Mental resonance is analogue to the corresponding phenomena in material systems

Korea Andong Dano Festival By Robert at Picasa

Systems can oscillate at varying frequencies. Resonance occurs when a system can store, transform, and transmit energy enhances amplitude at specific frequencies. For example, swings have a natural frequency of oscillation, on which they produce greater amplitude. The phenomenon is not limited to physical systems. Resonance has been observed in biological systems and even emotional animals. In animals and people, resonance entails an enhanced emotional response to specific situations. 

A beautiful example of temporal interference of the mind is described on Wikipedia. The setup is a game with an equal chance of winning $200 or losing $100. After the first game, participants are given a choice to play the second round. Unexpectedly, the response is dependent not on the result of the first game but on knowing the outcome. Whether people are told they won the first play or lost the first play, most people choose to play the second round. The common expectation is that the two rounds should be independent of each other. 

Nevertheless, when people are in the dark about the results, they choose not to play the second time. The outcome should be the average of the two outcomes but instead, the results reflect a quantum interference, like the results of double-slit experiments in physics. (In this experiment, the photon travels through two slits to a screen producing an interference pattern there.) Awareness of the score creates interaction, which eliminates interference. Without the results, the situation remains open. 

In everyday life, the phenomenon can take many forms, such as a scientific search for an elusive particle, hunting for a wild game, or waiting for a lost love. Without the certainty of ‘knowing,’ the mind is in quantum limbo and retains the ability for interference.

The reason for the above phenomena is the self-regulating nature of the emotional animal brain. Mental interference is an energy redistribution process whereby personal emotional tendencies are exaggerated or extinguished over time. In other words, interference exaggerates curiosity. The momentary energy peak can spur quick, arbitrary decisions and purchases. Advertisements take advantage of the narrow focus of excitement and try to spur action (buying) in a short time window. For example, you might admire your friend's new phone. An interference via an advertisement can prompt a purchase without remembering the original inspiration. Such interference produces social phenomena by way of temporal waves and bursts. Positive interference often leads to exaggerated interest, such as an investment bubble. However, over time, negative interference extinguishes enthusiasm and produce avoidance.  

Mental interference also occurs in our everyday lives. Degraded surroundings induce delinquent behavior, and the smelling of household cleaners promotes cleanliness; playing violent video games increases aggressivity, but prosocial games encourage friendliness. Understanding the above phenomenon better can help you make more thoughtful decisions.

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Copyright © 2017 by Eva Deli

Emotional hysteresis regulates the behavior of intelligent animals

The memory-dependent behavior of elastic and ferromagnetic materials is called hysteresis. For example, elasticity is a flexible recovery of the previous state, but hysteresis occurs when excessive stretching deforms and warms up the material; the recovery of the initial state requires a cooling period.  Hysteresis-like behavior occurs when the disturbed system can only reproduce its characteristic behavior after a delay. Hysteresis-like behavior occurs in wide-ranging fields, such as neurology, histology, cell biology, genetics, respiratory psychology, economics, game theory, and unemployment. Because in emotion-forming animals, the stimulation threshold depends on their emotional history, they can produce the above behavior.  

In emotion-forming animals, brain frequencies represent an "emotional temperature." Thus, the degree of irritation, or 'emotional temperature' determines the response. For example, at moderate stress, a dog will exhibit a smooth transition of responses, requiring a much larger irritation, cowed to angry. On higher stress levels, irritation causes the dog to reach a ‘fold’ point when it suddenly discontinuously snaps through to angry mode. Once in ‘angry’ mode, it will remain angry, even if the direct irritation parameter is considerably reduced (just like the heated up elastic material). Once reaching a sizable emotional temperature, it will take time until the dog calms down. Thus, changes in emotional temperature (the degree of irritation) could result in experienced sudden behavioral changes. 

Similarly, catching attitudes from others can lead to social ferromagnetism. Social groups exist as emotional ferromagnets. A common emotional orientation, in most situations, regulates thinking and behavior. This is why social groups tend to shop in the same stores, take similar vacations, vote for the same candidate, and hold the same view on many issues. The field directs an individual attitude in almost every problem. The collective opinion changes constantly and gradually over time by the experiences and emotional pushes of its members. 

