aspects of the dynamics, while the “right side” captures the more spiritual aspects.
It is important to note that in ancient Israelite tradition, the left side of the Tree of Life is
attributed to the quality of Justice while Mercy is attributed to the right side. When we apply this
analogy to our model, we could view the left side to be connected to Justice and the harsh
corrections imposed by nature as a consequence of human behaviour, particularly when we abuse
Mercy and kindness without the proper understanding of the limit to exponential growth and the
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detrimental effects it can have in the system. In that regard, we have given an example of the
effects that the depletion of resources can have on a community in relationship to the dynamics
of AoK, as illustrated in Figure 3. We propose that we can connect the right side of our model to
the attribute of Mercy and its effect on how the attainment of Inner Peace contributes to an
increase of both AoK and PK and that comes with an admonition to properly manage the limits
of a physical system or community which is thriving on an economy based on AoK. As it has
been written, “There is no true justice unless mercy is part of it” [19] or, in other words, true
Justice always comes with the wise ministry of Mercy.
From our system description and analysis, we have already derived some valuable insights
regarding potential leverage points and courses of action that communities can utilise and
embark on to manifest an economy based on actions of kindness, as well as the synergies present
in the system, for example, the harmonisation of resource management and spiritual growth,
represented in our model by RAF and LIPS.
In our model we included LIPS as a set of projections of possible scenarios for IP rather than
including the whole subsystem LIPS. For future work we foresee the potential to model the
system dynamics described in this paper, including LIPS as a subsystem, as well as our above
mentioned community model. The community model could be inserted into this model of actions
of kindness where we currently find the variable QCS.
The scenarios we introduced in our analysis may serve the interested reader as a starting point for
some deeper reflection and pondering on the crucial question of what kind of world he or she
would like to live in and to pass on to future generations to come, as well as the question of how
to manifest such a world. We are convinced that one of the most important elements is a deep
foundation in spiritual values, or a personal relationship with The Creator, together with the
practical application of tools, such as system dynamics and management science, in order to
address the logistics of the delivery of human basic, intellectual and aesthetic needs.
Our preliminary analysis suggests that any community can and should, in principle, manage its
growth process diligently, always keeping in mind RAF and QCS in order to design a sustainable
and achievable growth process resulting in an increase of AoK without experiencing setback or
collapse scenarios. At the same time, our model emphasises the importance for each individual to
master Inner Peace, since it is a vital driving force for actions of kindness in the quest for social
harmony. We have identified the variables IP and AoK as two (2) of the potential key elements in
the system dynamics of this social and economic ideal.
It is important to note that such a shift in social and economic paradigms and structures will
require careful planning and diligence and will therefore be a gradual process from the
microscopic to the macroscopic human community. A possible beginning may be with some
individuals who inspire and support small communities to undergo such a transition. From here
the transition process can continue further to larger communities, regions, nations and eventually
the whole planet.
The economy of actions of kindness is simultaneously a service and an investment, since such
actions promote inner peace and social harmony and may further inspire others to participate,
while holding the potential of being a stepping stone towards planetary peace with active human
spiritual and biological agents who are self-governed and self-realised sovereign beings.
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The assumption posed by Adam Smith in the eighteenth century that the individual choices for
best self-interest will add up to the best collective interest, is now widely regarded inaccurate
[20-21] unless we consider the possibility that self-interest should be divorced from selfishness
and remarried to self-mastery, self-determination, self-responsibility and self-governance, as the
hallmarks of maturity to interact with others in self-governed communities. We need to
emphasise that the word „self‟ as used here, has a different connotation than any idea about a
model of self that is based on information processing only [22-23] and incorporates spiritual
values [7] that modulate human consciousness towards altruism and goodwill. This leads to the
notion that the economic model of actions of kindness proposed in this paper may serve as the
true solution to the economics of the best collective interest. The economy of actions of kindness
goes beyond pure economics and includes values, moral and ethical principles, transcending the
survival based and profit driven principles of the current economic system and would be
reflective of a human species evolving towards higher spiritual values, peace and holiness [9].
Acknowledgements: The team at The Embassy of Peace in Whitianga, New Zealand, would like to
acknowledge The Creator for being a continuous source of inspiration, inner peace and harmony to our
small societal community. We would also like to acknowledge the dedication and support of Sarah,
Keryn, Matthew, Carey, Shiloh and Kali for the completion of this work.
Glossary
Actions of Kindness (AoK):
An Action of Kindness is an event that entails an interaction between a giver and a recipient or receiver,
be it an individual or a group. Such an action stands as an opportunity to do good and have a positive
impact primarily for the recipient, however, also with a spiritual or emotional benefit for the giver. The
giver enjoys the act of giving or doing good. The reader must note that there are indirect benefits from
such actions of kindness, which also have positive consequences in other people‟s lives and communities
at large.
In folk wisdom we could describe it as „what goes around comes around.‟ At a deeper level the laws of
cause and effect may create social feedback loops of happiness and inner peace based on interactions
between people that are intended to manifest kindness towards the other.
Actions of kindness differ from actions based only on good intentions in a way that consider more deeply
the real needs of the receiver above only the good intention and the different biases, for example cultural
or religious biases, of the giver [24]. Actions of kindness have no strings attached to the recipient and can
be regarded as genuine acts of unconditional love. In a sense, for the knower of God, actions of kindness
are inspired by The Creator and fuelled by spiritual values.
Perceived Kindness (PK): The perception of the quality of being kind by an observer via his or her
cognitive and perceptual capacity according to his or her own learned behaviours, cultural and embodied
spiritual values. It can be understood as the perception that an observer experiences regarding another
human being and his or her disposition to act kindly towards others.
Perceived Kindness Dissipation (PKD): It is a rate or flow that represents the speed at which Perceived
Kindness tends to dissipate in brain dynamics of individuals in relationship to others and the environment.
It is affected by the level of kindness in the system and a time dissipation delay that determines its own
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exponential decay. Left alone to its own intrinsic dynamics, without the increase of kindness in the
system, it will decrease (dissipate) to zero (0).
Time Dissipation Delay (TDD): Is the time that it takes on average for the rate PKD to drop. It is
important to note that a change in the rate PKD modulates the dynamics of the level of perception of
kindness (PK) in the system.
Inner Peace Time Delay Factor (IPTDF): This factor is determined by the level of Inner Peace (IP) and
increases as IP increases) and it is always a positive value greater or equal to zero (0). This factor directly
influences TDD.
Salient Factor (SF): A quantity that is modulated by Perceived Kindness that in turn affects TDD. This
factor can take values between zero (0) and one (1).
Level of Inner Peace Subsystem (LIPS): This subsystem provides a model that describes the dynamics
of Inner Peace (IP) and it can be any projection, prediction or value, as well as a causal system dynamics
model, like the one described in [1] that connects through a variable that models the Quality of the
Environment (QE). Basically, IP=f (QE) where LIPS is the function f.
Net Carrying Capacity Threshold for AoK (CCTA): The maximum value that the rate AoK can take,
which is associated with the maximum amount of kindness that the system or community can generate per
unit of time.
Individual Threshold for AoK (IT): It is a measure that influences the carrying capacity associated with
individual resilience (CCTA), which determines the maximum value that the rate AoK can take. It reflects
a limit associated with the need for physical, mental and emotional regeneration.
Number of People in the Community (NPC): A state variable that quantifies the number of people in
the system or community at a certain time.
Carrying Capacity Threshold for Number of People (CCTP): The maximum number of people that
the community can support at any given moment in time.
Quality of Community Space (QCS): A level or state variable that quantifies the subjective experience
of the quality of environment and relationships that the community provides. When normalised, QCS
takes values between zero (0) and one (1).
Rate of new People Entering the Community (REC): A quantity that describes the increase in the
number of people per unit of time.
Rate of Resignation from the Community (RRC): A quantity that describes the decrease in the number
of people per unit of time.
Basic Needs & Comfort Factor (BNCF): A quantity that describes to which degree the basic survival
needs and comforts are met for the members of the community. Zero (0) means a total lack of basic needs
and comforts and one (1) represents a total satisfaction when the basic survival needs and comforts of the
community are met.
Resource Availability Factor (RAF): A quantity that is associated with the availability of resources like
infrastructure, land and food for the community.
Received July 27, 2020; Accepted September 14, 2020
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266
Research Essay
On Dark Matter from the Perspective
of Intelligent Fabric of Spacetime
Satinder S. Malik*
Abstract
Dark matter is a substitute for the enhanced force between the galactic clusters that keeps them
closer. The understanding of gravity has evolved from the time it was presented to the modern
world. The term gravity as we perceive it is not new but has ancient origins. There is a treasure
trove of concepts laid down in Rig Veda. These concepts can help us understand reality from a
much better perspective. Savita represents the intelligent fabric of spacetime pervading the
universe. However, the word universe needs to be used in the correct sense.
Keywords: Universe, gravity, mass, relativity, Rig Veda, dark matter, dark energy, Big
Bang Galaxy, intergalactic space.
1. Introduction
It is hard to see the stars behind the Sun because of its brightness unless there is a total eclipse.
Nearly a century ago, during a total solar eclipse, the stars that were located behind the sun could
be seen. That meant the light rays from these stars were bending due to the fact it was passing
close to the Sun. This was the first experimental confirmation of Einstein’s General Theory of
Relativity and this phenomenon is known as gravitational lensing. The amount of bending was
also correctly predicted. Classical physics also predicts the bending of light, but only half of that
is predicted by general relativity.
A gravitational lens is a distribution of matter between a distant light source and an observer that
is capable of bending the light from the source as the light travels towards the observer. The
astronomers are unable to detect dark matter, they can detect its influence by observing how the
gravity of massive galaxy clusters, which contains dark matter, bends and distorts the light of
more-distant galaxies located behind them. The incorrect interpretation of dark matter is because
of the incorrect concept of gravity.
Introduction
2. The Origin of Dark Matter
*
Correspondence author: Dr. Satinder S. Malik, Independent Researcher, India. E-mail: adventuressmalik@gmail.com
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267
The first real evidence for dark matter came in 1933 when Caltech’s Fritz Zwicky1 used the
Mount Wilson Observatory to measure the visible mass of a cluster of galaxies and found that it
was much too small to prevent the galaxies from escaping the gravitational pull of the cluster.
Something else, concluded Zwicky, was acting like glue to hold clusters of galaxies together. He
named the substance Dunkle Materie in German, or dark matter.
It was probably an incorrect deduction for a force like glue to hold clusters of galaxies that
resulted from an incorrect application of logic. An object has mass and therefore it must exert a
force (gravitational force), and vice - versa i.e. if there is gravitational force then it must be due
to a mass present there (invisible in this case). The fallacy in the application of logic here is
‘appeal to probability’ – a statement that takes something for granted because it would probably
be the case (or might be the case). In the actual case, the force that keeps the clusters of galaxies
together may not be the force due to gravity.
The second fallacy is in the application of logic here ‘argument from fallacy (or fallacy-fallacy)’
– the assumption that, if a particular argument for a "conclusion" is fallacious, then the
conclusion by itself would be false. The conclusion for the argument here is that there is a
gravitational force that holds the masses together.
Notwithstanding the argument, it does not mean that there is no dark matter. Matter can be
invisible only if it does not interact with light in terms of emission, reflection, refraction etc. The
photons hold zero mass and anything that holds mass less than zero would not qualify as matter
in a classical sense. Dark matter is a substance that is pre-matter.
Only 4.6% of the universe's energy comprises the visible baryonic matter that constitutes stars,
planets, and living beings. The rest is thought to be made up of dark energy (68%) and dark
matter (27%).
Hydrogen is the most abundant element (73-74%) in the cosmos followed by Helium (23-25%),
Oxygen, Carbon, Neon, Iron and Nitrogen. It is the first stable element and acts as fuel for the
stars. The stars convert the lighter matter into the heavier matter and the remaining matter of the
fused nuclei may be responsible for the emission of energy. In 1895, Rowland, studied the
intensities of 39 elemental signatures in the solar spectrum. Leaving hydrogen and helium, the
rest of the seen matter comprises less than 0.5% of the total cosmos.
The Standard Model of Physics talks about fundamental particles The nucleus (protons and
neutrons) contains almost all the mass of the atom, while the electrons are responsible for the
chemical properties of the atom. These are further made up of 6 types of quarks, 6 types of
leptons and 5 categories of many different types of Bosons (force interaction particles).
Neutrinos are likely the most abundant particles in the universe and may be more common than
photons, the basic unit of light. Neutrinos are a type of leptons, which are also fermions, and
together with quarks make up matter. The difference between leptons and quarks is that leptons
1
https://bit.ly/3vQnnRK
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exist on their own, whereas quarks combine to form baryons. A neutrino is an exponentially
small particle with no electrical charge. As other particles traverse galactic and extra-galactic
distances, they can become deflected, scattered, or even stopped altogether by matter,
gravitational and magnetic fields. Neutrinos can pass through all of these uninhibited, which
makes them excellent sources of information from the far reaches of the galaxy.
These subatomic particles are not stable and particles such as leptons and baryons decay by
either the strong force or weak force (except for the proton). Neutrons have a mean life of approx
881 seconds. The life of Proton is {16.7 billion yottayears (6.6 × 1028 yr)}. The μ and τ muons,
as well as their antiparticles, decay by the weak force. Neutrinos (and antineutrinos) do not
decay, but a related phenomenon of neutrino oscillations is thought to exist even in vacuums.
The electron {66,000 yottayears (6.6 × 1028 yr)} and its antiparticle, the positron, are
theoretically stable due to charge conservation. These particles are made up of energy and they
come to life depending on wave interaction. These are caused essentially by a collapsed wave
function or a quantum excitation of a field or just an entangled vibrating string. Vyasa Muni in
his teachings to Rama tells about many types of wave structures as ‘Pata’ (2D fabric like cloth)
made up of threads (energy channels), ‘Ghata’ (3 D spherical Structures), and ‘Kunda’ (hollow
wells).
3. Dark Stars or Black Holes
The presence of a black hole can be inferred through its interaction with other matter and with
electromagnetic radiation such as visible light. Black holes are considered objects whose
gravitational fields are too strong for light to escape. This understanding is bound to change with
the correct understanding of the force of gravity. Every formation of the cosmos has a definite
objective.
The nucleus of an atom is about 10-15 m in size, this means it is about 10-5 (or 1/100,000) of the
size of the whole atom. A good comparison of the nucleus to the atom is like an apple whereas
the nearest electron will be approx. 3 km away. This is what explains the density of the Black
holes, that they cannot be made up of normal matter with electrons orbiting around but are made
up of solid nuclear particles and their pre-matter forms kept together by the stronger nuclear
force.
The pre-matter is a product of the Black Holes as the matter is produced by Stars. The force
which may attract and attach photons may be a different kind of fundamental force other than
gravity. The Black holes are not holes but essentially Dark stars or black stars.
The Black holes may churn out the fundamental particles such as protons and neutrinos, which
after interaction with other particles or wave functions may lead to the creation of the basic
element hydrogen. The external accretion disk forming quasars may be the input-output
mechanism. The galaxies have originated from their central Black Holes which may act in cycles
of expansion and contraction over huge time scales. These black holes also exert forces which
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are natural but which may also contain intelligent control mechanisms. More about the central
black holes of the milky way is discussed in the last section.
4 The Origins of Gravity
Sir Isaac Newton (1643-1727) was an English mathematician and physicist. In 1687, he
presented the inverse square law of gravitation in "Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica.
The legend goes that Newton discovered Gravity when he saw a falling apple while thinking
about the forces of nature. He termed it as spooky action at a distance.
The words, sometimes, act as authentications seals and point to the source of knowledge. The
word ‘gravity’ has a similar case. Our word gravity and its more precise derivative gravitation
come from the Latin word gravitas, from ‘gravis’ (heavy), which in turn comes from a still more
ancient root word thought to have existed because of numerous cognates in related languages.
From ‘gwerh’ and ‘gwrhu’ comes the Latin ‘gravis’ and ‘gravitas’ meaning ‘heavy’ ‘weighty’
‘important’ and the Latin ‘gravity’2. The Sanskrit cognate is Gurutva (weighty, venerable), These
words have common meanings of heaviness, importance, seriousness, dignity, grimness, etc.
It is believed that the modern, physical sense of a field of attraction did not appear until Newton's
time. Indeed, for Galileo, Newton, and scientists up to the beginning of the twentieth century,
gravity was no more than an empty name for the phenomenon, a fact that they were well aware
of. Newton's law of universal gravitation states the following. F=G m1 m2 / r2. Whereas
F
=
Force of Gravity
G
=
gravitational constant
M1
=
mass of object 1
M2
=
mass of object 2
r
=
distance between centres of the masses
F is proportional to M1M2 / r2, (directly proportional to both masses and inversely proportional to
the square of the distance between them). The proportionality becomes equal by inserting a
value, a constant G. Value of G balances the equation with unknown factors which seem to
affect the equation.
5. Ancient References to Gravity
Rishi Kanad (pre-Mahabharta, 4000-6000 BC) propounded Visheshika Sutras (special
knowledge or science) about the throwing of an object. He mentions gravity (Gurutva) and its
effects in Visheshika Sutras about throwing an object….
2
https://stanford.io/3KvmumH
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गु
य संयोगानामु
270
े पणम् ॥ १ ॥ १ ॥ २६ ॥
The motion of throwing upwards is due to the conjunction (resultant) of force and gravity.
Falling of that object
संयोगाभावे गु
ात् पतनम् ॥ ५ ॥ १ ॥ ७॥
In the absence of conjunction, falling is due to gravity. In the section where he describes forces
acting on the launch of an arrow, he explains how the arrow falls.
सं
ाराभावे गु
ात् पतनम् ॥ ५। १ । १८ ॥
In the absence of the efficacy of previous resultant actions, the arrow falls due to the effect of
gravity.
In the section where he describes forces acting on the flow of water, he explains how water falls.
अपां संयोगाभावे गु
ात् पतनम् ॥५॥२॥३॥
In the absence of conjunction, the water falls due to gravity.
5th-century scholar Aryabhata has also mentioned gravitational force. He referred to spherical
earth drawing things to it on all sides. He did it poetically by likening the earth to the florets of
the spherical Kadamba flower. Brahmagupta, a 7th-century astronomer, was another
mathematician who knew about the effects of Gurutva. Brahmagupta postulated correctly that
there is an attraction towards the centre of Earth. Brahmagupta did not say anything about the
inverse square law. He had not used gravity to predict the orbits of planets.
“[Indian astronomers] used this argument to justify the concept of a self-sustaining spherical
earth which did not need to be supported from the 'bottom' by Sesha or elephants or any other
cosmological underpinnings, and which also would not be subject to beings falling off the
‘bottom’ of it,” said Kim Plofker3, assistant professor of mathematics at Union College in New
York, in an email to Scroll4. Plofker has researched Sanskrit texts, including Aryabhata’s work,
for the origins of mathematics in India.
6. Influences Leading to Newton’s Discoveries
In the renaissance period, Galileo did important work in the field of science. Galileo's major
contributions to physics were the law of inertia and the law of falling bodies. The principle of
inertia was fundamental to Galileo's theory to explain that Earth is spinning on its axis and
orbiting the Sun.
3
4
https://iks.iitgn.ac.in/kim-plofker-2020/
https://scroll.in/article/709070/newton-discovered-gravity-even-if-he-stood
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Interestingly, Charles-Augustin de Coulomb had already established the principle of inverse
squares for electrostatic force by then. Coulomb's law5, or Coulomb's inverse-square law, is an
experimental law of physics that quantifies the amount of force between two stationary,
electrically charged particles. The electric force between charged bodies at rest is conventionally
called electrostatic force or Coulomb force. Although the law was known earlier, it was first
published in 1785 by French physicist Charles-Augustin de Coulomb, hence the name.
Coulomb's law was essential to the development of the theory of electromagnetism. The law
states that the magnitude of the electrostatic force of attraction or repulsion between two point
charges is directly proportional to the product of the magnitudes of charges and inversely
proportional to the square of the distance between them. F= K q1 q2 / r2. Here, K or ke is
Coulomb's constant (ke ≈ 8.988×109 N⋅m2/C2), q1 and q2 are the signed magnitudes of the
charges, and the scalar r is the distance between the charges. Newton indeed applied the inverse
square law of Coulomb (of charges) to calculate the force between the masses.
Newton's finding of Calculus was also counterclaimed by Leibnitz and the fact that the word
calculus came from ‘Kaal Kalan’ of Sanskrit (Calculation of Time- for predicting the movement
of starts) and how Mathematics travelled from India to Europe.6
7. Variability of Universal Constant
The equation for Gravitational force was a theoretical deduction and Newton only solved the
proportionality aspect by inserting G, he did not assign any numerical value to G. The universal
constant G was calculated by observation (practical empirical experiments) and not theoretically.
The resultant constant G is known as the universal gravitational constant and it has been
attributed only to gravity. The actual value of G was calculated more than a hundred years later.
Newton’s calculations of Force are the calculations of the force which may be consisting of
gravity but not of gravity alone and that’s how we have different values of G in most
experiments.
Henry Cavendish, a scientist at Cambridge University, performed the first experimental
measurement in 1797-98 of the force of gravity between masses in the laboratory. The value of
G is 6.674 x 10-11 m3/kg s2. To date, more than 200 experiments have been performed to
precisely determine the value of G. Despite the latest improvement in precision, the reasons
for the discrepancies between G measurements have remained a mystery. Scientists also
assume that there is a possibility that some unknown aspects of physics are at play.
Space is a frictionless place and if there were minor variations in the trajectory of planets these
variations would amplify with time. The passing of comets and even the moon and sun being on
5
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coulomb%27s_law
https://www.manchester.ac.uk/discover/news/indians-predated-newton-discovery-by-250-years/ and
https://makingindiaonline.in/online-news-in-hindi/2017/08/28/who-laid-principles-of-calculus-newton-leibniz-orindian-mathematicians/
6
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the same side or opposite side, the position of other planets, etc, the resultant force may lead to
divergent disturbances in the orbital path.
8. The Equivalence Principle
The equivalence principle states that two fundamentally different quantities, inertia, and passive
gravitational mass, always be exactly proportional to one another.
Inertia comes from the Latin word ‘iners’ meaning idle, sluggish7. Inertia is one of the primary
manifestations of mass, which is a quantitative property of physical systems. Vis Insita- The
innate force of matter; another name for vis inertiæ. It is that by which a vessel "keeps her way.
The word ‘vis insita’ means an innate force of matter, is a power of resisting by which
everybody, as much as in it lies, endeavours to persevere in its present state, whether it be of rest
or of moving uniformly forward in a right line.
The word gravity reflected common meanings of heaviness, importance, seriousness, dignity,
and grimness whereas mass comes directly from Latin massa meaning "kneaded dough, lump,
that which adheres together like dough, "probably from Greek maza "barley cake, lump, mass,
ball," which is related to masse in "to knead," from PIE root *mag- "to knead, fashion, fit."8 The
modern sense of the word mass in English was extended in the 1580s to "a large quantity,
amount, or number". Meaning "bulk" in general is from c. 1600. As "the bulk or greater part of
anything" from the 1620s. The strict sense in physics, "quantity of a portion of matter expressed
in pounds or grams" is from 1704.
The important fact is that both Gurutva (gravity) and Mahatva (mass) have been described quite
well in Vedas and ancient works. The word Mahatva is used most commonly today in a sense of
importance. The root word for Mahatva is Mahat. The Cosmos has been created in the principle
of Mahat. The order of evolution of the universe according to Sānkhya and evolution of Prakṛti
(Nature) in its Vikaras (special attributes). Mahat contains all individual buddhis and all potential
matter of the gross universe in its cosmic extent as the first manifest principle (tattva). Mahat in
turn produces ahaṃkāra, the ego principle. That is how it comes to meaning as importance and
ego of matter as to stay where it wants.
The Anutva is subtle and subtler and Mahatava is gross and grosser. The entire creation is
manifested in smaller existence (Bhuta) combining with different permutations and combinations
under influence of different forces and making it bigger, stage by stage. At every stage, so
combined smaller existence forms bigger existence and so on.
The Gurutva is considered the opposite of the Mahtva. In the traditional sense, it is a quality that
makes the mass behave with certain intelligent attributes. Jupiter is known as endowed with high
Gurutva and has been granted as Guru of all Devas.
7
8
https://www.etymonline.com/search?q=mass
https://www.etymonline.com/search?q=mass
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Gurutva may reflect the intelligence (Buddhi) of a heavenly body. Earth is also conscious and
follows the astronomical laws and maintains balance. The movement of magma, plate tectonics,
magnetic field, winds, ocean currents, and cyclic activities of various elements and occurrences
indicate that Earth is conscious in a unique way. Recently papers were published showing water
has memory, the dunes communicate with Earth other so do the star systems, we may not know
it yet. The interaction of a satellite to a planet system, their effects, and mutual dependence could
be some of the intelligent features. The ability of the Moon to affect life on Earth and the
stabilization it provides to the Earth’s orbit are well known. Io (a satellite of Jupiter) and Jupiter
constitute a moon-planet system. Io influences Jupiter by supplying heavy ions to its
magnetosphere, which dominates its energy and dynamics. Jupiter influences Io by tidally
heating its interior, which in turn drives the volcanic activity on Io. The role of Io and Jupiter in
their mutual interaction and the nature of their coupling have been studied by scientists.
9. Why does the ‘G’ Works?
It would not be wise to discard G despite all its theoretical limitations because it’s a practical
constant. It represents the forces that balance out at a distance. The medium of interaction is
space.
Einstein in his General Theory of Relativity showed that matter and spacetime mutually interact,
in a way, it appears that masses attract each other. The curving pathways of spacetime are the
paths imprinted by mass and energy themselves. The physicist John Archibald Wheeler,
expressed that mass influences spacetime, telling it how to curve, and spacetime influences mass,
telling it how to move. Space-time could be like a giant river system with different currents and
many whirlpools. It's like observing two floating objects in a whirlpool. However, there is an
important inference that may be drawn here, that different densities of matter would affect
space-time differently. It can be visualized in the trampoline experiment depicting the general
theory.
10. Savita- a Controlling Force of the Milky Way
The flow of spacetime has been described as Savita (with special attributes). Savita is the force
of universal firmament that has been described in Rig Veda. The difference is spacetime as
proposed by Einstien is without any intelligent attributes whereas Savita is with intelligent
attributes. This is merely a change of perspective whether we can call matter having unique
intelligence as it can follow Padarth Dharma (properties of matter). This intelligence is not
interpretative as in the case of humans but more like passive intelligence as a property of their
design as reflected in mathematics and science in their creation and behaviour. Rig Veda 1.35.9
िहर$पािणः सिवता िवचष(िण भे )ावापृिथवी अंतरीयते ।
अपामीवां बाधते वे ित सूय(मिभ कृ1ेन रजसा )ामृणोित ॥
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The gold-handed, all-beholding, Savitā is spread between the two regions of heaven and earth,
dispels pain brings the sun, and overspreads the sky with control and radiance destroying
darkness.
Rig Veda 10.149.1
सिवता य3ै ः पृिथवीमर5णाद
7ने सिवता )ाम8ंहत् ।
अ9िमवाधु :द् धु िनम;<र:मतू त= ब>ं सिवता समु?म् ॥
Savitā has fixed the earth with fetters; Savitā has made the heaven firm in a plural place where
there was no support; Savitā has milked the cloud of the firmament bound to the indestructible
(ether) like a trembling horse.
It is now evident that it may not be gravity alone that is responsible for making the earth go
around the Sun. The ancient scriptures such as the Veda and Vaishesika Sutra of Kanad give an
insight into a continuously controlled Cosmos based on Nature’s laws and also by intelligent
interference of universal force.
In many places, the translation of the word ‘Savitur’ is referred to Sun but that may not be
proper. Savitur and Savita are found at many places in Veda (Knowledge). Savitur also cognates
with Sagitur which could be a root word for Sagittarius. The same is also related to sagacious,
sage, and also Sagita9. Sagita means arrow in Latin.
Sagittarius10 is usually depicted as a centaur holding a bow and arrow. The constellation’s
symbol is ♐. It represents the archer. It is also associated with Crotus, the satyr who kept the
company of the Muses on Mount Helicon. Sagittarius is one of the largest southern
constellations. Sagittarius is the 15th largest constellation in the sky. It is easy to find because it
lies in the centre of the Milky Way and its brightest stars form an asterism known as the Teapot.
Sagittarius is known as Dhanu (in the Indian zodiac) and that also represents a bow.
Karl Jansky, considered a father of radio astronomy, discovered in August 1931 that a radio
signal was coming from a location in the direction of the constellation of Sagittarius, towards the
centre of the Milky Way. The radio source later became known as Sagittarius A11.
Sagittarius or Savitur is considered the seat of Brahma. This is also the origin point which is
described as Hiranyagarbha (golden womb) or golden egg as is in the theory of the Big bang. All
9
Southern constellation; ninth sign of the zodiac, late Old English, from Latin, literally "archer," properly
"pertaining to arrows," from sagitta "arrow," which probably is from a pre-Latin Mediterranean language.
https://www.etymonline.com/word/Sagittarius#etymonline_v_22603
sage (adj.) "wise, judicious, prudent," c. 1300 (late 12c. as a surname), from Old French sage "wise, knowledgeable,
learned; shrewd, skillful" (11c.), from Gallo-Roman *sabius, from Vulgar Latin *sapius (also in Hindi- Sadhu)
with -ous + stem of Latin sagax "of quick perception" (see sagacity). The sense of "skilled at discovering truths,"
especially as regards human natures,
10
11
https://www.constellation-guide.com/constellation-list/sagittarius-constellation/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sagittarius_A*
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radio signals, gravitational waves, and time-base signals (spacetime fabric) are controlled by
Sagittarius. Sagittarius is the provider of intelligence as indicated by the most important and
powerful hymn of Rigveda known as ‘Gayatri Mantra’.
11. Ushas- a Controlling Force of Sun
Usha is considered the daughter of the Sun representative of the Dawn, Usha is said to travel in a
shining chariot drawn by ruddy horses or cows. Like a beautiful maiden dressed by her mother
and covered with jewels. She is young, being born every day; and yet she is old, being immortal,
wearing out the lives of successive generations, which disappear one after another, whilst she
continues undying. She is young, being born every day; and yet she is old, being immortal,
wearing out the lives of successive generations, which disappear one after another, whilst she
continues undying. The souls of the departed are said to go to her and to the sun. Rigveda 6.64.1
उदु श<रय उषसो रोचमाना अBथु रपां नोम(यो श;ः |
कणCित िव9ा सुपथा सुगाDभूदु वEी दि:णामघोनी ||
The radiant Dawns have risen up for glory, in their white splendour like the waves of waters. She
makes paths all easy, fair to travel, and, rich, hath shown herself benign and friendly.
It is no wonder that the Sun’s rays fly to interact with the Heliosphere- the region surrounding
the Sun and the solar system that is filled with the solar magnetic field and the protons and
electrons of the solar wind. The heliosphere acts as a shield that protects the planets from
interstellar radiation. This is not just a random protection shield that enables life in the
solar system.
12. Bhaga- a Controlling Force of the Cosmos
In Hindu philosophy, it is Bhagwan who is the preserver of the cosmos. He runs the show in
which he influences his mechanism through other divine beings. The word ‘Bhaga’ means
movement of light. Therefore the Bhagawan is who controls the movement of light and in that
essence the one who controls time. In the cosmological sequence of evolution, the unseen energy
reaches a state where it becomes forever (in both ways space and time). Control of this energy
essentially enables control in the cosmos. The force in between the intergalactic space is Bhaga,
in the galaxies, it is Savita, in the solar system it is Usha and on a planet it is Gurutva. Therefore,
any being on any planet or anywhere in the cosmos is affected by the result of these forces. The
interplay of these forces is the root cause of vacuum energy which is underlying background
energy that exists in space throughout the cosmos. Vacuum energy is a special case of zero-point
energy that relates to the quantum vacuum.
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Though it may appear that the force of ‘Bhaga’ moving the galaxies would be stronger its
otherwise, ‘Savita’ is stronger than ‘Bhaga’ and ‘Ushas’ is stronger than ‘Savita’, only then they
can make the difference within the galaxy and the Solar system respectively.
13. The Cosmological Constant and Dark Energy12
The cosmological constant is a homogeneous energy density that causes the expansion of the
universe to accelerate. The cosmological constant is the simplest realization of dark energy,
which is the more generic name given to the unknown cause of the acceleration of the universe13.
There was a difference in the observed and predicted value. If the value of the constant is
different then the cause is referred to as ‘Dark Energy’. We know how much dark energy there is
because we know how it affects the universe's expansion. It turns out that roughly 68% of the
universe is dark energy. 14 Intergalactic spacetime and spacetime inside a galaxy may have
different formatting leading to the difference in values. This would come into perspective if
we consider different space-time fabrics for every galaxy which arises out of the central black
hole.
Incidentally, in Hindu philosophy, this energy is depicted a Kali Shakti, the principal goddess,
another form of Shiva, and (dark) energy of the Cosmos. For matter to appear, there is a state
which is pre-matter and in a similar way for energy to appear there is a state called pre-energy.
This state is of energy which is unseen or not capable of being attributed to and therefore known
as Dark Energy.
The forces in the Cosmos are resultant of the interplay of energy. These are referred to as
‘Bhava’ (affinity) and are the result of wave characteristics like coherence, spin or polarity of the
wave function which continuously forms and decays and may become a stable structure spanning
across the cosmos forever. These Bhava (forces) may have a disposition from the strongest to the
weakest. That is integral to the structure of the universe and these forces are applied to similar
types of interactive participants. For example, there is a strong nuclear force inside an atom but it
doesn’t affect other things.
14. The Universe and the Big Bang
The Big Bang theory is about the evolution of the universe. The idea of Hirayangarbha (Golden
Womb) has been referred to in Puranas in many places. The description is also the same. The
word universe (uni-verse or one verse or a stanza) etymologically refers to one galaxy but today
it is being used s a substitute for the word cosmos. The theory of the Big Bang is the theory of
the creation of our galaxy and similar is the process for other galaxies and the cycle of collapse
and creation for individual galaxies. The theory of the creation of the cosmos is different, it will
12
https://arxiv.org/abs/astro-ph/0207347 The Cosmological Constant and Dark Energy P. J. E. Peebles, Bharat Ratra
http://www.scholarpedia.org/article/Cosmological_constant
14
https://science.nasa.gov/astrophysics/focus-areas/what-is-dark-energy
13
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entail the history of the formation of five basic dimensions of the universe viz consciousness,
time, space, energy, and matter.
The timelines for the Big Bang15 are 10-43 seconds in which the Universe took shape in 10-6
seconds, the formation of basic elements happened in 3 seconds, the radiation Era that lasted
10,000 years, and so on.
The interpretation of these timelines by the scientists lacks a perspective when they decide the
age of the universe. The primaeval atom from where the big bang happened was containing all
the compressed matter in whichever form and therefore had a tremendous amount of gravity.
This aspect has not been catered to by the scientists. These timelines when applied to such a time
system (of a Black Hole) will give nonlinear timelines.
Sagittarius A* is a supermassive black hole (400 million times the mass of the Sun) at the centre
of our galaxy. It is 26,000 light-years from the Solar System. Emma Osborne, an astrophysicist
at the University of Southampton told an audience at New Scientist Live, “Anything mass will
stretch space-time. And the heavier something is, or the more mass it has, the more it will stretch
space-time. “If you were to stand just outside the event horizon of Sagittarius A*, and you stood
there for one minute, 700 years would pass because time passes so much slower in the
gravitational field there than it does on Earth.”
The phenomenon of different speeds of time has also been described in Puranas. The book,
‘Beyond Common Sense’ narrates the story of King Kakudumi and his daughter Revathi visiting
the galactic centre. If we apply the kind of nonlinear timeline to the age of the Milky Way, the
preset timeline of the universe being 14-18 billion years old would stretch to great lengths. It
may come close to 432 billion years16.
Received January 27, 2022; Accepted April 29, 2022
15
http://patrickgrant.com/BBTL.htm
The Big Bang - 10-43 seconds: The universe begins with a cataclysm that generates space and time, as well as all the matter and
energy the universe will ever hold. For an incomprehensibly small fraction of a second, the universe is an infinitely dense, hot
fireball. The prevailing theory describes a particular form of energy that can suddenly push out the fabric of space. At 10-35 to
10-33 seconds a runaway process called "Inflation" causes a vast expansion of space filled with this energy. The inflationary
period is stopped only when this energy is transformed into matter and energy as we know it.
The Universe Takes Shape - 10-6 seconds, after inflation, one-millionth of a second after the Big Bang, the universe continues
to expand but not nearly so quickly. As it expands, it becomes less dense and cools. The most basic forces in nature become
distinct. The particles smash together to form protons and neutrons.
Formation of Basic Elements- 3 seconds: Protons and neutrons come together to form the nuclei of simple elements: hydrogen,
helium, and lithium. It will take another 300,000 years for electrons to be captured into orbits around these nuclei to form
stable atoms.
The Radiation Era- 10,000 years: The first major era in the history of the universe is one in which most of the energy is in the
form of radiation -- different wavelengths of light, X rays, radio waves, and ultraviolet rays. This energy is the remnant of the
primordial fireball, and as the universe expands, the waves of radiation are stretched and diluted until today, they make up the
faint glow of microwaves which bathe the entire universe.
16
Beyond Common sense- dr Satinder Singh Malik (Author) Kindle
Present Kalpa 5.784 Million Years represents restart of life on the Earth, Elapsed time in Present Manvantara 0.3 Million Years
or 3,36,000 Years (Modern human origins). These timelines may vary due to faulty interpretation of ancient texts.
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Murphy, T., Solving the “Hard Problem”: Consciousness as an Intrinsic Property of Magnetic Fields
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Research Essay
Solving the “Hard Problem”:
Consciousness as an Intrinsic Property of Magnetic Fields
Todd Murphy*
Abstract
The “hard problem,” the question of the physical basis of consciousness, finds a solution in the
hypothesis that consciousness is an attribute of magnetic fields, and that complex consciousness
(which can include ‘self-awareness’, intelligence, or social interaction) is based on the
integration of the brain’s magnetic field (originating from its rich population of magnetite
crystals) with its neural electrical system. This hypothesis simplifies the local vs. non-local
question, redefines “mind-body” dualism, as well as possibly resolving the anomaly of
unpredictably sophisticated behaviour in anencephalics. One of its consequences is a rejection of
behaviorism and solipsism. Difficulties in falsification and approaches to corroboration are
discussed, as well as challenges that face a rigorous working definition of the phenomenon,
essential for experimental validation.
Keywords: Consciousness, hard problem, magnetic field, mind-body, neural, electric system.
It’s widely assumed that consciousness is the phenomenological correlate of a specific process or
processes in the brain. Resolving the problem of how consciousness, which we mean as the
capacity for subjective experience, appears as a result of brain function (the “hard problem”), is
one of the defining questions of contemporary neuroscience. Here, we propose that
consciousness is an intrinsic property of magnetic fields. This implies that even a single common
magnet would possess a rudimentary consciousness. A natural corollary is that cognitive
complexity relies on structural or functional complexity in the magnetic field that supports it.
The word “consciousness” presents a dilemma. There is no objective proof of its existence, in
spite of its subjective immediacy. All definitions that encompass the phenomenon are inherently
tautological. In our definition, the capacity for subjective experience, the word “subjective” is
tautological with “conscious,” and the same is true for the word experience. Subjectivity is
predicated on consciousness, but one cannot be conscious of anything in the absence of
subjective experience. The solution to the circular reasoning inherent in defining consciousness
is to introduce a postulate (or “axiom”), a deliberate and overt assumption made to facilitate our
discussion. Here, we assume is that the introspective experience of subjectivity that normal
humans report is generalizable to other people and members of other species, and that all
instances of consciousness have the same basis. This axiom allows us to treat consciousness, a
subjective phenomenon, as an objective one.
*
Correspondence: Todd Murphy, Associate Researcher, Behavioral Neuroscience Program, Laurentian University, Canada.
E-Mail: brainsci@jps.net
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Murphy, T., Solving the “Hard Problem”: Consciousness as an Intrinsic Property of Magnetic Fields
647
Known brain functions rely on electrical, chemical, histological and other systems. However, no
known actions or interactions of these systems have been able to account for the phenomenon of
subjective awareness.
Figure 1. Example of a magnetotactic bacteria showing a magnetosome.
The brain’s densely distributed magnetite crystals1 may function as the substrate for another
neural system. This “magnetite biomineralization in the human brain” consists of five million
magnetite crystals per gram of brain tissue. They appear to have formed there, and aren’t
absorbed from the environment. These crystals are arranged in chains called Magnetosomes.
They’re also found in a wide range of species, including birds, fish, mammals, and bacteria.
One researcher in this field has proposed a mechanism where magnetic fields might influence
brain tissues and electrical activity.
“A simple calculation shows that magnetosomes moving in response to earthstrength ELF fields are capable of opening trans-membrane ion channels, in a
fashion similar to those predicted by ionic resonance models. Hence, the
presence of trace levels of biogenic magnetite in virtually all human tissues
examined suggests that similar biophysical processes may explain a variety of
weak field ELF bioeffects.” 2
As described in Maxwell’s Equations, axonal electrical currents generate low-intensity magnetic
fields, which will induce movement in nearby magnetosomes, and disseminate their firing
patterns to all other magnetosomes in the brain through magnetic resonance (a field-to-field
effect).
The seven billion magnetite crystals in an average brain, and the magnetosomes they comprise,
produce multiple fields, but they’re also components of the brain’s larger magnetic field, with
two (hemispheric) loci, and constantly changing regions of peak magnetic field strength. We
propose that consciousness is a property of this magnetic field, and the functions associated with
regions of peak magnetic field strengths or the most salient magnetic information will correlate
with the content of consciousness. This agrees with the principle that the phenomenology of the
most metabolically active neural regions (in either excitation or inhibition) correlate with the
present content of the ‘mind’.
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Murphy, T., Solving the “Hard Problem”: Consciousness as an Intrinsic Property of Magnetic Fields
648
The Primary Characteristic of Consciousness
The primary characteristic of consciousness is its role in the subject/object relationship i.e.,
perception and response. Thus, even the most rudimentary awareness would be enabled with
feedback loops.
Figure 2. Feedback exists between two parts when each affects the other.
Two magnetic poles, whether they comprise the sole source of a magnetic field, or are only one
of many, can supply a model for a hypothetical ‘rudimentary’ consciousness.
An example of simple feedback appears in figure 2, where an informational feedback loop is
shown next to a simple magnetic field. The similar structure of the theoretical feedback loop and
the actual lines of force is obvious. Electrical activity, such as neuronal pulses, bursts, and
oscillations, as well as input from background magnetic fields, would continually complicate the
neural field, making simple feedback loops unlikely.
Any anisotropisms in the magnetic or electrical background would disturb the uniformity of the
neural magnetic field, and pulsing axonal electrical current will produce pulsing magnetic fields,
introducing its information content into the system.
In Figure 3, we see an analogous feedback loop with two inputs and one output. A magnetic
general feedback loop, unlike the informational one shown schematically, would feed back to all
nearby field sources, so that it might not have a single discernable direction of communication or
dedicated inputs and outputs.
Figure 3. A schematic representation of a theoretical general feedback loop.
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Figure 3a. The same feedback loop as a magnetic field from three magnetosomes, much more
complex than either its schematic or a single magnet.
Complex magnetic fields, produced by larger numbers of magnetosomes, would be capable of
transmitting significant amounts of information. The greater the complexity of the resulting field,
the more information it could bear. Neural magnetite has already been rigorously hypothesized to
have informational storage capabilities3. The structure of the resulting magnetic fields would
have a complexity analogous to a Newtonian ‘three-body’ system (Fig. 4). The inevitable
pulsations and bursts from neural firing will further complicate the internal structure of such a
magnetic field. Although a precise exploration of the topic is outside the scope of this paper,
holographic information storage and processing should not be ruled out.
Figure 4. A magnetic ‘three-body’ system.
Biological consciousness is characterized by its ability to perceive and respond to qualia and
percepts from multiple sensory, affective and cognitive modalities, localized to specific regions
and networks in the brain. When the content of our consciousness is dominated by a somatic
percept or task, for example, the corresponding neural regions (parietal strip, basal ganglia,
cerebellum, etc) are subject to greater or more novel electrical activity, creating corresponding
fluctuations in the magnetic field in the same region, as observed by Brenner (et. al) in 19784.
Specific fluctuations might encourage attentional mechanisms to advert to the somatic phenome.
It seems reasonable to suppose that the content of consciousness as well as the present state of
consciousness derive from more localized neural electrical and chemical activity. Magnetic
information would, in principle, be able to simultaneously inform all brain regions of any
stimulus that demands a change of state in consciousness, facilitating rapid changes in behavior
in response to threats or opportunities.
In simpler terms, consciousness (the brain’s magnetic field) is constantly influenced by neural
electrical activity through the classically-known relationship between magnetic fields and
electrical currents. Maxwell’s equations thus offer a mathematical description of the primary
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Murphy, T., Solving the “Hard Problem”: Consciousness as an Intrinsic Property of Magnetic Fields
650
interface between “mind and matter”, but not the mind’s overall behavior. What we experience
in each moment may be the phenomenological correlate of this field’s most excited, coherent, or
information-rich areas or the regions with the most salient information content.
Elsewhere5, I have pointed out that magnetic fields are propagated through the brain significantly
faster than neuroelectrical or neurochemical processes. This makes magnetic field
communication within the brain the fastest type available. Organisms will respond to threats and
opportunities more rapidly if the basis of consciousness were in the brain’s magnetic substrate
than if it were based on the slower chemical or electrical processes.
The two poles of a simple magnetic field provide a straightforward, but simplified, model for the
subject/object relationship. More complex magnetic systems provide a basis for more complex
consciousness, such as is found in all species with developed nervous systems. “Self-awareness”
(often confused with consciousness) may be little more than a feedback loop between the
junctures for sensory, cognitive, and affective functions (in the thalamus), and the sense of self.
Emergentism
Consciousness has been hypothesized to be an emergent property of brain activity6
(“emergentism”). An emergent property of a system is said to be dependent on the system, but
displaying phenomena or behavior that can’t be predicted by the behavior of its components
(“synergy”). Alternately, the whole system has properties that its constituents lack, so that in
emergentism, consciousness is a feature of brain activity, but not of any specific neural process
or system. Our view differs in proposing that consciousness is specifically attributable to
magnetic fields in the brain, though this doesn’t exclude the interpretation that consciousness is
an emergent property of magnetic fields.
Evolutionary Aspects
It seems possible that the brain’s electrical system evolved in support of its magnetosomal
system. The first neural electrical activity may have appeared after species began to incorporate
magnetite into their tissues. Chains of magnetite crystals could have constituted the very earliest
precursor to the nervous systems we now see in all fauna. Indeed, there are simple bacteria,
without a nervous system, that use magnetosomes to orient themselves with respect to the
geomagnetic field7 (see fig. 1).
The notion that consciousness is an intrinsic property of magnetic fields implies that complex
consciousness (including a repertoire of states of consciousness, emotions, cognition, or the
capacity for self-awareness) appears in association with complex magnetic fields, which receive
information from the brain’s electrical system.
Conscious nervous systems may have initially evolved in conformity with the physics of
magnetic fields. Consciousness, understood as an attribute of living organisms, is firstly an
evolutionary adaptation that contributed to the survival of species on earth. It may not be an
emergent property of the brain. Rather, the brain may provide on organic substrate for its
magnetic information system, allowing organisms to derive adaptive value from it. The brain as
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Murphy, T., Solving the “Hard Problem”: Consciousness as an Intrinsic Property of Magnetic Fields
651
we know it could be thought of as an extension of its magnetosomes, appearing over time in
response to evolutionary pressures. Species with nervous systems that didn’t use magnetic fields
efficiently, including any information they might store or transmit, would not have been as
successful as those that did.
It seems unlikely that human evolution would have found no advantage in exploiting
magnetically-carried information in our environment.
A Magnetic Sense
The earth’s magnetic field is one of the environmental conditions in which all biological
evolution occurs. Many species are known to be sensitive to magnetic fields, including birds,
fish, and humans. There is ample evidence that the human nervous system responds to lowintensity magnetic fields8,9, but there has been controversy about whether humans possess a
“magnetic sense”. A recent study, however, has uncovered evidence that at least some people
can sense changes in the earth’s magnetic field10.
It’s possible that humans can sense magnetic fields, but that its specific percepts present
themselves synesthetically, “referred” to other senses, cognitions, or affects. It may not be a
discreet sensory modality (“magnetoreception”) in itself, making the direct perception of
magnetic fields an uncommon, but not impossible skill11. It may be not unlike the way we see
perfect pitch only in people with greater sensitivity to the nuances of sounds. Sensitivity to
changes in ambient magnetic fields would be expected to vary between individuals. Interestingly,
this kind of “secondary” perception of magnetic fields has been observed with magnetic field
stimulation in association with LSD12.
Local and Non-Local Consciousness
Our hypothesis implies that, as their fields interact, some or all of the information content (its
“magnetic signals”) of a single consciousness may be shared both with others, and with the
geomagnetic field around us13 through magnetic resonance. Interactions with other human neural
magnetic fields would make consciousness a local system with nonlocal functions. It’s as though
every brain has outposts in every other brain around it. Many of the seeming anomalies and
paranormal phenomena that the concept of non-local consciousness attempts to address can be
resolved as simple instances of interactions between the magnetic signals in more than one brain
and/or the geomagnetic environment. Moreover, in our model, the earth’s magnetic field, in
which all brains are immersed, is also conscious, and interacts subtly with all brains within it.
Each instance of consciousness is individuated, but also integrated with other fields, and able to
share any information encoded in them. It’s quite likely that signals “written onto” the brain’s
magnetic fields by its electrical activity would occur in all human brains, because we all share
the same evolutionary history, and because electroencephalography has empirically found that
specific neural electrical patterns reflects the same activity and states of consciousness in all
people, with a few pathological exceptions. Further, because all nervous systems evolved in the
medium of the geomagnetic field, we can reasonably expect that neuromagnetic information
would incorporate some of its ‘codes’. If the signals in neuromagnetic fields are the same for all
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Murphy, T., Solving the “Hard Problem”: Consciousness as an Intrinsic Property of Magnetic Fields
652
humans, then at least some human brains have the potential to directly communicate with each
other, though we should not expect that all brains will be equally sensitive to this subtle stimulus.
The Schumann resonance might serve as a carrier frequency for magnetic information
transmitted between brains. The resonant frequency for the human brain, based on its
circumference and bulk velocity of action potentials, is within the same frequency range as the
intrinsic (Shumann) resonance of the Earth’s atmosphere14. However, the obvious adaptive value
of direct neural communication between individuals doesn’t exclude perception of other
information from within the geomagnetic field, if it’s sufficiently coherent or resonant with
neuromagnetic patterns, and also carried with a field strength low enough to interact with the
brain’s magnetic fields. Both magnetic solitons15 and Hilbert spaces16 have been proposed as
mechanisms for the preservation of neural information in the geomagnetic field.
We would expect ‘telepathic’ skills and communication, to have had a significant adaptive value
in non-verbal social species, including humans17, prior to our evolution of language, particularly
with respect to states of consciousness that facilitate bonding. Our hypothesis here suggests that
brain-to-brain (“telepathic”) communication and synchronization, as seen in mice18, bats19 and
humans20, may be explained as magnetic signals shared by two or more brains, and there has
been research in this kind of information sharing21 22. Investigating brain-to-brain
communication and its evolution might replace the long-standing emphasis on individual people
with reported exceptional skills in some paranormal studies. A single study on brain-to-brain
communication in nonhuman primates might do more to elucidate such faculties than a host of
case histories with putative psychics. One relevant study has already been published23.
We should note that, although we refer to the brain’s one magnetic field, it can also be
worthwhile to regard the magnetic field within each hemisphere as a discreet entity, each
exchanging magnetic signals with the contralateral hemisphere, along with their known electrical
and chemical communication. Magnetic signals, resonating with electrical signals in the brain,
have three properties that would facilitate brain-to-brain communication. First, Maxwell’s
equations dictate that magnetic shielding of any kind is not possible; magnetic fields cannot be
“blocked.” Second, magnetic fields, and any signals they might carry, pass through the skull
without attenuation24. Third, although the field strength may diminish with the inverse square of
the distance, information embedded in it can remain intact over substantial distances.
“Receiving” information either from other brains, or the geomagnetic field, may rely more on
sensitivity to the information than to the magnetic field that carries it. The possibility that there
are mechanisms to receive specific magnetic signals, analogous to chemical receptors for
specific chemicals, should not be dismissed.
The Interface between Consciousness and Matter
Any viable theory of consciousness must explain how it interacts with matter, including neural
tissues, networks, and structures that process sensory information.
The interface of “mind and body” lies in the interaction of magnetic fields and electrical activity
in the brain, as described in Maxwell’s Equations. Patterns of activity in the brain’s electrical
system will resonate throughout its magnetic system. The many patterns of neural electrical
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Murphy, T., Solving the “Hard Problem”: Consciousness as an Intrinsic Property of Magnetic Fields
653
firing thus reflect an equally diverse set of magnetic signals. Any magnetic signals produced by
even a single magnetosome could be detected by all of them, although they may not all be
equally responsive all signals. Groups of neurons that produce a specific electrical signal will be
more responsive to the same signal, delivered by a magnetic field, than groups of neurons that
don’t use it.
Dualism and Non-Dualism
There is a long-standing debate concerning whether consciousness arises from a physical
process, or if can exist without a material substrate. Our hypothesis implies that neither of these
is the case. To make this explicit, we must return to the basic definitions for matter and energy
(mass). We accept special relativity, which tells us that matter and energy are interconvertible.
We also reject the notion that consciousness is “matter” insofar as it’s not a material substance,
so it’s more useful to look only at the definition for energy.
“Energy” is the capacity of the body or system enabling it to do work. “Work” is anything that
alters or tends to alter the point of application of a force. A “force” is anything that alters or tends
to alter a body or system’s state of uniform motion in a straight line or “rest” (inertia).
Magnetism is a force, like gravitation. In classical physics, it’s neither matter nor energy, but at
the same time, it doesn’t exist independently of them. The question of whether or not
consciousness is a material property depends entirely on whether the definition for matter
includes fundamental forces. If we define mass and “material” so that these words encompass all
their properties, then consciousness is a material phenomenon. If we adhere to the classical
definitions for energy, matter and forces, then consciousness is nonmaterial.
The “dualism” debate appears to assume that, if consciousness is a material phenomenon, it must
be an expression of material processes. Given that the only instances of consciousness available
for scientific study appear in association with living organisms, it seems prudent to suppose
(remembering our initial postulate) that the kind of consciousness human beings report is
sensitively dependent on biological, and thus material, systems. Our hypothesis doesn’t mean
that consciousness is a material phenomenon. Rather, it implies that it can only exist in
association with matter. Without a central mass, you can’t have a gravitational field, but mass
and gravitation aren’t the same thing. Consciousness might prove to be similarly integrated with
magnetic field sources. However, we should not assume that the association between magnetism
and matter is one of causality, and avoid drawing the conclusion that matter creates
consciousness, or vice versa.
One of the driving forces behind the materialist/dualist/monist debate is the assumption that, if
consciousness is material, then it will cease to exist when its host organism dies. However, given
that all consciousness on earth exists in the medium of the earth’s magnetic field, it’s not
impossible that neural information can continue after death, preserved in that medium. This
author has explored that possibility in another publication25. We should note that the present
hypothesis does not elucidate the question of the existence of the soul, as it’s traditionally
conceived.
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Murphy, T., Solving the “Hard Problem”: Consciousness as an Intrinsic Property of Magnetic Fields
654
The Quantum Mechanics of Consciousness
Any quantum-level basis for consciousness would only be an instance of a larger quantum basis
for all magnetic fields, and any quantum mechanics of consciousness would resolve into special
cases of the quantum mechanics of magnetic fields.
The Anomaly of Anencephalics
The notion that consciousness is a magnetic phenomenon may explain a well-known anomaly in
neuroscience. Near-normal cognitive and motor functions in people with significantly-reduced
neural tissue (“anencephalics”) have been reported in the literature. In one instance, a man with a
very small amount of neural tissue, massive ventricular enlargement, and a cranium filled with
cerebrospinal fluid (CSF), has been observed to display normal social functioning26.
Magnetite has been found in CSF27. If consciousness is a property of magnetic fields, then
magnetosomes in this patient’s cerebrospinal fluid would allow him to function within certain
limits (his verbal IQ is only 16% below normal), with greatly reduced brain tissue which would
still supply signals from its neuronal activity, though perhaps with lower field strengths. In other
cases28 29 30, patients largely without a cerebellum have been observed to display only moderate
motor deficits. Their cerebellar spaces are also filled with CSF. Their greater than predictable
motor functions may be explained as a function of magnetosomes in the cerebrospinal fluid
informed by electrical signals from remaining cerebellar tissue. While this fluid undergoes
pulsations, it has a nearly zero net flow31, and a viscosity approaching that of water, which would
allow magnetosomes in the cerebellar space to retain a degree of stability and possibly subsume
normal cerebellar activity. The present hypothesis would be strengthened if anencephalic’s CSF
magnetosomes were found to display differences from those of normal CSF.
However, mapping the localization of functions in the remaining neural tissue might reveal that
the functions normally found in intact brains are also present, but differently localized, in which
case our hypothesis would not be impacted. Of course, such surgery would be very intrusive, and
outside the bounds of ethical practice. The anencephalic’s intact functions may be a case of
accommodation, not unlike what we see in recovery from open-head injuries and following the
surgical removal of brain tissue, as in brain cancer, epilepsy, head injuries, etc., but occurring
during development. A study of magnetite structures, concentrations, and distributions in an
anencephalic’s CSF might yield data relevant to the present hypothesis.
Corroboration and falsification
The hypothesis would be strengthened should individuals appear with lower or higher than
normal concentrations of magnetite in neural tissue, and were found to exhibit neural deficits or
surfeits.
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Murphy, T., Solving the “Hard Problem”: Consciousness as an Intrinsic Property of Magnetic Fields
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We can reasonably posit that there is a Weber value (or threshold) where enough repetitions or
resonation of a magnetic signal throughout the brain will trigger attentional mechanisms to
advert to the stimulus (endogenous or external) it represents, bringing it into conscious
experience. We would expect Event Related Potentials (ERPs) to play a significant role in this
process. Any measurable effects obtained through stimulation of the brain with a typical ERP
signal, embedded in a magnetic field (such as enhancing or suppressing response to other stimuli,
including other magnetic stimulation), presented with a field strength low enough to interact with
the brain’s own magnetic fields, would tend to support our hypothesis.
The hypothesis would also be strengthened if a method for imaging small and rapid changes in
the amplitudes of the fields surrounding neural magnetosomes were developed and found unique
magnetic signals in regions known to associate with consciousness, such as the reticular
formation32,33, the claustrum34, and the “posterior cortical hot zone”.35 Differences in local
concentrations, organization, or function in the magnetosomes in these areas would also tend to
support our hypothesis.
This hypothesis makes predictions that can be corroborated, though reliable procedures for it’s
falsification it may prove difficult to develop, given the current state of neuroscience. Specific
difficulties arise from the tautological nature of definitions for the word consciousness, the
exclusively subjective nature of consciousness, as well as difficulties involved in separating
magnetic field effects, arising from magnetosomes, from those produced by neural electrical
activity.
Self, Sense of Self, and States of Consciousness Are Not Consciousness Itself
Some putative attributes of consciousness may in fact be aspects of the sense of self. The criteria
for tests must be rigorously defined and narrowed to include only the capacity for subjective
awareness. For example, one vernacular science magazine36 said “…consciousness has to
involve the integration of activity from several brain networks, allowing us to perceive our
surroundings as one single unifying experience rather than isolated sensory perceptions”. This
function is known to occur in the thalamus, and may contribute more to the sense of self than the
phenomenon of subjective experience per se. We should note that ‘perceiving our surroundings’
for human beings will include events and percepts (such as a single word) where social salience
and meaning predominate over sensory impact.
In addition, some putative aspects of consciousness are actually mechanisms for managing states
of consciousness (e.g. selecting the present object of attention), and affect what we are aware of,
not the mechanism of awareness itself. Some of the traditional definitions for the word
“consciousness”, including the ability to consolidate memories, response to stimuli, or the
clinical concept of impaired consciousness may not be helpful. Consciousness, as we understand
it here, operates with respect to individual qualia; sensory, cognitive, affective percepts, the
sense of self, or the “mind” in which they exist. However, consciousness would still be present
with only one percept, even with no “self” to interpret it, since we have posited that even a
simple magnet will have a rudimentary consciousness, as will a bacterium with a single
magnetosome (see fig.1). An impaired consciousness, unable to integrate its percepts, affects,
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Murphy, T., Solving the “Hard Problem”: Consciousness as an Intrinsic Property of Magnetic Fields
656
and cognitions, or to support the sense of self, would still retain the capacity for subjective
experience. Consciousness would be in an ‘on’ state at all times, even if it’s normal sensory,
affective, and cognitive inputs were not.
Consciousness appears to be the environment in which states of consciousness exist and change
while integrated experience and the sense of self are state specific phenomena. Tests that
examine aspects of the sense of self cannot be expected to elucidate the phenomenon of
consciousness. Studying trees may not answer specific questions about soil. Memory, for
example, depends on states of consciousness insofar as not all states permit memory retrieval or
consolidation equally. In addition, not all states can maintain the sense of self, which may not
exist during dreamless sleep, even though brain imaging displays clear signs of neural activity in
these states.
In our model, self-awareness is actually not a feature of consciousness, when viewed only as “the
capacity for subjective awareness”. Rather, it constitutes awareness of a specific, though subtle
phenomenon; the sense of self.
Conclusion
The notion that consciousness is an intrinsic property of magnetic fields has a significant
explanatory power, and does not rely on any non-consensual paradigms or metaphysical
concepts.
Received September 30, 2019; Accepted October 12, 2019
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Klarica M, Orešković D (2014). "A new look at cerebrospinal fluid movement". Fluids Barriers CNS.
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Jang, S. H., and H. S. Kim. "Aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage causes injury of the ascending
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Proctor, Lorne D., Robert S. Knighton, and John A. Churchhill. "Variations in consciousness produced
by stimulating reticular formation of the monkey." Neurology (1957).
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Koubeissi, Mohamad Z., et al. "Electrical stimulation of a small brain area reversibly disrupts
consciousness." Epilepsy & Behavior 37 (2014): 32-35.
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Thomson, Helen , "Consciousness on-off switch discovered deep in brain" New Scientist 2 July 2014
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Article
The Temporal Gluing Problem of the Brain and the Paradox of
Consciousness: Discretely Continuous?
Morteza Izadifar*
Institute of Medical Psychology, Ludwig-Maximilian University Munich, Munich, Germany
Abstract
Phenomenologically speaking, we see ourselves as a unified ‘self’ in the center of the world.
However, the mechanism behind creating this existential unity is not integrated. Different
regions of the brain are distributed spatially and temporally in building the edifice of ‘conscious
experience’. Putting aside the puzzle of spatial binding of consciousness, the brain functions in a
temporally scattered way: conscious perception is discrete and temporally dispersed either in our
inside world (different neuronal oscillations and also diverse transduction time) or the world
outside (different speed of light and sound). Nevertheless, we perceive that we are moving in a
sleek, continuous, and smooth tunnel of life and its events. How does the nervous system deal
with these temporally scattered situations? Whence comes this fascinating experience of the
smooth torrent of consciousness although its underlying neural mechanism is gappy, discrete,
and bumpy? I argue that the answer lies in considering two important concepts which ultimately
influence the integrity of brain organization and our flow of consciousness in time: Criticality of
time and its relation to our brain and sensory information processing by the brain from the
outside and inside world. I believe that it would be futile to concentrate on the puzzle of spatial
binding without apprehending the temporal gluing problem. However, in recent years, there has
been a tendency for understanding the spatial binding of consciousness, but the temporal binding
has been underrepresented. This article is about revitalizing a crucial concept in understanding
the conundrum of consciousness which is time.
Keywords: Consciousness, time, spatial binding, temporal gluing, self, temporally scattered,
flow of consciousness.
1. Introduction
Putting aside the main puzzling issues about where and how consciousness arises, and many
other questions such as whether consciousness is physical, whether it is epiphenomenal, whether
it arises on a gradient (like sunrise, which comes in degrees) or is “binary” (like pregnancy, and
is either there or it isn’t), whether there is an explanatory gap, whether consciousness is an
irreducibly fundamental aspect of reality, and the nature of the relationship between
consciousness and intentionality, there still exists an opacity between consciousness flow and its
association to time. In pursuing the neural correlates of consciousness, time (how consciousness
*Correspondence: Morteza Izadifar, Institute of Medical Psychology, Ludwig-Maximilian University Munich, Munich, Germany.
Email: morteza.izadifar@med.uni-muenchen.de
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arises in time) as an important variable has been ignored through history of science and most of
thinkers concentrated more on where it occurs.
Imagine we have understood the whole mystery of consciousness and obtained a fine-grained
knowledge about the brain network or any other breakthroughs about the underlying mechanism
of the place of consciousness (we solve the spatial integration of consciousness which is called
the binding problem). There are still some questions: if we take our brain as the emergence
source of our conscious experience in a completely materialist term, how does the brain produce
it in time? Is consciousness emerged in a continuous or discrete form? I mean that does the brain
create it in a smooth, non-stop and continuous procedure (like when you switch on the engine of
a car) or on the other side, the perception is a sequence of discrete conscious instants.
To answer these questions, we should dive into a much deeper parts of the ocean of life. I
suggest that we had better begin with the concept of motion as Jean Paul Sartre maintains (1943)
that everything is on the move and head forward, as a skier who must slide down the sleek slope
of snow. Consider, for example, any organism’s motion. At the first glance, we notice that
motion is the essence of life itself. All living organisms move within the world. This motion
could also be within themselves, in the circulation of blood, air and nerve impulses. Plants also
move. Although they are rooted in the soil, they also move by bending to the wind, actions of
photosynthesis and absorbing nutrients by osmosis. We also do feel motion. The awareness is
deeply connected to our emotional experience of movement. We feel we go forward within time
and through time. Time itself moves, according to some, with a unidirectional arrow that points
only frontward. Moreover, many words in our languages contain aspects of movement. We
report our qualitative sense of motion subjectively, by metaphors, adjectives and many other
poetic means. Thus, motion is the quintessential property of time. It seems that everything is
moving in the universe. Even, entropy, as the critical scientific measure of the capacity of the
physical world with spontaneous changes, disorder or chaos is a kind of motion.
As a subjective experience, we move in time like a river, and events evaporate into the past. We
often call this motion as passage of time— or let me call it the passage of subjective time. The
world is not to be classified in any particular material, but rather with an ongoing progression
governed by a law of change. Heraclitus, the Greek philosopher, is the pioneer of this idea that
all things pass and nothing stops. He believed that ‘there is nothing permanent except change’
(540-480 BC/1987). For him, change is the only reality in nature. His analogy of the passage of
time as the flow of a river is illustrious (panta rhei) “everything flows”. He says “No man ever
steps in the same river twice, for it’s not the same river and he’s not the same man.” In plain
words, he means that one cannot step into the same river twice because one is changing and the
river too. The water one touched earlier will be downstream while one steps in water from up the
stream. Just as water flows in a river, one cannot trace the exact same water twice when one
steps into a river. Everything is constantly changing. Individuals are never the same, changing in
some way from minute to minute to day-to-day experiences. There is a flow in which the world
continuously changes and no two situations are exactly the same. It seems that every mortal
moves ceaselessly in the river of time.
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But how we move in time is still an enigma. What is the element that provides our sensation of
movement in a smooth way? How is it possible that we perceive these periodic movements as a
whole? How does this motion happen in time? Is it continuous like the stream of a river or gappy
like a bumpy road? Our intuition says that psychological time is continuous rather than discrete
(James, 1890). But it seems that our intuition is wrong. We should be aware that subjective
experience of time or intuitionistic understanding of it might not be the best timing gauge
(Pöppel, 1996). In fact, what we lack is a qualitative sense of connection between units of time.
In other words, we need a scientific explanation of our motion in time. Nevertheless, we should
not be hopeless. Lots of new scientific advances in different fields proclaim that continuity is just
an illusion. Everything in our world moves in a discrete, gappy rhythm. According to numerous
scientific proofs, this motion divides into periodic units to guarantee survival/adaptive strategy
and minimize energy expenditure. Surprisingly, the periodic unit strategy is not restricted to
living organisms. Much of the world displays periodic movements: packages of energy (quanta),
electron spin in the subatomic universe, revolution of the planets on their axes, biological
rhythms and so on.
Because this article is about the relation of the brain and time— our existence in time, in the
upcoming sections, I concentrate on the flow of our consciousness in time (or, flow of our
subjective time) and whether it is discrete our continuous. It has become very important topic in
neuroscience and psychology (also in philosophy of mind discussions) in recent years. In the
forthcoming section, I convey some discussions in the course of history about this concept.
Furthermore, I will bring lots of findings in neuroscience and psychology that confirm the
discrete form of conscious perception.
