• Enrique
    842
    An essay I wrote about the physics of consciousness! I would like your input as to the validity and phrasing.

    Introduction: Strengths and Limitations of CEMI Theory as a Model of the Brain’s Contribution to Consciousness

    In the early 2000’s, Johnjoe McFadden introduced CEMI (conscious electromagnetic information) theory as a possible model for how the brain generates mental experience. Its central tenet is that electromagnetic waves, probably the foremost signature of correlation between brain states and states of arousal, are the seat of consciousness, a supervenience which pools the informational structure of neural tissue into the substance of sentience and apprehension. This energetic fusion modulates firing patterns in a top-down way, integrating neural networks at rates which greatly surpass the synchronization possible via synapse-mediated connections alone. He proposed that this might resolve the combination problem, accounting for how consciousness involves trillions of distinct components - atoms, molecules, biochemical pathways, cells, etc. - while the first-person mind tends to manifest as a more or less unified field of awareness. In this model, the coupling of local anatomy with EM energy produces a perceptual architecture of organwide oscillations.

    The most compelling evidence for CEMI theory is ongoing research into phase-locking between neurons and the brain’s EM field. Within neural networks, the EM fields induced by neuronal signaling bind at least hundreds of these cells into individual units which fire synchronously enough for the resultant EM field to display an in-phase pattern as it oscillates. The EM fields to which neural networks are phase-locked extend beyond space occupied by the cells that cause them, just as the charge of an electron is projected further than the particle’s volume. These in-phase EM fields overlap and interact to coordinate neural networks at emergent levels, culminating in macroscopic brain waves of the kind recorded by EEG.

    One of the most notable features of CEMI theory is that it may model the spectrum of arousal, from unconscious to subconscious to maximally attentive mental states, for acuteness of awareness could simply be the outcome of the degree to which different kinds of neurons in various locations have evolutionarily adapted to phase-lock with EM fields. The more phase-locked a neural network is, the more that the information intrinsic to its structure forms an integrated whole due to the EM binding effect, and macroscopic EM fields with pervasive influence on nerve firing are the motive force of intentional awareness. CEMI theory thus holds potential to demystify the experience of volition, empirically countering questions raised by the well-known research of Benjamin Libet and more about whether conscious intention even exists, for the experience of our own willing would merely be the effect of especially large-scale and phase-locking saturated EM fields. Though this major implication has not been conclusively verified, initial evidence is supplied by the fact that states of peak awareness tend to involve serial processing as opposed to the massively parallel processing of unconscious states, suggesting the substance of our wills is some conglomeration of macroscopic EM fields which are holistically segregated from and independent of surrounding regions.

    Though the data on correlation between EM waves in the brain and awareness is indisputable, and CEMI theory is a probable model for the properties of awareness as mediated by these EM fields, the theory currently has some limitations. First of all, if the brain’s EM field arises from a flow of information originating with neural structure, and consciousness is a product of the brain’s EM field, we must determine how these signal transmissions are constituted such that they can produce this EM field as an emergent phenomenon while at the same time being reciprocally impacted by it. In order to solve the problem, it is necessary to figure out how exactly electrical energy is flowing and why it results in an EM field byproduct that is nevertheless causal. We know that ion diffusion is crucial, and ion channels are suspected as the loci where microscopic energy flow and the macroscopic EM field intersect, but a comprehensive picture of the process has not yet been constructed, primarily because knowledge of both neuron anatomy and the subatomic realm was not sufficiently sophisticated. It will be shown that 21st century research has discovered enough about these domains to describe electromagnetic properties of the brain at the subatomic scale, reinforcing CEMI theory with a combination of cutting-edge neuroscience and fundamental physics.

    While CEMI as it presently stands can explain the macroscopic synchrony of oscillations in brain tissue, it does not account for the substance of perception itself. What are visual, auditory, olfactory, gustatory, tactile, interoceptive sensations as physical phenomena? Even once the brain’s synchrony is fully modeled, the nature of these percepts remains mysterious. Preliminary research indicates that a solid hypothesis linking technicalities of energy flow in the brain, particularly the dynamics associated with electromagnetic radiation, to the structure of percepts is possible. This hypothesis holds the potential to elucidate how percepts are formed insofar as they arise from brain, nervous system and body. I have termed the combination of electrical energy flow, macroscopic EM field oscillation, and radiation/molecular interaction as they subsist together in the brain a coherence field, and prospects are good for conjoining CEMI theory with the insights of coherence field theory in a comprehensive model of the linkage between brain matter and the substance of consciousness.

    Electric Coherence Currents and Atomic Structure

    In order to model the way electric currents move, we must have a sufficing model of the atoms through which these currents travel. Basic understanding of matter is primarily founded on probability density: from squaring the wave function, we can educe an image of where electrons are most and least likely to be within atomic structures. These geometries are assumed to be three dimensional for reason of clarity, superimposed on an ‘x, y, z’ coordinate system in ways that maximize symmetry of charge since negative charges repel. The shapes thus formed include spheres, dumbbells and doughnuts, in all sorts of hybrids.