For example, individual responses to challenges can be better predicted from peers' behavior than personal intention. Because social groups have such a powerful influence on behavior, behavioral modification spreads like an infectious disease within the social group. This is true even among people who personally do not know each other at all! The finding was revealed by a social study for happiness, quitting smoking, and discontent, but in all likelihood, it could be found for many other behaviors and habits as well (Hill, 2010). A recent study found that social media groups form a social bubble, limiting the available information to like-minded people and leading to a collective social bias. Indeed, recent surprising social changes in many countries (the Brexit, the Arab Spring, Brexit, or the election of Donald Trump) might result from such a collective attitude. 

Picture credit: Dogs By Peter Wadsworth

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Copyright © 2017 by Eva Deli

Emotional fluorescence is known as passive aggression

Relationships are complicated. Problems pull the partners in different directions, testing trust and commitment. When conflicts accumulate, their dark energy can unleash an unexpected emotional storm. What is the explanation for such fury?

In atoms, incoming photons can temporarily increase bound electrons' energy, causing them to jump into an unstable, higher orbit. After some delay, the particle radiates out the absorbed energy and returns to its primary state. When the released energy takes the form of visible light, the phenomenon is called fluorescence. The process is not limited to inanimate matter. Living creatures, jellyfish, and hundreds of other marine animals can display this fascinating ability thanks to fluorescent proteins in their bodies. Here I will show that passive aggression is analog to fluorescence, which transmits emotional energy between people (and animals). 

In materials, fluorescence occurs with bound electrons. Similarly, emotional fluorescence requires a commitment to partnership, employment, or other loyalty. In the first step, adversity forms an energetically heightened mental state, which creates an emotional distance. The absorbed emotional energy can simmer under the surface for an extended period generating vignettes of past events and bitter memories. The aggravation constrictsonstrict mental focus, leading to a partial, judgmental vision. The constricted mind is searching for an excuse and an opportune moment to retaliate. 

The second step of emotional fluorescence, criticism, sarcasm, judgment, or innuendo projects out the excess negative energy. The mind and the focus relax into the present. Emotional fluorescence can operate between couples as a pendulum and move emotional energy back and forth in synchrony, identical to resonance fluorescence. Emotional fluorescence can also migrate from the presidential chair down the ranks until someone kicks an innocent dog.

Related: Emotional temperature controls mob b.ehavior

Picture credit: Fluorescence, by Hgrobe

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Copyright © 2017 by Eva Deli

How does science progress? An assessment from the twenty-first century

The twentieth century was the century of change, as technological innovation created unparalleled progress. Science came to be viewed as the only possible tool capable of solving the problems of modern man. Radical and groundbreaking ideas, such as general relativity or quantum mechanics literally started a new framework of understanding and a wave of discoveries. But even for physicists, it was difficult to accept these radical concepts at first. Even Einstein and Schrodinger have struggled with quantum mechanics, and an experimental proof was necessary for a full acceptance of general relativity.

But how does science progresses? Accumulation of scientific data prepares the stage for rare conceptual jumps. However, uncertainty in a field often leads to consideration of unreasonable solutions. For example, in the nineteen-century aether was invented to explain the spread of gravity and electromagnetism. Radical ideas test the accepted vision of reality, which attracts few practitioners. The Pioneers have to fight against the old ideas at every level to get their voice heard. However, once accepted, the theory becomes a magnet. Scientists eagerly flood to the field to explore and develop it further. The new approach can be cross-examined against accepted traditional understanding, exponentially increasing its applicability and importance. With concerted effort, a more detailed picture of the field emerges, and lead to new discoveries. The new field develops in leaps and bounds, as the hypothesis is exploited in countless applications within related disciplines. As the theory becomes a common understanding among scientists, the field stabilizes around its rules, and methods, which gradually reduces the field's flexibility. Here and there some experiments begin to question the basic understanding of the theory. However, the well-developed field shows rigidity to new ideas and resist change. Tests that do not support, or might contradict the theory, are packaged with increasingly fantastic, extravagant explanations. 