2. A Historical Overview on Different Opinions (Discrete or Continuous?)
Historically speaking, whether consciousness emerges in a discrete form seems not a new
question and we can spot the trace of it in the third century BC among Buddhists. The idea that
experience is indeed a set of distinct conscious moments can be found in the Abhidharma texts of
the Buddhist tradition. Moreover, in some near eastern mystical schools like Sufism, especially
Rumi and Shabistari’s mysticism, the concept of consciousness comes always with the discrete
instants from what they call ‘the innermost consciousness’. Also, the 13th century Japanese
philosopher, mystic and poet, Eihei Dogen, in his lifework, Shobogenzo, discusses the essence of
time and being. The chapter starts with a poem that portrays each moment of existence's
independence. Time-present, from his viewpoint, means that time is the present and the present
is time. He says:
“Time-present is standing on the mountain heights. Time-present is sinking to the depths of the
ocean. Time-present is an angry demon, time-present is a buddha. Time-present is a formal
ceremony, time-present is the temple compound. Time-present is an everyday individual, timepresent is pervading the whole Universe”.
In the western world, Karl Ernst von Baer presented discrete theories of perception in 19th
century by devising the term “moment” as the boundary between the past and the future. In 1865,
Ernst Mach showed that there is a perceptual time interval. He discovered that although this time
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interval exists in human consciousness, it is not perceivable due to some human limits. Also, in
1868, we have Karl von Vierordt who proved the discrete form of consciousness by many
empirical facts.
In the realm of philosophy, Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, by examining the notion of substance and
influenced by Aristotelian tradition, proposes that all substances are exposed to unceasing
change. In other words, that the principle of change is interconnected with substance itself. He
believed that nobody in Nature is continually maintained in a state of rest. Leibniz once said that
nature makes no leap— “natura non facit saltus”. It is a principle which it is known as The
principle of Continuity (1687). In the second part of Specimen Dynamicum, saying that the law
of continuity is the fundamental principle of an original and general order in Nature, being
infinite from the very beginning. He thought that bodies are in a form of continual, continuous
change, similar to the course of a running river (he also applied it in his theory of consciousness
as Spatiotemporal Continuity and Continuity of Actual Existents). It is just birth and death which
are relative phenomena comprising of a constant passage from one state to another. However,
according to the new discoveries in the brain sciences, it seems he was mistaken.
David Hume, the prominent British philosopher, believed that conscious perception is
discontinuous—each perception arises independently. For him, perception is fundamentally fluid;
it arises and then perishes. “Every distinct perception, which enters into the composition of the
mind, is a distinct existence, and is different, and distinguishable, and separable from every other
perception, either contemporary or successive” (David Hume, A Treatise of Human Nature,
1739). Puzzled with the continuity of identity (despite its discrete and independent essence),
Hume expresses his idea about consciousness with the claim that a substantial unified self does
not exist— it is discrete, atomic and linearly successive.
Years after, Immanuel Kant (1781) described that our knowledge of the objects constituting
natural phenomena; our perceptual experiences and theoretical reasons in understanding them are
completely structured in temporal frames. He demonstrated the ubiquity of time in the
performance of cognitive reason. In a more concerned theme of today’s scientific jargon, it can
be paraphrased in this way that all of our actions are bound to a timing frame. They are all
grounded in the form of time which constructs human cognitive experience. We perceive the
world in somewhat fixed temporal parcels which are discrete and gappy. His only exceptionally
detemporalized concept was human’s ethics. Although this idea gives Kant’s moral philosophy
impractical, it seems he was forced to do it because by denying the temporality of moral
conscience and practical reason, he saves the notion of autonomous self and the essential
freedom which grounded them.
William James (1890/1950) is also one of the pioneers of consciousness who grasps it as
“sensibly continuous”. He meant that the flow of time as we experience is not prominently
interrupted by regular indicators. From James’s viewpoint, if we take motor behavior as an
instance, as well as in perception, timing appears to be continuous. In other words, when we
pedaling a bicycle, or adjust to different musical tempos in dancing or playing an instrument, we
are able to speed up or slowdown in it. Besides, what he describes the experience of time as a
stream of consciousness is comprised of a series of moments in which each moment comes into
existence and disappears only to be replaced by another. The thoughts and conscious reactions to
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events that encompass those moments are supposed as a continuous flow. But, if the description
of the stream of consciousness, like that James proclaims is true, why do we have detours and
breaks of thoughts during reverie or relaxed thinking? Besides, the flickering, perseverative,
time-blurred images experienced in certain intoxications or severe migraines give credibility to
the idea that consciousness is not river-like as it is perceived. It looks James’s (stream of river)
and Sartre’s (a skier who slide down the sleek slope of snow) metaphors fail to answer these
questions.
Edmund Husserl the German philosopher in mid-20th century who established the school of
phenomenology considers the same general experience as inner time consciousness, an element
of his definition of the flow of time. Inner time consciousness is a capability to perceive both
sequence and length of events, both of which contribute to the specious present. For Husserl, it
was a puzzling issue that the human brain experiences objects of the world in sequential order,
while it also experiences time during viewing immobile or stationary objects. This idea is like
James’s (1890) stream of consciousness.
In line of supporting river-like argument of consciousness, Bergson (1889) believed that the
moments of consciousness are not detached from each other— “there are no snapshots cut off
from the rest; there is simply the continuous flow of our awareness”. The continuous becoming
of continuity has an organization which he calls “rational evolution”. For Bergson consciousness
is “an inner life that is ceaselessly changing an inner world in which one state of consciousness
flows into the next”. Bergson’s moment never dies, his is “an idea without demise”. To
Bergson’s and James’s conjecture, time is precisely a continuous becoming which are never
manifested as a discrete shape— time is not a series of droplets.
Among 19th century philosophers like Alfred Whitehead (1938), the English philosopher and
mathematician, time is comprised of discrete atomic durations, each categorized by internal
indivisible characteristics. From his view, these durations are non-mathematically continuous.
Each interval has an immediate successor and predecessor, from which it is detached by absolute
discontinuity. Time is a course of “creative advance” in which reality becomes present in
discontinuous spurts of creation. Whitehead believes that there exists a creative becoming of
atomic continuities which he calls discrete durations or “droplets” of time. However, he adds that
the process of that becoming happens with no continuity, no smooth move from one discrete
form to the next.
It appears that theorizing about the nature of time and consciousnesses is not restricted to
philosophers and brain scientists. Julian Barbour is a British physicist (influenced by Ernst Mach)
who also theorized about this concept in his book The end of time: The next revolution in
physics (2001). Barbour’s popular quantum gravitational theory suggests that the universe is
jam-packed with what we call nows. Each now looks like a point in spacetime. Metaphorically, it
can be thought of as a snapshot including information such as the brain’s memories at that instant
moment. There is no connection between the snapshots. According to quantum wave reduction
theory, each snapshot provides information about the occasion and memories of prior snapshots
at that moment.
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Besides, the analyses of Hameroff (2003) is another example of hypothesizing on time and
consciousness which roots in physics. It is somehow coherent with James’s view of
consciousness as “continuous flow”. Their quantum-based consciousness claims that
consciousness is the outcome of discrete physical events which is always present in nature as
non-cognitive and proto-conscious event. For instance, the percept of a light flash is like a
perceptual moment resulting from a quantum reduction. Furthermore, the brain smears the
perceptual illusion of continuity to all those moments which is referred to as flow. For them,
consciousness is the constructor of both a series and the flow of moment: they believe that
“consciousness creates time”.
Francis Crick and his colleague Christof Koch, from their first collaborative work in the 1980s,
concentrated more closely on elementary visual perception and processes as a means for
studying and understanding consciousness. Their investigations brought them to the idea— in a
paper in 2003 called A Framework for Consciousness— that “conscious awareness (for vision) is
a series of static snapshots, with motion ‘painted’ on them…[and] that perception occurs in
discrete epochs.” The idea of “snapshots” that Crick and Koch postulated was a requiem for
James’s and Bergson’s theory of the riverlike consciousness— smooth and without interruption.
However, the “snapshots” that they assume are not uniform, like the negative sheets of a
photographic camera and the length of successive snapshots is not likely to be constant. In
addition, the time duration of these snapshots for shape and color are not simultaneous. Although
they show in their study that this “snapshotting” mechanism for visual sensory inputs is probably
a simple and automatic procedure, they do not explain clearly how each percept that include a
great number of visual features, all of which are bound together. Are the several snapshots
“assembled” to achieve specious continuity, and how do they catch the level of consciousness?
The discussion is much deeper and broader than what I covered here. In any case, continuous and
discrete models of consciousness are two different poles which change our standpoint towards
our existence. Furthermore, it was a philosophical challenge for the past thinkers and it has also
become a controversial research question for a vast majority of contemporary
neuroscientists/psychologists in modern era. In recent years, we have witnessed a kind of favor
of discrete form of conscious perception among modern researchers. They have come to this
conclusion that continuous representation of conscious perception “cannot satisfactorily account
for a large body of psychophysical data” (VanRullen and Koch, 2003).
3. Findings in Neuroscience and Psychology Supports Discrete Form of
Conscious Perception
For some people, passage of time is a perceptual accomplishment that provides continuity to
discrete observation. Nonetheless, most of what we see is a reconstruction— by filling in the
incompleteness of what is observed. The process of filling in the incompleteness of perception
creates a world which appears to be complete. What we perceive of the world are illusory
percepts. What we feel is not as rich in detail as it seems. In other words, consciousness is not
necessarily continuous in time although it seems like that it is— its subjective side is completely
different from its objective side. It is a chain of moments in which each moment comes into
existence and disappears with gaps in between. Moment by moment replacement in the arrow of
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time are perceived as an illusory continuous flow. The brain has the challenge to fill the gaps of
these discrete experience of perceptual events. These discrete perceptual events can happen in
different levels like sensory process, higher cognition, movement control, physiological data,
speech and language, and cultural artefacts. But, one may ask whether these claims could be
proven. How did we know that perception is formed in a discrete form? Why is there the
smoothness of our perception of reality versus the discreetness or discontinuity of its origins at
the microscopic brain level? Many psychological and neuroscientific discoveries have hinted that
much of the continuity of perception is an illusion because the brain exhibits perceptual
completion from a discrete form.
To answer these questions, firstly I encourage to notice that each of the body’s organs and
biological processes have been coupled in a nested time cycle. There is a time frame for all of
them: the beating of the heart, the pulsing of the breath, the cycle of the digestive system, the
action of the liver, the rhythms of the sleep/awake cycle, so the brain. All of them have been
fixed with a demonstration of time windows. Isn’t it worth considering? Besides, there exists a
wealthy of experimental findings from neuroscience and psychology show that mental activities,
including cognitive activities, have discrete, separated functions— they are implemented in a
somewhat assigned time frame. All these assigned time frames imply to this fact that conscious
perception is gappy, discrete and bumpy and continuity is just a trick of our brain—an illusion.
By pondering in the microlevel of life, we find out that because of some neurophysiological or
even survival necessity (evolutionary perspective), discrete timing of consciousness can serve
better to the organism rather than a “sensibly continuous” time (Varshney et al., 2006). Varshney
suggests that neurons with discrete synaptic states may function better than neurons with
continuous synaptic states. In another case, Abbott and his colleagues (2016) maintained that
neurons converse with one another “almost exclusively through discrete action potentials”.
Another reason for favoring discrete form of consciousness is noise tolerance (Chaudhuri and
Fiete, 2016). There are many causes of noise in the brain such as sensory noise, cellular noise,
motor noise. Due to these noises, information that is transported or transferred in continuous
form unavoidably lose its quality and becomes corrupted. For example, let’s take one of visual
paths: information in human vision originates at the retina, then it is carried to the LGN via the
optic nerve, before reaching the visual cortex. Applying Shannon’s communications theory
(Shannon, 1948) to communications in the brain, the presence of noise throughout such a
transmission chain makes it implausible for the brain to retain continuous representation; noise
will always accrue and accordingly corrupt the information, no matter how small the noise is.
Furthermore, Pöppel (1985) indicated with a neuroscientific method that how our perceptual
constraints create a horizon of simultaneity— at which we distinguish audio and visual stimuli as
occurring simultaneously, although the speed of sound and light are different in our physical
world. We recognize audio signals as non-simultaneous when they are detached by an interval of
about 6 milliseconds. If that splitting interval is shorter, we perceive audio signals as being
simultaneous. Visual signals which are separated by an interval of 20 to 30 milliseconds are
experienced as non-simultaneous. Below this threshold, they are perceived as simultaneous. In
tactile impressions, the simultaneity threshold sets at approximately 10 milliseconds. According
to these experiments, we perceive tactile, visual and audio events in a temporally restricted mode.
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According to Pöppel, this temporally restricted structure is perceived as one ‘now’ which are
based on a clustered perception-related experiences constructed by our brains.
Evidence for discrete form of conscious perception also derives, for instance, from studies on
temporal order thresholds. If subjects are requested to show the sequence of two sensory stimuli,
temporal order thresholds in the domain of nearly 20 to 60 milliseconds are observed
independent of the sensory modality (Hirsh and Sherrick, 1961; von Steinbüchel, 1995;
Wittmann and Szelag, 2003; Fink and Neubauer, 2005). To measure auditory order thresholds,
for instance two clicks are sent to subject’s ears (both ears). If the stimuli are presented
simultaneously, the subject will blend the stimuli perceptually so that only one stimulus is heard.
A delay of one stimulus results in hearing the two clicks separately in each ear if the interval
between the two surpasses 2 to 3 milliseconds. Although the subject hears two clicks and might
even distinguish they are no longer simultaneous, she will unable to specify their temporal order
correctly. The delay between the two clicks must exceed approximately 20 to 60 milliseconds
that a subject can indicate the correct sequence. Similar threshold domains have been observed
both for the visual and the tactile modality in similar experimental situations.
Another proof comes from measurements of response latencies in pursuit and saccadic eye
movements. When pursuit eye movements initiate, the latency of such eye movements has a
strong tendency to be within 30 to 40 milliseconds intervals (Pöppel and Logothetis, 1986).
Similar observations have been made on saccadic eye movements for human subjects (Fuchs,
1967; Ruhnau and Haase, 1993, Tanaka and Sengco, 1997).
In short-term memory investigations, Sternberg (1966), in an experiment which is known as
Sternberg task (the experiment entails memorization of a positive set, a list of items such as
numbers or words) discovered that the exhaustive scanning procedure through short term
memory is disjointed, with approximate phase durations of 30 to 40 milliseconds.
There also exist some findings deriving from neurophysiological experiments which support the
notion of discrete form of consciousness. Experiments on the brainstem auditory evoked
potential prove that the midlatency response shows a clear oscillation in the first 100
milliseconds after stimulus onset (Galambos et al., 1981; Gray et al., 1989; Murthy and Fetz
1992; Podvigin and Pöppel, 1994).
Another example is apparent movement which is debated in terms of perceptual completion. For
illustration, if one visual dot is tracked in time by another further away, they seem like separate
dots, separate in time. But if they are close in distance and time, the brain connects the two
events by making the one dot appear to move back and forth. In this illusion, known as beta
movement (important for motion pictures), the brain fills the gap and perceives a movement
sensation. A similar type of illusory perceptual connection is the phi phenomenon (seen at interstimulus intervals greater than those associated with beta) in which a sensation of motion is
experienced between the images of consecutive stimuli without a change their spatial position
(Steinman, 2001). Moreover, we can find this phenomenon also in the Necker cube, which can
be seen under two different perspectives, (there is atemporal gap between changing two
perspectives) and a phoneme sequence like CU-BA-CU-BA, where one hears either CUBA or
BACU (Radilova, Pöppel and Ilmberger, 1990).
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Another piece of evidence about the discrete form of vision perception roots in what it is called
in magician world visual coin trick. A magician makes the illusion of transferring a coin from
one hand into the other. The magical experience of the trick happens when the closed fist of the
second hand is opened and revealed to be empty. It seems according to some experiments (Beth
and Ekroll, 2015), if the time interval between the false transfer and the opening of the fist
increases it would be probable that the magical experience evoked by this kind of trick becomes
remarkably weaker. From finding of this experiment, by increasing the temporal interval from 1
to 32 s, they observed an average reduction of the strength of the magical experience of 38%.
But, how is it possible? Beth and Ekroll’s analysis make the possibility that the brain has a limit
to create a perceptual completion for the intervals between discrete process of vision creation and
also in seeing a stationary object.
Another proof of intermittent consciousness happens when the general anesthetic by
Methohexital or Propofol is employed (usually for short surgery). This procedure results in a
retrograde amnesia. Upon awakening from surgery after 5-15 minutes long, some patients report
that what they recall is that they have being told that they will be given the drug and the next
thing they recall is becoming awake and told that the surgical procedure is over. Furthermore,
they were puzzled that “no time” elapsed between the two verbal events (Schwender et al., 1995).
To cover some instances of discrete form of conscious perception in the higher levels, it is worth
mentioning the color phi experience (Dimmick, 1920; Kovaćs and Julesz, 1992). In this
phenomenon, the mixture of spacing and timing of the two images, a person who views the
wheel report a feeling of motion in the space between the two points. The first point begins to
seem to be moving, and then change color sharply in the middle of its illusory path.
In behavioral levels, for instance in decision making, a person who decides to buy a product in
1.99 Euros refuse to buy the same product if priced 1 cent higher (2.00 Euros). Such a sudden
change in the brain’s purchasing decision making cannot be modeled by means of a continuous
representation despite broad attempts to do so (Basu, 1997). Besides, in cultural artifacts, such as
hugging or shaking hand, a temporal window (around 3 seconds) has been observed (Schleidt et
al., 1987).
4. What do all these experiments imply?
From the speech of von Baer in 1860 at the founding of the Russian Entomological Society in St.
Petersburg on subjective time (he came up with a definition of the moment, i.e. the longest
possible period of time for an organism) to recent observations on the distinct type of conscious
experience, all of them suggest this message: underlying machinery of any organism’s cognition
modalities (sight, hearing, smell, taste and touch), there exists a temporal frame for processing
(conscious perception is discrete).
Besides, for a basic understanding of human cognition, it is necessary to adopt a concept of
temporal processing. By a closer look at the visual system, for instance, we realize that the
integration of spatially distributed functions in the different regions of the visual cortex are
determined pre-semantically by using temporal network properties rather than the content of
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what is processed. It is very significant to know the logistic machinery of temporal integration of
spatially distributed activities in the brain prior to ‘what’ is processed. Having explained this
cognitive process, one has to differentiate strictly, with respect to the mental machinery, between
two mechanisms: one pre-semantic mechanism providing a temporal frame for processing,
logistical function, and the other being responsible for the content of what is processed, content
function (Pöppel, 1989).
So, we are led to the view that consciousness itself occurs in short pulses, each of which is
experienced as a whole, from which it is but a short step to the view that a stream of
consciousness consists of a succession of such pulses (like beads on a thread), each a short-lived
total experience— ‘islands of nowness’ (Pöppel, 1997). But, there are still unanswered, puzzling,
and abrasive questions: How are these ‘islands of nowness’, or ‘specious present’ connected
together? How does the brain make this bumpy road as a flattened highway? What is the
underlying brain mechanism (if any) for creating this illusion of continuity? In my poetic term,
what (where) is the glue of our existence?
5. Conundrum of continuity
Zillions of electrical, chemical, and hormonal procedures happen in our brain every jiffy, but we
experience everything as a smoothly running integrated whole. Likewise, during our life we
experience changes each day, each minute, each second. Each year about 98% of our molecules
and atoms in our body are changed in course of time (each minute 30 million cells die and are
replaced), resulting in a new body about each year (van Lommel, 2006). But no one realizes this
continuous and smooth change which in depth is gappy. More generally, we are constantly aware
of phenomenal passage of time in which there is a continuous flow and recurrent renewal of
content of our consciousness.
This experience of passage is both continuous and homogeneous— my experience was not
packaged into discrete components. We witness a continuous change and we are alert of every
part of it. For instance, I move my hand slowly but smoothly across my field of vision. Moment
by moment I see my hand at a different location; I also see my hand continuously moving. Not
only is the movement continuous, but my experience of the movement is continuous. Or, let’s
deliberate the case of hearing a melody. To suggest that we hear each of the sounds of a melody
one by one is not wrong. Yet we generally say that, as a whole, we hear the melody. In the case
of hearing a man utter a sentence, it is the same. How is it possible that, as a continuous form, we
hear sentences and melody?
Furthermore, I have a sense of personal continuity in temporal directions (past and future), also
depicted as an integration of the self in time, either as a phenomenological continuity—the
experience of self-continuity that is felt through mental time travel or narrative continuity—
arises from coherent life stories which maintains the continuity of my identity (Rose Addis and
Tippett, 2008). How could this be, although our brain creates it in a discrete, gappy and
fissionable procedure? Is there a link? A thread?
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When we talk about a link, it is implied that there are some independent, far-away, and discrete
packages that should be connected together so that the continuity happens. In this situation, the
concept of continuity comes on top and the desire for finding the link initiates. The adventurous
voyage for discovery of the underlying layers of continuity is commenced with these seemingly
simple but deep questions: how is it possible those ‘islands of nowness’ create such a smooth
continuity of consciousness? How can we explain the temporal continuity of the flow of time
consciousness? How self-continuity (or personal identity) is preserved? How can we face with
the question of discrete identity and its continuous experience? What is the relation between the
discrete nature of our mental experience and this unified and continuous whole? What is the
connector? What is the thread of our continuity in time? If our conscious perception is discretely
continuous, what is the glue of our existence?
It seems to me that the questions are much more problematic than they appear. Or, perhaps, one
might object and see them as pseudo-questions. Nonetheless, if we take these fundamental
questions as pseudo ones, we have radically evaded a deep inquiry and ignored a profound
concept. However, for Cartesian dualists, the question of consciousness continuity in time could
be solved easily. In fact, it is not even an inquiry. What binds before and after, in the Cartesian
definition of time, is time itself. A self-consciousness that recalls "myself of yesterday" and
believes "myself of tomorrow" is inferred. In this sense, the memory of the past is limited to the
consciousness of the present. The same applies to the current outlook for the future.
According to Cartesian dualism doctrine when we have the ‘res cogitans’—an immortal soul
(mind) which does not follow the natural laws and functions independently from the brain, why
should we bother ourselves with these questions? But, from a realist scientific view which is
based on experimentation, this is not the answer.
I suppose that we should take the above-mentioned questions seriously: Firstly, experience of
time flow is profoundly embedded in the imagery of our culture. In music, for instance, rhythm
refers to an organized movement in time. Human’s rhythmic energies which root in her
physiological and neural structure are intricately hooked up with her ability to generate time in
music. By a closer look, musical rhythm on its various levels, are not necessarily interrupted.
Besides, the word stems from the Greek verb “to flow”. Secondly, conscious perception as I
mentioned in previous sections takes place in discrete forms in time and there has to be a glue—
a link to connect them all. A bond that gives a being the feeling of moving in a sleek vessel of
time which all of us have strongly experienced. Thirdly, missing something is the best proof for
its existence. In other words, we have lots of evidence that in some mental problems such as
schizophrenia, patients suffer from being stuck in the moment and lose the experience of a
smooth flow in time. So, it is the glue of our existence which should be understood from
different angles. With understanding the concept of consciousness glue, we start a new story of
our existence. It provides the key to open a new door, a new line into the world of time and a
new tool to demystify the causes of many mental diseases which were strange for our previous
scientists. But, whence comes this fascinating experience of smooth torrent?
But, what do I mean by continuity? The definition would seem self-evident, but let me clarify
what continuity denotes here. In a broad sense, I mean continuity of consciousness in time not
space. Besides, I do not plan to explore the continuity of time which physicists discuss in their
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jargon as a metaphysical concept. I empathically bring about this difference because I do not
intend to confuse the readers with the concept of continuity of consciousness in space in an
Aristotelian or Bergsonian notion. Aristotle’s notion of continuity in space entails a procedure
which is ‘from something to something structure’ as pertaining to physical motion repeating the
continuity of space. Aristotle reduces the ‘from…to’ to a sum of spatial points. But he could not
plausibly have maintained this to the qualitative change of an apple from green to red, or of a
man from being happy to being sad. As you have noticed, neither of these transformations
involve change of spatial position at all. Consequently, Aristotle’s notion for continuity in this
sense foreclosed. Bergson also with a narrow understanding of Aristotle, says that time, is space.
This is the result of misleading apprehending Aristotle’s continuity in the narrow sense of the
wide-ranging magnitude of space. Additionally, with Bergson understanding of time, the
Aristotelian concept of time was also misread, in so far as he from the beginning taken this
dimensional character of time as spatial extension. You may consider, in an Einsteinian sense,
space and time the same. It is also fine.
Thus, in overall, I intend to deal with two fundamental questions: Firstly, although conscious
perception is discrete and temporally scattered either in our inside world (different neuronal
oscillations and also diverse transduction time) or the world outside (different speed of light and
sound), we perceive that we are moving in a sleek, continuous, and smooth tunnel of life and its
events.
6. Experimental investigations in search for the continuity of consciousness
conundrum
Augustine rescued temporal extension of our existence by putting it in “the distension of the soul”
accomplished through memory. Surprisingly, Husserl too in his phenomenological approach
takes “expand the soul” argument with the help of memory; only, with him, consciousness,
which appears not to have been invented in Augustine’s day, takes the place of the soul. But, can
it be elucidated only by the role of the soul? And, we should ask both of them that what is the
soul in the first place? It seems that their answers are not convincing and popped up from their
religious minds, not on the basis of the empirical data (objective evidence). So, what about
modern sciences like neuroscience and psychology? What do they present about this challenging
and critical theme in our existence? It seems that recent advances in today’s brain imaging
technology in neuroscience, for example, has paved the road for us.
To the best of my knowledge, among psychologists and neuroscientists, most of their efforts
have concentrated on spatial filling in our visual system and how visual system fills the gap
between blind spots of retina (they have mostly overlooked the temporal filling of
consciousness). They argue that although visual perception is discrete, the interval (gap) must be
filled with something (Treisman and Gormican, 1988; VanRullen and Koch, 2003; VanRullen et
al., 2007). And for some scientists like Niko Logothetis, vision is a window on consciousness
which should be explored meticulously (1999). But, what is going on between snapshots of
perception? How can we provide a schema to explain the experiential phenomena between these
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gaps? Maybe, answering to these questions assists us in decrypting the temporal lags in our
conscious perception.
To put this topic more precisely, I should mention here that apart from the illusion of the
continuity of consciousness, how we see the world with our eyes in a smooth and continuous
form is also an illusion. The continuous perceived image filling the blind spot of the retina is
clearly an illusory percept. The brain is not physically capable of recording information from that
area. Although tracking an object with different eye movements (saccadic or pursuing) in the
world is fabricated discretely (because of blind spot in retina), the image is felt uninterruptedly
and does usually agree with the local physical setting and is predictive and efficient for the
observer. Noë (2002) notes that because more potential information exists than the brain can
obtain, it is much more efficient for the brain to recreate the visual world from less information.
However, among theorists, it is debated as to whether there is actual filling in process and
whether the brain simply ignores the blind spot and other regions (Ramachandran et al., 1992;
Blackmore, 2002; Dassonville et al., 2004; Hafed and Clark, 2002; Henderson et al., 2007). But
for J.J. Gibson (1975) the illusion of continuity of vision is something external. He argues that
“A sequence of external stimuli or, at the very least, the rhythms of the observer’s body, provide
a flow of change, and it is this we perceive rather than a flow of time as such.” He adds that “The
observer perceives both what is altered and what remains unaltered in the environment”.
In line of these arguments, Crick and Koch (1990) also have the same claim to explain the
apparent continuity of visual consciousness. They suggest that “hysteresis,” that is, a persistence
outlasting the stimulus causes we see our surrounding uninterrupted and smoothly. This belief
seems very similar, in a way, to the “persistence of vision” concepts advanced in the nineteenth
century by Hermann von Helmholtz in his Treatise on Physiological Optics (1825). To put it in
another form, according to Crick and Koch’s and also Helmholtz’s hypothesis, the sense of
visual continuity is the final product of the continuous overlapping of consecutive perceptual
moments. The only difference between Crick and Koch’s and Helmholtz’s assertion is that
Helmholtz supposed that this aftereffect occurs in the retina, but for Crick and Koch it arises in
the binding of neurons in the cortex.
Koch also in another article (2004) proposed that perceptual completion or what I call vision
gluing maybe “painted onto” the snapshots of visual perception— a kind of a superimposed
percept or a quale, like that of music. Gruber and Block (2013) implemented some experiments
that explain illusory perception between “snapshots” of stimuli and reached the same conclusion.
Besides, Treisman’s feature integration theory suggests that spatially focused attention is
necessary bind the features of an object to the locus of focused attention (Treisman and
Gormican, 1988; Treisman and Sato, 1990; Treisman and Gelade, 1980).
Interestingly, the flow of visual consciousness does not function for some organisms.
Evolutionary speaking, it is probable that no such flow of visual consciousness exists in
amphibians. A frog, for example, expresses no active attention and no visual flow of events. It
does not scan its environments or look for prey. The frog does not possess a visual world or
visual consciousness as we experience it. It seems that it is only a spontaneous reaction to an
insect-like object to dart out its tongue in response if one enters its visual field. By taking the
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frog’s example, it might be that such a dynamic and continuous consciousness first evolved in
reptiles around 300 million years ago (Krauzlis et al., 2018).
There is also an unusual neurological disorder that some patients experience ‘snapshot visual
frames’ during attacks of migraine. Hence, they fail the sense of visual continuity and motion
and see their surroundings as a flickering series of still pictures (Zihl et al., 1983). These still
pictures seem sharp and clear-cut, succeeding one another without overlap. Most of the time
these patients report that the still pictures are somewhat blurred and they are shown in the way
that they endure long enough that each ‘frame’ is visible when the next one is seen. This
situation continues till three or four frames is exposed to the patients and the earlier ones are
progressively faded. This cinematographic style of vision of these patients is comparable to films
run too slowly. According to these patients’ report, these attacks are rare, brief and not readily
predicted. It is argued that forms of cinematographic vision in which some patients experienced
(sharply separated stills or blurred snapshots in their vision) characterizes abnormalities of
excitability in the neurons binding.
Such instantaneous, static visual frames may also occur in certain intoxications (especially with
hallucinogens such as LSD). They report an unusual visual effect of stirring objects which leave
a trailing stain with images repeating themselves, and afterimages are significantly elongated.
Likewise, Josef Zihl and his colleagues (1983) published a very fully described case of motion
blindness: a woman who, resulting a stroke, was unable to perceive motion. The clinical reports
maintain that the stroke injured highly specific areas of the visual cortex which is crucial for
motion perception. This patient experienced “freeze frames” lasting several seconds, during
which could only see a lengthy motionless image and be visually unaware of any movement
around her, although her flow of thought and perception was regular. She might begin a chat
with a friend standing in front of her but not be able to see her friend’s lips moving or facial
looks shifting. If the friend moves behind her, she continues to “see” him in front of her, even
though his voice now comes from behind. She might see a car “frozen” in a significant distance
away but when she tries to cross the road, that it was now almost upon her. She would see a
“glacier,” a frozen arc of coffee coming from the coffeemaker, but then comprehends that she
had overfilled the cup and there was now a pool of coffee on the table.
In fact, continuity of vision in ordinary conditions gives no indication of the fundamental
processes on which it functions. To understand its underlying mechanism, it should be
decomposed experimentally or in neurological disorders, to show the components that compose
it. The side effects such as flickering, perseverative, blurred images experienced in some
intoxications or severe migraines gives backbone to the idea that consciousness is comprised of
discrete moments. Besides, these evidences show that although such standstills of consciousness
happen in some situations for a substantial period, automatic, nonconscious functions like
maintenance of position or breathing, for example continues as earlier. This puzzling
phenomenon brings this question whether the flow of consciousness works independently from
the rest of the body system.
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In ambiguous figures, like Necker cube, one is able to switch the perspective every few seconds.
At the first look, one aspect of the figure projects, then to retreat, and another perspective is
shown without effort of will. The viewer is able to continue back and forth in seeing the figure.
Although there is no change in drawing itself, nor its retinal image (the changing process
happens in cortical levels), there are two perceptual interpretations which is fueled by the
conflict in consciousness. This perspective change is observed in all normal subjects and can be
seen in brain imaging technologies its underlying neural mechanism.
However, some Parkinsonian patients have problem during the perspective switching. They
perceive the same unchanging view for minutes or hours at an instance. Necker cube experiment
on some patients shows that the normal flow of consciousness could not only be split, broken
into small, snapshot-like crumbs, but also suspended occasionally, for hours at a specific time
span. These clinical experience casts doubt on James’s cinematic vision that consciousness, in its
very nature, is ever flowing. Besides, it is not just in perception, for example our visual
experience, that we directly experience such a phenomenon. Thinking, for instance, also involves
a continuous sequence of occurrent thoughts and mental images, regardless of whether the
content these thoughts is continuous or fragmented.
As I mentioned earlier, most of experimental data on the flow of consciousness has been
concentrated on the spatial filling in visual system. How consciousness flows in time is still an
underrepresented topic. However, there are some experiments which challenge this question. For
example, the most recent effort in understanding the temporal process of filling the gap in
consciousness comes from the study of Herzog and his colleagues (2016). They postulated a
two-stage information processing model to explain the discrete perception and also
consciousness. They implied that like other features, temporal features (such as duration) are
coded as quantitative labels. When unconscious processing is accomplished, all features are
simultaneously rendered conscious at discrete moments in time, sometimes even hundreds of
milliseconds after stimuli were accessible. Their model defies prominent theories on the
philosophy of mind, which believes that consciousness is a continuous stream. They also propose
that the phenomenal experience of events has the appearance of continuity.
7. An underrepresented concept: the temporal problem of continuity of
consciousness
Theoretically speaking, we can solve the problem of continuity if we consider these two
problems seriously: The binding problem of consciousness (in philosophical jargon) or
multisensory integration/spatial binding (in psychological and neuroscientific jargon) and what I
call the gluing problem of consciousness (temporal binding). In other words, I believe that it
would be necessary to study these two problems in order to decipher this unified, smooth, and
continuous experience of our existence.
So, what is the binding problem? The binding problem or what is known among cognitive
scientists, psychologists, and neuroscientists as multisensory integration is the study of how
information from the different sensory modalities (such as sight, sound, touch, smell, self-motion,
and taste) which have been activated in different regions of the brain are integrated by the
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nervous system. To put it much precisely, phenomenologically speaking, we see ourselves as a
unified ‘self’ in the center of the world which moves smoothly in time. However, it should be
noted that the mechanism behind creating this existential unity is not integrated spatially.
Different regions of the brain are distributed in building the edifice of ‘conscious experience’ or
a special ‘conscious perception’ like seeing. In other words, the binding problem of
consciousness pursues this question that how different brain regions are connected to create a
unified ‘self’.
Another puzzling issue which seems much more thought-provoking is temporal binding of
consciousness. Consider this situation: when we are conscious, we have a sense of presence, and
we can feel our own body spatially and temporally in the center of this world. We have the unity
of this subjective reality by a phenomenological experience that I am ‘one’ person in ‘one’ world
(Metzinger, 1995). Aside from how the brain constructs such an outstanding unity from spatial
and mechanical means (the binding problem), lots of evidence approves that conscious
perception occurs in discrete temporal frames (previously explained). So, another problem arises
which I call the gluing problem. The gluing problem pursues this question that what happens in
the brain that these discrete temporal frames of conscious perception are connected together in
time and we feel like a continuous form of consciousness in a smooth form.
In other words, conscious perception is discrete and temporally scattered both in our inside world
(different neuronal oscillations and also diverse transduction time) and the world outside
(different speed of light and sound), nevertheless, we perceive that we are moving in a sleek,
continuous, and smooth tunnel of life and its events. How does the nervous system deal with
these temporally scattered situations? In a much fine-grained analysis, for me, the answer lies in
considering two important concepts which ultimately influence on the integrity of brain
organization and our flow of consciousness in time: criticality of time and its relation to our brain
and sensory information processing by the brain from the outside and inside world.
Turning back to the puzzle of continuity, in my opinion, the fact lies in the relation of the brain
with time and time with the outside world. Let me clarify what I mean by these relationships.
There is “interior time” inside our skull which concern the duration of neuronal activity with
specific frequency ranges. In other words, I mean temporal ranges or circle durations of neural
oscillations which occur according to different activities in the cortical levels of the brain. This
includes different frequencies ranging from infraslow (0.0001–0.1 Hz) over slow (0.1–1 Hz),
delta (1–4 Hz), and theta (5–8 Hz) to faster frequencies like alpha (8–12 Hz), beta (13–30HZ),
and broadband gamma (30–240HZ) (Buzsáki, 2006; Buzsáki et al., 2013; Buzsáki, 2019). These
different oscillations demonstrate different functions and, most likely, related to different
underlying neurophysiological mechanisms that give rise a wide range of behavioral and
functional activities (Buzsáki, 2006). Thus, these different frequencies with their particular cycle
durations provides “windows of opportunity” (Schroeder and Lakatos, 2009; Lakatos et al., 2013)
or “islands of nowness” (Pöppel, 1996) to provide a stage in order to an action is implemented
rightly.
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One also needs to consider the “exterior time” encompassing our body and the world. What do I
mean by the “exterior time”? The Speed of sound is ~330 m/s and the speed of light is
~300,000,000 m/s. Our nervous system is bombarded constantly by these two signals which
cause different transduction time in the brain. Transduction occurs when a sensory receptor
switches a type of stimulus energy (e.g. photon, sound wave) into an electrical impulse (language
of the brain) that can be understood by the brain. Therefore, due to difference in speed of light
and sound, the brain encounters to the challenge of different transduction time. This biophysical
fact primes to a logistic difficulty for the brain because information from different sensory
channels should to be integrated. For instance, when you have a face-to-face talk with someone,
the movements of the speaker’s lips and what you hear occur simultaneously.
According to the physical laws, this should not be happened. You should see first the movements
of lips, then the voice. Nonetheless, the brain makes it simultaneous. However, there is a limit in
synchronization of sound and light for the brain which is called the horizon of simultaneity
(Pöppel, 1989; Pöppel et al., 1990). At a distance of approximately 10 meters, synchronization
becomes problematic. The visual stimuli will be prior to that of auditory stimuli, consequently,
we see first, then hearing happens. We have all experienced the lack of central availability of our
conscious perception beyond the horizon of simultaneity in a rainy spring day by a marvelous
thunderstorm.
Thus, in my opinion, the brain’s “interior time” has to align to the “exterior time” in order to
constitute “world-brain relation”. Such a temporal alignment— timing on the ongoing activity is
aligned to the timing of the stimulus— leads to a “world-brain relation”, and it allows any
organism to enjoy a smooth, uninterrupted, and well-balanced conscious experience in the world.
Any imbalance of precise timing between “interior time” and “exterior time” leads to weird
experiences. But, how does this function?
Time and space are, to recap, the building blocks of nature. Although time and space in physics
have been widely studied, their relevance for the neuronal function of the brain and, more
importantly, consciousness remains largely unknown. If time and space are the most essential
attributes of nature and the brain itself is part of nature, consciousness can also be understood as
a temporo-spatial phenomenon of the neural operation of the brain in this context. Therefore, we
should solve two problems: The binding problem (spatial binding) and the gluing problem
(temporal binding). I believe that overlooking one of these concepts will lag us behind
understanding the conundrum of such a unique phenomenon of smooth continuity. In a more
fine-grained explanation, we should answer four questions:
1. How many brain regions are tangled in each distinct mental act?
2. How are these regions bound together?
3. Having understood how these regions are connected in a coherent form and which areas
are involved, we should know how these distributed regions are glued to each other
temporally?
4. How does the brain’s “interior time” align to the “exterior time” in order to constitute
“world-brain relation”?
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Having said the importance of considering this theoretical frame, I know that we are far from
reaching any straightforward answer or any rash result. However, in this article, I do not intend
to present any answer, but revitalizing a profound question. As Nikola Tesla (1934) reminds us
that “The scientific man does not aim at an immediate result. He does not expect that his
advanced ideas will be readily taken up. His work is like that of the planter—for the future. His
duty is to lay the foundation for those who are to come, and point the way.”
I should also add here that our temptation in opening new horizons by our scientific tools and the
different modes of thinking do not guarantee that every phenomenon is comprehensible to our
brains. We should not forget who we are, indeed. We are a bunch of cells/neurons and a product
of the evolutionary process who got out of hunter-gatherer communities— thanks to the
phenomenon of surplus neurons and many other lucky causes— entered to an agriculture-based
civilization and created philosophy, science and technology. We should be modest and know the
limits of our knowledge, sensations, and understanding of our world. But these limitations should
not stop us from conquering the mysteries of ourselves and the world we live in.
Conflict of Interest: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any
commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.
Funding: This research did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the public,
commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.
Acknowledgements: I gratefully acknowledge the financial support of Hanns-Seidel-Stiftung without
which the present study could not have been completed.
Received February 16, 2021; Accepted April 11, 2021
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Essay
On Scientific Spirituality
Pradeep B. Deshpande*
Chemical Engineering, University of Louisville
& Six Sigma & Advanced Controls, Inc.
Abstract
In this essay, the author will explain that products of reason are no doubt important in the
solution of many problems, however, there are situations where they are inadequate. Then, it
becomes necessary to transcend reason in the pursuit of the domain of consciousness where all
discoveries are thought reside. Limiting ourselves to the products of reason is analogous to
fighting with one hand tied behind the back. Both methods of discovery will be required if we
are to successfully tackle the myriad of challenges facing humanity such as global warming,
renewable energy, desalination, etc.
Keywords: Scientific spirituality, science, reason, intuition, discovery.
In a recent commencement address at Sri Sathya Sai Institute of Higher Learning in Puttaparthi,
Andhra Pradesh, Chief Justice of India Shri N. V. Ramana remarked, “Unfortunately, the modern
education system tends to focus only on the utilitarian function and such a system is not
equipped to deal with the moral or spiritual function of education which builds the character of
students and allows them to develop a social consciousness and a sense of responsibility.”
It is possible to offer a scientific explanation for why the spiritual component is absent, how it is
essential, and what the benefits of its inclusion will be.
To begin, science is the appropriate body of knowledge to use when the fundamentals of the
system under scrutiny are well understood, and when they are not, but measurements are
available, data-driven methodologies such as six sigma can be used. When the system
fundamentals are not well understood and measurements are unavailable, then, these two
methods cease to be useful. Enhancing the focus of attention remains the only route to new
discoveries.
A scientist proposes a hypothesis, designs experiments, conducts experiments, collects data, and
subjects the data to hypothesis testing to ascertain if the hypothesis should be accepted or
rejected. This is science of reason. Sciences, laws, policies, and the like are all products of
reason.
A seer, on the other hand, proposes a hypothesis, goes into meditation, finds the solution,
experientially validates the finding, and tests the solution with followers to decide if the findings
*
Correspondence: Emeritus Prof. Pradeep B. Deshpande, Six Sigma & advanced Controls. Louisville,
KY 40241, http://www.sixsigmaquality.com E-mail: pradeep@sixsigmaquality.com
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Deshpande, P. B., On Scientific Spirituality
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should be accepted or rejected. This is science of creation. Both methods of discovery are
essential for human progress. So, why is the world limiting its pursuits to products of reason?
It is because much of the world continues to subscribe to the philosophy of renowned 18th
century German philosopher, Immanuel Kant, which says, “All knowledge begins with the
senses, proceeds then to the understanding, and ends with reason. There is nothing higher than
reason”.
Much of the progress humanity has made since the renaissance period is due to scientific
discoveries in Northern and Western Europe, and subsequently in the United States. Most Nobel
prizes in sciences continue to go to scientists in the United States. Thus, it becomes easy to fall
into a trap and conclude that products of reason are quite sufficient, there is no need for
spirituality.
Why reason alone may not be sufficient
There are several examples where the products of reason have not delivered success. Take racial
harmony for example. The 13th amendment to the US Constitution abolished slavery in 1865,
and a number of laws have been passed since then, including the 1965 Civil Rights Act, which
bars discrimination on the basis of race, religion, color, gender or national origin, and yet, racial
discord persists, and may well have grown worse in recent years.
Need for spirituality
In direct contradiction to the philosophy of Immanuel Kant, Swami Vivekananda asserts, Indian
thought dares to seek, and successfully finds something higher than reason. Vivekananda was an
Indian monk revered in India, and widely respected in the United States (The New York Times,
The Wall Street Journal).
As corroborative evidence, intuition is immediate cognition without the benefit of the five senses
and the rational mind. Purposeful inculcation of intuition means that there is definitely something
higher than reason.
Recently, Bollywood mega star Amitabh Bachchan hosted an eleven-year old girl, Vanshi
Chauhan on his hugely popular TV program, Kaun Banega Crorepati, India’s version of Who
Wants to be a Millionaire. Bachchan reportedly has a following of 29 million fans on Instagram.
On the show, Vanshi read from the book that the studio team provided, blind-folded. As an
example of the widely-held belief in the philosophy of Immanuel Kant, the Federation of
Rationalist Associations in India approached and persuaded Sony Entertainment Television to
edit out that segment from the archives for being unscientific.
Relatedly, Universal Peace Foundation founded by my Yoga Guru, H. H. Gurumahan, has
designed a seven-day yoga program to enhance intuition among children 6 to 14 years of age.
See this video clip showing the tremendous rise in intuition among the children pursuant to the
program. Three hundred and fifty children have been trained so far, and the success rate is 80%. I
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Deshpande, P. B., On Scientific Spirituality
291
have witnessed a live demonstration of the program, and have video clips from that
demonstration.
No product of reason can design such a program. The relevant question to ask is, does the
program work at a six sigma level of confidence, not whether we understand why or how the
program works. Let the future seers and scientists unravel that mystery. Gurumahan went into
his annual three weeks of meditation with no food on December 19, 2021 for world peace, and
this is his 32nd year.
There are numerous discoveries from ancient India that are beyond the domain of reason, since
the knowledge therein could not have been sourced from previous knowledge as there was none.
The Vedas are an example. The Vedas were reportedly admired by the likes of Erwin
Schrodinger, Werner Heisenberg, J. Robert Oppenheimer, Niels Bohr and Nikola Tesla. See this
video by astronomer Carl Sagan on Rigveda and Creation. Sagan wrote the story for the popular
Hollywood film, “Contact.”
In Sanskrit, discoveries beyond the realm of reason go by the name Shruti, meaning revealed
(not remembered), and they occur when the focus of attention is sufficiently enhanced either
purposefully, as in meditation or prayer, or unknowingly. Actually, all discoveries occur when
the focus of attention is enhanced. The discoveries of Albert Einstein and S. Ramanujan are
well–known examples.
Wikiquote quotes Albert Einstein as saying, “I believe in intuitions and inspirations. I sometimes
feel that I am right. I do not know that I am. When two expeditions of scientists, financed by the
Royal Academy, went forth to test my theory of relativity, I was convinced that their conclusions
would tally with my hypothesis. I was not surprised when the eclipse of May 29, 1919,
confirmed my intuitions. I would have been surprised if I had been wrong.”
Ramanujan was barely a high school graduate, but he would write down complex mathematical
theorems and their proofs without knowing the steps in between. He told his mentor at
Cambridge, G. H. Hardy, that the discoveries come to him in prayer, sometimes in sleep.
Ramanujan was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society, UK for his contributions to mathematics.
Jagadguru Shankaracharya published the book, “Vedic Mathematics: Sixteen simple
mathematical formulae from the Vedas” in 1965 but the formulas are nowhere to be found in the
Vedas. It is probable that the formulas came to him in meditation.
A word of caution, shruti discoveries, once made, must nonetheless meet the constraints reason
imposes on all knowledge. That is, such discoveries must be corroborated and validated. This is a
requirement in all six sigma activities. The upshot of the foregoing discussion is that sciences of
reason and science of creation are both essential for progress.
On Spiritual Progress
Spiritual progress occurs when the domain of reason is transcended in the pursuit of domain of
consciousness where all discoveries reside. This may happen unknowingly, as it did to Albert
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Deshpande, P. B., On Scientific Spirituality
292
Einstein, or to Indian seers as they did purposefully through meditation. An indication of
spiritual progress is a rise in internal/emotional excellence. Emotions can now be estimated (EQ
Radio, Bio-Well) and so, progress can be audited. Internal/emotional excellence has nothing to
do with race, caste, or religion, gender or national origin.
Benefits of Including the Spiritual Component
Incorporation of a spiritual component in life will deliver a myriad of benefits, in addition to the
prospects for new discoveries:
-
Several years ago, I discovered that the performance in the external world is hugely and
negatively impacted by an inadequate level of internal excellence. Raise internal
excellence and the performance will zoom. See this article in BizEd, a Publication of the
Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business, the body that accredits B-School
curricula in the United States.
-
There are health & wellness benefits of pursuing higher levels of emotional excellence.
-
Intuition is linked to internal excellence and leadership. Leaders are often called upon to
make split-second decisions at a moment’s notice.
-
Improvements in Interpersonal relationships, and less discord and violence. \
-
The spiritual component builds character and develops a sense of social responsibility,
and since emotions can be measured, progress can be audited.
In Closing
This essay has explained that products of reason are no doubt important in the solution of many
problems, however, there are situations where they are inadequate. Then, it becomes necessary to
transcend reason in the pursuit of the domain of consciousness where all discoveries are thought
reside. Limiting ourselves to the products of reason is analogous to fighting with one hand tied
behind the back. Both methods of discovery will be required if we are to successfully tackle the
myriad of challenges facing humanity such as global warming, renewable energy, desalination,
etc.
Acknowledgments: The author is grateful to Clay Hansen, James Kowall and Mohan Bhalodia for their
review of the article and comments.
Received January 17, 2022; Accepted April 29, 2022
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700
Hu, H., & Wu, M., Other Plausible Mechanisms of Anesthetic Action within the Framework of Spin-mediated Consciousness
Theory
Exploration
Other Plausible Mechanisms of Anesthetic Action within
the Framework of Spin-mediated Consciousness Theory
Huping Hu* & Maoxin Wu
ABSTRACT
We have recently discussed the mechanism of xenon anesthetic action in spin-mediated
consciousness theory in light of the recent experimental findings. In this paper, we discuss some
other plausible mechanisms of anesthetic action within the framework of spin-mediated
consciousness theory. In one scenario, general anesthetics such as xenon may produce anesthesia
by direct perturbations and/or distortions of neural spin networks alone or in addition to
perturbing and/or distorting O2 and/or NO pathways in neural membranes and proteins. In
another scenario, the mind-pixels are comprised of unpaired electrons carried by transition metal
ions, O2 and/or NO caged-in/bound/absorbed to large molecules in neural membranes and
proteins. In the latter, general anesthetics such as xenon may produce anesthesia by perturbing
free/unbound O2 and/or NO pathways in neural membranes and proteins and/or unpaired electron
spin networks thus blocking and/or distorting their functions in consciousness. In either of the
above scenarios, the nuclear spins of xenon 131 and xenon 129 may partially play the roles of
displaced nuclear spins or unpaired electron spins, thus attenuate the anesthetic potency of
nuclear-spin-carrying xenon isotopes observed by Li, et. al..
Keywords: Spin-mediated, consciousness, mind pixel, nuclear spin, electron spin, xenon isotopes,
xenon 131, xenon 129, mechanism of anesthetic action.
1. Introduction1
In the spin-mediated consciousness theory put forward in 2002 [8], molecules containing unpaired
electron spins, such as oxygen (O2) and nitric oxide (NO), interact with the mind pixels comprised
of various nuclear spins in the brain and activate the latter as one of the steps generating conscious
experience. Therefore, general anesthetics such as xenon produce anesthesia by perturbing O2
and/or NO pathways thus distorting and/or blocking their activation functions in consciousness, as
recently discussed in [1], in light of the recent experimental findings [11]. Naturally, as shown in
[1], nuclear spins of xenon 131 and xenon 129 may partially play the activating roles of displaced
O2 and/or NO among other possibilities and, thus attenuate the anesthetic potency of
nuclear-spin-carrying xenon isotopes found in [11].
It is believed that the anesthetic functions of xenon is associated with its binding to NMDA
*Corresponding author: Huping Hu, Ph.D., J.D., Research & Development, QuantumDream, Inc., P.O. Box 267, Stony Brook,
NY 11790, USA. E-mail: drhu@att.net or hupinghu@quantumbrain.org
1
See Note1for more background discussions; see Note 2 for a brief comparisons of oxygen (O2), nitric oxide (NO), nitrous oxide
(N2O) & xenon (Xe), please see Note 2.
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Hu, H., & Wu, M., Other Plausible Mechanisms of Anesthetic Action within the Framework of Spin-mediated Consciousness
Theory
receptor (See, e.g., [2]). However, there is no commonly accepted theory on how general
anesthetics work even after more than 160 years since their discovery. There are two schools of
thoughts on the subject. The first and oldest is the “lipid theory” which proposes that anesthetics
dissolve into cell membranes and produce common structural perturbation resulting in depressed
function of ion channels and receptors that are involved in brain functions (See, e.g., [3, 7]). The
second, more popular and recent theory is the “protein theory” which suggests that anesthetics
directly interact with membrane proteins such as ion channels and receptors that are involved in
brain functions. However, the protein theory doesn't seem to square well with the low affinity
and diversity of the general anesthetics. There is no direct experimental evidence to support
either theory (See, e.g., [4, 7]). Both theoretical and experimental studies have shown that many
general anesthetics cause changes in membrane structures and properties at or just above the
clinical concentrations required for anesthesia (See, e.g., [5-6]).
In this paper, we discuss two other plausible mechanisms of anesthetic action within the
framework of spin-mediated consciousness theory [8, 19-20, 22]. One scenario concerns general
anesthetics such as xenon producing anesthesia by direct perturbations and/or distortions of
neural spin networks alone or in addition to perturbing and/or distorting O2 and/or NO pathways
in neural membranes and proteins. Another scenario concerns the mind-pixels being comprised
of unpaired electrons carried by transition metal ions, O2 and/or NO caged-in/bound/absorbed to
large molecules in neural membranes and proteins.
2. The Framework of Spin-mediated Consciousness Theory
Within the framework of spin-mediated consciousness theory, quantum spin is the seat of
consciousness and the linchpin between mind and the brain, that is, spin is the “mind-pixel”, and
the unity of mind is achieved by quantum entanglement of these mind-pixels [8]. The theory is
based on the fact that quantum spin is the most basic quantum bit ("qubit") for encoding
information and a fundamental quantum process associated with the structure of neural
membranes and proteins that are saturated with quantum spin carrying nuclei and these nuclear
spins have relatively long quantum coherence time (8, also see [22]). There is also a version of
spin-mediated consciousness theory based on unpaired electron spin (See additional refs in [8]).
(1) Spin-mediated consciousness theory of 2002
Spin-mediated consciousness theory of 2002 [8] postulates that: (a) Consciousness is
intrinsically connected to quantum spin; (b) The mind-pixels of the brain are comprised of the
nuclear spins distributed in the neural membranes and proteins, the pixel-activating agents are
comprised of biologically available paramagnetic species such as O2 and NO, and the neural
memories are comprised of all possible entangled quantum states of the mind-pixels; (c) Action
potential modulations of nuclear spin interactions input information to the mind pixels and spin
chemistry is the output circuit to classical neural activities; and (d) Consciousness emerges from
the collapses of those entangled quantum states which are able to survive decoherence, said
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collapses are contextual, irreversible and non-computable and the unity of consciousness is
achieved through quantum entanglement of the mind-pixels.
As mind-pixel activating agents, the unpaired electrons of the paramagnetic species such as O2
and NO can interact with nuclear spins through their large magnetic dipoles and
collision-induced Fermi-contact mechanism thus activating the neural nuclear spin ensembles
[8]. Indeed, because the magnetic dipole moment of an unpaired electron is 658 times larger than
that of the 1H nucleus, O2 and NO can respectively produce magnetic fields 1,316 and 658 times
larger than 1H (See, e.g., [17]). In addition, O2 and NO are hydrophobic small molecules so their
concentrations in neural membranes are much higher than in aqueous solutions such as
cytoplasma (See, e.g., [15]). Thus, as they rapidly tumble and diffuse, they produce
microscopically strong and fluctuating magnetic fields. O2 are the predominant sources of
internal magnetic fields in neural membranes and proteins, as evidenced by the strong effect of
O2 on spin-spin and spin-lattice relaxation rates (See, e.g., [18]).
In additions, nuclear spin networks in neural membranes and proteins are modulated by action
potentials through J-coupling, dipolar coupling and chemical shielding tensors and perturbed by
microscopically strong and fluctuating internal magnetic fields produced largely by paramagnetic
oxygen [19-20]. Further, both nuclear spin in neural membranes and proteins as mind-pixels and
unpaired electron spins of O2 and NO as mind-pixel activating agents are also modulated by action
potentials through relativistic effect of moving spin in strong electric field [20, 22] and, in turn,
said modulation of the activating agents influence the nuclear spins in the brain as shown below.
Thus, action-potential modulations of both nuclear and unpaired electron spins synchronize their
collective dynamics to the neural firings [19-20].
The decoherence effect which causes a quantum system to lose quantum coherence through
interactions with its environment has been a major concern for any quantum theory of the brain
(See, e.g., [23]). However, nuclear spins only have weak interactions with their environments thus
long relaxation time after excitation (See, e.g., [14]). Indeed, there are both theoretical and
experimental studies indicating the possibility of large-scale quantum coherence with
entanglement in the nuclear spin ensembles distributed in the neural membranes and proteins (See,
e.g., [24-32]). Further, studies show that decoherence-free subspaces can exist within the Hilbert
space of a complex quantum system (See, e.g., [33-34] ).
(2) Plausible modification to spin-mediated consciousness theory
If molecules with unpaired electrons such as O2 and NO do not serve activating agent, the
postulates of the spin-mediated consciousness theory of 2002 [8] may be modified as follows: (a)
Consciousness is intrinsically connected to quantum spin; (b) The mind-pixels of the brain are
comprised of the nuclear spins distributed in the neural membranes and proteins, and the neural
memories are comprised of all possible entangled quantum states of the mind-pixels; (c) Action
potential modulations of nuclear spin interactions activate and input information to the mind
pixels and spin chemistry is the output circuit to classical neural activities; and (d)
Consciousness emerges from the collapses of those entangled quantum states which are able to
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survive decoherence, and the unity of consciousness is achieved through quantum entanglement
of the mind-pixels.
In this modified theory, nuclear spin networks in neural membranes and proteins are modulated by
action potentials through J-coupling, dipolar coupling and chemical shielding tensors and
perturbed by microscopically strong and fluctuating internal magnetic fields produced largely by
paramagnetic O2 [19-20]. Further, nuclear spin in neural membranes and proteins as mind-pixels
are also modulated by action potentials through relativistic effect of moving spin in strong electric
field [20, 22]. Thus, action-potential modulations of nuclear spins synchronize their collective
dynamics to the neural firings [19-20].
Again, decoherence effect which causes a quantum system to lose quantum coherence through
interactions with its environment has been a major concern for any quantum theory of the brain
(See, e.g., [23]). However, nuclear spins only have weak interactions with their environments thus
long relaxation time after excitation (See, e.g., [14]). Indeed, there are both theoretical and
experimental studies indicating the possibility of large-scale quantum coherence with
entanglement in the nuclear spin ensembles distributed in the neural membranes and proteins (See,
e.g., [24-32]). Further, studies show that decoherence-free subspaces can exist within the Hilbert
space of a complex quantum system (See, e.g., [33-34] ).
(3) Plausible electron-spin-mediated consciousness theory
As a plausible alternative to nuclear spin based consciousness, the electron spin mediated
consciousness theory put forward in 2004 (See add’l refs in [8]) postulates that: (a) Consciousness
is intrinsically connected to quantum spin; (b) The mind-pixels of the brain are comprised of the
unpaired electron spins distributed in the neural membranes and proteins, the pixel-activating
agents are comprised of the unbound/free O2 and NO, and the neural memories are comprised of
all possible entangled quantum states of the mind-pixels; (c) Action potential modulations of
electron spin-spin interactions input information to the mind pixels and spin chemistry is the
output circuit to classical neural activities; and (d) Consciousness emerges from the collapses of
those entangled quantum states which are able to survive decoherence, said collapses are
contextual, irreversible and non-computable and the unity of consciousness is achieved through
quantum entanglement of the mind-pixels.
Through action potential modulated electron spin-spin interactions and fluctuating internal
magnetic field driven activations, the neural electron spin networks inside neural membranes and
proteins form various entangled quantum states some of which survive decoherence through
quantum Zeno effects (See, e.g., [54] ) or in decoherence-free subspaces (See, e.g., [33-34] ) and
then collapse contextually via irreversible and non-computable means producing consciousness
and, in turn, the collective spin dynamics associated with said collapses have effects through spin
chemistry on classical neural activities thus influencing the neural networks of the brain (See add’l
refs in [8]). It is also argued that the unpaired electron spins inside a network of large molecules
may be able to form long-lived macroscopic quantum coherence through tunneling since they are
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insulated to certain extent from the noisy brain environment (See add’l refs in [8]). Thus,
according to this alternative approach, the unpaired electron spin networks are the “mind-screen,”
the neural membranes and proteins are the mind-screen and memory matrices, and unbound
paramagnetic small molecules such as O2 and NO are pixel-activating agents(See add’l refs in [8]).
Together, they form the neural substrates of consciousness.
The network of unpaired electrons carried by transition metal ions, O2 and/or NO
caged-in/bound/absorbed to large molecules in neural membranes and proteins are modulated by
action potentials through intra and inter-molecular exchange coupling and dipolar coupling and
perturbed by microscopically strong and fluctuating internal magnetic fields produced largely by
paramagnetic O2 [19-20]. Further, all unpaired electron spins in neural membranes and proteins
are also modulated by action potentials through relativistic effect of moving spin in strong electric
field [20, 22] and, in turn, said modulations influence the electron spins in the brain, thus
synchronizing their collective dynamics to the neural firings [19-20].
Because the high mobility of the electrons and strong interactions of electron spins with their
environments, electron spins have very short relaxation time after excitations [See, e.g., [14]). This
property of electron spins seems to be a major problem for them to serve as the mind-pixels.
Paradoxically, the interactions of the neural electron spin networks with their noisy brain
environments may enhance quantum coherence through quantum Zeno effect which prevents a
quantum system to evolve/decohere through repeated collisions with their environments (See, e.g.,
[54] ). Further, studies show that decoherence-free subspaces can exist within the Hilbert space of
a complex quantum system (See, e.g., [33-34] ).
3. Action Potential Modulations of Nuclear Spins & Unpaired Electron Spins2
We have illustrated in [1] action potential modulations of two intra- or inter-molecular
nuclear-spin system I1 and I2 inside neural membranes or proteins by the following heuristic
Hamiltonian:
σ
σ
1
1R
σ
σ
1
Hˆ h 1Iˆ 1
B1i B1e B1 h 2 Iˆ 2 2 R 2 A B 2i B 2e B2
hIˆ 1 J R J A Iˆ 2 hIˆ 1 D R D A Iˆ 2
1A
(1)
where B1i , B1e , B1 B 2i , B 2e and B2 are respectively the internal, external and relativistic-effect
,
magnetic fields at the locations of first and second spins, 1 and 2 are respectively the
gyromagnetic ratios of the said first and second spins, and other terms are explained below.
2
See Note 3 for discussions on relativistic effect in electric field, fluctuating magnetic field & action potential modulation.
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In the above equation (1), the two nuclear spins are coupled to each other through J-coupling
tensor (including “through space” J-coupling, see, e.g., [39]) J = JR + JA, where JR is for resting
potential and JA accounts for contribution from action potential modulation, and dipolar coupling
tensor D = DR + DA, where DR is for resting potential and DA accounts for contribution from action
potential modulation [19]. Second, chemical shielding tensor of each nuclear spin which also
2R
and
σ
and for the second spin
are the chemical shielding tensors at resting potential and
first-order contribution to
1
and
2
2
1A
σσσσ
σσσσ
1A
σ
σσσσ
1R
σσσσ
σσσσ
2R
1
σσσσ
and
σσσσ
1R
σσσσ
σσσσ
into account - For the first spin
σσσσ
contains contribution from action potential modulation of its surrounding covalent bonds are taken
2A
2A
where
are the
respectively from action potential modulations. Third, the
effects of internal magnetic field B i from other spins, external magnetic field B e and the
magnetic field B due to relativistic effect on moving nuclear spin in the electric field of action
potentials are also taken into accounts [20].
σ
σ
, B1i , B1 , B 2i and B2 are all functions of membrane
,
voltage Vm which is driven by action potentials. Thus, the above Hamiltonian of interaction allows
In the above equation (6), JA, DA,
1A
,
2A
the action potentials to modulate nuclear spin dynamics through J-coupling, dipolar coupling,
chemical shift, internal magnetic field and relativistic effect of moving spin in electric field of the
action potential. Importantly, the spin-spin interaction in the above Hamiltonian causes the two
nuclear spins in the two-spin system to form entangled quantum states known as Bell States.
We have further illustrated in [1] action potential modulations of one nuclear-spin system I and
one unpaired electron spin S inside neural membranes or proteins by the following heuristic
Hamiltonian:
A
)
B Ii B Ie B I h S S B Si B Se B S hIˆ R
A
A
R
σ
σ
1
Hˆ h I Iˆ
A
)
S
(2)
where B Ii , B Ie , BI , B Si , B Se and B S are respectively the internal, external and relativistic-effect
magnetic fields at the locations of nuclear-spin system I and unpaired electron spin S, I and S
are respectively the gyromagnetic ratios of the said nuclear spin and unpaired electron spin, and other
terms are explained below.
In the above equation (2), the nuclear spin and unpaired electron spin are coupled to each other
through dipolar coupling tensor A = AR + AA, where Ar is for resting potential and Aa accounts for
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contribution from action potential modulation. Second, chemical shielding tensor of the nuclear
spin which also contains contribution from action potential modulation of its surrounding covalent
A
where
A
is the first-order contribution to
σ
σ
R
σ
σ
σ
bonds are taken into account, That is,
from action potential modulations. Third, the effects of internal magnetic field magnetic field B i
from other spins, external magnetic field B e and the magnetic field B due to relativistic effect of
moving spin in the electric field of action potential are taken into accounts.
σ
, B Ii , BI B Si and BS are all functions of membrane voltage Vm which is
,
driven by action potential. The above Hamiltonian of interactions allows unpaired electron spin S of
In equation (2), Aa,
A
O2 and/or NO to activate/polarize/interact with nuclear spin I and the action potentials to modulate
nuclear-electronic two-spin system dynamics through dipolar coupling, chemical shift, internal
magnetic field and relativistic effect of moving spin in electric field of the action potential.
Importantly, the nuclear spin and electron spin interaction in the above Hamiltonian cause the two
spins to form entangled quantum states known as Bell States.
We now illustrate action potential modulations of two intra- or inter-molecular unpaired electron
spin system S1 and S2 inside neural membranes or proteins by the following heuristic Hamiltonian:
S
S
)
)
Hˆ h 1 1 B1i B1e B 1 h 2 2 B 2 i B 2 e B 2
)
)
)
)
h 1 J R J A 2 h 1 D R D A 2
S
S
S
S
(3)
where B1i , B1e , B1 B 2i , B 2e and B2 are respectively the internal, external and relativistic-effect
,
magnetic fields at the locations of first and second spins, 1 and 2 are respectively the
gyromagnetic ratios of the said first and second spins, and other terms are explained below.
In the above equation (3), the two unpaired electron spins are coupled to each other through
exchange tensor J = JR + JA, where JR is for resting potential and JA accounts for contribution
from action potential modulation, dipolar coupling tensor D = DR + DA, where DR is for resting
potential and DA accounts for contribution from action potential modulation, and g-factor
anisotropies of both unpaired electron spins are neglected. Second, the effects of internal magnetic
field B i from other spins, external magnetic field B e and the magnetic field B due to relativistic
effect on moving electron spin in the electric field of action potentials are also taken into accounts
(See , e.g. [14]).
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4. Mechanism of Anesthetic Action in the Framework of Spin-mediate
Consciousness Theory
We describe here mechanism of anesthetic action in the framework of the spin-mediated theory
[8, also see, 19-20, 22].
Figure 1(a) schematically shows the normal diffusion of O2 and NO without anesthetics
dissolved into the neural membranes and proteins. As these molecules rapidly diffuse through
the membranes, they interact with the neural membrane components and generate strong and
fluctuating internal magnetic fields which are modulated by action potentials. Figure 1(b)
schematically shows anesthetic perturbations of O2 and NO pathways and neural membranes
themselves by anesthetic molecules and xenon atoms and the resulting distortion and/or
obstruction of these pathways and neural membranes themselves. Such perturbations render O2
and NO and/or neural membranes themselves not able to perform their normal functions thus
resulting in unconsciousness.
Figure 3. Illustration of anesthetic action. a shows the normal diffusion of O2 without
anesthetics dissolved into neural membranes. b shows xenon and anesthetic molecule
perturbations of O2 pathways and neural membranes themselves.
Further, as illustrated in Figure 2 below, anesthetic molecules and xenon atoms perturb not only
O2 and NO pathways and neural membranes themselves but also its lateral movement within the
membrane and the movement within a hydrophobic pocket of the protein.
