A Physical Explanation for Consciousness, the Reality Possibly
A paper I wrote on the physics of mind, enjoy!
Quantum Coherence and the Brain
Historically, as it became apparent that our brains are the primary seat of awareness, comprised of around 100 billion cells which interact by way of 100 trillion connections for transmitting electrical signals, mystery surrounding the explanatory gap between matter and mind deepened. This conceptual gap can be generalized as a couple of core issues. The combination problem refers to uncertainty associated with how a vast quantity of separate components integrates to produce the seemingly indivisible and fluid qualities of subjective perception. More enigmatic still is how a mechanistic system of electrical signaling mediated by voltage gradients and chemical concentrations can be this intimately involved in generating a perceptual medium of colors, shapes, textures, feelings, thoughts, etc. which manifests so distinctly from the composition of physical matter as we know it. For centuries it has seemed as if physiological and conscious substance are incompatible domains, but science has made such great strides in the 21st century that it is finally possible to outline preliminaries of a plausible theory describing the connection between matter and mind.
The key to explaining linkage of consciousness with the brain in a comprehensive way, from the cellular to organwide scale, is forming a solid picture of the basic physics involved, and this requires understanding quantum properties of neuronal tissue. Electromagnetic energy transfer between charged particles, electric field influences on the magnetism of atoms and molecules, and substance of awareness to the extent that it emerges from brain function are all at base tied to quantum processes.
Three main quantum phenomena must be considered in this context. Wave/particle duality permits energy to flow amongst or through cellular structures and solutions as wavelike currents even when these structures are composed of chemically stable particles with well-defined shapes and sizes. Quantum superposition allows relatively wavelike electromagnetic radiation to blend into hybrid structures such as colors of the visible spectrum. Superposition occurs between atoms to a more limited degree, and I hypothesize that EM radiation can superposition with atoms when it flows through them, in addition to the spectral signatures created by atomic orbitals while fully absorbing or emitting light as photons of specific energy. This means that electromagnetic matter essentially consists of atomic nodes within photonic fields, all more or less cohering as an extremely complex and heterogeneous breadth of energy density. Entanglement is the name given to a dynamic by which constituents of these fields, specifically subatomic particles such as photons, electrons and nucleons, can synchronize in a near-instantaneous way. To this point entanglement is modeled only probabilistically, so statistically significant relationships are observed between large quantities of particles, relatively more wavelike or particlelike, as correlations of for instance spin among electrons or phase among photons. Experiments with entanglement suggest that it propagates faster than light across many kilometers and can even happen in a retroactive manner, presumably as a consequence of what are termed “nonlocal” forces still shrouded in mystery.
The way subatomic waves and particles superposition and entangle within energy fields is called “quantum coherence”. Since photons, electrons and nucleons all have wavelike properties, they are commonly thought of as wavicles. At the macroatomic scale, at least on Earth, atomic wavicles form agglomerations buzzing with an energy that is typically heterogeneous enough to make the presence of destructive interference an intrinsic aspect of the baseline condition. Thus, optically inspectable particles for instance tend to behave classically, as relatively inert masses whose charges balance and which fluctuate thermodynamically, in line with the traditional concept of deterministic space and time. But though thermodynamism, the state of “decoherence”, exists as a sort of structural chassis for Earthbound matter and human physiology, the environment is still in essence subatomic, so decoherence can coexist with small or large durations and expanses of coherence. Postulating in a general sense how quantum coherence coordinates with the brain’s electrical features is the first step in fashioning a model of the interface between substance of physiology and mind.
Influence of Quantum Coherence on the Electromagnetic Mechanisms of Neurons
The neuron’s axon is a bodily structure where coherence plays an important role. Textbook introductions describe how voltage gradients are maintained by Na+ and K+ ion concentration differentials across the axon’s cell membrane, modulated via selective diffusion through ion channels. But lengthwise voltage gradients within the axon might be even more vital to action potentials, and quantum coherence in aqueous solution drives this mechanism of near-instantaneous jumping between membrane nodes.
Na+ ions are most concentrated outside the axon’s cell membrane, and K+ ions inside. The myelin sheath, an insulating layer of fat enveloping the axon that increases conductance speed, is punctuated by a node of Ranvier at regular intervals, where voltage-gated Na+ channels are located. The next region of cellular space on an action potential’s path is the paranode, where myelin attaches to the cell membrane. Once the paranode has been traversed, the juxtaparanode is reached, where voltage-gated K+ channels are located. Then comes the majority of an axon’s internodal space, with K+ leakage channels and sodium-potassium pumps to help restore ion gradients of the resting potential between signal transmittances. The procession arrives at a juxtaparanode and then paranode on the next node of Ranvier’s opposite side, after which Na+ influx is once again initiated, continuing the chain reaction beyond numerous nodes to the synaptic cleft.
This anatomy of the neuron has been discerned with enough specificity that a fairly certain hypothesis can be made as to its mechanisms. During an action potential, Na+ enters the axon at a node of Ranvier as stimulated by the change in voltage called depolarization. Voltage-gated K+ channels at the juxtaparanode almost immediately begin letting K+ diffuse out of the axon. The differential between increasingly positive charge at the node of Ranvier and decreasingly positive charge at the juxtaparanode accelerates electromagnetic energy transmittance, an excess force that propels the signal through internodal space. At this point, the next node has not been completely repolarized. Once electromagnetic energy enters its sphere of influence, acceleration is renewed and depolarization occurs soon after. Because the phenomenon, once initiated, involves decelerative inertia across space when charge is constant, I name this the “ebb effect”. What follows is a description of the mechanism in more structural detail.
