The notion that quantum queerness has something to do with the "hard problem" of Consciousness has recently become almost mainstream in Science. But too many of those "bizarre" theories --- such as Penrose's microtubules --- are still stuck in a Newtonian worldview of Gear-like Mechanisms & Kinetic Energy & Cartesian Locality. But a few researchers in quantum physics and consciousness are beginning to cross the forbidden zone into areas that used to be reserved for pseudo-scientific Paranormal studies. The difference is like Steam-Punk versus Star Trek.my new favorite quack topic, quantum consciousness — Enrique
In order to make sense of such quantum paradoxes as "non-locality", I have had to accept the ancient notion of Infinity, where spatial coordinates do not apply. Then to understand "quantum leaps" and "supra-luminal" trans-location, I turned to the concept of Eternity, where linear Time has no bearing. Hence, metaphysical Infinity-Eternity is "primary" over physical Space-Time.The consistent violation of Newtonian physics . . . . suggests that the most accurate theoretical paradigm is one regarding the properties of non-locality in substance as primary. — Enrique
Although our senses are adapted to the negative direction of evolution, that we call Entropy, our sixth sense of Reason causes us to look for an explanation for the pockets of positive evolution that produced Life & Mind. My preferred term for what scientists call "Negentropy" is Enformy, which is defined in a manner that fits neatly into my general worldview of Enformationism.its entropic properties on an earthbound scale, which our sense organs have been evolutionarily adapted to find almost reflexively intuitive. — Enrique
In order to explain the positive effects of apparently random evolution, I have developed a theory of Phase Changes caused by the positive energy of Entropy.phase changes — Enrique
The quantum-field-like substance of Causality is what I call EnFormAction. But it is conceived as entirely Normal & Natural, and amenable to scientific investigation. Yet, to philosophers and scientists with a Newtonian bias, and a Materialistic worldview, Enformationism sounds like a slippery-slope to Spiritualism and Paranormal forces.and the mind taps into this more pervading, quantum-like substrate of causality as it perceives, experiences and is affected by the so-called paranormal. — Enrique
Sure it does. Follow the paradoxical rabbit down the black-hole into Enformation Wonderland. :nerd:It don't get any bizarrer than that! — Enrique
FWIW, here's a link to the book review on my blog : http://bothandblog6.enformationism.info/page21.htmlI'm currently working on a book review of Donald Hoffman's, The Case Against Reality, which makes a similar attempt to explain human consciousness in a manner that takes the paradoxes and abnormalities of Quantum Theory to be natural and normal. He doesn't deny Reality, but merely presents a model to help us make sense of why Consciousness doesn't seem to fit into our current understanding of physical Nature. — Gnomon
As far as I know, Hoffman didn't speculate much on the precise steps by which Consciousness gradually emerged from quantum level exchanges of energy (information). But he quotes John Wheeler : "Each elementary quantum phenomenon is an elementary act of 'fact creation'" Which seems to imply that any permanent change in a particle is essentially a memory. So fluctuations in the EMF, that result in a propagating pattern (e.g. standing waves) would be similar to brain waves that signal information processing. Whether you could call those "facts" Qualia is beyond the scope of my understanding.Thus, qualitative consciousness actually precedes awareness, for qualia can exist and perform a functional role in consort with quantum effects and additional gradations of non-local reality while an organism almost entirely lacks executive, centralized control in the form of intentions. — Enrique
Consciousness, external reality and their growingly well-defined connection seem to destine a reconstituted conception of the physical, as involving quantum-like properties that contradict the classical paradigm of force interrelationships between collections of fundamental spheres.
Jumping in late here but let me share my thoughts. Your statement is true but only in a less directly useful way to your point. All phenomena is fundamentally quantum mechanical. The classical paradigm is a low resolution description of the underlying quantum nature.Current science suggests that quantum effects are crucial not just to consciousness but all biological systems. — Enrique
How does a holographic phase space work? It would be cool if you could explain variability in the experience of "I" or "self" as a material phenomenon, correlated with specific molecules, cells and emergent brain structures, a synthesis with neuroscience. — Enrique
I don’t think the neuronal EMF in and of itself is so important b/c that has been measured a modeled extensively to little avail as to what the brain’s processing & representation modality is, which is a big mystery. I suspect it is one big holographic phase-space processor so you’ll hardly find any one node/area with discrete information/representation after the optic nerve projects Cartesian space images onto the visual cortex (V1-V4) on the back of the brain.My initial thought is that the brain's electromagnetic field may be a material signature of the integrative function you're looking to model, — Enrique
I don’t think the neuronal EMF in and of itself is so important b/c that has been measured a modeled extensively to little avail as to what the brain’s processing & representation modality is, which is a big mystery. I suspect it is one big holographic phase-space processor so you’ll hardly find any one node/area with discrete information/representation after the optic nerve projects Cartesian space images onto the visual cortex (V1-V4) on the back of the brain. — Sir Philo Sophia
The point here then is that it's not so much that some new exceptional phenomena we call "quantum" is the "secret" behind consciousness. Rather the "pre-quantum" paradigm we use to talk about how things behave in terms of objects and objective models, is insufficient to even define consciousness much less explain it. Consciousness is a behavior that defies objective modeling. — jambaugh
I'm personally not too focused on how the brain does anything b/c often biological systems are 'gobligook' ways to carry out otherwise more strait forward methods (think how DNA coding and control circuits are super redundantly/incoherently implemented) — Sir Philo Sophia