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Figure 2. Perturbation of O2 and NO pathways and neural membranes themselves in
membranes and proteins by anesthetic molecules and xenon atoms. In the framework of
spin-mediated consciousness theory, anesthetic molecules and xenon atoms block,
dislocate, distort or otherwise interfere with O2 and/or NO pathways and neural
membranes and proteins.
(1) Spin-mediated consciousness theory of 2002
In the spin-mediated consciousness theory put forward in 2002, general anesthetics such as
xenon produce anesthesia by perturbing O2 and/or NO pathways in neural membranes and
proteins thus blocking and/or distorting their activation functions in consciousness. Naturally, the
nuclear spins of xenon 131 and xenon 129 may partially play the activating roles of displaced O2
and/or NO [1], thus attenuate the anesthetic potency of nuclear-spin-carrying xenon isotopes as
observed by Li et. al. [11].
Using a system of one nuclear-spin I and one (or two) unpaired electron spin S inside neural
membranes or proteins under the action potential modulation as an illustration, one may write a
heuristic Hamiltonian for the two-spin system as [1]:
A
)
B Ii B Ie B I h S S B Si B Se B S hIˆ R
A
A
R
σ
σ
1
Hˆ h I Iˆ
A
)
S
(4)
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After the unpaired-electron-carrying molecule such as O2 or NO is displaced by an anesthetic such
as xenon 132 or xenon 134 which has no unpaired electron spin and nuclear spin, the Hamiltonian
becomes:
R
σ
σ
1
Hˆ h I Iˆ
A
B Ii B Ie BI
(5)
which contains no interaction between nuclear spin I and the activating agent O2 or NO.
On the other hand, if the unpaired-electron-carrying molecule such as O2 or NO is displaced by an
anesthetic such as xenon 129 or xenon 131 which has no unpaired electron spin but has nuclear
spin I2, the Hamiltonian (9) becomes:
A
σ
σ
1
R
σ
σ
1
Hˆ h I Iˆ
B Ii B Ie BI h 2 Iˆ 2 2 R 2 A B 2i B 2 e B2
hIˆ J R J A Iˆ 2 hIˆ D R D A Iˆ 2
(6)
which contains both intermolecular (‘through space”) J-coupling (See, e.g., [39]) and dipolar
coupling between nuclear spin I and xenon 129 or xenon 131’s nuclear spin I2 modulated by action
potentials – These modulated couplings may then attenuate the anesthetic potency of
nuclear-spin-carrying xenon 129 and xenon 131 as observed by Li et. al. [11].
(2) Modified spin-mediated consciousness theory
In this scenario, general anesthetics such as xenon may produce anesthesia by direct
perturbations and/or distortions of neural spin networks alone or in addition to perturbing and/or
distorting O2 and/or NO pathways in neural membranes and proteins in (1) above.
Using a system of two intra- or inter-molecular nuclear-spin system I1 and I2 inside neural
membranes or proteins under the action potential modulation as an illustration, one may write a
heuristic Hamiltonian for the two-spin system as:
σ
σ
1
1R
σ
σ
1
Hˆ h 1Iˆ 1
B1i B1e B1 h 2 Iˆ 2 2 R 2 A B 2i B 2e B2
hIˆ 1 J R J A Iˆ 2 hIˆ 1 D R D A Iˆ 2
1A
(7)
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After one of the nuclear spin, e.g., I2 is displaced by an anesthetic such as xenon 132 or xenon 134
which has no unpaired electron spin and nuclear spin, the Hamiltonian becomes:
1R
σ
σ
1
Hˆ h 1Iˆ 1
1A
B1i B1e B1
(8)
which contains no interaction between nuclear spin I1 and I2.
On the other hand, if I2 is displaced by an anesthetic such as xenon 129 or xenon 131 which has no
unpaired electron spin but has nuclear spin I3, the Hamiltonian (x) becomes:
σ
σ
1
1R
σ
σ
1
Hˆ h 1Iˆ 1
B1i B1e B1 h 3 Iˆ 3 3 R 3 A B 3i B 3e B 3
hIˆ 1 J R J A Iˆ 3 hIˆ 1 D R D A Iˆ 3
1A
(9)
which contains both intermolecular (‘through space”) J-coupling (See, e.g., [39]) and dipolar
coupling between nuclear spin I and xenon 129 or xenon 131’s nuclear spin I3 modulated by action
potentials – These modulated couplings may then attenuate the anesthetic potency of
nuclear-spin-carrying xenon 129 and xenon 131 as observed by Li et. al. [11].
(3) Electron-spin-mediated consciousness theory
In this scenario, the mind-pixels are comprised of unpaired electrons carried by transition metal
ions, O2 and/or NO caged-in/bound/absorbed to large molecules in neural membranes and
proteins. General anesthetics such as xenon may produce anesthesia by perturbing free/unbound
O2 and/or NO pathways in neural membranes and proteins and/or unpaired electron spin
networks thus blocking and/or distorting their functions in consciousness.
Using a system of two intra- or inter-molecular unpaired electron spin system S1 and S2 inside
neural membranes or proteins under the action potential modulation as an illustration, one may
write a heuristic Hamiltonian for the two-spin system as:
S
S
)
)
Hˆ h 1 1 B1i B1e B 1 h 2 2 B 2 i B 2 e B 2
)
)
)
)
h 1 J R J A 2 h 1 D R D A 2
S
S
S
S
(10)
After one of the electron spin, e.g., S2 is displaced by an anesthetic such as xenon 132 or xenon 134
which has no unpaired electron spin and nuclear spin, the Hamiltonian becomes:
S
)
Hˆ h 1 1 B1i B1e B1
which contains no interaction between unpaired electron spin S1 and S2.
(11)
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On the other hand, if S2 is displaced by an anesthetic such as xenon 129 or xenon 131 which has no
unpaired electron spin but has nuclear spin I, the Hamiltonian (x) becomes:
A B Ii B Ie B I h 1 R
A
A
)
S
R
σ
σ
1
S
)
Hˆ h 1 1 B 1i B1e B 1 h I Iˆ
A
Iˆ
(12)
which contains dipolar coupling between electron spin S1 and xenon 129 or xenon 131’s nuclear
spin I modulated by action potentials – These modulated couplings may then attenuate the
anesthetic potency of nuclear-spin-carrying xenon 129 and xenon 131 as observed by Li et. al.
[11].
5. Conclusions3
In this paper, we have discussed two other plausible mechanisms of anesthetic action within the
framework of spin-mediated consciousness theory [8, 19-20, 22] in light of the recent
experimental findings of Li, et.al. [11].
In one scenario, general anesthetics such as xenon may produce anesthesia by direct
perturbations and/or distortions of neural spin networks alone or in addition to perturbing and/or
distorting O2 and/or NO pathways in neural membranes and proteins.
In another scenario, the mind-pixels are comprised of unpaired electrons carried by transition
metal ions, O2 and/or NO caged-in/bound/absorbed to large molecules in neural membranes and
proteins (See add’l refs. in [8]). In the latter, general anesthetics such as xenon may produce
anesthesia by perturbing free/unbound O2 and/or NO pathways in neural membranes and proteins
and/or unpaired electron spin networks thus blocking and/or distorting their functions in
consciousness.
In either of the above scenarios, the nuclear spins of xenon 131 and xenon 129 may partially play
the roles of displaced nuclear spins or unpaired electron spins, thus attenuate the anesthetic
potency of nuclear-spin-carrying xenon isotopes as observed by Li et. al. [11].
Dated: September 14, 2019
3
See Note 4 for discussions on the Experimental Results by Li et. el. [11].
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Note 1. Some background information
Since both O2 and general anesthetics are hydrophobic, we proposed in 2001 within the framework of
conventional neuroscience that general anesthetic may cause unconsciousness by perturbing O2 pathway
in neural membranes and O2-utilizing proteins, such that the availability of O2 to its sites of utilization is
reduced, which in turn triggers cascading cellular responses through O2-sensing mechanisms, resulting in
general anesthesia [7]. In the spin-mediated consciousness theory of 2002 [8], we hypothesized that
anesthetic perturbations of oxygen pathways in neural membranes and proteins themselves are the direct
cause of unconsciousness within the framework of quantum biology/brain. Indeed, the low affinity,
diversity and pervasiveness of general anesthetics point to this direction [8].
Since spin-mediated consciousness theory was put forth in 2002 [8], the idea that nuclear spins and/or
unpaired electron spins in the brain may play some roles in consciousness has gains traction recently
(See, e.g., [9-13]). Importantly, Li, et.al. have found experimentally that nuclear spins of xenon isotopes,
xenon 131 and xenon 129, attenuate their anesthetic potency in mice [11]. The authors therein suggest that
"the quantum property of nuclear spin in the monoatomic anesthetic xenon promotes conscious processes at
the xenon site of action, consistent with theories proposing quantum mechanisms in consciousness" and
speculate that quantum entanglement of nuclear spins may be involved in consciousness [11]. However, for
whatever reason (hopefully benign such as oversight), the authors therein did not cite or mention [8], which
was the first, to the best knowledge of the herein first author, to propose nuclear/electron spin
mediated/based consciousness theory back in 2002.
Note 2. Brief comparisons of oxygen, nitric oxide, nitrous oxide & xenon
Each O2 contains two unpaired valence electrons thus is strongly paramagnetic and at the same time
chemically reactive as a bi-radical [8]. It is capable of producing a large fluctuating magnetic field along
its diffusing pathway thus serves as a natural contrast agent in MRI (See, e.g., [14]). The existence of
unpaired electrons in stable molecules is very rare indeed. O2 are the only paramagnetic specie to be
found in large quantities in the brain besides enzyme-produced nitric oxide (NO) [8]. In addition, O2 is an
essential component for energy production in the central nervous system.
O2 and NO are hydrophobic small molecules so their concentrations in neural membranes are much
higher than in aqueous solutions such as cytoplasma (See, e.g., [15]). Both O2 and NO, the latter being an
unstable free radical with one unpaired electron and a small neural transmitter (See, e.g., [21]), are well
known in spin chemistry - a field focused on the study of free-radical mediated chemical reactions where
very small magnetic energies can change non-equilibrium spin conversion process (See, e.g., [16]).
In contrast, nitrous oxide (N2O) and xenon (Xe) contain no unpaired electrons and are general anesthetics.
They are also hydrophobic small molecules so their concentrations in neural membranes are much higher
than in aqueous solutions such as cytoplasma (See, e.g., [8]). Xenon has 9 stable isotopes among which
xenon 129 has a nuclear spin of 1/2, xenon 131 has nuclear spin of 3/2, and the other seven isotopes have no
nuclear spin (See, e.g., [11]).
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Note 3. Relativistic Effect in Electric Field, Fluctuating Magnetic Field & Action Potential
Modulation
The range of electric field strength E m inside the neural membranes during a typical action potential as
calculated from Em = Vm/d where Vm and d are respectively the membrane voltage and thickness is shown
in Figure1. It oscillates between -9 to +6 million volts per meter during the course of each action potential
[19-20]. These strengths are comparable to those causing electroporation of cell membranes and dielectric
breakdown of many materials at which the covalent bonds of the constituent molecules are torn apart (See,
e.g., [35]). So it significantly affects the conformations and collective dynamics of the neural membrane
components such as phospholipids, cholesterols and proteins. Indeed, voltage-dependent ion channels
perform their functions through electric field induced conformation changes of the constituent protein (See,
e.g., [36]) and studies on the effects of electric fields on lipids support the above conclusion (See, e.g.,
[37-38]).
Figure 1. Electric field strength inside neural membrane during the course of an action
potential. The calculation is down by assuming a typical membrane thickness of about 10
nm and the results are shown in the unit of one million volts per meter with “-” and “+”
indicating that the direction of electric field is respectively pointing outward or inward
inside the neural membrane.
The nuclear spins carried by the nuclei such as 1H, 13C and 31P inside the neural membranes and proteins
form complex intra- and inter-molecular spin networks through various intra-molecular J- and dipolar
couplings and both short- and long-range intermolecular dipolar couplings [19] and even through-space
J-couplings (See, e.g. [39]). Since J-coupling is the indirect interaction between two nuclear spins through
covalent bonds and dipolar coupling is the direct interaction of two nuclear spins through space, their
strengths and anisotropies strongly depend on the conformations of the neural membrane components (See,
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e.g., [40-41]). Further, the chemical shielding of each nuclear spin also depends on the conformations of
surrounding covalent bonds (See, e.g., [42]). Thus, when these spin networks are subjected to the enormous
changing electric field produced during each action potential, the J-coupling, dipolar coupling and chemical
shielding tensors oscillate with it [19]. Studies on the effects of electric fields on these tensors (See, e.g.,
[40-42]) also support this conclusion.
Further, nuclear and electron spins interact with electric field through relativistic effect due to their motion
in electric field [20, 22] – This is also the cause of spin-orbital couplings and can be vigorously derived
from Dirac equation as will be shown in a separate paper. The motion producing the relativistic effect of
moving nuclear spin or electron spin seeing/experiencing a magnetic field in its rest frame includes
molecule motion such as rotation, electron orbital motion in an atom, rotation of multi-nucleon nucleus and
motion a sub-nuclear particle such as quark inside a nucleon (proton or neutron) as illustrated below.
In special relativity, a moving particle in an electric field E sees a magnetic field
(See, e.g., [43]):
=
× /
/
≈
×
(1)
seen by the nuclear spin I is:
However, due to Thomas precession [44], the magnetic field
≈
in its own rest frame
×
(2)
Thus, E exerts a torque (twisting force) on moving proton spin I at speed v as illustrated below in Figure 2:
=
×
=g
×
×
(3)
Similarly, E exerts a torque (twisting force) on moving electron spin S at speed v as illustrated in Figure 2:
=
×
= −g
×
×
Figure 2. Illustration of spin transverse torque/force f exerted on moving nuclear spin
inside the neural membranes and proteins due to molecular rotation, nucleus rotation or
(4)
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sub-nucleon motion, or moving unpaired electron spin inside the neural membranes and
proteins due to molecular rotation or atomic electron orbital motion.
Therefore, the interactions between the moving nuclear/electronic spins in neural membranes and proteins
and the varying high-voltage electric fields inside neural membranes and proteins driven by action
potentials are capable of directly feeding information into the neurons [20].
We now estimate the strengths of seen by nuclear spin and electron spin carried by various molecules in
neural membranes and proteins using the formula:
B = Ev/(2c2)
(5)
and the estimated E ~ 9x106 V/m as the maximal electric field strength in neural membranes or proteins of a
thickness/length ~ 10x10-9m.
seen in the rest frame of rotating lipid molecule
(1) Strength of
by a nuclear-spin-carrying proton/hydrogen
For a lipid molecule with a diameter ~ 0.9x10-9m and rotation frequency along the chain ~ 1x107/s (See,
e.g., [45]), the estimated molecular rotation speed of a spin ½ proton/hydrogen on the lipid molecule is 2 x
3.14 x 0.45x10-9m x 1x107/s = 0.0283 m/s.
Thus, seen on lipid molecule rest frame by a proton/hydrogen atom due to rotation along the chain is ~
(9x106 V/m x 0.0283 m/s)/(2x(2.99x108m/s)2 = 7.122 x 10-13 Vs/m2 (Tesla) , that is, 0.7122 pico-Tesla.
seen in the rest frame of rotating nucleus of multiple nucleons
(2) Strength of
such as deuteron, C13, P31 and Xe129 by a nuclear-spin-carrying proton/neutron
For a nucleus of multiple nucleons with diameter ~ 4.2 x 10-15m (e.g., deuteron) and rotation frequency ~
4.74 x 1021/s (See, e.g., [46]), the estimated rotation speed of the nucleus is ~ 2 x 3.14 x 2.1 x 10-15m x 4.74
x 1021/s = 58.95 x 106m/s.
Thus, seen in the nucleus rest frame by a spin ½ nucleon (proton or neutron) due to rotation of nucleus of
multiple nucleons is ~ (9x106 V/m x 58.95 x 106m/s)/(2x(2.99x108m/s)2 = 14.836 x 10-4 Vs/m2 (Tesla), that
is, 14.836 Gauss or 1.484 milli-Tesla.
(3) Strength of
seen in the rest frame of rotating sub-nucleon particle
such as a spin-carrying quark inside a nucleon
For a nucleon with rotating sub-nuclear particle with orbital diameter ~ 0.8 x 10-15m (e.g., the size of a
proton) and rotation frequency ~ 4.74 x 1021/s (a pure guess based on [46]), the estimated orbital speed of a
sub-nuclear particle inside a nucleon is ~ 2 x 3.14 x 0.4 x 10-15m x 4.74 x 1021/s = 11.907 x 106m/s.
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Thus, seen in the sub-nucleon rest frame by a spin ½ sub-nucleon particle due to sub-nucleon rotation is
~ (9x106 V/m x 11.907 x 106m/s)/(2x(2.99x108m/s)2 = 2.997 x 10-4 Vs/m2 (Tesla), that is, 2.997 Gauss or
0.300 milli-Tesla.
(4) Strength of
seen in the rest frame of rotating oxygen molecule
by an unpaired electron spin
For an oxygen molecule with size/diameter ~ 3.46x10-11m and rotation frequency ~ 1.07x1012/s (See, e.g.,
[47]), the estimated rotation speed of a spin-carrying unpaired electron on the oxygen molecule in neural
membranes or proteins is 2 x 3.14 x 1.73 x 10-11m x 1.07 x1012/s = 1.162 x 102 m/s.
Thus, seen in the rest frame of oxygen molecule by a spin-carrying unpaired electron due to rotation of
oxygen molecule is ~ (9x106 V/m x 1.162 x 102 m/s)/(2x(2.99x108m/s)2 = 2.924 x 10-9 Vs/m2 (Tesla), that is,
2.924 nano-Tesla.
(5) Strength of
seen in the rest frame of electron orbital in oxygen molecule
by an unpaired electron spin
The estimated electron orbital speed in a Bohr atom is ~c/137 (See, e.g., [48]). Using this speed as an
estimate of the electron orbital speed in oxygen molecule,
seen in the rest frame of electron orbital by a
spin-carrying unpaired electron due to electron orbital motion is ~ (9x106 V/m x (1/137 x
2.99x108m/s)/(2x(2.99x108m/s)2 = 54.93 x10-6Vs/m2 (Tesla), that is, 54.93 micro-Tesla or 0.549 Gauss.
The fluctuating internal magnetic fields are produced by the paramagnetic species such as O2 and NO and
spin-carrying nuclei themselves such as 1H, 13C and 31P. Table 1 shows the maximal magnetic field
strengths produced by the magnetic dipoles of the unpaired electrons of O2 and NO and the nucleus of 1H
along the axes of said dipoles at given distances [19]. Because the magnetic dipole moment of an unpaired
electron is 658 times larger than that of the 1H nucleus, O2 and NO can respectively produce magnetic fields
1,316 and 658 times larger than 1H [19].
As distance r increases, the strength of the magnetic dipole field quickly attenuate according to
Bi
0 m
4r 3
(8)
where 0 is the permeability of free space and m is the magnetic dipole moment. As mentioned earlier, O2
and NO are hydrophobic small molecules so their concentrations in neural membranes are much higher
than in aqueous solutions such as cytoplasma (See, e.g., [15]). As they rapidly tumble and diffuse, they
produce microscopically strong and fluctuating magnetic fields. Indeed, O2 are the predominant sources of
internal magnetic fields in neural membranes as evidenced by the strong effect of O2 on spin-spin and
spin-lattice relaxation rates (See, e.g., [15, 18]).
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Table 1. Magnetic Fields Produced by O2, NO and 1H
Distance (Å)
O2 (Tesla)
NO (Tesla)
1
1.0
2.0
3.0
4.0
5.0
10.0
3.713940
0.464243
0.137553
0.058030
0.029712
0.003714
1.856970
0.232122
0.068777
0.029015
0.014856
0.001857
0.002821
0.000353
0.000104
0.000044
0.000023
0.000003
H (Tesla)
Again, these fluctuating internal magnetic fields are modulated by action potentials through relativistic
effects on nuclear/electronic spins moving in electric field and continuously perturb the neural spin
networks. The intensities of said perturbations depend on the concentrations of O2 and NO that are highly
regulated in the brain. Thus, these modulated perturbations not only activate various neural spin networks
but also are likely capable of enhancing the synchronization of these dynamics to the neural spike trains
through non-linear processes such as stochastic resonance that is known to occur in the brain (See, e.g.,
[49-51]).
The collective dynamics of the neural spin networks under modulations by action potentials and
perturbations by fluctuating internal magnetic fields which are also modulated by action potentials
represent meaningful information to the brain [19-20, 22]. An analogy is the mechanism of liquid crystal
display (LCD) where information-carrying electric voltages applied to the pixel cells change the optical
properties of the constituent molecules such that when lights pass through these cells their phases get
rotated differently which in turn represent different information to the viewer of the LCD screen (See, e.g.,
[52]). Accordingly, the cause of unconsciousness by general anesthetics can be explained as the direct
consequence of their effects the O2 and/or NO pathways inside neural membranes and proteins and/or the
neural membrane structures themselves [7-8, 19-20].
However, how can one explains that cognitive functions seem in general insensitive to environmental and
even medical strength external magnetic fields such as those generated by the power lines and the ones used
in MRI? It is argued that most of these disturbances do not represent meaningful information to the brain
and, further, the brain likely have developed other mechanisms through evolution to counter the effects of
external magnetic fields. In the cases where external magnetic disturbances were reported to have
observable effects on cognition, the above discussions provide a basis for interpreting these effects as said
disturbances contain meaningful information to the brain [7-8, 19-20].
Note 4. Discussions on the Experimental Results by Li et. el.
Recently, Li et. al. postulated that xenon isotopes might have different anesthetic potencies and
experimentally tested the postulates in mice [11]. They found that “[t]he potency of two xenon isotopes
with nuclear spin, xenon 129 and xenon 131, is less than the potency of two xenon isotopes, xenon 132
and xenon 134, that do not have nuclear spin[; t]his difference in potency cannot be explained, either by
differences in outer electron shells (there are none) or the variations in atomic mass “[11] .
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The conclusion by Li et. al. is that “[x]enon isotopes with nuclear spin are less potent than those without,
and polarizability cannot account for the difference[; t]he lower anesthetic potency of 129Xe may be the
result of it participating in conscious processing and therefore partially antagonizing its own anesthetic
potency” [11] . Li et. al. suggest that "the quantum property of nuclear spin in the monoatomic anesthetic
xenon promotes conscious processes at the xenon site of action, consistent with theories proposing
quantum mechanisms in consciousness" and speculate that quantum entanglement of nuclear spins may
be involved in consciousness [11].
As shown and discussed in [1], spin-mediated consciousness theory [8, 19-20, 22] naturally explains the
attenuation of the anesthetic potency of nuclear-spin-carrying xenon 129 and xenon 131 found by Li et.
al.[11]. Therefore, the important results of Li et. al. [11], if replicable, provide direct and strong support
to the spin-mediated consciousness theory put forward in 2002 [8] by the herein authors and its later
developments [19-20, 22].
Li et. al. [11] did not provide a detailed mechanism of their own to explain their results but cites some
work done recently on possible role of nuclear spin in consciousness or cognition in order to offer a
plausible explanation. However, it is herein authors’ views that the work cited by Li et. al. on the subject
may be largely without merits to be discussed in the future if the circumstances call for such discussions.
Among other plausible explanations of Li et. al.’s results [11], one is the different quantum behaviors of
some xenon isotopes being fermions and some of them being bosons. Xenon 129 and xenon 131 are
fermions but xenon 132 and xenon 134 are bosons (see, e.g., [53]). Thus, besides the difference in
formation of quantum entanglement, their roles in spin chemistry and/or quantum dynamics of the brain,
if not negligible, may be different. |
Journal of Consciousness Exploration & Research | October 2020 | Volume 11 | Issue 6 | pp. 670-681
Baer, W. NMN, The Language Expansion Required to Make Progress in Science
670
Article
The Language Expansion Required to Make Progress in Science
Wolfgang NMN Baer*
Nascent Systems Inc.
&
Naval Postgraduate School, Monterey, CA
Abstract
Positivists introduced the differentiation between theoretical and observational language
statements to emphasize the difference between what we observe and how we explain those
observations. This differentiation is inadequate to describe the processing phases one executes in
order to know the world. The collapse of multiple meanings into identical symbols has obscured
the subjective reality we actually experience within an objective framework. It is the fusion of
observation and theory that produces the objects we see. Once fused, we think objects are
fundamental and forget our own role in making them appear. The multiple-meaning collapse of
words we use to describe reality has prevented science from properly integrating mind and body
in an event-oriented world view that grasps both aspects of the reality in which we exist.
Expanding our language to allow independent identification of mental versus physical
phenomena is the prerequisite for allowing scientific theory to advance our understanding of the
total reality in which we live.
Keywords: Language expansion, progress, science, positivist, observation, differentiation,
mental, physical, phenomena.
1. Limitation of Objective Language
The English language as taught in school and used in general discourse is specifically designed
to describe an objective worldview. This view assumes that moving material things and their
influence fields are all there is “out there” and will continue to be “out there” whether we live or
die. Both classic physics and quantum physics have been developed to describe and control the
world we experience by eliminating the subjective observer and attempting to explain all
phenomena from the properties of objects or probability packets, both of which are thought to
exist independently of our involvement. The logical inconsistencies of these theories to properly
explain what we actually see have been cited by many authors. The hard problem of
consciousness (Chalmers 1997), the explanatory gap (Levine 1983), and the elimination of the
observer from physics (Stapp 1993) are only a few of the many logical critiques that point to the
assumptions built into our mainstream theories that patch over logical difficulties, which would
be called miracles in any other discipline.
*
Correspondence: Prof. Wolfgang NMN Baer (Retired), Nascent Systems Inc. & Naval Postgraduate School, Monterey, CA,
USA. http://www.nascentinc.com E-mail: Support@NascentInc.com
ISSN: 2153-8212
Journal of Consciousness Exploration & Research
Published by QuantumDream, Inc.
www.JCER.com
Journal of Consciousness Exploration & Research | October 2020 | Volume 11 | Issue 6 | pp. 670-681
Baer, W. NMN, The Language Expansion Required to Make Progress in Science
671
To show how our language enforces such irrational assumptions, consider an individual resting
on a balmy beach looking up at the night sky. If asked what he sees, he or she might say, “I see a
moon embedded in a beautiful firmament of stars.” When asked, “Where do they happen?” He or
she might answer that the moon is many thousands of miles, and the stars, many light years
away. What such an individual actually experiences are blobs and dots of light that happen in his
here and now. The blobs and dots of sensation are referred to as qualia, and such words are
categorized as observational language. The fact that such sensations are immediately called
moon and stars clearly shows that the words we use to identify our world are theoretical (Carnap
2000). We generally characterize the actual sensations we experience in terms of the objective
theory we have been taught and then go on to believe that our theories express the truth.
Our example is not a contrived demonstration but rather a description of what we almost always
do. We hear a tinkling sound and say, “I hear a bell.” The bell is an object causing the sound not
what we hear. In general, when we experience a sensation of our native language we
immediately construct its meaning, while the same meaning expressed in a foreign language is
heard as the sound. I‟ve often heard physicists claim they are looking into an atom when they are
looking at the display screen of their measuring apparatus, or an astrophysicist looking at dots on
a photographic plate and claiming he is looking at some phenomena millions of light years away.
We speak and communicate almost entirely in the objective terms of the theory and world-view
we have been taught and believe we are describing reality. This immediate jump from sensation
to explanation happens so fast that we fail to notice the incredible amount of processing the goes
on behind the scenes to allow us to use our consensus reality terminology in useful ways.
Unfortunately, whether lounging on a beach at night or looking at experimental data from a
measurement apparatus, we fail to acknowledge our role in creating what we see because it
happens so fast and because we only have terms to describe the past and future end points of the
epistemological process that actually generates what we experience. The limitation of our
language obscures what we do when we see or experience, and we believe things just happen.
Most readers will say, “These words, here in front of me now, happen because they are there.”
How they came to be here-and-now as tangible objective little objects in front of us is forgotten
because we do not have the language structure to accommodate the processes actually
happening.
2. The Proposed Language Category of Expansion
Contemporary English language contains word categories like noun, verb, article, etc. Following
Wittgenstein‟s language empowerment concept, each of these word categories are used to
implement our own language-based model of reality that is being executed by members of the
language user group. A configuration of nouns -- man, earth, moon. sun. stars, and whatever dark
material imbedding it all -- is shown as a cartoon circle in Figure 1. It is a graphic representation
of the „Now‟ instant given an objective user‟s world view. In addition to the classic „body‟ of a
„man‟ holding an „apple‟ on the „earth‟ surrounded by a „space‟ filled with „stars‟, the figure
contains the image of his mental 1st-person experience in a thought bubble. Here, his field of
view contains an „arm‟ holding an „apple‟ with the tip of his „nose‟ as seen from his left eye.
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Our Mental
Experience
672
The Classic
Physical
World
Unexplained
Connection
Fig. 1. Man standing on the Earth holding an apple
The reader will notice the words naming mental sensations in Figure 1 are written with boldface
first letters. The noun category expansion was first introduced as a suggestion for expanding the
German language (Mitterauer 2013) and later used in the development of Conscious Action
Theory (Baer 2020), which is an action formulation of physics that integrates the mind and body
in a single comprehensive framework. The noun codes suggested in these theories identify four
categories of entities that happen in the thought processes resulting in our everyday view of the
objective world around us. These codes are listed in Table 1.
Table 1. Definition of noun codes appearing in Thought Processing Phases
Example
Definition
Description
Apple, Man, Star
Capital bold first letter names the memory model entity
which stores the explanation of the
1st-person sensation; processed into a
memory recall sensation.
apple, man, star
Lower case bold first
names an immediate observable letter
sensation or qualia; processed from
external sensor interactions
apple, man, star
Lower case
names the visualization of the
meaning of the memory model
entity; projected onto sensations
producing objects seen in our everyday experience.
Apple, Man, Star
Capital first letter
Names the real entity out there
beyond our sensation and
explanation; names the Kantian
unknowable thing onto itself.
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The meaning of the lower case codes were reverse from their original introduction in order to
match existing English language conventions as closely as possible. Normal English uses
lowercase letters to reference general categories or concepts of things seen or felt, but not
specific actual examples. Hence such references are intrinsically mental. Capital bold letters are
often use in mathematical physics as a dyadic or tensor to model real things. Hence these refer to
actual reality model components and theory parameters. Lower-case bold letters have no
grammatical equivalent but are necessary to separate the sensation one experiences from its
projected explanation. As demonstrated in the last section, the interpretation of a sensation, such
as a sound, into its explanation, such as a bell ringing, happens so quickly that we normally
simply experience the resulting fusion of external and internal experiences. Separating the fused
external and internal conscious experiences is necessary in order to become aware of the mental
processing executed through the model of reality in our everyday lives.
Using these codes, we are now able to expand sentences like, “I see an apple.” into, “I have an
apple sensation that is remembered in an „Apple‟ whose meaning is the „apple‟ object I project to
identify its really out there.” These three forms describe processing stages internal to the
observer. The ultimate cause of these experiences is that some real external Apple causes the
Observer to process and display his or her sensor interactions into a conscious apple experience.
Un-bolded capital letters are used to name the real thing in conformance with the capitalization
rule for names in English. When something is given a name, there is an implied reality associated
with the thing named. The expansion of pronouns provides some interesting examples. The „I‟ is
normally capitalized, which in this code expresses the fact that whatever else may be true at least
„I‟ am real. When You, dear Reader, are also real and My interaction produces in You these
words, which You remember as „Words‟, and their reality as objects will be expressed as the
„words‟ you see. The suggested use of these codes when imbedded in a paper written in English
is to enclose the symbols in single quotes when applicability of code meanings is to be
emphasized. Otherwise, normal English interpretations suffice for non-bold first letters and bold
letters always identify memory and sensation entities.
Of special significance is the use of capital names such as „Apple‟ or „Reality‟ as Kantian thingsonto-themselves. Such symbols refer to intrinsically unknowable items because we cannot get
out of ourselves to directly experience the cause of our sensations. These symbols are referred to
as operational symbols in Conscious Action Theory or “use symbols” by Wittgenstein (Johnston
2007). The meaning of such symbols is not referential. That is, there is no demonstrable
experience one can point to that is its meaning. Therefore „Apple‟ does not mean there is an
apple object out there. We do not and cannot know what „Apple‟ actually is. Instead the meaning
of such symbols can be found in their use within the symbol system one‟s thought process
operates. Such use is directly tied to the physical properties of the object endowed with symbolic
significance. The word „Reality‟ is not the composite „Reality‟ that names model symbols each
observer maintains in memory, nor is it the „reality‟ one visualizes as one‟s worldview, or the
„reality‟ of one‟s life sensations. Instead it refers to that directly unknowable entity beyond one‟s
sensors, which can only be seen when that actual „Reality‟ interacts with one‟s actual „Sensors‟
to produce observable sensations. Mathematically a symbolic interaction function
(Interaction(Reality, Sensor) = sensation) must have been executed to produce observable results
and only observable measurement results can be compared with one‟s memory model output.
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The following C-code computer statement expresses the scientific method using the noun
expansion codes introduced in this section.
Eq. 1 While (sensation =Interaction(Reality, Sensor)) - (sensation = interaction(Reality, Sensor) == 0{
Then ( Reality = Store (Reality); exit;// Reality in your model is correct
Else ( Reality = Correct(Reality); continue; // Reality is not correct and must be updated
}
It states that when our model of reality using its current „Reality‟ and „Sensor‟ information
calculates an expected sensation that exactly equals the result of the real „Reality‟ interaction
with our real „Sensors‟, then we have an accurate model of the real „Reality‟.
Once the expanded noun types are explicitly introduced into our language, the fact that we
calculate the perceptive world we experience, in which we then believe to be living, becomes
expressible in a direct and unambiguous manner. Once expressible in our language, specialized
theory codes can further be defined to develop the mathematical structure of a process or eventoriented physics. In such a physics, the operations executed by the „Observer‟, creating his
perceived world view and then developing a theory that explains it, are all included.
3. Summary of Event-Oriented Physics
Development of a process or event-oriented physics is an ongoing project that has been taking
place since the emergence the Copenhagen School of quantum theory suggested, but stopped
short of, including the Observer in its formalism. DeBroglie and David Bohm (1993) proposed
the pilot wave interpretation of Schrödinger‟s wave function. Such waves have a suggestive
similarity to thoughts. Rovelli (1997) proposed a process physics interpretation that emphasizes
the dynamic interval between states rather then the state sequence itself. Tegmark (2014) has
moved physics away from its Aristotelian roots and returned our attention back to Plato. Almost
at an engineering level, Giuseppi Vitiello (2001) used quantum field theory to physically model
the brain as an open system. The physical requirement to double all degrees of freedom was
forced on Vitiello in order to accommodate the Brain‟s internal model of the world. This step
implied that some physical correlates between the Brain material and what „It‟ experiences must
be physically built into physics so that it can accommodate the mental characteristics of the
Observer. Taken together, the groundwork for an Observer inclusive physics has been done. To
summarize and present the main principles for this new development, we will follow the graphic
flow diagram approach pioneered in Conscious Action Theory (CAT). This uses action as a
flowing material of change in a sequence of flow diagrams that describe a new worldview in
which the use of four first letter noun codes find their natural application (Baer 2020).
Since the classic model of reality shown in Figure 1 represented the Universe, we have evolved
our concept of time. After Einstein‟s special relativity and Hubble‟s expanding universe
discovery, our model of reality is more accurately represented by a spatial sequence of all Now
frames shown in one instance in Figure 2.
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3
Our Mental
Experience
The Classic
Physical
Now
Plane
1
Unexplained
Connection
Action
Flow
Fig. 2. The Block Universe Model showing mental phases between classic physical
Now states
Called a block universe, the frames start as points, grow to the current Now instant and are
projected, on aesthetic grounds, to shrink back to a point. The display is like a cosmic calendar.
Advanced theories cited in the last paragraph have formalized the process or the happening
between states rather than the object in a state. These theories recognize that what happens
between Now states of objects is equally if not more important than what happens at a Now.
Furthermore, and most important, is the fact that however rapidly successive measurements are
made or how densely Now plane frames are stacked together, the classic assumption -- that
objects seen in the Now plane measurement displays move from one time plane to another as the
objects seen in those instantaneous measurements --is wrong. What happens between Now plane
states are processes or events. Though most physicists attempt to define these events on purely
physical grounds, CAT replaces the classic assumption by assuming that what happens between
physical states are either mental events in themselves or at least immediate physical correlates of
mental events.
The argument for the validity of this assumption starts at the cyclic connection between the 1 stperson experience and the physical body having those experiences in Figure 1. Though dualistic
debates have often identified the mental experience as an epiphenomenon, and, notwithstanding
Libet‟s Free Will experiments, simple observation cannot deny that we react to what we
consciously see and hear. Whether or not such action flow through the sensor brain activator
sequence is true epiphenomena or closely correlated with physical phenomena not identified with
classic material is irrelevant. Some action flows through our perceptive system and if 1) we are
looking at material objects in our everyday mental display from the outside, and if 2) no one has
any idea of how we are conscious of the things we see (Pinker 1997), then it is reasonable to
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propose that something happens inside material from which „We‟ are made as it changes through
time and that that something generates our subjective feelings and observations. Our 1st-person
experience and its mystery is explained by assuming that we become aware of the inside of our
own material while our view of other things and people is a physical accommodation inside our
own material to interactions with those other „Things‟ and „People‟.
The use of the CAT-noun code allows a clear description of this concept. When „You‟, the real
system reading these words, sees is an „apple‟ or parts of your own „body‟ such as your „arm‟,
You are experiencing qualia sensations. They are produced through data- processing sensoraction records from the external to the internal phase of material. In order to be remembered,
changes are made in the material of your Memory, whose meaning is projected as the „head‟ of
the „man‟ shown in each Now state in Figure 2. The real model components are named Apple
and Arm and produce an internal memory output of the „apple and arm‟ sensation they are
designed to remember. These sensations are projected from interactions indicated by the Eyeball
model icon facing the past field of view in Figure 2. The flow of activity from the future-right to
the past-left is indicated by the dot filled arrow. The rate of action flow through each material
point „X‟ is called energy [E(X)=dA(X)/dT ]. The intensity of action flow through each material
point owned by „You‟ correlates to your 1st-person qualia experience. The new material, here to
fore not identified in classic physics in which the epiphenomena consciousness may be thought
to happen is the inside of the old classic mass and charge we project as „material‟ into the objects
around us.
So far, we have only described the flow of action within a model of reality. All the symbols in it
actually refer to the meaning of model Material inside your real Head in which the process flow
described by Figure 2 actually occurs. This is not the „head‟ you might see in a mirror, but the
physical mechanism producing that sensation. The process flowing right to left in the model
intersects the central Here and Now, which represents the world view „You‟ are imagining at this
instance. What „You‟ are actually seeing are the graphic meanings of the instrumentalist CapitalBold first-letter symbols. These meanings are named „apple and arm‟ in our example. They are
projected from a perpendicular 3rd-person perspective shown by the Eyeball icon above the
central Here and Now. The actual direction runs along the timeline directly from the page to your
eye. In practice this is the direction in which „You‟, by controlling the image of a pen, could
update this externalized model. In actuality, the real „Model‟ in your „Head‟ is updated directly
by the flow of action through your „Eyes‟.
Using the 3rd-person view the Reader looks down on a system of processing Elements. However,
because these are real things-onto-themselves they are only seen through detector cells „Dc‟ –see
Figure 3- of our internal memory measurement apparatus and therefore displayed as each
element‟s meaning. The situation is analogous to a graphics computer engineer who develops a
program that processes the output of a camera retina into a model of the world stored in memory.
To make sure his model has been updated correctly he uses the model data and programs a
perspective view display that is compared with the camera output. The comparison program
statements were shown in Equation 1. These update the model until a minimum difference is
reached. If he „looks‟ into the machine he would see a whirl of wires carrying voltages that have
no discernable resemblance to the scene he has captured in his model, but which they can
reproduce. The engineer‟s situation is similar to the neurophysiologist who looks into the whirl
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677
of neuron wiring in the brain and finds Levine‟s explanatory gap between the wiring pattern and
what a human actually sees (Levine 1982). It‟s a gap because we have not been able to follow
the signals through the inside of the objective material we believe our brain is made of. In the
computer case, the whirl can be traced to program statements that include sub-routines named in
our noun code as Earth(), Man(), Apple(), etc. Looking down on this code, or the whirl it
produced, the engineer imagines the meaning of these processing elements and writes his
imagination into the drawings or further descriptions in a program specification manual. The
content of the specification manual would be written in symbol types „earth, man, apple‟, etc. By
analogy, Figure 2 is like a drawing in the specification manual of a human, which shows the
meaning of computational elements executed in the human‟s „Head‟ as the Now plane sequence
while the sensations he actual experiences are referred to as earth, man, and apple and happen
between the Now states.
A summary of how these four noun types are connected in an abstract flow diagram is shown in
Figure 3. The big round circle connects the qualia sensation type „a‟ with its memory storage
component type ‘A’. This acts like a memory refresh cycle through a self-display patternrecognition program. Display sensations are transformed to model elements by an actuator
function [A = Ac(a)]. The model elements are measured through detector cells [a = Dc(A)] to
reproduce the observable display. Repeated execution of this cycle holds a sensation in
immediate awareness but does not provide the feeling that a real object is being observed. The
second oval cycle between „A‟ and „a‟ is the model meaning cycle that generates the theoretical
meaning sensation „a‟ from the sensation calculating model element „A‟.
In the upper oval we have also drawn
connecting thought bubbles that in Figure 1
a
connected the mind and body. There we
A
identified this connection as a mystery that
must happen but we did not know how it could
a
happen. Figure 3 makes it clear that attempting
to
Measure
find a physical causal connection between the
„a‟
I
eXplain
a=Dc(A)
and „a‟ observables is fruitless. It is as fruitless
as
.A = Ac(a)
trying to find the physical causal connection
between two actors seen on a television screen.
Physically the actors are produced by parallel
AA
electron hits on screen phosphors that are not
causally connected. The real connection
happened between the real actors in front of the
camera in a distant studio and would involve a
Fig. 3. Noun Code States Processing
backward time connection, as explains
Flow Diagram (Baer 2020)
entangled stated in quantum theory. Here we
show the common past happenings are real memory model Components executing in the real
Brain, which connect sensations of type „a‟ with explanations of type „a‟. These two 1st- and 3rdperson observables are merged to produce the feeling of real objects out there in our mental
display of the world in front of us.
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4. Expanded Noun States in Contemporary Physics
Introducing expanded noun states would only be a possibly interesting but practically useless
abstract exercise unless the results can be equated with facts and operations already proven. Such
identification has been documented in the Conscious Action Theory (CAT) text in which action
flow structures are used to construct a macroscopic version of quantum theory. CAT reduces to
contemporary quantum theory when oscillatory amplitudes of Schrödinger‟s „ψ()‟ are small
enough not to destroy the media in which things happen (Sotina 2014, Baer 2020b).
The meaning of media here is the degrees of freedom of any material system executing in
dynamic equilibrium in which 1) small disturbances generate restoring forces producing
oscillatory motions described by quantum theory and 2) larger disturbances produce construction
and destruction events of the systems involved described by CAT. Such a system could be a flat
pond of water on which a wind disturbance produces waves, a disturbed quantum experiment
apparatus (Hilbert space) producing ψ() waves, a computer performing calculations, or the
memory model of a mature Human producing thought. The key difference between CAT and
quantum theory is that the construction, interpretation of results, and the dismantling operation of
experimental apparatus, performed by the scientist who does all the experimenting, is included in
CAT but excluded in quantum theory. Waves on a pond, or „ψ()‟ oscillations in Hilbert space,
are an adequate description until the dam holding the water in place breaks.
To give an example, consider a computer that has been constructed to run programs. Such a
system provides a memory space and accumulators energized to idle in an equilibrium state. In
such a system, programs that modify and transmit the voltages around the circuits must be small
enough not to burn up the machinery in order to run accurately. In CAT the physical rather than
the symbolic operation of a program is used as a real model of reality, then such an executing
system can only model phenomena that exhibit small movements that do not destroy the
circuitry. A similar situation occurs with a mature Human who operates a model of reality using
real physical components of noun type „A‟. If the thoughts, i.e. Bohm‟s pilot waves, destroy the
Brain circuitry, the model will not run correctly, and the human may have physical convulsions
or epileptic seizures. Thinking beyond what can be accommodated in his or her current model
requires growth or learning. The difference between a conventional computer and a Human is
that a Human can grow Brain connections, while a computer requires outside intervention to
modify its hardware.
The concept that Schrödinger‟s „ψ‟ function are real disturbances in real physical systems was
published in his seminal paper (Schrödinger 1926) in which he derived a real Schrödinger‟s
equation utilizing the classic theory of small oscillations (Goldstien 1965). The complex and
well-known Schrödinger equation of quantum theory was first published by Mandelung, who
attempted to describe a fluid flow interpretation of quantum theory known as the Mandelung
equations (Sotina 2014). The complex Schrödinger equation stuck because oscillatory motions
are more elegantly described by „ei‟ rather than the sines and cosines when purely real values are
used. CAT utilizes the proposition that quantum theory and its macroscopic extension can be
based on treating Action as an incompressible fluid; then flow diagrams become useful in
presenting its concepts.
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Baer/Stapp Process 0
Classic world of particles and fields in
which measurement results are
governed by Hamilton‟s equations.
H / p dq / dt , H / q dp / dt
Von Neumann Process I
Measurement: Wave function
collapses producing a permanent
record in one of the cells
(eigenvectors) of a measurement
axis. Averages are calculated with
q (q, t ' ) Q * (q, t ' ) dq
Baer/Stapp Process III
Explanation: Classic objects are
replaced by waves that provide
the input or initial conditions for
quantum evolution.
( q , t ) e i S ( p , q , H ,t ) /
* (q, t ) e iS ( p ,q ,H ,t ) /
Von Neumann Process II
Ψ*(q,t‟) Quantum World: Oscillation states
Ψ(q,t‟)
propagate according to Schrödinger‟s
equation in Hilbert space
i / t 2 / m 2 / q 2 V (q)
Ψ*(q,t)
Ψ(q,t)
Fig. 4. Action Cycle in Quantum Nomenclature (Baer 2020e)
Figure 4 shows the same flow diagram depicted as the main round circle in the abstract action
flow shown in Figure 3. Only the abstract states are here identified in both classic and quantum
physics nomenclature. Here the classic world, which is taken to be the thing appearing in front of
the Reader‟s nose, is characterized by objective observable parameters that are packaged into a
non-relativistic action function „S()‟ replacing the observable fused „a, a‟ notation in Figure 3.
The observables are explained by oscillatory motions „ψ‟ calculated by using the function „S()‟
as the phase in a complex exponential. „ψ‟ then becomes the theoretical entity „A‟, which
represents a component in the model. Here we show the time propagation formula used to
calculate the next expected measurement result. These are measured through detectors so the
Von Neumann Process I is identified with the detector operations [ a = Dc(A)], which reproduces
the next classic action pattern. By applying the scientific method, we compare the calculated
model output with actual measurement results we find the best probability amplitude „ψ‟ that our
theory – here quantum theory-- claims is really out there.
Quantum Theory as well as classic physics theory does not include the observer, and therefore
the oval cycle in Figure 3 executing the meaning of the symbols does not show up in Figure 4.
This is because standard Copenhagen School quantum theory is considered an instrumentalist
theory, and physicists are encouraged not to interpret the meaning of „ψ‟. Any such interpretation
would be an „a-type‟ symbol in our four-noun type nomenclature. Of course, interpretation of
quantum symbols still happens in real life. Quantum physicists still construct and tear down
their apparatus. They still describe what they are doing with „a-type‟ symbols. However, these
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operations are handled by reverting to classic physical nomenclature as motion of observable
objects. For this reason, quantum theory is incomplete, as Einstein insisted.
5. Concluding Remarks
The expansion of noun types in itself is not a physical theory. Such a theory is in development by
many individuals some of whom were cited in the first paragraph of Section 3. What the
expansion allows, is for common English users to explicitly differentiate between what they
actually experience and how they theoretically explain their observations by using noun symbols
rather than weaker qualifying adjectives. This expansion avoids the collapse and effective
elimination of what the 1st-person does to see what he sees in current science. Of course, when
we look at the night sky and see a moon with a solid surface that we can rocket to and stand on,
it may be unnecessary to separately identify the moon of poets and lovers. The past success of
current scientific thinking and the technologies it has generated is not in question. What is in
question is the future of science.
Theory is an evolving and ongoing undertaking. What we know and believe today will
undoubtedly be advanced by future generations. How long will those future generations be
saddled with the belief that the objective world is the “truth” rather than a very useful
assumption. Truths held by believers are hard to argue against. Useful assumptions have domains
of applicability and may lose their usefulness when new challenges are to be addressed. If truths
are recognized as assumptions, a door opens for progress. Bringing the ideas of quantum theory
into the realm of ordinary life and recognizing that we are dynamic activities through and
through rather than a rapid sequence of static objects is the main challenge science faces today.
The expansion of noun types gives us the language to, at least, recognize that we even have the
challenge and then the tools we need to meet it can be built.
Received August 25, 2020; Accepted September 14, 2020
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Baer W. (2020b) op. cid. Chapter 4,5
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Chopra, D., Kafatos M. (2017) You are the Universe, Random House ISBN 978-0-307-88916-4
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Journal of Consciousness Exploration & Research| September 2022 | Volume 13 | Issue 3 | pp. 296-308
Christhilf, M., The Essence of Consciousness
296
Research Essay
The Essence of Consciousness
Mark Christhilf*
ABSTRACT
One of the open questions of science is known as "the hard problem of consciousness." Its
nature, effects, and origin, are the subject of debate not only among psychologists, philosophers,
and natural scientists, but also in the wider reading public. This article focuses on the ways in
which consciousness influences human identity, on its source as the creative principle of life in
the universe, and on its ongoing role in the historical process by which humans are transforming
the earth.
Keywords: Consciousness, essence, hard problem, origin, human identity, creative principle.
1. Identity
To be human means having a deep need to understand how our minds work. We want to
comprehend the origin of the attitudes that result in our behaviors, to know why we do the things
we do. Self-knowledge can be difficult because we embody opposing impulses and contradictory
responses to the world we live in. Why, for instance, do we feel two ways about nearly
everything? What makes us regard our fellow beings with interest one day and indifference the
next? How is it that we are capable of thoughts that are in turn base and crude or elevated and
lofty? And why the human propensity not only for kindness but for hatred and revenge, a
propensity manifest in the cycle of war and peace that marks our national histories?
At times there may seem to be no end to our contradictory behavior. Humans have a longing for
permanence and stability, yet we contain an innate restlessness that leads to dissatisfaction with
our current situation and may cause us to seek change. Who has not become distracted, reversed
decisions, reneged on resolutions, or betrayed commitments? We wish to appear rational and
consistent before others, but our changeable and contradictory actions may influence our
relationships with them. They may begin to suspect our abilities and mistrust our motives, which
in turn may lead us to lose confidence in ourselves and to harbor frustrations and insecurities.
The contradictions to which human beings are subject have given rise to behavioral sciences like
psychology, a field in which vast numbers of clinicians are trained to help individuals understand
themselves. Too often, however, such advisors address deep-seated problems merely as the
outcome of social background or environment without focusing on the naturally ambivalent
operation of the mind. What would such an approach reveal?
The question inevitably involves us in the enigma of consciousness. A vexed and much debated
phenomenon, consciousness plays a central role in the working of our mind--in our identity as
human beings. By some it is thought to be simply perception, the result of sensory experience
*Correspondence: Mark Christhilf, Professor Emeritus, Eastern Illinois University, Charleston, Illinois 61920.
Email: markchristhilf@gmail.com
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relayed to the mind, which enables it to determine its position in time and space. Where am I?
How did I get here? What did I have for breakfast this morning? Correct answers to such
questions are taken to indicate that an individual is conscious. Yet consciousness cannot be
explained by biology alone. Although it arises from neuronal activity, it is something more, an
elusive, effervescent, changeable presence that may seem alternately real or unreal. It is the
something that makes us human, and at the same time a mystery to ourselves. If we are to
understand our identity fully, the mystery must be challenged and elaborated. To do so will
disclose the nature of consciousness as well as why we have it.
Who has not experienced in the mind’s depth a pure and total freedom, the sensation of standing
alone, separate from the entire world with its everyday bustle and commotion? Which of us has
not felt different from all others, with a unique personality and a special way of viewing life?
And who has not considered themselves incomparable in their individuality, the omniscient
author of their life and destiny, answerable to no one else? It is human to think ourselves
unduplicable and sovereign, to feel inviolate in our essential selfhood. We experience ourselves
as centers around which the rest of the world revolves.
Yet the positive, self-affirming experience may quickly pass into its obverse, a state of mind in
which who we are is insignificant. Also within us is the knowledge of our own death and the
eventual destruction of our body and mind, the understanding that we will disappear into the
inhuman and infinite abyss. We are able to see our life as a tiny speck of matter in an
immeasurable, expanding universe, and are aware that it is only an instance of a species in which
there have been billions of individuals. The experience is one of nonbeing and nothingness, and
calls into question our most cherished beliefs and values. For many it causes doubt about life’s
purpose, and they may conclude it is meaningless or absurd.
The dual experience in which we are both everything and nothing is characteristic of
consciousness. It doubles our existence, dividing it into two conflicting identities. Is there anyone
who does not experience life at two levels—as both participant and observer? At the first level
we are active agents, living a life in which we answer the needs and requirements of our body for
food, sex, security, and companionship. We interact with others with minds engaged in greeting,
talking, joining, exchanging ideas and favors. At the second, our minds are more fully conscious,
and we become passive observers, watching ourselves moving in time and space. Like
bystanders, we see ourselves at a distance, the way we see an actor in a video, moving in a world
separate from ours. The two experiences, although closely related, are mutually exclusive: as
soon as we act, full consciousness evaporates and is lost.
For centuries philosophers have puzzled over the contradiction: which is primary and more
important to our understanding of what being human means? Is our identity as a participant, an
objective being, the one on which to base conclusions and values: or is the more essential the
observer, a subjective or ideal being? In our era, the first is often considered the more important
because it is a verifiable, actual existent, while the second is a hidden, impalpable essence, a
purely mental phenomenon. Perhaps the most rewarding view is that the mind, when fully
conscious, allows us to reflect on our interactions with others, to control the animal instincts,
assess our motives and their consequences, and choose the best path in the search for humane
identity.
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The double awareness imparted by consciousness also gives us our sense of having a past and
future. Consciousness is historical with the result that to be human means to experience
ourselves as both a memory and a hope or expectation. On the face of it both experiences are
illusory, unreal: we exist only in the present. Yet it is safe to say that, without both, human life
would be unthinkable. We would live like the animals in a perpetual present. It is through pure
consciousness that humanity was first able to conceive time as a progression of past, present, and
future; and the centrality of the idea to human life is indicated by the language we use in which
verb tenses categorize our activity as belonging to one of those three dimensions. Time is in
effect a kind of language, another tool that humans have used to erect civilizations.
Yet consciousness of time leads to another conflict in the human mind. Which shall I live for
predominantly, the past or the future? Around which shall I shape my life? Am I the one I have
been or the one I imagine, but do not yet know? To answer such questions often calls for
agonizing decisions. Nostalgia is a powerful human emotion, and we easily idealize it as a time
when life was simpler, less crowded, less fast-paced. In memory lies our personal history, the
record of our choices and their outcomes, which we are tempted to think of as our primary
identity. If we have been fortunate and our memories pleasant, we are drawn to make our lives in
the present similar, to surround ourselves with familiar faces of family and friends, to live in or
near the place of our origin, to perpetuate our customs and traditions. Readily we forget the past
is ultimately irretrievable, and may develop a habit of mind which resists inevitable change in the
world around us: the new attitudes about what is acceptable behavior, new procedures in the
workplace, new ways of doing business.
In contrast to the known past, our future is pregnant with possibilities for action that may or may
not be good for our fortunes. It confers no sense of actual identity, and is merely a hope which
has not happened—and may never. Suppose we fail in our attempt to make it real? Wouldn’t we
lose what we already have? And what if we encounter poverty or serious illness? From such
considerations, many fear the future and turn from its blank, inhuman face. Yet hopes and
dreams come naturally and are not easily ignored or suppressed. In those who lack the courage to
act upon them, they may lurk buried within yet influencing behavior in a way that is perplexing
in the eyes of others. Conflict between past and future is managed differently by all with varying
degrees of compromise between living for one or the other. Memory and hope also quarrel at the
national level, their opposition being manifest in the division of political life into two parties or
factions. One is conservative, favoring the old order, the other liberal, insisting on change.
Fear of the future brings to light the central role of possibility in life. In essence, human
consciousness is possibility—its source and domain. It is awareness of all that is not here, not
now, but could be were circumstances different. Its substanceless potential is at bottom
nonbeing, and because it contains nothing, the mind senses it as an absence, an inward emptiness
or voice, which causes not only fear but also discontent with life in the present. Due to
consciousness, it is the fate of all human beings to be born incomplete, to experience a lack of
wholeness: to be unwhole. Something is always missing, or exists in the future, although it may
be undefinable. Life must thus seem intrinsically less than perfect, unfinished, in need of
improvement. Imbued with possibility, consciousness seems to expect action, to await the
choices that will complete life and bring satisfaction and happiness. But since its possibilities are
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inexhaustible, our efforts are always accompanied by imperfection, hopes partially realized,
desires unconsummated.
And where do all our questions arise but from the possibilities that are present in our mind? They
spawn the endless interplay of interrogation and reply that is vital to all thought and critical to
our search for meaning. Because our sense of possibilities is endless, every answer or conclusion
can be quickly rendered uncertain and tentative; and is quickly followed by another possibility—
which then motivates another question. When we think we have settled that one, there occurs
another so that the search for meaning may become exasperating, and accounts for the fact that
some questions are finally unanswerable. Since every affirmation involves its own denial,
through the constant interaction of interrogation and reply, the mind advances its knowledge of
itself and others and establishes the pattern in its experience. Ideally it is able to establish a basic
awareness of its obligations and responsibilities in life. But what are they?
The most vital opposition that consciousness presents is between self and others. Human life is
divided, polarized between solitude and society. Deep in our psyche we feel the urge to preserve
and protect our individuality, to keep alive our possibilities and freedom of choice. Yet all feel
the pull of society and the need of others; we are creatures of one and the same species, and the
attraction of like to like operates like a law in our mind. The antipodal urges of attraction and
repulsion, of fear of others and desire for them, may engender an unsettling confusion of
motives, and make of life an anguished emotional ordeal. To which side, self or others, do we
owe our loyalty and responsibility? To which should we commit the greater part of our attention
and energy? Each day the choice recurs, and when the mind is fully conscious, we may find it
precedes each action.
By nature the human being is disposed to put the self-first. The choice is rooted in biology; the
will to life and its security is one with existence itself. It is this ineradicable need that leads us to
perceive others as a hazard to autonomy and independence: we wish to safeguard our freedom to
do what we want, to go where we want, when we want to, and in all to please ourselves. From
fear of losing such prerogatives, humans are prey to emotions like greed, rivalry, and jealousy,
which leave little room for consciousness of others. Others become a means to our end, minor
players in supporting roles in our plan for security or success; in essence, reduced to things.
Egocentrism leads to an unconscious mode of existence, devoid of the living whole. The mind
becomes preoccupied with one’s looks and appearance, obtaining material desires, enjoying
favorite pastimes. We end by inhabiting an increasingly self-enclosed world, living a life that is
unrewarding or pointless.
The insufficiency of a life centered on the self-points to others as its meaning. To make them our
destiny is the choice that consciousness ultimately awaits and seems to expect. In this sense the
word discloses its kinship with what is traditionally termed conscience. And what is its
expectation for but love? I hesitate to introduce the word love here because it easily becomes a
cliché, and its range of connotations and personal interpretations lead quickly to disagreement,
making any generalizations a risk. Yet the fact that love is the purpose of consciousness accounts
for the great interest it holds for human beings; for why it is the endless subject of books, videos,
and stories, as well as an incalculable number of conversations. Another reason may be that love
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involves a struggle in which there is always the chance of either success or failure. But what can
be said about it more precisely that would reveal its essences?
Above all, love is a creative activity in which human beings seek to complete themselves, to
make themselves whole. Out of the emptiness and vacancy within we fashion something not
there before, a human tie or bond, a work of art, a business, or a building. Something more than
ourselves comes into being. The manifestation of love is order. It draws together what is separate
and diverse. In a society its result is to unify, collect, and gather many millions into one body.
For individuals its effect is to balance the opposition of self and others, to make one coherent
whole in which the needs of both are fulfilled by the other. Concern and care are the emotions of
love; it brings a sense of obligation.
As a creative action, love brings forth in individuals a social identity, a being conscious of the
unity of life. It means death to the former solitary self, a process that is a labor requiring restraint
and self-abnegation, and the sacrifice of at least some of one’s possibility and freedom. Those
who love must practice a self-forgetfulness in which they struggle to suppress the emotions of
fear and desire for pleasure that arise perpetually from the subconscious and demand attention. In
fact, love often begins in desire and becomes itself only over time and insofar as the self is lost in
the activity of loving. To make ourselves the second person, and the other the first, calls for a
difficult and often painful sacrifice. Yet it creates solidarity and vitality in relationships. Others
become our cause or ideal. Service is love’s lifeblood.
And in what form, besides personal partnerships, do people render service to others? Isn’t it by
work, by the daily practice of a trade or occupation? Work is love made visible, requiring private
sacrifice for the betterment of society. For most it brings remuneration, but that is hardly the end
of it. Work makes possible, in large measure, self-realization and a sense of personal worth. And
when it is done in a spirit of goodwill, and to the best of one’s ability, it imparts order and
harmony to the social whole. Many are the occupations and modalities through which love
creates social wholes, and these correspond to the great variety of individual capacities and
talents. Hands are needed to build roads and bridges, just as they are needed to perform surgeries
and to tend the aged. Trade unions, businesses, schools and local governments, neighborhood
associations, and civil organizations are only a few of the smaller wholes through which
individuals devote their energies to the life of their society.
2. Knowledge
The search for knowledge is another of love’s modalities. We want to understand the universe
we inhabit, its laws and principles, and their effects on human behavior. This search too calls for
creative sacrifice, but not for the purpose of interacting with others and forming friendships and
ties. The seeker of knowledge requires solitude and silence, in which thought and contemplation
can flourish. Inaction rather than action is necessary. It is usual for such people to take all
humanity as their cause or ideal, in the hope that their discoveries and ideas will better its
condition, and advance the sum total of human consciousness.
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Human inquiry leads inevitably to the question: why do I exist? Is there anything or anyone
responsible for my life? And where do I begin? With parents? Grandparents? Distant ancestors
or animals? To know a phenomenon fully requires an understanding of its origin, and the search
often discloses the reason or cause for its existence. Therefore to seek an explanation for our
lives takes us backward in time to contemplate the origin of all life; nor does the quest end there.
Intuitively we understand that our bodies and minds are composed of the elements of the
universe—carbon, oxygen, iron and the rest—so that we are drawn to investigate the inception of
the whole universe, the laws of its evolution, and their motive. In that riddle is entwined the
mystery of consciousness. And what have we learned so far? How do we come to have it, and
does it play a role in human evolution? Is it possible that consciousness is a feature of the entire
universe?
Understanding of the universe has increased dramatically in the modern era. Observation of stars
and planets reveals in their behavior two fundamental forces that are opposed to one another. The
first, a force of attraction, or gravity, brings together the elements of matter; the second, a force
of repulsion, operates to disperse them. The first is predominant and makes possible the stars
from which come light, heat—and life itself. But the second is always at work causing them
eventually to come apart and scatter. Over long periods of time, the dispersed elements are
regathered into new stars and planets, so that there is change, and a new order emerges in the
process we call evolution. For billions of years the interaction of the two opposing forces has
progressed up to the present time in which we find ourselves alive on the planet earth. But do the
same evolutionary forces continue to influence the place we think of as home?
Although we walk on the earth and take for granted its stability, it too is constantly evolving. The
repulsive force is constantly interacting with that of attraction to transform the ground beneath
our feet. Enormous pressure from the heat of the earth’s molten core is moving upward causing
the continents to drift apart, and on a vast time scale, to come back together into one land mass.
The same heat energy generates the volcanoes which add to earth’s surface by spewing out liquid
lava that quickly cools and hardens into solid ground. At the same time, however, in vast
trenches on the oceans’ floor, in a process known as subduction, the old crust of earth is
continuously melted down and returned to earth’s center. The process will not last indefinitely
because the earth’s central furnace is slowly cooling. In the future its evolution will cease, and
like a star it will burn down and come apart. But for now what keeps the two opposing forces in
the equilibrium that gives the reliable world we know? What would such knowledge tell us about
consciousness?
The answer lies within the atom, the smallest unit of matter, from which our minds and bodies
are composed. Human science has discovered in its operation the same basic forces of attraction
and repulsion that exist in the universe at large, and the balance between the two gives to the
atom the stability on which all life is based. Yet the balance is tenuous and unpredictable,
because underlying it is the possibility for change. Within parameters the atom contains a
freedom which permits it to choose its own course of action, to react in different ways to other
atoms, and at different times. Imbued with possibility, it can adapt to changing conditions, and
do the unexpected.
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The discovery means that consciousness exists at the heart of all matter. It is the indwelling
creative force that balances the oppositions within matter and imparts its solidity. Yet because it
is also freedom and possibility, it enables matter to change its form—to evolve. In its dual role,
consciousness is the invisible motive for the evolution of the universe: a presence that accounts
for its order and coherence but also moves it forward into the future in response to its own
possibility. It is both a creator and a destroyer of the visible cosmos.
The discovery also explains why we are prone to contradictory behavior. Since the mind is
composed of matter, of billions of atoms, consciousness is experienced as an alternation of the
forces of attraction and repulsion. At its most fundamental level, it prompts the mind to feel two
ways about any person, situation, or idea, and to react ambivalently toward them. Thus
vacillation between interest and indifference toward others, between affirmation and denial, and
order and disorder, are all the normal result of the mind’s bipolar life. As freedom, however,
consciousness is potentially aware of its own dualities, capable of observing them, choosing
between them, or doing nothing but watching the world around it. Detached observing is its
purest expression. Yet it always sees what could be, the next possible act or decision, and moves
the mind forward to consider it—and in this way leads the mind into the future.
Does the presence of consciousness in the cosmos mean it is the source of all life? Despite its
advances modern thought fails to answer this question satisfactorily. It has lacked the objectivity
to consider all possible explanations. Nor has it connected life convincingly to the physical
universe, which it views as inanimate. Paleontologists unearth and compile a fossil record of
thousands of diverse lifeforms, and biologists study the elemental constituents of the first cell
from which they evolved. Yet neither entertains the possibility that their evolution results from
the hidden presence of consciousness in all matter. The primary emphasis falls on facts and not
their meaning, with life defined as a physical process--locomotion, metabolism, reproduction.
But how should life be understood? And what is the significance of its evolution?
Life is the gradual emergence of consciousness out of physical matter. It is a manifestation, a
partial appearance of the indwelling motive with which matter is informed. In its evolution,
consciousness is no longer hidden deep within inert, elemental substance, but comes to its
surface, transformed into the great diversity of animate forms. Their existence points to the
creative impulse for order implicit in consciousness. The term organism connotes order, the
organization of life into a living whole; and in its evolution the basic law is progress from simple
to more complex. From the first cell to the worm and jellyfish, and from there to tiger or ape, life
has proliferated with each creature being more intricately put together, more capable, more
conscious than its predecessor. The scale of life is ladder-like in complexity. But how does
consciousness enable each creature to win its struggle for survival?
Every life, no matter how insignificant, is impregnated with its possibility for change, which is
felt as an absence or void that leads it to explore its environment, seeking security. However
rudimentary its awareness, it looks for an opening, a space or niche, where it can maximize its
potential for more and more life, be safe from predators, and succeed against competitors. Thus
birds once took to air, zebras to open savannahs, ants and moles went underground. The
evolutionary process has spawned the great profusion of life as we know it today: the intricate,
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living whole in whose order every creature is a whole in itself, with an individual identity, yet
simultaneously a member of a species, a part of the larger order. And that species is separate and
distinct from all others, yet whether as prey or predator, makes its contribution to the totality.
But what is the part played by a human being? What is my relation to the whole? I have a form
that resembles an ape, and teeth and nails like other animals. And like other mammals, I have a
brain, one that has allowed me to win success in the competition for life. But how am I different,
if at all?
The obvious answer, too often ignored by biologists, is that we are capable of saying no to life—
and even of refusing it altogether. The one who dies on a hunger strike, or the suicide, albeit in a
negative way, testify to the power of self-abnegation to lift life above the level of instinct and the
will to survive. Although we are animals, a human being is the only one who can defer
gratification in the present moment to secure an intangible ideal, the only creature who can plan
a future and act to bring it into being. The will-to-reject is involved in the mystery of love and
confers creative powers. Through it we activate consciousness and thought, and prepare the mind
for the acquisition of knowledge. Individuality and full humanity are not possible without it.