An axon’s internal solution is made up mostly of water molecules and positive ions. H2O is of course a polar molecule, with its hydrogen atoms being relatively positive and the oxygen atom relatively negative, bent somewhat at the fulcrum. A solvation shell of water molecules forms around each Na+ and K+ ion, with more negative poles of H2O aligned on the shell’s inner surface and more positive poles facing outward. Thus, the solution contains a complex contour of more and less positive charges, with “positive” in this case being a relative concept, for these charges all consist in negatively charged electron wavicle structure. Displaceable electron energy that is more concentrated in a particular region of space, as “negative” polarity, tends to move towards regions of less concentration or “positive” polarity, and this effectuates a dynamic equilibrium of charge distribution as atoms diffuse around.
When Na+ enters the axon at a node of Ranvier, average electron energy concentration decreases in that region, drawing nearby electron energy towards it in what is basically a lengthwise voltage gradient. As electron energy shifts towards Na+, the energy concentration of adjacent regions reduces, in turn exerting a voltage effect on regions that are more remote from the Na+ increase, eventually reaching the paranode and then juxtaparanode. The current of electrical energy is moving towards Na+ increase, but its propagation begins adjacent to Na+ and then travels outward as a wavefront into successively distant regions. Because the wavefront spreads out while traveling through solution, its strength attenuates with distance, similar to how the intensity of a light wave diminishes as it strays from its source, except electron energy has much greater mass than light and so its shrinking rate of motion bears more resemblance to the behavior of a classical wave, with something like inertial resistance. This is in essence the transition from a state of dynamic equilibrium amongst electron wavicles which causes them to interfere, mitigating quantum coherence or conversely instating decoherence in some measure over largish regions of space, and into a more directional coherence that rapidly flows towards more positive charge, starting in adjacent regions and cascading outward.
As the wavefront shifts away from higher Na+ concentrations at the node of Ranvier, it is accompanied by an electromagnetic field fluctuation linked to the flow of electric current out of successively more distant regions of solution and towards the node. When electromagnetic field fluctuation reaches voltage-gated K+ channels at the juxtaparanode, K+ is triggered to flow out of the axon, instigating an even greater disparity in charge, electrical potential, strength of lengthwise voltage. This accelerates electric current towards the initial node of Ranvier, and the wavefront which is coupled to it along with a companion electromagnetic field fluctuation likewise accelerate in the opposite direction. Force exacted at the juxtaparanode by increase in strength of the lengthwise voltage gradient overcomes deceleration from inertia as the wavefront spreads through the rest of internodal space. In an instant, the wavefront’s electromagnetic field fluctuation reaches the next node of Ranvier, prompting Na+ to flow in and renewing the sequence.
The mechanism is similar in dendrites, except that myelin is not present between nodes where voltage-gated Na+ channels are located, and inward diffusion of Cl- ions functions to block signal transmission by the counteractive propagation of an electromagnetic wavefront which proceeds in the same direction as current flow. EPSPs (excitatory postsynaptic potentials) from Na+ influx happen in distal regions of the dendrite, while IPSPs (inhibitory postsynaptic potentials) from Cl- influx occur proximal to dendrite/soma junctions so less negative ions are required to prevent a dendritic potential from crossing the soma and reaching the junction between axon and soma, called the axon hillock, where an action potential begins. If electron coherence proves strong enough to penetrate Cl- blockage and reach the soma despite reverse propagation, this excess energy accelerates rapidly afterwards in the direction of current flow due to a strong voltage gradient between negative charge around the base of dendrites and the largest concentration of Na+ channels in a neuron at the axon hillock.
Given neural anatomy, the improbability of explaining signal transmittance without reference to these near-instantaneous currents of quantum coherence provides motivation to assert that electrons exist as diffuse waves filling the atom rather than more localized particles, at least in solution. Identifying electromagnetic field fluctuations, called LFPs (local field potentials), as the mechanism by which atoms exert somewhat remote effects to activate voltage-gated ion channels implies a cohesive picture of how extracellular phenomena such as the brain’s macroscopic electric field are impacted by and can reciprocally impact intracellular functions. EM fields in the brain are not an epiphenomenon, but rather central to the mechanisms of even individual neurons. The inquiry then seems to be whether a macroscopic EM field is somehow responsible for holism of consciousness.
Quantum Coherence and the Brain
Historically, as it became apparent that our brains are the primary seat of awareness, comprised of around 100 billion cells which interact by way of 100 trillion connections for transmitting electrical signals, mystery surrounding the explanatory gap between matter and mind deepened. This conceptual gap can be generalized as a couple of core issues. The combination problem refers to uncertainty associated with how a vast quantity of separate components integrates to produce the seemingly indivisible and fluid qualities of subjective perception. More enigmatic still is how a mechanistic system of electrical signaling mediated by voltage gradients and chemical concentrations can be this intimately involved in generating a perceptual medium of colors, shapes, textures, feelings, thoughts, etc. which manifests so distinctly from the composition of physical matter as we know it. For centuries it has seemed as if physiological and conscious substance are incompatible domains, but science has made such great strides in the 21st century that it is finally possible to outline preliminaries of a plausible theory describing the connection between matter and mind.
The key to explaining linkage of consciousness with the brain in a comprehensive way, from the cellular to organwide scale, is forming a solid picture of the basic physics involved, and this requires understanding quantum properties of neuronal tissue. Electromagnetic energy transfer between charged particles, electric field influences on the magnetism of atoms and molecules, and substance of awareness to the extent that it emerges from brain function are all at base tied to quantum processes.