So in your estimation, EEGs aren't finely tuned enough to pick up the causality of standing wave states? What kind of research has been carried out on brain waves? — Enrique
I would imagine that any relative inefficiency in DNA is because of the balance it must maintain between the coding functions and the self-replicative, mutational functions. — Enrique
For instance, the one hundred percent efficiency in photosynthetic translation of light into chemical energy during reaction center activation exceeds even superconductors, or the — Enrique
Consciousness is a behavior that defies objective modeling. — jambaugh
The Gibbs free energy for converting a mole of CO2 to glucose... — Sir Philo Sophia
does not scale up to be the framework or foundation for any macro-scale system — Sir Philo Sophia
so there may be uniquely cognitive working mechanisms for sustaining qualia at multiple levels against thermodynamic disorder, — Enrique
why are you so convinced that qualia consciousness must arise from the quantum effects instead of simply being a macro-scale phenomenon w/o requiring the quantum effects to do its cool stuff? — Sir Philo Sophia
. Basically, particle interactions are time-lagged, while perceptual consciousness isn't. — Enrique
We don't experience the world as a flurry of our constituent atoms, but rather as a perpetualized substrate, an integrated field of awareness. — Enrique
Without tissue being equivalent to qualia, no qualia can exist, that's the entire mind/body problem from an empirical angle. — Enrique
Perhaps we can move from computational analogies and loose correlations that ignore all sorts of phenomena to a model of actual causality. — Enrique
Yes, historically that has been the main problem. I believe I am making very good progress on a formal definition of consciousness. I have an initial framework that seems to be useful in coherent. I am even making some practical progress on the hard problem of qualia, at least for certain types.A proper answer would require a proper definition of consciousness which is, of course, problematic. — jambaugh
As with your Tiger analogy below, I believe you are distinguishing a certain type of higher order consciousness that I don't Reason or believe is the structure of consciousness. If I understand you right then you are subscribing to the higher order of consciousness. For example, Please explain how Such self consciousness (metacognition) is a requirement Of, subset of, Or a part of, or enabling of qualia. For A simple example, for me to "see" the color red I need not be self-aware that I am watching the color red. Any theory of consciousness that does not include and handle the hard problem of consciousness, qualia, is woefully incomplete at best and completely off base at worse.consciousness is unboundedly self reflective. — jambaugh
Metacognition is an epiphenomenon of consciousness not it's foundation. Similar to how symbolic logic was supposed to solve Artificial intelligence, yet turned out to not be the foundation of human reasoning, so utterly failed when attempting to grounded into Real-world implementation. Again, you are projecting at the macro level of Human consciousness, Which has little to do with the micro building block structure of it.but, I would argue, a tiger falls short of consciousness, at the level I am imagining it, in that it is not conscious of its own process of cognition. — jambaugh
You certainly do not need metacognition to do that. Moreover, many animals, Including rodents close, have been demonstrated to possess Counterfactual reasoning, which is exactly that sort of (Self)reflective Thought of what I should've done instead to get a better result.It cannot ask the question "is it right that I hunt this prey?". — jambaugh
It is like the fact that given a mirror one sees a copy of an image of the world, but given two mirrors facing each other one sees an infinite regress of recursive images of the world. T — jambaugh
The existence of consciousness in an entity allows it to explore that infinite regress as far as it chooses (though always to a finite degree of actualization). This is how we distinguish a computer from a conscious entity. ... More to-the-point the conscious entity realizes that futility of this process ("infinity" is to the conscious entity a symbol taking the place of the absent boundary). — jambaugh
Seems you are just doing a lot of arm waving on your feeling of self regulation when trying to solve the recursive problem. Even insects know when to give up when their efforts are not sufficiently productive enough. Very programmable you do not need any fancy kind of higher order theory of consciousness.The conscious entity can escape the infinite loop trap because the conscious entity can reflect on the task of striving itself. — jambaugh
Okay, so with these reflections on the conscious entity, I argue that any objective model must necessarily fall short of describing the conscious entity because the conscious entity himself by (imperfect but adequate) definition must be able to transcend (again in this non-metaphysical meaning) the model. The conscious entity models itself in some limited by meaningful way. — jambaugh
Bringing to down to a more concrete level, I see a strong analog to the modeling of quantum mechanical systems (my expertise) and modeling conscious entities. — jambaugh
We lose the ability to describe the quantum system in terms of an objective state of all observable properties. Similarly with a conscious entity, to "measure" the state, to observe those variables which affect the conscious entity's behavior requires we interact in a meaningful way, specifically a way meaningful to that conscious entity and thus the entity is perturbed in a way invalidating other complementary/ non-compatible variables. — jambaugh
This means that the act of observing the conscious entity necessarily will affect that entity in ways that, for the very same reason it occurs for quantum systems, invalidates the objective description of said entity. — jambaugh
My hypothesis was that all qualia emerge from extremely complex additive properties of quantum entangled and superpositioned wavicles, so qualitative experience is actually a component of the matter itself rather than being an incoherently conceived immaterial supervenience either generated as an illusion or transcending the empirical world. This perhaps resolves the perennial mind/body problem of philosophy. — Enrique
Suppose we lived in a world where atomic stability came not from quantum mechanics but from some other (deterministic) mechanics. If there were human-like creatures in such a world, would they not have feelings or would "classical" humans be philosophical zombies? — SolarWind
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