By itself the acquisition of knowledge also sets us apart from the animals. Civilization is a
process by which knowledge accumulates generation after generation, and the ensuing fund of
learning has nearly countless branches, disciplines, and specializations. By acquiring as much as
possible, the human mind evolves along the same path as cosmic evolution, growing in
complexity, as it seeks to make a whole of its experience, and trying it against prevailing ideas.
In the creative effort of pursuing knowledge, the mind gives itself an increasingly new order and
harmony, until it becomes, in a sense, a miniature planet, reflecting the outer one and furnishing
it with meaning and significance.
When fully conscious, the mind grasps the oneness of all life. It is able to sense in the universe
its immense, creative force, invisibly moving in and through all things, and bringing them
towards it out of the eternal darkness into the light of the present moment. It is aware of itself as
the apex and focus of the all-encompassing presence, of its life-pulse as the cosmic pulse, and of
its emergence from matter as the culmination of a nearly unimaginable timespan of creative
activity. The experience is one in which that presence invites acknowledgement as the source of
life. How it entered matter and how it will end, human knowledge has not discovered; in the
annals of thought there have been many names for it, but all fall short of describing its
mysterious nature. Inhuman and impersonal, universal consciousness is the sum total of all
possibility and freedom, and imparts to every human mind its inventive potential.
Through their labors, through productive thought and achievement, human beings duplicate on a
minute scale the activity of universal consciousness. Each day when we begin the chosen work
that makes our love visible, we respond to its possibility, organizing our energies in a way that
repeats the creative action through which it gives form and substance to the universe. By
bringing order to our lives from the natural disorder of impulse, inclination, and appetite, we
replicate the foundational act in which order emerges from disorder. Productive activity,
including forming wholes with others, increases the scope and presence of consciousness in the
world around us. What is unseen and inhuman gets its face and reality. The understanding is
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sobering, bringing with it the recognition that we humans are agents in the transformation of the
universe—co-creators in the ongoing process of cosmic evolution. But in what ways specifically
are we advancing evolution and transforming the earth? Besides innovation in fashions like
apparel or entertainment, what new realities and capabilities is humanity bringing into existence?
3. Creativity
The root of creative action lies in dissatisfaction. The human being is a protest, a creature in
rebellion against the world it finds itself in. Everything can be questioned; everything bears the
possibility for change. There is nothing that cannot be improved upon, finished, made more
complete. The creative impulse begins in an awareness of our nothingness and insignificance
before the enormous expanses and infinite depth of the universe. With its blank forms and
surfaces, indifferent and unfamiliar in their inertness, and lacking semblance to humans, it makes
us feel alone, insufficient. Yet there lies within it an expectation to become something else,
something more, to take on new forms and shapes, to assume a new appearance, to evolve.
Creativity is our answer. To create means to humanize.
Technology is one of humanity’s most significant responses to its creative impulse. We are
toolmakers. They are a main reason for our evolutionary success, and their use gives us a unique
identity. In itself technology requires creativity: to invent it is to take apart the elementary
substances of the universe and to join, fuse, and mold them into a new form. It is to liberate the
possibility for change that lies hidden and inert in all matter, its inner potential for becoming
something it was not before; it is to give it another shape and appearance. The inventive human
mind is the medium through which the universe changes its organization and structure, and in
short, evolves.
With technology the human being is reshaping its hereditary environment. A builder, maker, and
artisan, mankind is constructing a new world order, a second world fashioned out of the
materials of the first, a world of great cities whose landscape eclipses the old natural vistas of
mountains, valleys, and meadows. In the new urban habitat, tall buildings replace forests, great
bridges span wide rivers and bays, skyscrapers blot out the rising moon. Historically, cities have
been one of mankind’s greatest achievements and their creation a source of pride; tourists flock
to view and enjoy their monuments and remains. But today the large cities are many times more
gigantic, and straddle much of the earth, housing the majority of the world’s peoples, and ever
increasing in size and circumference. And through technology—through a vast array of
computers, telecommunication devices, underseas cables, and earth-orbiting satellites—
humankind is drawing the world’s cities together into one immense whole, a planetary city, an
earthopolis.
The global city coming into view is astonishing in its complexity. It is mankind’s greatest
artifact, a creation whose intricate organization defies imagination. The technology that makes
possible ever swelling human numbers also builds its structure outward and upward. It is a
manifestation, a form the human mind is assuming, as it seeks to preserve, organize, and provide
for the life of the species. International banks and corporations which regulate world trade, media
and publishing companies which disseminate world news, and large universities where human
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knowledge expands, all are located in the main centers of the global city. There nearly all
objects, natural or man-made, are counted, coded, surveyed. The data is stored, analyzed, then
transmitted by computers, as the human mind regulates the planet’s resources for the benefit of
its life. Through its increasing order and capacity, it evinces the law of evolution in which life
unfolds toward greater and greater levels of complexity.
Thus the urban world is exclusively human—a culture of mind. Other beings are ever present,
and through electronic devices their voices and faces come closer and closer. Not dependent on
language alone, urban culture is often transmitted by means of signs and symbols, a
hieroglyphics of creative imagery and icons that provide direction and must be rapidly
comprehended in order to move from one place to another, work, prosper—keep up with
changing conditions. Possibilities are created not so much through competition with others as by
meeting the needs of the whole. Cooperation, not conflict, is required. Those who give way to
nostalgia for a simpler way of life, and resist the forward momentum of urban culture, are in
danger of being left behind in the ongoing process of human evolution. But are survival and
success the sole motive for the growth of the planetary city?
The answer is no. The city’s growth signifies humanity’s effort to draw itself together, to become
whole and undivided. It is a seeking a unity of its disparate populations, races, faiths, and
cultures: a single order made of its billions that is all-inclusive, devoid of national or
civilizational divisions. The ideal order it has its eye on is a labor of love, an answer to universal
consciousness. The technologies it employs for its purpose are not only breaking down natural
barriers of time and distance, but those of human nature as well. Slowly but steadily, gains in
communication technology are alleviating the fear of what is foreign and different, and the
emotions of jealousy, insecurity, and mistrust that divide the planet’s peoples. The minds of
adversaries are brought into more frequent contact, and the use of several tongues, rather than
several hundred, is spreading throughout the world.
In the urban milieu, creativity fuels creativity, and technology begets technology. The process
results in new forms of employment, novel ways of doing business, and new ways of living—
and thus in an environment whose possibility acts like a magnet on the world’s population. It is
in the nature of technology to win a surplus from nature and to increase the overall level of
wealth and abundance. In consequence, it is giving rise to a global middle-class whose lifestyle
is one of enjoyment and consumption of the always increasing number of goods and services
which it produces. The progress of course has its cost, as it depends on vast amounts of energy
extracted from the earth, and it threatens to upset the balance of nature—the interaction and
exchange of the elements in the skies, oceans, and soil—from which all life arises. And what has
been humanity’s response?
We have responded in a way that indicates growing consciousness of our place in the cosmic
order. Study of the history of life’s evolution reveals that in past epochs whole species have
become extinct either through over-exploitation of their environment or through complacency
and failure to react to changing conditions. The awareness has engendered a good deal of interest
in preserving and protecting earth’s balance. Climate is carefully monitored by satellites;
volcanoes, earthquakes, hurricanes, and glaciation, are all measured, and their effects analyzed.
To repair and restore the equilibrium of life, new technologies like wind turbines and solar
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panels have been fabricated to replace older sources of energy. Humanity is exploring new ways
to release or magnify cosmic forces, and to make them serve its evolution.
The global city is a work-in-progress, a constantly evolving order. Its community is far from
perfect, an ideal as yet unrealized. In all attempts to establish order—to love—there is
imperfection, resistance, work done inadequately, temporary failures, unforeseen setbacks.
Because order must emerge from disorder, there will be misuse of freedoms, crime, drug abuse,
heedless self-affirmation. The city’s streets are noisy, as is the din from its construction, the
traffic is often dangerous, and the crowding oppressive. Viewed from the street by a pedestrian,
its life may seem chaotic, unplanned, a whirl of innumerable intents and purposes. Yet viewed
from above, from a plane or helicopter, it is a surprisingly well-organized, functional whole—
a pleasing spectacle. Its order testifies to humanity’s aim to transform the entire earth into a
garden.
One of humanity’s most remarkable creative endeavors is continuing progress in the fields of
medicine and medical technology. Who is unaware of the great strides forward in understanding
the biochemistries of mind and body? The technologies invented to diagnose diseases, rectify
inborn afflictions, and repair and even replace whole organs, testify to the human quest to
overcome all natural limits. By improving life’s quality and prolonging its span, we are
protesting mortality itself, defying time and death. The old struggle for food and life’s necessities
has become a struggle to endure, to live in good health to an advanced age.
So boundless is the desire to perfect life that we have set our sights on altering the genetic traits
inherited at birth. Reproductive technologies now provide the possibility of designing the
characteristics of offspring, either by editing the genetic code of embryos, or by utilizing the now
existing market for the sperm or ovum of a mate with what are considered the most desirable
biological traits. The techniques would also make it possible to transform the bloodline of one’s
descendants for generations. In progress as well are new technologies that connect the human
brain to a computer in order to increase its ability to process information. Are such practices
desirable, or would they result in inequalities that upset the communal order? Wouldn’t those
people with enhanced capabilities have unfair advantage over those who do not have them?
Should human beings be contemplating a race of superhumans?
In answering such questions, it is well to remember that the order of nature can no longer be used
as the sole basis for a decision. Above all, the human mind is free and must be allowed to
explore the possibilities which consciousness presents. Creative activity involves the chance of
error; its future is always unknown. In all progress, mistakes and wrong directions inevitably
occur. In time, however, consciousness brings recognition of error, and urges its correction, and
this is one of the surest signs of its reality. It may be that, in order to advance knowledge,
scientists will do whatever it is possible to do. Therefore it remains for government—for
politicians who are representatives of all the people—to restrain or eliminate the technological
developments that are harmful to the whole community. Governments should act from the
awareness that human beings do not and cannot create life; and that, whether life comes by
accident or design, it is intrinsically good and must be protected. To protect is the purpose of its
power.
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No creation speaks more tellingly of human possibility than the great rockets that hurtle forth
from the face of the earth into outer space. Humanity is making it clear: nothing is impossible.
All barriers are unacceptable. The climate and conditions of space are more hostile than any
known on earth; yet humans are there with tools and cameras, digging rocks from distant planets
and assessing their atmospheres, as well as making medicines and computer chips in an orbiting
space station. We are now planning to colonize Mars, and to make use of the resources of
asteroids; and we have sent a spacecraft beyond the solar system to report its discoveries.
Humanity has thrust its presence into distant reaches of the universe. But what are the effects of
space exploration?
Its exploration has increased cooperation among earth’s peoples. Scientists as well as civilians
from many nations are collaborating to gain new knowledge of the elements and laws which
govern the universe, and the accumulating fund of knowledge is being shared to enhance the
wellbeing of the global community. To see the earth from the perspective of space has also
brought new awareness of life’s fragility in the midst of the blank, eternal darkness. The blue orb
seems to float, suspended in the abyss, a beacon of trust in life’s goodness. The sight kindles the
desire to husband carefully its intricate ecosystem, and deepens the sense of responsibility for
safeguarding its equilibrium. And knowledge of the universe beyond earth has engendered a
spirit of humility: humans now must contemplate the possibility that we may not be its only
inhabitants. Other planets might be home to other beings.
Humanity is on the way, ever evolving in response to its possibility. Ultimately, to be human
is to be a creature of the future, one captivated by its inhuman stare. It is to thirst for new
encounters, challenges, new experiences, vistas and horizons. Our presence in outer space signals
our aim to humanize its darkness and nothingness, to domesticate its nonhuman expanse, and
bring life to its endless emptiness. The plans to people Mars, and to explore more distant planets,
are our answer to the silent call of cosmic consciousness: a response to its transcendent creative
force which lurks in the vast reaches of space, concealed in indifferent matter. Through our
exploration and achievement, it emerges and takes on a human face and form, evolving in power
and reality through the human being. We are making what is unseen seen and apparent, making
its possibility real.
Domestication of outer space echoes the human past in which we brought order to unknown
continents, and to their unmapped wilderness. Mars and the farther planets are waiting to be
known, to be colonized and settled, to bear human footprints as the moon now does. They are
waiting to take their place in human history. Mankind is a civilizer. Just as we are transforming
the earth, we would plant a new order in space; and our plans become actualities, events in the
human record. Exploration and domestication are our creative vocation.
Finally, exploration of outer space is one with humanity’s effort to know and understand itself.
The outer search is one with the inner. The names we give our spacecraft—challenger, voyager,
explorer—reflect the need to search our own inward spaces whose depth is unknown. There lurk
the infinite possibilities which consciousness confers. Thus our creative deeds and
accomplishments fall away into the past, ossify, and come to seem useless in the light of the
future. Because the possibilities of being cannot be exhausted, it is our fate to keep moving
outward, forward, in search of an identity that would be final, of a self-knowledge that would be
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308
acceptable.
Yet it is humanity’s fate to be an explorer whose identity is always evolving, always incomplete.
The Utopian vision in which contentment and happiness can be realized in life's material
conditions is an illusion, a false imagination. For those who accept the challenge of creative
activity and the work of love, there is no final understanding of who we are. All moments of
consciousness are elusive and impermanent, superseded by new possibilities. Without resting
place, port or harbor, humanity’s role is to continue the search, to come perpetually into being. It
is in this way that we discover ourselves, our capabilities, our potential for perseverance,
patience, and compassion. In this way, with our lives, we give measure to eternity, to the
transcendent consciousness whose being remains a mystery. It is by the search itself, by the open
road, that we answer the unanswerable questions: Who are we? and Why are we here?
Received May 23, 2022; Accepted June 28, 2022
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Malik, S. S., Time as a Dimension of Consciousness
Exploration
Time as a Dimension of Consciousness
Satinder S. Malik*
Abstract
Time flows like a natural phenomenon. The speed of time can be marked by time marker as
Speed of light. The speed of time is influences by relative speed of observer, gravity and dark
energy. Dark energy is an offshoot of dimension of consciousness. The methodology used is
inference driven from various observations, experiences and reference of ancient texts. There are
various characteristic speeds of time and at each level there is a different realm. The conclusion
which have been drawn are:
(a) The speed of time is not constant (and therefore also the speed of light);
(b) The time travel is possible through but not in backward direction;
(c) Space-Time is an offshoot of consciousness; and
(d) The age of our part of universe is 216 Billion Years. This is from the beginning of
formation of matter in Milky Way galaxy.
Keywords: Consciousness, dimension, space, time, Sangri La, Shmbhala, energy, God.
Like energy and matter, time is the domain of consciousness. As brought out earlier, Vishnu is
the sequence of events. Time is most important factor in the creation and further actions in
universe. Time travel has caught the fascination many authors and film makers. Time travel is
mentioned in ancient scriptures. Vishnu Puran reflects light on functions and role of Vishnu as
Kaalroop (Kaal means time). In Vishnu Purana [1], Rishi Parashar says "The trinity of Brahma,
Vishnu and Mahesh is also known as the creator, the preserver and the destroyer. All of them
salve the devotees. All of them have equal importance. Still, preserver who fosters and protects
all the living beings is far more significant. Kaalroop of Vishnu (eternal, unending form of the
Lord) is manifested. Lord Vishnu is be- yond all the bonding of life like birth, growth,
intelligence, senses, decay and death. Purush is the first appearance of Lord Vishnu. Prakriti is
the manifestation of His action while Kaalroop is His supreme appearance.
In the beginning, all these elements were present in the great ball or egg, which came into
existence because of the inspiration of the Lord. As this ball increased in size, it formed the base
as Prakriti in which, Lord Vishnu Himself entered as Hiranyagarbh. When the universe comes
into existence, Lord Vishnu fosters it. The first product of Pradhána sensible to divine according
to the Sánkhya and Pauráńic doctrines, the principle called Mahat. The principle of Mahat is the
root design code of universe.
What could sustain Matter and Consciousness whilst separate, or renew their combination so as
to renovate creation? It is answered, Time, which is when everything else is not; and which, at
*
Correspondence author: Dr. Satinder S. Malik, Independent Researcher, India. E-mail: adventuressmalik@gmail.com
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Malik, S. S., Time as a Dimension of Consciousness
the end of a certain interval, unites Matter and Consciousness (Pradhána and Purusha) and
produces creation. Conceptions of this kind are evidently comprised in the Orphic triad, or the
ancient notion of the cooperation of three such principles in creation; as Phanes or Eros, which is
the Hindu spirit or Purusha; matter or Pradhána; and Chronos, or Kála, time.
In the center of universe time is zero or Mahashunya. Time signified only with change (of
creation of initial vibration). The time is signified there is breath of Vishnu- As he breaths out the
creation and as he breaths in as destruction. It is notional and just for understanding the cycle of
creation and destructions and to highlight the non permanent nature of our material universe. The
next important step comes in light is creation of Brahma by Vishnu for formatting and
structuring of expanding universe. The theories also suggest that apart from the main universe,
the galaxies in smaller clusters of universe also keep undergoing transformations, Black holes
keep growing bigger and bigger after compressing more stars and when all the mass goes in, at a
critical moment the burst open creating matter again (like what has been described in Big Bang
theory). It is said that Brahma for each such event is a different Brahma.
Taking this notion farther, it makes sense as the clusters of stars in many galaxies are close by
and then there are vast open spaces. It may also signify that time in a galaxy will vary a little as
per the relative speed of stellar systems but it would be at appreciable different speed in a
different galaxy. It is therefore important that to keep track of time in various galaxies, a time
marker is transmitted from the center of creation for synchronizing time. If the speed of time is
different in far off galaxies the one may also ponder that whether it made difference to formation
of waves and particles in different fashion and to gravity. If the formation of waves and particles
are affected then we will have completed different type of waves originating from those galaxies.
If time acts in formation of biological material, the there will be different types of compounds
and life forms in such galaxies.
It is also reasonable to believe that if Brahma is assigned to each such creation whether it is just
galaxy or bigger than galaxy, the purpose would be same or similar. Therefore, we must safely
assume that life is there in other parts of universe. Science is based on reason which is the [2]
capacity of consciously making sense of things, establishing and verifying facts, applying logic,
and adapting or justifying practices, institutions, and beliefs based on new or existing
information. As far as the limited perception goes then it appears that the entire purpose of
creation could be to develop and purify consciousness and use the same for further development.
We will examine the dimension of time with respect to center of our galaxy.
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The Milky Way [3] and the Andromeda Galaxy are a binary system of giant spiral galaxies
belonging to a group of 50 closely bound galaxies known as the Local Group, surrounded by a
Local Void, itself being part of the Virgo Supercluster.
The Sun [3] is located near the inner rim of the Orion Arm, within the Local Fluff of the Local
Bubble, and in the Gould Belt, at a distance of 26.4 ± 1.0 kly (8.09 ± 0.31 kpc from the Galactic
Center. The Sun is currently 5–30 parsecs from the central plane of the Galactic disk. The
distance between the local arm and the next arm out, the Perseus Arm, is about 2,000 parsecs.
The Galactic Center is marked by an intense radio source named Sagittarius A* which is super
massive Black hole. Scientists also believe that core of this super massive black hole may be
made of dark energy/ dark matter.
The center of Galaxy is the seat of Brahma (Vishnu Nabhi). Brahmá is said to be born: a familiar
phrase, to signify his manifestation; and, as the peculiar measure of his presence, a hundred of
his years is said to constitute his life. This period is also called Param, and the half of it,
Parárddham. At present, 50 years of Brahma have elapsed [4]. The last Kalpa at the end of the
50th year is called Padma Kalpa. We are currently in the first 'day' of the 51st year. This
Brahma's day, Kalpa is named as Shveta-Varaha Kalpa. Within this Day, six Manvantaras have
already elapsed and this is the seventh Manvantara, named as – Vaivasvatha Manvantara (or
Sraddhadeva Manvantara). Within the Vaivasvatha Manvantara, 28 Mahayugas (4 Yugas
together is a Mahayuga) have elapsed. Manvantara[8] is the astronomical time within a Kalpa
(aeon -a day of Brahma) and each day of Brahma is divided into 14 manvantara periods, each
one lasting 71 yuga cycles. Preceding the first and following each manvantara period is a
juncture (sandhya). Typically, each manvantara period ends with a partial devastation.
According to Sri Yukteswar Giri which he mentioned in his book The Holy Science (Kaivalya
Darshnam), the ascending phase of the Kali Yuga began in September 499 CE. Since September
1699, we have been in the ascending phase of the Dwapara Yuga. The Yuga Cycle is depicted as
below Image credits [6]
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We have, in the first place, a computation of the years of the gods in the four ages [7], The
period that precedes a Yuga is called a Sandhyá, and the period that follows a Yuga, termed the
Sandhyánsa, is of similar duration. The interval between the Sandhyá and the Sandhyánsa is the
Yuga, denominated as Krita (Satya), Tretá, Dwápara, and Kali, constitute a great age, or
aggregate of four ages: a thousand such aggregates are a day of Brahmá, and fourteen Manus
reign within that term. Here is the division of time which they measure…..
Yuga
Satya
Treta
Dwapra
Kali
Period
Main Yuga
Sandhyá
Sandhyánsa
Sub Total
Main Yuga
Sandhyá
Sandhyánsa
Sub Total
Main Yuga
Sandhyá
Sandhyánsa
Sub Total
Main Yuga
Sandhyá
Sandhyánsa
Sub Total
Grand Total
Time (Solar Years)
4000
400
400
4800
3000
300
300
3600
2000
200
200
2400
1000
100
100
1200
12000 Solar Years
The Calculation of age of Brahma (at the end of 499 CE)
One Day of Brahma
One year of Brahma
50 Years of Brahma
6 Manvantaras
12000
12000000
4320000000
857,142.8571
1000
360
50
6
12000000
4320000000
2.16x 1011
5142857.143
28 Mahayugas
12000
28
336000
2.16005x1011
216 Billion Years
14 Manvantra in
a day of Brahma
Mahayuga
=12000
216 Billion Years
The ages of individual stars [3] in the Milky Way can be estimated by measuring the abundance
of long-lived radioactive elements such as thorium-232 and uranium-238, then comparing the
results to estimates of their original abundance, a technique called nucleocosmochronology.
These yield values of about 12.5 ± 3 billion years for CS 31082-001[172] and 13.8 ± 4 billion
years for BD +17° 3248. The gap in the scientific observation and scriptures is roughly 200
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Billion Years. However, we must observe that this period is calculated from the formation of
heavier radioactive elements such as thorium-232 and uranium-238 which were probably
the last ones to form. The procedure and duration for formation of the elements have not been
taken in to account. (Or if we could reconcile the scripture where day of Bramha is 1000
Mahyugas to 100 Mahayugas the above calculations match to a great extent, however, this is
just a conjecture and further research will be able to throw more light over this).
Among the Pitṛas (forefathers) 1 day of pitras = 1 Solar month and the Lifespan of the pitras is
100 years of pitras (3,000 Solar years). Among the Devas, one human year is equal to one day in
the life of Devtas.
The life span of any Deva spans 12000 Deva Years. However, life of Brahma, life of Pitras and
life of humans all amount to nearly 100 Years of respective years, so the life of Devas may also
be 100 years, then it would be 100x12x30=360000 human Years or approx 3 Mahayugas.
Interestingly, humans are considered luckier among all as they are able to rotate faster and have
a greater and faster chance to emancipate themselves from cycles of birth and death then as
compared to Devas.
Significance o f Yuga Theory
Each of these periods of 12,000 years brings a complete change, both externally in the material
world, and internally in the intellectual or electric world, and is called one of the Daiva Yugas
[5]. Thus, in a period of 24,000 years, the sun completes one characteristic revolution starting
from a position when Virgo is opposite Pisces.
After 12,000 years, when the sun goes to the place in its orbit which takes place when the
Autumnal Equinox is on the first point of Libra), dharma, the mental virtue, comes to such a
reduced state that man cannot grasp anything beyond the gross material creation. Again, in the
same manner, when the sun in its course of revolution begins to advance toward the place the
mental virtue, begins to develop; this growth is gradually completed in another 12,000 years.
The Autumnal Equinox is now falling in Virgo; the opposite point, the Vernal Equinox, is
perforce now falling in Pisces. Western metaphysicians, who consider the Vernal Equinox to
have chief significance, therefore say the world is now in the "Piscean Age." The Equinoxes
have a retrograde movement in the constellations; hence, when the Equinoxes leave PiscesVirgo, they will enter Aquarius-Leo. According to Swami Sri Yukteswarji's theory, the world
entered the Pisces-Virgo Age in A.D. 499, and will enter the Aquarius-Leo Age two thousand
years later, in A.D. 2499.
The movements of the sunspots indicate that the sun rotates once every 27 days at its equator, but
only once in 31 days at its poles. It takes the Solar System about 240 million years to complete
one orbit of the Milky Way. So the Sun is thought to have completed 18–20 orbits during its
lifetime and 1/1250 of a revolution since the origin of humans. Another event which takes place
every 26000 years is precession of Earth’s axis. At present, Earth's pole stars are Polaris (Alpha
Ursae Minoris)[9], a magnitude 2 star aligned approximately with its northern axis, and a preeminent star in celestial navigation, and Polaris Australis (Sigma Octantis), a much dimmer star.
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A couple thousand years ago, Kochab and Pherkad were twin northern pole stars, though neither
was as close to the pole as Polaris is now. The precession of the equinoxes takes about 25,770
years to complete a cycle. Precession will next point the north celestial pole at stars in the
northern constellation Cepheus. The pole will drift to space equidistant between Polaris and
Gamma Cephei ("Errai") by 3000 AD, with Errai reaching its closest alignment with the northern
celestial pole around 4200 AD.
Reference of Time Travel
Our instinct is to regard time as eternal, absolute and immutable. In our normal thinking, nothing
can disturb its lapse. As per relativity, time is variable. It may even have a shape when we see it
interconnected or woven with space. In Stephen Hawking’s expression the three dimensions of
space are interconnected with time in a curious dimension known as space-time.
Significance of information about variable speeds of time can give us hint about the probable
location of various Lokas (Dev Loka, Pitar Loka, Brahma Loka etc). This difference in length of
time has been known to ancient Rishis. The reference to time travel exists in ancient scriptures;
this has been in the direction of time and never been in the reverse direction. Peter J Miele also
mentions this in his book Aliens and the Multi-Paradox of Reality.
There have been many tales in India and elsewhere that indicate presence of different speeds of
time at earth and in space. The tale of princess Revathi [10] is one of the many. Kakudmi was a
descendant of the Sun Dynasty (Suryavansha). The story of King Kakudmi and his daughter
Revati in ancient times is one of these. King Kakudmi’s daughter Revati was so beautiful and so
accomplished that when she reached a marriageable age, Kakudmi, thinking no one upon earth
was worthy of her, went to Brahma, to seek his advice about a suitable husband for his daughter.
When they reached Brahma Loka, Brahma was listening to a musical performance by the
Gandharvas, so they waited patiently until the performance was finished. Then, Kakudmi bowed
humbly, made his request and presented his shortlist of candidates. Brahma explained to him that
time runs differently in various Lokas and during the short time they had waited in Brahma-loka
to see him, 27 chaturyugas (27x4) 108 yugas had passed on earth. Brahma said to Kakudmi that
the perspective grooms you had shortlisted are now gone for long. You cannot even hear about
their names. You must therefore bestow your daughter upon some other husband, for you are
now alone, and your friends, your ministers, servants, wives, kinsmen, armies, and treasures,
have long since been swept away by the hand of time.”
King Kakudmi was astonished on hearing this news. However, Brahma comforted him, and
added that Vishnu, the preserver, was currently incarnate on earth in the forms of Krishna and his
brother Balarama, he recommended to be a worthy husband for Revati. Kakudmi and Revati then
returned to earth, which they regarded as having left only just a short while ago. They were
shocked by the changes that had taken place. Not only had the landscape and environment
changed, but over the intervening 27 chaturyugas, in the cycles of human spiritual and cultural
evolution, mankind was at a lower level of development than in their own time (see Ages of
Man). The Bhagavata Purana describes that they found the race of men had become “dwindled in
stature, reduced in vigour, and enfeebled in intellect.”
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Daughter and father found Balarama and proposed the marriage, which was accepted. Since
Revati came from different time behind him, she was taller than Balarama.
Ezekiel [11], also spelled Ezechiel, Hebrew Yeḥezqel, (flourished 6th century BC), prophetpriest of ancient Israel and the subject and in part the author of an Old Testament book that bears
his name. Manu years had passed on earth when Ezekiel returned to earth.
Relativity means that space and time are not absolute, but relative to both the observer and to the
observed, and the faster one moves the more pronounced is the effect. The theory of relativity
explains how the time dilation takes place when the moving observer nears the speed of light. In
1905, Albert Einstein postulated that the speed of light c with respect to any inertial frame is a
constant and is independent of the motion of the light source. Time is relative to the observer's
frame of reference --- it depends on the observer's motion and strength of gravity. For instance,
one could argue that time here on earth runs faster (due to lesser gravity) than in space because
gravity slows the passage of time.
The seat of Brahma is in the central black hole (the Milky Way galaxy has a supermassive black
hole at its center, 26,000 light-years from the Solar System, in a region called Sagittarius A).
Emma Osborne [12], an astrophysicist at the University of Southampton, told an audience at
New Scientist Live: “Anything mass will stretch space-time. And the heavier something is, or the
more mass it has, the more it will stretch space-time. “If you were to stand just outside the event
horizon of Sagittarius A*, and you stood there for one minute, 700 years would pass because
time passes so much slower in the gravitational field there than it does on Earth.” Sagittarius A*
has a radius of 22 million kilometers and a mass of more than four million times that of the Sun.
It has the ability to completely stretch out space-time.
Nearly a century ago, was during a total solar eclipse (the Sun, you may note, is pretty bright,
making it hard to see nearby stars unless it’s eclipsed by the Moon) and was correctly hailed as
the first experimental confirmation of Einstein’s Theory of Relativity. The effect is known as
gravitational lensing, and the amount of bending is one of the predictions of Albert Einstein's
general theory of relativity. (Classical physics also predicts the bending of light, but only half of
that predicted by general relativity.
However if the light bends (laterally) there is also a likelihood that some effect also takes
place longitudinally. If this is taken in to account the speed of light wouldn’t be a universal
constant. The speed of light would be different in different galaxies depending on its relative
motion across the space and affect of gravity of black holes. The speed of light can used be as a
characteristic speed for a measure of stretched space-time due to the relative speed, gravity and
dark matter.
There are the universal pheromones our scientists have observed in space. As per Ethan Siegel
[17] all the galaxies in the Universe beyond a certain distance appear to recede from us at speeds
faster than light. Even if we emitted a photon today, at the speed of light, it will never reach any
galaxies beyond that specific distance. It means any events that occur today in those galaxies will
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not ever be observable by us. However, it's not because the galaxies themselves move faster than
light, but rather because the fabric of space itself is expanding. {18] It was revealed by NASA’s
Hubble telescope had spotted thousands of objects travelling over five times the speed of light in
a distant galaxy.
Therefore the speed of light is not a barrier in other galaxies. The fact points out that speed of
light is a characteristic speed in our space time environment and even this speed can change and
there are objects (waves) with the higher speed in other space time environments. Each space
time environment is essentially characterized by their relative speeds. As there are as many
worlds as the interpretation of the one physical world, there would be as many universes
depending on relative motion of the observer. The Gods living in different part of space time
fabric have different view and interpretation of the world.
Another connotation in the variable speed of time would be in formation of matter. If the there is
one principle of Mahat (principle of initial vibration), ideally the formation of quarks, elementary
particles would be the similar in every galaxy despite the variability of time. However, the nature
matter in the black hole is indeed different due to different space time fabric.
Time Differentiation on Earth
As the universe is known as Brhmand (expanding sphere), time is an essential measure in
creation. The universe may appear infinite to us like ocean appears infinite to a fish, Swami
Yukteshwar Giri in his description of the divine to his pupil Swami Paramhans Yogananda,
described the material universe way smaller than the divine universe (sphere of the dimension of
consciousness). Relativity is perplexing, yet it would be easier to reconcile the mind assuming
different space-time fabric in far galaxies and in black holes. However, one may wonder about
the tales of time differentiation (speed of time or ΔT) on earth itself. There are few places in
Himalayas known as Shangri-La, Shambhala, Gyanganj, Kalapa, Mahvtar Babaji’s Cave in
Indian Himalayas where time lapses at a different speed.
The Russian-born traveler Nicholas Roerich [14] records in his Shambhala (1930) several visits
to Tibet. In 1928 he asked a lama whether Shambhala was a real place. The lama answered: "It is
the mighty heavenly domain. It has nothing to do with our earth . . . " The question still remains:
Did this hidden paradise actually exist or was its reality wholly spiritual?
During the late 19th century, Theosophical Society co-founder Helena Blavatsky who was in
contact with a Great White Lodge of Himalayan Adepts, mentioned Shambhala in several places.
King Manjuśrīkīrti [15] is said to have been born in 159 BC and ruled over a kingdom of
300,510 followers of the Mlechha religion, some of whom worshipped the Sun. He is said to
have expelled 20,000 people from his domain who clung to 'Surya Samadhi' (solar worship)
rather than convert to Kalachakra (Wheel of Time) Buddhism. After realizing these were the
wisest and best of his people and how much he was in need of them, he later asked them to
return, and some did. Those who did not return are said to have set up the city of Shambhala.
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Manjuśrīkīrti initiated the preaching of the Kalachakra teachings in order to try to convert those
who returned and all still under his rule. In 59 BC he abdicated his throne to his son, Puṇḍārika.
Writers have further emphasized and elaborated on the concept of a hidden land inhabited by a
hidden mystic brotherhood whose members labor for the good of humanity. Alice A. Bailey
claims Shamballa is an extra-dimensional or spiritual reality on the etheric plane, a spiritual
centre where the governing deity of Earth, Sanat Kumara, dwells as the highest Avatar of the
Planetary Logos of Earth, and is said to be an expression of the Will of God.
The name Shangri La was made popular by the British writer James Hilton, who published his
novel Lost Horizon in 1933. In the book, four Englishmen crash over the Kunlun Mountains (to
the west of Tibet) while being evacuated from India. They find themselves in a peaceful and
isolated kingdom of Shangri-La, ruled by monks, where people live for hundreds of years almost
without aging.
I came across a book on Gyanganja which also tells about the higher level of science, dwelling of
sages and some celestial beings and lesser speed of time. The people living there are hundreds of
year old. The age of Mahavtar Babaji who is my Param Guru and also the source of my
knowledge. He was born on 30 November 203 AD and he is still alive. There are a number of
Rishis who are Chinjeevis (Extremely long lives). These are Ashwathama -- son of teacher
Drona, Bali-- tha benevolent Asur king, Vyasa -- the sage who wrote the Mahabharat epic,
Hanuman -- Son of Wind God Vayu, Vibhishana -- the brother of Rawana, Kripacharya -- the
Brahmin of Hastinapur who taught the Pandavas and the Kauravas, Parashurama, Agastya (also
the Guru of Mahavtar Babaji). My Guruji Pilot Babaji who was practicing his sadhna in
Himalyas also told me he had met Kripacharya, Ashwasthama and Mahvtar Babaji. He has also
stayed in the wonderful place like Shangri La which is known as Sidhbhumi or Siddhashram.
This goes to indicate that time is connected to the dimension of consciousness. The speed of time
is influenced by dark energy and dark energy itself being offshoot of dimension of
consciousness.
Received October 22, 2019; Accepted November 9, 2019
References
[1] http://www.sacred-texts.com/hin/vp/vp036.htm
[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reason
[3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milky_Way
[4] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hindu_units_of_time
[5] Kaivalya Darsanam Swami Sri Yukteswar Giri
[6] https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Yugas-Ages-based-on-Sri-Yukteswar.png
[7] https://www.sacred-texts.com/hin/vp/vp037.htm#fn_155
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[8]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saptarishi
[9[https://www.wikiwand.com/en/Pole_star
[10] https://www.booksfact.com/puranas/theory-of-relativity-time-travel-in-bhagavata-puranatripura-rahasya.html
[11] https://www.britannica.com/biography/Ezekiel-Hebrew-prophet
[12] https://www.express.co.uk/news/science/1191121/black-hole-news-time-travel-milky-wayspace-discovery-supermassive-black-holes-sagittarius
[13] http://the-wanderling.com/decoder.html
[14] https://www.boloji.com/articles/2462/the-search-for-shangri-la-1
[15] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shambhala
[16] https://www.babajiskriyayoga.net/english/bookstore.htm#voice_babaji_book
[17} https://www.forbes.com/sites/startswithabang/2019/11/07/this-is-how-distant-galaxies-recede-awayfrom-us-at-faster-than-light-speeds/#1037514272a2
[18] https://www.express.co.uk/news/science/1187112/nasa-news-albert-einstein-wrong-theoryrelativity-hubble-telescope-messier-87-spt
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Research Essay
Pan-protopsychism & the Relative-State
Interpretation of Quantum Mechanics
Yu Feng*
Abstract
This paper connects the hard problem of consciousness to the interpretation of quantum
mechanics. It shows that constitutive Russellian pan-protopsychism (CRP) is compatible with
Everett’s relative-state (RS) interpretation. Despite targeting different problems, CRP and RS are
related, for they both establish symmetry between micro- and macrosystems, and both call for a
deflationary account of Subject. The paper starts from formal arguments that demonstrate the
incompatibility of CRP with alternative interpretations of quantum mechanics, followed by
showing that RS entails Russellian pan-protopsychism. Therefore, CRP and RS are mutually
supportive. It then provides a unified ontological picture by combining CRP and RS. The
challenge faced by CRP, the combination problem, can be resolved by adopting a RS version of
quantum mechanics. Technically, this is achieved by a co-consciousness relation capable of
explaining the difference between first-person and third-person perspectives. The hierarchical
structure of the relation removes any concern on the structural mismatch between the physical
and the phenomenal.
Keywords: Quantum mechanics, consciousness, hard problem, pan-protopsychism, relative
state.
1. Introduction
The interpretation of quantum mechanics (QM) and the hard problem of consciousness are two
puzzling problems that are seemingly separate. Among all the mainstream interpretations of QM,
Everett’s relative-state (RS) interpretation is perhaps the only realist view that preserves the
simplicity of QM, despite being counter-intuitive. It has a counterpart, which is constitutive
Russellian pan(proto)psychism (CRP). As a promising solution to the hard problem of
consciousness, CRP also holds a simple but counter-intuitive view of realism.
It is possible that RS and CRP are in fact deeply related. They both realise some symmetry
between micro- and macrosystems (distinguished in terms of the sizes of the physical systems
under consideration). In particular, RS extends the quantum world, originally for microsystems
only, to cover macrosystems. It claims that an observed result is not about the state of a
microsystem alone, but instead about the state of a microsystem relative to the state of an
observer, which is a macrosystem. CRP, on the other hand, extends phenomenal properties to
*
Correspondence: Yu Feng, Independent Researcher. Email: fyfly88@gmail.com
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microsystems, thus realising symmetry in the opposite direction. It is perhaps unwise to argue for
the two proposals separately, as extra psychophysical laws might be required in either case.
Arguing for both simultaneously, on the other hand, releases much theoretical burden, and may
bind the two options into one that solves both problems, e.g. the interpretation of QM and the
hard problem of consciousness.
The strategy is to show that CRP and RS are not only consistent, but also provide support to
each other. Rejecting one entails rejection of the other. Therefore, if critics accuse one of them
being counter-intuitive while deeming the other acceptable, they would hesitate to reject either.
2. Arguments for Mutual Support
2.1 From CRP to RS
We may first ask CRP to provide support to the RS interpretation of QM. First, let’s define CRP
properly. Phenomenal properties are the properties characterising what it is like to be something.
Panpsychism holds that phenomenal properties are instantiated in some microsystems, e.g.
fundamental particles, as well as microphysical properties. Such phenomenal properties are
called microphenomenal properties, in contrast to the macrophenomenal properties that are
instantiated in conscious beings like us. Panprotopsychism, on the other hand, suggests the
instantiation of protophenomenal properties in microsystems, which are themselves not
phenomenal, but in combination they constitute phenomenal properties. Russellian
pan(proto)psychism is the thesis that microphenomenal or protophenomenal properties are the
categorical bases (quiddities) of microphysical properties. Constitutive pan(proto)psychism is the
thesis that all macrophenomenal truths are grounded in micro(proto)phenomenal truths.
Now switch to quantum mechanics. If we examine alternative interpretations of QM, there are
two general classes regarding the interpretation of quantum states (or wave functions). The antirealist view that quantum states merely play an epistemic role leads us to the somehow
instrumental Copenhagen interpretation and the more radical quantum Bayesianism (QBism). On
the other side of the spectrum, treating quantum states as ontological entities leaves us with two
options, depending on whether wave function collapse is ontological or merely epistemic. The
former consists of various versions of collapse theories, and the latter consists of hidden variable
theories and the RS interpretation. Collapse theorists insist that there is a physical collapse
process which reduces quantum states to their classical counterparts.
This includes objective collapse theories and the von Neumann-Wigner interpretation which
argues that consciousness plays a role in the collapse process. On the other hand, hidden variable
theorists claim that the quantum mechanical indeterminism is due to the incompleteness of the
quantum-state description of reality. Collapse merely reflects our lack of knowledge (about the
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values of the hidden variables). Our strategy here is to combine CRP with each of these
alternatives to demonstrate their incompatibility.
For epistemic interpretation of quantum states, we will take QBism as an example. It claims that
quantum states are merely epistemic, reflecting the partial knowledge we have about reality.
Collapse is therefore an inferential process (e.g. Bayesian inference) that reduces our belief from
a partially informed quantum state to the fully informed classical counterpart. Metaphysically
only classical entities exist and evolve according to the laws of classical physics. But then how
do we explain the unitary evolution of wave function? If it is purely epistemic, it is arguably
isomorphic to certain laws (or relations) that govern the dynamics of our macrophenomenal
properties.
According to CRP, macrophenomenal truths are grounded in micro(proto)phenomenal truths,
which in turn ground microphysical truths categorically. Therefore, unitary evolution is likely to
be isomorphic to certain truths (structural or relational) about microphysical properties. But if
quantum states are merely epistemic, no microphysical relation is isomorphic to unitary
evolution (or other relations in QM that are missing in classical physics). So the epistemic
interpretation is arguably incompatible with CRP. To put this formally:
1. If CRP is true, then macrophenomenal truths and microphysical truths are both grounded
in micro(proto)phenomenal truths.
2. If quantum states are epistemic, then some macrophenomenal relations are isomorphic to
unitary evolution (we simply say some macrophenomenal relations are unitary).
3. If some macrophenomenal relations are unitary, and macrophenomenal truths are grounded
in micro(proto)phenomenal truths, then some micro(proto)phenomenal relations are
unitary.
4. If some micro(proto)phenomenal relations are unitary and they ground certain
microphysical relations, then the grounded microphysical relations are also unitary.
5. If quantum states are merely epistemic, no microphysical relation is unitary.
∴ 6. If CRP is true, quantum states are not merely epistemic.
Proponents of the epistemic interpretation may reject point 2, 3 or 4. On point 2 they may argue
that mathematical truths are epistemic but are probably not grounded in macrophenomenal
truths. However, mathematical knowledge is not within our direct acquaintance. Instead, certain
logical inference is required to acquire such knowledge. But when I let an electron evolve and
then re-measure its state, no inference is explicitly needed in order to grasp the result. If the
evolution merely goes on in my head, then it is reasonable to ask for its ground. On point 4, one
might argue that CRP does not explicitly rule out the possibility that certain
micro(proto)phenomenal relations do not ground microphysical relations.
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Even if this is possible, it introduces extra relations that are physically irrelevant. This is perhaps
a very dualistic view of CRP and is ontologically costy. Besides, it faces the problem of
epiphenomenalism. Perhaps the only viable objection is against point 3, arguing that unitary
evolution is emergent upon the constitution of macrophenomenal properties. But this cannot be
explained either empirically (our perception seems to match perfectly well with what the laws of
classical physics dictate) or evolutionarily (having QM laws embedded does not improve our
adaptability and is not an economic evolutionary strategy).
The von Neumann-Wigner interpretation holds a view of realism for both quantum states and
their collapse. It further claims that consciousness plays a causal role in the collapse process.
This means that macrophenomenal properties trigger collapse. If we accept CRP, then
macrophenomenal properties can be reduced to micro(proto)phenomenal properties (plus some
physical properties). However, not all combinations of micro(proto)phenomenal properties
constitute macrophenomenal properties. For example, no macrophenomenal property is
instantiated in a two-electron system that does not necessitate collapse under the von NeumannWigner interpretation, even if there are micro(proto)phenomenal properties instantiated in each
electron.
Therefore only certain collections of micro(proto)phenomenal properties trigger collapse. But
collapse, commonly regarded as a fundamental process, is arguably not strongly emergent. This
is more clear if we take a panpsychist view: either none of the phenomenal properties would
necessitate collapse, or any of the phenomenal properties would necessitate collapse. But if the
latter is true, collapse is universal, contradicting the facts about QM and the von NeumannWigner interpretation itself. To put this formally:
1. If CRP is true, then macrophenomenal properties are constituted by some (but not all)
combinations of micro(proto)phenomenal properties.
2. If the von Neumann-Wigner interpretation is true, then only macrophenomenal properties
necessitate collapse.
3. If macrophenomenal properties are constituted by only some combinations of
micro(proto)phenomenal properties and they necessitate collapse, then only some
combinations of micro(proto)phenomenal properties necessitate collapse.
4. If only some special combinations of micro(proto)phenomenal properties necessitate
collapse, then collapse is strongly emergent.
5. Collapse as a fundamental process is not strongly emergent.
∴ 6. If CRP is true, then the von Neumann-Wigner interpretation is false.
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One might reject point 4 by arguing from a panprotopsychist perspective: collapse may be
necessitated by any phenomenal properties, which, however, are constituted only by certain
combinations of protophenomenal properties. Even if this is true, it does not render the argument
invalid. In fact, Russellian panprotopsychism supports that microphysical truths are grounded in
protophenomenal truths. Therefore, collapse, necessitated by only certain protophenomenal
combinations, is arguably necessitated by the corresponding microphysical combinations. If one
accepts that collapse is a physical process and that the physical world is causally closed, then
being triggered only by certain microphysical combinations still makes collapse strongly
emergent.
Objective collapse theories hold that wave function collapse results from the interaction between
the microsystem and the measuring apparatus, irrespective of the presence of consciousness.
They regard unitary evolution as an incomplete part of QM, supplemented by a non-unitary
collapse process which is size-dependent. For microsystems, collapse does not occur (or occurs
only occasionally), while for macrosystems such a process occurs almost immediately.
If objective collapse theories are true, then an electron either never collapses or collapses at an
extremely low rate. But the latter case indeed requires a preferred basis. This is already
suspicious, as favouring a particular set of spin states – say spin along the z-axis – breaks the
rotational symmetry. For the sake of the collapse theories, let’s assume the electron is not that
fundamental, and its internal mechanism is in charge of such symmetry breaking. At any rate, an
electron collapses to a basis which depends primarily on its environment, say the apparatus and
the observer. If we set up the apparatus to measure its spin along the x-axis, the electron would
collapse to definite spin states along the x-axis, even if it has a preferred basis along the z-axis.
If microphysical truths are grounded in micro(proto)phenomenal truths, then arguably the
micro(proto)phenomenal properties of an electron would collapse to the corresponding basis set
dictated by its environment (under a spin measurement, say). Since nothing is fundamentally
different between the electron and its environment (according to CRP they are both grounded in
the same possible set of microphysical and microphenomenal truths), the dominance of the
environment is arguably explained by its relatively large size. Now think about the whole world
as a huge apparatus that performs a measurement on me. Even if our phenomenal properties
collapse to our own preferred basis sufficiently frequently, it is possible for the environmentinduced collapse to occur even more frequently. It is unclear why our phenomenal properties can
only collapse to those definite states (e.g. |perceiving up⟩ and |perceiving down⟩), but not the
superposed ones (e.g. (|perceiving up⟩±|perceiving down⟩)/√2) even under very different
environments. To put this formally:
1. If CRP is true, then micro(proto)phenomenal properties are categorical bases for
microphysical properties, and collectively they constitute macrophenomenal properties.
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2. If collapse is objective, then a microsystem (e.g. an electron) collapses to a basis
depending on its environment (e.g. apparatus and observer in a measurement).
3. If microphysical properties collapse to a basis depending on the environment, and their
categorical bases are micro(proto)phenomenal properties, then micro(proto)phenomenal
properties also collapse to a basis depending on the environment.
4. If micro(proto)phenomenal properties collapse to a basis depending on the environment,
and they collectively constitute macrophenomenal properties, then the set of possible
macrophenomenal properties (e.g. those that ground the physical states of |perceiving
up⟩/|perceiving down⟩ or (|perceiving up⟩±|perceiving down⟩)/√2) depends on the
environment.
5. The set of possible macrophenomenal properties do not vary with the environment (e.g.
one never perceive superposed states (|perceiving up⟩±|perceiving down⟩)/√2).
∴ 6. If CRP is true, collapse is not objective.
Finally, let’s consider the epistemic interpretation of wave function collapse, which holds that
quantum states are ontological entities while their collapse is merely epistemic. Both hidden
variable theories and the RS interpretation fall into this category. The previous incompatibility
arguments, which attack either the epistemic picture of quantum states or the ontological picture
of collapse, are inapplicable to them. Between hidden variable theories and the RS interpretation,
the former seems to suffer from heavier ontological burden due to the introduction of hidden
variables and their guiding laws. They add ontological complexity without making further
detectable predictions, thus not a favourable option according to Occam’s razor. On the other
hand, the “let quantum be quantum” picture of the RS interpretation preserves the simplicity and
elegance of QM.
Besides, hidden variable theories have to sacrifice locality for determinism as a result of Bell’s
theorem. The simplest version, Bohmian mechanics, introduces particle positions as hidden
variables, as well as additional laws (e.g. the guiding equation and the quantum equilibrium
hypothesis) merely to remove indeterminism. The hidden variables along with their laws are
independent of the unitary evolution of wave function (which is now called “pilot wave”), and
serve as extra theoretical constructions. If CRP is true, then micro(proto)phenomenal properties
have to be structured in a more complex way in order to ground the two layers of microphysical
properties, the pilot wave and the hidden variable. At any rate, the RS interpretation is more
plausible in terms of what is required to construct the micro(proto)phenomenal properties.
Overall, accepting CRP rules out most options, leaving RS perhaps the most plausible
interpretation. Because both physicalism and dualism suffer from severe objections, the
conceivability/knowledge arguments for the former and the causal argument for the latter (see
Chalmers 2015), CRP is perhaps the only viable option immune to objections from either side.
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Therefore, the analysis above provides support to the seemingly counterintuitive RS
interpretation of QM.
2.2. From RS to CRP
Now we will reverse the direction of our argument to see if RS could offer some support to CRP.
In fact, if RS is true, then the whole world is by nature quantum mechanical and governed by
unitary evolution only. Classical phenomena emerge from interactions, say between a system and
its environment, by mechanisms such as quantum Darwinism (see Zurek 2009).
First let’s suppose phenomenal truths are wholly grounded in structural truths (I will explain later
if it is not the case). Consider a conscious system, such as my brain. It consists of a large number
of subsystems with quite complex interactions. Consciousness (or macrophenomenal properties)
emerges not from some special spatial distribution, but instead from non-spatial relations
between the subsystems (e.g. causal relations or bonding relations). One can imagine that a
magical elf comes into my brain and re-arranges these subsystems spatially, while preserving
their non-spatial relations. The same state of consciousness would arguably persist. This is to
say, consciousness supervenes nomologically on the subsystems and the structure of their nonspatial relations.
If RS is true, then Hilbert space (plus the unitary maps written on it) is arguably the unique
source of such structure. Between two Hilbert spaces, the main non-spatial structural difference
lies in their dimensions. But merely a dimensional difference is probably incapable of explaining
phenomenal properties being associated only with certain macrosystems. It is more plausible to
associate phenomenal properties with any system, regardless whether it is a macrosystem or a
microsystem. I recall that the whole argument, however, presupposes that the phenomenal truths
are wholly grounded in structural truths. To put this formally:
1. If RS is true, then non-spatial structural truths are wholly grounded in dimensional
truths.
2. If phenomenal truths are wholly grounded in structural truths, then they are
whollygrounded in non-spatial structural truths.
3. If phenomenal truths are wholly grounded in non-spatial structural truths and the latter are
wholly grounded in dimensional truths, then phenomenal truths are wholly grounded in
dimensional truths.
4. If phenomenal truths are wholly grounded in dimensional truths, then they are not
fundamentally different across systems.
5. If phenomenal truths are not fundamentally different across systems, then phenomenal
properties are universal.
6. If phenomenal properties are universal, then panpsychism is true.
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∴ 7. If RS is true and phenomenal truths are wholly grounded in structural truths, then
panpsychism is true.
Critics may reject point 1 by claiming that there are additional non-spatial structural truths that
are not grounded in dimensional truths. It is plausible that physics describes all properties that
are structural or dispositional. So these additional truths have to be realised in physical terms.
Under the “let quantum be quantum” picture of the RS interpretation, the full physical picture of
a system can be described simply by the unitary evolution of its quantum state (regarded as a
vector in Hilbert space). The nonspatial structure is arguably either about the dimension of the
complete Hilbert space that describes the whole system, or about the dimensions of its subspaces
“travelled” by unitary evolution.1 Alternatively, critics may reject point 4 by arguing that
phenomenal properties are strongly emergent upon certain dimensional properties. It is hard to
see how this is possible. Perhaps there are critical dimensions above which phenomenal
properties emerge. But still this is not convincing.
The argument above supports panpsychism, given that phenomenal truths are wholly grounded
in structural truths. On the other hand, if phenomenal truths are not wholly grounded in structural
truths, then they are also grounded in non-structural or categorical truths, which are by definition
(proto)phenomenal. It is noted that any property of the conscious system is constituted by the
properties of its subsystems along with their structures. Since (proto)phenomenal properties are
not structural properties, in order to have them instantiated in the conscious system, they must
already be instantiated in the constitutive subsystems. For a given conscious system, its
subsystems are somewhat indefinite. We may in fact regard all the constitutive microsystems as
such subsystems. This entails the instantiation of (proto)phenomenal properties in these
microsystems, supporting a version of pan(proto)psychism. To put this formally,
1 In order to reduce the dimension of Hilbert space into a finite dimension, we need to discretise the
physical space and assume consciousness is not lost after such discretisation. Now suppose a brain has a
microphysical state in an N-dimensional Hilbert space. Given its Hamiltonian, an n-dimensional subspace is
associated with consciousness, assuming that any superposition of conscious states is also a conscious state.
Since conscious states remain conscious under unitary evolution, the conscious subspace has to be an
invariant subspace. We may regard it as a spectral subspace of a binary-valued “consciousness observable”,
whatever it is, which commutes with the Hamiltonian. Maybe the consciousness observable is a function of
other physical observables that commute with the Hamiltonian. At any rate, it is the only observable other
than the Hamiltonian that is ever relevant to the structural explanation of consciousness. Note that
commutativity is required in order to guarantee spectral subspaces of the observable to be invariant under
unitary evolution. Apart from a unitary basis transform, the Hamiltonian and the consciousness observable
can be fully recovered by the dimensions of their spectral subspaces, along with the corresponding
eigenvalues. Since eigenvalues of the Hamiltonian provide energy levels which are not part of the structural
information, structural truths relevant to consciousness may be represented solely by a list of dimensions
(n1,m1),(n1,m2),···. A pair (ni,mi) contains structural truths about the i-th spectral subspace of the Hamiltonian
(dimension ni + mi reflects energy degeneracy), decomposed into an ni-dimensional conscious subspace and
an mi-dimensional unconscious subspace.
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1. If phenomenal truths are not wholly grounded in structural truths, then they are grounded
in non-structural truths of subsystems that constitute the conscious system.
2. If phenomenal truths are grounded in non-structural truths of the constitutive subsystems,
then they are grounded in (proto)phenomenal truths of the subsystems.
3. If phenomenal truths are grounded in (proto)phenomenal truths of the constitutive
subsystems, then instantiation of phenomenal properties entails instantiation of
(proto)phenomenal properties in the subsystems.
4. Phenomenal properties are instantiated in a conscious system constituted by a large
number of microsystems.
5. If (proto)phenomenal properties are instantiated in the microsystems that constitute a
conscious system, then pan(proto)psychism is true.
∴ 6. If phenomenal truths are not wholly grounded in structural truths, pan(proto)psychism is
true.
A possible objection to point 2 is that the non-structural truths involved are not
(proto)phenomenal truths. Instead they are about the instantiation of dispositional properties or
quiddities (i.e. categorical bases of physical dispositions). But the dispositions, such as mass or
electric charge, are ultimately about relations and structures, and reveal themselves only in
interactions. Therefore, their instantiation is rather specified in structural truths. On the other
hand, quiddities as categorical properties are non-structural. It is plausible for the truths about
their instantiation to ground phenomenal truths. But in this case, quiddities are also the
categorical properties that constitute phenomenal properties, and thus are by definition
(proto)phenomenal. Clearly this is a Russellian version of pan(proto)psychism.
Combining the two arguments shown above, one for phenomenal truths wholly grounded in
structural truths and the other for phenomenal truths not wholly grounded in structural truths, we
conclude that RS entails pan(proto)psychism. These arguments further shed some light to the
type of pan(proto)psychism that RS supports. In fact, if phenomenal truths are not wholly
grounded in structural truths, then they are also grounded in (proto)phenomenal truths of the
constitutive microsystems. This supports a constitutive version of pan(proto)psychism. On the
other hand, if phenomenal truths are wholly grounded in structural truths, then this suggests
contingent laws that connect structural properties to phenomenal properties. We term this version
of non-constitutive panpsychism structural panpsychism.
Utilising the symmetry between micro- and macrosystems provided by RS, we may further argue
that RS supports a Russellian version of pan(proto)psychism. We get to know the spin state of an
electron by coupling it to our brain state (via an apparatus). The electron and the brain
collectively are in a superposed state of |up, perceiving up⟩ and |down, perceiving down⟩. The
brain states, |perceiving up⟩ and |perceiving down⟩, are distinguished from the inside, i.e. from
their distinct macrophenomenal properties. It is thereby plausible that the distinct
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macrophenomenal properties serve as the categorical bases for the distinct macrophysical
properties of the two brain states (or observer states).
According to RS, the electron has a definite spin state only relative to a definite observer state,
say, |up⟩ relative to |perceiving up⟩. This relation is arguably symmetric, i.e. it is also reasonable
to say that a definite observer state is only relative to a definite spin state of the electron. Since
observer states can be distinguished categorically by macrophenomenal properties, spin states of
the electron can be distinguished categorically as well, by their distinct micro(proto)phenomenal
properties. Therefore, micro(proto)phenomenal properties ground microphysical properties
categorically. The technical details are listed as follows:
1. If RS is true, then a measurement imposes a symmetric relation (a relative-to relation)
between distinct microphysical states (of a microsystem) and distinct macrophysical states
(of an observer).
2. Distinct phenomenal properties (e.g. perceiving up and perceiving down) are categorical
bases for distinct macrophysical states (e.g. |perceiving up⟩ and |perceiving down⟩).
3. If distinct microphysical states (e.g. |up⟩ and |down⟩) are relative to distinct macrophysical
states (e.g. |perceiving up⟩ and |perceiving down⟩), and the latter are grounded
categorically in distinct phenomenal properties (e.g. perceiving up and perceiving down),
then distinct microphysical states are also relative to these phenomenal properties.
4. If distinct physical states of a microsystem are relative to distinct phenomenal properties of
the observer, then inversely distinct physical states of the observer are relative to distinct
(proto)phenomenal properties of the microsystem.
5. If distinct physical states of the observer are relative to distinct microsystem properties
both physically (point 1) and (proto)phenomenally (point 4), then distinct physical
properties of the microsystem are associated with distinct (proto)phenomenal properties.
6. If distinct microphysical properties are associated with distinct micro(proto)phenomenal
properties, then the latter are the categorical bases for the former.
∴ 7. If RS is true, then micro(proto)phenomenal properties of a microsystem are the
categorical bases for its microphysical properties.
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The argument, despite being complex, is conceptually clear. We can explain it schematically
using the figure above. The dashed arrows denote the grounding relations and the solid arrows
are the relative-to relations endorsed by the RS interpretation. These arrows are indexed
according to their orders in the argument. The RS interpretation provides symmetry between
micro- and macrosystems in a measurement, represented by the “mirror” placed in the middle.
The argument starts from arrow 1 (rightwards) and arrow 2. Together they entail arrow 3. Arrow
3 is then mirrored to arrow 4, which combined with arrow 1 (leftwards) entails arrow 5.
Some points of the argument may require further clarification. On point 4, the measuring system
which conventionally involves an apparatus and a conscious observer has nothing special. In
fact, how do we define a “measurement” metaphysically? It is arguably just some definite
arrangement that couples two originally separated systems. Under the RS interpretation, the two
sides of a measurement are symmetric, in the sense that a definite physical state of one side is
relative to a definite physical state of the other side and vice versa. Metaphysically, it does not
matter which side measures and which side gets measured.
Therefore in a measurement of, say, the spin state of an electron, we may swap the measuring
side and the measured side. The relative-to relation between the phenomenal properties of the
measuring side and the physical properties of the measured side should hold after the swap. Even
if we take a panprotopsychist view, such that the electron, now regarded as the measuring side,
only have protophenomenal properties, the relative-to relation is arguably still applicable.
Otherwise, when certain protophenomenal properties combine to form phenomenal properties,
the relative-to relation emerges. This implies that the relative-to relation emerges only on certain
combinations of microphysical properties. The original relative-to relation, between the physical
states of two systems, is thus contingent and strongly emergent. Since it is unlikely for such a
fundamental and ubiquitous relation to be strongly emergent, the relative-to relation is arguably
applicable for both phenomenal and protophenomenal properties.
On point 5, the premise states that in a measurement defined above, two relative-to relations are
established. The first one is according to point 1, which links the macrophysical properties of a
macrosystem (e.g. |perceiving up⟩ or |perceiving down⟩ of the observer) to the microphysical
properties of a microsystem (e.g. |up⟩ or |down⟩ of the electron). The second one is according to
point 4, which links the same macrophysical properties to the categorical properties of the
microsystem (e.g. what it is like to be in |up⟩ or |down⟩, if we take a panpsychist view). The
relative-to relation is arguably a one-to-one correspondence. The two relative-to relations thus
establish a one-to-one correspondence between the microphysical properties (e.g. |up⟩ or |down⟩)
and the (proto)phenomenal properties (e.g. what it is like to be in |up⟩ or |down⟩). The latter,
therefore, distinguish the former categorically. This rejects the non-Russellian view and suggests
that some (proto)phenomenal properties are categorical bases for microphysical properties.
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Overall, RS supports either constitutive Russellian pan(proto)psychism or structural Russellian
panpsychism. The latter, though, cannot avoid objection from the causal argument. By
suggesting that phenomenal properties are connected to structural properties only contingently
(via some psychophysical laws), it leads to either epiphenomenalism or overdetermination. At
any rate, RS rejects most of the options placed on the table, leaving CRP perhaps the most
plausible solution to the hard problem of consciousness.
3. Ontological Picture
In this section we will discuss the theoretical burdens that RS and CRP have. Despite being
potential solutions to different problems, they actually share pretty much the same theoretical
requirement. We will see if combined together they could provide a unified ontological picture.
Perhaps the most counter-intuitive part about RS is proposed by the thought experiment of
quantum suicide. In this thought experiment, Schr¨odinger’s famous cat is replaced by an
observer, say myself. Therefore, I am simultaneously the observed object and the observing
subject. Critics of RS may therefore claim that RS entails immortality, for there is always a
“branch” in which I survive. This reminds us of Parfit’s (1984) thought experiment of
teletransportation, which leads to the conclusion that personal identity can be indeterminate. It
implies a somewhat deflationary account of subjects (i.e. subjects of experience), in the sense
that they are not metaphysically primitive.
The same issue is faced by constitutive panpsychism, which suggests that microphenomenal
properties constitute macrophenomenal properties. If macrosubjects (i.e. subjects of
macrophenomenal experience) were primitive, then they could not be constructed by
microsubjects (i.e. subjects of microphenomenal experience) due to the subject/subject gap (see
Chalmers 2015). Even if we adopt the panprotopsychist view, it is still implausible, as
combination of protophenomenal properties does not necessitate the existence of primitive
subjects (the nonsubject/subject gap). Therefore, accepting CRP requires rejecting the view that
subjects are metaphysically primitive.
The deflationary view of subjects, despite being somewhat counter-intuitive, provides the basis
for the viable solutions to both problems, the interpretation of QM and the hard problem of
consciousness. Accepting this view is to feed two birds with one scone. Perhaps the only
plausible option is to admit that subjects are derivative entities, constructed by bundles of
experiences connected by memory. It is also plausible that subjects are ontologically dependent
on a collection of causal chains (or some general set of relations), consistent with Kripke’s
(1972) causal account of reference.
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We may provide more credibility to this deflationary account with the help of introspection. In
introspection all we may find are a subject and a phenomenal quality paired by an awareness
relation. They form an inseparable triplet, as Russell wrote in On Propositions (1919):
The act, or subject, is schematically convenient, but not empirically discoverable. It seems to
serve the some sort of purpose as is served by points and instants, by numbers and particles and
the rest of the apparatus of mathematics. All these things have to be constructed, not postulated:
they are not stuff of the world, but assemblages which it is convenient to be able to designate as
if they were single things.
Subject does not seem to be an introspective datum. Every time we think about it, it degrades to
an object. Besides, awareness of being a subject is arguably grounded in the awareness of the
subject’s own phenomenal experiences, and perhaps in relation with external entities. One might
object, however, that we are capable of introspecting the awareness relation alone. When looking
into my sensation of red (i.e. the awareness of a red quality), I am aware of the fact that I sense
the red quality, arguably a second-order awareness. It is actually the awareness of (a
representation of) the mental state in which I sense the red quality. This mental state itself
involves the whole triplet (I and the red quality connected by the red sensation). Therefore, a
purely abstract and detached awareness relation does not seem empirically discoverable. Overall,
we will assign the term “phenomenal property” to the whole inseparable triplet.
Phenomenal properties are commonly defined as properties characterising what it is like to be a
conscious subject. But because accepting CRP and/or RS necessitates a deflationary account of
subjects, such that subjects can be further reduced to, say, bundles of experiences. Therefore, the
definition of phenomenal properties can be further reduced to topic-neutral terms (here we refer
to terms not mentioning subjects explicitly). A viable option is to replace “subject” in the
definition by “state” or “event”, as Russell wrote in Analysis of Matter (1928):’
A piece of matter is a logical structure composed of events; the causal laws of the events
concerned, and the abstract logical properties of their spatio-temporal relations, are more or less
known, but their intrinsic character is not known.
Therefore, we define phenomenal properties as properties characterising what it is like to be in a
particular state (microstate for a microsystem or macrostate for a macrosystem). This is fully
consistent with the RS interpretation. An observer who measures the spin state of an electron is,
along with this electron, in a state superposed by |up, perceiving up⟩ and |down, perceiving
down⟩. Defining phenomenal properties with regard to states instead of subjects naturally
distinguishes the two phenomenal experiences (i.e. perceiving up and perceiving down) and
hence the two outcomes (i.e. spin up and spin down).
Accepting both CRP and RS provides us with a simple and elegant ontological picture.
Microphysical properties, defined as the properties that characterise microstates dispositionally
from the outside, are grounded categorically in micro(proto)phenomenal properties, from the
inside. They constitute macrophysical properties according to the laws of QM, which are the
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physical (or dispositional) aspects of the fundamental laws responsible for combining
microstates into macrostates. Isomorphically, there are also phenomenal (or categorical) aspects
of such laws for combining micro(proto)phenomenal properties into macrophenomenal
properties. What we have direct access to (i.e. knowledge by acquaintance as defined in Russell
1910) are macrophenomenal properties characterising what it is like to be in a particular brain
state.
But what about the preferred basis? For a measurement state superposed by |up, perceiving up⟩
and |down, perceiving down⟩, presumably only two distinct sets of macrophenomenal properties,
perceiving up and perceiving down, are present. However, it is unclear why superposed
consciousness cannot exist. There is a physical counterpart of this question: Why does the spin
measurement result in either |up⟩ or |down⟩ rather than the superposition? Quantum Darwinism
proposed by Zurek (2009) provides a plausible answer: Unitary evolution alone can lead to a
preferred basis as a result of environment induced superselection. Pointer states (e.g. |up⟩ and
|down⟩) are those orthogonal states that, without being disturbed or destroyed, can be widely
copied and disseminated by the environment. Superposed states, on the other hand, cannot leave
sufficient copies in the environment. During a measurement all we can access are actually the
plentiful descendants left in the environment. Effectively, the environment serves as an essential
witness and communication channel for the microstate being measured.
