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Consciousness, Biology& Fundamental Physics
CONSCIOUSNESS AND FUNDAMENTAL REALITY In trying to discover the physical basis of consciousness, it may first be helpful to consider the physical structure of the universe from which consciousness somehow arises. Everything that we see or otherwise perceive is comprised of quanta that are best described as energy waves oscillating as excitations or disturbances of the quantum vacuum. In terms of modern physics nothing else exists, there are no things, there is no colour green, although it is not usually put quite as bluntly as that, perhaps for fear of frightening the horses. In the view of some physicists, it is the vacuum that is fundamental rather than the quanta. These waves of energy are seen as excitations of the more fundamental vacuum. The quantum vacuum is not a void or nothingness, but could better be described as a plenum, as being full of virtual particles or photons that leap in and out of existence, and whose existence can be made permanent by the presence of energy, such as the energy of an extreme gravitational field or equivalent acceleration. Some physicists are at pains to emphasise the existence of the quantum vacuum as a reality rather than an abstraction. Thus it is proposed that if we were on board a space ship accelerating towards some high percentage of the speed of light, we would see hot particles heading towards us out of the vacuum equivalent to the energy of our acceleration. The quantum vacuum permeates the whole universe, and in that respect can be identified with the spacetime of special and general relativity. The speed of the light quanta or photons is fundamental in special relativity, and this relates to the proposition that there is no fixed background frame of spatial or temporal reference for the quanta and their interactions, but that each point or event has its own frame of reference. Further, spacetime or the vacuum are curved by the presence of massive objects, and the energy of their gravitational curvature, if sufficiently great, can produce the same hot particles that we see from our accelerating spaceship, gravity and acceleration being equivalent in relativity. This again points to the physical reality of the quantum vacuum. Unfortunately the two main theories of modern physics, quantum theory and relativity, although individually tested to a very high degree of accuracy, are incompatible with one another. This reflects the essential conflict between quantum theory, which sees energy as discrete units and the smooth continuous curvature of spacetime in general relativity. Physicists have tended towards the view that spacetime like energy will have to be viewed not as a continuum, but as forming some kind of web or network. The significant thing is that once we move away from the concept of a continuum towards something more discrete, the possibility that the network itself contains pattern or information emerges, and with it the possibility that this information could be related to consciousness. This all seems very far from the world that we see around us containing land, water, buildings, motor cars, people and animals. Strictly speaking, these do not exist as brain states. All that physics shows to exist are the quanta as disturbances of the vacuum. To take the example of vision, photons (light quanta) reach the retina and are converted into electrical and chemical signals in the brain. Neuroscience traditionally describes this process as a representation of the external world. In fact this term rather exaggerates the likeness between brain state and the external world, and it might be more helpful to talk about mapping. If we think of a very abstract map, such as the map of an urban metro or underground railway system, we might get the right analogy. The two-dimensional coloured lines on a piece of paper have no resemblance to cavernous concrete tunnels, steel rails or metal coaches. However, in evolutionary terms, the map is adaptive once we understand the correlation between lines on paper and a system that can take us to preferred destinations. Likewise, a brain state based on signals from the external world has no resemblance to energy waves oscillating in the vacuum, but the correlation between the two may be advantageous to the survival of an organism. Where is all this leading in terms of consciousness? It is really to suggest that approaches that start from the old Newtonian physics assumptions of massive objects in the external world bumping into one another, or even of neurons as massive objects projecting chemical at one another, may mislead. Certainly, theories that have proceeded from this basis have failed to produce a satisfying explanatory consensus. This lack of success at least suggests that in looking for consciousness, we might be better to work upwards from the real basis of the physical world. WHAT THE SITE PROVIDES The site provides summaries and reviews of books, academic papers, articles and other material relevant to theories of consciousness related to fundamental physics. This includes the ideas of Penrose, Hameroff, Bohm, Stapp, Bernroider and others. The site also offers a blog on current developments, a page for new material and a reference section for subjects and authors. The introduction section provides both a discussion of the main theories of quantum consciousness, aimed mainly at readers new to the subject, and an online book (incomplete) which attempts to develop an overall theory for consciousness. One section deals with evidence related to quantum consciousness ideas. An area of recent interest has been a spate of papers relating to quantum coherence in photosynthetic proteins (Engel et al, 2007, Lee et al 2007, Sarovar et al, 2009, Collini et al, 2009). The most recent and possibly the most important paper is Collini et al, 2010, which demonstrates long-lived quantum coherence in proteins at room temperature, something which had previously been considered impossible. These studies are argued to go a good way to undermine the core decoherence argument against quantum consciousness. Other recent papers deal with the screening of microtubule surfaces