Why Physicists Are Saying Consciousness Is A State Of Matter, Like a Solid, Liquid Or Gas

[Ichingcarpenter]

A new way of thinking about consciousness is sweeping through science like wildfire. Now physicists are using it to formulate the problem of consciousness in concrete mathematical terms for the first time


There’s a quiet revolution underway in theoretical physics. For as long as the discipline has existed, physicists have been reluctant to discuss consciousness, considering it a topic for quacks and charlatans. Indeed, the mere mention of the ‘c’ word could ruin careers.

That’s finally beginning to change thanks to a fundamentally new way of thinking about consciousness that is spreading like wildfire through the theoretical physics community. And while the problem of consciousness is far from being solved, it is finally being formulated mathematically as a set of problems that researchers can understand, explore and discuss.

Today, Max Tegmark, a theoretical physicist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, sets out the fundamental problems that this new way of thinking raises. He shows how these problems can be formulated in terms of quantum mechanics and information theory. And he explains how thinking about consciousness in this way leads to precise questions about the nature of reality that the scientific process of experiment might help to tease apart.

Tegmark’s approach is

more: https://medium.com/the-physics-arxiv-blog/5e7ed624986d

The key to growth is the introduction of higher dimensions of consciousness into our awareness.

Lao Tzu

[eShirl]

1. interesting article with a sucky headline

[Ichingcarpenter]

2. Sucky headline interesting article

for consideration is how I took it as well.

[dipsydoodle]

3. Its the nature of reality

which has yet to be understood.

[Dj13Francis]

4. That's what I've been saying

for years. In fact, I wrote a chapter on the subject in my book, "Philosophy for the Third Millennia" in 1996. Yup.

[DetlefK]

5. You are either intentionally misrepresenting the premise or you don't understand it.

Tegmark introduces hypothetical materials that bear technical attributes that a system carrying consciousness needs.
"computronium", "perceptronium"...

Quote from the abstract of the paper:
"We explore the basic principles that may distinguish conscious matter from other physical systems such as solids, liquids and gases."

http://arxiv.org/pdf/1401.1219v1.pdf

[Android3.14]

6. Raises interesting questions

Wouldn't it be strange if, just as we can change the state of matter from one to another, we could imbue something with consciousness by applying or removing energy in some fashion. Or, if consciousness is a state of matter, does this mean that all objects are conscious?

[Ichingcarpenter]

8. those structures

those structures complex enough to contain self-aware substructures (SASs), these SASs will subjectively perceive themselves as existing in a physically "real" world. This idea is formalized as the "Mathematical universe hypothesis
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Max_Tegmark


Many ancient cultures described this as Mana that all structures have a vibration and the more complex the vibration or substance the more awareness. Just a side thought.

[Orrex]

7. "sweeping through science like wildfire"

Hmm...

[GeorgeGist]

9. Wildfires tend to destroy useful things.

[Progressive dog]

10. Science group?

I kind of assumed the group was about science, you know, like stuff that can be measured.

[bananas]

14. This is about stuff that can be measured.

From the article:

However, he calculates that a Hopfield net about the size of the human brain with 10^11 neurons, can only store 37 bits of integrated information.

“This leaves us with an integration paradox: why does the information content of our conscious experience appear to be vastly larger than 37 bits?” asks Tegmark.

[Progressive dog]

17. He calculates based on magic numbers LOL

[Johonny]

16. pretty much

[siligut]

11. I can appreciate that physicists are making an effort

“This leaves us with an integration paradox: why does the information content of our conscious experience appear to be vastly larger than 37 bits?” asks Tegmark.

That’s a question that many scientists might end up pondering in detail. For Tegmark, this paradox suggests that his mathematical formulation of consciousness is missing a vital ingredient. “This strongly implies that the integration principle must be supplemented by at least one additional principle,” he says. Suggestions please in the comments section!

And yet the power of this approach is in the assumption that consciousness does not lie beyond our ken; that there is no “secret sauce” without which it cannot be tamed.

In bold is the gist of this effort, they want to believe that we can eventually understand and comprehend everything. Anyone with a suggestion as to what the additional principle may be, can put it in the comments section. Love it.

[RobertEarl]

12. Like radiation?

The energy in radiation... where does it come from? Whither it goeth?

We all have consciousness, what we do with it and how we do it makes it what it is.

I wonder; am I consciously conscious of my consciousness?

[RagAss]

13. Mind is matter...always was.

[Ichingcarpenter]

15. Discovery of quantum vibrations in 'microtubules' corroborates theory of consciousness

Discovery of quantum vibrations in 'microtubules' corroborates theory of consciousness

Source: Phys.Org

A review and update of a controversial 20-year-old theory of consciousness published in Physics of Life Reviews claims that consciousness derives from deeper level, finer scale activities inside brain neurons. The recent discovery of quantum vibrations in "microtubules" inside brain neurons corroborates this theory, according to review authors Stuart Hameroff and Sir Roger Penrose. They suggest that EEG rhythms (brain waves) also derive from deeper level microtubule vibrations, and that from a practical standpoint, treating brain microtubule vibrations could benefit a host of mental, neurological, and cognitive conditions.

<snip>

Orch OR was harshly criticized from its inception, as the brain was considered too "warm, wet, and noisy" for seemingly delicate quantum processes. However, evidence has now shown warm quantum coherence in plant photosynthesis, bird brain navigation, our sense of smell, and brain microtubules. The recent discovery of warm temperature quantum vibrations in microtubules inside brain neurons by the research group led by Anirban Bandyopadhyay, PhD, at the National Institute of Material Sciences in Tsukuba, Japan (and now at MIT), corroborates the pair's theory and suggests that EEG rhythms also derive from deeper level microtubule vibrations. In addition, work from the laboratory of Roderick G. Eckenhoff, MD, at the University of Pennsylvania, suggests that anesthesia, which selectively erases consciousness while sparing non-conscious brain activities, acts via microtubules in brain neurons.

<snip>

An important new facet of the theory is introduced. Microtubule quantum vibrations (e.g. in megahertz) appear to interfere and produce much slower EEG "beat frequencies." Despite a century of clinical use, the underlying origins of EEG rhythms have remained a mystery. Clinical trials of brief brain stimulation aimed at microtubule resonances with megahertz mechanical vibrations using transcranial ultrasound have shown reported improvements in mood, and may prove useful against Alzheimer's disease and brain injury in the future.

<snip>

The review is accompanied by eight commentaries from outside authorities, including an Australian group of Orch OR arch-skeptics. To all, Hameroff and Penrose respond robustly.

Penrose, Hameroff and Bandyopadhyay will explore their theories during a session on "Microtubules and the Big Consciousness Debate" at the Brainstorm Sessions, a public three-day event at the Brakke Grond in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, January 16-18, 2014. They will engage skeptics in a debate on the nature of consciousness, and Bandyopadhyay and his team will couple microtubule vibrations from active neurons to play Indian musical instruments. "Consciousness depends on anharmonic vibrations of microtubules inside neurons, similar to certain kinds of Indian music, but unlike Western music which is harmonic," Hameroff explains.

<snip>

Read more: http://phys.org/news/2014-01-discovery-quantum-vibrations-microtubules-corroborates.html