part i: advances over the past 30 years consciousness in physics and philosophy a brief review

PART I: ADVANCES OVER THE PAST 30 YEARSConsciousness in Physics and Philosophy

A Brief Review

Alex Hankey PhD Budapest Conference on Consciousness 20 May 2008

Alex Hankey PhD Budapest 20 May 2008

HUNGARY & HUNGARIAN PHYSICISTS

Tribute to their Fundamental Contributions

Eugene Wigner

– Consciousness in Psi Collapse

Jon Von Neumann

– Quantum Theory of Measurment

CONSCIOUSNESS OVER THE PAST 30 YEARSA Brief Review of the Advances in the

Physics and Philosophy of Consciousness


PHYSICS AND CONSCIOUSNESS SUMMARY 1

PRINCIPLE THRUSTS OF THE PAST 30 YEARS

* Progress from the Perspective of Physics

– Nature of Reality: Non-Objective hence Psi !!!

– Mind-Body Connection, Quantum Coherence

* Requirements from the Perspective of Philosophy

– Physics and Philosophy: Holistic, Non-Reductive





ADVANCES OF THE PAST 30 YEARS

* Identifying Advantages of Quantum Theory

* Establishing Necessary Conditions for

Theories of Consciousness





MAIN CONTRIBUTORS OF THE PAST 30 YEARS

PHYSICISTS:

D'Espagnat, Bell , Aspect

Domash, Hagelin, Penrose, Hameroff

Stapp, Wheeler, Zeilinger

PHILOSOPHERS:

Jon Shear, David Chalmers,






D'Espagnat – Quantum Correlations mena that neither the microscopic nor macroscopic worlds are

Objectively Real

Bell's Theorem – we can distinguish between quantum reality and hidden variable theories

Aspect et al – Quantum Reality holds: quantum correlations hold over macroscopic distances






Larry Domash

Pure Consciousness is a State of Least Excitation

Consciousness & Macroscopic Quantum Coherence

Sir Roger Penrose

Also supports Macroscopic Quantum Coherence

Consciousness involves non-computational physics






Sir Roger Penrose / Stuart Hameroff

Specific Model of MIND-BODY CONNECTION

Involving subtle biology: information bearing

potential of proteins in each Cell's Cytoskeleton






John Hagelin – Unified Field & Consciousness

Because: Consciousness is Holistic

Qualities of Pure Consciousness

Field of All Possibilites / Infinite Creativity

Infinite Dynamism Infinite Silence Infinite Intelligence

Approach of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi





MAIN THRUST OF PHYSICAL REALITY

John A. Wheeler - IT from BIT

Anton Zeilinger - Information is Fundamental

Myself at Previous Budapest Conference – Manifest Reality, Quantum Virtual Reality

Roy Frieden – 'Physics from Fisher Information'

Structure of All Lagrangians show that All Physics arise from Information Production





FACING UP TO THE CHALLENGE

PHYSICS of the MIND BODY Connection

– This must be based on Holistic Physics

– Connect to my Theory of the Life Force

– Show that the Quantized Fluctuations

represent Systems with Self-Knowledge





POSSIBLE IDEE FIXE

CONSCIOUSNESS IS THE UNIFIED FIELD

Hence: PHYSICS of the MIND BODY Connection may lie in Extensions of Unified Field Physics

I hope to show you why this is unlikely to be true




PHILOSOPHY& CONSCIOUSNESS SUMMARY 1


Jon Shear – Pure Conciousness is Basic, Fundamental

David Chalmers – Awareness must be posited in Itself

– Reductive Theories have failed, therefore

– Any Physical Theory must be Non-Reductive

– Any Information Space to indicate Self-Awareness




PHILOSOPHY& CONSCIOUSNESS SUMMARY 2


Jonathan Shear – The Inner Dimension. Philosophy and the Experience of Consciousness

Explaining Consciousness: The Hard Problem

(w. the late Francisco Varela) The View from Within:

First Person Approaches to the Study of Consciousness

David Chalmers – The Conscious Mind



PART II: SELF OBSERVING QUANTUM SYSTEMSSolution to the Mind Matter & Mind Body Problems?

Alex Hankey PhD Budapest Conference on Consciousness 20 May 2008


SELF OBSERVING QUANTUM SYSTEMSSolution to the Mind Matter & Mind Body Problems?