    This probability density model is one of the most accurate in science, matching the
    results of thousands of experiments to great precision, but is nonetheless an approximation, and uncertainty persists about what is going on beneath the superimposed math. The crux of the dilemma is determining how a greater than zero probability can exist for a particle such as an electron to be anywhere in the universe while we experience matter as localized to particular regions of space. The math says that every particle is to some extent everywhere at once as a universal superposition of states, while real particles reside at a particular place and time. The inquiry is how we are to reconcile this discrepancy between our probability model and physical reality.

    Competing interpretations of the model have been proposed which fit the math equally well, though experiments are beginning to achieve the capacity to adjudicate between them. The many-worlds interpretation presumes that a particle splits into separate timelines when undergoing certain types of perturbation, so that superposition is not dissolved by factors of localization such as particle collisions even though these superpositions cannot to this point be scientifically observed. The pilot-wave interpretation assumes that particles such as electrons are guided along trajectories by underlying wave perturbations which have not been witnessed directly. It has even been purported that some kind of cosmic consciousness of which human minds are a component serves as the fundamental substrate controlling where and when matter localizes as a particle. By contrast, spontaneous localization interpretations attempt to model physical matter as pockets of locality that form within the probability plenum in a phenomenon directly proportional to quantity of perturbation, and a host of different parameters for how this localization occurs have been fashioned with the aim of fitting experimental data. But enough doubt remains that the traditional Copenhagen interpretation is the most popular, simply asserting the math should be viewed as working agnosticism, a technique allowing us to predict the relationship between initial and final conditions of a material system without telling us anything realist about causality.

    But despite the incertitude, some rudimentary realist knowledge can be gleaned from the probability model that is sufficient for purposes of neuroscience. First of all, though a probability exists for every particle to be anywhere, each particle involves a range of most to least likely locations which declines dramatically as one strays from the center of mass or energy. The sea of particles and their energies diffused through space consists of a density contour, spots where relatively more or less energy reside. We also know, at least insofar as electromagnetic properties obtain, less mass or energy density corresponds to greater average rate of motion, in essence more propensity for energy to flow through that region of space. For instance, the less dense that electrical energy is at a specific location, the more rapidly this energy can accelerate. The causality of an electromagnetic field propagates at the speed of light, 300 million m/s, while currents comprised of electrons which are density maximums within the EM field of an atom can reach 90% the speed of light in a copper wire due to a cascade of local displacements called signal velocity which travels along its length, but rarely any speed in excess of that, especially at the micrometer scale or larger. Most electric currents, again a directional flow among adjacent density maximums, reach average signal velocities that can be closer to 50% the speed of light. This is a consequence of the idiosyncrasies in specific atomic structure along with a material system’s entropy, the amount of disorder from factors such as temperature that increase local agitation, preventing electrons from synchronizing within relatively large spaces.

    Under conditions where electric currents cannot flow micrometer or larger distances because of entropy, electromagnetic motion tends to settle into maximum average locality, a state which has been termed “decoherence”. When conditions are such that electrical energy can flow directionally, across larger distances, this is a state of “coherence”. So a spectrum of relatively decoherent to relatively coherent states exists among electromagnetic matter. An atom’s electron orbitals or density maximums in and of themselves are relatively coherent, to the extent that atoms can be modeled as individual units of superposition. Trillions of atoms jostle entropically enough in typical Earth environments that relative decoherence prevails and net motion is modelable in terms of classical space and time. Chemical bonds range between maximally decoherent and maximally coherent states, a sort of short-ranged coherence at the boundary of Newtonian and atomic structure. And electric currents constitute a special case where atoms are induced to engage in macroscopic coherence that transcends the baseline boundaries between microatomic and macroatomic. Electricity is made to flow by charge differentials in matter, with greater charge differential (voltage) as a general rule causing more rapidly accelerating currents (amperes). It will be shown that the most plausible model for signal transmission in a neuron is derived from these coherence principles.
  • Enrique
    842
    Electric Coherence Currents and Electromagnetic Fields Within the Brain

    It is well-established that neural signaling is modulated by diffusion of ions through channels in a neuron’s membrane, but ion collisions cannot explain some features of signal transmission. Researchers have discovered that each node of Ranvier, where voltage-gated Na+ channels let Na+ into an axon, is flanked by paranodes, where the myelin sheath attaches to the outer membrane, and these are flanked by juxtaparanodes, where voltage-gated K+ channels are located that let K+ flow out of the cell when open. Ion diffusion provides no reason for voltage-gated K+ channels to be strategically placed at the juxtaparanodes. In theory, larger diameter axons involve less axial (lengthwise) resistance due to greater volume and more dilute ion concentrations. This would allow slightly more rapid axial diffusion rates, necessitating that nodes of Ranvier be farther apart so as to keep signal strength the same, but nodes of Ranvier are actually spaced closer together in larger diameter neurons. Computer simulations demonstrate that widening nodes of Ranvier slightly to significantly increase the quantity of voltage-gated Na+ channels does not increase rate of signal transmission with more ion diffusion. And a neuron’s signal can travel meters in milliseconds, far exceeding the rate of diffusion. Where a description based on ion diffusion alone falls short, applying the idea of electrical coherence current succeeds. The coherence model has not at this stage surpassed the status of gedanken experiment, but it ties all we know about the chemistry and anatomy of neurons into a complete picture, so is the most probable candidate to this point and deserving of concerted empirical investigation.