Three main quantum phenomena must be considered in this context. Wave/particle duality permits energy to flow amongst or through cellular structures and solutions as wavelike currents even when these structures are composed of chemically stable particles with well-defined shapes and sizes. Quantum superposition allows relatively wavelike electromagnetic radiation to blend into hybrid structures such as colors of the visible spectrum. Superposition occurs between atoms to a more limited degree, and I hypothesize that EM radiation can superposition with atoms when it flows through them, in addition to the spectral signatures created by atomic orbitals while fully absorbing or emitting light as photons of specific energy. This means that electromagnetic matter essentially consists of atomic nodes within photonic fields, all more or less cohering as an extremely complex and heterogeneous breadth of energy density. Entanglement is the name given to a dynamic by which constituents of these fields, specifically subatomic particles such as photons, electrons and nucleons, can synchronize in a near-instantaneous way. To this point entanglement is modeled only probabilistically, so statistically significant relationships are observed between large quantities of particles, relatively more wavelike or particlelike, as correlations of for instance spin among electrons or phase among photons. Experiments with entanglement suggest that it propagates faster than light across many kilometers and can even happen in a retroactive manner, presumably as a consequence of what are termed “nonlocal” forces still shrouded in mystery.
The way subatomic waves and particles superposition and entangle within energy fields is called “quantum coherence”. Since photons, electrons and nucleons all have wavelike properties, they are commonly thought of as wavicles. At the macroatomic scale, at least on Earth, atomic wavicles form agglomerations buzzing with an energy that is typically heterogeneous enough to make the presence of destructive interference an intrinsic aspect of the baseline condition. Thus, optically inspectable particles for instance tend to behave classically, as relatively inert masses whose charges balance and which fluctuate thermodynamically, in line with the traditional concept of deterministic space and time. But though thermodynamism, the state of “decoherence”, exists as a sort of structural chassis for Earthbound matter and human physiology, the environment is still in essence subatomic, so decoherence can coexist with small or large durations and expanses of coherence. Postulating in a general sense how quantum coherence coordinates with the brain’s electrical features is the first step in fashioning a model of the interface between substance of physiology and mind.
Influence of Quantum Coherence on the Electromagnetic Mechanisms of Neurons
The neuron’s axon is a bodily structure where coherence plays an important role. Textbook introductions describe how voltage gradients are maintained by Na+ and K+ ion concentration differentials across the axon’s cell membrane, modulated via selective diffusion through ion channels. But lengthwise voltage gradients within the axon might be even more vital to action potentials, and quantum coherence in aqueous solution drives this mechanism of near-instantaneous jumping between membrane nodes.
Na+ ions are most concentrated outside the axon’s cell membrane, and K+ ions inside. The myelin sheath, an insulating layer of fat enveloping the axon that increases conductance speed, is punctuated by a node of Ranvier at regular intervals, where voltage-gated Na+ channels are located. The next region of cellular space on an action potential’s path is the paranode, where myelin attaches to the cell membrane. Once the paranode has been traversed, the juxtaparanode is reached, where voltage-gated K+ channels are located. Then comes the majority of an axon’s internodal space, with K+ leakage channels and sodium-potassium pumps to help restore ion gradients of the resting potential between signal transmittances. The procession arrives at a juxtaparanode and then paranode on the next node of Ranvier’s opposite side, after which Na+ influx is once again initiated, continuing the chain reaction beyond numerous nodes to the synaptic cleft.
This anatomy of the neuron has been discerned with enough specificity that a fairly certain hypothesis can be made as to its mechanisms. During an action potential, Na+ enters the axon at a node of Ranvier as stimulated by the change in voltage called depolarization. Voltage-gated K+ channels at the juxtaparanode almost immediately begin letting K+ diffuse out of the axon. The differential between increasingly positive charge at the node of Ranvier and decreasingly positive charge at the juxtaparanode accelerates electromagnetic energy transmittance, an excess force that propels the signal through internodal space. At this point, the next node has not been completely repolarized. Once electromagnetic energy enters its sphere of influence, acceleration is renewed and depolarization occurs soon after. Because the phenomenon, once initiated, involves decelerative inertia across space when charge is constant, I name this the “ebb effect”. What follows is a description of the mechanism in more structural detail.
An axon’s internal solution is made up mostly of water molecules and positive ions. H2O is of course a polar molecule, with its hydrogen atoms being relatively positive and the oxygen atom relatively negative, bent somewhat at the fulcrum. A solvation shell of water molecules forms around each Na+ and K+ ion, with more negative poles of H2O aligned on the shell’s inner surface and more positive poles facing outward. Thus, the solution contains a complex contour of more and less positive charges, with “positive” in this case being a relative concept, for these charges all consist in negatively charged electron wavicle structure. Displaceable electron energy that is more concentrated in a particular region of space, as “negative” polarity, tends to move towards regions of less concentration or “positive” polarity, and this effectuates a dynamic equilibrium of charge distribution as atoms diffuse around.
When Na+ enters the axon at a node of Ranvier, average electron energy concentration decreases in that region, drawing nearby electron energy towards it in what is basically a lengthwise voltage gradient. As electron energy shifts towards Na+, the energy concentration of adjacent regions reduces, in turn exerting a voltage effect on regions that are more remote from the Na+ increase, eventually reaching the paranode and then juxtaparanode. The current of electrical energy is moving towards Na+ increase, but its propagation begins adjacent to Na+ and then travels outward as a wavefront into successively distant regions. Because the wavefront spreads out while traveling through solution, its strength attenuates with distance, similar to how the intensity of a light wave diminishes as it strays from its source, except electron energy has much greater mass than light and so its shrinking rate of motion bears more resemblance to the behavior of a classical wave, with something like inertial resistance. This is in essence the transition from a state of dynamic equilibrium amongst electron wavicles which causes them to interfere, mitigating quantum coherence or conversely instating decoherence in some measure over largish regions of space, and into a more directional coherence that rapidly flows towards more positive charge, starting in adjacent regions and cascading outward.