SELF OBSERVING QUANTUM SYSTEMS:

Systems containing Self-Knowledge

MEETING THE CHALLENGES FACING

THEORIES OF CONSCIOUSNESS


THE MIND-BODY CONNECTION 1

a. An Infinitesimal Feedback Loop attached to a

Point in a Field makes that Point Self-Observing

b. At a Feedback Instability, Feedback Loops of

certain Field Systems become Infinitesimal




c. At its Feedback Instability, a System of

Quantum Fields can become

Self Observing




c. At its Feedback Instability, a Quantum System

becomes a

SELF OBSERVING QUANTUM SYSTEM




d. A SELF OBSERVING QUANTUM SYSTEM

inherently possesses

SELF-KNOWLEDGE




e. SELF-KNOWLEDGE

Constitutes a Defining Attribute

of

CONSCIOUSNESS




e. CONSCIOUSNESS can Couple to Matter

using

SELF OBSERVING QUANTUM SYSTEMS

as its

Material Substrate




CONCLUSION I:

Feedback Instabilities in Quantum Systems

offer Appropriate Conditions where

“Consciousness Couples to Matter”

i.e. 'Mind-Matter' Coupling Occurs




CONCLUSION II:

Quantized Fluctuations at Feedback Instabilities

offer a possible model for

'MIND'

i.e. That Aspect of Consciousness Coupling to Matter



SELF OBSERVING

QUANTUM SYSTEMS

SELF OBSERVING QUANTUM SYSTEMSThe Physics underlying Self Observing Quantum Systems

SELF OBSERVING

QUANTUM SYSTEMS

Quantum Theory of Observation

Quantum Fields as Knowledge of the Observed Quanta

SELF KNOWLEDGE

SOQS's as Substrates for CONSCIOUSNES

Fundamental Physics & Physics Concepts

Critical Phenomena

Feedback Instabilities InfinitesimalFeedback Loops

Feedback Quantum Theory

Critical Fluctuations

Quantum Fluctuations


OVERVIEW: Main Topics

* Self-Awareness: the Characteristic of Experience

* Are there Physical Systems with Self-Knowledge?

* Classical Physics versus Quantum Physics

* Knowledge in Quantum Systems

* Feedback as the Essence of Intelligent Function

* Instability in Physical Systems

* Quantum Systems at Feedback Instabilities



OVERVIEW: Main Concepts

* Experience – Awareness – States of Mind

* Self-Knowledge – Conscious Experience

* Physics: Classical / Quantum & Stable / Unstable

* Atomic / Subatomic Systems : Quantum Systems

* Systems with Feedback

* Instability in Physical Systems

* Instability in Systems with Feedback



OVERVIEW: MIND Main Concepts

* We will discuss 'Mind' as the means for experience

* We are not concerned with how the Mind may work

* It is common sense that we all have experience

* We can all talk about 'our experiences'

* We all identify experiences as 'our own'

* This depends of memory, on remembering them




Self-Awareness: the Characteristic of Experience

* Awareness – Consciousness – Intelligence

* We need not define them if we know how they relate

Awareness underlies all Conscious experience: Sense etc

Consciousness: Continuity of Awareness, Knowingness

Intelligence is Interactive: Based on Feeling & Thought




Awareness – Consciousness – Intelligence

Awareness underlies all Conscious experience:

Sensory, Thought, Feeling, Ego, Being

Conscious Experience has Major Characteristics:

Self-Awareness: Continuity of Awareness

Self-Knowledge: Identity Memory




Awareness – Consciousness – Intelligence

Because (1) Continuity of Awareness and (2) Identity Memory underly all our Conscious experience:

We can identify all our experiences as 'our own'

These two constitute fundamental mechanisms by which Self-Knowledge underlies All Experience

Sensory, Thought, Feeling, Ego, Being




Intelligence

We are Conscious of Being Ourselves:

Our Intelligence

Knows What it FEELS like to Be Ourselves

It may Try to Identify what it Thinks We May Be

Intelligence mediates our Feeling for Who We Are (Ego) with the Worlds of Thought and Sense



OVERVIEW: BODY Detailed Topics

* Feedback and Feedback Loops

* Information Flow in Feedback Loops

* Information in Quantum Systems

* Quantum Excitations of Feedback Instabilities

* Fluctuations at Feedback Instabilities

* Quantum Feedback Instability Fluctuations

* Self-Observing Quantum Systems: Self-Knowledge



OVERVIEW: BODY Detailed Topics

Self-Observing Quantum Systems

These enable the Physiology to support

Information Systems with Self-Knowledge

* Self-Knowledge: the Definition of Consciousness

* They can mediate between Body and Mind



PHYSICS: Areas of Physics

* There are many kinds of System treated by Physics

* Macroscopic Systems treated by 'Classical Physics'

* Microscopic Systems treated by 'Quantum Physics'

