Theoretical physics has arrived at an impasse. Basic questions about gravity, time or mass cannot be satisfactorily answered. Bizarre and non-testable ideas stretch the boundaries of science itself. After a century of hardcore materialism, consciousness science is finally a favorite subject to study, complete with studies on spirituality, presentiment, non-locality of mind, which might be pushing the limits of science. Welcome to the TSC (The Science of Consciousness) conference, a hodgepodge of observation, neuroscience, philosophy and even poetry mixed in. If you immersed yourself in the proceedings, you probably have come away dazed by the variety of ideas discussed, some of which might appear bizarre or even crazy. Review some topics addressed at the conference and decide for your self!
Bruce Damer introduced a novel approach to the origin of life inspired by a 3.84 billion yrs old piece of rock, which contains the earliest known microbial life on Earth. He and his coauthor suggest that in ancient shallow pools of water-polymer molecules could form by slow evaporation of water. The wind would blow these compounds around, spreading and distributing their contents, preparing for the hot spring origin of life. The wet-dry cycle reduced entropy, which is an essential requirement for biology.
Alysson Muotri discussed a new way to model brain diseases via brain organoids. Somatic cells are pushed back into pluripotent cells and grown in a petri dish for up to a year. Over its evolution, the organoid mini-brain cells migrate and make connections and can exhibit electric oscillation. At four months, the mini cortex formulates layers, glia cells begin to take over proliferation.
Mini-brain network activity: consistent spikes increase over time, indicating the increasing complexity and mimic the bursting phenomenon in EEG.
Lachan Kent finds a strong analogy between physics and consciousness, treating consciousness as fundamental, as elementary particles, where emotional state corresponds to the manipulation of the temporal field. This might lead to a new understanding of depression, for example, as a perception of time.
Paavo Pylkkänen is a philosopher with interest in the Bohm's pilot wave understanding of quantum mechanics. His talk emphasized the incompatible potentialities of the particle that all particles influence each other in formulating the so-called pilot wave, which guides wave-like properties.The language studies were represented by Noam Chomsky from MIT, Tom Bever, and others.
The Penrose-Hammeroff objective reduction theory was represented by its usual practitioners, Penrose, Hammeroff, Anirban Bandyopadhyay and others, reporting no major progress.
Ivette Fuentes shared her enthusiasm about the imminent technological breakthroughs in general relativity and quantum mechanics.
Hartmut Neven from Google shared on their progress on AI research and machine learning and connection to emotional states.
George Northoff from the Brain and Mind Research Institute at the University of Ottawa talked about how the brain's spontaneous activity constructs its own time. Ultra-low-frequency electric activities have much higher power, which permits them to form the foundation of all other frequencies. This leads to nestedness, in which the lower frequencies have greater organizational influence due to their higher power. Thus the power of lower frequencies ensures the stability of the whole brain dynamics.
Lakhmir S. Chawla MD. from the George Washington University analyzed end of life electric surges, which are spikes about 60 to 120 ms after the patient becomes pulseless. The activity can also be observed in the decapitation of rats. The event does not occur in every dying person, but it exceeds the measured waking activities. It is not a seizure and does not occur in patients, who are brain dead. Although it might indicate the boundary between life and death, there is no current scientific consensus on the phenomenon.
Information on brain stimulation and other mind-related subjects, such as art, music, and meditation was also shared. Click here for more information on the program.
The book, 'The science of consciousness' promises a new physical worldview about our place in the universe, about existence, evolution, the power of emotions to guide our lives and shape our future. Its approach may inspire you in your own search for meaning. If proven correct, the hypothesis will radically change our understanding of the world and even will change how we view ourselves. The hypothesis considers cosmos, formed by orthogonal dimensions, space and time. Through their interaction form the poles of the universe and a cosmological evolution, culminating in the emergence of the mind. The hypothesis proposes to solve many current puzzles in physics, such as matter-antimatter ratio, the cosmological constant, entanglement, dark matter and energy, and many others. It also ponders age-old questions, such as what is time, matter, mass, entropy, gravity, and the other elementary forces. It shows how the operation of the mind is determined by emotions and how evolution produces increasing complexity and the intelligent mind. The hypothesis can be verified by technically feasible experiments. Details of the idea can be found in a book form on Amazon, in the Journal of Consciousness Exploration and Research 7(11): 910-930 or on academia.
|
No comments:
Post a Comment