The same mechanism may apply to macrophenomenal properties. The brain itself provides a
plentiful environment, acting as a witness of the microstates involved. Due to quantum
Darwinism, a macrostate is constituted by widely copied and disseminated microstates, as a
superposition of, say, |perceiving up⟩1|perceiving up⟩2|perceiving up⟩3 ··· and |perceiving
down⟩1|perceiving down⟩2|perceiving down⟩3 ···, where 1,2,3,··· are indices of subsystems in the
brain. As a result, the subspace spanned by |perceiving up⟩ and |perceiving down⟩ has a natural
basis consisting of orthogonal pointer states. These states are grounded categorically in distinct
phenomenal properties, characterising what it is like to know the electron spins up and spins
down respectively. This is consistent with the no-cloning theorem (see Wootters and Zurek
1982) which claims that it is only possible to clone a certain set of orthogonal quantum states
(|perceiving up⟩ and |perceiving down⟩ are in this set while their superpositions are not).
As a final note, the interpretation puzzle about quantum mechanical probabilities may be
mentioned here. Critics of RS sometimes argue that if distinct measurement outcomes are
observed only by distinct subjects, then they should all have a probability of one. Surely the
situation is a bit counter-intuitive, as we usually talk about probability only in the context of a
single subject, which is presumably identical over time. However, we have already rejected this
presumption by accepting a deflationary account of subjects. Indeed, all we have are distinct
phenomenal properties that ground distinct physical properties categorically.
Quantum mechanical probability can therefore be interpreted objectively, as the conditional
probability of either certain physical properties or their grounding phenomenal properties. Such
interpretation is within the context of the single quantum world (although it can have many
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classical “miniworlds”), or the “multiverse” (see Bousso and Susskind 2012). For example, the
probability of |up⟩ may be interpreted as the probability of instantiation of the perceiving-up
phenomenal properties after the measurement, conditional to the physical and phenomenal
properties before the measurement.
4. The Combination Problem
Pan(proto)psychism, especially constitutive pan(proto)psychism, faces a major challenge of the
combination problem: How do micro(proto)phenomenal properties constitute the kind of
macrophenomenal properties that we are familiar with? It was first proposed by William James
in The Principles of Psychology (1895):
Where the elemental units are supposed to be feelings, the case is in no wise altered. Take a
hundred of them, shuffle them and pack them as close together as you can (whatever that may
mean); still each remains the same feeling it always was, shut in its own skin, windowless,
ignorant of what the other feelings are and mean. There would be a hundred-and-first feeling
there, if, when a group or series of such feelings were set up, a consciousness belonging to the
group as such should emerge. And this 101st feeling would be a totally new fact; the 100 original
feelings might, by a curious physical law, be a signal for its creation, when they came together;
but they would have no substantial identity with it, nor it with them, and one could never deduce
the one from the others, or (in any intelligible sense) say that they evolved it.
James seems to argue that phenomenal properties cannot aggregate into further phenomenal
properties. However, this intuition about property combination is arguably grounded in our
intuition about classical physics. In QM it is plausible that combining distinct properties brings
in extra information.
Let’s assign a property to an electron. For example, we can assign a definite value (up or down)
to its spin, which is regarded as a random variable denoted by S. The amount of information that
is introduced by this assignment is measured by the mutual information: I(A;S) =
H(A)+H(S)−H(A,S) in which A is the state of the electron with an unspecified spin. If the
electron were a classical object, H would be (joint) Shannon entropy that follows H(A) ≤ H(A,S)
(see Cover and Thomas 2012). Therefore, the information introduced by the spin property,
I(A;S), can never exceed H(S), which is the amount of information carried by the spin property
alone. But in reality the electron is quantum-mechanical. So Shannon entropy needs to be
replaced by Von Neumann entropy, which no longer follows the inequality. In an extreme case,
the electron stays in a pure state |a, up⟩ + |b, down⟩. This implies H(A,S) = 0 but H(A) > 0, for
properties other than the spin can only be described probabilistically by a density matrix.
The example above shows that in a quantum system, a property can bring in more information
than that contained in the property alone. If we accept that the brain is a macroscopic quantum
system (indeed it is, according to RS which holds QM is universal), then it is not implausible that
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combining phenomenal properties reveals extra phenomenal properties. James’s argument arises
from the intuition about our living world, which can be explained by classical physics
sufficiently well. Such intuition might not apply to the macrophenomenal properties that
characterise the macrostates of our brains, which are quantum-mechanical by their very nature.
4.1 The subject combination problem
James further argued in The Principles of Psychology (1895):
Take a sentence of a dozen words, and take twelve men and tell to each one word. Then stand the
men in a row or jam them in a bunch, and let each
think of this word as intently as he will; nowhere will there be a consciousness of the whole
sentence. We talk of the ‘spirit of the age,’ and the ‘sentiment of the people,’ and in various ways
we hypostatize ‘public opinion.’ But we know this to be symbolic speech, and never dream that
the spirit, opinion, sentiment, etc., constitute a consciousness other than, and additional to, that of
the several individuals whom the words ‘age,’ ‘people,’ or ‘public’ denote. The private minds do
not agglomerate into a higher compound mind.
This point is pretty clear. If the phenomenal properties of individuals cannot aggregate into some
sort of “collective” phenomenal properties, then how could the micro(proto)phenomenal
properties of particles aggregate into the macrophenomenal properties of our own? Given that we
already take a deflationary account of subjects, a co-consciousness relation (see Chalmers 2017)
seems to be sufficient for the explanatory purpose. It is plausible that the co-consciousness
relation applies to phenomenal properties associated with one individual, but fails to apply to
those associated with different individuals.
But what exactly is this co-consciousness relation? If micro(proto)phenomenal properties ground
microphysical properties, then arguably such relations applied to micro(proto)phenomenal
properties ground certain relations in the physical world. We do have a good candidate in a pure
quantum world. According to quantum Darwinism, the environment serves as a communication
channel that clones and disseminates information about pointer states. It is a lossy channel in the
sense that only classical information (i.e. information about pointer states) gets transferred. Full
(or a large extent of) quantum information, on the other hand, cannot be retrieved, unless we can
access the full (or most of the) environment and the numerous copies left in the environment.
This mechanism establishes a co-accessibility relation in the physical world: Two sets of
microphysical properties that fully characterise two microsystems are co-accessible if and only if
the quantum information of either can be (almost) fully retrieved in the environment (or
neighbourhood) of the other. Take the brain system as an example. For two distinct particles
inside the same brain (or its essential subsystem responsible for consciousness), it is in principle
possible that the information about the quantum state of one particle can be fully (or to a large
extent) retrieved from the environment of the other. In this case, the microphysical properties of
the two particles are coaccessible. This, of course, relies on the boundary of the environment. We
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may regard co-accessibility as being relative to the macrophenomenal properties under
consideration. Since macrophenomenal properties characterise the state of a macrosystem
categorically, the boundary of the environment is arguably the boundary of the macrosystem,
which is well-defined.
The co-consciousness relation between two micro(proto)phenomenal properties is what grounds
the co-accessibility relation of the corresponding microphysical properties. If two microsystems
are connected by a classical communication channel, then the micro(proto)phenomenal
properties that ground the respective microphysical properties are not co-conscious. Between two
macrophenomenal properties, co-consciousness can be constructed by aggregating the coconsciousness relations between their constitutive micro(proto)phenomenal properties. Here the
classical communication channel is a communication channel that has a lossy bottleneck, such
that a large proportion of copies (of quantum states) are dissipated, incapable of being collected
again. For instance, communication between two individual brains is mediated by their bodies
and the surrounding physical world. Much of the copies originating from one brain are thus
dissipated, rather than being collected by the other brain.
Let’s conduct this analysis in more detail. The macrophenomenal properties of two individuals
are the properties that categorically characterise their brain states. They correspond to two
disjoint macrosystems, either their brains or some essential subsystems of their brains. Due to the
classical communication channel between them, microphysical properties in one macrosystem
are not fully accessible in the other macrosystem. This lack of co-accessibility is grounded in the
fact that the micro(proto)phenomenal properties which ground the microphysical properties are
not co-conscious. Constituted by these microphenomenal properties, macrophenomenal
properties of the two individuals are not co-conscious.
In general, physical properties of other brains can only reach us via classical communication
channels, thus only the classical information (about half of the full quantum information,
measured by mutual information as in Zurek 2009) are directly accessible. Even if we could
obtain the full knowledge about a quantum state from measurements, it is, in fact, inferred from
the classical information recorded by the apparatus. The co-consciousness relation by its nature
is absent between the phenomenal properties of two brains, as Russell commented in Analysis of
Matter (1928):
The usual view would be that by psychology we acquire knowledge of our ‘minds,’ but that the
only way to acquire knowledge of our brains is to have them examined by a physiologist, usually
after we are dead, which seems somewhat unsatisfactory. I should say that what the physiologist
sees when he looks at a brain is part of his own brain, not part of the brain he is examining.
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On the other hand, our own brain states are what we have direct access to. The brain itself serves
as the environment and the witness of its constitutive microphysical properties. Since it (or some
part of it) is directly accessible, the full information (or at least more than the classical
information) about the microphysical properties is also directly accessible. Any two
macrophenomenal properties that characterise the same brain state are constituted by their
respective microphenomenal properties, which are co-conscious, for the grounded microphysical
properties are co-accessible within the boundary of the same macrosystem (the brain or its
essential part). Constituted by co-conscious microphenomenal properties, these
macrophenomenal properties themselves are co-conscious. In conclusion, there is always a coconsciousness relation between macrophenomenal properties that characterise the same brain
state. Together with the analysis given in previous paragraphs, we have a plausible explanation
of the fact that phenomenal properties are private knowledge, which can only be revealed from a
first-person perspective.
4.2 The quality combination problem
The quality combination problem concerns the combination rules of the qualities involved in
micro(proto)phenomenal properties. The major objection comes from the palette problem, which
argues that the limited qualities of micro(proto)phenomenal properties cannot combine into the
plentiful qualities of macrophenomenal properties.
Despite that macrophenomenal properties presumably deal with pointer states only, e.g. either
perceiving up or perceiving down but not their superpositions, micro(proto)phenomenal
properties are not limited by this. According to quantum Darwinism, objective existence in its
classical sense, i.e. an object appearing only in one of its pointer states, is merely due to the
environment playing a role of witness. Micro(proto)phenomenal properties, on the other hand,
concern the microsystem itself, irrespective of the environment. An electron can therefore have
micro(proto)phenomenal properties associated with states of definite spins along the z-axis, as
well as states of definite spins along the x-axis, despite the fact that the environment cannot
record both.
It is therefore plausible that even a single electron can have rich qualities of
micro(proto)phenomenal properties. Our intuition about a microscopic object such as an electron
is formed by our direct observation. But what we actually observe are the numerous copies of its
pointer states left in the environment, not the object itself. Therefore, only the pointer states are
directly perceivable. Micro(proto)phenomenal properties, on the other hand, ground
microphysical properties of the object alone. There are arguably distinct micro(proto)phenomenal properties associated with every state in the Hilbert space, not merely the pointer
states.
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The palette problem does not seem to be an issue. But we need to take a step further and ask how
these different qualities actually combine. Chalmers commented in The Combination Problem
for Panpsychism (2017):
If the same entity simultaneously is aware of a degree of redness and aware of a degree of
whiteness (at the same location), it is plausibly aware of pinkness (at that location). But in
general separately instantiated qualities (the redness and whiteness of distinct objects) do not
yield a combined quality, and nor do separately instantiated phenomenal qualities.
This indeed imposes a restriction on the nature of the combination rules. It is arguably related to
the structure combination problem (see Sec 4.3), which asks for an explanation of the spatial
structure of our visual fields. For now, let’s suppose this phenomenal spatial structure is given.
As Chalmers suggested, a phenomenal quality can combine with those in its neighbourhood (in
the visual field), but not with those that are further away. Perhaps the co-consciousness relation
proposed in Sec 4.1 needs to be further enriched by a metric (or at least topological) structure.
As a binary relation between phenomenal properties, co-consciousness guarantees the two
connected phenomenal qualities can be experienced simultaneously. It does not prevent us from
further exploring a stronger version though, such that the two connected phenomenal qualities
are not only experienced simultaneously, but also combine into one uniform quality. It is
plausible that the co-consciousness relation is structured hierarchically. For example, among all
the co-conscious pairs of phenomenal properties, some may be bonded even more closely. We
select these pairs and level up their pairing relations to a “level-1 co-consciousness relation”. We
may continue to apply the selection process to the set of all level-1 co-conscious pairs in order to
get a level-2 co-consciousness relation, etc. By repeating this procedure, we end up with a
hierarchical structure of co-consciousness relations.
The hierarchical structure of co-consciousness relations presumably grounds an isomorphic
structure of co-accessibility relations between physical properties, such that a subset of coaccessible pairs can have stronger dependence or bonding. As illustrated in the beginning of Sec
4, these pairs may have smaller von Neumann joint entropies, resulting in higher mutual
information. This means that the pairs yield more information on combination, a result of
quantum entanglement. Alternatively, recall that on defining the co-accessibility relation in Sec
4.1, we mentioned that the relation is only relative, in the sense that it does depend on the
boundary of the system under consideration. We may therefore divide the whole brain into
subsystems, such that the microphysical properties within one subsystem are co-conscious not
only relative to the whole brain, but also relative to this subsystem. This serves as the physical
basis of the level-1 co-accessibility relation, whose categorical basis is the level-1 coconsciousness relation. Within each of the subsystems, we may perform further division to
obtain the level-2 co-accessibility relation, level-3 co-accessibility relation, etc.
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4.3 The structure combination problem
This version of combination problem concerns the mismatch between the structure of
macrophenomenal properties and the structure of macrophysical properties (say the structure
observed when examining someone else’s brain). As argued in Sec 2.2, it is not the spatial
structure that matters, but the structure of some abstract relations (e.g. causal or co-consciousness
relations). If quantum mechanics is universal, then such structure derives arguably from the
structure of Hilbert space. Since Hilbert space has a linear and homogeneous structure, it is
capable of providing a smooth and homogeneous structure for the phenomenal properties.
An especially important example is the spatial structure of the visual and auditory fields that we
perceive. We have seen in Sec 4.2 that different levels of co-consciousness relations can be
established, perhaps by dividing the brain into less dependent (or less entangled) subsystems
hierarchically. In correspondence to this, Hilbert space of the whole brain is decomposed into
factors hierarchically, such that the brain state, as a vector in Hilbert space, contains strongly
entangled components within a factor space while less entangled components in different factors.
This provides a basis for the phenomenal spatial structure, for the hierarchical structure of factors
is isomorphic to the hierarchical structure of point sets in the phenomenal space. In this way, coconsciousness relations supply a topology for the phenomenal space.
Co-consciousness relation therefore serves as a key component of solving the phenomenal
binding problem. Its hierarchical structure grounds the phenomenal spatial structure. Since coconsciousness grounds co-accessibility between physical properties, this hierarchical structure
should manifest itself in the physical world as well. This implies that the physical spatial
structure is emergent too, from the hierarchical structure of co-accessibility relations and
ultimately quantum information.
Indeed, this is a promising account of physical space endorsed by Cao and Carroll (2018),
suggesting that the Euclidean metric of the physical space derives from quantum mutual
information (defined in the beginning of Sec 4). We can conclude that the similarity between
phenomenal spatial structure and physical spatial structure is at least partly due to the similar
mechanisms responsible for their emergence. Both spatial structures emerge from quantum
information, in the form of the hierarchical co-consciousness/co-accessibility relations. Utilising
quantum mechanics therefore resolves the structural mismatch between the physical and the
phenomenal.
Can we say anything more about the relation between the physical and the phenomenal? Because
both have isomorphic structures grounded in co-consciousness/coaccessibility relations, we
might further speculate that the whole quantum cosmos is conscious. The physical space simply
emerges from the co-consciousness relations of this giant conscious subject. This is, however, a
wild speculation and I am not positioned to claim it is plausible. At any rate, quantum
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information plays a role in the constitution of the physical world as well as our own
consciousness in the form of co-consciousness/coaccessibility relations. It is, therefore,
completely natural to have a certain degree of structural similarity between the physical world
and our own consciousness. This ought to be appreciated, because only by this similarity can we
have a prior concept of spacetime and the capacity of understanding the physical world so well.
4.4 The report combination problem
This version of the combination problem is associated with the metaproblem of consciousness
regarding how we report our phenomenal truths (see Chalmers 2018). The problem may be
formulated as how the micro(proto)phenomenal properties combine to result in reports about
consciousness.
In fact, if the reports about consciousness could be explained solely by topic-neutral terms that
do not mention consciousness itself (or anything grounded in phenomenal truths), then our
intuition about consciousness could be false and consciousness could be just an illusion.
However, it is probably true that such a topic-neutral explanation can never be achieved, as the
reports about consciousness are indeed grounded in phenomenal truths. This is consistent with,
and perhaps entailed by, the RS interpretation of QM.
Consider our old friend, the measurement of an electron’s spin state. If we hold a illusionist view
of consciousness, we would probably represent the whole system by a superposition of |up,
reporting up⟩ and |down, reporting down⟩. We use “reporting” instead of “perceiving” because
“perceiving up” (or “perceiving down”) was used to designate a set of phenomenal properties.
Since we now take an illusionist view, there is no such thing as “perceiving” in its phenomenal
sense, and we may describe the system only in pure physical terms.
But then how do we explain the fact that only one outcome gets reported, or at least we only
“feel” one such report? Illusionism, or at least its strong version, denies there is something it is
like to be in a certain state (e.g. perceiving up or perceiving down). Ontologically, the two
reports or outcomes are equally real. It is therefore not clear why we only “feel” one outcome,
rather than both or their superposition.
If we admit that our own consciousness is real, then according to Sec 2.2, RS entails
pan(proto)psychism. We now face the report combination problem. Our strategy is to show that
reports about consciousness are indeed grounded in phenomenal truths. In fact, the “branching”
of the two spin states in the measurement is arguably grounded in the mutual exclusiveness of
the underlying phenomenal properties. That is to say, there lacks a co-consciousness relation
between the two phenomenal properties (i.e. perceiving up and perceiving down), and the
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apparent branching of the measurement outcomes is grounded in this absence of coconsciousness. We may formulate this argument in the following way:
1. If RS is true, then the whole measurement system can be in superposition.
2. In a superposed measurement state, all alternative reports exist ontologically.
3. In any measurement, it is only possible to report a definite outcome.
4. If all reports exist ontologically while only a definite outcome is “actually” reported,then
there has to be an epistemic branching of alternative reports.
5. Epistemic branching between reports (reporting up and reporting down) is grounded in the
lack of co-consciousness between perceptions (perceiving up and perceiving down).
6. If the report of perception is not grounded in perception, any relation between alternative
reports is not grounded in relations between perceptions.
∴ 7. If RS is true, then the report of perception is grounded in perception.
One might reject point 5 by resorting to certain co-accessibility relations between physical
properties, claiming that the apparent branching is grounded in physical relations instead of
phenomenal relations. However, according to Sec 2.2, RS entails the Russellian version of
pan(proto)psychism. This means that the co-accessibility relation itself is grounded in certain
relation between phenomenal properties. Therefore, the apparent branching is still grounded in
some phenomenal relation. Whatever it is, the argument continues to hold.
“Perception” in the argument above may be replaced by any phenomenal terms, such as feeling,
experience, or more generally, state of consciousness. So how do we respond to the report
combination problem? We have shown that reports about macrophenomenal truths are indeed
grounded in macrophenomenal truths. Also there are not many conceptual obstacles to the
combination of micro(proto)phenomenal properties into macrophenomenal properties, for in the
previous sections we have already proposed plausible solutions to other combination problems.
Putting them together, we get the proposition that reports about macrophenomenal truths are
grounded in micro(proto)phenomenal truths.
The combination of micro(proto)phenomenal properties, which forms the corresponding
macrophenomenal properties, also plays a central role in reporting such phenomenal properties.
Co-consciousness relations between micro(proto)phenomenal properties, which add up to the coconsciousness relation between macrophenomenal properties, are causally responsible for the
apparent branching of their reports.
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5. Concluding Remarks
If we can accept the deflationary account of subjects, then both CRP and RS are permissible. In
particular, together they provide us with a unified ontological picture that may solve the
combination problem. The conceivability of the panpsychist zombie is arguably rooted in our
prior knowledge about subjects (e.g. separation between the quality/object and the
awareness/subject). But if such knowledge is not justified, the conceivability argument no longer
holds. In fact, the essence of a subject is arguably constituted by a bundle of co-conscious
phenomenal properties. It therefore rigidly designates the same bundle of phenomenal properties
in every world (actual or counterfactual), and connects to the reference or name of the biological
entity only contingently.
At any rate, having the same micro(proto)phenomenal (and microphysical) properties but
different or non-existent macrophenomenal properties is inconceivable. Besides,
macrophenomenal properties are not subject to the causal argument, for they are constituted by
micro(proto)phenomenal properties which ground physical properties categorically. We may
conclude that the ontological picture proposed here is immune to the argument from either side
(i.e. the conceivability argument or the causal argument).
Apart from sharing the same requirement of deflationary subjects, CRP and RS both realise
symmetry between micro- and macrosystems. They are mutually supportive, thus providing a
new perspective of solving either the hard problem of consciousness or the interpretation puzzle
of QM. More important, RS provides feasible options to solve the combination problem, which
seems to be the most severe obstacle to CRP. Overall, I think there is sufficient credibility for us
to at least consider the combination of CRP and RS as one of the plausible options for explaining
the very nature of our consciousness and our world. To summarise our current position, we list
some of the main propositions as follows:
1. If rejecting CRP, we would suffer from either the conceivability/knowledge argumentor
the causality argument on explaining consciousness.
2. Accepting CRP makes RS perhaps the most plausible interpretation of QM.
3. Accepting RS supports CRP, and provides viable solutions to different versions of the
combination problem faced by CRP.
∴ 4. It is perhaps plausible to accept both CRP and RS.
Received December 4, 2020; Accepted December 21, 2020
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References
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Cao, C. and Carroll, S. M. 2018. ‘Bulk entanglement gravity without a boundary: Towards finding
Einstein's equation in Hilbert space’, Physical Review D 97(8), 086003.
Chalmers, D. 2015. ‘Panpsychism and panprotopsychism’, Consciousness in the physical world:
Perspectives on Russellian monism pp. 246–276.
Chalmers, D. J. 2017. ‘The combination problem for panpsychism’, Panpsychism: Contemporary
Perspectives pp. 179–215.
Chalmers, D. J. 2018. ‘The meta-problem of consciousness’, Journal of Consciousness Studies 25(9-10),
6–61.
Cover, T. M. and Thomas, J. A. 2012. Elements of information theory, John Wiley &
Sons.
James, W. 1895. The principles of psychology, Henry Holt.
Kripke, S. A. 1972. Naming and necessity, in ‘Semantics of natural language’, Springer, pp. 253–355.
Parfit, D. 1984. Reasons and persons, OUP Oxford.
Russell, B. 1910. Knowledge by acquaintance and knowledge by description, in ‘Proceedings of the
Aristotelian Society’, Vol. 11, JSTOR, pp. 108–128.
Russell, B. 1919. ‘On propositions: What they are and how they mean’, Proceedings of the Aristotelian
Society, Supplementary Volumes 2, 1–43.
Russell, B. 1928. The Analysis of Matter, Vol. 3, Kluwer Academic Publishers.
Wootters, W. K. and Zurek, W. H. 1982. ‘A single quantum cannot be cloned’, Nature 299(5886), 802–
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Zurek, W. H. 2009. ‘Quantum darwinism’, Nature physics 5(3), 181–188.
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Smith, S. P., Universal Grammar, the Mirror Universe Hypothesis & Kinesiological Thinking
482
Article
Universal Grammar, the Mirror Universe Hypothesis &
Kinesiological Thinking
Stephen P. Smith*
Abstract
A semiotics is presented based on the kinesiological movement of vision that carries three
categories, coming as a projection, reflection and a middle-term that joins the two. This is
presented as a mirror universe cosmology in terms of both metaphysics (ontology) and science
(physics and cosmology). The key hypothesis is that the metaphysical and the physical
cosmologies are the same, and Cartesian dualism can be replaced by a panpsychism that is nondual but admits to a property dualism carried by the apparent two-sidedness that is foundational
for the mirror universe cosmology. Gravity in all its forms, and the plurality of emotions, come
with valences that source the middle-term and relate to both navigation and innate memories.
With this theory evolution is driven by the valences that source the middle-term, and hence, the
triadic structure of the mirror cosmology acts as a strange attraction and will leave like-looking
artifacts on the substrate of evolution, biological development and psychology. Finding such
artifacts constitutes empirical evidence in support of the theory. Very significant empirical
support is presented from the fields of biology, and neuropsychology. Nevertheless, the universal
grammar carried by kinesiological thinking is self-limiting and only describes a mode of inquiry.
Keywords: Complementarity, Consciousness, cosmology, CPT symmetry, bilateral symmetry,
dualism, emotion, gravity, metaphysics, panpsychism, projection, property dualism, reflection,
semiotics, symmetry, triadic, two-sidedness.
1. Introduction
“A picture is worth a thousand words,” is a well heard adage that comes with an obvious
meaning, and the phrase has a deep cultural evolution showing an emergence from similar
expressions that came from prominent historical figures.1 The capacity for visual thinking is also
a talent that people may possess, in various degrees (e.g., Grandin 1995). Visual mathematical
thinking is a skill that is measurable in standardized tests. Nevertheless, it is word usage and
language that is found most prominent when it comes to the grounding of thinking into
something that is more foundational like a universal grammar2 from which words emerged, i.e.,
Correspondence: Stephen P. Smith, Ph.D., Independent Researcher. E-mail: hucklebird@aol.com
1
See A picture is worth a thousand words - Wikipedia.
2
To permit such a grammar, linguist Norm Chomsky in Approaching UG from Below stipulates necessary
conditions coming as a genetic endowment, experiential acquisition and principles that are not specific to any
human language. In The Realm of Language, philosopher and mystic Rudolf Steiner (1861-1925) also describes a
spiritual unity among all languages, which necessarily carries the sought universality.
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emerged from something that resembles the Logos of Heraclitus, or the Tao of Lao Tzu, or the
Logos of St. John. John 1:1 of the New Testament reads, “In the beginning was the word, and the
word was with God, and the word was God.”
Despite the popularity of words, and thinking in words, this paper will argue that thinking in
pictures is closer to being foundational, and perhaps words emerged from this deeper foundation.
More precisely, this paper will argue that it’s not so much the static picture that carries the
essence of the universal grammar, but rather it’s the moving picture found in action and in
relation that represents the most fundamental semiotics. Therefore, this basic thinking is
kinesiological. The emphasis on kinesiological thinking is not to discount other modes of
thinking, such as sound-based thinking, thinking in feelings or taste or smells, not to mention
words again. These alternative modes may also relate to the action principles of physics that may
also carry a parallel impact on the qualia experienced in the mind. However, if the physical
actions can be described as a moving image of vision it is better to stay with the picture-based
(or video-based) analogy to present an understanding that might offer better accessibility.
Cooke (2020) theorizes that all life makes internal models of the universe as a necessary part of
life’s survival and navigation of the world, and that this mirroring is consciousness. Cooke’s
theory is very agreeable to the present paper, except that the present paper is to imply that
mirroring is more fundamental and thus gives consciousness a panpsychist and emotive origin
rather than something that emerged as Cooke speculates.
The development of metaphysics from first-person experience is described in Section 2 by
pointing to some historical examples. This paper develops a metaphysical hypothesis in Section
3 that describes a kinesiological semiotics as part of a universal grammar. Section 4 presents a
mirror universe cosmology that has recently emerged from the sciences of physics and
cosmology, but presented together with the property of two-sidedness presented by Smith
(2021). This finding comes with a non-binary logic, and the self-limiting nature of this logic is
presented in Section 5. Nevertheless, the implication is that the hypothesis of Section 3 can
overlay seamlessly with the physics and cosmology of Section 4. Some evidence of this
panpsychist theory is presented in Section 6, followed by concluding remarks in Section 7.
2. Metaphysics and starting with what is Self-evident
René Descartes is often criticized for introducing us to a dualistic thinking that artificially
separated the reality of mind and the outside physical world, making two disjoint realities rather
than one. However, he was correct with a different proposition when he discovered the one truth
that could not be doubted, his cogito ergo sum, I think therefore I am. Whatever self is, it is a
real self because even a foolish self presupposes a self that is real, saying nothing about the
matrix that underlies reality. The simple immediacy of self is a first-person experience, and firstperson accounts are often dismissed by scientific accounts of a presumed objective world that is
held separated by dualistic thinking. For example, some advocates of Darwinian evolution might
invent the epiphenomenal self to treat first-person experiences, but that thinking finds itself cut
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off in its own abstract world and is conflicted with Descartes’ cogito-ergo-sum. Indeed, the
epiphenomenal self cannot even evolve because such a self is not adaptive. Philosophers and
scientists that argue that a provisional freewill is an illusion are equally discordant. In fact, the
reality of even a limited freewill implies the existence of a vitalism that is more friendly to
Creative Evolution written by Henri Bergson, and less compatible with the Modern Synthesis
and the Central Dogma of genetics. Donald D. Hoffman3 has concluded that it is impossible for a
self to see reality the way reality actually is, assuming of course that this conscious-carrying self
-evolved through Darwinian evolution.
In the Prolegomena to Any Future Metaphysics, Kant was pessimistic about developing a science
of metaphysics, which is necessarily restricted to the mental space and does not have any
obvious connection to empiricism. That would seem to make metaphysics a dead end. If
something can be offered to save metaphysics, perhaps it is only that metaphysics ought to be
applied narrowly to identify abstract necessity from what is found self-evident in first-person
experience. For example, Kant’s antinomies are well represented as complementarities that are
described in Section 3.
Hegel trampled on Kant’s pessimism and started from the first-person immediacy of egoawareness and developed his Science of Logic. For Hegel, clear thinking was to start with the
immediate and blunt reality of something that could not be doubted (pure being), even though
this being was also found mediated at the beginning. The start of logic was to carry no beginning
prepositions, and logic was to unfold into determinations that returned back to their own ground
from which they began; i.e., the determinations were necessarily mediated, and logic was found
in-itself and for-itself.
Phenomenology as introduced by Edmond Husserl also accepted Descartes’ cogito- ergo-sum.
Intentionality and consciousness where to be taken on their own self-evident terms rather than
with preconceptions that are more one-sided. What was experienced was to be described
accurately, without misleading connotations, and if revisions were needed revisions were made
to remove ambiguity and improve accuracy. History was reactivated to reveal ontic meaning.
Alfred North Whitehead wrote Process and Reality with equal respect for the absolute reality of
the stark and blunt first-person experience and the absolute ground from which these experiences
first emerge and then evolve (representing his actual entities), all else being relative in the
confines of the process interactions that are detectable as occasions of experience. Whitehead’s
thinking was complicated and came with a rich vocabulary. Nevertheless, his logic was nonbinary, or non-monotonic4, and hence, Whitehead was able to avoid mistakes that are common to
one-sided thinking despite his apparent complexity.
Christopher Langan (2017) describes his Cognitive-Theoretic Model of the Universe (CTMU),
and it too is free of beginning assumptions but coming from self-evident tautologies that carry
3
4
Refer to numerous YouTube interviews.
That is, open to revision and additions.
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self-duality right to the grounding language of reality that must also describe itself as a language
and where inductive idempotence is realized. This approach is again non-binary, and hence, it is
able to avoid the mistakes that have followed dualistic thinking.
As will be demonstrated shortly, it is remarkable how it is possible to start with tautological
truths, and build on them to develop a richer perspective by identifying what is found necessary
from what is self-evident. It is not that mistakes won’t be made, but if an account is open to
revision, then the first-person account can improve. The goal is to make the most accurate and
less ambiguous account of what is realized in the first-person experience that is found selfevident. It is science that must bend to this self-evidence, or it is that the first-person account
must be revised. But there is no one-sided dogma being passed down to subjects that hold firstperson experiences. Rather, there must be non-binary thinking representing three semiotic
categories5: information is sent; information is received; and the sender and receiver are part of a
fundamental synthesis. Indeed, with three semiotic categories the activities of intension are more
existential and provisional, with less of the overreaching that typifies one-sided thinking.
3. A Metaphysics for Kinesiological Thinking in the Mirror Cosmology
A new semiotics for kinesiological thinking will likewise start from a tautological beginning
coming from prepositional logic, upon which a mirror cosmology will unfold. Prepositional logic
begins with a very uninspiring and obvious tautology, represented symbolically as A=A and
refers to the principle of identity and is part of Aristotelean logic. This principle is equally the
ultimate bait and switch and represents the deception of a one-sided logic, or a binary logic, that
is constructed around tight mathematical identities and deductions. There is a lot that is unstated
in A=A, because it presupposes the relation that something on the left-hand side of the equation
is held to its right-hand side. It is no less the essence of consciousness that must entertain the
grounding tautology given meagerly by A=A, and nowhere in these symbols is found the
slightest whiff of this otherwise great discovery. The grounding tautology when thoroughly
vetted implies that the projection (A on the left-hand side, picking a side arbitrarily) comes with
the reflection (A on the right-hand side), and now the equation turns into an equivocation (as a
flaw in logic) because now the two sides of the equation are not the same. Moreover, it is the
equal sign that may carry the meaning of the conscious observer that folds the left-side
projection into a right-side reflection that makes an internal interpretation or description. The
interpretation is actually a psychological projection, and may not be a pristine interpretation of
the projection that enters consciousness. Then A=A only tells us that the projection stands in
relation to the reflection that is mediated by an observer.
It is also important to note that the projection is the functional complement of the reflection even
as the observer cannot immediately tell one from the other. What is experienced by the observer
is just an immersion in a unified field of vision. The words projection and reflection might be
exchanged with little loss in meaning of A=A, but generally the reflection is also intended to
represent an internal representation of the world that is beyond the ego. The reflection is also the
5
In the subject of semiotics, Charles S. Peirce introduced the triad with three categories, as an alternative to the
simple dyadic model described by Ferdinand de Saussure.
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first innate memory that is immediately fleeting and given bluntly. Because vision depends on
the speed of light, everything in the field of vision is in the past light cone.
If the equation A=A is to hold closely we find something very remarkable happening if a binary
logic is followed. Because the psychological projection has aligned with the projection, the egoself might either feel insulted or lauded by the outside world that projected A into consciousness.
Of course, the ego might also be neutral to having received A. Depending on how the ego is
emotionally, the ego might impose the psychological projection on the outside world while
pretending to be objective.
In the aligned state of A=A, an objective reality is not available if thinking is strictly binary.
Objectivity requires non-binary thinking. However, the enlighten agent that follows a non-binary
reasoning is happy not with any generic tautology of the form A=A that on the surface can be a
very unpleasant realization labeled A. No, the agent is happy because of the grounding
tautologies that had been taken for granted have become revealed following a period of silent
pondering. It is the agent’s pristine emotion that is found two-sided; determined by the inherited
chain of past projections while expressing itself as a psychological projection. It is this
grounding tautology that never goes away, unlike the lesser expressions of A=A, that has left the
biggest impression beyond the tautology because it’s the self that is found two-sided. It is this
above exercise that started with the principle of identity that becomes self-evident, and
represents the rediscovery of the Logos or Tao that is now well beyond prepositional logic.
The principle of identity given by A=A actually implies more than just that the A on both sides
are indistinguishable, it is also implying something about the fundamental matrix of reality: that
the innate projection is indistinguishable from the pristine reflection that is found impacted less
by psychological factors that can be carried by a separate category representing emotion.
Therefore, the fact that complementarity is real carries an emotion-based relativity that pits one
side against the other where distinction is possible again. Hence, the reflection is relative to the
projection that made it, and this relativity is modulated by emotion. When an agent is on one side
of a mirror and sees a reflection, we find that the mirror is relativistic because it is clear which
side the agent is on. However, the condition A=A at the most fundamental level implies that the
mirror is two-sided and the agent is unable to tell which side they are on. This is a metaphysical
condition implied by the principle of identity that is realized only at the most fundamental level,
and when this condition is met the ego dissolves. Alternatively, lesser mirrors hold reflections
that are relativistic, where complementarity and reciprocity are realized. These last two findings
are jointly transformative6, whereas the simple tautologies were not.
So it is that the cosmology of mind is a house of such projections and reflections, or simply a
house of mirrors. On the surface the mirrors are relativistic and hold complementarity, and what
gets reflected to an agent is either an attraction or something that repulses; i.e., the reflection
6
God tells Moses, “I am that I am” (Exodus 13:4), as in seeing your own reflection in a mirror and saying “I am
that,” but where one side cannot be distinguished from the other that is found repeating “that I am”. In this case the
reflection makes an idempotent presentation (becoming Chris Langan's CTMU) and comes back unchanged from
the mirror cosmology that has been found two-sided.
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carries a valence that implies a preference or direction. Moreover, the house of mirrors is
kinesiological because action comes from a felt emotional gravitation. However, at the most
fundamental level the mirror is found two-sided, where the projection and reflection become the
same operation when complementarity finds perfect cancellation and the ego dissolves. Hence,
the emotional gravitation and the plentitude of unspecified valences source the middle-term that
holds the two-sided cosmology together. For the emotionally immature the mirror cosmology is
a mad house of mirrors, and it remains that way until the two-sided mirror is rediscovered and
then the emotional energies dissipate.
Therefore, it is a call to action that gets reflected and projected in the mirror cosmology, even if
the resulting actions are inconsequential and are limited to actions that are merely intrinsic to the
projection and its reflection where emotional gravitation can be ignored. Moreover, because of
the plentitude of emotive valences it must be that the mirror cosmology has the capacity to store
memories more generally, otherwise agents would never learn how to become emotionally
driven by the images they hold in mind. In fact, it is the most strongly charged emotional events
that are remembered the most. The memory is again kinesiological, as if a video recording is
available and represents memory. Dreams are like watching fragmented movies, rather than
thumbing through a photo album.
What are the necessary conditions of kinesiological memory? The kinesiological action points to
the future on both sides of the two-sided when viewed intrinsically on the surface of each side. It
is only in relative terms that one side can be compared with its other as part of a thought
experiment, and from each side the other side may be said that time runs in reverse (the
complement of forward). It’s the past that must be engaged to conjure memories in the present
moment. Hence, that past must be reactivated as a kinesiological movement, and there must be a
relativity that indicates an interaction involving the present moment and the past. Therefore, both
sides of the two-sided must refer back to the past by referencing the other side in the mental
space, and this implies that an emotive middle-term joins the sides and it is this middle-term that
can extend back in time thereby representing a duration that separates the present moment and
the past. This interaction renders the sought relativity where the apparent forward time bifurcates
and returns as a bi-directional time. The reverse-time function can carry a projection into the past
of the middle-term, and reflects back as a memory in the normal time direction. Hence, memory
creation and retrieval is no less a kinesiological reverse-time projection that comes back as a
forward-time reflection, representing itself by three semiotic categories as is characteristic of the
mirror cosmology, but now representing an extended duration in history with only a short
moment needed to recall the past. The mysterious discrepancy between the age of the memory
and the recall period is the property of the middle-term and bi-directional time. Ancient starlight
can be recalled almost instantly, meaning that the transactional actions of projection and
reflection are experienced concurrently. The mental experience is unlike a one-sided
kinesiological action that sees time passage as a surface feature of either the projection or
reflection alone. Hence, the mental space is two-sided, or mediated, as Hegel surmised.
It must also be possible to detect both memories in the positive sense and those in the negative
sense because complementarity is a fundamental part of mirror cosmology; i.e., both projecting
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and reflecting are unified parts of the cosmology because the fundamental mirror is found twosided.
Now it is possible to understand how language and semiotic meaning are derived from a mirror
cosmology where kinesiological memories are possible. Meaning is carried by mere utterances
and symbols with the replaying the kinesiological video, either by memory or by following a
written script, as emotive valences are permitted to surface again in real-time. At least that is the
way it seems from my point of view, and I am more a visual thinker. Otherwise, the danger is to
search for the meaning that is carried by printed words within the chemistry of ink, which is an
absurdity that comes from an extreme reductionism. Better to avoid that extreme and adopt
something more holistic, perhaps as described above. Nevertheless, the above is an example of
describing a metaphysics from tautologies that are happened upon during first-person
experiences, and my account is now open to debate, revision and rebuttal. It is unlikely that
everything will be corrected, completely erased and dismissed. Something more pristine is likely
to remain, which has been the nature of metaphysical investigations.
4. Mirror Universe Hypothesis
The temptation in physics and cosmology is to assert that what is visible and detectable is also
what defines what is real; thus, incorrectly dismissing everything that is metaphysical. However,
what is visible is dependent on a reference frame, and this reveals that what is visible is only
relational. Hence, science is limited to making sense of relations, something Whitehead (1922)
understood.
But what is underneath the relation? The laws of nature that are by design limited to the intrinsic
action on a space-time manifold can't tell us what is underneath the manifold, or underneath the
apparent relations that are visible.
Consider this question that scientists have asked: where is all the antimatter hiding? But this
question implies that both matter and antimatter in equal amounts should theoretically exist as
part of a visible universe of relations! It is more plausible that one is sublated by the other and
this union forms a necessary relationship, and both are visible but unified in the one category of
visible matter, which creates a double meaning for visible matter and a more theoretical matter
that is only presumed to have no relationship to an underlying reflection of itself that is in the
form of antimatter.
Scientists (Barbour 2020 and Boyle et al. 2018)7 have theorized that all the missing antimatter
(or something very close to it that carries mass) is on the other side of the big bang, or Barbour’s
Janus point. However, we have no way to distinguish the two sides using the laws of nature that
only carry intrinsic action. The two sides look identical, and we would have no way to tell which
7
From a historical perspective, theories pertaining to a possible antiverse have been around since Paul Dirac
theorized the existence of antimatter in 1928.
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side we live on (Smith 2021). One side is found reflecting into the other, making a mirror
universe. I am now suggesting that scientists have made a psychological projection because it
seems more likely that the two sides are unified in the above relational sense, and we are living
on both sides (which is another way of saying that there is only one reality but in the non-dual
sense). This unified model is now in closer agreement to a cosmology that carries a dark-sector
mirror, as described by Cyr-Racine et al. (2022). If Smith (2021) is correct or if we people are
already equipped with a personalized dark-sector mirror, then we have already found a way to
transcend the laws of nature that are limited to the intrinsic on the presumed space-time
manifold. That is, we found a way to experience authentic volition beyond the intrinsic laws, and
the debate over freewill is settled in the positive sense. That would make us interdimensional
agents, but equally non-dual and less burdened by the noted psychological projection.
A closer study of the symmetries of nature is a worthy consideration, and in particular, the
symmetries that led to the apparent two-sidedness reported here need review. Electromagnetism
was united with the strong and weak forces by Yang and Mills (1954), while at about the same
time Lüders (1954) and Pauli et al. (1955) showed that the laws of the resulting unified field
theory (including special relativity) were CPT invariant8. Moreover, general relativity and the
probabilistic behavior of statistical mechanics have no ability to look different to us in a
hypothetical CPT inverted world; and so, everything in physics is today found CPT invariant.
The second law of thermodynamics, which is actually unexplained by statistical mechanics,
possibly9 looks identical on each side.
Everything in physics is found complying with the principle of two-sidedness because of CPT
symmetry, more than likely. This includes the noted theories of cosmology, and in any regard,
laws that are limited to intrinsic action are unable to tell on which half of the two-sided universe
the action is happening. Meanwhile, that which is timeless and spaceless are invisible because
these have no reference frames, hence a hypothetical aether that joins the sides of the two-sided
may go undetected.
It is important to also appreciate that CPT symmetry is a discrete symmetry, and not the
continuous symmetries where Noether's theorem applies. The continuous symmetries come with
conservation principles and they can be represented at a location on a space-time manifold. The
gage symmetries of the Standard Model of particle physics are examples of continuous
symmetries. Therefore, the discrete symmetry that gave us the property of two-sidedness does
not describe the richness of all of physics. Two-sidedness only implies that there is a mode of
inquiry, and that is something closer to what is expected from a universal grammar rather than
the acquisition of knowledge coming from actual discoveries. Moreover, to the discoveries of
8
CPT is an acronym for charge, parity and time. Parity symmetry is the same as mirror symmetry. CPT invariance
implies that the associated laws remain unchanged under a full CPT inversion where the charge is in reverse
thereby turning matter into antimatter, switching to the mirror image and reversing the time direction.
9
Only because the universe has been described as expanding on both sides, and statistical mechanics is surmised to
be unchanged by the inversion. The comparison remains overly hypothetical because the probative value of the
2nd law is lacking when it is presumed to operate disjointly and within the intrinsic manifolds of each of the
nd
sides. Beyond statistical mechanics, the 2 law is undefined in this context.
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physics something must also be added having to do with the valences of gravitation which
include: Quantum gravity; the action of general relativity or Newton’s gravity; dark matter and
its impact on galaxies; and dark energy and how the universe is thought to expand. If the
metaphysics presented in Section 3 is correct, these gravitational valences belong to the same
class that also holds emotional valences, and therefore these collected valences are necessary for
innate memories; gravity becomes a memory. This also requires time to bifurcate into a bidirectional time, which now implicates a gravity enhanced quantum mechanics but resembling
Cramer’s (1986) transactional quantum mechanics.
5. Non-binary Logic in the Mirror Cosmology is Self-Limiting
Tight mathematical equations might describe the laws of nature. While a nominated equation
might find empirical validation and become an established law of nature, there remains a deeper
danger in building the list of equations into a theory of everything. The quantitative is
represented in great abundance in the laws of nature coming as such equations, but note again
that the qualitative hides in the middle-term when the equation becomes an equivocation. Note
that it was such a middle-term from which all the emotive valences in Section 3 were placed. To
distill all of reality down to mathematical equations is to ignore the middle-term and pretend that
the quantitative rules supreme and relegates the qualitative, the arts and all the humanities, to the
trash can. This mistake can be avoided with non-binary logic. However, even a kinesiology that
is friendly to first-person experience can drift off course and become badly one-sided. Hawkins
(1998) presented such a failed kinesiology in my reading, so it is very important for non-binary
logic to accept self-criticism and the revisions that follow.
It is important to note that two-sidedness that comes with a property dualism recognizes three
categories that are inherent in non-binary logic, as opposed to the two main categories of binary
logic. So, this is different to theories of everything that are made hard by insisting on using a
binary stream to represent information exchange while insisting on representing the laws of
nature as tight mathematical equations. However, as soon as you admit to three categories, such
as (1) the sender, (2) the receiver, and (3) the middle-term that offers unification of the sender
and receiver, we are led back to a provisional or existential understanding because such a nonbinary logic makes no pretense of its own completeness. The sides of the two-sided are just
surface features, i.e., it’s the grounding middle-term that carries completion while leaving
something that is beyond understanding (such as gravity and emotion). Therefore, what has been
described is better not presented as a theory of everything, when it is more an interpretation of
quantum mechanics10 that makes better sense than alternatives that suffer from psychological
projections and the taking of equations too literally.
10
It is quantum mechanics that is closest to being fundamental in physics, it is quantum mechanics that includes
unified field theory where CPT invariance is prominent. In chapter 6 of my book, Trinity, quantum mechanics is
already found compatible with Peirce’s triadic semiotics.
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Richard Feynman is sometimes quoted saying, "if you think you understand quantum mechanics,
then you don’t." Is it possible that if you understand two-sidedness you can gain a better insight
into quantum mechanics, and when you reformulate all of physics you might demonstrate that
Feynman was too pessimistic? Rather than trying to see if the principle of two-sidedness leads to
an improved interpretation of quantum mechanics, all emerging from the two sides of the
universe being held in a quantum superposition making a unified whole, instead note the close
correspondence found in Kaufman’s (2014) interpretation based on his irreducible triad,
representing the realms of the Actuals, and the Possibles and the Mind. This already takes
Peirce’s overthrow of Saussure’s dyadic sign and extends the triad all the way to the most
fundamental.
Two-sidedness implies three categories as found with the Tao, and it is unsurprising how many
different flavors of semiotics can spring forward, all claiming to be the finest interpretation that
holds three categories; I am not sure that quantum mechanics is a different challenge, I think not.
Verse 42 of the Tao Te Ching tells of how the Three gives birth to the ten thousand things.
6. Examples of Kinesiological Systems in Nature
If the mirror universe hypothesis holds, then the kinesiological movements that are driven by
gravity and emotion will generate a fractal pattern, and artifacts of the property of two-sidedness
and the like will be left behind on the substrate of evolution because of strange attraction.
At the level of cells and biochemistry, the native language is necessarily kinesiological. The
lock-and-key hypothesis already reflects the complementarity of molecular shapes and electrical
charges. Moreover, communicating biophotons (e.g., Tang and Dai 2014) are like all photons of
quantum mechanics where the photon is also its antiparticle. Complementarity is demonstrated
when antigens are matched with antigen receptors, and when the double helix forms with two
complementary strands of DNA. Replication and protein synthesis carry a kinesiological
movement that uses the complementarity offered in templates, which is what Pattee (2007) refers
to as copying by inspection. There are receptors in the brain, receptors in all cell membranes, and
hormone releases into the blood that function in communication in the body (e.g., Pert et al.
1985).
In animals, the two genders are complementary, and flowers are both male and female or have
both male and female parts. The hemispheres of the brain have complementary and asymmetric
function, but also show structural bilateral symmetry (McGilchrist 2009). Bilateral symmetry
relates directly to the attraction caused by two-sidedness; the left side of the face is very similar
to the right side, and it is impossible to tell which side the person is on. The two-sided mirror that
represents a plane and shows bilateral symmetry runs right down the center of the face, from top
to bottom. Most animals, fish and insects show bilateral symmetry (e.g., Ranjan and Gautam
2020), plants less so but plants come with other fractal-like patterns showing the hypothetical
work of projections and reflections. Leaves and pedals of flowers may show bilateral symmetry.
Complementarity may be seen as a bilateral asymmetry where one complement is missing in the
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spatial expression (Levin 2001). For example, our human heart is generally located on the left
side of the chest, creating such bilateral asymmetry. However, with the condition dextrocardia
the heart is located on the right. The condition of situs inversus is where the organs in the chest
and abdomen are positioned in the mirror image from their normal positions. What this means is
that mirror imaging must be part of biological development, and occasionally it must happen that
the projection gets switched with the reflection to cause these rare conditions. However,
switching may not be rare because while most folks are right-handed, there are a significant
number of people that are left-handed. Psychologically, there are a significant number of
conservatives and liberals, introverts and extroverts, specialists and generalists, deductivists and
inductivists, frequentists and Bayesians, etc., and these diverse perspectives are complementary
and part of our human community. Are we sure we are isolated people that are hopelessly
conflicted, or are we just one humanity and are unable to tell which side we are on?
The human body plan and nervous system do follow a bilateral symmetry with some variation,
and there is a genetic basis for the underlying developmental processes (Levin 2001), not to
exclude a necessary regulation that complements genetic determinism. The bioelectric field is
known to control embryonic development and differentiation, and here entire cell collectives
communicate among themselves with the two-sided biophotons (Pezzulo and Levin 2016,
Whited and Levin 2019). This regulation rest above the genetic programming in the cell and it is
necessarily epigenetic, basically carrying out the function of the Waddington landscape that had
been more theoretical. Moreover, it is hard to see this bioelectric orchestration as anything other
than an example of warm-body quantum mechanics11 which already connects to something that
might carry the gravitational and emotive attractions. Warm-body quantum mechanics had been
restricted to less dramatic discoveries having to do with enzyme activity, photosynthesis, bird
navigation, smell and the connection of microtubules to consciousness (McFadden and AlKhalili 2014). But if the connection to consciousness had been real, it was never likely that
warm-body quantum mechanics would remain minor in biology because consciousness already
carries emotion and that would have fed back into its own evolution and generated a wider
vitalism as actually discovered with bioelectric fields. The expectation now is that epigenetic
regulation comes in layers, cells are conscious having communicating ion channels with twoway bioelectric controls, organs carry intelligence, the body is intelligent, and the brain is not
alone. Smith (2018) described a layered system based on a speculative reading of warm-body
quantum mechanics which will necessarily involve communicating biophotons.
A layered system of regulation is also implied by the apparent modularity that is found when
complexes like limbs and organs are formed during embryonic development, enough regulation
to move the entire heart-plan to the right side of the chest, for example. A small number of Hox
genes are involved with modularity (e.g., Ronshaugen, McGinnis, and McGinnis 2002). More
generally, bioelectric regulation can reconstitute morphogenic modules from DNA and cellular
hardware that possesses an apparent plasticity (e.g., Durant et al. 2019).
11
The study of electromagnetism is part of quantum mechanics, more generally. The action principles of
electromagnetism are invariant with respect to charge, parity and time taken independently. Hence, information
encoded by electromagnetism can be expressed under different modalities and dualities.
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The stability of particular genes on DNA versus the mutability of the same genes appear to be in
a balance. Mutations are not random as once thought, but seem to be under regulation (e.g.,
Melamed et al. 2022). If the regulation that permits gene mutation is the same pathway that
protects the particular genes from mutation, the only difference is the direction of the regulation,
then that indicates complementarity again. Chen et al. (2010) describes genetic switches
involved with modulating mutability in bacteria while balancing the need for genetic stability.
Taylor et al, (2022) found that a gene-editing experiment meant to turn off a gene associated with
aggression had actually made hamsters more aggressive. This implies that the gene had a dual or
complementary action that relates to balance. Regarding emotion in rodents, mothering of baby
rats creates a mood disposition in adult rats, all related to epigenetic changes in the brain that
effects the way adult rats respond to stress (Weaver et al., 2004). Therefore, it is an early
emotion that found cultivation by mothering and this came with epigenetic alterations that were
real.
While employing advanced methods, Garner et al. (2022) made a map showing interactions
among a collective of grid cells in the brain of rats. Remarkably, the joint activity of grid cells
mapped onto the surface of a torus, while the rats went about their business, navigating the
environment and even sleeping. The torus is only a map showing the behavior of grid cells
among themselves, rather than a map describing the outside territory. That is, the torus provides
only a mode of interaction among grid cells. The resulting symmetry properties of the torus are
very suggestive. Two-sided mirrors can be placed to transect the torus, and all mirror placements
showing rotational symmetries are disqualified. Only one remaining mirror placement cuts the
torus into two halves and shows bilateral symmetry, like slicing a bagel in the middle while
keeping the donut shape (metaphorically, not a real separation). A circular path of zero curvature
marks the rounded ceiling of each half-torus where grid-cell activity tends to congregate.
Moving in or out from the circular path runs up against the mirror that is impossible to pass
without connecting to the other half of the torus. Two-sidedness implies that what was found was
a mapping that came in duplicate areas of activity. The activity can map to one, or the other torus
halves across the bilateral plane. It is a pattern that is expected if projections tend to fall on one
half while reflections map to the other half, because the two torus-halves represent
complementary mappings, or energy mirroring and matchings called bijections. Hermitian
smooth bijection in Riemannian spacetime (e.g., general relativity) is a distinct, and understood,
process and that recent work (Abreu-Blaya et al. 2010) addresses the non-smooth (fractal) case.
Research in humans suggests the existence of anti-memories coming from a bioelectric
complementarity where the exact opposite electrical pattern is found among neurons that are
associated with an original memory (Barron et al. 2016). The action principles of
electromagnetism are parity invariant, but they also carry a hidden duality because
complementary information is generated by reversing the electrical charge. Hence, the
information needed to express a bilateral symmetry is fully contained in one side of the
projective plane.
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Smith (2022) described color afterimages as innate memories starting in the retina, and here
color afterimages come as color complements. Complementarity also implies cancellation12,
where information contained on the reflection gets cancelled with information on the projection.
Hence, the identical information is contained in the reflection and projection, but the orientation
is switched. Therefore, complementary colors like blue and yellow cancel, which means in this
case that when the two are combined in an additive mixture they make white light; it is worth
noting that the color we see is qualia, and this cancellation happens in the mental space.
Melodies also come in two complementary flavors, making the original song and its pitchinverted song that carries the same information having to do with the selection of notes. The
pitch-inverted song can make wonderful music, and typically sounds dissimilar to the original
song (Smith 2020).
In physics, complementarity had been introduced by Niels Bohr to describe properties that
cannot be measured at one time, implying that the object of measurement cannot be separated
from the activity of measurement.13 Complementarity of this sort may express itself with
quantum entanglement. Position and momentum cannot be simultaneously measured to arbitrary
precision. The particle-wave duality implies that the finding of a particle at one time excludes the
possibility of finding a wave, and vice versa. The interference caused by measurement as seen in
Thomas Young’s double-slit experiment is a phenomenon that is among the hardest to explain in
physics.
In cosmology, bilateral symmetry14 defines the shape of spiral galaxies, solar systems with
coplanar orbits and a neutron star with polar jets, which implies the existence of projectile and
reflective modulation. Banhatti (1998) provides a comprehensive review of the bilateral
symmetry of galaxies having to do with the electromagnetic spectrum.
The modulation for the orbits of a solar system is loosely described by taking Einstein’s
equations of motion to represent the projection, and his field equations to indicate the reflection.
However, the more precise definitions come from the alternative formulation of general relativity
given by the Hermitian manifold where the sides of a bijection define the projective and
reflective aspects of the semiotic movement. General relativity does not work to describe the
shape and motion of galaxies, hence dark matter has been hypothesized as a fix. It is not
12
In much the same way matter and antimatter can cancel when they make contact, transforming mass into
electromagnetic energy.
13
See Complementarity (physics) - Wikipedia.
14
Bilateral symmetry (generated by strange attraction) is unchanging in time, or it is a spatial pattern that is stable or
consistently periodic. A spatial representation of a solar system that is stable and without the time dimension will
possess a center sun and coplanar planetary orbits that are ellipsoids. Because the planets rotate in time, they can
be replaced with a cloud around each orbit. Now this model shows the solar system as an actual volume that is
static with respect to time. There are actually three perpendicular planes where two-sided mirrors can transect the
model to show symmetry by a mirror image that finds agreement with the model on the other side of the mirror.
Those mirror planes are in the co-plane, through the minor axis of the ellipsoid, and through the major axis. There
are no rotational symmetries in this model, which would otherwise need to be disqualified when establishing
bilateral symmetry.
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unreasonable to suspect that dark matter might relate to a reflection that complements the
forward in time projection of galaxies, and such a reflection is possibly identical to the mirror
world in Cyr-Racine et al. (2022).
Meanwhile, cancellation waits for a mass-carrying projectile that enters into a black hole, leaving
behind only its entropy that enlarges the surface area of the event horizon (Hawking 1975), and
this is found consistent with the holographic principle where information inside a volume gets
mapped onto its surface. Schwarzchild’s simplification of general relativity implies that the
inside of a black hole is a mirror world where time runs in reverse (Davies 1996, pg. 224).
Hence, the black hole can be described as a triadic interaction involving information exchange in
the mirror universe.
7. Conclusion
The hypothesis of a kinesiological semiotics that is part of a mirror universe cosmology that had
been presented speculatively in Sections 3 and 4 has found empirical support in Section 6. More
generally, this is a strong endorsement of the panpsychist position. As this paper has shown,
panpsychism is no longer a proposition found in just philosophy, it is a theory that is strongly
engaging science and is finding empirical support.
Pattee (2007) describes necessary conditions for how symbol making meant to carry higher-level
signification (or meaning) can emerge from lowly biochemistry. With conditions that are
necessary but not sufficient, Pattee could not identify the origin of symbolic control to copy by
description rather than just by inspection. My approach was to adopt an unapologetic vitalism, if
not panpsychism, and find a place for the fundamental substance within a non-binary logic with
three categories. Rather than finding a semiotics that explains the origin of life or how to copy by
description, what was found was only a mode of inquiry. The fundamental substance had to fold
the mirror cosmology in on itself to create a bi-directional time that was found necessary for
memory. A life with a capacity for memory that can make copies of itself had a first beginning
only because the fundamental was already part of the mirror cosmology. A necessary bidirectional time implies that warm-body quantum mechanics is also necessary. What bends the
mirror cosmology in on itself sources the middle-term and represents proto-emotion or protogravity.
A mode of inquiry belongs to the mental space, and by itself the vital substance must already be
in existence if advances are to be made. As noted in Section 5, a mode of inquiry is far from a
theory of everything, and trying to turn it into one based on a metaphysical expansion is to
follow Hegel into a realm of lengthy espousing that ultimately fails. From my point of view, the
universal grammar is about centering felt emotion and following the Tao, and that is all that can
be abstracted.
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Smith, S. P., Universal Grammar, the Mirror Universe Hypothesis & Kinesiological Thinking
496
Acknowledgement: Insights having to do with Hermitian manifolds, bijections or two-sided energy
mappings, are not my original insights, nor am I knowledgeable about that particular branch of
mathematics. Those insights came from a highly knowledgeable source, equally humble and gracious,
who chose to remain anonymous.
Received August 07, 2022; Revised August 07, 2022; Accepted October 04,2022
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Journal of Consciousness Exploration & Research | Nov. 2019 | Vol. 10(8) | pp. 755-757
755
Pitkänen, M., Epigenesis, Inherited Memories & Moods Lasting over Several Generations
Exploration
Epigenesis, Inherited Memories & Moods Lasting over Several
Generations
Matti Pitkänen 1
Abstract
TGD allows to identify quantum correlates of moods in terms of bio-harmonies defined as allowed
light 3-chords defining representation of the genetic code. Even bio-molecules would have emotional
states, moods affecting gene expression and having thus behavioral correlates. This encourage the
view that conditionings correspond to long lasting moods. Also epigenesis could be understood in
terms of moods having time span of even several generations. This picture conforms with zero energy
ontology allowing to see bio-systems as 4-D systems.
1
Introduction
Nikolina Benedikovic had an interesting comment concerning multiverse interpretation. This motivated
to write a summary about the connection between epigenesis, inherited memories interpreted as behaviors
and moods lastring for seveal generations. Nikolina’s comment was following.
”One can imagine an intelligent amoeba with a good memory. As time progresses, the amoeba is
constantly splitting, each time the resulting amoebas having the same memories as the parent. Our amoeba
hence does not have a life line, but a life tree.” - Huge Everett
Nikolina: Dear Mr. Everett! Before we find out what the true interpretation of quantum mechanics
is, we will have to answer this question; why the amoeba possesses this ”super power” of splitting and
the electron and human being don’t.
I agree with Nikolina. The following is my comment about what is involved. I proceed by questions.
2
Questions and answers
I will describe TGD view about memories as behaviors by making questions and answering them.
2.1
What behaviors are?
The behavior of amoeba has nothing to do with parallel universes of Everett. The behavior as such
is however highly interesting and challenges standard theories of biology and perhaps also of physics.
Memories seem to replicate.
1. What do we mean with memories now: do we mean behaviors, skills, conditionings? Or episodal,
sensory memories. I think it is memories in the first sense of the word. Suppose that essentially
conditionings are in question.
In this respect a lot of progress happened as it was discovered that RNA somehow represents the
memories: taking RNA of conditioned sea snail and scattering it over the neurons fo second snail
in lab induces the conditons of the snail to these neurons.
2. Epigenetic approach would suggest that the behaviours essentially the same but now one does not
have any convincing model for the model of the epigenesis.
1 Correspondence: Matti Pitkänen http://tgdtheory.com/. Address: Rinnekatu 2-4 A8, 03620, Karkkila, Finland. Email:
matpitka6@gamail.com.
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756
Pitkänen, M., Epigenesis, Inherited Memories & Moods Lasting over Several Generations
2.2
What TGD inspired quantum biology and neuro-science can tell?
There are two key questions that one must answer.
1. What replication is?
In TGD Universe we are 4-D entities - quantum states are superpositions of space-time surfaces
obeying deterministic dynamics. This solves the problem of free will and basic problem of quantum
measurement theory. The superposition of space-time surface would be analogous to superposition
of deterministic computer programs, behaviours, or biological functions in classical sense. Free will
would select the program [4, 8, 6, 3].
2. What memories as learned behaviours are? One can imagine several models, which need not exclude
each other.
(a) For instance, could it be that the replicas of ameba have geometric past that is partially shared:
the part of the past as amoeba before the replication?
(b) Second TGD explanation would be based on what conditionings are? They involve emotions in
an essential manner. Emotions are induced and induce behaviors and conditionings involve long
term moods. The mysterious epigenetic inheritance could be inheritance of moods affecting
gene expression: moods could be inhereted and have time-span of several generations: this
conforms with the first option.
2.3
What moods are?
Suppose that conditions are due to long term moods in turn correlating with behavior and at basic level
with genetic expression. Consider a TGD based model for moods, second option.
1. Music - its harmony defined by allowed chords - represents emotions and generates them. The
allowed 3-chords of bio-harmony, the set of which can vary, would define the mood.
2. Genes are associated with information. Codon contains 6 bits of information. Magnetic body with
large hef f = nh0 is the boss, the ”wise guy”, controlling biological body and biochemistry so that
genetic code must have primary representation at the level of flux tubes. Dark proton sequences
at flux tubes interpreted as dark nuclei indeed represent codons as 3-proton units. The states of
3- proton units turn out to correspond to DNA, RNA, tRNA, amino-acids and vertebrate genetic
code is predicted [5].
Chemical representation would be only a secondary representation only, mimicry, and often incomplete.
Dark proton sequences also realizing vertebrate genetic code would also have positive charge neutralizing the negative charge of nucleotides and make DNA stable. Pollack effect would generate
the dark flux tube and this would require metabolic energy and in absence of it DNA would not be
stable.
3. Dark proton sequences must also communicate by dark photons with large hef f . The communications must rely on resonance, actually there must be resonance between similar 3-proton units, dark
codons. Therefore 3-chords consisting 3 dark photons must represent the codons represented by 3
protons [5]. Only identical codons have resonant coupling. This makes possible remote replication
of DNA reported by HIV nobelist Montagnier [1] (see http://tinyurl.com/yygqen5g).
4. Allowed 3-chords define the harmony and emotional state mood. In TGD representations of emotions in terms of bio-harmony would provide the representation of genetic codons defined by RNA as
3-chords of light, triplets of 3 dark photons [2, 7]. The icosatetrahedral model for harmony realizing
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757
Pitkänen, M., Epigenesis, Inherited Memories & Moods Lasting over Several Generations
bioharmony gives also rise to vertebrate genetic code: the 6-bit units defined by codons correspond
to ordinary temporarily local intellect, and the harmony to the holistic emotional intellect.
5. RNA and DNA, tRNA, amino-acids would naturally be represented by light 3-chords in communications. Given codon would only tell its name by the chord and resonate with codon having same
name. The codons would couple by chords via triple resonance. Same DNA sequences could be in
different mood defined by bioharmony and its expression would depend on this: this would give rise
to epigenetics. Epigenetic inheritance would be emotions lasting for several generations.
The bioharmony associated with RNA could represent the mood infecting also DNA and generating
DNA expression giving rise to the behavior related to conditioning.
6. If this were the case then the inheritance of memories (in this sense could be inheritatance of conditionings as long term moods. The replications of RNAs and DNAs and possible other biomolecules
carrying the conditioning would give rise to replication of memories as behaviors induced by moods.
7. These moods can be very long term moods and extend over generations. This would fit with the
model in which replicated amoebas have the 4-D magnetic body amoeba of the geometric past as
part of their 4-D magnetic body.
To sum up, behaviors as conditionings could be caused by moods, which can last for several generations.
This would bring in magnetic body as active agent. The representation genetic code in terms dark proton
sequences and by 3-chords of dark photons would give a realization of both the ”bitty” and emotional
aspects of intelligence. Also the notions of 4-D brain and organism having temporal span of several
generations as space-time surfaces would be essential for the understanding the inheritance of emotions.
We should be very careful for what we do since also our children can feel themselves proud of or guilty
for what we did.
Received October 20, 2019; Accepted October 27, 2019
References
[1] Pitkänen M. DNA Waves and Water .
articles/mont.pdf, 2011.
Available at: http://tgdtheory.fi/public_html/
[2] Pitkänen M. Geometric theory of harmony. Available at: http://tgdtheory.fi/public_html/
articles/harmonytheory.pdf, 2014.
[3] Pitkänen M. Morphogenesis, morphostasis, and learning in TGD framework. Available at: http:
//tgdtheory.fi/public_html/articles/morpho.pdf, 2014.
[4] Pitkänen M. Re-examination of the basic notions of TGD inspired theory of consciousness. Available
at: http://tgdtheory.fi/public_html/articles/conscrit.pdf, 2017.
[5] Pitkänen M. About the Correspondence of Dark Nuclear Genetic Code and Ordinary Genetic Code.
Available at: http://tgdtheory.fi/public_html/articles/codedarkcode.pdf, 2018.
[6] Pitkänen M. Getting philosophical: some comments about the problems of physics, neuroscience, and
biology. Available at: http://tgdtheory.fi/public_html/articles/philosophic.pdf, 2018.
[7] Pitkänen M. An overall view about models of genetic code and bio-harmony. Available at: http:
//tgdtheory.fi/public_html/articles/gcharm.pdf, 2019.
[8] M. Pitkänen. The Relation between U-matrix and M-matrices. Pre-Space-Time Journal, 6(6), 2015.
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Komisaruk, B. R., & Rahman, H., Does an Ionic or Biophoton Plasma Transduce Neural Activity into Subjective Conscious
Awareness?
682
Article
Does an Ionic or Biophoton Plasma Transduce Neural Activity into
Subjective Conscious Awareness?