The ideas that led to great jumps in scientific thinking have often come from outside, from someone who is not bound by the restraints of a traditional understanding of the field. For example, Galileo was a college dropout, Goldbach was an amateur mathematician, Einstein a patent clerk and Michael Faraday, a pioneer of electromagnetism, was a bookseller. Satyendra Nath Bose, a mathematician, published in theoretical physics and made deep studies in chemistry, zoology, and anthropology. Bosons are named in his honor. Leibniz was a lawyer and a diplomat but remembered from his studies in mathematics, physics, and technology. Green's theorem is named after George Green, who introduced and formulated a mathematical theory of electricity and magnetism with only one year of formal education.  

The beginning of the twenty-first century is a chaotic time in physics. Quantum mechanics is still just as unapproachable toward traditional logic as it was in Einstein's day and its mysterious implications became the more baffling, the more one tries to understand it. Unification of general relativity and quantum mechanics is still nowhere in sight. An increasing number of problems cannot be explained by the Standard Model. The Higgs boson was the answer to Standard Model's inability to explain particle mass. The 40 years search culminated in finding an enormously massive a bump, but even after five years, nothing more (such as mass) has been found out about the particle. However, inconsistencies with the Standard Model was not remedied by this hugely publicized finding. The Higgs boson is a particle (or particles) of a Higgs field that grants mass via interaction. The proposed operation is immensely complex and hard to understand even for physicists. Do we really need such a complicated mechanism in the twenty-first century, when people's attention span is short even for television? The twenty-first century is beginning to look like the end of the nineteen century, where an aether-like medium is now called the Higgs field. Theoretical physics is waiting for a new, radical idea.

Some new ideas about physical reality and a possible path toward unification of general relativity and quantum mechanics are presented in my book, find it on Amazon.

Copyright © 2017 by Eva Deli

Emotions are the elementary forces of the mind

In the words of French philosopher Francois de La Rochefoucauld, "if we resist our passion, it is more due to their weakness than our strength." Emotions also play a significant role in intellectual abilities because feelings-based decision-making is far superior to artificial intelligence. Yet, while the essential function of recognizing a person is within a range of artificial capabilities, emotions remain elusive. 

For example, the emotional nature of memories enables a dog to stay away from someone who mistreated him. Emotions are subjective, but their extraordinary decision-making power can help distinguish the perpetrator's face from the police lineup, recognize our childhood home, or the overture of a classical opera. Feelings make consciousness an incomputable process, utterly different from the physical processes accompanying it. Therefore, not only the blind but all emotional creatures 'feel' their way around.

Of course, what is scientifically very difficult to propose and prove, philosophers and artists intuitively knew for a long, long time. For example, music is an international language that communicates emotions. We can identify with a Chinese folk song or an Italian opera aria via the feelings they convey. Because music expresses sentiments, it can talk about love but never about the stock market or the global economy. 

Emotions are not evolutionary accidents but the primary motivation and survival tools of the animals that have them. With them, dangers can be overcome, and opportunities found. We are good, generous, and trusting because of our emotions. On the other hand, we betray others, commit a crime, and feel remorse because of them. Emotions are much more powerful than we acknowledge, and we cannot even recognize the extent they play in our lives because we identify with them. Therefore, emotions are the fundamental forces of motivation. The book the science of consciousness discusses the many consequences of this fact for mental operation. 

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Copyright © 2014 by Eva Deli

The nature of entanglement and Schrodinger's cat

Schrodinger's cat by Dhatfield

Quantum mechanics is unapproachable for traditional logic, and its mysterious implications become the more baffling, the more one tries to understand it. The phenomenon of interference has proven the particle's existence as a wave, but when someone tries to spy on it by measurement, the particle behaves like a stiff ball, losing its every ability for interference, as if the fact of our stepping into the bathtub would turn the water into ice! For a meaningful discussion about these mind-boggling behaviors the basic qualities, such as the spin of matter particles need to be examined. Spin is a unique, conserved quality reflecting the energy balance of the particle during measurement. For this reason, only up or down spin direction can be distinguished. Particles form one energy state, one common wave function, even if they appear separated over great distances, even millions of light years. Sister particles polarize to become complementary and separate spins states due to measurement (examination). The Bell theorem states that faster-than-light communication would be necessary to connect distant entangled particles. Einstein resisted the idea and he sought a more in-depth explanation in the particle's wavefunction. According to string theory, particle waves occupy an energetically separate, microdimensional space, which is insulated from gravity. The shared wave function of the particle now can exist across the whole universe and form entanglement over the vast distances of space. Such particles are connected as umbilical twins, who depend for their own state on their entangled twin. However, this connection does not permit the exchange of instant messages. Being insulated from the outside, the information of entangled particles is hidden until the time of the measurement. As a consequence, during a quantum process, unknown information is transmitted and manipulated until analysis. Unknown information has no ‘information’ value.