by ions and ordered water, an area that is important to the Penrose/Hameroff theory. Recently added are papers by Georgiev, D. suggesting an alternative to the Hameroff model for supporting quantum coherence in microtubules. The work of Engels and Collini mentioned above tends to bring the significance of proteins centre stage. Proteins whether in microtubules or elsewhere in the neuron that emerges as a quantum engine even in conventional theory, and is also the most likely mechanism for any form of quantum consciousness/computing in the brain. It is intended to try and emphasise studies of proteins in the future development of the site. RELATED TOPICS: Under this headline tab are all subjects other the introduction, the blog and individual consciousness theories. Topics covered include neuroscience, protein and photosynthesis, emotions, free will, the origin of life and quantum computing. The main stream section, also under the Related Topics heading, provides critiques of some of orthodox neuroscience, psychology and philosophical ideas on consciousness, including those of Dennett, Churchland, Crick and Koch. Online Book 1-6: Consciousness, Biology and Fundamental Physics is the latest addition. This is a 40,000 word book format drawing on a variety of physics and neuroscience sources, and arguing for a version of the Penrose/Hameroff concepts modified in various ways, particularly in respect of a closer connection to recent discoveries in quantum biology. The suggested reading list for quantum consciousness studies is under: Introduction 3: Reading List : The most recent additions to the site are listed below:- 1.) Death of the eternal cosmos - Lisa Grossman/based on Alexander Vilenkin - added 26 January 2012 (under Cosmology: Problems with inflation theory) - Mathematical problems with inflation theory 2.) Despair with popular science treatment of consciousness - added 25 January 2012 (under Quantum Mind Blog) 3.) Persistent dynamic entanglement from classical motion: How biomolecular machines can generate non-trivial quantum states - Guerreschi, G., Cai, J., Popescu, S. & Briegel, H. - added 17 January 2012 (under Neuroscience: Testing for entanglement) - Possibility of testing for/falsifying the hypothesis of quantum states in protein 4.) Can machines be murdered? - Tate, M. et al - added 9 January 2011 (under Neuroscience: Machine consciousness) 5.) The quest for animal Consciousness - Andrea Nani, Clare Eddy & Andrera Cavanna - added 6 January 2012 (under Neuroscience: Consciousness andexecutive function) - Studies show consciousness essential to activate executive brain regions. 6.) Conscious states are a crosstalk mechanism for only a suset of brain processes - Ezequiel Morsella & Tiffany Jantz - added 4 January 2012 (under Neuroscience: Consciousness as a crosstalk mechanism) - relates to recent studies on both gamma synchrony and the orbitofrontal 7.) Protophenomena and their physical correlates - MacLennan, B. - added 22 December 2011 (under Neuroscience: Protophenomena) 8.) The flexibility of chemosensory preferences - Geraldine Coppin & David Sander - added 21 December (under Neuroscience: Flexibility of preferences) - Further evidence of neuronal activity related to subjective experience rather than external stimulies 9.) Predicting emotional reactions: Mechanism, Bias and Choice - Tali Sharot - added 20 December 2011 (under Neuroscience: Predicting emotional reactions) 10.) The neurobiology of preferences - Symmonds, M. & Dolan, R. - added 19 December 2011 (under Neuroscience: Neurobiology of preferences) Other recent reviews:- 1.) Decoding subject-driven cognitive states with whole brain connectivity patterns - Shirer, W. - 18 Dec (Quantum Mind Blog) (2.) Quantum boundary - 17 Dec (Quantum Mind Blog) (3.) Quantum biology prospects: 2012 - 16 Dec (Quantum Mind Blog) (4.) Pressure for multiverse orthodoxy - added 8 December 2011 (under Quantum Mind Blog) (5.) The importance of what's missing - T. Deacon - added 6 December 2011 (under Mainstream: Self-only consciousness) (6.) Implications of anaesthetics - added 29 November 2011 (under Neuroscience: Implications of anaesthetics) (7.) Quantum states cannot be interpreted statistically - Pusey, M. et al - 23 Nov (Physics: Quantum reality theorem) (8.) Consciousness v. information - 22 Nov (Neuroscience: Consciousness v. information) (9.) Photons out of empty space - 21 Nov (Cosmology: Photons out of empty space) (10.) Answering Descartes: Beyond Turing - Stuart Kauffman - 13 Nov (Physics: Quantum and classical interaction) (11.) Online Book: Consciousness, Biology and Fundamental Physics - 7 Nov. (under Online Book 1-6) (12.) Quantum collapse theory - 3 Nov (Physics: Quantum collapse theory) (13.) Independence and connection of pain and suffering - Fink, B.S. - 24 Oct (Neuroscience: Pain and emotional assessment) (14.) Decoding visual inputs from multiple neurons - Quiroga, Q. - 19 Oct (Neuroscience: Neuronal selectivity and invariance) (15.) Sparse but not 'Grandmother-cell' coding - Quiroga, Q. - added 7 Oct (Neuroscience: Neuronal selectivity) (16.) Single-neuron correlates of subjective vision - Kreiman, G., Fried, I. & Koch, C. - 6 Oct (Neuroscience: Single-neurons and subjective vision) (17.) Elegance and Enigma - 2 Oct (Physics: Interpretation of quantum theory) (18.) Consciousness in the universe: Neuroscience, quantum space-time and Orch OR theory - Roger Penrose & Stuart Hameroff - 22 Sept (Penrose & Hameroff: Aromatic molecules & hydrophobic channels) (19.) Coupling between neuronal firing rate, gamma and fMRI is related to interneuronal correlations - Rafael Malach et al - 20 Sept 2011 (Neuroscience: Individual neuron spiking and gamma synchrony) (20.) Object Perception - Kalanit Grill-Spector - 18 Sept (Neuroscience: preception, reporting and neurons) 'Once we have bitten the quantum apple, our loss of innocence is permanent' - R. Shankar (1994) What is matter? Will it last forever? All that is born, all that is created all the elements of nature are interwoven and united with each other. All that is composed shall be decomposed, Everything returns to its roots matter returns to the origin of matter |
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