As the wavefront shifts away from higher Na+ concentrations at the node of Ranvier, it is accompanied by an electromagnetic field fluctuation linked to the flow of electric current out of successively more distant regions of solution and towards the node. When electromagnetic field fluctuation reaches voltage-gated K+ channels at the juxtaparanode, K+ is triggered to flow out of the axon, instigating an even greater disparity in charge, electrical potential, strength of lengthwise voltage. This accelerates electric current towards the initial node of Ranvier, and the wavefront which is coupled to it along with a companion electromagnetic field fluctuation likewise accelerate in the opposite direction. Force exacted at the juxtaparanode by increase in strength of the lengthwise voltage gradient overcomes deceleration from inertia as the wavefront spreads through the rest of internodal space. In an instant, the wavefront’s electromagnetic field fluctuation reaches the next node of Ranvier, prompting Na+ to flow in and renewing the sequence.
The mechanism is similar in dendrites, except that myelin is not present between nodes where voltage-gated Na+ channels are located, and inward diffusion of Cl- ions functions to block signal transmission by the counteractive propagation of an electromagnetic wavefront which proceeds in the same direction as current flow. EPSPs (excitatory postsynaptic potentials) from Na+ influx happen in distal regions of the dendrite, while IPSPs (inhibitory postsynaptic potentials) from Cl- influx occur proximal to dendrite/soma junctions so less negative ions are required to prevent a dendritic potential from crossing the soma and reaching the junction between axon and soma, called the axon hillock, where an action potential begins. If electron coherence proves strong enough to penetrate Cl- blockage and reach the soma despite reverse propagation, this excess energy accelerates rapidly afterwards in the direction of current flow due to a strong voltage gradient between negative charge around the base of dendrites and the largest concentration of Na+ channels in a neuron at the axon hillock.
Given neural anatomy, the improbability of explaining signal transmittance without reference to these near-instantaneous currents of quantum coherence provides motivation to assert that electrons exist as diffuse waves filling the atom rather than more localized particles, at least in solution. Identifying electromagnetic field fluctuations, called LFPs (local field potentials), as the mechanism by which atoms exert somewhat remote effects to activate voltage-gated ion channels implies a cohesive picture of how extracellular phenomena such as the brain’s macroscopic electric field are impacted by and can reciprocally impact intracellular functions. EM fields in the brain are not an epiphenomenon, but rather central to the mechanisms of even individual neurons. The inquiry then seems to be whether a macroscopic EM field is somehow responsible for holism of consciousness.
Comments (52)
A topic that comes up while considering EM fields is why some can be so much greater in magnetization than the brain. Magnetic effects are larger the more aligned the quantum spins of an object’s atoms. Synchronization causes constructive interference concentrating the majority of this force in emergent magnetic field lines. The coordinated spins of an iron bar magnet’s atoms of course generate this sort of pattern, and molten iron surrounding the Earth’s core produces massive magnetic field lines due to a homogeneous flow induced by the planet’s rotation in addition to peculiarities of heating and cooling. Atoms of the brain are also magnetic, attracting and repelling in a comparable manner, but the haphazard orientation of quantum spins results in destructive interference so that these effects are negligible even at the cellular scale. The coherence currents of neurons punctuated by ion diffusion across membranes, which can manifest in oscillating and traveling waves as large as a dozen centimeters in length, are almost exclusively electric.
How can currents that propagate on an ultramicroscopic scale in billions of neurons disjuncted by intricate and diverse synaptic bottlenecks synchronize tightly enough to form integrated waves of macroscopic girth as recorded by EEG? Feedback loops constructed of axon to dendrite connections running both ways between bundles of nervous tissue or brain regions can explicate this to an extent, but the organ seems more cohesive than we would expect of somewhat asymmetrical signal coupling. Evidence obtained from in vitro experimentation suggests that phase-locking exists among neural networks, allowing large quantities of neurons to fire with perfect in phase synchronicity. Researchers hypothesize that this mechanism depends on interaction of the electric field with ion channels, modulating diffusion in an extremely organized way. A macroscopic electric field emergent from feedback loops and widespread phase-locking could then saturate tissue as it oscillates and flows, acting upon magnetic charge of the brain’s atoms to evoke holistic effects.
Molecular biologist Johnjoe McFadden’s CEMI (conscious electromagnetic information) theory proposes that awareness’ integration is an outcome of pervasive phase-locking of neurons with the brain’s EM field. Neurons that are adapted for sensitivity to EM fields via phase-locking participate in conscious processes, while EM field insensitive neurons are responsible for unconscious processes. This explains some features of the human mind, notably that fully attentive awareness consists in serial processing as opposed to massively parallel processing of the unconscious, depicted as a segregation of CEMI fields from bordering EM fields. Even more significant is that it demystifies the experience of free will, for in CEMI theory volition is simply identical to EM field effects. A theory akin to CEMI can also perhaps account for the subconscious, as a spectrum of low to high arousal arising from degree of breadth and saturation of phase-locking in the brain.
Coupling of neural networks in feedback loops alongside mechanisms of phase-locking with the brain’s electric field hold much promise for explaining holism of consciousness, as the outcome of macroscopic forces synchronizing and binding magnetized atoms within large swaths of tissue. But puzzles remain, for it is still not apparent how this emergent unity of electrical signals mediated by chemical concentrations looks or feels like anything. Why does experience include subjective percepts such as colors, shapes, textures, rather than only objective correlates of these phenomena? Why is experience a consciousness and not merely machinery?
Elucidation may come from modeling the superposition of light with atomic structure. Similar to the rest of Earth’s matter, the brain is filled with waves of EM radiation, ripples caused by the acceleration of electrons amongst atoms, traveling at around 300 million meters per second through permissive environments. In general, the frequency of this radiation is lower when the electrical coherence current within a given medium is larger. Acceleration of electrons in the valence shell of individual atoms tends to make perturbations that result in visible light, from 400-700 nm in wavelength, while radio waves caused by acceleration within relatively large electric currents have wavelengths of anywhere from 1 mm to 100 km. The brain is of course a massive repository of electric current, and since neurons are microscopic, the EM radiation emitted is higher in frequency than for instance a radio tower, but still low enough that it can flow through matter somewhat uninhibited, like radio waves and more unlike visible light.