Entanglement between remote systems has been verified in many and increasingly complex experiments. In 2012 Israeli scientist could even produce entanglement between photons that never coexisted. By entanglement swapping, they entangled one of each photon pair, which was separated in time. By creating the second pair of photons only after detection of the first one, temporal entanglement was achieved. Just like our email can be checked from any computer anywhere in the world thanks to the internet, the particle exists in limitless freedom can be quickly recovered at any part of the universe. The information embedded in the particle is conserved until interaction, which is the particle’s next time moment. By disturbing the particle, you reformulate the wave function and bring forth the next time moment....ending entanglement.

Shrödinger’s cat is a mind-bending puzzle of physics. Erwin Schrödinger’s famous thought-experiment takes a cat as a stand-in for a quantum particle. Schrödinger’s cat, just like a particle seems to be in a quantum limbo, until the box is intact. The box indeed plays the most critical role in these experiments, only the size of the box is mistaken. The box is none other than the particle's insulated wave function! The particle’s standing waves hide their energy until “measurement” (interaction) takes place. As if these waves were frozen in time until prodded into existence, standing waves do not transfer energy and cannot be experienced until measurement, or interaction. Interaction translates the microdimensional powers by depolarizing the particle into up- or down-spin. Out of infinite possibilities, measuring brings forth the most frugal (stationary) action.

In everyday life, things seem to be around all the time. Even if we do not look at it, we know that the moon is there. Existence, however, is dependent on the exuberant activity of the micro world. The moon and everything else continually reformulate itself in the violent, incessant interactions of the quantum world. The Pauli exclusion principle forces the continuous, endless interaction on the material world. The net result of these activities is constant aging due to change, making growing old an inherent and inalienable part of existence.

The slit experiment entails a photon (or any other particle) that has to pass through one or several slits on its way to a screen. It has been found that a single photon can pass through several slits at the same time and thus interfere with itself. How is it possible? For a time-independent quantum wave, it is possible to spread widely to pass through the slits and interfere. However, a detector, which is placed at one of the slits triggers interaction and ushers in the next time moment (decoherence). The next time moment instantly terminates the whole particle's ability for interference. To get more mind-bending ideas, sign up for my mailing list or find my book on Amazon.

 

Copyright © 2017 by Eva Deli

Emotional interactions are governed by the Pauli Exclusion Principle

Seventeenth-century representation of consciousness

The Pauli exclusion principle states that matter particles cannot occupy the same quantum state. For example, only opposite oriented electrons can form pairs in the atom and determine a certain distance between particles, which causes a resistance to compression. How can intelligent people produce similarities in behavior?

In mammals and birds, the behavior is strongly dependent on emotions, and motivation often changes with time. Being close to one another, especially living in close quarters, differences in attitude becomes frequent. We notice the negative in each other and criticize too often. The emerging emotional distance provides a structure in society or the ecosystem. For example, mammals and birds display a compelling need for territorial needs and avoidance of eye contact. In close situations, such as in an elevator, we try to look away to keep our distance. 

Our need to form the opposite attitude does not influence our everyday life. In big cities, millions of people get along without significant disturbance. Nevertheless, in emotionally close situations, the opposing viewpoint becomes dominant. Even very young children attempt to separate themselves by the excessive use of the word, 'no.' Over time, loving partners and families actually tend to become more distant, and distant people, if spending time together, grow closer emotionally. 

In relationships, the emotional distance is tightly regulated. When we sense an increasing emotional distance, we intuitively move closer to maintain the distance. In contrast, separation prompts the need for closeness. 