Barry R. Komisaruk* & Hiba Rahman
Department of Psychology, Rutgers University-Newark, NJ, USA
Abstract
The relation between action potentials and conscious awareness presents a conceptual difficulty:
When, during the generation and transmission of action potentials, does a neuron generate its
―bit‖ of awareness? We postulate that the movement of charged ions through the neuronal
membrane generates not only action potentials and thereby an ―ephaptic‖ ionic flux represented
by the EEG, but also a biophoton plasma (Larmor radiation) as an analog representation that
―simplifies‖ the ―digital‖ action potentials. What is the observer of this activity? We conjecture
that light-sensitive chromophores in the multiple associative neuronal systems, including
premotor, respond to the biophoton radiation, and thus, ―observe‖, each other reciprocally and
thereby jointly generate conscious awareness. Where do we experience conscious awareness?
We cannot account for it by our known 4-D universe, because it is not height, width, depth or
time, nor any combination of these. Consequently, we conjecture that conscious awareness
resides in a different dimension, one in which we are embedded.
Keywords: Biophoton, neural activity, EEG, integration, binding, subjective, conscious
awareness, 4-D universe, dimension.
Swiftly the brain becomes an enchanted loom where millions of flashing
shuttles weave a dissolving pattern, always a meaningful pattern though
never an abiding one; a shifting harmony of sub-patterns.’ Charles
Sherrington: Man on His Nature (1941)
Introduction
In considering how a neuron, which is but a ―bag of chemicals‖ generates a bit of subjective
conscious awareness, we agree with Chalmers (1995) that it is the ―hard question‖. But the
answer does not appear to be in ―quantum oscillations in tubulin/microtubules‖ (Hameroff, 2020)
or ―collapse of the wavefunction‖ (Penrose, 1989), as those are but a postulated site and process
in the brain, without specification of how the quality of subjective conscious awareness is
generated. We have attempted to address the hard question in this essay by conjecturing on the
process by which neuronal activity in the form of action potentials can be converted into
subjective conscious awareness…what the mediator might be, and what ―observes‖ the mediator,
the observer being subjective conscious awareness and where it is located. We make these
*
Correspondence: Professor Barry R. Komisaruk, Department of Psychology, Rutgers University-Newark, NJ, USA
https://www.newark.rutgers.edu/barry-komisaruk E-mail: brk@psychology.rutgers.edu
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Komisaruk, B. R., & Rahman, H., Does an Ionic or Biophoton Plasma Transduce Neural Activity into Subjective Conscious
Awareness?
683
conjectures, some based on neuroscience, some necessarily fanciful, in the spirit of challenge to
disprove them, which could at least narrow the possibilities. Thus, we invite the reader to refute,
rather than simply dismiss, any or all of the following set of inductive conjectures from the level
of action potentials to the generation of subjective conscious awareness.
When in relation to neuronal firing does conscious awareness occur?
There is general agreement among neuroscientists that conscious awareness depends on (is
generated by) brain activity in the form of neuronal action potentials. There are an estimated 100
billion neurons in the human brain, cortical pyramidal neurons each receiving thousands of
inputs (Fairen, 2007; Herculano-Houzel, 2009). If we accept that neuronal activity in the brain,
in the form of action potentials, generates conscious awareness, this raises a difficult question.
That is, each action potential involves a process that takes time as it progresses out along the
axon from the axon hillock of the cell body to the synaptic terminals. Thus, when…at which
point …in the course of the traveling wave action potential does the activity of the neuron give
rise to the conscious awareness?…at the initiation of the action potential…in the course of it…at
its termination at the synapse…at the post-synaptic neurotransmitter receptor sites, etc.?
Is conscious awareness digital or analog?
Action potentials are a digital process. The astronomic complexity of action potential activity in
the brain is somehow distilled into simplicity, which is essential to enable split-second decision
making, and easy enough for a baby to use. We propose that there is a process that could
simplify this complexity yet be true to it -- a valid representation or ―echo‖ of action potentials
that is a temporally smooth, continuous analog representation of the neuronal action potentials.
We suggest the following metaphor to introduce our conjecture that an analog ―biophoton
plasma‖ that is generated by movement (acceleration) of the ―ionic plasma‖, in which the
neurons of the brain are embedded, comprises the mediator between action potentials and
conscious awareness.
Analogy: perturbation of water in an aquarium is a transduction -- an “echo” --representation,
of fish movement
As an analogy, in an aquarium tank, the wave pattern on the surface of the water, and the
turbulence pattern below the surface, are representations of the swimming activity of the fish.
The surface waves and turbulence pattern are a lawful (i.e., following physical laws),
representation that is derived from, and caused by, the movement of the fish. The surface wave
and the deep turbulence pattern, while complex and virtually impossible to compute given the
movement of the fish, is nonetheless a physically lawful simplification of the movement of the
fish.
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Komisaruk, B. R., & Rahman, H., Does an Ionic or Biophoton Plasma Transduce Neural Activity into Subjective Conscious
Awareness?
684
Neuronal action potentials perturb the surrounding “ionic plasma”
Analogous to the process by which the movements of the fish perturb the water in which they are
embedded, the action potentials of the neurons perturb an ―ionic plasma‖ of the brain in which
the neurons are embedded. In fact, the graded and action potentials are generated by the
movement of sodium, potassium, chloride and calcium ions perpendicularly through opened
channels in the neuronal cell membranes. The movement of those ions (charged particles) into
and out of the neuronal membrane perturb a ―plasma‖ of the same types of ions that pervade the
surrounding medium.
Analog “simplification” of digital action potentials
The ―digital‖ and graded action potentials produce an ―analog‖ perturbation of the surrounding
ionic plasma. Thus, our brain simultaneously performs digital and analog processing. By digital
processing, we mean action potentials, which are all-or-none and whose firing frequency patterns
have specific codes, e.g., faster firing in response to increased stimulus intensity. The action
potentials release neurotransmitters at the synapses that form the complex neuronal circuitry. In
this way, the brain is like a computer. However, different from the computer, this activity in the
brain also generates the movement of ions in and around the post-synaptic neurons, depolarizing
or hyperpolarizing them. The change in polarization increases or decreases the neuronal
thresholds, thereby generating post-synaptic graded and action potentials. The resulting induced
movement of the surrounding ionic plasma is thus a continuous, analog representation that
encodes and simplifies the digital action potential activity.
Thus, while there is a similarity between a brain and a computer, there is a crucial difference.
The similarity is that both depend on circuitry – a ―wiring diagram‖ -- which integrates the
activity in diverse components of the system and has ―memory‖. The crucial difference is that in
the brain, there is a process that is generated by the activity of the circuitry, but that is completely
different from the circuitry – i.e., the ionic or biophoton plasma. The closest analogy would be
as if the heat generated by the circuit activity in the computer would influence the function of the
circuitry in a coherent, functional pattern. We have proposed that in the case of the brain, it is
specifically such ―heat‖ in the form of the ionic flux-induced biophoton plasma that is the direct
mediator of conscious awareness.
The EEG and MEG are an analog representation of graded and action potentials
These analog potentials are well-known and commonly represented and recorded as the
electroencephalogram (EEG); the movement of the charged particles is also well known as the
basis for the magneto-encephalogram (MEG). This process has not, to our knowledge, been
considered as a direct representation (like the movement of the water in an aquarium) of the
conscious awareness-generating mechanism, the ionic plasma signal. If it were possible to
generate a 3-dimensional map of the relative EEG signal strength throughout the brain volume
through time, it would be analogous to the turbulence of the water in the aquarium. To the extent
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Awareness?
685
that it would generate a corresponding biophoton plasma, we postulate that this plasma would be
the direct mediator of conscious awareness.
Electrostatic force is a special case of the more general, electromagnetic force
When charged particles move physically (e.g., accelerate into and out of the neuronal cell
membrane) within a field of other charged particles, there is a physically lawful change in the
(electro)-static charge within the field; this is what is recorded as the EEG and MEG. The net
effect of this process is to produce a fluctuating electrostatic field. Electrostatic charges create
an actual ―force field‖, as when an electrostatically charged balloon (e.g., resulting from rubbing
the balloon on a wool sweater) sticks to the wall. Electrostatic force is a special case and
property of the more general electromagnetic field. The electromagnetic field in the brain
generates a biophoton plasma.
Are biophotons the quantum “currency” of conscious awareness?
In the example of the electrostatic charge on the balloon, upon discharge (e.g., by grounding), a
visible spark can be generated by the resulting emitted photons, as exaggerated in the case of
lightning. The acceleration of charged particles generates photons, a process termed Larmor
radiation (Singer, 2012). Hence, in the ionic plasma, the movement (acceleration) of the charged
ions in the plasma in response to neuronal activity in the form of graded and action potentials
will lead to electromagnetic radiation, which is in the form of biophotons (Bokkon, 2009).
Biophotons are endogenously produced photons, which are the ―quantum force-carrier particles‖
of the electromagnetic field.
Can biophotons modulate neuronal activity via an “ephaptic” process?
According to Rahnama et al (2011), ―…spike-related electrical signals along classical axonaldendritic pathways of neurons can be converted into biophoton signals by various
bioluminescent reactions.‖ Neuronal activity in hippocampal slices has been shown to emit
biophotons (Isojima et al, 1995; Sun et al, 2010). The intensity of the biophoton emission was
reported to correlate with the electroencephalographic activity measured on the cortical surface
in rat brain (Kobayashi et al, 1999). At least three studies, one in rats (Lisk, 1964) and one in
ducks (Benoit, 1961) reported that light per se directed into the brain via glass optical fibers can
stimulate neuronal (neuroendocrine) function. In a third related study, Menaker and Keatts
(1968) demonstrated that sparrows blinded by bilateral enucleation showed recrudescence of the
testes under prolonged lighting conditions, a further indication that neurons in the brain can
respond directly to light.
The moving force field, which generates the biophoton ―plasma‖, can actually modulate the
action potential activity of the neurons of the brain. The ability of activity in one neuron to affect
the activity of adjacent neurons in the absence of their synaptic connection has been termed
―ephaptic coupling,‖ for which various mechanisms have been proposed (e.g., Scott, 2002;
Chiang et al, 2019). The ephaptic ionic plasma generated by the action potentials could generate
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the biophoton plasma that could relay an energetic ―echo‖ of the action potential to surrounding
neurons and thereby modulate their activity. Could this biophoton plasma be Sherrington‘s
poetic ―flashing shuttles‖, the ―transducer‖ of our neurons‘ action potentials into simplified,
coherent, conscious awareness?
What is the “observer” for conscious awareness?
How is the biophoton plasma ―observed‖? One possibility, although unlikely and difficult to
imagine, is that the biophoton plasma is ―conscious of itself‖. In quantum physics, particles such
as the photon are in a ―superposition‖ of multiple probabilistic states until the event of a ―wavefunction collapse‖. At the moment of the collapse, all probabilistic states of the wave function
―collapse‖ into one ―real‖ state. In the brain, light sensitive chromophores in cortical neurons
may act as quantum ―wave collapsers‖. At the moment the light energy of the biophoton is
absorbed by a light sensitive chromophore in a neuron, a quantum of light energy is ―realized‖,
i.e., a ―quantum bit‖ of information becomes observable, i.e., in that view, would hypothetically
become ―conscious of itself‖. While we leave that conjecture open to consideration, it is more
likely that the biophoton plasma is the energy source of conscious awareness, and conscious
awareness requires an observer, i.e., neuronal response to, the biophoton plasma. Such
observation process would require integration among neural systems across time.
Integration among different systems requires a “collapse” of time
The process of integration requires the elapse of time, i.e., (in this case synaptic) latency, for the
stimulus to generate a response in the observer(s). The observers are likely to be the multiple
sensory association systems, e.g., visual, tactile, proprioceptive, premotor. For example, the
visual and the tactile association system neurons could respond to — that is, ―observe‖— each
other reciprocally and the proprioceptive could observe the visual and tactile jointly, while the
visual and tactile could both observe the proprioceptive. We conjecture that conscious awareness
involves a series of observers of observers, by which self-awareness, the essence of conscious
awareness, is generated. Intimately connected with this mutual observer process would
necessarily be the pre-motor system of the cortex, which distills and simplifies the brain activity
into the relatively simple motor output of the brain, i.e., ―behavior‖. That is, at any moment, the
astronomically complex synaptic computation by the brain becomes channeled – distilled -- to a
comparatively simpler output, i.e., muscle contraction. Because the specific muscle contraction
(i.e., behavior) is generated in the premotor system, that system would seem to be the ―final
common output‖ of the brain‘s computation (just prior to the actual motor command). The
possible role of the premotor system in conscious awareness raises the intriguing question of
whether ―free will‖ occurs at the level of the premotor system. The issue of free will requires a
separate treatise.
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How do neural events that occur at different times get integrated into singular entities?
How do we combine neural events that occur at different times into an entity rather than
disparate elements – the question of ―binding‖? For example, information about a real, versus a
ceramic, pineapple, involving vision, odor, taste, touch and pressure, travels into our brain via
different neural pathways, arriving to the integrating mechanisms at different latencies. How do
we link (‖bind‖) them all into a single coherent entity? There is extensive evidence of activity
cycles in the brain as represented by the different frequencies of the EEG (e.g., 4-7 cycles per
second: ―theta‖ rhythm; 10-12 cycles per second: ―alpha‖ rhythm). The activity cycles generate
a condition in which we do not sense or respond to stimuli uniformly in time, but rather in phasic
relation to the activity cycles – at certain phases we are more sensitive and responsive than at
other phases (Komisaruk, 1977 review). Optimal reaction times and motor actions occur at specific
phases of the activity cycle, different for alpha and theta rhythms.
For example, visual sensitivity to a light flash is greatest at a particular phase of the EEG alpha
rhythm (Harter &White 1967), and reaction time to a light flash is fastest at a specific phase of
the EEG alpha rhythm (Lindsley, 1961). Rats press a lever for a food pellet at a specific phase of
the EEG theta rhythm, rather than randomly in time (Komisaruk & Semba, 1981). The
―desynchrony‖ of the EEG during arousal occurs when the activity cycles of the neurons in a
relatively large brain volume, in which the neurons were firing relatively in phase with each
other, break up into many smaller subunits in which the activity cycles of different groups of
neurons are out of phase with each other. The EEG, measuring the gross algebraic sum of the
activity of the large brain volume, appears as large amplitude slow waves when the activity
cycles of the neurons are relatively in phase with each other (synchronized) and appears as low
amplitude fast waves when the neurons are relatively out of phase with each other
(desynchronized) (Lindsley, 1961). This normal breaking up of the EEG patterns into different
activity cycle phases (i.e., desynchrony) during ―arousal‖, thus increases the likelihood that some
subunit of neurons will be at their optimally responsive activity cycle phase at any given
moment.
By contrast, a pathological condition is seizure activity, which is hyper-synchrony, and which
results in relatively long intervals of lack of responsiveness, because great populations of
neurons are active, then inactive, in synchrony. Therefore, each wave cycle of responsivelness of
a neuronal population (e.g., 10 times per second for alpha waves, 7 times per second for theta
waves) comprises an ―entity‖ or ―unit‖, receiving relevant inputs from different sources and
integrating them as a single entity, then on to the next cycle at the next moment. Thus, each
wave of the EEG represents a single excitability cycle of some subpopulation of neurons, and is
a ―quantum‖ of cognition such that whatever is responded to within that quantum of time (e.g.,
represented by one EEG wave, which at the 10Hz rate of the alpha rhythm would be 100ms) is
interpreted as part of the same entity. This implies that the brain performs its functions
quantized in time, cycle by cycle, throughout its multiple systems. While the overall effect
appears to be continuous in time, various different neural systems function cyclically, phasically
different from each other, providing an overall temporal smoothing. This process may be the
process by which the brain solves the problem of ―collapsing time‖ and thereby constituting
conceptual entities, e.g., distinguishing an actual pineapple from a ceramic pineapple.
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Where does conscious awareness occur…in a separate dimension?
Where is the observer of the biophoton plasma? If the biophoton radiation generated by the ionic
plasma is the mediator – the energy currency -- of conscious awareness, where is the observer
that renders the biophotons into conscious awareness? It seems evident that conscious awareness
cannot be accounted for by our known 4D universe, because it is neither height, nor width, nor
depth nor time, nor any combination of these. Consequently, we conjecture that conscious
awareness resides in a different dimension, one in which we are embedded. This additional
dimension would impart a unique quality to the biophoton plasma…an emergent property:
conscious awareness. We cannot ―see‖ this additional dimension because we are in it. We
suggest that the following metaphors, regarding qualitative change related to number of
dimensions, may help to elucidate this conjecture.
Metaphor #1: Our brain has the ability to construct the perception of a different dimension: 2-D
into 3-D
It is remarkable that our brain can take two different visual images, one from each eye, and
combine them into a single entity that has a property that we do not perceive as two disparate
images, but rather as a single image that is uniquely different from the image in each eye. By
doing so, it generates the perception of a new dimension. Each eye alone obtains a 2dimensional image. Although in a 2-dimensional photo we can impute depth, it is actually only
the impression of depth based on our prior experience; it is not actual depth perception. When we
look with both eyes, each eye provides a different image, but the two different images are fused
by our brain into a single image. And that image incorporates the additional dimension of depth.
While there exists a variety of neuron types in our visual system that respond to different
disparities of input from both eyes, it requires the complex computation by the brain to create
one entity out of two disparate entities thereby invoking a unique, three-dimensional entity out of
the 2 two-dimensional entities (Parker, 2007). We probably teach ourselves the ―visual concept‖
of 3-dimensionality starting in infancy by relating what we see with two eyes to our
manipulation of 3-dimensional objects.
Metaphor #2: Our ability to perceive light depends on the dimension from which it is viewed
If one looks straight on at a laser beam, the light is evident. However, if the laser beam is
passing through obstacle-free space (e.g., no dust particles), it is invisible if viewed from the
side, i.e., a different dimension – invisible from the ―length‖ or ―height‖ dimension, whereas
visible from the ―depth‖ (i.e., ―head-on‖) dimension. Thus, events can occur in a dimension
invisible to us, depending on our perspective.
Metaphor #3: Are we 3-D “Flatlanders”?
Imagine holding and rotating a wire cube while using a flashlight to create a shadow of the
movement on a sheet of paper. Then imagine a 2-dimensonal ―Flatlander‖ (a concept originated
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by E.A. Abbott in 1884 in his novella, ―Flatland‖), drawn on the paper trying to comprehend
how the complex changing form of the shadow is generated (to the Flatlander, just a line that
changes size as the wire cube is rotated). By viewing from our third dimension, the answer is
easy for us, but incomprehensible to the Flatlander. He cannot solve the problem of the shadow
of the wire cube on his plane surface because he sees only a single line that changes size along
his horizon. If he looks at the shadow from a different position in his flatland, he still sees,
again, only a straight line…no depth.
However, a Flatlander mathematician might be able to postulate imaginary dimensions
(like imaginary numbers) and make calculations using them…even create mathematical
formulas of imaginary elements that would depict, to the Flatlander, bizarre constructs
known to us as volume. But that could not create a picture of a cube or what a cube
would feel like for the Flatlander. (But a clever Flatlander might be able to develop a
concept of ―area‖ by considering what would exist between herself and the originally
observed line by moving away from the line; volume would require conceptualizing an
additional dimension).
Metaphor #4: We experience seeing, but we cannot see, our eyes seeing
If we disregard mirrors and knowledge about the neurophysiology of vision, when we experience
seeing, we do not see our eyes doing the work of seeing—we just experience sight.
As described in metaphor #1, our brain is capable of combining two different 2-D images into a
single image by invoking a new, third, dimension. We cannot see the laser beam from a
different, ―wrong‖ (non-head-on) dimension, the Flatlanders cannot see a cube from their 2-D
universe, we cannot see consciousness from our 4-D universe. Thus, just as in metaphor #4, in
which we experience sight but we cannot see our eyes seeing, perhaps we cannot ―see‖ a
different dimension – in which conscious awareness resides -- from our vantage point because
we are in it…experiencing it.
How might we conceptualize a different (higher) dimension?
We can readily understand a phenomenon in a lower dimension from the perspective of a higher
dimension but, less readily, a higher dimension from the perspective of a lower dimension. (We
can experience 3-D from our 2-D experience from individual eyes, but this is because we have
independent experience with 3-D objects). Thus, if we project a flashlight through a wire cube
and rotate the cube, we understand that the changing shape of the 2-D projected shadow is cast
by the rotating 3-D wire cube. However, the Flatlanders could not understand a 3-D wire cube
based on the shadow that it would cast onto their 2-D world.
Perhaps we can overcome the Flatlanders‘ limitation by visualizing an additional dimension by
the following metaphor: Imagine if two or more equal-size glasses full of water could be merged
into a single entity that would still be contained in the volume of one of the glasses. This is the
same idea as the mathematical higher-dimension ―Tesseract‖ cube-within-a-cube*. By analogy
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with combining the two disparate images from each eye to create a unitary image by which we
perceive actual depth, some process in the postulated different dimension combines disparate
neuronal events into a unitary unique entity – conscious awareness. Perhaps conscious awareness
is the experienced quality that exists in one of the physicists‘ proposed 11 dimensions. It resides
within, but is not one of, the four dimensions (3-D plus time) of the universe as we know it.
Is a higher dimension required to integrate disparate neuronal activity into an entity?
One form of conscious awareness is our bodily awareness in the form of sensory homunculi of
multiple sensory qualities of touch, pressure, heat, proprioception, visceral sensation, etc. Figure
1 depicts this type of integration distilled into a single, simplified unitary entity.
Figure 1. Schematic representation of the ability of the brain to integrate, i.e., unify into a
coherent ―simplified‖ entity, information about a variety of inputs representing a variety of
bodily modalities, e.g., those listed in the figure. The ability to ―register‖ the different complex
inputs from multiple bodily afferent sources into the ―qualia‖ of a coherent unitary entity may
be so complex that it requires an additional, or ―higher‖ dimension for the integration.
As each homunculus constitutes a biophoton plasma perturbation, the sites where the
perturbations intersect produce bright spots — biophoton plasma ―crests‖, as in ―Chladni
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figures‖ or ―nodal patterns‖ **. We conjecture that it requires a process requiring a higher
dimension to integrate the biophoton plasma crests into what we experience as conscious
awareness (Figures 2, 3).
Figure 2. A schema similar to that of Fig. 1, (the star represents the homunculus). In this
example, only parts of each homunculus (the ―biophoton field crests‖- provide the inputs, and
they are all integrated into a single entity. We conjecture that the ―higher‖ dimension would
enable the diverse inputs in space and time to be registered to each other, thereby enabling the
integration into a coherent entity.
A metaphor for this process is if a plaster statue were shattered into many pieces scattered about.
In the higher dimension, in which the orientations of the fragments would be irrelevant, the
fragments would be arranged into the ―entity‖ of the intact statue – a ―gestalt‖ process. We can
experience the result of the operation of the different dimension, but we cannot ―see‖ the
process.
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Figure 3. Another perspective on Figures 1 and 2: The ―higher‖ dimension processing could
render the complex input pattern (shown as distributed dots [representing biophotons] within the
volume of the brain, upper left), ―simplified‖ like the projection of a 3-D object onto a 2-D
surface (upper right). This would facilitate their organization into a coherent pattern (lower left),
which would enable their interpretation based on experience and memory (lower right).
Why does the brain, but not the spinal cord, generate conscious awareness?
There is general agreement that conscious awareness is generated by neuronal activity within the
brain, but not in the spinal cord. While persons with severed spinal cord may have intact reflexes
(e.g., leg withdrawal to foot pinch) resulting from neuronal activity within the spinal cord, that
neuronal activity, although part of the person‘s body, does not generate conscious awareness.
The essential difference between brain and spinal cord is that neuronal integration is performed
in the brain, different from that in the spinal cord. We believe that such integration is essential to
conscious awareness. ―Integration‖ implies coalescing diverse elements (e.g., tactile,
proprioceptive, visual, olfactory stimuli) into a single entity (figure 4).
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Figure 4. A schematic representation of the process of neural ―integration‖ by the brain. Each
sensory modality can respond to a range of stimuli, e.g., different qualities (―qualia‖) of vision,
taste, olfaction, tactile texture, each quality (e.g., sweet, salty, sour, bitter; or red, yellow, green,
etc.) represented by a different line in each modality. In this example, given a specific
combination (i.e., ―set‖) of these qualities, i.e., specific visual appearance, taste, odor, texture,
etc., our brain ―integrates‖ them, thereby enabling us to discern the difference among a real
pineapple, a ceramic model of a pineapple, a photograph of a pineapple, pineapple juice, etc.
―Integration‖ also implicates experience, recognition, and therefore, memory, which enables
comprehension of an initially uninterpretable sensory pattern (figure 5).
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Figure 5. When first observing the image in the upper left, many persons report seeing a
complex, uninterpretable random pattern. However, they may suddenly ―see‖ the cow in a
spontaneous moment of recognition, or when told what it is, or when eyes, ears and nose are
pointed out. The prior experience and memory of a cow‘s face thus imposes structure to the
previously meaningless pattern. Thus, both experience and memory would seem to be essential
to ―make sense‖ of an array of stimuli, and thus be a requisite for conscious awareness.
Evidence that experience and memory are necessary for such integration, which enables
conscious awareness, is exemplified in the case of individuals who were blind from birth or early
childhood who later had the blindness-inducing cataracts surgically removed. Oliver Sacks
(1993) describes such a fifty-year old man:
Upon surgical removal of the first cataract, the man would look at ―…an angle, an edge,
a color, a movement -- but would not be able to synthesize them, to form a complex
perception at a glance. This was one reason [his] cat, visually, was so puzzling: he
would see a paw, the nose, the tail, an ear, but could not see all of them together, see the
cat as a whole. Moving objects presented a special problem, for their appearance
changed constantly. Even his dog, he told me, looked so different at different times that
he wondered if it was the same dog…. [Stair] steps, in particular, posed a special
hazard, because all he could see was a confusion, a flat surface, of parallel and
crisscrossing lines; he could not see them (although he knew them) as solid objects
going up or coming down in three-dimensional space‖.
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Sacks, referring to a report by the English surgeon, Cheselden, in 1728 who removed cataracts
from a 13-year old boy who had been blind from birth, stated, ‗He had no idea of distance. He
had no idea of space or size. And he was bizarrely confused by drawings and paintings, by the
idea of a two-dimensional representation of reality… It had been similar with many other
patients in the two hundred and fifty years since Cheselden's operation: nearly all had
experienced the most profound…confusion and bewilderment.‘
We believe that these forms of conscious awareness are qualities that depend on the unique interconnectivity of neurons of the brain, in contrast with the relative lack of such connectivity
structure in the spinal cord. The neuronal circuitry of the brain, i.e., the connectivity among
brain regions, provides the streaming informational structure – memory of experiences, learning,
motor patterns while the biophoton field crests generate the conscious experience, i.e., the light
for the ―mind‘s eye‖. The higher dimension wouid enable the complex biophoton patterns to be
coalesced into simplified entities over time that we perceive…i.e., our stream of consciousness.
What is the observer?
The ―observer‖ is the neurons that will respond to the neuronal activity of the moment, when that
activity will reach the observer via the biophoton plasma. The observer needs to be observed by
another observer that also observes what was not activated at the same moment, hence having a
―figure‖ (activity) and a ―ground‖ (lack of activity, or low-level activity, that is equivalent to
relative non-activity). That activity and lack of activity combined, in turn is observed by the
neurons that next respond to it. This pulsatile, continuous chain of activation and observer, then
observer serving as activator, activating a new observer, could shuttle back and forth between the
cerebral hemispheres via the corpus callosum, such that the observers are both stimulating and
observing each other. A metaphor of this reciprocal process is the awareness of one‘s finger
touching one‘s palm. The sensation of the finger (observer, figure) is of touching the palm
(observed, ground), but the palm can also be perceived as the observer of the finger, involving a
shift in attention. Then, one can try to imagine both observers and observed concurrently, a
situation in which the observer and the observed become the observed and the observer,
respectively. When applied to the entire brain, that is all there is for the brain activity; a situation
that is conscious awareness…responding to what is, and what isn‘t, simultaneously, hence
combining figure and ground as an entity. In reality, all that we know and experience is what is
happening in our brain at any moment; our senses and brain activity completely create our
awareness of reality.
Where is “I”?
In order for the observer and the observed to have reciprocal and interchangeable roles and
comprise a unitary entity, despite a necessary time lag between the moment that the observation
occurred and the moment when the event occurred that generated the observation, all occurring
at different phases of the neuronal activity cycles, a ―collapse‖ of the time lags into a unitary
entity would seem necessary (figure 6).
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Figure 6. Our conjecture that the merging of the ―observers‖ comprising the sensory and
premotor systems into a single entity in which the time differences involved in the synaptic
delays are ―collapsed‖ and thereby rendered irrelevant, requiring an additional, ―higher‖
dimension, is the process that underlies conscious awareness, and which generates ―I‖.
We conjecture that such time collapse, which enables the observer and the observed to be a
singularity, also requires a higher level of integration than that which exists in our 4-dimensional
conceptual universe. In order to account for the processes of coalescing the multiple disparate
sensory ―homunculi‖, together with collapsing (i.e., ―simplifying‖) the temporal disparities
among them all into a unitary entity, we conjecture that our conscious awareness requires, and
occurs in, a different, higher, dimension. We experience, but cannot ―view,‖ this dimension. The
implication is that ―I‖ resides within a higher, or 5th, dimension, in which we and our brain are
embedded. It is in the higher dimension that the temporal and spatial disparities among all our
different, concurrently active neural systems – cranial sensory, somatic sensory, visceral sensory,
proprioceptive, autonomic and somatomotor, and memory can meld into a singularity, which is
our totality at each moment…that is where ―I‖ is.
Conclusion
In answer to the initial question we raised, i.e., when in relation to neuronal firing does conscious
awareness occur, we propose that because of the analog nature of the ionic or biophoton plasma
generated by the action potential, any and all moments during the action potential could become
a component of the maximum-intensity wave front (i.e., the biophoton ―crest‖) that gives rise to
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conscious awareness at any moment. Thus, the plain answer to the question of ―when‖ during the
action potential conscious awareness is generated, is: at any time, when and if that activity
happens to be a contributor to the highest-energy biophoton crest at that moment. Referring back
to the aquarium metaphor, if a particular wave crest at a particular moment is the generator of
conscious awareness at that moment, and the equivalent in the brain would be an ionic or
biophoton wave crest (i.e., maximal energy compared to any other activity ongoing in the brain
at that moment), then depending on the configuration of the neurons, action potentials at
different locations on different axons could each be perturbing their surrounding ionic fields to
be contributing to that particular maximal energy wave crest at that moment.
Like a computer, the brain circuitry involves input, memory and integration, and output, but
unlike a computer, the brain utilizes an emergent property, generated by the action potentials,
that modulates the activity of surrounding neurons via a non-synaptic, ―ephaptic‖ ionic plasma
that gives rise to a biophoton plasma to which the surrounding neurons can respond nonsynaptically.
We suggest that this ―analog‖ product of the ―digital‖ action potentials and complex neuronal
circuitry generates a surrounding ionic plasma, which generates a biophoton plasma to which
light-sensitive elements in surrounding neurons respond, in turn generating their biophoton
plasma. This plasma constitutes a simplification, hence a more interpretable, representation of
the neuronal activity. These nevertheless complex plasmas, originating from different brain
regions, interact, forming higher energy wave crests. We conjecture that these wave crests
constitute the ―currency‖ of consciousness and are integrated in a higher dimension in which
temporal differences and spatial orientations are coalesced into comprehensible patterns. The
combination of observer and observed brain regions and the continuously changing distribution
and roles of observer and observed brain regions all jointly constitute our entire brain activity
and non-activity from moment to moment, which comprises our subjective conscious awareness
into ―I‖.
Authors‘ note: Many of the ideas expressed in this paper were initially presented in poster form
at the Science of Consciousness Conference in Interlaken, Switzerland, in 2019 (Komisaruk and
Rahman, 2019).
Acknowledgments: We gratefully acknowledge the valuable comments and suggestions on earler
versions of this manuscript by Daniel Murnick, PhD, Anna McClennen, PhD, and Kevin M. Komisaruk,
PhD.
Received July 26, 2020; Accepted September 7, 2020
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* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tesseract (accessed 07/25/2020)
** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ernst_Chladni (accessed 07/25/2020)
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Journal of Consciousness Exploration & Research| September 2022 | Volume 13 | Issue 3 | pp. 366-369
Kozlowski, M., Why i = Square Root (-1) Exists: For We Exists
366
Exploration
Why i = Square Root (-1) Exists: For We Exists
Miroslaw Kozlowski*
Warsaw University, Warsaw, Poland
Abstract
In this paper, we ask and answer the question why in our Universe i = square root (-1) exists and
how it was created at the beginning of the Universe.
Keywords: Square root, minus one, Universe, existence, beginning.
1. Overview
The existence and evolution of our Universe relies on the existence of imaginary unit i. In
this paper, we start from our generalized Schrodinger equation define the Planck Barrier.
Only when external potential is greater than Planck Barrier Universe with unit i is created.
In Kozlowski & Marciak-Kozłowska, (2006), generalized Schrodinger equation for
Schumann wave was derived and solved as follows:
h2 2
2
ih
V
h 2 .
t
2m
t
(1)
The new term, relaxation term
h
2
t 2
(2)
describes the interaction of the particle with mass m with space-time. The relaxation time τ
can be calculated as:
1
1 e1p ... Planck
(3)
where, for example τ e-p denotes the scattering of the particle m on the electron-positron pair
( e p ~ 10 17 s) and the shortest relaxation time τPlanck is the Planck time ( τ Planck ~ 1043 s).
*
Correspondence: Miroslaw Kozlowski, Prof. Emeritus, Warsaw University, Poland. Email: miroslawkozlowski2020@gmail.com
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Kozlowski, M., Why i = Square Root (-1) Exists: For We Exists
367
From equation (3) we conclude that τ τ Planck and equation (1) can be written as
ih
h2 2
2
V
τ Planck h 2 ,
t
2m
t
(4)
where
1
h
1 hG 2
τ Planck 5
.
2 c
2M p c 2
(5)
In formula (5), Mp is the mass Planck. Considering Eq. (5), Eq. (4) can be written as
ih
h2 2
h2
h2
h2 2
V
2
2
.
t
2m
2M p
2M p
2 M p c 2 t 2
(6)
The last two terms in Equation (6) can be defined as the Bohmian pilot wave
h2
h 2 2
2
0,
2M p
2 M p c 2 t 2
(7)
i.e. ,
2
1 2
0.
c 2 t 2
(8)
It is interesting to observe that pilot wave does not depend on the mass of the particle.
With postulate (8) we obtain from equation (6)
ih
h2 2
h2
V
2
2m
2M p
t
(9)
h2
h 2 2
2
0.
2M p
2 M p c 2 t 2
(10)
and simultaneously
In the operator form Eq., (10) can be written as
pˆ 2
1
ˆ
E
Eˆ 2 ,
2
2m 2M p c
(11)
where Ê and p̂ denote the operators for energy and momentum of the particle with mass m.
Equation (11) is the new dispersion relation for quantum particle with mass m.
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Kozlowski, M., Why i = Square Root (-1) Exists: For We Exists
368
From Equation (11), one can concludes that Schrödinger quantum mechanics is valid for
particles with mass m ≪ MP. But pilot wave exists independent of the mass of the particles.
For particles with mass m ≪ MP = neuron mass Eq. (11) has the form
ih
h2 2
V.
t
2m
(12)
In the case when m M p Eq. (12) can be written as
ih
h2
2 V ,
t
2M p
(13)
but considering Eq. (13) one obtains
h2 2
V
t
2 M p c 2 t 2
(14)
h2 2
ih
V 0.
2
2
2M p c t
t
(15)
ih
or
We argue that Equations (14) and (15) are the master equation for the brain oscillations, . It
is convenient for perspective calculation to define Planck Barrier
Vp=Mpc2=10 19GeV
We look for the solution of Eq. (15) in the form
( x , t ) e i u( x ).
(16)
After substitution formula (16) to Eq. (15) we obtain
h2
2 h V ( x ) 0
2
2M pc
(17)
with the solution
M p c 2 M p c2 1
1
2
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2V
M pc 2
h
(18)
2V
M p c2 M pc 2 1
M p c2
h
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Kozlowski, M., Why i = Square Root (-1) Exists: For We Exists
for
M pc2
2
V and
2V
1
M pc2
M p c 2 iM p c2
1
h
M p c iM p c
2
2
for ,
369
M pc2
2
(19)
2V
1
M pc2
2
h
V . V> Planck Barrier.
It is interesting to observe for the condition
M pc2
2
V.
When the potential energy is greater than Planck Barrier in created Universe, the new mode
of wave is created which is marked by the new number i = square root (-1).
That number do not exist when
M pc2
2
V
I argue that only when the Planck Barrier is crossed the new number i = square root (-1) the
second part of the Universe, complex part is created.
Received March 31, 2022; Accepted June 28, 2022
Reference
M. Kozlowski, M., & Marciak-Kozłowska, J. (2006), Thermal processes using attosecond laser
pulses, Springer.
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Janew, C., The Reality of Free Will
Article
The Reality of Free Will
Claus Janew*
Abstract
The uniqueness of each viewpoint, each point of effect, can be "overcome" only by changing the
viewpoint to other viewpoints and returning. Such an alternation, which can also appear as
constant change, makes up the unity of the world. The wholeness of an alternation, however, is a
consciousness structure because of the special relationship between the circumscribing periphery
and the infinitesimal center. This process structure unites determinacy and indeterminacy at every
point also totally. We are dealing, therefore, with forms of consciousness everywhere, with more
or less freedom of choice and an increasingly unknown depth. We live in a world of choosing
consciousness or better: awareness. In this respect, our environment expresses a deep truth about
ourselves.
Keywords: Reality, free will, consciousness, structure, periphery, center.
Individuality & Reality
Your Individuality is far more than a little peculiarity. It is a view that nothing and nobody has
except you. Otherwise it/he/she would be you. Also, you will have changed your perspective –
yourself – in the next moment, and you cannot turn back time.
For convenience we come to an agreement about "common" objects, which allegedly everyone
perceives, although each views from his own standpoint. If you watch me rolling a pen across the
table, you may believe it being the same pen I see. However, I see something completely
different than you. There is not the slightest match between my perception and yours. Because
otherwise I would sit in your place, have your thoughts, memories, and emotions, connecting
them with a shape rolling towards me.
If we can both talk about a single pen, it’s because we already as children have agreed about
what we want to consider approximately as a common object and more specifically as a pen. We
also did this early for ourselves by changing our own perspective and recognizing the relative
stability of certain shapes. Should you now realize that "someone" is rolling such an
approximated object across the table you have changed the view again: You have put yourself
approximately in his perspective and have returned to your own. So you can conclude that a
common object is rolling there, "only" seen from different sides. Actually, you have merged two
indivisible perceptions over several steps into a unity, which emphasizes a "part" of your own
*
Correspondence: Claus Janew, Independent Philosopher, https://free-will.de E-mail: clausjanew@web.de
Note: This article is based on my work originally completed in 2012 in German.
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Janew, C., The Reality of Free Will
perception (pen) as well as a "part" of the perception of the other person you just "spied on"
(pen).
The unique perspectives thus create an approximated commonality by mutual exchange, a socalled real pen.
The widespread assumption of a pen independent of perspectives, conversely, leads into the void
if you keep asking "what" it consists of: molecules, these of atoms, these of elementary particles,
these of fields, and these of laws of change. But change of what? It is an endless loop.
However, no concept yet can explain why a rolling pencil can be quite stable: It neither breaks
nor does it change direction if I only think so. I have to touch it. And then it changes for both of
us (on condition that we both look "there").
In the Perspective Exchange Concept, we therefore have to start from still largely unknown
processes stabilizing our perception. Their effect must be in accordance with proven physical
laws. Both conclusions are consistent.
The concept of an independent reality, on the other hand, is a crutch for projecting stability into
things not really understood, thus largely concealing individual perceptions. This is not
consistent.
I do not doubt macro- and microphysics. They describe what they are looking for, especially
processes of "common" objects. But we must also say that if physics is not fundamental, but
everything basically remains individual, then everything has to be explained in another way as
well. Physics does not become superfluous, but subordinate. Psychological connections will play
an important role, but they too are not fundamental enough. Rather, the most abstract and simple
structures of consciousness are to be used first.
What is Consciousness? (I)
Whatever consciousness is, it must have structure. Even emptiness can be defined only in
contrast to abundance and nonduality versus duality (as the word says). Or it's just "Mu". And
that would be the end of this paper - and everything else.
I suggest we allow ourselves some more time and try to start from a consciousness that is as
concrete as possible, from a conscious object, say a glass of water. We perceive something that
we distinguish from ourselves. We also differentiate it from its environment (table, cupboard,
room) and determine it in relation to other known things (table, cup, plate) to what it "is". That
is, we circumscribe its existence by comparisons. It is also being stabilized by external and
internal interactions (pouring and drinking, molecular attraction and repulsion).
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Janew, C., The Reality of Free Will
We can question these interactions ever more deeply and will never find a bottom. Biological
processes, mechanical laws of motion and physical fields remain empty without a structure
circumscribing them. That is to say, we can regard circumscription as a basic property of
everything conscious and thus of consciousness.
Now, at the heart of every circumscription there results something hugely underrated so far: the
central point. A single point relating directly to the whole. As for the water glass for example, it
is the center of gravity and optical center or, if both differ, the center circumscribed by them, and
so on. Because only the whole as such has a center. Through each division new centers (those of
the splinters) arise and by each change (such as a bordering with handle) another one. Even if the
change is symmetrical (without handle): Since the central point, like any other point, is nothing
in itself and has meaning only in relation to a particular wholeness, another whole circumscribes
another central point - also in the same "place" (here the center of a bordered glass). And even
the point next to the center is the center of something else (say, a unit of glass and spoon).
Thus, there is a unique relationship between the infinitely small - infinitesimal - center and the
circumscribing wholeness. To ignore the center point would be to ignore the whole thing. In the
periphery (marginal zone), in turn, the external border is significant for the whole, in this way
emphasizing its relation to the center point.
Since this structure holds for all parts of an object as well as for their relations to the
wholeness, between the center and the periphery, and between this center and its periphery,
and so on, I call this entirety infinitesimality structure or i-structure.
Of course, the relationship between us (the object of our self-consciousness) and the more
external object is also i-structured. And when we dive into an object, we find there only different
i-structures: trembling "particles", vibrating "fields", circumscribed "laws".
So, we have defined no less than the surface of consciousness. What we intuitively view as the
"unity of the object" condenses symbolically around the center, that is, we perceive the unity
stronger there, because at the center point it is closest to the wholeness. (Even in the empty glass:
If a bit chips off, the center hardly changes and so we still have a glass.) "Parts" are perceived as
more peripheral, where they also "crumble" more easily. Since consciousness is always in
circumscribing motion condensing more or less static objects, I call it quasi-static.
How is Freedom of Choice Possible?
The question of whether we can freely choose between several possibilities without just
imagining this freedom or confusing it with chance leads us to the truth about our responsibility.
For if we had something to answer for, which came from us, but was not decided by us, it would
be no more than the responsibility of a cloud for its rain.
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Janew, C., The Reality of Free Will
To find the solution, we consider the simple choice between two continuations of our day, for
example whether we will go to the cinema or the theater. Actually, we like both, though
sometimes we feel more like one thing than the other. Today we really do not care; we could as
well throw a coin. But we do not - that would be too cheap. We are pondering. We are putting
ourselves in the cinema, then in the theater, and back in present, and so on. In this way we are
circumscribing the wholeness of the decisive situation, the present being its center. Strictly
speaking, this center is infinitely small, right in the middle of the whole circumscription with all
its details. That is, in us.
In the periphery, in turn, our perception of the cinema is influencing the subsequent perception of
the theater and vice versa - and again our present and vice versa. The vagueness between the
certain alternatives is condensing to the certainty of the decisive situation up to its exact center,
which on the other hand is completely neutral thus behaving indecisively. So, the whole situation
is undetermined again, and so on.
We are not done yet: Cinema and theater inside and around as well as the paths there with all the
details are also being circumscribed by the movement of our attention. Instead of letting our
thoughts circle around a cinema we could also wander to the subway and the dance club and
forget about the theater. Rather, we are intentionally focusing on weighing up goals, seats, access
routes. That is, the certainty/uncertainty structure also applies to every detail of the tradeoff
process. And by that small decisions are necessary everywhere. We can nowhere escape this
decision-making structure – it is an i-structure (infinitesimality structure).
This process structure unites determinacy and indeterminacy at every point also totally. For
by referring to each other and merging into the center of the wholeness thus circumscribed
they are not even partially separated there.
So, where is the respective "point" of decision? It is obviously not in the neutral center between
the alternatives, but between the center and the periphery, in that very center between certainty
and indeterminacy. Wherever that is exactly. Because "that" can only ever be in-between,
otherwise it would be a side. You can only "limit" but never fix it. It is actually distributed
throughout the process, only concentrating around central points - all in all in us, but in the
direction of our goals and between them.
From this i-structured unity of sub-unities cannot merely, but must come a free decision. This is
the only way, the only meaningful description. It does not matter that the choice for outsiders
could have also been mostly coincidental or conditional. Coincidences and conditions like
weather and timetables of course contributed to the decision and limited their scope in the
peripheral area of the process. But the periphery is just one side of the whole - one of the not
decisive ones.
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What is Awareness? (I)
The uniqueness of each viewpoint, each standpoint, can obviously be "overcome" only by
changing the viewpoint to other viewpoints. And returning. Such an alternation alone, which can
also appear as constant change, makes up the unity of the world.
Apprehending this dynamic unity exceeds mere consciousness because Consciousness (I) always
tends to circumscribing condensation, which is creating symbolic, quasi-static objects. In
contrast, the change to other viewpoints – other individual attitudes – is of course more open. I
call the perception of this alternation awareness.
Awareness is never "solid." It is always the becoming of something else, more precisely of many
others: It is constantly arising from this reciprocal movement and consists only in it. Thus, it is
also perception of potential.
But whose potential? No, not ours, if by "ours" a quasi-static self-image is meant. Because such
an image would already be largely defined. Instead, in order to change for example from the
individuality of an official to the individuality of an artist, the official must be "dissolved" and
newly condensed to an artist. Not the official has moved himself, but the alternating between
one and the other has been differently curled up. Both the official and the artist are aware of their
alternative self. Besides, both are aware of the potential perspectives on the way from the office
to the studio and back again. And they are also aware of the possible attitudes in the cinema or
theater. And the different positions inside the office, the studio, and at home.
Though the awareness changes with each attitude, it includes all potential standpoints.
Sometimes one takes precedence - it is more real and less potential - sometimes the other.
Sometimes the awareness is more limited, for example to the pages of a file, then open again
with a view into life. However, even in the file the artist occasionally comes into play and in the
artist the pedant; and at home both of them.
Spiritually, we alternate faster than mentally or physically, because the psyche and the body are
more "tightened." The psychic alternation structure is more deeply convoluted, and also the body
is the result of relatively stable alternations ("interactions"), which we hardly overlook. But,
strictly speaking, there is no place where we can say "Now we have changed position," because
"we" consist exclusively of convoluted alternations. There is basically only awareness.
Well then, who is aware of the alternation of the awareness? Nice trick question.
In reality, awareness is always alternation between other awareness, namely, between
perspectives of the entire alternations. The awareness changes as I said the rank, the hierarchy of
potential attitudes. When the "officialdom" speaks the inspiration is largely silent and vice versa.
What the official is also aware of, however, is the subordination of his awareness in the
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awareness of the artist (and so on). With the awareness then also the entire nesting of descending
priorities, viewpoints and turns alternates.
So what are we aware of in a nutshell?
Everything unique is contained in everything unique.
Alternation of uniqueness is the most natural thing in the world.
The Reality Funnel – What is Consciousness? (II)
In What is Consciousness? (I) we have considered the formation of i-structures by
circumscription and in What is Awareness? (I) the alternation of perspective as such. But
basically, both are one and the same.
Circumscribing movement – consciousness – is of course an alternation of individual viewpoints.
And perception of an alternation – awareness – also circumscribes a constant center. The
difference between emphasized circumscription and emphasized alternation lies in the density of
the circumscribed central area. If the circumscribing alternation (for example, between facades)
forms an object (a house), the content-dense center symbolizes its unity ("being inside"). If the
alternation is perceived more as such, the object character is thin ("Are there several houses or
one?").
The maximum of the unity lies in the intuitive center point, whereas the maximum of the
alternation consists in the alternation itself. That is, the alternation is authoritative and the
circumscription derived. (Without facades no inside.)
Now, however, the "trace" of the alternation (the sequence of facades) is more or less curled up
in the memory, that is compressed, and the respective awareness is incompletely conscious of the
entire alternation (say, between three bare walls with corners and a few windows). The rest
(more windows, attic, back wall) leads into the just-not-conscious, into a narrowing.
Awareness includes a consciousness of this transition ("closer, to the back"). Yet consciousness
is in a sense the "upper" section of awareness, whereas awareness as such includes the just-notconscious "further down" by alternating with it. This is more than a point by point transition or a
coagulated potential. Out of the alternation between the conscious and the subconscious, the
awareness "receives" impressions and ideas, so to speak, which escape the more static
consciousness ("a chamber somewhere").
All in all, consciousness resembles a funnel whose rand represents the circumscribing
(alternation) movement which is compressing and narrowing itself and transitioning to the justnot-conscious with the funnel's stem. Only the center point of the whole movement is always
remaining conscious. The awareness, in contrast, is following the stem to the other side ("to the
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back, around the corner"), meaning it is switching to the consciousness there, whose stem is
leading back again.
The difference is not strict: Consciousness is always awareness! Awareness is also conscious, but
points beyond that and involves always more than what is just now conscious. Alternation does
not allow it to be nearly frozen. With the consciousness we only try to ignore this, and then its
own changeable nature escapes us, the awareness, from which it "unscrews."
The connection of awareness and consciousness has also been indicated in
Individuality and Reality: By alternating individual perception, a common approximation is
being constructed, a conscious reality (a rolling pen, a house). Because the alternation coiling is
compressing itself while forming approximations and the alternating standpoints are "vanishing"
in the funnel stem we do not have an overview of the reality formation. However, since
consciousness always creates approximated commonalities the consciousness funnel is a reality
funnel. It creates reality out of the funnel stem by approximating individualities into one
consciousness, but nowhere by relinquishing them. Everything remains awareness.
Some aspects may become clear from the following figures as well:
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Figure 1. Presented above is the circumscribing compression in the reality funnel. Below is a
possible top view of how the alternation of perspective condenses into a seemingly stationary
object consciousness.
Figure 2. Here, Figure 1 is summarized and further simplified. This time I emphasized the
overall movement of perspective and the resulting spatial object awareness.
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All That Is – What is Awareness? (II)
When every perspective is individual and when structures only arise from circumscribing
alternations, then alternation cannot be restricted to the Awareness (I) of a human. Rather, any
standpoint, any point of effect, must alternate and must result from alternations. (Ultimately, it is
the alternation of infinitely small points of an i-structure – defined in What is Consciousness? (I).
From this consequence there follow more:
1. In principle, we must be able to posit ourselves into the individual awareness of other
people (and even into nonhuman awareness). In fact, we empathize with others, or we
would not be able to agree on something. We approximate their standpoints again and
again at least and by that talk to persons who resemble them. If we would posit ourselves
completely into them, our consciousness would quickly be overwhelmed and had to
suppress the most into the subconscious.
2. The change of a standpoint is the change of the whole reality (a rearrangement of the
Reality Funnel), namely from a foreseen, probable reality to an even more probable, the
actual reality. While one reality takes priority, the others fall into their subordinate
position. They become or remain potential, just as the currently prior reality was. But
they do not disappear: They continue to be standpoints within awareness.
A standpoint as a point of effect, as the momentary peak of reality and center of structureforming changes, goes far beyond what we normally understand by "consciousness." Such a
point can be anywhere; in an ant, in a star, in a vacuum. It would be meaningless if no alternation
culminated in it, no circumscription defined it. Ultimately, there is only alternation as such – allencompassing and therefore infinitely fast: All That Is.
If the shape of the alternation forms a circumscription (ant, star, space), it begins to prefer this
particular movement to others and, as it were, to filter it out. By intertwined repetition the
movement appears slower, although the all-encompassing alternation is still happening. But it is
now largely hidden (deep in the stem of the reality funnel).
Because circumscribing shapes create from the start what we have recognized as
consciousness (Consciousness I), we can also speak of an all-encompassing
consciousness.
Because alternation never stops and only happens between more or less conscious things
(Consciousness II), we recognize an all-encompassing awareness.
Because consciousness also means Freedom of Choice, we are dealing with a choosing
all-encompassing awareness.
Some would call it "God" - a god "living" in everything and everyone, since everything is a
phase of his movement. At the same time "He" is on such an unimaginable path that his
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decisions are eventually "unfathomable." On the other hand, our decisions are part of his. That is,
what we decide is important. It creates another awareness of All That Is, a unique hierarchy of
consciousness, a complete reality.
And only our reality follows our path. Even in God it is new.
Subconscious – Free or Not?
If we combine the results of Consciousness I and Consciousness II as well as Awareness I and
Awareness II, the following picture emerges:
That which exists for us in the circumscribing alternation of perspectives as their
common approximation is conscious to us.
If perspectives slip away from the approximation, we still can be aware of them. They
exist as such in constant alternation.
Everything that exists dynamically (that is in alternation), transitions funnel-like from the
most conscious "opening" through a perspective "narrowing" channel into an awareness
that we can call subconscious.
This subconscious ultimately extends to All That Is.
Subconscious things therefore exist even if we do not consciously "look"; because
subconsciously we always look (again and again). We are "vanishingly aware" of All That Is.
This means we are "alternatingly" connected to it and can also expand that awareness. We can
also dive into that awareness with the focus of our consciousness – widening the funnel stem
only at certain places – and return richer of knowledge, hunches, and sensations.
What are we conscious of there? What do we discover when we dive into it? Other worlds, other
types of linking, the essence of other people? Yes, every day – and most at night. We can learn to
bring back more of these impressions. But even without that we are discovering much of our
own essence here.
Let's expand our list of insights by one point and take into account our Freedom of Choice with
the second:
Since consciousness and awareness only defer in the degree of emphasis of the
circumscribed central area, both are a single i-structure.
I-structure chooses its further change – within the constraints imposed on it by "other" istructures.
We seem to be surrounded by such constraints. Even what our neighbor chooses, can impair us,
and with the door frame we can't truly talk. But let's remember any awareness being a hierarchy
of probable realities with the most probable here and now. If we choose a different reality funnel,
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all probable realities are restructuring for us. However, these realities still exist as themselves.
Their respective top-positions also exist within awareness, just not here and now for us.
So we do not have to defeat our neighbor, because in another reality he has long consented. We
must only choose this reality. (He may do the same with that reality, in which we have
consented.) To do this our focuses of consciousness in other affected areas of life should be in
agreement with this choice. That is we should harmonize in our awareness the hierarchy of our
own inner choices. Then the neighbor goes where we both want him to go. (Even the version in
which we both choose mirror-inverted we are aware of without contradiction, just not here and
now as prior-ranking.)
Why then is the door frame so firm? It is not: Take a sledgehammer and smash it to pieces! But I
think you want the frame. You want the earth and the sun. You want conditions. Why these very
conditions – that would be a question for that subconscious in which we hope to find more of our
essence.
Probability Thinking
If we weigh two alternatives, say job A and job B, then we weigh their respective priority. Each
job has a certain probability of realization, which may change while we are weighing, whereupon
the probability of the other one immediately adapts. That is, if we prefer job B, job A becomes
less probable but remains accessible for a while in the background. With Job B we choose an
individual probability hierarchy as such to our reality.
What about the other applicants? They are also part of our probability hierarchy along with their
decisions. They are aspects of our individual Awareness, which as a whole chooses a new
individual reality, a new probability hierarchy. Conversely, this means that the other applicants
have their own awareness and choose their own probability hierarchies. In the respective
awareness, we all meet, but do not merge.
If we now choose Job B through and through, the others will choose Job A or C in our reality;
more or less conscious. The same applies to the others in their realities. There is no
contradiction, for in every individual reality, from every perspective, it is a common choice. Even
after I get Job B, I can be aware of my alternate realities in Job A or C, meaning the individual
realities intermesh and interact. Therefore, it may not be easy to come to terms with yourself
through and through. But once that is done, the corresponding reality follows inevitably.
There is also no perspective in which everyone chooses Job B through and through, because in
the application situation the individual preliminary decisions of all applicants (and many others)
for specific working conditions already converge: Only one person can have the job, not every
one for an hour or all at once. And so, an all-want-job-B-through-and-through-situation would
contain an inner contradiction pushing for resolution from the start: through a different choice of
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the candidates; preferably "on time", but also shortly before signing the contract. Please observe
yourself in your application situations: I'll bet you already know in advance if you'll get the job and basically agree (deep inside, predominantly). As notorious doubters we just like "bank shots"
and let confirm us by the hiring manager. Nevertheless: The final decision of all parties may be
made, as they wish, only at the last moment.
Simplistic, because it is more vivid, we can perceive all individuals as "cones" of their probable
changes: We all move together like spirits (or ghosts) at a distance from each other under a
single tissue of probabilities that adapts to our shapes and movements. The fabric shows the
"visible" interweaving of our options and decisions, letting us guess even more potential. We
must at least roughly coordinate our decisions for one or the other direction of movement with
those of all other spirits to not distort the fabric too much or get caught up in it. The priorities
and thus the probability shapes adapt to each other until they predominantly harmonize.
The probability of developments as a fifth dimension in addition to space and time not only
makes us seeing black and white, but also recognizing a variety of alternatives in the background
playing around us like waves. This in turn leads to a more conscious cooperation with others and
an expanded awareness of our possibilities.
The next figures show Berta's "relations of choice":
Figure 3. While Berta changes her mind from Job A to Job B, which suits her more, her
perceived alternatives are being restructured in the probability hierarchy.
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Figure 4. Berta's awareness is in a joint decision-making and attuning process with that of her
rival Alf. If she prefers Job B, he has to choose Job A. Both are aware of their alternative
existence in the respective Jobs, and also of their respective rival. They form their respective as
well as a collective hierarchy of probabilities, which from the conscious to the subconscious opt
together for a priority new overall structure - for example, the one in which Berta has Job B and
Alf Job A. The alternative overall structure drops off as well as Berta's "single" alternatives in
Figure 3.
Is There a Constant Reality?
If we can exist only in the constant alternation of perspective (sensory, psychic, mental) and this
has to apply analogously to any place of effect (just worked, just different), how then does
stability, something permanent, emerge?
Of course by repeating the alternation: of the thought, the point of view, the mutual
confirmation, the effect. The alternation can be exactly repeated, however, only for an infinitely
short moment; then it must reach beyond the repetition so as not to cancel itself out. That is, it
changes as a whole and remains open. For stabilization an approximate repetition is sufficient,
though. So for a long time we believe almost the same thing, for example.
Why, again, do we repeat ourselves at all? Because otherwise everything would disappear
immediately, exist only for an infinitely short moment. But if something has gained minimal
stability and thus forms a whole, it can have a further stabilizing effect, since a change with it as
such now contains more repetition as well: Every alternation contains its sides, thereby
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"bringing" something of each side to the other. If one of them is relatively stable, the other is
"addressed" again and again in a similar way and thus "seduced" to permanence. Or it loses
connection eventually.
In the so-called "matter" it doesn't happen otherwise: It stabilizes itself this way in molecular
interactions thus forming mountains, table and climate. Since it is nothing but small and large
alternations of the place of effect, the entire alternation can be tracked in principle into the
human brain and its mind - and vice versa from the mind into its brain into its environment. We
find manifold intermediate stabilization of an emotional-mental, mechanical, electromagnetic,
other, and unknown kind, all contributing to our relatively stable world, but never self-contained.
However, the wholeness of an alternation is, as described, a consciousness structure (see
Consciousness I and Consciousness II). Consequently, we are dealing with forms of
consciousness everywhere - with more or less Freedom of Choice (see there as well as
Subconscious) and an increasingly unknown depth (see Awareness I and Awareness II). We live
in a world of choosing consciousness or awareness. So constancy is wanted.
For example, we humans create juridical laws; animals, plants and bacteria form their own social
rules; and the inter-actions of "matter" also fit into regularities, so-called "laws of nature." But
the relative openness of any alternation system implies that it can change at any time with a
certain degree of probability. Therefore, even "laws of nature" must be relative in some way.
Their stability in experimenting - as that of our lifeworld - is based on relatively closed
"collective" reciprocal relationships. They mean the extensive exclusion of alternative paths of
alternation and favor mutual "dependencies." What we believe we seek and find with greater
probability, and what we find most often we believe. Again and again we change to there, with
all the others who refer us to it, and displace the seemingly inappropriate "remainder".
Ultimately, what is found and what is believed is inseparable and possible deviations abnormal.
And by that we are even right: Our reality funnel is established.
Only of what we cannot change despite deliberate openness, we do not yet know why it opposes.
On the other hand, it would be strange if we had unlimited potential with limited world
knowledge - or understood our deepest intentions.
Truth, Harmony, and Free Will
The stem of the Reality Funnel "perspectively" summarizes the alternation of the less conscious
standpoints. But if they don't just jump around there, they also retroact on each other more
closely and in places are wound into cores, which harmoniously combine many perspectives.
(Without harmony, they fell apart again.)
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Such a comparatively harmonious core as, for example, our inner self can hold our Awareness (I)
together, and it is likely that it will emanate more comprehensively harmonizing think and action
impulses than the adapting roles of our small ego. On the other hand, this ego can often deal
better with everyday situations. Therefore, both of them are best dedicated to their own topic and
benefit only from the skill of the other. A harmony of this kind we can feel like a beautiful
concert. Instead, once the ego is completely in line with the inner self, one can speak of unity,
but hardly of harmony: The connection is too rigid and the duet probably short.
Harmony can thus be translated as meaningful correspondence and leads to a
correspondingly meaningful definition of truth: The more unity or harmony of a content of
consciousness with the more comprehensive level, the truer it is.
So retroactive alternations (interactions) lead to a loose hierarchical structure in which truth is
dependent on the point of view, but not too much. The individual truths meet in a center being
much less agile within their convoluted awareness. It is only when their awareness expands that
even deeper truths are included that relativize the previous center at an even more comprehensive
level.
If we imagine the reality funnel again, then inner inspirations come through the funnel stem
regardless of whether impulses, ideals or sensations (all focusses of consciousness, since there is
only perceived alternation). On the other hand, the most conscious circumscription takes place at
the funnel edge, and the center of the overall circumscription lies exactly on the funnel axis. And
here it gets exciting:
As explained on Freedom of Choice, we make decisions somewhere between the center and the
periphery. The overall circumscription "disappears" but now in the funnel stem! It is compressed
- "in perspective" to a greater degree of convolution - and ultimately coincides with the funnel
axis. Ultimately, therefore, it is no longer possible to tell whether a decision is free or determined
by an inner impulse! We can become conscious of impulses only further up, where we may then
deviate from them.
Do we have reason to doubt our inspirations? This depends on whether they originate from our
deepest being and our harmony with it. Because, as I said, truth is unity or harmony with the
more comprehensive level. More comprehensive networking, however, is exactly what
distinguishes a deep being from each of its appearances. So the deeper the origin, the more likely
(and the more) our deepest being is involved, and the more trustworthy the inspiration is. And
vice versa: The more authentically we express our deepest inner self, the more trustworthy we
are.
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Yet, this means even more: If we are not conscious of having chosen certain "conditions" of our
lives, though they must have been chosen on the basis of our logical inferences, then it is obvious
that these choices are made at a more comprehensive level and are significantly determined by
our innermost Essence. In this respect, our environment expresses a deep truth about ourselves.
Received December 22, 2019; Accepted January 7, 2020
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Exploration
Arrow of Time & Neuroscience: TGD-based View (Part I)
M. Pitkänen1 and R. Rastmanesh2,3
Independent researcher. 1
Member of The Nutrition Society, London, UK
3
Member of The American Physical Society, USA
1
2
Abstract
The question that inspired this article is whether memories about the future - precognitions are possible in some sense. This requires retrocausality. The criticism of retrocausality relies on the
assumption that time, in particular the thermo-dynamical time, has always the same arrow. TGD
inspired theory of consciousness as quantum measurement theory based on zero energy ontology (ZEO)
predicts that the arrow of time can vary and changes in ordinary - ”big” -state function reductions
(BSFRs): Self dies (falls asleep) and re-incarnates with a opposite arrow of time. This leads to a
generalisation of thermodynamics and allows to see self-organisation basically as a consequence of the
generalised second law. Precognition as a recall of future geometric memories would rely on sensory
perception with an opposite arrow of time by some sub-selves assignable to the structures of the
brain. The arrow of time would be reversed at some layer of the magnetic body in a master-slave
relation with the biological body and induce an effective change of arrow at the level of ordinary
biomatter in longer time scales than usual. The sensory perceptions with reversed arrow time would
be communicated to the self as dreams meaning BSFR for the time reversed mental and its death and
reincarnation with standard arrow of time. There are findings about Alzheimer patients supporting
this hypothesis. This proposal deviates from standard neuroscience in that ZEO and the notion of
magnetic body carrying phases of ordinary matter with effective Planck constant hef f = nh0 > h
behaving like dark matter. Also a purely biochemistry based hypothesis that biochemical factors
responsible for the buildup of memory traces select the arrow of time: perhaps their shortage could
lead to the selection of the opposite arrow of time.
1
Introduction
The question that inspired this article is whether memories about the future are possible. This requires
retrocausality. The criticism of retrocausality relies on the assumption that time, in particular the thermodynamical time, has always the same arrow.
If one gives up this assumption, there is no reason forbidding retro-causality and phenomena like
sensory perception of signals arriving from future giving rise to precognition. In fact, our ability to
predict a lot about our future might be due to this kind of sensory perception rather than only due to
computation using a neuronal model.
There is empirical evidence for non-standard arrow of time. Phase conjugate light rays obeying
second law in wrong time direction[Zeldowich and Shkukov 1985] (https://cutt.ly/ys4x4dX), Fantappie’s work [Fantappie 1942, Vannini 2007], self-organization in biology - the self-assembly of the tobacco mosaic virus is a classical example [Butler 1999]. The latest finding that I learned of is that
an isolated system can extract organized energy from its thermal energy [Kuzkin and Krivtsov 2020]
(https://tinyurl.com/y9ycj3nt).
In the framework of Topological Geometrodynamics (TGD) zero energy ontology (ZEO) [Pitkänen 2020b]
leads to a quantum measurement theory solving the basic problem of standard quantum measurement
1 Correspondence: Matti Pitkänen http://tgdtheory.com/. Address: Rinnekatu 2-4 A8, 03620, Karkkila, Finland. Email:
matpitka6@gmail.com. Email: matpitka6@gmail.com.
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theory due to the conflict between determinism of Schrödinger equation and non-determinism of quantum
jump. Key prediction is that the arrow of time changes in ordinary ”big” state function reduction (BSFR)
whereas in ”small” state function reductions (SSFR) analogous to ”weak” measurements the arrow of
time is not changed.
This forces a generalization of thermodynamics and dissipation with opposite arrow of time allows to
understand self-organization and also energy feed necessary for it in terms of generalized second law. A
system dissipating in non-standard time direction seems from the point of view of the outsider to develop
structures and extract energy from the environment. The non-standard arrow of time would be associated
with the magnetic body (MB) carrying hef f = nh0 phases of ordinary matter identifiable as dark matter
and making it a macroscopic quantum system for sufficiently large values of n. MB would act as master
of the ordinary matter and induce effective time reversal at the level of ordinary matter in long time
scales.
The TGD view about the neural system differs from the standard picture.
1. The first new element is the different role of nerve pulses: they create communication pathways
along which dark photons can propagate.
2. Second new element is the presence of linear flux tube structures assignable to neural pathways
assignable to linguistic cognition unstable against effective axonal splitting occurring in Alzheimer
disease (AD) [Bredesen 2017], and the presence of 2- and even 3-D flux tube structures assignable to
geometric and holistic cognition: this would survive in AD [Pitkänen 2018b] and in states involving
cognitive defects (idiot savants). Meridian system and glial cells could relate to this aspect.
Communications in this system would be based on dark photons transforming to bio-photons and
travelling along flux tubes with light velocity. This system would be the predecessor of the neural
system and could be realized even in the case of plants. In the neural system the real communications
would rely on dark photons - ordinary photons with effective Planck constant hef f = nh0 > h.
The communication lines would be dynamical consisting of axonal flux tubes connected by nerve
pulse transmission to longer structures serving as wave guides along with dark photons signals would
propagate. Metabolic economy could motivate this kind of realization as for electronic communications in modern society. Nerve pulses would only build the connection lines for communications
inside the brain. They would however modulate the frequency of Josephson radiation from neuronal membrane to the MB of the brain and in this manner communicate sensory data from cell
membrane to MB.
3. According to ZEO based theory of consciousness causal diamond (CD) identified as CD = cd×CP2 ⊂
H = M 4 × CP2 , where H denotes 8-D imbedding space containing space-time as 4-surface, and cd
is the intersection of future and past directed light-cones in 4-D Minkowski space M 4 and CP2 is
4-D complex projective space. The passive boundary would correspond to holistic, spatial, and the
timeless component of conscious experience dominating in meditative states and active boundary
to reductionistic, temporal part of conscious experience such as sensory perception and cognition.