The ebb effect in combination with neuron anatomy indicates that acceleration of electric current happens between a node of Ranvier and its juxtaparanodes, between dendrite nodes and the soma, and most broadly within the soma. So each neuron emits EM radiation low enough in frequency to travel through both liquids and solids. Intensity of course diminishes quickly with distance, but individual radiative fields would probably span many micrometers irrespective of cell membranes and additional molecular structures. If low frequency light superpositions in some way with atoms as it flows through them, and since the speed of this radiation is effectively instantaneous within the brain, it might be the case that at least millions of almost steady state photonic fields bind with biochemical pathways and molecular complexes as individual units, perhaps including entanglement effects knitting these superposition arrays together even more tightly. The most compelling hypothesis to this point is that the ultrahybrid wavelengths of superposition structures do not merely correlate with percepts but actually are percepts. A mechanism of superposition would be analogous to how wavelengths of light additively blend as the visible spectrum, but in this model the spectrum of subjective percepts is much more diverse, as observation of the mind obviously supports. EM field effects could then synchronize these percepts on a macroscopic scale. I term this entire apparatus of electromagnetic energy flow, feedback loop or EM field synchronization, and wave/wavicle binding a “coherence field”, and it may be possible to subsume the whole line of investigation under the heading of coherence field theory.
This model of perception is teeming with uncertainties at our present stage of knowledge, and the potential for experimentation almost untapped. Once anticipated principles of radiative/molecular binding are specified, experiments can be designed to investigate how EM radiation interacts with tissue, perhaps by parsing and identifying in greater detail the biochemistry of brain regions that are most likely to harbor coherence field effects, examining superposition properties in isolation and in vitro, then moving on to in vivo methods. This might discover novel classes of functional molecule, paving the way for a new era of medications and supplements to treat or enhance percepts on the cellular scale.
At this point, we do not possess much direct evidence for coherence field theory beyond the fact that it fills a gap in our knowledge of the physical world quite seamlessly, almost with the force of necessity. Early research into light/matter interactions within biological systems has focused on microtubules. These cytoskeletal filaments contain regularized patterns of aromatic amino acids such as tryptophan. The tryptophan molecules of a single microtubule can be stimulated by UV radiation to transmit energy between them across distances of micrometers. Anesthetics seem to inhibit this activity, hinting at a correlation with consciousness. The mechanism resembles that found in photosynthetic reaction centers and may be quite common to nature. In neurons, microtubules influence receptors, ion channels and plasticity generally, so light-stimulated behavior could have a significant role for regulating cellular structure. If molecules are proven responsive to larger wavelengths of light, the data implies that activation would occur at greater distance scales, and the proposed mechanism of percept generation is well within possibility. Much more data has been discovered for the effect of EM fields, which among numerous functions mediate energy transduction in transmission channels of the cytoskeleton, processes governing the entire structure of a cell along with the movement of components such as mitochondria, vesicles, etc.
We have plenty of circumstantial evidence. The largest and most rapid region of accelerating electron coherence in a neuron is located within the soma as a flow from dendrites to axon hillock, which also happens to be where complex molecular arrays that superposition with resulting EM radiation would most likely reside. The superposition of low frequency EM radiation with molecular structure would probably not be obstructed by factors of heat and moisture that have seemed prohibitive to widespread coherence amongst molecules alone. Within a plenitude of environments, photon entanglement is especially robust while operative at large spatial ranges, which supplies a viable binding mechanism for percept units constructed of molecular parts that are distributed somewhat widely in cellular solution. And coherence fields of this kind explain why brain matter has a darkish tint while myelin is white. Grey matter of dendrites, soma and the interior of axons is darkly shaded because it absorptively superpositions with large amounts of EM radiation to form percepts, while myelinated white matter strongly reflects the light that does not penetrate atoms so radiative fields minimally attenuate across space. From the outside neurons look greyish, but from the inside contents of these cells likely synchronize via entanglement and superposition with EM radiation to form the substance of perception.
If a superposition mechanism amongst coherence fields is proven to exist, and methods are found to observe this in detail, it seems intuitive that researchers will find it easy to model the way percepts look, perhaps including mental images and hallucinatory artifacts of brain processes, perceptual phenomena which do not necessarily arise from direct stimulation by the environment. But what about how percepts feel? Why does perception have nondimensional qualities in addition to spatial extension and temporal duration?
Percepts of feeling might simply be a consequence of the way superpositioned wavelengths oscillate collectively as resonances, vibrations. All matter from the atomic to the macroscopic scale vibrates, and it is difficult to think of a vibration that does not feel like something. Perhaps it is intrinsic of waves and wavicles to consist in fragments of feeling as they resonate. However, matter on the nanoscale does not seem to feel with much resolution. The body has apparently adapted structures which greatly increase the resolution of these resonances, resulting in a vast spectrum of emergent feelings. The seemingly intangible quality of emotion and thought insofar as it is embodied by the brain may be no more than various patterns in how complex matter feels.
One might have derivative curiosity regarding how a coherence field in the brain can produce percepts which appear to be outside of the body. For example, if percepts of vision are located in the occipital lobe or elsewhere in the brain, why is this not introspected as such? Thinking about our optical faculties, we can reflect upon how the sharply focused visual field is only as large as the size of your thumb held at arm’s length in front of the face, with the majority of human vision pieced together from eye saccading and involuntary memory. Sensory modalities consist in segregated stimuli obtained from diverse sources which are then assembled by the brain to form a perceptual world. This integrating seems almost effortless in many cases, but the process is profoundly an indirect representation rather than direct correspondence, though less so than traditional neuroscience has suggested if coherence field theory proves accurate. Just as electrochemical signaling in a neural network contributes to cognitive function, the coherence fields within those neural frameworks might actually be important aspects of consciousness’ substance itself.