Emotionally stable people tend to be satisfied and happy. Their mental calm makes them flexible and accepting toward others. Their feeling of love provides an openness to the other point of view. Without love, we are critical; new information feels contradictory in one way or another. Critical tendency exaggerates due to Aggravation, but it eases toward people we are not close to. Therefore, it is easy to be friendly to strangers and tell secrets on the internet. A perceived distance from their idols attracts fans to celebrities, politicians, and saints.

In oppressive class systems, there is an immense distance among the classes. A rigid code of behavior tightly regulates interaction among distant people and keeps conflicts at bay. Social cohesion and trust create a more egalitarian society, but inequality increases the social distance. 

Emotions' ability to regulate social, conceptual distance is analog to the Pauli principle in physics. 

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Copyright © 2017 by Eva Deli

Consciousness and the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle

Primitive animals form linear, fairly predictable behavior because they lack emotions. The evolution of the cortex gives rise to consciousness, the ability to form emotions. The importance of emotions in intellect has only been scientifically appreciated in the past thirty years. Experiences can accumulate in the connections of cortical neurons and inform future behavior. Therefore, an identical stimulus can produce a varied reaction, causing uncertainty. Mammals and birds display quantum characteristics and obey the Heisenberg uncertainty principle. 

The Heisenberg uncertainty principle prevents the position and momentum of the particle from being known simultaneously. Position and speed are complementary variables; the more precisely one is known, the less precise the other becomes. Although the poles of uncertainty are the temporal position (the moment) and the intensity of emotions, the same interdependence is valid for the cortical brain. 

Positive emotions uncover the moment in time, whereas negative feelings expose the extent of feelings. For example, the extent of anger or negativity (how far one is willing to go) can range from sadness to anger, aggravation, and even physical violence, but their origin is always old experiences. In contrast, positive emotions are the treasure of the moment, which cannot be accumulated or postponed for tomorrow. Hence, positive feelings produce immediate happiness, but their extent is a pointless question; only complete happiness is possible. In contrast to the immense variety of negative emotions, positive emotions invariably take the form of satisfaction and happiness.

The source of mental uncertainty originates in the structure of the cortex. Thanks to the memory potential of cortical networks, any experience can profoundly influence current behavior. The response's nonlinear nature becomes especially prominent with enhanced stimuli. More significant incentives produce a distorted, polarized, and even extreme response: danger and bribe test one's determination. 

A heated gas fills a container, but mental energy is confined by time. The measure of emotional temperature or emotional pressure is the extent of the degree of negativity. Negativity always originates in the self! Sadness, criticism, sarcasm, anger, or physical brutality is the tool the mind uses to test its boundaries and the extent of its power within its environment. Although shockingly, people would start activities with no other use than produce even more stress, the mind conspires to keep its stress level constant. Because retaliation is proportional to criticism and anger, it maintains the temporal pressure, i.e., stress level. 

Would you like to learn more? Read this and related topics in my book, 'The science of consciousness.'

Read the publication: Can the Fermionic Mind Hypothesis (consciousnessiousnesssness? The Physics of Selfhood 

Picture credit: By Thierry Dugnolle

Copyright © 2014 by Eva Deli

The great transformations in the twentieth century brings more questions than answers

The twentieth century saw a complete transformation in the understanding of the most basic structure of matter. Men could open the curtain on the world of the very small. Cells could be seen in enough detail to know how the organelles work; Watson and Kirk discovered the DNA, showing cell duplication in principle, a simple process. The atom was divided into smaller and smaller building blocks, finding the electrons, the nucleons inside the nucleus. Going into even more detail, it was shown that the proton and neutron are themselves composites; the constituent quarks are permanently bound together by the strong nuclear force. The twentieth century also was a complete, fundamental transformation of the way we live; from the structure of the family to the way we work. Breathtaking scientific advances brought us never before imagined advances in healthcare, increasing life expectancy practically all over the globe, improved infrastructure, new services, such as frozen foods, public transportation, and automatization in the home. From refrigerators to cars the twentieth century has changed us, our expectation and habits more, than any century ever before. Our understanding, however, stayed behind the dizzying speed of the technical and scientific change. We are still thinking with a Newtonian mind, we have no idea how our refrigerators or television sets work, let alone our computers. The flexibility of the human spirit makes it possible to improve our grasp of science and technology. Understanding enhances confidence, forming a mindset that dares to initiate changes with purpose, rather than following boundaries dictated by traditions, circumstances, and expectations. Knowing and understanding is power, which leads to mental flexibility, a quality essential to handle change. Such confidence and trust make positive technical, societal changes expected and necessary.