These components correspond to opposite arrows of time at certain layers of MB.
4. I have considered the realization of the holistic emotional intelligence in terms of the notion of
bio-harmony [Pitkänen 2014b, Pitkänen 2014c, Pitkänen 2019a]. Here one must however remember
that emotions could be sensory percepts at the level of MB so that they should correspond to the
dynamical aspects of consciousness rather than the permanent part. Music expresses and induces
emotions and harmony codes for the emotional state. A model involving icosahedral and tetrahedral
symmetries leads to a model that Pitkänen calls bio-harmony: the model predicts correctly the basic
aspects of the vertebrate genetic code. The codons would correspond to 3-chords of bio-harmony.
The realization of bio-harmony is assigned with magnetic bodies of the basic biomolecules including
RNA and DNA.
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5. EEG frequencies f > 10 Hz assigned to wake-up consciousness could correspond to the effectively
1-D and ”linguistic” neural system and frequencies f < 10 Hz to the system responsible for holistic
aspects. During sleep f < 10 Hz dominates so that the consciousness should be holistic. Since we
do not remember anything about this period, it could correspond to time reversed mode making
possible precognition as sensory perception of signals from geometric future.
6. The effective change of the arrow of time in the neural system induced by its real change at the
level of MB could mean the change of the direction of nerve pulse conduction. This reversal could
explain phenomena like reverse writing and reverse speech discussed in [Pitkänen 2006a]. There is
evidence that AD patients have precognitive and prophetic dreams [de Pablos 2002, de Pablos 2005].
Ordinary nerve pulse conduction is prevented in AD by axonal plaque and exponentially attenuated.
In the reverse time direction there would be an exponential amplification with respect to standard
direction of time. This suggests that AD neurons are dead in standard time direction but reincarnated in the opposite time direction. Death would be a gradual process.
This proposed hypothesis is testable. To hold true, manipulation of the level of acetylcholinesterase
inhibitors (AChEIs) should reduce the formation of past event memory and increase the formation of
future oriented precognitive memory traces. Indeed, there is evidence that Rivastigmine, a reversible ACEI
used in the treatment of AD, increases memory and rapid eye movement sleep, and has been suggested that
aside form those normal properties it could be implicated in retrograde dream formation, i.e., precognitive
dreaming [Seelye et al 2009]. Similar pilot study has yielded same results before [de Pablos 2002].
Further support comes from the bidirectional relationship between AD and sleep disorders through a
model of brain rhythm attractor breakdown [Karageorgiu and Vossel 2017]. In fact, individual differences
were found in prophetic dream belief and experience, with a high frequency of prophetic dream experiences
associated with disordered sleep patterns and sleep medication use [Valasek and Watt 2015].
In the sequel this picture is discussed in more detail. In particular, the question how the possibility
of non-standard arrow of time could make possible precognition as sensory perception of signals from
geometric future, is considered. Our ability to predict our future is usually regarded as trivial. Computationalists explain it by assuming that the brain is a computer predicting the future. This ability could
involve this sensory perception in an essential manner.
2
Some aspects of TGD inspired quantum biology and theory
of consciousness
2.1
TGD based quantum biology very briefly
One can approach TGD inspired quantum biology by making questions.
2.1.1
How to understand coherence of living systems?
If only bio-chemistry is involved, we would be sacks of water and sacks of water do not climb in trees or
write poems. Could quantum coherence induce the coherence? What entity serve as intentional agent
and how it could realize its intentions?
1. Topological field quantization applies to electric and magnetic fields [Pitkänen 2010a, Pitkänen 2010b].
For instance, magnetic field decomposes to flux tubes having finite thickness. Radiation fields are
topologically quantized to topological light rays. Each system has its fields at separate space-time
sheets touching each other only via wormhole contacts: system has field body, in particular magnetic
body (MB) having hierarchical onion-like structure corresponding to the hierarchy of space-time
sheets. Magnetic flux tubes would take a role analogous to wormholes in the ER-EPR correspondence proposed by Maldacena and Susskind [Maldcena and Susskind 2013] in GRT context serving
as topological correlates and prerequisites for entanglement.
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2. MB serves as the intentional agent using biological body (BB) as motor instrument and sensory
receptor. MB controls BB via dark photon dark photon beams with large hef f . The double BB +
environment is replaced with the triple MB + BB+ environment. The vision about life as nothing
but biochemistry is given up.
3. Experiments of Blackman [Blackman 1994] and others demonstrated the quantal effects of extremely
low frequency (ELF) radiation - say in EEG range - on vertebrate brain. For the ordinary value
of Planck constant these effects are however impossible since the energy E = hf of EEG photons
is extremely small. This motivated what eventually became hef f /h0 = n hypothesis derivable now
from adelic physics [Pitkänen 2017a].
4. Dark matter at the flux tubes of MB corresponds to hef f /h0 = n phases and induces coherence of
visible living matter. The generalization and re-interpretation [Pitkänen 2006c, Pitkänen 2015a] of
Nottale’s hypothesis [Nottale and DaRocha 2003], which reads as hef f = hgr = GM m/v0 , where
v0 < c has dimensions of velocity and M and m are masses at the ends of the magnetic flux tube
along which gravitons travel is essential element. The hypothesis implies that the cyclotron energy
scale for charged particle is independent on m. The spectrum of Josephson frequencies for cell
membrane is universal but now the energies are inversely proportional to hef f . The flux tubes
containing dark matter would make possible essentially dissipation-free communications based on
supra currents and on dark photons.
2.1.2
How MB uses BB as sensory receptor and motor instrument?
How does MB use BB as sensory receptor and motor instrument?
1. Dark photons with large hef f serve as as communication and control tools. Josephson frequencies would be involved with the communication of sensory data to MB and cyclotron frequencies
with control by MB. Dark photons are assumed to transform to bio-photons [Bischof 2005] with
energies covering visible and UV associated with the transitions of bio-molecules [Pitkänen 2013c,
Pitkänen 2013b]. The control by MB which layers having size even larger than that of Earth means
that remote mental interactions are routine in living matter.
2. In ZEO field body and MB correspond to 4-D rather than 3-D field patterns. Quantum states are
replaced by quantum counterparts of behaviors and biological functions. The basic mechanism used
by MB would be generation of conscious holograms by using dark photon reference beams from MB
and their reading. In ZEO also the time reversals of these processes are possible and make possible
to understand memory as communications with geometric past. Sensory perception and memory
recall would be time reversals of each other and correspond to sequences of SSFRs. Motor action
would correspond to BSFRs.
2.1.3
Why metabolism?
Particles with nonstandard hef f /h0 have higher energy as a rule. For instance, atomic binding energies
are proportional to 1/h2ef f and thus smaller. Cyclotron energies are proportional to hef f . Metabolic
energy is needed to excite particles to dark states and thus to increase their ”IQ” .
This picture suggests a generalization of the view about self-organization based on non-equilibrium
thermodynamics with a quantum view based on number theory, in particular the hierarchy of Planck
constants [Pitkänen 2019c]. In non-equilibrium thermodynamics energy feed is a prerequisite of selforganization leading to a generation of coherent structures in long length scales and master-slave hierarchy
is central. TGD can be at least formally seen as complex square root of thermodynamics, which leads to
the question whether also ordinary self-organization could reduce to the hierarchy of Planck constants so
that quite generally the coherent structures in long length scales could be seen as analogs of life forms
with coherence induced by quantum coherence at the level of MBs. Hierarchy of MBs defining master
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slave hierarchy with ordinary matter at the bottom of the hierarchy would replace ordinary master slave
hierarchy and quantum theory would make itself visible in all scales.
2.2
Some aspects of ZEO based theory of consciousness
2.2.1
Active and passive aspects of conscious experience in TGD vision
In the TGD framework one can understand the presence of the temporal, active and passive aspects of
consciousness at the fundamental level.
1. In ZEO conscious entities have as geometric correlates causal diamonds (CDs) having two light-like
boundaries. The quantum states are products of analogs of ordinary quantum states assignable
to these boundaries and the state is in the general case superposition of these state pairs meaning
time-like entanglement.
2. During the life cycle of self the active boundary of CD drifts farther away from static passive
boundary in statistical sense and the members of state pairs at it change during the sequence of
SSFRs. The contribution of the active boundary to conscious experience corresponds to a sensory
input and cognition and changes with time:this gives rise to the experience of time flow.
3. The 3-D states at the passive boundary are identified as superpositions of 3-surfaces remaining
unaffected in SSFRs. The 4-D tangent planes of 4-surface at them however change and contribute to
conscious experience. This contribution would be almost constant, holistic, spatial, and ”timeless”
and dominate in meditative states where sensory and cognitive input assignable to the SSFRs is
minimal. This contribution would correspond to ”soul”.
In the popular literature about brain science these two contributions are often assigned with the left
and right hemisphere. This assignment is certainly over-exaggeration but might have some seed of truth
if considered at the level of many-layered MB and taking into account the hierarchy of CDs.
1. Could evolution favor formation of systems for which MBs tend to appear in pairs with the first
member in active state and second member in passive state.
The members of the pair need not have an opposite arrow of time. One can however imagine two
parallel sub-CDs of CD with opposite arrows of time and shifting towards geometric future with the
active boundary of CD - this shifting is necessary since mental images of CD shift to future. The
active contribution from sub-CD1 and passive contribution from sub-CD2 would correspond to the
same value of experience time inside CD.
CD1 would certainly give sensory input. Could CD2 give a meditative contribution masked by CD1
except in meditative states?
2. Pairings of nearly identical systems are very general in living matter [Pitkänen 2006b]. Basic examples are brain hemispheres and also pairs of identical sub-systems inside left and right hemispheres.
The strands of DNA provide the second example: given strand has both active and passive portions
and there is active-passive pairing. Lipid layers of the cell membrane and epithelial sheets associated with skin have two cell layers giving rise to a binary structure. Whether the active-passive
dichotomy applies also now - perhaps at the level of their MBs - is an interesting question.
Having both arrows of time would make possible sensory input from both past and future and make
possible to both remember and predict. This would certainly increase the changes of survival.
3. Could the members of these pairs change their roles by changing their arrows of time? Kind of division of labour would be in question. Some birds (swift for instance) fly always and the explanation
is that the second hemisphere sleeps when another one is in wake-up state [Rattenborg et al 2016,
Liechti et al 2013]. Could this happen during sleep for some neuronal functions also in humans? Or
do both hemispheres remain neurally passive during sleep?
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2.2.2
Redefining the basic concepts related to time in ZEO framework
TGD based quantum measurement theory extending to a theory of consciousness relies on what Pitkänen
calls zero energy ontology (ZEO) [Pitkänen 2020b]. In this framework experienced time and geometric
time are not anymore identified. This has strong motivation, since although these times are strongly
correlated, they differ dramatically in many respects. This compels to study every standard concept
separately and see how it changes. The new ontology forces to reconsider various basic definitions.
The notion of event
The notion of event has many meanings.
1. Einstein regarded event as a space-time point. Event refers to subjective experience and in the
geometric framework it is more natural to talk about space-time point.
2. Events can be identified a classical states assignable to time= constant snapshots of space-time in
standard ontology: basically initial values for the time evolution dictated by field equations.
3. In ZEO event in classical sense can be regarded as a classical time evolution - preferred extremal
connecting 3-surfaces at the opposite boundaries of CD and analogous to Bohr orbit dictated by
the boundary values at either boundary of CD - 3-surface. The analogies with behavior, biological
function, and computer program are suggestive.
Strong form of holography (SH) allows to fix this surface by using 2-D data associated with partonic
2-surfaces and string world sheets. A weaker condition is that the 2-dimensionality for partonic 2surfaces corresponds to the metric 2-dimensionality for their topologically 3-D light-like orbits. The
quantum counterpart of event would be zero energy state identified as a superposition of these
space-time surfaces - quantum behavior.
4. Conscious event could be also seen as a state function reduction: moment of re-creation identifiable
as an act of free will. There are ”small” and ”big” state function reductions: SSFRs and BSFRs.
SSFR is the analog of weak measurement and BSFR corresponds to the ordinary state function
reduction identifiable in ZEO as ”death” of the conscious entity defined by the sequence of SFRSs
and ”reincarnation” with opposite arrow of time. These notions would be universal, not only
biological.
The notions time and causality
For the notions of time and causality doubling takes place. There are
1. Two times - subjective and geometric.
2. Two causalities - that of free will/BSFRs for sub-CDs and that of classical field equations.
3. Two arrows of time. Also the thermo-dynamical arrow of time can be non-standard. This leads
to a totally new view about self-organization. Retrocausation (subjective and geometric) becomes
possible.
4. Two kinds of memories - subjective memories possible only about subjective past (one cannot
remember what one has not experienced yet). and geometric memories about external world, which
can also be about geometric future. In the latter case one can speak about precognition or sensory
perceptions of geometric future.
The geometric counterpart of subjective ”Now”
What geometrical correlate does the subjective ”Now” have?
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1. The first proposal was that it corresponds to the active boundary of CD. It however turned out
that the subjective ”Now” could more naturally correspond to the t = T slice of CD with maximal
size located in the middle of CD. Here t corresponds to linear Minkowski time axis connecting the
tips of CD.
If one accepts M 8 − H duality, this picture can be made precise. The moments ”Now” would
correspond to ”special moments in the life of self” [Pitkänen 2019b, Pitkänen 2020a] identifiable
as intersections of 6-spheres, which are brane-like entities (branes are encountered in M-theory)
appearing as universal special solutions of algebraic equations determining the space-time surfaces
in Mc8 . The values of T correspond to he roots of the real polynomial defining the space-time surface
so that the values of ”Now” are quantized.
2. During the sequence of state function reductions the active boundary of CD would shift towards
geometric future and the size of CD would increase (in statistical sense). The sub-CDs accompanying
sensory and other mental images would shift to the direction of geometric future as CD increases
and become potential memory mental images suffering BSFRs in a shorter time scale.
The self would experience memory mental image as a sub-self in memory recall to be discussed
below. The time=constant snap-shots at the upper half of CD assignable to the memory mental
images are ordered with respect to the Minkowski time t but the order is opposite to that for the
subjective experiences. This was a great surprise to me. They would correspond to subselves to
which memory recall builds a connection by entanglement quantally or by sending a signal, which
is reflected back in BSFR for the memory mental images.
The recall of the episodic memories
What about recall of episodic memories in ZEO?
1. Spontaneous memory recall could correspond to a death of a memory mental image with opposite
arrow of time and re-incarnation with the same arrow of time as self. This could be accompanied by
emission of past directed ”negative energy” signal received by self associated with moment ”Now”.
The interpretation would be in terms of extraction of metabolic energy: memory recall indeed
requires metabolic energy.
Active memory recall could correspond to a receive of future directed ”positive energy” signal coming
from ”Now” having interpretation as metabolic energy feed. Energy conservation would force the
memory mental image to change the arrow of time.
2. The prediction would be that in active memory recall by a ”positive energy” signal received by the
memory sub-CDs, the order of recalled memories is opposite to that for the real experiences. There
is evidence for this kind of change [Linde-Domingo et al 2019] (see also the popular article ”The
human brain works backwards to retrieve memories” at http://tinyurl.com/y7hbqmug).
3. One also consider a mechanism based on time-like quantum entanglement between the memory
sub-self and sub-self associated with ”Now”.
Two variants for geometric memories
Geometric memories - non-personal ”memories” - about the external world seem to be possible. The
information would arrive as signals from the external world (exterior of CD) and would be ”objective”.
Signals can arrive also from the interior of CD. For instance, as light-signals affecting the state at the
active boundary of the CD at which also personal memories are stored. The states are not changed at
the passive boundary of the CD during the life cycle of self.
Geometric memories come in two variants corresponding to the two arrows of time.
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1. The sensory input from the external world of the geometric past could generate geometric memories,
most naturally memories in the behavioristic sense meaning changes of the behavior induced by the
changes of synaptic strengths. Sub-selves with an opposite arrow of time could have geometric
memories also from the geometric future and give rise to geometric precognition. During sleep this
could occur.
2. The geometric memories about future - geometric precognitions or sensory perceptions of signals
from future - would be what we regard as an ability to predict what happens tomorrow or after one
year. They would not be absolute since quantum jumps affect also the future in scales longer than
that for my personal MB. Usually these memories would be identified in terms of a model for the
behavior of the external world. Physics itself would realize this model.
3
Holistic and reductionistic aspects of cognition at the level of
brain
3.1
New view about the role of nerve pulse transmission in brain communications
Usually nerve pulses are regarded as signalling in brain. In TGD framework the situations changes
[Pitkänen 2018a].
1. Axons would be accompanied by flux tubes - actually closed flux tubes with a shape of very narrow
and long parallelogram. Nerve pulse transmission connects the flux tubes associated with pre- and
postsynaptic neurons to longer flux tubes. Nerve pulses make possible real communications by
dark photons by creating connected signal pathways from pieces. Dark photon communications
are much faster than neuronal ones. There is an analogy with modern electric communications.
Communications lines are dynamic and created before communications using relays to save energy.
2. There is dark photon feedback from the brain or even ”large” layers of MB to sensory organs giving
rise to virtual sensory input. This feedback leading to a stationary situation would make possible
pattern recognition producing standardized sensory mental images as kind of artworks by feedback
leading to a stationary situation. Light velocity allows very large number of feedback loops in
neuronal time scales.
3. In REM dream virtual sensory input dominates. Interpretation for imagination as virtual sensory
input stopping at some higher level than sensory organs.
4. Nerve pulse patterns affect dramatically membrane potential and make possible communications
from the brain to the ”large” layers of MB and fractal hierarchy of analogs of EEG can be considered.
Axons act as generalized Josephson junctions generating dark Josephson radiation travelling to
the ”large” layers of MB. Frequency modulation of Josephson frequencies codes for sensory input
represented by nerve pulses.
3.2
Two aspects of cognition
3.2.1
Linear, reductionistic, and time-local aspects of cognition
The neural transmitters promote in the healthy brain the formation of memories understood as neural
level behaviors basically by allowing to connect axons temporarily to longer linear neuronal structures:
Hebb’s rules (https://cutt.ly/os4ckD9) characterize this dynamics. This would be the role of the
information molecules quite generally.
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The key topological observation is that only a single axon emanates from a given neuron. It can
however branch so that several neurons can receive the nerve pulse signal from a given neuron so that
the network is not tree-like - neither fully linear nor fully non-linear. Also loops are possible.
Tree-likeness means that if an axon becomes dysfunctional, neural signals do not propagate further.
This could happen in AD. Nerve pulse conduction fails also if Ach or other needed neural transmitters
are not available so that nerve pulses are not mediated over synaptic clefts. The failure of linguistic
consciousness in AD [Kempler and Goral 2008] motivates the hypothesis that neuronal level is responsible
for this mode of consciousness.
3.2.2
Spatial and holistic aspects of cognition
Cognition has besides the linear and temporal linguistic aspects assignable to neural activity - also spatial
and holistic aspect.
1. The TGD based vision about MB is as a fractal structure having besides the ”large” part also
”small” parts in the scale of body and brain. This vision predicts that neurons appear as nodes
of magnetic flux tube networks, which can be 2- or even 3-D. Part of these flux tubes can be
parallel to axons. These magnetic flux tube networks could relate to the holistic, geometric aspects
of cognition. If these flux tubes carry monopole flux, they are stable against splitting. Therefore
episodic memories assignable to these networks would be stable.
More probably, the flux tubes are closed looking like very long and narrow parallelograms connecting
two systems. These flux tubes could split by reconnection to two pieces forming smaller long
parallelograms. These networks could be rather permanent at the scale of the body, and also these
networks could have nodes where reconnections can occur. Psychoactive drugs could induce this
kind of reconnections over very long distances [Pitkänen 2015b]. In particular, to the large part of
personal MB.
2. In music experience these two aspects combine: rhythm corresponds to the time-local, linear aspect
and harmony to the holistic aspect [Sacks 2011]. It is quite possible that the neural system alone
cannot represent the latter aspect. This suggests that neurons - or perhaps glial cells - form 2or 3-D networks connected by the analogs of axons identifiable as flux tubes in TGD framework
[Pitkänen 2014a, Pitkänen 2016, Pitkänen 2017a]. Also the meridian system postulated by eastern
medicine could relate to this. This system would precede the nervous system and even plants could
have it.
These 2- or 3-D structures are stable against the splitting of axon-like units so that the holistic
aspects of cognition would be preserved in AD. The AD patient can indeed understand the words
of songs. The signaling in this system would take place by dark photons with non-standard value
hef f = nh0 of effective Planck constant, which are photon-like particles transforming to biophotons
[Pitkänen 2013c].
3. The vision about the brain based on the theory of consciousness and living systems [Pitkänen 2014a,
Pitkänen 2020b] inspired by Topological Geometrodynamics [Pitkänen 2016, Pitkänen 2017a, Pitkänen 2017d]
leads to the view that also neural system uses dark photons to the communications in brain. The
function of nerve pulse activity would be to build communication lines by combining the magnetic
flux tubes accompanying axons to longer structures serving as analogs of wave guides along which
dark photons can propagate [Pitkänen 2018a, Pitkänen 2018d]. The information molecule would
play the role of a relay element. The analogy with modern electronic communications is obvious.
The evolutionary reasons could be the reduction of metabolic costs and the advantages due to the
ability to rapidly modify the topology of the flux tube network. For instance, flux tube structure
would make possible topological quantum computation based on the braiding of the flux tubes
[Pitkänen 2006d, Pitkänen 2006e].
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4. TGD leads to a model of genetic code based on the notion of bio-harmony inspired by the attempt to
understand the notion of musical harmony. The model relies on the realization of harmony as collection of allowed 3-chords realized in terms of frequency triplets. It turns out that the representation
in terms of icosahedral and tetrahedral geometries leads to a large number of harmonies allowing
representation of vertebrate genetic code [Pitkänen 2014b, Pitkänen 2014c, Pitkänen 2019a]. Since
music creates and expresses emotions, the interpretation is that these bio-harmonies represent emotional states, moods [Pitkänen 2018d, Pitkänen 2018e]. Bio-harmony would represent collective
aspects of cognition, emotional intelligence whereas neural activity would represent its time-local
and linear aspects.
5. Idiot savants are capable of amazing memory feats [Treffert 1988]. For instance, they can play an
entire music piece having heard it just once or draw an entire landscape from memory. This strongly
suggests that holistic memories are indeed subjective- re-experiences rather than learned behaviors.
Idiot savant would see the landscape that he is drawing. These memories are also holistic, which
suggests that subjective memories are assignable to the 2-/3-D magnetic flux tube networks rather
than basically linear neural networks.
Could brain chemistry provide tools - say various psychoactive drugs - promoting holistic cognition
[Pitkänen 2015b]. N,N-dimethyltryptamine (DMT) - a psychoactive compound produced by the
brain itself - is what comes first in mind [Pitkänen 2018a]. Idiot savants have severe cognitive
defects but are able to perform miraculous feats related to memory, mathematics, and arts. Could
holistic cognition replace neural linear cognition in these situations?
3.2.3
Are holistic and geometric aspect of cognition associated with meridian system or
glial system?
MB would give rise to a flux tube network with flux tubes connecting basic units which could be neurons
but possibly (also) glial cells. This network would be also fractal appearing in various scales. Axonal
network would be only part of this network with axons accompanying flux tubes forming a sub-network
with the property that from a given node only a single axonal flux tube emerges which possibly branches
later. There is however no reason to assume that the number of flux tubes emerging from a given node
is only one. Also flux tubes without accompanying axons are possible.
Therefore non-dynamical 2- or even 3-D magnetic flux tube networks are also possible but not as neural
systems. The attractive identification is as correlates of 2- or even 3-D holistic consciousness. Dark photon
signals can propagate also along these networks. Key feature is the stability against splitting of a single
flux tube distinguishing these systems from 1-D linear systems. If neural transmitters serve as relays
connecting flux tubes to longer units for axonal pathways, a subset of information molecules such as
DMT could also act in the similar manner in the entire flux tube network.
1. Could holistic aspects correspond to the meridian system with meridians associated with flux tubes
and acu points acting as nodes? This kind of networks could be possessed also by invertebrates such
as plants. Could glial cells form nodes of this kind of network? Could glial resp. neuronal systems
forming a coupled pair be responsible for holistic and spatial resp. reductionistic, time-local, and
linear aspects of consciousness.
2. Is there a connection with AD? Linear language based consciousness associated with nerve pulse
activity would degenerate in AD since the axons with plaque would not conduct nerve pulses and
the formation of temporary signal networks would fail. The 2- or 3 D holistic consciousness stable
under this kind of splitting would however remain [Pitkänen 2018b].
3. What is the relationship to the right-left dichotomy often assigned with the holistic-reductionistic
dichotomy? It is said that the left brain talks and he right brain sings. AD patients understand
words, which are sung. How strictly this is true? Should R-L dichotomy be replaced with neuralmeridian or neural-glial dichotomy as a realization of holistic-reductionistic dichotomy.
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3.2.4
Sleep resp. awake as holistic consciousness resp. linguistic consciousness?
How the two kinds of consciousness relate to time reversal and left-right division of the brain?
1. Neuronal consciousness dominates during wake-up but during sleep neural activity is suppressed by
hyperpolarization. Sleep could therefore correspond to the dominance holistic, spatial consciousness
assignable to the meridian system or glial system.
2. What about the arrow of time for the consciousness during sleep (about which we - at least apparently - would not remember anything). Could the MB for the meridian-/glial system have reversed
arrow of time during sleep and have sensory input from the geometric future? This could explain
precognitions and prophecies.
3. One can also ask whether right- and left hemispheres have opposite arrows of time in time scales
longer than nerve pulse duration T . This is not possible in the axonal length scale since axonal
potential would change its sign in times scales longer than T .
How these two modes of consciousness relate to EEG and electric fields of brain and body.
1. Cyclotron frequencies characterizes the flux tubes. Time reversed part of MB in scales corresponding
to ”us” does not contribute to ”our” consciousness during wake up. We do not remember anything
about the sleep period without dreams: could it be that ”we” are in time reversed mode so that
there are no memories about this time.
During sleep f < 10 Hz dominates in EEG: it does not correlate with ”wake-up” consciousness.
Could sleep correspond to holistic time reversed consciousness with reduced neural activity (by
hyper-polarization) perhaps assignable to meridian or glial network. During wake-up f ≥ 10 Hz
dominates and correlates with the contents of consciousness. Linear neural consciousness would
dominate.
2. How the time reversal reflects itself in EEG? There are indications that EEG consists of slices of duration about 300 ms decomposing to order and chaotic pieces [Fingelkurts et al 2013] [Pitkänen 2013a].
Could these pieces correspond to dissipation in standard arrow of time and with opposite arrow
meaning effective generation of order?
3. What about longer spatial and time scales? Could the change of the arrow of time show itself
somehow. The direction of velocity and electric field changes opposite in time reversal. Could the
propagation direction of say thalamo-cortical EEG waves with 40 Hz resonance frequency in the
cortex change. 40 Hz resonance occurs also in the transition to meditative state. What could this
mean?
It is known [Becker 1990, Becker 1990] that the change of the direction of the electric field along the
body axis leads to a loss of consciousness (for TGD based model for the direct currents of Becker
see [Pitkänen 2012]): could this mean actually the change of the arrow of time at the layer of MB
controlling the dynamics in this length scale. Same is true concerning the reversal of electric field
from frontal lobes to hindbrain. Longitudinal electric fields are also associated with microtubuli
and DNA.
Also oscillating electric fields are important in living matter.
1. By Faraday’s law oscillating electric fields also accompany oscillating magnetic fields and could
generate bio-rhythms as repeating cycles living-alive-living-alive or ..-wake-up-asleep–wake-asleep..
. Cyclotron frequencies, generalized Josephson frequencies, and Schumann resonance frequencies
would define various bio-rhythms forcing biochemical rhythms. Rhythm of breathing and of heartbeat would be examples of such bio-rhythms. Also EEG rhythms would define life-death cycles.
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For instance, EEG decomposes to pieces with duration of 300 ms having this kind of structure
[Fingelkurts et al 2013, Pitkänen 2013a].
Both quasi-static and oscillating longitudinal electric fields accompany microtubules [Pokorny et al 1998].
Ghosh et al [Ghosh et al 2014] have found that oscillating electric fields along microtubuli can generate longitudinal ballistic currents (perhaps supra currents) along them at certain critical frequencies:
the results are discussed from the TGD perspective in [Pitkänen 2014d].
2. There is evidence for the healing of cancer by using an extremely weak oscillating magnetic (and thus
also electric) field in nanotesla range with frequency of 60 Hz, which is a Schumann resonance frequency [L and Heroux 2014]. The TGD inspired model for the finding [Flavin and Pitkänen 2018]
missed the interpretation as a re-establishment of a lost life cycle.
4
Brain science and recalling memories of future
The notion of memory must be defined more precisely first.
1. In neuroscience memory is defined essentially as a learned behavior and reduces to the change of
synaptic connections. The episodic and sensory memories are not like this: they are genuine reexperiences. Idiot savants would have this kind of sensory memories. For instance, they can play an
entire music piece or draw an entire landscape from memory such that all details come out correctly.
Idiot savant sees again the landscape that he is drawing. Neuroscience cannot provide a convincing
explanation for these memories, which suggests that something very important is missing from the
picture.
2. Subjective memories predicted by the TGD framework are different from learned behaviors. They
are indeed genuine re-experiences - direct sensory experiences or symbolic representations of sensory
mental images involved. They do not involve the emergence of new behavior or new associations by
strengthening of synapses. They would be essentially at the level of the MB and perhaps predecessors
of the memories as identified by neuro-scientists.
4.1
What memories of the future could mean?
What the memories of the future could mean?
1. In TGD framework subjective precognition is not possible since the subjective future does not yet
exist: moment of consciousness corresponds to a re-creation of the quantum sub-Universe as zero
energy state.
2. In TGD Universe geometric precognition is in principle possible and corresponds to a receival of
objective information - physical signals - from the geometric future and might occur routinely. My
subselves (mental images) with an opposite arrow of time can represent geometric memories from
my geometric past. Precognition as a recall of future geometric memories would rely on sensory
perception with an opposite arrow of time by some subselves assignable to the structures of the
brain. The arrow of time would be reversed at some layer of MB and induce effective change of
arrow at the level of ordinary biomatter in longer time scales than usual.
Remark: At molecular level BSFRs occur very frequently so that the period with fixed arrow of
time is very short.
3. Neuroscientists usually interpret memories as learned associations assignable basically to the strengthening of synaptic contacts (Hebb’s rules, https://cutt.ly/os4ckD9). These memories are like a
text carved to stone and should be distinguished from genuine subjective memories. The sensory
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inputs from the geometric past and perhaps even from geometric future could induce memories in
this sense.
The interesting question is what the change of the arrow of time could mean at the level of nerve
pulse conduction. Axons realize the arrow of time as a fixed direction of neural conduction. MB
in time reversed mode changes effectively the arrow of time as the level of ordinary matter in long
length scales. Does this mean that nerve pulses travel in an opposite direction than usual?
This has also interesting connection with AD [Bredesen 2017] discussed from the TGD point of view
in [Pitkänen 2018b]: the approximately exponential attenuation of signals along axon with plaque
would look like exponential amplification in the standard time direction, and the neural signalling
with reverse arrow time might be possible! In the TGD framework death would be a universal
phenomenon and mean re-incarnation with a reversed arrow of time. In AD death would have
already started at the neural level. What would be conforting that death would be accompanied by
a re-incarnation.
4. There is an objection against the change of the arrow of time at the level of axons. The behavior of
electric field in time reversal suggests that the sign of membrane polarization should change in the
time reversal. Time reversal occurs during nerve pulses if they involve BSFR. For the time reversed
states the periods of pulse-on and pulse-off would be permuted so that the effect might not be very
dramatic during firing. In the absence of firing the sign of membrane potential would be opposite
and this cannot occur in long time scales.
The duration of the nerve pulse varies from T1 = 1 ms (sodium based action potential) to about
T2 = 100 ms (time scale for sensory mental images!) for Calcium based action potentials and can be
understood as being due to BSFRs. One could argue that T2 corresponds to the maximal duration
of the time reversal in the axonal length scale. In longer length scales the time reversal periods
could be longer and manifest themselves in different manner such as a change of the direction of
conduction velocity.
Since the time scale T and size scale L for any CD are related by L = cT , the change of the arrow
of time at brain level during sleep should occur in a considerably longer time scale. The ratio of
the time scale of sleep period taken for definiteness to be T = 6 hours to T1 = 1 milliseconds is
r = T /T1 ≃ 2 × 107 . What is the length scale L assignable to T . If the length scales assignable to
axonal conduction is cell membrane thickness L1 = 10−8 m, ab one has L/L1 = T /T1 = r, one has
L ∼ .2 m not far from the size scale of the brain.
A good guess is that the spatial scale associated with T2 = 100T1 = 100 ms (no sensory mental
images during sleep) is given by (T2 /T1 )L1 = 100L1 ∼ 1µm and is thus the length assignable to
cell nucleus. For the same value of the scaling factor r, this would give L ∼ 20 m, longer than the
length scale of the human body but roughly consistent with the size scale of largest animals.
4.2
Are memories of the future possible in some sense?
Dr. Reza Rastmanesh asked in personal communications whether the Acetylsalicylic esterase (AChE)
inhibitors could promote the formation of memories in the reverse time direction - to precognize in some
sense. The mainstream view of neuroscience does not distinguish between future and past memories at
fundamental level and the asymmetry can be understood only in terms of thermodynamics postulating a
fixed arrow of time.
In TGD framework one can speak about precognition of geometric future - sensory experiences about
geometric future possible for time reversed conscious entities with time reversal taking place at the level
of MB. Conscious entities cannot have direct subjective memories of the future since subjective future
does not exist. If the MB of the sleeping brain has a non-standard arrow of time, its partial wake-up
could give rise to a dream, which can but need not be precognitive.
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4.2.1
Two proposals for understanding memories of future
The level of the transcription factor cAMP/Ca(2+ )-response element binding protein (CREB) is a key
factor governing which neurons are recruited for a given memory trace [Kim et al 2007]. Recently a
similar role has been proposed for cGMP response element binding (GREB) protein. Inhibition of
phosphodiesterase 5 restored cognitive function in scopolamine-induced amnesia mice by activating the
cGMP/CREB signaling pathway and attenuating oxidative stress [Zhang et al 2018], with promising implications for treatment of AD. Collectively, in addition to cAMP, cGMP and Amyloid β has been proposed
as critically important for memory formation [Ricciarelli and Fedele 2018].
CREB is a ubiquitously expressed transcription factor expressed in the brain. It regulates neuroplasticity by modulating gene expression [Lee et al 2005], and so loss or dysfunction in CREB is lethal
(at least in mice, and presumably embryonically lethal also in humans), and it may not be feasible to
modulate CREB in interventional clinical trials. Down-regulation of AChE in the brain [Perry et al 2004]
has been considered as the most important pathway by which CREB modulates memory allocation.
It has been argued that we do have memories of the future; we just cannot make sense of them
[Watt et al 2015]. In the framework of behavioristic neuroscience, one can ask whether the factors such
as CREB, GREB and Amyloid βthat enable to memorize the past, meanwhile prevent disable from
remembering the future. They would select the arrow of time. Note however that these factors relate to
memories interpreted as learned behaviors and it is far from clear that episodic memories are such. In
any case, the sensory input from the geometric future can also modify synaptic strengths.
There are two options to consider.
Option I: Suppose that also episodic memories reduce to the synaptic strengths as in behavioral
approach. Since Ach plays a major role in the formation of memories in this sense [Haam and Yakel 2017],
further information about the relationship between AD with memory and precognition would be essential
to design a novel and innovative technology to remember the future using specific agents selectively
targeting the neural transcription factors or neurotransmitters involved in memory formation. There are
numerous factors involved in the memory formation, consolidation and transformation [Nadel et al 2012],
however, because of its central role, the focus will be on Ach and AChE in this paper, for convenience.
Option II: In the picture based on ZEO the MB carrying dark matter bio-chemistry are in a masterslave relationship. The arrow of time is changed in BSFR at the level of MB and induces its effective
change at the level of ordinary matter. The most natural reason for BSFR would be however the depletion
of metabolic energy sources: during time reversed phase the subself would be able to extract energy from
the environment. For this option the technology to remember the future could be rather brutal: a
down-regulation of metabolic energy feed! One can however ask whether MB as the wise boss reacts to
the pressures from the lower level and for critical concentrations of neural transmitters makes a BSFR
changing the arrow of time.
4.3
Future perspective assuming Option I
It remains to be determined whether our inability to remember the future is a biologic limitation or a
physics limitation, but it is scientifically testable. In other words, the ability or disability to re-member
the future with this perspective is mostly a matter of information sufficiency or deficiency, respectively,
or biologic limitation rather than a limitation imposed by physics. The hypothesis will find enormous
technological applications if proves to be true. If there are no means for humans to predict the detailed
future of the world, it is not because of physics per se; rather it might be because of information deficiency.
Below, we propose two thought experiments to investigate a priori hypothesis
Increased precognitive dreaming following administration of AChE inhibitor (Rivastigmine) in AD
patients has been reported before by de Pablos [de Pablos 2002, de Pablos 2005]; however this has not
been replicated by other researchers. To investigate the correlation between AChEIs and precognitive
dreaming entails meta-analyzing results on experimental dream-ESP studies carried out before.
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4.3.1
Retrospective design
Independent Data sets about dream-ESP (if there are any) from previous trials that have administered
AChEIs to AD patients be re-analyzed retrospectively to attempt to find out any effect from AChEIs
on precognitive dreaming. Dream-ESP is defined as a form of extra-sensory perception (ESP) in which
a dreaming perceiver seemingly gains information about a randomly selected target without using the
logical inference or normal sensory modalities, as described before [Storm et al 2017].
According to the procedure described by Strom et al [Storm et al 2017], studies can be categorized into
two categories: the Maimonides Dream Lab (MDL) studies, and independent (non-MDL) studies. Mean
ES for both MDL dataset and the non-MDL studies should be calculated in order to find a significant or
meaningful difference between the two mean values. Using a homogeneous dataset with a sufficient sample
size, it is possible to yield a mean z, with corresponding Stouffer Z, to elucidate whether dream content
can be used to identify target materials correctly and more often than would be expected by chance. Also,
any significant differences between: (i) three modes of ESP (telepathy, clairvoyance, precognition), (ii)
senders, (iii) perceivers, or (iv) REM/non-REM monitoring can be measured. For details of the protocol
see [Storm et al 2017].
We suggest that trials investigating AChEIs in AD patients, measure appropriate variables such as alterations in sleep architecture, EEG power spectral analysis, and quantitative EEG of rapid-eye-movement
sleep to yield preliminary data for future double blinded clinical trials. Retrospective design cannot be
used for investigation of causality.
4.3.2
Controlled design
In a double-blind, placebo-controlled, randomized, study, sufficient sample sizes of patients with mild to
moderate AD who are taking stable doses of AChEIs will be enrolled. Within 28 days prior to study drug
administration, patients will be screened based on National Institute of Neurological and Communicative
Disorders and Stroke/Alzheimer’s Disease and Related Disorders Association (NINCDS/ADRDA) criteria
with attention to revisits [Kim et al 2007] for probable AD, Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) and
Modified Hachinski Ischemic Scale (MHIS) scores, medical history, physical examination, neurological
examination, vital signs, ECG, laboratory tests and response to Columbia-Suicide Severity Rating Scale
(C-SSRS).
Participants will be administered standard precognitive dreaming questionnaires and will be invited to
a sleep laboratory. Patients will be asked to dream about a target video they would later view. A blinded
judge would rate patients’ dreams against the target and decoys. Evidence for dream precognition will be
recorded. The study can be accomplished with testing the hypothesis that precognitive dream experiences
may occur when an AD patient subconsciously incorporates sensory information into their dream. A
sound clip would be played to sleeping patients and a blinded judge would rate the target and decoy
clips against the patients’ dream transcripts. The correlation between degree of sensory incorporation
and prior precognitive dream experience will be measured, as described before [Watt et al 2015].
We suggest that a combined controlled sleep laboratory study and EEG or event-related potential
(ERP) indices would be instrumental in AD patients who are taking AChEIs compared with that of AD
patients who are taking placebo to find out any effect of AChEIs on EEG and ERP and precognitive
dreaming and a possible causal correlation between EEGs and precognitive dreaming and dream content.
Cortical AChE activity will be measured in both groups and spearman correlation coefficient will be
calculated between the cortical AChE, AChEI and Ach concentrations with dream content/precognitive
dreaming.
Also, to test the hypothesis, it would be also useful to investigate whether AD patients who score lower
on a Wechsler Memory ScaleIII [Seelye et al 2009], are more likely to have a higher report of precognitive
dreaming. This is especially important in the case that AD patients premember an event, but cannot
remember to report that event.
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4.4
An attempt to relate Option II to biochemistry
The following arguments suggest that the findings about AD patients are consistent with Option II based
on ZEO.
4.4.1
Consistency with the findings about AD patients
The following represents an attempt to understand these effects assuming Option II that is ZEO.
1. Acetylcholine (ACh) is a neutral transmitter involved with synaptic transitions and important for
the formation of memories understood as learned associations and behaviors to be distinguished from
genuine subjective memories. In TGD framework ACh promotes in a healthy brain the formation
of memories basically by allowing connect axonal flux tubes temporarily to longer linear structures
so that associations can form.
If the postsynaptic axon becomes dysfunctional neural processing partially fails: this is like cutting
a linear chain. This could happen in AD [Bredesen 2017, Pitkänen 2018b]. Nerve pulse conduction
fails also if Ach is not available so that nerve pulses are not mediated over the synaptic clefts and
formation of signal pathways for dark photons signals is prevented.
2. AChE promotes the decay of ACh so that it stays for a shorter time period in the synaptic contact.
AChE inhibitor (AChEI) causes an opposite effect. The longer ACh lifetime is in turn expected
to promote the formation of short term memories in the behavioristic sense via stronger synaptic
strengths and would thus help in AD. This is true if the postsynaptic axon conducts nerve pulses.
But doesn’t plaque formation effectively cut the axon so that the strengthening of the synaptic
connection is useless in AD?
3. If linear memories do not survive in AD due to the failure of nerve pulse conduction along the
postsynaptic axons, their formation is a waste of the metabolic energy. If this is prevented, the
metabolic energy could be used to form non-linear and holistic right-brain memories as 2- or 3-D
structures. These memories would be subjective mental images rather than behaviors. The system
behind holistic cognition might come in rescue.
4. Consider now the question of Dr. Reza Rastmanesh. It would seem that AChE could promote the
transition to the mode in which holistic subjective memories dominate by shortening the life-times
of ACh molecules. Even the reduction of ACh level could favor holistic cognition since ACh is useless
if the postsynaptic axons are dysfunctional. AChE inhibitors would favor synaptic transmission but
in AD this would not help if axon is not able to conduct. Is the transition to a holistic mood the
optimal response?
But if the memories are subjective in this case, it would seem that precognition is not possible contrary to the reported evidence including prophetic dreams!
5. This paradox disappears if the change of the arrow of time means change of the direction of nerve
pulse conduction. The approximately exponential attenuation of signals along an axon with plaques
would look like exponential amplification in the standard time direction, and the nerve pulse conduction could be possible! Also now neural transmitters would be needed in the synaptic transmission
to connect the flux tubes to longer units.
4.4.2
Precognitive dreams as communications of episodic memories between conscious entities having different arrows of time?
The precognitive dreams suggest also the subjective memories of future or their analogs are possible.
Self as a conscious entity can have only memories of previous experiences of subjective past and direct
episodic memories of future are not possible since it does not yet exist for self.
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One could perhaps overcome this restriction. Suppose that the MB of the sleeping brain has a nonstandard arrow of time. Dreams could correspond to the wake-up of some part of the MB of the sleeping
brain by BSFR. It would have the standard arrow of time and would contain information about the
sensory mental images of the sleeping brain. Could this information be experienced as a dream? Not all
dreams need be precognitive since the sensory input from geometric could come only from the interior of
the CD of the sleeping brain.
(Continued on Part II)
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Baer, W. NMN, Conscious Life Beyond Death (Part V)
564
Article
Conscious Life Beyond Death (Part V)
Wolfgang NMN Baer*
Nascent Systems Inc. & Naval Postgraduate School, Monterey, CA
Abstract
Part V of this Article contains the following Sections:
Appendix A1. Action-Flow Diagram of a Conscious Being
Appendix A2. Equivalence of Action, Energy or Momentum
Appendix A3. Physics of an isolated System
Appendix A4. The Quantum and Classic Approximation
Appendix A5. Action-Flow Diagrams in Quantum Nomenclature
References & Notes
*
Correspondence: c/o Steven Mitchell. Email: smitc1@brockport.edu Note: This article was written by Prof. Wolfgang NMN
Baer and is published posthumously. Wolfgang NMN Baer, Ph.D. (in Physics) was an Associate Professor of Information
Sciences (Ret), Naval Postgraduate School, Monterey, CA, USA, & Research Director, Nascent Systems Inc., Carmel Valley,
CA, USA.
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Baer, W. NMN, Conscious Life Beyond Death (Part V)
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Appendix A1. The Action-Flow Diagram of a Conscious Being
To model what a human actually experiences in his eyewitness here and now we must explicitly include a
symbolic mechanism that measures the MoR from the 3rd-person perspective. To do so requires
identifying an action-flow cycle, labeled by model-meaning loop (a,b,c) in Figure A1.1, into the 1stperson observable here and now of the basic existence cycle. This brings an ontological interpretation of
the operational symbols that implement the MoR, into the diagram as shown below.
External Action Flow
ax = Dcx(Ax); Detector cells externals, convert Unknowable external action into recordable type
sensations
ax = Mx (ax); Measurement processing, convert recordable type sensations into observable qualia type
sensations
ax’ = comp(ai,ax); Display of qualia, comparison with prediction produces an internal and external
corrected (ax’) and (ai’)
ax’ = Xx( ax’); eXternal coordination processing, higher level to cell coordination
Ax` = Acx(ax`); Actuator cells externals, convert control signals into Unknowable external action
Internal Action Flow
ai’ = comp(ai,ax); Display of predicted qualia is compared with external display to produce a corrected
internal observable action signal that flows into the eXplanatory Process X(ai’).
E,T = X(ai’); The eXplanatory process converts corrected sensations into energy and time field. These
physical values parameterize what is seen and felt in the 1st-person perspective.
P, Q = Ac(E,T); Actuator cells experience flow of action as time and action flow rate, which we call
energy. The momentum (P) and quantity of space (Q) occupied are internal model
parameters that propagate along the action flow line.
P’, Q’ = Z(P,Q ); Generalized time propagator function that transports one phase state to another. Z is not
a standard classic function. I chose it to include isolated systems that contain their
own clock.
E’,T’= Dc(P’,Q’); Modeled detector cells that generate the expected 1st-person conscious experience.
ai = M(E,T);
The model measurement M() process converts energy-time field into an observable
display. In this example, the memory recall of an expected apple location is depicted.
Model Meaning Flow
P’, Q’ = Z(P,Q); Looking into the Model of Reality from a 3rd-person point of view. This is not the
processed output of a factory, but images from a walk through the machine room,
watching it push and hammer the eventual product in place. The meaning of each
action contributing to a product feature is here recorded as an ‘a’ type action
a = Pm( Z ); Project the proposed meaning of the working symbols of the model into the theoretical
display of what it might be.
a’ = Registration(a); Errors in registration, volume or content provided learning experiences.
Z()’ = Lx(a’); Learn explanation modifies the Z function that controls the changes applied to the P,Q
parameters to calculate P’,Q’.
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Baer, W. NMN, Conscious Life Beyond Death (Part V)
Ax`=Acx(ax`)
ax=Mx(ax)
ax`=Xx(ax`)
comp
Boundary of
Observable
Mental
Experience
566
ax = Dcx(Ax)
(1)
1
Memory recall of
expected apple
(6)
(b)
(2)
eXplanatory
Process()
Lx()
(c)
Model
meaning
loop
Dc( )
Ac( )
E,T
Measurement
Process()
E`,T`
(3)
P
P`
QZ= Q`
Observable
refresh
loop
(5)
(4)
(a)
Pm()
3
Model of Reality (MoR)
Fig. A1-1 Model of a Conscious Being
Unknowable external Reality (U)
All the activity depicted in Figure A1.1 happens internally to this bigger Self. The boundary of the Self’s
observable mental experience, when operating in the standard behind-the-eyes position, is the dashed line
at the top of the dark action cycle designated by the label (1). This activity on the mental side of both
external ‘Dcx’ and internal ‘Dc’ detector cell interface is parameterized by the E,T parameters because
these describe the action flowing through the 1st-person perspective. The action on the physical side of the
action flow, including what we believe is in the Unknowable and in the Model of Reality that represents
the Unknowable, is described by the motion of material as Schrödinger originally described it as a real
wave function in a real medium. [A1-1] The quantum complex wave function (see Appendix 4) is an
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Baer, W. NMN, Conscious Life Beyond Death (Part V)
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approximation when wave oscillation amplitudes are small enough to make the material motions linear
and reversible.
The MoR itself uses a classic physics model of the external world in which the average momentum vector
P and the quantity position vector Q And combinations thereof are used to define the action structure ‘A’
of interest. This structure is normally hidden behind the “man with the apple” reality view. When the
system of interest is the whole of Reality, Z( ) models its behavior in the MoR at (4). Here we are
revealing the classic physical parameters whose execution predicts future expectations.
In many ‘Self’ action-flow diagrams we place the “man with an apple” icon overlaid thereby hiding the
working symbols [A1-2] in the model because it is much easier to operate one’s model through their
meaning icons than the working symbols. It’s like driving a car using gas and break pedals as working
symbols. They control but do not implement the actual motion of the automobile.
Critical to the life-death cycle is elimination of the external action flow by the “I already know flow”,
which is justified when the MoR has been tested and is believed to generate reliable predictions. In that
case the real external interface stimulation is slowly supplanted by simulated MoR operation, and in the
extreme, the ‘Self’ eliminates the external communication and operates as an isolated being we have
identified as one’s ‘Soul’, introduced in Chapter 2.
Appendix A2 – Equivalence of Action, Energy or Momentum Descriptions
(Ref CAT Section 4.4.2.2)
We will show how momentum, energy, and the action picture are related to each other. We will
demonstrate that a system when described in classic degrees of freedom (f) actually provides a phasespace measurement result within the structure of the f-axes the conscious being has been able to build into
its MoR. If no measurement of the f-axis is available in which to record the sensor stimulation, the signal
cannot be remembered in the MoR and hence cannot be processed.
When an adequate f-axes structure is available, the measurement result can be transformed into a timeenergy framework. We can then visualize a single additional time axis (T) that does not provide any
additional physical content because ‘T’ is calculated as a function of the state of all the f-axes available to
the conscious being. (See Appendix A3)
A third equivalent description is provided by the action flow between all the internal degrees of freedom.
T2W
Q21
E21
P•V =EW
Axis
T1W
Q11
E11
VW
T1W
Q12
E12
T2W
Q22
E22
ΔQ2
V1
Q2
ΔQ1
ΔA21
Q1
With Force
Point
Without
Force Point
TW=QW/VW
Fig A2-1 Action flow described in energy or momentum terms
(ref. CAT-Fig. 4.4-5)
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We use only two degrees of freedom ‘Q1, Q2’ for graphic clarity. Figure A2.1 shows the system trajectory
of an apple recorded along the motion of the apple’s system point. The action of the apple appearing in
each axis gives a momentum ‘P1, P2’ in intervals ‘dP1, dP2’. During the first segment from the origin, the
action moves along each axis at constant velocity and along its T-time line at a composite velocity ‘VW’.
The motion is a straight line, and no action transfers during this segment.
Next the apple entered a curved T-line segment. During this segment, action flows from the Q2 to the Q1
axis. At each instant the distance dTW swept out along the T-line projects into smaller dq2 intervals as the
apple turns away from the q2 axis and projects into a larger dQ1 interval as it turns toward the Q1 axis. The
momentum ‘P1(Q1) and extension ΔQ1’ along the Q1 axis decreases and along the Q2 axis ‘ΔQ2and
P2’increases.
A change in momentum during a time interval implies the presence of two forces. The force from the Q2
axis on the Q1 axis is:
Eq. A2-1
F21 = ΔP2 /ΔTW = ΔdAw/(ΔTW ∙ ΔQ2) => d2A/dTWdQ2.A similar
calculation applies to the action lost by the Q2 axis only where the momentum density increases
and therefore the sign of the momentum change is negative.
Eq. A2-2
F12 = -ΔP1 /ΔTW = -ΔdAw/(ΔTW ∙ ΔQ1) => -d2A/dTWdP1.
The flow of action from any degree of freedom interval (ΔQf) to any other (ΔQf’’) can therefore be
described as a network of action flow. We believe action- flow diagrams are the most understandable
physical representation of how isolated action structures exist and how they interact with each other in a
multiverse being cosmology. This fact anchors the action flow in experimentally grounded physics. [Aa2-1]
[Aa2-1] See Mandelung Equations
Appendix A3 – Physics of an Isolated System
(Ref CAT Appendix A4-2)
A3.1 Classic System with External Time
In classic physics the evolution of an isolated the system is defined by the functions,
Eq. A3-1
q1(t), q2(t) …qf(t) … , p1(t), p2(t) …pf(t)…
where: qf(t) = the generalized coordinate or position at a time t
pf(t) = the generalized momentum or desire to change at a time t
t = an external time parameter
f = the degrees of freedom of change available to the system
These 2f expressions are solutions to the equations of motion. They define the movement of all parts
belonging to a system. They imply a rigorous connection between the system and time. The evolution of
the system is completely defined by the progress of time and is thereby deterministic. In classic physics
the physical basis for such a connection was simply assumed by Newton. Time is imposed from the
outside and drives change relentlessly forward. They are not isolated.
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A3.2 Classic System with an Internal Clock
To isolate a system, we must replace Newton’s external time with an internal clock. Mathematically we
can add the motion of a clock as a zeroth degree of freedom
Eq. A3-2
q0, p0(q0), q1(q0), q2(q0) …qf(q0) …,p1(q0), p2(q0) …pf(q0)…
where: pf(q0) = the clock momentum, i.e., desire of the clock change at a time q0
q0 = the position of the clock pointer
The motion of this additional degree of freedom is summarized by the motion of the clock pointer q0. The
clock pointer is either the source of a control signal that drives or accompanies the evolution of the
remaining degrees of freedom. The physical mechanism for such control or monitor functions need not be
specified. Like Newton, we just assume it exists. However, q0 is not known a priori. One condition is
missing. The state of the system with its own clock cannot be predicted without a measurement of at least
one of the parameters in the list above. All the rest can then be calculated from the 2f+1 expressions
known to have defined the event under Newton’s time.
A3.3 An Isolated System Measures Its Own Time and Space
This implies that according to known physics, outside observers who are isolated from the System under
consideration cannot determine when its here-and-now state is until they make a measurement. Outside
observers may learn, through many measurements the distribution of a spectrum of here-and-now states a
System may take on. But which specific here-and-now state the system is in requires a measurement that
breaks the isolation. During periods of isolation the system runs at its own time and occupies its own
space. If this has a familiar ring it is because the random nature of quantum theory is directly explained in
CAT by the fact that quantum systems are electromagnetically isolated from outside observers until a
measurement is made. Exactly where and when they interact cannot be determined.
A3.4 Single Degree of Freedom Representation of a Classic System
An alternative to adding an additional physical clock is to calculate the time state of a system only from
the 2f classic parameters. Assume we have completely defined a system by listing all its observable pf’s
and qf’s at one instance in a single row. We simply assign some single value function ‘T= T(pf,qf)’ to
each row of values as their instantaneous time state variable ‘T’ and supply the missing condition by
assuming the energy ‘E’ is constant. We therefore recognize the time and energy expressions as one way
to specify a system, and the individual position and momentum as an alternative way to specify the same
system. Figure A3.1 provides a comparison between the two ways of looking at such systems.
Transform from q,p
system to E,T system
Transform from E,T
system to pf,qf system
E = E(…pf,qf…)
T = T(…pf,qf…)
qf = qf(E,T,…αf-1,βf-1..)
pf = pf(E,T,… αf-1,βf-1..)
Fig A3-1 Canonical Transformations in Hamilton Jacoby formulation
of classical physics
It is very important to understand that the behavior of the system is completely described by the ‘pf,qf’
parameter list. Describing the same event with another set of symbols does not change or add physical
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properties to the system under consideration. All that has happened is that the conscious entity observing
the system is no longer fixed in the 3rd-person p,q reference frame but rather rides along with the motion
of momentum in each qf-axis thereby experiencing all the action flowing through the system at a rate ‘E’
for a time interval ‘T’ in the 1st-person perspective.
A3.5 Action Calculation in Canonical Coordinate Frames
When the system point trajectory is defined in the position and momenta in all its degrees of freedom, the
action is given by:
Eq. A3-3 dA(pf,qf) =Σf{(∂A(qf,pf)/∂qf)∙dqf +(∂A(qf,pf)/∂pf)∙dpf} =~ Σf {pf∙dqf +½∙dqf∙dpf}.
The derivative of the first term is the definition of momentum in each degree of freedom while the second
term is the change in the length moved during each interval when the momentum changes in the interval.
We’ll show in A3.7 that the change in momentum also changes the action so the ‘½∙dqf∙dpf’ term is the
action transmitted or received in the fth degree of freedom that flows to another degree of freedom.
When we look at the same system in an ‘E,T’ coordinate frame, the form of action is A(E,T,…αf-1,βf-1..).
In this form, all the derivatives are constants ‘α, β’ except for the two shown.
Eq. A3-4 dA(E,T) = (∂A(E,T,..αf-1,βf-1..)/∂T) ∙dT +(∂A(E,T,…αf-1,βf-1..)/∂E)∙dT = E∙dT + T∙dE
Here the E∙dT term is the action in the ‘dT’ interval and integrating over the entire period of the event
gives the action A(E,T) = E•T, where E is the average energy. The ‘T∙dE’ is the change in action at time
T. Since T and E are single global parameters, if the action changes at any one time point it must flow to
or from another point in time within the same event or interact with an external event.
A3.6 Approximately Isolated System
In one specification, the Action of an event is defined by energy and time. shown here as a function of all
degrees of freedom in a three-part ‘Whole’ consisting of ‘You’, ‘I’ and the rest of the universe ‘U’.
Eq. A3-5 A(E,T)= A(…qfU(E,T),pfU(E,T),..,…qfY(E,T),pfY(E,T),..,…qfI(E,T),pfI(E,T),..).
Here T defines the motion of a Whole system point moving with constant velocity along a trajectory
marked off by constant distance intervals through a multidimensional coordinate frame composed of all
degrees of freedom “fI,fY,f U”. The ability to assign degrees of freedom to ‘You’, ‘I’, or ‘U’ indicates these
parts represent identifiable components with large actions defining their own existence and relatively
small interactions describing their communications. It is therefore practical to think of ourselves as
isolated systems first and then add our communication actions as perturbations.
Equation A3-5 bundles the degrees-of-freedom into action forms. The isolated action description of the
rest of the Universe would be
Eq. A3-6
EU • ΔTU = ΔAU = ΣUf pUf • ΔqUf .
By subtracting the E,T term and rearranging the time interval so they can all be added we achieve the
formula for Hamilton’s Principle Function ‘S’.
Eq. A3-7 SU = ΣΔTU { ΣUf pUf • ΔqUf /ΔTU - E } •ΔTU = ΣΔTU { LU } •ΔTU.
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‘L’ here is the Lagrangian energy term often used in physics and other disciplines when optimization of
one’s Time path is involved. The usefulness of isolated systems as a starting point for adding
communication interfaces is proof that physics assumes isolated systems are real even if they are hard to
see.
A3.7 Isolated or Interacting Systems
Whether the action is visualized as a total action happening in ΔT or whether it is first observed as
activity distributed in a large number of degrees of freedom, the amount of action should be identical for
an isolated system. The action function ‘S()’ in Equation A3-7 would be categorically zero if the
momentum/space and energy/time values were collected at the same time. In the CAT model this is not
the case. Whether the action is described from a 1st-person ‘E,T’ or a 3rd-person ‘pf,qf’ perspective it is an
independently real event and should have its own amount of action no matter how it is measured.
The action function has several classes of uses:
– S is the name of an expression that models the system
– ‘S() = 0’ is a number of units that, if zero, should therefore be a minimum criteria for isolation.
– ‘S() = const’ is a number of units of action that in net differ sent and received
– ‘δS = 0’ indicates a variational condition on the T-path that constrains its actual motion to
force-equilibrium paths.
– ‘dS = dS ‘ an infinitesimal action that is small enough so that its parts can be added together
with negligible error
– ‘ΔS = ∫dS’ a finite amount of action derived by summing
Action in its different categories of utility all support the basic concept that any system can be modeled by
a network of action.
The extent to which action structures appear in physics either explicitly or implicitly gives action-flow
diagrams the equivalence to more traditional energy, momentum-based formulations of physics. This
equivalence is submitted as evidence of the validity of action diagrams as valid physical problem
formulations.
Appendix A4 – The Quantum and Classic Approximation
Here we make the claim that the action-flow model of Conscious Action Theory is identical to quantum
wave description of Reality in the limit that the amplitude of ‘ψ’ oscillation are small enough to avoid
breaching the containment of the flow. As evidence, we submit an action-flow diagram that explains the
relationship between the everyday world and the quantum reality discovered in the last 100 years.
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Fig. A4.1 Action flow to quantum function overlay mapping
(Ref CAT Figure 1.2-2)
Figure A4.1 represents the basic processes of classic and quantum physics. Von Neumann identified two
distinct components in quantum theory. Process II addresses the deterministic time evolution of an
isolated quantum system state. Process I addresses the operation of a measurement interaction between
the quantum system and the world of classic objects being moved forward by Process 0. Process 0
describes the classic object world and uses position and momentum to define our System as an object in
our space and time.
Here is a break our space is defined by degrees of freedom that are incorporated in a corresponding set of
f-axes. These f-axes may or may not contain a distribution of action.
Compatibility with Quantum Theory:
Detailed presentation documenting the equivalence of CAT and quantum theory is shown in AppendixA4 and Baer (2020 Chapter 5). The compatibility rests on the distinction introduced between the classic
Action parameter in the CAT model, which represents the material of an event happening onto itself, and
Schrödinger’s wave function ‘ψ’, which in the standard Copenhagen interpretation of quantum mechanics
represents the probability amplitude of measuring a physical value, such as position or momentum of a
particle. It is an unfortunate result of history and zeitgeist during the early 20th Century, which eschewed
any reference to the conscious observer, that Reality was eliminated from physics. Even worse was the
popularity of the Positivist philosophy[A4-1], which discouraged any attempt to assign meanings to the
working ‘A’ type symbols of our reality model. Although a large number of quantum symbol
interpretations have been put forward [A4-2], the standard answer to such proposals is that while they may
be pedagogically useful, they are misleading artistic conceptions and only the ‘A’ type symbols should be
trusted to represent Reality because they work. Thus, quantum theory has become an instrumentalist
theory and scientists should “shut up and calculate” the tested working symbols rather than waste time
asking why such calculations work.
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The CAT formulation generally agrees with the instrumentalist approach because there is a bigger error in
quantum theory. The error involves the elimination of the observer and the belief in an independent
objective world. Until this is corrected, quantum symbol interpretations are misleading. Even Werner
Heisenberg, one of the founders of quantum theory, thought quantum physics was the physics of the
system that seeks to know the world not the physics of the world itself. CAT is a physics of ‘You’, ‘I’,
and the rest of the conscious system’s ‘U’. Whether we seek to know the world or are just a conscious
system playing around, the fact is if Werner Heisenberg is right, quantum and CAT physics are describing
the same world.
The CAT model of a conscious being uses a double cycle of observables, one connecting to external
reality and one connected to the Model of Reality. Figure 1.1 identifies the icons of a 1st-person view of
objects with a 3rd-person view of objective ‘reality’ as the spatial cross sections in the mental phase of the
action cycles. The division between the mental and physical phases of the being is marked by a
transformation between physical material composed of mass and charge and the internal mental phase of
the same material. It is a transformation of language we use in our Model of Reality not the flow of action
that is changed. On one side, gravito-electric forces propagate from past to a future material
configuration. On the other mental side, psychic forces accompany the action- return flow.
Here we make the claim that the action-flow model of Conscious Action Theory is identical to quantum
wave description of ‘Reality’, in the limit that the amplitude of ‘ψ’ oscillation are small enough to avoid
breaching the containment of the flow. Much like a spring bouncing back unchanged from its original
position, any system will oscillate around its undisturbed state trajectory where wave description of
‘Reality’ is appropriate. This means the CAT model working symbolic operator ‘AR’ can be replaced with
quantum equivalent expressions of action. This means all of quantum theory is the small amplitude
approximation to the CAT formulation.
Appendix A5 – Action-Flow Diagrams in Quantum Nomenclature
The infolded action-flow diagram between space-and-time-separated action densities introduced in Figure
4.5-3 is here reproduced to identify how action-flow cycles can be used to visualize quantum theory.
When volumes are small enough, the cyclic action flowing between densities can be represented by a
flow between the degrees of freedom of their centers in a complex Cartesian coordinate frame as shown
in Figure A5-1 below.
The reason a complex Minkowski space is useful was to show
how energy times time ‘H∙dt’ represents action flowing
through the observer while ‘px∙dx’ represents the 3rd-person
theoretical side-view experience of the flow. Combined with
the further recognition that the difference between these two
action flows represents Hamilton’s Principle. Function ‘S’ is
the interaction between the event of interest (‘Apple’) and the
rest of the ‘Universe’ (‘U’). It is through minimization of this
function that the actual trajectory of the event of interest is
calculated.
Fig A5-1 Space time Action flow
parameterization
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Minkowski realized that if a complex spatial 4-vector were defined as:
Eq. A5.2-1
dx = dx + dy + dz + i∙vc∙dt,
and a complex momentum 4-vector were defined as,
Eq. A5.2-2
p = px + py + pz + i∙H /vc,
then the dot product of these vectors would automatically give Hamilton’s Principle Function, often
simply called the Action Function,
dS = p• dx = px∙dx + py∙dx + pz∙dx - H∙dt,
Eq. A5.2-3
while the dot product of the complex spatial 4-vector would give the state interval squared between two
state positions in 4-space,
ds2 = dx2 + dy2 + dz 2 - vc2∙dt2.
Eq. A5.2-4
The convenience of this notation popularized Einstein’s special relativity theory and was taken over in
quantum theory where Schrödinger’s wave function ‘ψ’ is defined as
2∙π
ψ = e (i/h)∙ ∫0 (dS(φ)/dφ)∙dφ.
Eq. A5.2-5
Here the Action function is written in polar coordinates where ‘φ’ is the phase angle around the activity
cycle and ‘h’ is Planks constant and ‘dS(φ)/dφ’ is the angular momentum. Of historic interest is that
Schrödinger did not postulate a complex wave function. The complex form first appeared in 1926 when
Erwin Madelung published an article in which he discussed the hydrodynamic analogy between particle
trajectories and fluid mechanics.1 CAT includes the conscious observer by identifying the model of reality
as the activity happening when a model operator executes the instructions specified by the theory. A
fundamental, but questionable, assumption of contemporary quantum theory is that nothing can, even in
principle, be known inside an action of size ‘h’. If correct, ‘dS(φ)/dφ’ can be replaced by the constant
average angular momentum per cycle ‘h’ and the integral can be carried out to get the full description of
the motion in a fundamental cycle as the form
ψ = e2∙π∙ i .
Eq. A5.2-6
This form represents the mathematical equivalent of the form of a graphic action cycle containing a
quantity of action ‘h’ that is visualized as a closed loop of change.
Eq. A5.2-7
Adding this primitive form gives two parallel cycles,
Eq. A5.2 -7
=
2∙π∙ i
e
+
+e
2∙π∙i
= 2∙ e2∙π∙ i
Multiplying this primitive form gives two sequential cycles that double the circumference,
Eq. A5.2-8
=
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2∙π∙ i
e
•e
2∙π∙i
= e 2∙2∙π∙ i
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Combining multiplication and addition, we get a complex of geometric forms that are mathematically
described as a Fourier transform where ‘n’ is the number of cycles and ‘an’ is the number of parallel loops
having ‘n’ cycles.