At first glance it seems as if mechanisms of superposition and entanglement amongst photonic fields and atomic nodes are passive compared to EM field synchronization effects, so why did evolutionary pressures cause the percepts that comprise consciousness to develop such intricate, almost overabundant forms? The answer would simply be that basic properties of perception, most generally feeling and appearance, are inherent in matter. When the structure of organic matter evolves towards more complex physiology, percepts also evolve into more complicate forms as an essential facet of this matter’s structure. A more complex brain will ineluctably evolve more complex perceptual forms akin to the resonances of human imagination, emotion and thought. These are probably not the only types of intellectualized resonance structures possible, but in this schema matter mutates as a coherence field, not merely as nonconscious machinery from which perception emerges epiphenomenally. This is not of course the entire story, for nonlocal forces seem to be operative upon electromagnetic matter as a further mystery, but the coherence field model of perception might nonetheless start to expand our comprehension of nature tremendously.
Implications of Coherence Field Theory for Neuroscience and Beyond
After considering the import of quantum physics for neuroscience, especially the idea of quantum coherence, preliminaries of a complete explanation for the brain’s role in constituting consciousness’ substance seem accessible. In the cellular solution of neurons, wavefronts of electromagnetic energy caused by currents of electron coherence rapidly move between centers of charge, accelerated by periodic increases in charge disparity between neural regions. Electromagnetic field fluctuations tied to this energy flow trigger voltage-gated ion channels to cyclically open and close. Phase-locking between EM fields and neural chemistry along with feedback loops synchronize electromagnetic energy flows on a macroscopic scale, as oscillating and traveling waves of the kind recorded by EEG. A plausible hypothesis is that EM field dynamics are responsible for holism of fully attentive consciousness and the experience of willed agency. Accelerating electrical current in neurons induces EM radiation low enough in frequency to transmit through neural tissue. These waves may superposition with the brain’s atomic wavicle structure as they travel to produce hybrid, vibrating wavelengths entangled into at least millions of individual percepts. Combinatorial properties of wavelength might create the appearance of percepts, and vibrations the feel. Compound percept arrays would then likely be the substance of sensations, emotions and thoughts. If entangled superpositions emergent from basic quantum mechanisms synchronize via phase-locking and feedback loops as a functional coherence field in brains, this at least partly explains why the evolution of mind has constructed such a panoply of perceptual forms, for the building blocks of perception’s substance are an intrinsic facet of electromagnetic matter.
If coherence field theory is proven accurate, this has significance for many domains of knowledge. As an example we can consider medical treatment. Understanding mechanisms by which percepts emerge from biochemistry might enable us to better distinguish perceptual from affective states so that medications can directly target percept disorders as they manifest in the brain, without inducing sedative, stimulant, or systemic side effects. It could become possible to treat conditions such as many types of anosognosia in which the characteristics and awareness of one’s own perceptual field are impaired. Psychedelic substances change the shape or direction of flow in the brain’s electric field at a macroscopic level, instigating acute and temporarily incapacitating hallucinations, but medicine might gain the ability to micromanage a similar modifying of the perceptual field with cures or enhancements that do not include a period of nonfunctionality for the subject.
Coherence field theory may destine a reconstituted model of the atom. It seems to be the case that electrons and electromagnetic radiation are dual aspects of a unitary electromagnetic field, with light waves an undulation in this field caused by electron motion, and electrons in orbital arrangements not essentially particulate at all but rather a wavelike perturbation of the electromagnetic field by motion of nuclear fields that are coupled to it. In consort with additional known phenomena alongside mathematical formulations, it might prove possible to encompass the entire coherence concept utilizing a single wave-medium model, subsequently deriving new experiments and technologies that unite quantum matter’s statistical structure with fundamental attributes of its relatively stable or unstable, perpetually transformative motions, in the brain and elsewhere. Science could be on course to fashion a synthetic model of material and psychical substance, launching society into the next era of discoveries and towards a more actualized humanity.
Can you elaborate?
Abstract
The basic physics of burgeoning quantum neuroscience is described. Anatomy of the neuron suggests that nonsynaptic mechanisms of signal transmittance occur via electric current acceleration and companion electromagnetic field fluctuation. I have named this new mechanism of solution chemistry the ebb effect. Phase-locking between neural structure and electric fields that are emergent from cellular EM field fluctuations, in addition to feedback loops within neural networks, are the probable driver of macroscopic oscillation and flow shapes in the brain. CEMI (conscious electromagnetic information) theory is a promising framework for explaining intentionality and the spectrum of arousal as EM field effects. Relatively low frequency electromagnetic radiation is emitted by the accelerating electric currents of neurons. It is hypothesized that this EM radiation superpositions with molecular structure as it spreads to comprise percepts, the hybrid wavelengths of which form subjective images while wavelength vibrations result in subjective feel. These superposition arrays are termed a coherence field, and in combination with the synchronizing influence of quantum entanglement and electromagnetic fluctuations may constitute much of awareness’ substance. If conclusively verified, coherence field theory should have significance ranging from the treatment of perceptual disorders such as anosognosia to advancing foundational constructs like atomic theory.
Turns out I may not be able to get this published after all due to expense though it was accepted by the journal. The tragic saga of not having enough money.
What evidence do you have for this? How would you test the hypothesis?
It's so early that not much empirical proof has been obtained, but this is an excerpt on the subject.