Structure of DNA

The mathematical principles of physics were primarily laid down by Newton in 1687 by the publication of Principia Mathematica. These laws of gravitation and motion are still in use today, their universality, and ease of understanding made them an accepted and dominant method of science and engineering before Einstein’s special relativity. Yet today we live in a world of knowledge that he formed; an apple falls in Newtonian orbit, with Newtonian speed. In spite of the great success of Newton’s laws, they contained some contradictions, and they could not answer some problems of physics. He defined space and time as absolutes, with the unmovable center of the world being the sun. Albert Einstein, the simple patent clerk, did away with these absolutes. He stated that movement is relative and that the speed of light is constant for everybody, independent of movement in space. Yet as he showed the innovative ideas about the relationship between time and gravity, he presented theories that were congruent with the classical world of Newton.

Einstein, Maxwell, and others formulated quantum mechanics, the science of elementary particles. The wave of change initiated by these ideas is still being played out in the halls of science. In the world of the very small, causation is replaced by uncertainty. Uncertainty and entanglement are unintuitive, mind-bending science. Just like a future teller, a physicist conjures a world that is bizarre and does not fit everyday imagination. There is dark matter mixed in with our common substance, and dark energy somehow creates more of what we have, expanding the universe. The possibility of influencing a particle instantaneously from great distances show a wild, untamed quantum world that defies easy understanding, and challenges our notion of reality. Physical sciences must be put onto a new foundation. Even basic assumptions, like space, time and gravity must be considered anew. Reexamining the basic foundation of existence is necessary to achieve a new scientific renaissance: in physical, chemical, biological and social sciences. A new theory that formulates a new physical worldview by incorporating the inner frontier, consciousness, is the subject of the book 'The Science of Consciousness.' Find it on Amazon.

Copyright © 2017 by Eva Deli

Emotions form the basis of consciousness and even if unnoticed, direct our lives from the background

The brain, a mental, emotional representation of the body based on sensory importance, regulates animal behavior through emotions. It is not our consciousness that produces our feelings, but the other way around. The participation of the entire body forms a sophisticated energy system. For example, the muscle system closely mirrors the conscious state, as it tenses up in fear and relaxes in joyful and loving situations. Feelings start hormonal cycles, which regulate the sentiments that produced them. Even taking a breath of air is emotional. If you do not believe me, try holding your breath. First of all, you cannot do it! But if you could do it, you would feel fear, angst, the urge to breathe and fill your lung, after which you would feel elation, relief. This is because emotion is an evolutionary survival tool, which prohibits taking our lives; suicide must be planned carefully.

The recent scientific data point to the unconscious origin of not only arbitrary decisions but even conscious goals. Research suggests that goals themselves arise motivated and primed by social situations outside of awareness. These goals operate in our lives before we are aware of them. Our conscious decisions are just a final rubber stamp on the plans of our social subconscious. Awareness is only a clearinghouse of the emotional forest, trying to make sense of its diversity. We have to contend that some feelings are hidden from our consciousness, and often we cannot figure out what we feel or why we feel them. 

On a conscious level, emotions are often used for manipulation to save energy over physical movement. As a consequence, mammals and birds display complex interpersonal relationships and behavior.  For example, a lion can spare himself from a physical effort because his roar can scare intruding animals. But even emotions require enormous energy to maintain. For example, we get just as tired, or even more so, when we are angry or argue than doing physical work. Nevertheless, it is possible to taking mental efficiency even further and achieve conscious aims without wasting energies on (negative) emotions. The book that details the operational principle of the mind already exists. Its title, The science of consciousness, and it is available on Amazon. You can also sign up for my mailing list.

Picture credit: Prayer by Eva Deli

Copyright © 2017 by Eva Deli