Eq. A5.2-7
+
+
2∙2∙π∙ i
2∙e
2∙π∙i
+ 4∙e
n∙
+ e2∙π∙i = ∑an∙e 2∙π∙i
Such complex forms satisfy the Schrödinger equation (see A5-1). Two quantum systems defined by two
action structures ‘a’ and ‘b’ can only interact by moving an action structure ‘c’ also composed of hcycles.
before
+
n∙2∙π∙i
+
∑bn∙e
n∙2∙π∙i
n∙
+ e2∙2∙π∙ i + 2∙e2∙π∙i = ∑cn∙e 2∙π∙i
interaction
after
∑an∙e
+
∑a`n∙e
n∙2∙π∙i
+
∑b`n∙e
n∙2∙π∙i
This example shows why quantum theory can be formulated in the Schrödinger and Heisenberg wave
picture because both Fermions and Bosons linear sums are standard fundamental motions. The picture is
valid as long as no action structure is allowed inside ‘h’.[A5-1]
Received June 28, 2022; Accepted July 28, 2022
References & Notes
Abstract and Prolog
[1] External forces cause bodies to fall and decay, internal forces case bodies to write essays
[2] Contemporary science cannot explain consciousness Chalmers, D.J. (1997) “Facing up to the problem
of consciousness”, Journal of Consciousness Studies, 4:3-46. Reprinted in (J. Shear, ed), Explaining
Consciousness: The Hard Problem, MIT Press, URL
http://www.geocities.com/computerresearchassociated/consciousness.htm
Levine, J. (1983) Materialism and Qualia: The Explanatory Gap”, Pacific Philosophical Quarterly,
64:354-361
Pinker, Steven (1997), How the Mind Works, W.W. Norton & Company Co., p. 146
D’Espagnat, B. (1979) “The Quantum Theory and Reality”, Scientific American, Nov. 1, 1979
Rowlands, P. (2007) From Zero to infinity. World Scientific ISBN-13: 978- 9812709141
Rovelli, C. (2016) Reality Is Not What It Seems: The Journey to Quantum Gravity, Penguin Random
House
Chopra, D.; Kafatos, M. (2017) You are the Universe, Random House ISBN 978-0-307-88916-4,
Note: See initial chapters for excellent critique of science
[3] Conscious Action Theory background
Baer, W. (2010) “Introduction to the Physics of Consciousness”, Journal of Consciousness Studies, 17,
No. 3-4, 2010, pp. 165-91
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Baer, W. (2013) Chapter 4: “A Conceptual Framework to Embed Conscious Experience in Physical
Processes”, The Unity of Mind, Brain and World: Current Perspectives on a Science of
Consciousness, Cambridge University Press
Whitney, K.C. (2013) Algebraic Chemistry; Applications and Origins, Nova Publishers, N.Y.,
ISBN:978-1-62257-861-0, Note: Part II and Part III show how detailed expansion of classic
physics can provide a simple explanation of ionization potentials. No need for quantum exclusion
principle.
Baer, W. (2015) “On the Necessity of Including the Observer in Physical Theory”, Cosmos and
History: The Journal of Natural and Social Philosophy, Vol. 11, No. 2, 2015
URLhttp://www.cosmosandhistory.org/index.php/journal/article/viewFile/492/825
Baer, W. (2018) “Introduction to Cognitive Action Theory”, J. Phys.: Conf. Ser. 1251 012008, URL
https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1742-6596/1251/1/012008
Baer, W. (2020) Conscious Action Theory: an introduction to the event oriented world view,
Routledge Press, ISBN: 978-1-138-66746-4 (hbk)
Lake, J. (2020) “A review of Conscious Action Theory: An Introduction to the Event-Oriented World
View, (Baer, 2020), Journal of Consciousness Exploration & Research, Vol, 11, No. 5
Nunn, C. (2020) “Conscious Action Theory: An Introduction to the Event-Oriented World View”,
reviewed, Journal of Consciousness Studies, Vol. 27, No. 7-8, pp. 255-259
[4] Idealists and Materialists
Boswell, J. (1791) Life of Samuel Johnson, Penguin Classics, 2008, Note: Samuel Johnson’s refutation
of Bishop Berkeley’s assertion that the moon is only there because someone (like god) is watching
it.
According to Kant, it is vital always to distinguish between the distinct realms of phenomena and
noumena. Phenomena are the appearances that constitute our experience; noumena are the
(presumed) things themselves, which constitute reality. Search Wikipedia, “Kantian unknowables”.
In this essay, phenomena are 1st-person observables and noumena are visualized but not equal to
3rd-person observables.
Wittgenstein, L. (1973) Philosophical Investigations Rev. 3, Translator G.E.M. Anscombe, Prentice
Hall, ISBN-13 078-0024288103, Note: unknowables are parameters in our theories that named
inferences that we believe happen but cannot be directly observed, i.e., light, energy.
1.1. Development of Physical Action Theory
[1] See Abstract and Prolog [2], Chalmers
[2] Short and incomplete list of physicists who developed an alternative quantum theory:
Schrödinger, E. (1996) What is Life, Cambridge University Press, ISBN 0-521-09397-x
https://archive.org/details/WhatIsLife_201708/page/n1/mode/2up
Bohm, D.; Hiley, B.J. (1993) The Undivided Universe, Routledge, ISBN 0-415-06588-7
Everett, H. (1957) “‘Relative State’ Formulation of Quantum Theory”, Rev. Mod. Phys. Vol. 29, No. 3
Penrose, R. (1991) The Emperor’s New Mind, Penguin Books, ISBN 0-14-01.4534-6
Stapp, H.P. (1998) “Whiteheadian Process and Quantum Theory” http://wwwphysics.lbl.gov/~stapp/WHD.doc
Vitiello, G. (2001) My double unveiled: The dissipative quantum model of the brain, John Benjamins,
ISBN 9027251525
Tegmark, M. (2014) “Our Mathematical Universe”, Random House, LLC, ISBN 978-0-307-59980-3,
Chapter 10, p. 243
Reddiger, M. (2017) “The Madelung Picture as a Foundation of Geometric Quantum Theory”,
arXiv:1509.00467v5 [quant-ph]0, Aug. 22, 2017
See Abstract and Prolog [3]
[3] D’Espagnat, B. (1979) “The Quantum Theory and Reality”, Scientific American, Nov. 1, 1979
[4] See Figure 3.1 for a more detailed picture of the optical field of view
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1.2. The Action-Flow Diagram of a Conscious Being
[1] Op.cid. Baer (2020) p. 283-287 “I am to my model, as god is to reality.’
1.3. The Multiverse Cosmology of Conscious Systems
[1] Ontological interpretations of quantum abound:
Blood, C. (2009) “Constraints on Interpretations of Quantum Mechanics”, Cornell University Library,
http://arxiv.org/abs/0912.2985 (for a review of interpretations)
[2] Op.cid. Baer (2020) See Section 4.4, Translating the graphic action model to physics nomenclature
2. Life and Death in Conscious Action Theory
[1] Van Lommel, P. (2010) Consciousness Beyond Life, The Science of the Near-Death Experience,
HarperCollins, ISBN 978-0061777264.
[2] Van Lommel, P.; Van Wees, R., PhD; Meyers, V.; Elfferich, I. (2010) “Near-Death Experience in
Survivors of Cardiac Arrest: A Prospective Study in the Netherlands”, The Lancet, Vol. 358, No.
9298, pp. 2039-2045, Dec. 15, 2001, DOI: www.dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(01)07100-8
[3] Lake, J. (2019) “The Near-death experience (NDE) as an inherited predisposition: Possible genetic,
epigenetic, neural and symbolic mechanisms?”, Medical Hypotheses, Vol. 126, pp. 135-148
3. Philosophical Proof
[1] Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (2016) “Dualism”, URL
https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/dualism/
[2] Cahill, T. (2006) Mysteries of the Middle Ages, Anchor Books, ISBN: 978-0-385-49556-1, p. 209,
“Thomas Aquinas Replaces Plato with Aristotle”, p. 233
[3] Mach, E. (1867) “Contributions to the Analysis of the Sensations” (tr. by C. M. Williams), Open
Court, Chicago
[4] Gibson, J.J. (1950) The Perception of the Visual World, Houghton Mifflin, 1950, Call No. Bf 241.G5,
see figure “The Visual Ego of Ernst Mach”
[5] Baer, W. (1972) “The Crystal Spectra of Pm in CaCl”, Phd Thesis in Physics, University of
California, Berkeley, see Appendix
[6] Reductionism fails to explain Consciousness Chalmers, D.J. (1997) “Facing Up to the Problem of
Consciousness”, Journal of Consciousness Studies, 4:3-46, URL http://consc.net/papers/facing.pdf
[7] Velmans, M. (2000) Understanding Consciousness, Routledge Press, London
ISBN 0-415-186552, p. 174, see Reflexive Monism Projection Postulate
[8] Dual-eye or byscopic device references
Baer, N.; Baer, W. (2012) “Interest-Attention Feedback System for Separating Cognitive Awareness into
Different Left and Right Sensor Displays,” Patent Application No. 13/455,134, filed April 25, 2012
Baer, W. Multi-Eye Input Experiments for UAV Image Navigation and Control, SPIE Defense & Security
Symposium, April 5-9, 2010, Orlando, Florida, USA, Paper No. 7697-45
DS122: Signal Processing, Sensor Fusion, and Target Recognition XIX
3.2. Physical Proof
[1] Classic Physics rest on the metaphysical assumptions that mass, charge, space, and time exist a priori.
The physics of the objective phase of a CAT action cycle is defined by the following texts.
Goldstein, H. (1965) Classical Mechanics, Addison-Wesley, p. 1
Jackson, J.D. (1962) Classical Electrodynamics, John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
[2] Op.Cid., Baer (2020), Chapter 5
[3] Lehar, S. (2002) The World in Your Head, Psychology Press, ISBN-10-0805841768
3.3. Psychological Proof
[1] Internal and external signal interface in the neuro-glial interface
Verkhratsky, A.; Butt, A. (2007) Glial Neurobiology, Whiley, ISBN978-0-470-01561-6
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Mitterauer, B.; Baer, W. (2020) “Disorders of Human Consciousness in the Tri-partite Synapses”,
Medical Hypothesis, Vol. 136, March 2020, URL: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mehy.2019.109523
Pereira, A. (2003) “The Quantum Mind-Classical Brain Problem”, NeuroQuantology, 2003; 1: 94-118,
http://www.ags.uni-sb.de/~cp/sagwas04/Pereira-NeuroQuantology-2003.pdf
[2] Whinnery, J. (2016) “The Trigger of Extreme Gravity:
Dr. James Winnery’s NDE Research”, www.near-death.com/experiences/triggers/extremegravity.html
[3]Mahler, M.S. (1975) The Psychological Birth of the Human Infant, Basic Books Perseus Books Group,
ISBN-13: 978-0-465-09554-4, p. 3
[4] Van Lommel, P. (2010) Consciousness Beyond Life, The Science of the Near-Death Experience,
HarperCollins, ISBN 978-0061777264.
[5] Van Lommel, P.; Van Wees, R., PhD; Meyers, V.; Elfferich, I. (2010) “Near-Death Experience in
Survivors of Cardiac Arrest: A Prospective Study in the Netherlands”, The Lancet, Vol. 358, No.
9298, pp. 2039-2045, Dec. 15, 2001, DOI: www.dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(01)07100-8
Appendixes:
[A1-1] Sotina, N. (2014) “Derivation of the Schroedinger equation from the laws of classical mechanics,
structure of physical vacuum”, Physics Essays, Vol. 27, No. 3, pp. 321-326
[A1-2] Wittgenstein, L. (1973) Philosophical Investigations Rev. 3, Translator G.E.M., Anscombe,
Prentice Hall, ISBN-13 078-0024288103
[A2-1] Reddiger, M. (2017) “The Madelung Picture as a Foundation of Geometric Quantum Theory”,
arXiv:1509.00467v5 [quant-ph], Aug. 22, 2017
[A4-1] Carnap, R. (2000), “The Observation language versus the Theoretical Language”, Readings in The
Philosophy of Science, edited by Theodore Schick Jr., Mayfiled Publishing Co., 2000, p. 166
[A4-2] Blood, C. (2009) “Constraints on Interpretations of Quantum Mechanics”, Cornell University
Library, http://arxiv.org/abs/0912.2985 (for a review of interpretations)
[A5-1] Sotina, N. (2014) “Derivation of the Schroedinger equation from the laws of classical mechanics,
structure of physical vacuum”, Physics Essays, Vol. 27, No. 3, pp. 321-326
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Research Essay
Solving the “Hard Problem”:
Consciousness is an Electronic Phenomenon
Bradley Y. Bartholomew*
Abstract
This paper is a reply to a paper ―Solving the ‗Hard Problem‘: Consciousness is an Intrinsic
Property of Magnetic Fields‖. It is argued that this paper is essentially correct because it
specifically nominates magnetite crystals (Biogenic Magnetic Nanoparticles BMNPs) as the
source of magnetic phenomena in the brain and specifically founds this theory on Maxwell‘s
electromagnetic equations. However the paper fails to arrive at the logical conclusion that
consciousness is generated by electronics, that the brain is an electronic device, and that the
brains of all living creatures are connected electronic devices. In the paper under reply, the
description of electromagnetic processes in the brain (in particular the interaction of magnetic
and electric flux) comes across as vague and inadequate. In addition the paper makes certain
claims to have solved some of the ‗big questions‘ in life such as ―mind-body‖ dualism and
solipsism which appear to be logically and philosophically invalid, and Schrödinger‘s famous
question ―What is Life?‖ and Gödel‘s theorem would need to be addressed in any paper that
purports to solve the ―hard problem‖.
Keywords: Consciousness, electronics, magnetic flux, electric flux, ELF radiowaves, brain
waves, EMR.
As this article is a response to ―Solving the ―Hard Problem‖: Consciousness is an Intrinsic
Property of Magnetic Fields‖ what follows is the introductory paragraph in that article. ―It‘s
widely assumed that consciousness is the phenomenological correlate of a specific process or
processes in the brain. Resolving the problem of how consciousness, which we mean as the
capacity for subjective experience, appears as a result of brain function (the ―hard problem‖), is
one of the defining questions of contemporary neuroscience. Here, we propose that
consciousness is an intrinsic property of magnetic fields. This implies that even a single common
magnet would possess a rudimentary consciousness. A natural corollary is that cognitive
complexity relies on structural or functional complexity in the magnetic field that supports it‖.1
The author of that statement proposes that ―magnetic fields‖ are a real ―physical substance‖ that
generates this ―mental phenomenon‖ that we call ―consciousness‖. ―Hard Problem‖ solved –
QED. But I really don‘t think it‘s as easy as that. For a start there is the question raised by
Eugene Wigner about ―The Unreasonable Effectiveness of Mathematics in the Natural
Sciences‖,2 the question raised by Erwin Schrödinger about ―What is Life?‖, 3 the question raised
by ―Gödel‘s theorem‖,4 and there is the question whether ―mind‖, ―intellect‖ and ―soul‖ are not
*
Correspondence: Bradley Y. Bartholomew, Independent Researcher, France. Email: brad.bartholomew2@gmail.com
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corelates of or intrinsically related to what we call ―consciousness‖. It will be argued in this
article that the learned author answers none of these questions. However it will be submitted that
he has taken a significant step in the right direction for, without apparently realizing it, his article
is talking about ―electronic phenomena‖. In furtherance of his article a model will be presented
that consciousness is generated by electronics, that brains are electronic devices, and the brains
of all living creatures (including plants) are connected electronic devices. 5
The Unreasonable Effectiveness of Mathematics in the Natural Sciences
Eugene Wigner defines a law of nature:
All the laws of nature are conditional statements which permit a prediction of
some future events on the basis of the knowledge of the present, except that some
aspects of the present state of the world, in practice the overwhelming majority of
the determinants of the present state of the world, are irrelevant from the point of
view of the prediction.2
These laws of nature quite clearly derive from the efforts of human scientists to find some
explanation for the extraordinary number of regularities, as well as evidence of design and order,
that we find in the universe. Erwin Schrödinger has stated that it‘s ―a miracle that in spite of the
baffling complexity of the world, certain regularities in the events could be discovered‖ for he
feels that ―it is not at all natural that "laws of nature" exist, much less that man is able to discover
them‖. The fact that man has been able to discover them is indeed a ―second miracle [that] may
well be beyond human understanding‖.3
The learned author makes much in his paper of Maxwell‘s laws of electromagnetism equations:
In simpler terms, consciousness (the brain‘s magnetic field) is constantly
influenced by neural electrical activity through the classically-known relationship
between magnetic fields and electrical currents. Maxwell‘s equations thus offer a
mathematical description of the primary interface between ―mind and matter‖, but
not the mind‘s overall behavior. What we experience in each moment may be the
phenomenological correlate of this field‘s most excited, coherent, or informationrich areas or the regions with the most salient information content. 1
Maxwell‘s equations are a set of partial differential equations that are the foundation of classical
electromagnetism. It is not proposed to have any detailed discussion about mathematics, but
everyone can appreciate that in the Cartesian grid there are three axes or directions (xyz). A
partial differentiation involves holding one axis constant and differentiating over the other two
axes. In other words partial differentiation equations cannot possibly as a matter of
commonsense be actual ―laws of nature‖ that explains how electric and magnetic fields operate
and interact. In addition there is the philosophical problem with using numbers to describe the
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―laws of nature‖. The fact is that numbers (whether complex simple positive or negative) are
man-made symbols that do not actually exist in Nature. Oswald Spengler in his ―The Decline of
the West‖ says: ―From this there follows a fact of decisive importance which has hitherto been
hidden from the mathematicians themselves. There is not and cannot be, number as such.‖
Numbers are essentially symbols that have a certain meaning to humans just like words. There is
essentially no difference between describing a ―natural‖ process in mathematics and describing it
in human language. This is borne out in the learned author‘s article when he purports to describe
the actual process in the brain in words. It tells us nothing about what is actually happening, it
merely gives us a human description of what is probably happening, just like Maxwell‘s
equations:
The interface of ―mind and body‖ lies in the interaction of magnetic fields and
electrical activity in the brain, as described in Maxwell‘s Equations. Patterns of
activity in the brain‘s electrical system will resonate throughout its magnetic
system. The many patterns of neural electrical firing thus reflect an equally
diverse set of magnetic signals.1
Which brings us to Spengler‘s other profound insight into mathematics in the natural sciences in
general and the differential calculus in particular. It is all mere statistics. That is to say a human
prediction of what is likely to happen based on observation. Statistics worked out on a
hypothetical Cartesian grid that can‘t possibly exist in Nature. Take the simplest differential
equation for velocity. It will merely give us the average speed of a body between two points on a
2-dimensional Cartesian grid. It says nothing about the actual speed of the body at every moment
in time in 3-D space (and even the notion of three dimensions is a fiction developed in Cartesian
coordinates and does not exist in Nature).
And thus theory becomes a chapter of the Calculus of Probabilities, and in lieu of
exact we have statistical methods. Evidently, the significance of this has passed
unnoticed. Statistics belong, like chronology, to the domain of the organic, to
fluctuating Life, to Destiny and Incident and not to the world of laws and timeless
causality… In the "classical" mechanics of Galileo and Newton there would have
been no room for them. And if, now, suddenly the contents of that field are
supposed to be understood and understandable only statistically and under the
aspect of Probability — instead of under that of the a priori exactitude which the
Baroque thinkers unanimously demanded — what does it mean? It means that the
object of understanding is ourselves. The Nature ―known" in this wise is the
Nature that we know by way of living experience, that we live in ourselves. 6
So much for relying on Maxwell‘s equations for solving the ―hard problem‖. The differential
calculus does not tell us how natural processes work, it merely tells us how they appear to work
for an observer who has a measuring stick and a stopwatch and a pencil and paper to chart the
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data on a Cartesian grid. It is the ultimate philosophical impediment to the scientific endeavor.
The much touted Laws of Physics are merely descriptive, and not dynamic.
What is Life?
The physicist Erwin Schrödinger delivered two series of lectures ―What is Life?‖ and ―Mind and
Matter‖ where he is clearly attempting to explain ―life‘ and ―mind‖ and ―consciousness‖ in terms
of quantum mechanics.3 He actually comes up with a quantum theory of mutation that explains
the evolution of all species.7 Interestingly he treats the question of consciousness as a question of
evolution and he brings up some matters that are relevant to the ―hard problem‖ of
consciousness, which it is submitted the learned author in his article cannot explain.
No exposition of consciousness would be complete without alluding to what Schrödinger calls
―The Arithmetical Paradox: The Oneness of Mind.‖ This problem, in a nutshell, is whether there
is only one consciousness at work in the world, or whether, as certainly appears to be the case,
there are trillions, if all the plants, insects, amoeba and algae – independent self-contained
―monads‖ of consciousness that have the capacity to interact with each other but are in the last
resort essentially distinct – are counted. The topic is universal, from the Hindu Upanishads
assertion that there is only one cosmic consciousness in which all living creatures share, to the
pre-Socratic philosopher Anaxagoras, who stated that there is only one cosmic mind, nous, from
which all living creatures derive their individual soul. The question is answerable if all life is
viewed as the evolution of consciousness, which is synonymous with the evolution of DNA. The
DNA represents the single universal consciousness, and all individual consciousnesses are
manifestations of it.7
This, by the way, is the conclusion that Schrödinger reaches as well. But it is at the level of the
individual organism that we find the true arithmetical paradox concerning the oneness of mind.
Schrödinger ponders the question why every living cell in an organism (say a human being)
contains a complete copy of the DNA for that organism. He quotes Sir Charles Sherrington:
The cell as a component of the body is not only a visibly demarcated unit but a
unit-life centered on itself. It leads its own life … The cell is a unit-life, and our
life which in its turn is a unitary life consists utterly of the cell-lives. 3
This paradox is particularly striking in relation to the brain, where the cortex is made up of a
sheet of trillions of individual cells, each containing a complete copy of the human DNA in the
nucleus, so each cell appears to be an autonomous unit; yet somehow this ―commonwealth of
cells‖ produces in us the impression of having a unified mind. ―Matter and energy seem granular
in structure, and so does ‗life‘, but not so mind.‖ Here we have one mind based ostensibly on
many cell-lives; the only explanation Schrödinger could offer is that there must be a ―sub-mind‖
associated with the individual cells that enables them to act perfectly in concert to produce a
unified effect. He immediately dismisses this notion of a sub-mind in every living cell as an
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―absurd monstrosity.‖ However, it is for every living cell, not just those of the brain, that this
paradox arises. All living creatures consist of individual autonomous cells, whether one or
millions or trillions, which act in concert to produce a unified effect. The solution to the paradox
is that it is the DNA that acts as the ―sub-mind.‖ DNA is consciousness – at the cellular level –
which explains why there must be a complete copy of the DNA in every living cell. I conclude
this section with Schrödinger‘s comments on the beginning of consciousness. After favorably
noting Sherrington‘s observation that the human mind arrived comparatively recently, that is to
say very late in the story of evolution, Schrödinger says:
It would seem queer, not to say ridiculous, to think that the contemplating,
conscious mind that alone reflects the becoming of the world should have made
its appearance only at some time in the course of this ―becoming,‖ should have
appeared contingently, associated with a very special biological contraption which
in itself quite obviously discharges the task of facilitating certain forms of life in
maintaining themselves, thus favoring their preservation and propagation: forms
of life that were late-comers and have been preceded by many others that
maintained themselves without that particular contraption (a brain). Only a small
fraction of them (if you count by species) have embarked on ―getting themselves
a brain.‖ And before that happened, should it all have been a performance to
empty stalls?3
Evidence that all living cells have some basic consciousness is offered by the fact that
decapitated flatworms turn away from light: deprived of eyes they can still ―see‖ and deprived of
a brain they can still display purposeful behavior. 8 One of the authors of the report is quoted as
saying: ―It‘s a fascinating coincidence that decapitation–regeneration experiments appear to copy
– chronologically, at least – what may have occurred in evolution.‖
Perhaps the most glaring defect in the learned author‘s theory that consciousness is the property
of magnetic fields is that he completely ignores the role of the DNA in the evolution and
generation of consciousness. The fact is that there is a massive amount of electromagnetic
activity occurring in the genome that is almost certainly contributing to the on-going processes in
the neural circuits in the brain.9 With the operation of the genome left completely unexplained,
the learned author‘s claim to have resolved not only the ‗hard problem‘ of consciousness but also
some of the big questions such as Descartes‘ ‗mind-body‘ dualism and solipsism rings hollow
and false.
Gödel’s Theorem
But now we have another problem with this word ―prove‖. An abstract system of mathematics
has been used to prove that the human brain is an ―electromagnetic‖ machine. Let‘s state it as a
theorem: Consciousness (the brain‘s magnetic field) is constantly influenced by neural electrical
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activity through the classically-known relationship between magnetic fields and electrical
currents. Maxwell‘s equations thus offer a mathematical description of the primary interface
between ―mind and matter‖. Can we prove this theorem. We now need to ask whether Gödel‘s
incompleteness and self-reference problems apply to the human mind itself and to the system of
abstract mathematics called Maxwell‘s equations for electromagnetism. If we obtain an
affirmative answer to either of these questions then this theorem will remain forever unprovable,
no matter how many times it is conducted and the results found to be 100% reproducible.
We shall turn to the hardest question first. Is the human mind a machine, and in particular a
Turing-machine. This question arises as a result Gödel's first incompleteness theorem which says
that for any consistent formalized system F, which contains elementary arithmetic, there exists a
sentence GF of the language of the system which is true but unprovable in that system. Gödel's
second incompleteness theorem states that no consistent formal system can prove its own
consistency.4 Many eminent logicians and philosophers, including Gödel himself, take an antimechanist view of the human mind. The argument assumes that for any formalized system, or a
finite machine, there exists the Gödel sentence (saying that it is not provable in that system)
which is unprovable in that system, but which the human mind can see to be true.4 Generally
speaking they state that the human mind infinitely surpasses the power of any finite machine, and
the human mind is consistent in the sense that the human mind will always be able to see that an
unprovable statement is actually true.
This is the problem of self-reference par excellence. The human mind is attempting to determine
whether it is a machine or not. In other words it is trying to look at its own programming, or
alternatively it is trying to state unequivocally that it doesn‘t have any programming. Let us take
the two contradictory statements. The human mind is a machine; the human mind is not a
machine. Both those statements are unprovable, and the fact that so many great minds over the
past 80-90 years have taken different views which one of them is true puts paid to the assertion
that the human mind is always able to see that an unprovable statement is true. They are simply
not able to assert that the human mind surpasses a mere machine because it will always
determine intuitively whether a statement is true or not. As Martin Davis has put it : "Insight
didn't help".10 Paul Benacerraf in an article with the illuminating title ―God, the Devil and
Gödel‖ sums up the situation succinctly: "If I am a Turing machine, then I am barred by my very
nature from obeying Socrates' profound philosophical injunction : Know thyself''.11
Mind, Intellect, Soul
The learned author claims to have resolved the issue of Descartes‘ dualism by claiming that
consciousness is neither ‗mental‘ nor ‗material‘ but is rather ‗energy‘. It‘s universally accepted
since Einstein‘s famous equation (E = mc2) that energy and mass are synonymous concepts. In
fact this proposition is questionable on the basis of the unreasonable effectiveness of
mathematics in the natural sciences – physicists don‘t actually know what ‗mass‘ is and the
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velocity of light is actually an average or statistic and is not a natural force per se – but we may
essentially agree with him nonetheless for he concludes:
―Energy‖ is the capacity of the body or system enabling it to do work. ―Work‖ is
anything that alters or tends to alter the point of application of a force. A ―force‖
is anything that alters or tends to alter a body or system‘s state of uniform motion
in a straight line or ―rest‖ (inertia).
However we can‘t agree that this energy is the magnetic field per se, but is rather in the form of
‗electronics‘, which means that the brain is an electronic device that generates consciousness.
We then may express complete agreement with his assertion that consciousness cannot exist
without a brain to generate it. And the same can be said if we choose to consider consciousness
as ‗mind, intellect or soul‘. In this way we can completely avoid all the ‗big questions‘ in
Philosophy and simply assert that our brain has an operating system (OS) that enables programs
that generate in us a conscious mind, an unconscious mind, dreams and intelligence.
It‘s not disputed by anybody that we have a conscious mind and an unconscious mind. Freud
asserted that ―dreams are the royal road to the unconscious‖ and the same electronics that
generates our consciousness is obviously capable of generating our dreams. Likewise the same
electronics that generates our consciousness is capable of generating our intelligence or intellect.
As regards the question of soul we cannot improve on the conclusion of Willam James in his
Varieties of Religious Experience. Western science has had a scientific and psychological
explanation for the unconscious soul for more than 100 years. James says:
The subconscious self is nowadays a well-accredited psychological entity; and I
believe that in it we have exactly the mediating term required. Apart from all
religious considerations, there is actually and literally more life in our total soul
than we are at any time aware of. What Mr. Myers said in 1892 in his essay on the
Subliminal Consciousness is as true as when it was first written: ―Each of us is in
reality an abiding psychical entity far more extensive than he knows – an
individuality which can never express itself completely through any corporeal
manifestation. The Self manifests through the organism; but there is always some
part of the Self unmanifested; and always, as it seems, some power of organic
expression in abeyance or reserve.‖ Let me then propose, as a hypothesis, that
whatever it may be on the farther side, the ‗more‘ with which in religious
experience we feel ourselves connected is on its hither side the subconscious
continuation of our conscious life.12
We are an ―abiding psychical entity‖ because both our conscious mind and our unconscious
mind are generated by electronics. And indeed we may be able to shed some more light on the
question of soul if consciousness is generated by electronics. Aristotle says in Generation of
Animals that ―the parts around the head and eyes appear largest in embryos at the start, and this
is the origin of the being‖ that is to say our soul or ‗first actuality‘.(742b12-17) The fact is that
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by five weeks after fertilization the embryo cranium is bulging with midbrain that is firing
spontaneously.13,14 That is to say it is emitting brainwaves and it is now settled beyond doubt that
brainwaves are radiowaves that carry information. 15 It is a fair bet that our soul is located in the
midbrain. Also the midbrain is responsible for the saccadic eye movements in our dreams (REM
sleep).16 Whether you want to call it soul or unconscious mind is immaterial. The fact is it is
generated by electronics.
The magnetic properties of the brain
The link between magnetism and radiowaves is amply demonstrated by Magnetic Resonance
Imagery (MRI) which is a commonplace in medicine and industry. Basically the nucleus of an
atom in a strong magnetic field will emit radiowaves when perturbed by a weak oscillating
magnetic field. The radiowaves are then detected to form an image. MRI brain scans normally
detect the nuclear resonance of the hydrogen atom which is prevalent in water and fat in the
brain, but in the future MRI scans will detect the nuclear resonance of Biogenic Magnetic
Nanoparticles (BMNPs) which is magnetite (a metal oxide Fe3O4).17
At this point we may quote the learned author‘s basic thesis:
The seven billion magnetite crystals in an average brain, and the magnetosomes
they comprise, produce multiple fields, but they‘re also components of the brain‘s
larger magnetic field, with two (hemispheric) loci, and constantly changing
regions of peak magnetic field strength. We propose that consciousness is a
property of this magnetic field, and the functions associated with regions of peak
magnetic field strengths or the most salient magnetic information will correlate
with the content of consciousness. This agrees with the principle that the
phenomenology of the most metabolically active neural regions (in either
excitation or inhibition) correlate with the present content of the ‗mind‘. 1
So our learned author is on the right track but he doesn‘t seem to know where the track is leading
to. He states in his article ―Any quantum-level basis for consciousness would only be an instance
of a larger quantum basis for all magnetic fields, and any quantum mechanics of consciousness
would resolve into special cases of the quantum mechanics of magnetic fields.‖ This is a
perfectly true statement for magnetism in general involves electron spin and MRI involves the
spin of the nucleus which is essentially quantum phenomena. But he doesn‘t seem to realize that
he claims to have solved the ―hard problem‖ of consciousness with an even harder problem.
What is quantum mechanics telling us about the real physical world? The learned author has
ignored the sage admonishment by Niels Bohr: ―Anyone who is not shocked by quantum
mechanics has failed to understand it.‖ Which leads us to following statement by the learned
author:
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However, consciousness would still be present with only one percept, even with
no ―self‖ to interpret it, since we have posited that even a simple magnet will
have a rudimentary consciousness, as will a bacterium with a single
magnetosome.1
A bacterium with a single magnetosome – most certainly because it has DNA in it. A simple
fridge magnet or a horseshoe magnet – not so much. We don‘t actually know what magnetism is
nor what magnetic fields are.
It has been proposed that these BMNPs are the precursor of the protein ferritin which is
ubiquitous in the brain and body. 18 Which brings us to Radiogenetics and Magnetogenetics. It
has been found that low frequency radiowaves act on the ferritin in the brain and body in exactly
the same way as magnetic fields. The ferritin in turn opens ion channels in the membrane of the
cell to activate genes.19,20 I can‘t stress this enough. EMR acts in exactly the same way as a
magnetic field. All research reports about the effects of EMR on biological processes therefore
comes under the heading of magnetism. Here I can only list a few instances. Low frequency
radiowaves affect the expression of the cFos proto-oncogene.21 ELF radiowaves in this case
50Hz affect the methylation of the DNA, that is to say epigenetic factors. 22 And there are many
research papers where ELF radiowaves affect cellular and genetic processes, including ‗calcium
flux‘ which means it triggers electrical activity by opening ion channels.23
Ferritin is paramagnetic and magnetite crystals are superparamagnetic. Paramagnetic means they
become magnetized when placed in a magnetic field and revert to their normal state when the
field is removed. From the discussion above about Radiogenetics and Magnetogenetics it is clear
that low frequency radiowaves also cause the ferritin and the BMNPs to become magnetized. In
the case of the BMNPs that are superparamagnetic their magnetic sensitivity is much higher than
ferritin so they will react to ELF radio waves.24 Indeed there is a whole field of research,
Superparamagnetic relaxometry (SPMR), devoted to measuring the magnetic moment of these
BMNPs using Superconducting Quantum Interference Detectors (SQUIDs). 25 The relaxation
times of these BMNPs carry information. These SQUIDs are used in Magnetoencephalography
(MEG) to make inferences about the neural activity in the brain, and they basically rely on the
relationship between magnetic fields and electric currents called ‗magnetic flux‘.26
The key to it all is this magnetite (Fe3O4)(BMNPs) which is superparamagnetic. ELF radiowaves
(brain waves) will cause it to become magnetized. This magnetic flux in turn causes sodium
(Na+) ion channels in the vicinity to open and a current will flow. This deplolarizes the neuron.
Then the electric flux magnetizes the BMNPs and this magnetic flux opens other ion channels to
cause a current of potassium (K+) ions to flow out of the cell which repolarizes the neuron. The
'spike' is a combination of magnetic flux and electric flux i.e. classical elctromagnetism i.e.
Maxwell's equations, to which the learned author specifically alludes.
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The electrical properties of the brain
At the outset, I would just like to elucidate a general misconception about radio emissions. It is
widely believed that the golden years of radio ended in the 1950s or thereabouts and that radio
transmissions only involve the transmission of audio signals, principally voice and music. The
fact is that all of modern electronics that involves the transmission of information via EMR
(electromagnetic radiation) are simply different aspects of radio transmissions, including
television, cell phones, Wi-Fi, remote control devices, radar, GPS navigation, and wireless
Bluetooth devices. If the information is being transmitted by EMR, it‘s a radio. The radio
spectrum extends from Extremely Low Frequency (ELF) waves from 3-30 Hz thru to
Tremendously High Frequency (THF) from 300-3,000 THz (one THz is one trillion cycles per
second) which ends somewhere in the UV range, even higher than visible light. It‘s an
undisputed fact that human brainwaves are in the same range as the ELF waves, and from the
point of view of this paper are considered to be radiowaves. The definition of an electronic
device is that it generates radiowaves for the purpose of communication, which means that the
human brain is an electronic device.
In Nature there is only one fundamental force that is relevant to this issue and that‘s the
electromagnetic force, and the apparent plethora of different forms of energy that are at work in
Nature are all actually just different aspects of this one fundamental force – electricity,
bioelectricity, chemoelectricity, electromagnetic radiation (EMR), electromotive force (EMF),
magnetic fields, electronics to name only the main headings. These all then have subgroups like
alternating current (AC) direct current (DC), all the different frequencies of EMR, integrated
circuits and semiconductor and nano technology in electronics that involve quantum mechanics,
and geomagnetics, biomagnetics, electromagnetics etc. The point is that they are all just
different aspects of the fundamental electromagnetic force, and under different conditions they
generate each other. For instance a moving magnet will generate electricity, an electric current
creates a magnetic field as well as electrons lining up in metals, an alternating current (AC) emits
radiowaves (EMR) at the same frequency as the current, and an electric current in a coil around a
stationary piece of metal will cause it to become a magnet and will spin a magnet to create a
mechanical force, biophotons which are EMR are spectral lines of atoms emitted from a
semiconductor when the electrons fall back from the conduction band to the valence band. The
essential point for the purpose of this article is that brainwaves are ELF radiowaves and so they
are just one aspect of the electromagnetic force and are emitted by an alternating current (AC) in
the brain. And the fact that the brain emits radiowaves means that it can actually receive
radiowaves as well. The brain can act as an antenna. Later in this article I present a model of the
brain as a wirelessly connected electronic device and I list the various ways the brain emits (and
receives) these ELF radiowaves.
ELF radiowaves are virtually unstoppable. They will go thru mountains and will circle the Earth
several times.27 Higher frequency radiowaves will be quickly stopped in a ‗lossy‘ medium such
as water, but they can use ELF radiowaves for communication between submarines under water.
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There is no reason in principle why ELF brain waves could not be received by another brain
miles away. As the learned author points out: ―If the signals in neuromagnetic fields are the same
for all humans, then at least some human brains have the potential to directly communicate with
each other, though we should not expect that all brains will be equally sensitive to this subtle
stimulus.‖1
The principal way that alternating or oscillating current is generated in the brain is thru
depolarization and repolarization of the cell. This results in an electrical ‗spike‘ where ion
channels open in the membrane of the cell and positively charged sodium ions enter the cell
followed by positively charged potassium ions exiting the cell. Neurons are connected by axons
and these ‗spikes‘ travel along the axon as action potentials as positively charged ions enter and
exit the membrane.28 These spikes are essentially an alternating current (AC) and they will emit
ELF radiowaves (brain waves). We have seen above that ELF radiowaves can initiate these
spikes thru the interaction of magnetic and electric flux, which means that the neurons act as a
transmitter and receiver of ELF radiowaves.
There are other potential gradients in the membrane of the cell as well. Microtubules are of
nanoscale dimensions in diameter and they have a positive and negative end, that is to say they
contain an electric field. It is a moot point whether these microtubules actually conduct
electricity, but according to the Orch-OR theory of Penrose-Hameroff these microtubules contain
highly ionized water which will generate a current in an electric field. 29 The Orch-OR theory
states that the ‗quantum vibrations‘ in these microtubules generate EEG beat frequencies, but it
is more likely that the current in these tubes of nanoscale dimensions will emit ELF radiowaves
as well as cause quantum vibrations.
In addition there are microfilaments in the membrane of the cell which are nanowires that do
conduct electricity. They will be contributing to the various potential gradients in the membrane,
and thus to the generation of the electrical ‗spikes‘. 30 It is also known that there is Trans-Plasma
Membrane Electron Transfer (tPMET) which undoubtedly occurs as a result of the potential
difference between the interior and exterior of the cell, and thus will contribute to these
‗spikes‘.31
Now-a-days there are any number of Brain Computer Interfaces (BCIs) and other neural
prosthetics on the market where brain waves are used for communication with connected
electronic devices.32 There are research papers in optogenetics where brain waves have been
used to affect the expression of genes. 33 People are actually playing computer games using only
their brainwaves to communicate their thoughts. 34 We have even seen the start of ‗mind-reading‘
technology where brain waves are being translated into recognizable words. 35
A model of the brain as an electronic device
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Bartholomew, B. Y., Solving the “Hard Problem”: Consciousness is an Electronic Phenomenon
By way of conclusion, we can now go further than the learned author who basically asserts that
consciousness in generated by the magnetic fields in the brain interacting with the electrical
activity in the brain, and conclude that what he is stating is that the brain is an electronic device:
that consciousness is generated by electronics, and the brains of all living creatures are connected
electronic devices. For a start the neural network is basically an integrated circuit. The neurons
are logic gates that are either ‗on‘ or ‗off‖. When the neuron is on an action potential proceeds
along the axon. These action potentials or electrical ‗spikes‘ are generated in the following ways.
1. Positively charged ions depolarize and repolarize the neuron and then ions pass thru the
membrane of the axon as the action potential proceeds; 2. Electrical current in the microtubules
and microfilaments in the membrane of the cell contribute to the EEG beat frequencies; 3. TransPlasma Membrane Electron Transfer (tPMET) occurs as a result of the oscillating potential
difference between the interior and exterior of the cell. The specific neurons that fire generate
ELF radiowaves (brain waves) of a specific frequency that carry information (signals) internally
to the neural network and externally to other brains (connected devices). Normally the signals
will be received unconsciously by other brains, but they can be boosted in which case they will
be received consciously.
To quote from the abstract of the learned author: ―The ―hard problem,‖ the question of the
physical basis of consciousness, finds a solution in the hypothesis that consciousness is an
attribute of magnetic fields, and that complex consciousness (which can include ‗selfawareness‘, intelligence, or social interaction) is based on the integration of the brain‘s magnetic
field (originating from its rich population of magnetite crystals) with its neural electrical
system.‖
Received December 13, 2019; Accepted January 7, 2020
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Journal of Consciousness Exploration & Research| December 2020 | Volume 11 | Issue 8 | pp. 796-799
Cocchi, M., & Gabrielli, F., Consciousness in Psychiatry: Can We Measure It?
796
Essay
Consciousness in Psychiatry: Can We Measure It?
Massimo Cocchi* & Fabio Gabrielli
Research Institute for Quantitative & Quantum Dynamics of Living Organisms,
Center for Medicine, Mathematics & Philosophy Studies, Italy
Abstract
This work finds plausible reasons for recognizing the possibility that the "psychiatric" state of
consciousness is measurable. As a consequence, it can be inferred that this possibility remains a
fundamental safeguard in psychiatric clinical practice.
Keywords: Consciousness, psychiatry, measurement, clinical practice.
Historical Concepts of Consciousness in Psychiatry
The history of consciousness from Socrates, understood as the seat of the intellectual and moral
qualities of man (the psyché), to the acquisitions of neuroscience, including D. Chalmers' hard
problem concerning qualia, constitutes a fascinating track and, for many aspects, still enigmatic.
There are countless attempts to integrate consciousness into a unitary ego and, conversely, the
positions that consider this phenomenon to be illusory. If we then try to calibrate the concept in
the psychiatric field, the question becomes even more problematic.
Despite the rich, yet unfinished, debate on consciousness, which involved neuroscience,
evolutionary biology, cognitive science, philosophy of mind, advanced research in Artificial
Intelligence, psychiatry has remained quite on the sidelines: at least a curious thing for a branch
of medicine that it addresses, first of all, a pathological field (alterations in the level of
consciousness, disturbances in the experience of the self, dissociations, obsessions, mood
disorders, etc.).
From the anthropological point of view, then, the debate opened by Michel Foucault's concept on
psychiatry as a moment of surveillance, control, punishment on individual biographies and on
society, with all the scenary of forms of biopower, biocontrol on bare life, remains in
contemporarys authors such as de Sutter L. (de Sutter 2017) who sees in narcocapitalism the
pervasive and organic possibility to harness the natural existential effervescences of
consciousness, including fears and anxieties, in psychopharmacology.
In this way, a capitalism of drugs is determined, which together with intangible capitalism or big
data, structures a submissive, controlled, sad society. And sadness, already warned Gilles
Deleuze, playing Spinoza, stiffens thought and action by channeling them into control practices
(Deleuze 1988). From a clinical point of view, a certain evanescence of psychiatric nosology
Correspondence: Prof. Massimo Cocchi, Research Institute for Quantitative & Quantum Dynamics of Living Organisms, Center
for Medicine, Mathematics & Philosophy Studies; & Department of Veterinary Medical Sciences, University of Bologna, Italy.
E-mail: massimo.cocchi@unibo.it
*
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797
compared to other areas of medicine makes it particularly weak in the actual measurement of
mental pathologies. Think, in particular, of the major depressive forms in differential diagnosis
with respect to bipolar disorder, especially in the early onset phase. Hence the extreme need for
biochemical markers capable of tracing psychopathology to objective and possibly exhaustive
diagnostic criteria.
Different Psychiatric Diagnosis and Different States of Consciousness?
Graham and Stephens (2006) have formulated a thesis which recognizes that “mental illness is an
illness in and of consciousness”. If the state of consciousness is inscribed in mental illness, then
it is important to precisely define the state of mental illness to be able to assume that the subject
manifests a different state of consciousness than the psychiatric pathology. This entails the need
to get out of the considerable margin of diagnostic error, from 40 to 70%, extensively described
in the literature (Bowden 2001; Tenth World Day for the Prevention of Suicide (2012). Rome).
In this context, reference is mainly made to the two main mental disorders that afflict the human
being, namely Major Depression and Bipolar Disorder.
In the first phase of the research, in which platelets fatty acids where studied in combination with
aan Artificial Neural Network (Self Organizing Map by Kohonen) (Cocchi & Tonello 2010a;
Cocchi & Tonello 2010b; Kohonen 2001) the psychiatric cases were compared to apparently
normal cases (it was not possible to subject the so-called normal subjects to psychiatric tests, for
obvious personal and ethical reasons) the neural network used worked to the point of identifying
a specific area of normality, placing the remaining "normal" subjects in areas that also contained
subjects diagnosed with psychopathology. Surprisingly it was clear that an impressive number of
people believed to be absolutely normal, presented, even if the pathology was not evident,
molecular characteristics similar to those with psychopathology.
Not least, the second phase of the research made it possible to accurately distinguish, within
psychiatric patients, subjects with bipolar disorder from subjects with major depression
(Benedetti et al. 2014). A further analysis of the data made it possible to recognize Linoleic Acid
as a critical element in psychiatric pathology (Cocchi et al. 2017) and in the Arachidonic Acid
the element for regulating the mobility of the membrane capable of conditioning the uptake of
serotonin (Cocchi & Traina 2020).
Is the State of Consciousness Measurable in Psychiatry?
If we know that different psychiatric states generate different states of consciousness through the
measurement of brain waves (Flynn et al. 2008; Herrmman & Demiral 2005), if theories have
been formulated between consciousness and quantum dynamics of the brain (Cocchi et al. 2017)
it is necessary and essential to address the problem of measurability of the state of consciousness
in psychiatry outside the classic conditions of consciousness related to brain damage (severe
injuries, coma etc.).
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798
The ability to correctly identify psychiatric pathology, especially in the early stages, can also
allow the most appropriate pharmacological approach.
On the side of "psychiatric" consciousness, which expresses the subject's behavioral framework,
the identification of the different attitudes of behavior and thinking can be useful to allow the
best psychotherapeutic use of the "word". The fatty acids of the platelets, in the interpretation of
the artificial neural network, in their role conditioning the mobility of the membrane and
therefore the modulation of the uptake of serotonin, can be extremely useful for the clinical
management of the psychiatric patient. This possibility, of immediate utility for the treatment of
the subject, will allow the deepening of the bio-molecular connections involving membrane, Gs
alpha protein, cytoskeleton and microtubules as well as the evaluation of the cell membrane ion
channels function, up to the definition of the precise function of the cellular interactome, as well
as giving plausible answers to the quantum function of the brain.
Conclusion
The measurement of consciousness in psychiatry therefore remains a fundamental safeguard in
psychiatric clinical practice in avoiding the subjectivity of interventions in the interest of the best
diagnostic and treatment result.
Received November 6, 2020; Accepted December 21, 2020
References
Benedetti, S., Bucciarelli, S., Canestrari, F., Catalani, S., Mandolini, S., Marconi, V., Mastrogiacomo, A.,
Silvestri, R., Tagliamonte, M., Venanzini, R., Caramia, G., Gabrielli, F. Tonello, L., and Cocchi, M.
(2014). Platelet’s Fatty Acids and Differential Diagnosis of Major Depression and Bipolar Disorder
through the Use of an Unsupervised Competitive-Learning Network Algorithm (SOM). Open Journal
of Depression, 3, 52-73.
Bowden, C.L. (2001). Strategies to reduce misdiagnosis of bipolar depression. Psychiatr Serv. 52: 51-55.
Cocchi, M., and Traina, G. (2020). Tryptophan and Membrane Mobility as Conditioners and Brokers of
Gut–Brain Axis in Depression. Appl. Sci. 10, 4933.
Cocchi, M., Minuto, C., Tonello, L., Gabrielli, F., Bernroider, G., Tuszynski, J.A., Cappello, F., and
Rasenick M. (2017). Linoleic acid: Is this the key that unlocks the quantum brain? Insights linking
broken symmetries in molecular biology, mood disorders and personalistic emergentism. BMC
Neurosci 18: 38.
Cocchi, M., Tonello, L. (2010a). “Running the hypothesis of a bio molecular approach to psychiatric
disorder characterization and fatty acids therapeutical choices”, Annals of General Psychiatry
(supplement 1): S26.
Cocchi, M., Tonello, L. (2010b). “Bio molecular considerations in Major Depression and Ischemic
Cardiovascular Disease”. Central Nervous System Agents in Medicinal Chemistry 9: 2-11.
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Cocchi, M., & Gabrielli, F., Consciousness in Psychiatry: Can We Measure It?
799
Cocchi, M., Tonello, L., & Gabrielli, F. (2017). The Declaration of Palermo and the Declaration of
Bologna in: Quantum Paradigms of Psychopathology: From Consciousness to Neuroethics. Open
Journal of Depression 6, 24-30.
de Sutter, L. (2017). Narcocapitalism. Life in the Age of Anesthesia, Translated by Barnaby Norman,
Cmbridge (UK), Polity ISBN 978-1509506835.
Deleuze, G. (1988). Spinoza: Practical Philosophy. Translated by Robert Hurley, San Francisco: City
Lights Books. ISBN 978-0872862180).
Flynn, G., Alexander, D., Harris, A., Whitford, T., Wong, W., Galletly, C., Silverstein, S., Gordon, E.,
Williams L.M. (2008). Increased absolute magnitude of gamma synchrony in first-episode psychosis.
Schizophr Res 105:262-271.
Graham, G. & Stephens, G. L. (2006). Psychopathology: minding mental illness. In P. Thagard (Ed.),
Philosophy of Psychology and Cognitive Science: A Volume of the Handbook of the Philosophy of
Science 12: 339–367. Amsterdam: North Holland.
Herrmann, C.S., Demiral. T. (2005). Human EEG gamma oscillations in neuropsychiatric disorders.
Clinical Neurophysiology 116: 2719–2733.
Kohonen, T. (2001). Self-Organizing Maps (3rd ed.). Berlin: Springer.
Tenth World Day for the Prevention of Suicide (2012). Rome.
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Hiller, J. H., On the Natural State of Subatomic Particles: Implications for Superposition & Quantum Entanglement
Perspective
On the Natural State of Subatomic Particles:
Implications for Superposition & Quantum Entanglement
Jack H. Hiller*
Abstract
Five recent experiments employed “weak” measurement of subatomic particles by “low energy”
techniques. The techniques for inferring particle status by observation were so delicate that the
particles were not affected by the energy of observation, and the particles were found to have a
definite and real existence, instead of hazy probability distributions. Such observations by weak
measurement seem to invalidate the premise of Heisenberg’s Uncertainty Principle (HUP).
While the HUP and the Schrodinger wave equation serve to accurately model particle behavior
when energetically measured, the particles before their energetic observations had been
philosophically speculated to be in a probability distribution which is now contradicted by the
five experiments. So, it seems that the superposition principle could be in error. Further,
quantum entanglement may not require instantaneous “spooky” signaling, because paired
particles acquire complementary features required by conservation of energy.
Keywords: Quantum mechanics, uncertainty principle, weak measurement, quantum
entanglement, nonlocal action, superposition.
When Heisenberg constructed the Uncertainty Principle (HUP), laboratory measurement
technology then available employed observational energies at or higher than the energy of the
particles to be observed. Although the HUP originated from particle measurement difficulties for
more than one particle variable at the same time, the Principle is now understood and defined to
reflect the nature of particle reality as hazy at the Planck level, regardless of any technical
measurement difficulties. Thus particle reality according to the HUP is now modeled by
mathematics which bar the possibility of accurate measurement for more than one variable at a
time, such that momentum and location, for example, could not in principle be measured at the
same time; from such modeling it is inferred that momentum and location do not actually exist
in Nature for an unobserved particle.
Therefore, any proposed technology for simultaneously measuring particle momentum and
location would a priori be regarded as futile by current HUP math modeling. However, this
paper argues from the empirical evidence cited [3-7] that math modeling that bars multi-variable
measurement is not veridical with the underlying physical reality of particles. Regarding the
status of the Schrodinger wave equation for particle behavior, this paper does not challenge the
accuracy of calculations made by it, but does refute the interpretation that asserts particles must
*Correspondence: Jack H. Hiller, PhD, JD, Independent Researcher, USA. E-mail: jh7138@gmail.com
Notes: I express my appreciation to Lee Whitt, Christopher Wallace, and Neil Siegel for their comments that helped me to
communicate the ideas developed about the nature of particle reality. This essay extends my recent essay entitled
“Uncertainty Principle in Light of the ‘Weak’ Measurement Experiments” published in JCER 11(7): pp. 752-756.
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exist in the superposition state supposed to exist until the energy of measurement collapses the
wave function.
At the outset, the author would like to point out that there are two different contexts for
employing the term "superposition," with one likely a mistake as this paper explains, and the
other perfectly good, the other being about the Young double slit arrangement. In the double slit,
the physical arrangement created by the slits causes light to interact with the slits as transverse
waves. This is a well-studied situation for which the term "superposition" makes good sense. By
contrast, the superposition state of particles employed in the interpretation of Schrodinger
equation may be a misguided concept corresponding to the mistake of Heisenberg and Bohr in
assuming that particles in their natural state lack a definite, real existence as particles, with
Einstein having argued against their assumption.
In general, this paper relies on Immanuel Kant's distinction between directly observable
phenomena, and the underlying existence of noumena responsible for observable phenomena.
As a consequence, even math modeling found practically useful for engineering and physics,
such as Newton constructed for gravity, does not ensure model veridicality with the underlying
physical reality modeled.
However, weak measurement technologies, as reviewed here, imply that the premise of the HUP
(that particles in their natural state must be regarded as owning feature values best modeled as
probability distributions instead of having any definite real existence) was overgeneralized.
The HUP seems to apply only to energetic particle observation/measurement:
(1) The HUP is valid for energetic particle observation, but not for weak observation.
(2) The Copenhagen interpretation of reality may be invalid, because it is based on
extrapolating from the HUP when substantial energy is applied for particle observation,
but observation is now demonstrated as possible without altering the natural state of
particles. Bohr applied a strong form of Operationalism to assume that particles must
not own a definite reality if they could not actually be observed to exist without
perturbing their states of existence. Particle reality was assumed to develop from an
energetic observation capable of “collapsing” the Schrodinger wave equation modeling
their observable behavior.
(3) The standard interpretation of the Schrodinger wave equation, as implying superposition
state until energy is applied to a particle, may be invalid, because particles have a
definite, real existence before their observation/measurement.
(4) Quantum entanglement of particles appears to be found by experiment, but no
mysterious instantaneous signaling between particles is required, because their
complementary values are set when created, and maintained until the measurement.
Masanao Ozawa [1] deduced that the HUP, as originally theorized by Heisenberg, overestimated
the potential impact of energetic particle observation on disturbances to the particle's state.
Ozawa's analysis led eventually to the development of "weak" particle measurement technology
which served to empirically support the validity of his analysis.
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However, the results of weak particle measurement are generally interpreted as affecting only
the observer/measurement effect that originally motivated formulation of the HUP by
Heisenberg, but not the basic principle that subatomic particles, conceptualized as waves (by de
Broglie), are inherently, naturally uncertain in character. By supposing that particles are
naturally randomly hazy until energetically measured (and then collapsing their
Schrodinger wave function to a discrete value), the paired particles employed by EPR Paradox
type experiments force speculation about a signal from the first measured particle to the second
to inform it about what its complementary value must be. For example, if the first measured
particle manifests after energetic observation to have an Up spin, then the second particle must
manifest with a complementary Down spin, just as the EPR tests have found. While the signal is
generally analyzed to carry no information, because the complementary spin value for the
second particle is predetermined, there yet is a signal of some sort thought to be required.
Because this signal operates instantaneously at any distance however large, and no mechanism
for signal transmission was known about, Einstein derided the idea for such a quantum
entanglement signal as instantaneous "spooky action at a distance." But no mechanism for such
a spooky instantaneous signal has ever been found (granted that Bohm proposed the concept of a
pilot wave, but such a pilot wave must yet possess a nonlocal character to enable spooky action
at a distance). So, physics now passively accepts that some sort of magical, nonlocal, quantum
entanglement signal must exist.
Experiments employing weak measurement of particles, such as the one led by Lee Rozema [2]
imply that particles exist in definite states without requiring energetic observation to emerge out
of the supposed random haze currently postulated by quantum mechanics. Thus, consider that
when the paired particles employed by an EPR type of experiment are created, they do not
emerge as randomly hazy particles, but instead as having definite properties, such as their
complementary spin values. Thus, if their spin values were set at their creation and maintained
until measured by the EPR type of experiment, then there is no need to speculate about any
instantaneous spooky signaling. The results from weak particle measurement experiments,
coupled with a parsimonious explanation for EPR Paradox experimental results, imply that
Einstein's intuition that particles are real, without any observation required, is thus supported.
Quantum particle entanglement results have been well documented by numerous experiments,
but do not require the hypothesized mysterious, instantaneous signaling (i.e., “spooky action at a
distance”) between the entangled particles. The need to invent a mysterious signaling
mechanism was, however, the fault of the Copenhagen Interpretation of reality as an
indeterminate flux until operated on by an energetic observation as based on the HUP. The HUP
was a principle that was inferred by conceptualizing particle observation/measurement
technology that operated at basically the same energy level as the particle to be observed, and so
the energy of observation/measurement substantially altered its values by the act of
measurement. However, modern “weak” observation technology has now advanced, so that a
particle’s characteristics may be inferred accurately without materially affecting the particle.
Heisenberg had correctly reasoned that as he would attempt to measure both the location and
momentum of an electron, as he tweaked his apparatus making use of electromagnetic fields to
observe, measure, and record his data, when he would improve one of the measures, the other
would invariably lose its precision; for example, if he were to shower an electron with strong
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Hiller, J. H., On the Natural State of Subatomic Particles: Implications for Superposition & Quantum Entanglement
392
light to gain a good shadow of where it was, the energy of the light would substantially affect
what had been the particle’s momentum; likewise, a highly precise measure for momentum
would affect its location. He supposed that his measurement techniques were fundamentally set,
and so concluded that the measurement issue had not to do with the measurement technology
available at that time, but instead reflected an inherent uncertainty in the status of quantum
particles. He thus concluded that quantum particles necessarily existed in a random haze,
although within an extremely small physical space, at the Planck level. Bohr, working from the
requirement of Operationalism that any statement of reallity must be supported by direct
observation, generalized this idea to declare that particles could not be considered as having a
definite, real existence in Nature (e.g., a fixed location and a specific momentum), but naturally
existed in a random flux (the so called Copenhagen Interpretation of reality, which Einstein
objected to, i.e., the Moon does not exist until observed, foolish as that appears to common
sense).
Schrodinger defined a wave equation (Heisenberg had previously defined a matrix equation) to
mathematically model quantum particle behavior, and this equation likewise did not pin down a
particle into a definite existence--until it was observed/measured with the energy of the
observation "collapsing" the wave function from an infinity of potentially existing positions to
manifest as a definite particle existence. Now, this is where spooky quantum entanglement
emerged, and Einstein analyzed it as suspicious.
By application of the Copenhagen Interpretation, a particle does not have any manifest, definite
reality until observed. When a particle, say a photon, is sent into a beam splitting crystal, two
would emerge, and from the principle of the Conservation of Energy, they would remain in
balance with their origin; net result is that one would have one type of polarization (say
Horizontal, H), but the other a counterbalancing polarization (say Vertical, V). Because the
photons are not measured as they leave the crystal, their polarizations and location are
speculated to not manifest, but remain indefinite and random as an infinity of potential
superposition states according to the Copenhagen Interpretation.
Now, when one photon is measured for its polarization (say it manifests as H), the Schrodinger
wave equation would calculate that the other photon would instantaneously acquire the required
complementary polarization (say V). The problem here is that somehow the first photon
measured would have to signal what its manifest state had become to the other (H or V), and the
signal would have to exceed the speed of light, by being instantaneous. When experiments on
quantum entanglement were eventually performed, magically the second photon measured
always adopted its expected complementary polarization. However, there is another
interpretation of the entanglement results possible, and that is that the two paired particles or
electrons/photons are created with complementary spins/polarization, retain those
spins/polarization, and reveal them when measured.
What has changed since the HUP was conceived is that quantum particle measurement
technologies have advanced to the point that very delicate measurement has been enabled, and
the measurement is so delicate that a quantum particle observed is not significantly affected.
Thru modern experiments, quantum particles are seen to exist without having to collapse their
inferred wave functions to become real. Thus, if Bohr were wrong, and Einstein’s intuition about
particle reality were correct, then there is no mysterious entanglement signal required between
the paired particles. Furthermore, the HUP is not universally valid, but only a quirk of the
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Hiller, J. H., On the Natural State of Subatomic Particles: Implications for Superposition & Quantum Entanglement
relatively cumbersome particle measurement technology available to him. Also, the many
worlds interpretation that flows from the infinite superposition possibilities in the Schrodinger
wave drop out. The proposed paradox of the cat in Schrodinger's Box of being both alive and
dead until the box is opened (so that the hypothetical wave equation is then collapsed into a live
or a dead cat) is invalidated.
The following five experiments [3-7] illustrate that particles naturally have a definite, real
existence, i.e., they do not exist in any random flux prior to observation:
(1) Origin of quantum-mechanical complementarity probed by a ‘which-way’ experiment in an
atom interferometer [3]:
The principle of complementarity refers to the ability of quantum-mechanical
entities to behave as particles or waves under different experimental conditions.
For example, in the famous double-slit experiment, a single electron can
apparently pass through both apertures simultaneously, forming an interference
pattern. But if a ‘which-way’ detector is employed to determine the particle's
path, the interference pattern is destroyed. This is usually explained in terms of
Heisenberg's uncertainty principle, in which the acquisition of spatial information
increases the uncertainty in the particle's momentum, thus destroying the
interference. Here we report a which-way experiment in an atom interferometer
in which the ‘back action’ of path detection on the atom's momentum is too small
to explain the disappearance of the interference pattern. We attribute it instead to
correlations between the which-way detector and the atomic motion, rather than
to the uncertainty principle.
(2) Hologram of a Single Photon [4]:
The spatial structure of single photons … is becoming an extensively explored
resource used for facilitating the free-space quantum key distribution … and
quantum computation … as well as for benchmarking the limits of quantum
entanglement generation … with orbital angular momentum modes … or
reduction of the photon free-space propagation speed ….. Albeit nowadays an
accurate tailoring of photon’s spatial structure is routinely performed using
methods employed for shaping classical optical beams …, the reciprocal problem
of retrieving the spatial phase-amplitude structure of an unknown single photon
cannot be solved using complimentary classical holography techniques …
exhibiting excellent interferometric precision. Here we introduce a method to
record a hologram of a single photon (HSP) probed by another reference photon,
based on essentially a different concept of quantum interference between twophoton probability amplitudes. Similarly to classical holograms, HSP encodes
full information about photon’s “shape”, i.e. its quantum wave function whose
local amplitude and phase are retrieved in the demonstrated experiment.
(3) To catch and reverse a quantum jump mid-flight [5]:
In quantum physics, measurements can fundamentally yield discrete and random
results. Emblematic of this feature is Bohr’s 1913 proposal of quantum jumps
between two discrete energy levels of an atom1. Experimentally, quantum jumps
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Hiller, J. H., On the Natural State of Subatomic Particles: Implications for Superposition & Quantum Entanglement
were first observed in an atomic ion driven by a weak deterministic force while
under strong continuous energy measurement…. The times at which the
discontinuous jump transitions occur are reputed to be fundamentally
unpredictable. Despite the non-deterministic character of quantum physics, is it
possible to know if a quantum jump is about to occur? Here we answer this
question affirmatively: we experimentally demonstrate that the jump from the
ground state to an excited state of a superconducting artificial three-level atom
can be tracked as it follows a predictable ‘flight’, by monitoring the population of
an auxiliary energy level coupled to the ground state. The experimental results
demonstrate that the evolution of each completed jump is continuous, coherent
and deterministic. We exploit these features, using real-time monitoring and
feedback, to catch and reverse quantum jumps mid-flight—thus deterministically
preventing their completion. Our findings, which agree with theoretical
predictions essentially without adjustable parameters, support the modern
quantum trajectory theory… and should provide new ground for the exploration of
real-time intervention techniques in the control of quantum systems, such as the
early detection of error syndromes in quantum error correction.
(4) Violation of Heisenberg’s Measurement-Disturbance Relationship by Weak Measurements
[6]
While there is a rigorously proven relationship about uncertainties intrinsic to any
quantum system, often referred to as “Heisenberg’s uncertainty principle,”
Heisenberg originally formulated his ideas in terms of a relationship between the
precision of a measurement and the disturbance it must create. Although this
latter relationship is not rigorously proven, it is commonly believed (and taught)
as an aspect of the broader uncertainty principle. Here, we experimentally
observe a violation of Heisenberg’s “measurement-disturbance relationship”,
using weak measurements to characterize a quantum system before and after it
interacts with a measurement apparatus. Our experiment implements a 2010
proposal of Lund and Wiseman to confirm a revised measurement-disturbance
relationship derived by Ozawa in 2003. Its results have broad implications for the
foundations of quantum mechanics and for practical issues in quantum
measurement.
(5) Quantifying the presence of a neutron in the paths of an interferometer [7]:
It is commonly assumed that no accurate experimental information can be
obtained on the path taken by a particle when quantum interference between the
paths is observed. However, recent progress in the measurement and control of
quantum systems may provide the missing information by circumventing the
conventional uncertainty limits. Here, we experimentally investigate the
possibility that an individual neutron moving through a two-path interferometer
may actually be physically distributed between the two paths. For this purpose, it
is important to distinguish between the probability of finding the complete
particle in one of the paths and the distribution of an individual particle over both
paths. We accomplish this distinction by applying a magnetic field in only one of
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Hiller, J. H., On the Natural State of Subatomic Particles: Implications for Superposition & Quantum Entanglement
the paths and observing the exact value of its effect on the neutron spin in the two
output ports of the interferometer. The results show that individual particles
experience a specific fraction of the magnetic field applied in one of the paths,
indicating that a fraction or even a multiple of the particle was present in the path
before the interference of the two paths was registered. The obtained path
presence equals the weak value of the path projector and is not a statistical
average but applies to every individual neutron, verified by the recently
introduced method of feedback compensation.
Conclusion
The cited five experiments [3-7] serve to demonstrate that subatomic particles in their natural
state have a definite, real existence as had been intuited by Einstein. Bohr had incorrectly
asserted, although consistent with the HUP, that particles must exist in a state of random flux
until observed, but these five experiments demonstrate his interpretation was led astray by an
invalid HUP. Contemporary elegant "weak" particle measurement technology thus vindicates a
century later Einstein in his dispute with Bohr in which he famously declared, " …[God] does
not play dice." Interpretation of the particle dynamics for the Schrodinger wave equation
continues to imagine particles as naturally existing in the random flux philosophized by the false
Copenhagen Interpretation of reality. When particles are recognized to have a definite, real state
when they emerge from the quantum flux, then the spooky mysteries of quantum mechanics fade
away.
Computers are now being engineered to capitalize on quantum entanglement based an the
assumption that instantaneous signaling is a real phenomenon validated by EPR Paradox
experiments. However, the so-called decoherence problem now frustrating reliable computation,
seeking to employ the expectation of instantaneous signaling in prototype quantum computers,
is not any problem to be solved by better engineering, because particles are never in
superposition states.
HUP models well the behavior of subatomic particles when energetically observed, but fails to
apply to weak measurement conditions. Heisenberg and Bohr erred by over-applying the
philosophy of operationalism to declare that the natural state of particles must be regarded as a
probabilistic haze lacking objective, definite reality; ironically, this presupposition about the
natural state of particle actually violated the spirit of operationalism by lacking an observational
basis, but weak measurement now provides objective evidence for this mistake about particle
reality.
But yet there does remain a true mystery about the nature of particles and the world in which
they exist. Prior publication in [1] presented a theory attempting to reduce this mystery. Perhaps
the next major hurdle is understanding how the material world we may observe by our senses,
aided by instrumentation, relates to dark matter and energy. It is also curious that in the
thousands of OBE reports documented there has never been any mention of the role of the dark
realm that cosmologists now believe dominates all of reality, with only 5% allocated to our
observable world.
Received May 22, 2022; Revised May 26, 2022; Accepted August 14, 2022
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396
References
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3. S. Dürr, T. Nonn & G. Rempe (1998), Origin of quantum-mechanical complementarity probed by a
‘which-way’ experiment in an atom interferometer Nature, 395: pp. 33–37.
4. R. Chrapkiewicz, et. al.(2016), Hologram of a Single Photon, arXiv: 1509.02890 at
https://arxiv.org/pdf/1509.02890.pdf
5. Z. K. Minev, S. O. Mundhada, et. al.(2019), To catch and reverse a quantum jump mid-flight, Nature
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Weak Measurements, Phys. Rev. Lett. 109, 100404.
7. Hartmut Lemmel, et.a. (2022), Quantifying the presence of a neutron in the paths of an interferometer,
Phys. Rev. Research 4, 023075.
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