Does the model of superposition between EM radiation and molecular structure seem intuitively plausible?
Very fascinating. This will need a lot more explanation when you do your paper no?
It seems like a fantasy.
Electricity is essentially a current of quantum coherence binding electron orbitals of atoms into emergent structure, as anatomy and function of the neuron proves. Anyone who researches electricity can prove it empirically within his or her field given suitable methods.
This in particular seems like fanciful nonsense.
What in particular about it seems nonsensical?
That statement is hypothesis at this stage (by the way, I omitted references from the OP). But I think it amounts to plausible common sense based on known physics of EM radiation. Some low frequency radiation from accelerating electric current transmits through atoms of brain tissue while necessarily superpositioning in the process, perhaps with a minute corresponding intensity or speed fluctuation that can be pinpointed using measurements. As evidenced by the visible spectrum, matter that is white maximally deflects the proportion of EM radiation that does not transmit through atoms of tissue rather than absorbing it into orbitals as energy, minimizing intensity reduction. This also needs to be proven by experiment, but current theory supports the assertion.
Where did this idea come from?
But what if in fact the opposite is the general case among those who study the physics of material vibrations?
Given that this is the crucial causal claim underpinning your entire position, the case might need to be actually made for this rather than treating it as something "no-one could really doubt".
(Well, there is also the other little problem of your constant conflation of classical waves and quantum waves - ie: waves of oscillating matter and "waves" of probability amplitude, or the statistics that would narrow some observer's expectations about what happens next in the world. To be wave-like in a purely abstract mathematical sense is very different from being an actual mechanical resonance or vibration in a lump of matter.)
An Enrique original lol It's a reasonable presupposition that all this low frequency EM radiation generated by the brain is doing something, going somewhere. The coherence field model is my hypothesis, which I think is very likely to be proven but remains fodder for basic research.
Quoting apokrisis
It is a cautious hypothesis at this stage, which I addressed with slightly more specificity in a previous paper, why the treatment is so cursory. Anyhoo, look at the OP of my thread A Physical Explanation for Consciousness if you want some more albeit equally inconclusive idea. It doesn't seem difficult to imagine ways of observing this vibration effect in vitro and in vivo, any moreso than the superpositioned wavelength structure of coherence fields.
Quoting apokrisis
My outlook could be inaccurate, but I think the probability wave function is a working reinterpretation of the real wave function - psi^2 as opposed to psi - and no consensus exists as to what the wave function itself means in physical terms. I view the quantum wave as acceleration density, a fluctuation in a fluid energy medium that varies due to both nonuniform internal motion perhaps best described as a spinor complex and external influences such as photon absorption. What that looks like structurally is still very much uncertain, but basically consists in an extremely complex waveform occupying most of atomic space.
I can recognise a lot of BS gloss of the quantum maths coupled to a claim so spurious that it cannot affect the maths at all.
Why haven’t you added your “conscious excitation” as some kind of further wavefunction term and so made an actual prediction about the observables? Where are its QFT creation and annihilator operators?
A “theory” without a consequence ain’t even wrong enough to count as crackpot.
That's what I'd feared since I first read your post. It's just free-floating fantasy, unmotivated, baseless, worthless, pointless.
We don't have the technology at this point to discern exactly what a quantum wave looks like or how it moves, but perhaps my line of reasoning could motivate it to be developed. I think my ideas are beyond the scope of current QFT math, they are not an idealized model but rather a hypothesis about the actual substance of a quantum wave, mostly the result of drawing parallels between dynamics of the visible light spectrum and superposition in matter as such. I don't have technical familiarity with how advanced QFT is applied to phenomena such as superposition, I know more about the basic Schrodinger equation model. My claims regarding superposition can in principle be verified by experiment, but again the instrumentation would have to be more than what we currently have. Feel welcome to educate me on any of these topics.
Quoting Daemon
Truth is stranger than fiction!
Get a small bank loan and pay it back later. Even a small line of credit will work.
Do not even THINK about not paying the fee to get published if this is a real journal. What is their total cost for publication and which journal has accepted your paper?
I don't want to get into specifics, but it's a prominent neuroscience journal and the fee is considerable. I've already published a similar article on the same topic, so this one is somewhat superfluous, though I do tie loose ends together regarding coherence, decoherence and further physics. I'm arranging for the paper to be reviewed by a less expensive journal with the same organization and should get a response in about a month. I'll be able to pay the fee by then and will probably have additional detail to include, so it doesn't work out that badly after all. Frustrating when finances hinder me.
This is all way over my head, including its EM field aura. :wink:
To put your theory into context :
1. How does it differ from CEMI? Does it add or subtract certain features?
2. If this Mind-Field is physical, would it make mind-reading possible, via something like an EEG machine hooked-up to a computer to translate vibrations & excitations into human language?
3. What patterns of field activity would indicate Intention-to-act or to-express-thoughts-&-feelings?
4. Do you see some other practical applications of this theory in the near future?
Note : Self-publishing costs vary from $2000 to $4000 (not including marketing) for a non-technical publication. One low-cost alternative would be to create a WordPress website, which costs as low as $3 per month for shared hosting. Then, you could do your own "marketing" by posting links on other related technical or general interest websites & forums, including Quora. Be advised though, that some sites frown on free self-promotion. Links to the Abstract might provide enough information to elicit interest that might eventually result in being picked-up by a journal.
1. CEMI theory explains how the brain's EM field synchronizes all the activity within that organ via feedback loops and phase locking. Coherence field theory adds the hypothetical postulate that waves of EM radiation are synchronized in addition to tissues, superpositioning into molecular arrays such that these structures are in essence percept units, of appearance as hybrid wavelengths occupying space, and feel as vibration or resonance of these wavelengths. The brain's contribution to experience would be emergent forms of these superpositions, which are even further integrated by quantum entanglement.