* Normally, Physical Systems are Stable

* Physical Systems may become Unstable

* This only happens under special physical conditions



PHYSICS: Particular Area of Physics

* Physics: Divide into Four Areas According to

Classical or Quantum

Stable or Unstable

* Only 3 out of the 4 Areas have been treated

* Classical: both kinds – Stable and Unstable

* Stable – Classical and Quantum



The FORGOTTEN QUADRANT of Physics

Areas of Physics

Classical Quantum

Stable Normal All Quantum

Classical Physics Physics

Unstable Physics of Empty

Critical Points Quarter



The FORGOTTEN QUADRANT of Physics

* Microscopic Quantum Systems can become unstable

* Unstable Quantum Systems are still Untreated

Here, in this Neglected Area of Physics Lies

* The possibility of Body-Mind connection



PHYSICS: Physics of Feedback

* Physics of Feedback discovered by Norbert Wiener

* Feedback Loops produce Cycles of Information

* Feedback can make a System Unstable

* Systems become unstable at Feedback Instabilities

* Feedback exists in Microscopic Quantum Systems



PHYSICS: The Meaning of Feedback

* Information flows round a Feedback Loop

* Feedback occurs Far-From-Equilibrium

* Information flows from Transmitter to Receiver

* An Observer is a Receiver of Observation

* Several Transmitter-Receivers may be in a Loop

* e.g. Loudspeaker – Microphone – Amplifier

* The Interpretation of a single T-R Loop



PHYSICS: Single Stage Feedback Loops

* In a Feedback Loop with only One Stage

* The Receiver of Information is the Transmitter

* Transmitter and Receiver are Identical

* The Receiver is still an Observer

* A Single Stage Loop results in Self-Observation

* Such a System is a Self-Observing System



PHYSICS: Feedback Loops at an Instability

* Feedback Loops become Infinitesimally Small

* An Infinitesimal Feedback Loop has One Stage

* The Receiver of Information is the Transmitter

* The Infinitesimal Loop results in Self-Observation

* Can this apply to Quantum Systems ?



Effect of Feedback at the Feedback Instability

of a Quantum System

The Infinitesimally Small Feedback Loops

* Have only One Stage

* Are attached to every point in the Field

* Mean that Self-Observation is Occuring

* At Every Point in the Quantum System !



Effect of Observation on a Quantum System

* Normally Observation 'Collapses a Quantum Field'

* In Self-Observation something Similar must occur

At a Feedback Instability:

* The Normal Mode Quantum Field is Destabilized

* The Entire Quantum Field Disappears ('Collapses')

* That is Consistent with 'Self-Observation' Occuring



Effect of Self-Observation on a Quantum Field

At a Feedback Instability:

* Normal Mode Quantum Fields Destabilize

* They are Replaced by Quantum Fluctuation Fields

CONCLUSIONS

* Ordinary Quantum Fields cannot be Self-Observing

* Quantum Fluctuation Fields Uniquely Constitute





The Connection to Consciousness

* Quantum Fields do NOT Refer to the Quantum

* They Refer to the Observer's Knowledge of it

HENCE, there is a valid sense in which:

* A Self-Observing Quantum System Represents a

System with Self Knowledge




AND CONSCIOUSNESS

BUT 'Self-Knowledge' is a definition of Consciousness

CONCLUSION

* Self-Observing Quantum Systems are more validly

concerned with Consciousness than the ordinary

Quantum Fields usually proposed for the purpose.


SCIENTIFIC UNDERSTANDING OF CAMPART 3: Consciousness

Self-Observing Quantum Systems



AND CONSCIOUSNESS

Quantum Fluctuations at Feedback Instabilities and

CONSCIOUSNESS

QUESTION

* Can Quantum Fluctuations represent Information?

i.e. Information Content of Conscious Awareness

Because Inherent Self-Knowledge is Attached?




AND CONSCIOUSNESS


CONSCIOUSNESS

REQUIREMENT

* To represent Information a Set of 'Letters' forming

An 'Information Space' is Required

* Otherwise 'Information' can not be represented




AND CONSCIOUSNESS


CONSCIOUSNESS

POINT: Because of their Mathematical Structure

* All Quantum Systems are 'Information Spaces'

* Quantum Fluctuations at Feedback Instabilities are

Information Spaces with Inherent Self-Knowledge




AND CONSCIOUSNESS


CONSCIOUSNESS

CONCLUSION

* Quantum Fluctuations uniquely form Information

Spaces with Inherent Self-Knowledge, so they can

support the Information Content of Consciousness




AND CONSCIOUSNESS


CONSCIOUSNESS

FROM PART 2:

Quantum Fluctuations at Feedback Instabilities

* Contain v. High Macroscopic Quantum Coherence

* Are therefore also Holistic




AND CONSCIOUSNESS


CONSCIOUSNESS

POINTS:

* Macroscopic Quantum Coherence is a hypothesized Property of Consciousness (by Domash & Penrose)

* Being 'Holistic' is a normally accepted requirement




AND CONSCIOUSNESS

CONCLUSIONS:

Quantum Fluctuations at Feedback Instabilities can

represent the Information Content of Consciousnesss

because they satisfy 4 Recognized Requirements :

* Information Spaces * Self-Knowledge

* High Quantum Coherence * Holistic





AND THE 'MIND-BODY' PROBLEM

BONUS FROM PART 2:


* Are able to detach from their Physical Subtrate

* Seem to Exist Independently of the Physiology




AND CONSCIOUSNESS


AND THE 'MIND-BODY' PROBLEM

ADDITIONAL CONCLUSION:


* May explain how 'Mind' can 'Couple' to 'Body'




AND THE MIND-BODY PROBLEM

All this suggests that, for the above reasons,

Self-Observing Quantum Systems,

i.e. Quantum Fluctuations at Feedback Instabilities

CAN VALIDLY REPRESENT 'MIND'




AND THE MIND-BODY PROBLEM

In his book 'The Conscious Mind' (Oxford 1999),

David Chalmers states:

* A Theory of Consciousness must be Non-Reductive

* It must Carry a Self-Referral Component so as to Satisfy the need for Self-Awareness

The proposed Theory possesses Both these Properties




AND THE MIND-MATTER PROBLEM 1

In the Proposed Model of the Content of Mind

* Ordinary Quantum Fields Represent Matter

* Quantum Fluctuation Fields are utterly different

* 'Mind' is completely distinct from Matter

* The Model appears to be strongly Cartesian





However, in the Proposed Model :

* Quantum Fluctuation Fields fl can be expressed in

terms of the Ordinary Quantum Fields by:

fl = (2 - ||2)(1 + a) / ||(1 + 2a)

* Though distinct, 'Mind' and 'Matter' are related

* Though seemingly Cartesian, the Model is Unitive!





Because of the Proposed Model's Equation :

fl = (2 - ||2)(1 + a) / ||(1 + 2a)

* Every Quantum Field , every particle of 'Matter' has an associated aspect of 'Mind'

fl

* This was predicted by Alfred North Whitehead

* The Model is 'Whiteheadian' (c.f. Abner Shimony)





SUMMARY

* The Quantize Fluctuation Model explains the difference between Mind & Matter a la Descartes

* It implies that, Ultimately, Mind and Matter have a Common Source – a greater kind of Quantum Field

* In this it is in accordance with Advaita Vedanta

* It agrees with Alfred North Whitehead




THE PANPSYCHISM PROBLEM

The Panpsychism problem concerns Two Questions

which arise if 'Mind' is an Aspect of Everything:

* Can / do 'Minds' exist in things other than bodies?

* If so, what form does 'Mind' take in each thing?

i.e. in what sense is 'Mind' present in each object ?




THE PANPSYCHISM PROBLEM 1

Self Observing Quantum Field Models of Mind offer definite Answers to the Panpsychism problem

* Mind only couples Stably to Matter at Feedback Instabilities Obeying 'Self-Organized Criticality'

* Feedback Instabilities Require Conditions that are

Far-From-Thermodynamic-Equilibrium





IMPLICATIONS for the Panpsychism problem :

* Only living organisms offer the possibilities of being both Far-From-Thermodynamic-Equilibrium and under the control of 'Self-Organized Criticality'

CONCLUSION: 'MIND' as we know it,

* Couples exclusively to Living Organisms





CONSIDERATION: Feedback Instabilities are found in Organism Specific Patterns

* in Epigenetic Regulation of Genomes

* In Neural Network Regulation Processes





CONCLUSION :

* Each Kind of Living Organisms offers Particular Patterns of Genomic Regulation and Neural Network Instabilities for Mind to Couple to.

* Each Organism couples to its own Kind of 'Mind'





CONCLUSIONS :

* The Complexity of Biological Matter is such that its Structure can couple to a specific kind of Soul !!!

* There should be a Specific 'Structure of Soul' for each Organism

* This sounds like the 'Great Chain of Being'





SUMMARY

The Panpsychism problem concerns 2 questions

which arise if 'Mind' is an aspect of everything:

* Can / do 'Minds' exist in things other than bodies?

* If so, what form does 'Mind' take in each thing?

i.e. in what sense is 'Mind' present in each object ?




Systems with Self-Knowledge

SUMMARY

SOQS's: Are Non-Reductive & Holistic

Exhibit Macroscopic Quantum Coherence

Have Inherent Self Referral for Awareness

Exhibit Basic Intelligence

Connect to the Physiology Satisfactorily


Thank you Alex Hankey 20 May 2008

Budapest Conference on Consciousness

part i: advances over the past 30 years consciousness in physics and philosophy a brief review

Documents

consciousness summary

nonreductive consciousness

main contributors

quantum reality holds

advantages of quantum

macroscopic worlds

mindbody connection

hameroff stapp