2. In coherence field theory, the basic constituents of perception, emotion, thought are largely a quantum facet of matter, so any mechanism or apparatus that discerns these properties can in principle mind read.
3. The boundary between fully aware intentionality and subconscious processes, high vs. low arousal, is the distinction between a CEMI field and an EM field. Many of the brain's evolutionarily streamlined EM field/phase-locking complexes are not broad or saturating enough to function as willed agency. Regions in the brain where EM fields cross the threshold to a CEMI field are the loci of intentionality.
4. Instruments that measure the brain's EM radiation in vivo have not been developed. A noninvasive EEG type device might be capable of this assuming coherence field theory is proven by experiment, which should be easy enough if valid considering how core the mechanism would be to not only brains but all matter. Medicine might be able to treat and modify percepts on the intracellular level. This research could platform progress into modeling nonlocality, parsing electromagnetic effects from the substrate of spooky action at a distance and then fashioning a comprehensive model.
If you want to get into nuts and bolts of the argument, read the lead essay of my thread A Physical Explanation for Consciousness. The idea is that light and atoms share quantum properties such as superposition, entanglement and wave/particle duality which govern mutual interactions as opposed to merely the behavior of light and atoms separately, and these interactions are at least partly the source of many percepts. So electromagnetic matter essentially consists of atomic (fermionic) nodes within photonic (bosonic) fields, and additive wavelengths that result cause subjective appearance and feel. As far as the technicalities are concerned, it's based on a well-constructed argument, not free-floating fantasy at all.
Unprecedented speculation is fun and worthwhile!
What do you guys think of this? It is interesting that experiments show nonvisible light can possibly regulate cellular functions.
Re: optogenetics? :chin: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Optogenetics
Biochemistry, not woo-woo.
I suppose this is a naturally occurring optogenetic phenomenon explored on the level of biochemical phenotype rather than genes. Researchers filled a solution with fragments of microtubules and found that energy is shared in response to light as a kind of coherence phenomenon. Apparently this process is mediated by tryptophan and more. Cool science.
1. Demonstrate the mind travels faster than light, the cosmic speed limit.
2. Prove that mind isn't matter (0 mass, 0 volume) and isn't energy (0 calories).
3. Craft a reductio ad absurdum using "mind is physical" as the assumption (negated on pain of a contradiction).
Proving that mind is physical is simple: We have to show mind is matter (is the brain the mind?) or energy (can we do work with it? Can we convert it to some other form of energy?).
Here is my list:
I can't think of any others, but of course only option 3 can be correct.
This was an old post. I've actually forgotten that I ever wrote it. Thanks for the reminder. A long, long time ago in my universe buddy.
I would say that the matter is far from settled, but that's not its unique/special feature; so yeah!
I'm a physicalist 180 Proof. What do you make of Chalmer's so-called hard problem of consciousness?
https://thephilosophyforum.com/discussion/comment/511358
Quoting 180 Proof
thus, Chalmer's "Hard Problem" is a psrudo-problem.
Very Dennettian. I like Daniel Dennett. I hope he doesn't take offense but he reminds me of Santa Claus. :grin:
Anyway, it's undeniable that if something happens to the brain, something happens to the mind.
What about your other belief - I haven't searched for it but I recall you saying it - that the mind is downloadable/uploadable? Clearly that's a view that is not entirely physical in re mind.
Sorry, memory issues, you said quite the opposite [math]\downarrow[/math]
Quoting 180 Proof
Since information is uploadable and downloadable, does that mean, 180 Proof, information is nonphysical? What follows?
[quote=Wikipedia]Harry Nyquist (/?na?kw?st/, Swedish: [?n??kv?st]; February 7, 1889 – April 4, 1976) was a Swedish-American physicist and electronic engineer who made important contributions to communication theory.[/quote]
Yer namesake Mark [math]\uparrow[/math]
And, 180, the fact that you can post shows that you are adept at manipulating the non-physical. Think of your hand grasping a tennis ball. Your brain is like that only it has the ability to grasp a wide range of non-physicals.
Your "recall" is mistaken as your quote of me shows. As I've speculated on a number of threads, in principle(?) the mind-substrate can be extended – transfered – from the organic to a synthetic physical system :point: :nerd:
No.
Quoting Mark Nyquist
"Correct scale" for what?
The procedure you describe (brain surgery) sounds like a primitive way to download the mind. Why not get right to the point - its the software (apps + files), not the hardware we're interested in.
Please don't think I didn't read your post carefully. Sometimes, it seems, someone with not so a high IQ like myself can come off as rude & arrogant.
The way I see it, you're sympathetic to a staged surgical procedure, step 1 being removing one hemisphere, step 2 being installing a synthetic brain, step 3 being letting the two (one original hemisphere & the new synthetic hemisphere) talk to each other as part of the integration process, step 4 repeat the same thing with the other original hemispher. At the end of the procedure, we have a synthetic brain.
LO = Left original hemisphere
RO= Right original hemisphere
LS = Left synthetic hemisphere
RS = Right synthetic hemisphere
LO-RO [Math]\to[/math] LS-RO [Math]\to[/math] LS-RS
edit after sleeping:
The point is (if, like me, functionalism-enactivism is your jam) psychological self-continuity, which is encoded in the physical (neurological) substrate, or the brain, is not systemically interrupted as even the most accurately scanned copy of "mind" (or connectome) would be and therefore not the same self (just like a "cloned person" would not be the same psychological self/subject as the original person). Only one functioning hemisphere of the human brain suffices for (regaining via neuroplasticity) complete brain functioning. A speculative, and I think plausible, extrapolation from the current state of cognitive neuroscience. IMO, "mind uploading/scanning" is old-fashioned 'spiritualist' science fantasy.