    The solution internal to a neuron is made up primarily of water molecules and positive ions. H2O is of course a polar molecule, its hydrogen atoms being the positive poles and the oxygen atom a negative pole, bent at the fulcrum. A nanoscale solvation shell forms around each positive ion, with negative poles facing inward and positive poles outward. Thus, cellular solution contains a complex contour of positive and negative charge. Since positive ions lack an electron, the electromagnetic density of aqueous solution at their locations is reduced. The baseline state is for asymmetries in electron density to perpetually shift positive ions and water molecules around in pursuit of equilibrium, a nanoscale agitation which causes the solution to on average be maximally decoherent as its baseline condition.

    When Na+ floods into the axon at a node of Ranvier during an action potential, electron density decreases in that region. This creates a positive terminal that induces an electric current to flow towards the node, but the current begins adjacent to the node and cascades outward into successively distant regions. Because propagation slows due to electron mass inertia when charge is constant, I have named this the “ebb effect”.

    The electron density of atoms is enveloped in an electromagnetic field that acts remotely, perturbing at the speed of light as atoms move. When the current of electrical coherence starts to flow due to positive ion influx, initialization of the current is accompanied by an electromagnetic field fluctuation called an LFP (local field potential). LFPs are almost certainly the trigger by which depolarization activates voltage-gated ion channels, probably via a temporary nanoscale magnetism caused by synchrony of electric current flow. The quantity of atoms involved in generating the electric current is sizable, so electromagnetic field perturbations associated with an action potential extend through the outer membrane to multiple cells. The EM fields linked to coherence currents in an axon thus overlap, phase-locked with ion channels or closely related structures in multiple neurons to form an integrated grid within neural networks, enhancing the synchronization of separate depolarizations.

    Electric current initialization decelerates through the paranodal region, and upon reaching the juxtaparanode its LFP perturbation triggers voltage-gated K+ channels to open and let this ion rush out of the axon. This rapidly increases disparity in charge between the juxtaparanode and continued influx of Na+ at the node of Ranvier, a spike in voltage which accelerates current initialization enough to propel it through internodal space at a significant fraction of light speed despite resumed slowing. An LFP triggers the next juxtaparanode to depolarize, while the subsequent node of Ranvier has usually not been completely repolarized, renewing a charge differential that accelerates current towards the next node of Ranvier. The LFP then stimulates voltage-gated Na+ channels to let this ion flow into the axon, a chain reaction that continues to the axon terminal where a synapse occurs.

    Dendrites also have clustered Na+ channels, so an EPSP (excitatory postsynaptic potential) takes place via the same ebb effect mechanism. Cl- channels are located at the dendrite/soma junctions to halt EPSPs with a Cl- influx that initiates current traveling upstream into a dendrite, from greater, negative electron density to lesser, positive electron density. This current is called an IPSP (inhibitory postsynaptic potential). When Cl- influx and IPSPs cease, with EPSPs cumulatively strong enough to breach the soma via the ebb effect, a threshold is crossed, probably abetted by subsequent resumption of Cl- influx, and this relatively large electron density accelerates rapidly towards the greatest quantity of voltage-gated Na+ channels and Na+ ions in a neuron at the axon hillock. K+ leakage channels are present throughout the outer membrane to sustain positive ion concentrations at a sufficient level for the ebb effect to happen. Sodium-potassium pumps help maintain diffusion gradients across the membrane by a constant ferrying of two K+ ions into the cell accompanied by three Na+ ions out of the cell.

    Microscopic platinum sensors have been inserted into individual neurons, revealing a crystalline structure located just beneath the axon’s outer membrane, wrapped around a core support framework of microtubules. This probably assists in holding ion concentrations at levels provisional of the ebb effect. It is likely that larger diameter axons have more volume surrounding this structure, perhaps necessitating that nodes be closer together so as to compensate for some dilution.

    The ebb effect has not been verified by experiment, but should be observable within any aqueous solution that contains regions of both charge differential and uniform average charge. Phase-locking of coherence currents and companion LFPs would create emergent flow shapes in the brain’s electric field that magnetically orchestrate atom and molecule synchronization, just as electric currents drive the operation of appliances by exacting organized magnetic effects upon their structure. Actually, the living cell may be more akin to an ecosystem, with its components fluxing in holistic ways partially under their own power as a response to variable EM field stimulation, a cross between mechanism, food chain and mass migration. In any event, electromagnetic brain waves are almost certainly more than an epiphenomenon, flowing through neural tissue to participate in morphing swaths of molecular structure into simultaneity. The more phase-locked neurons are within a macroscopic EM field oscillation or flow, the more integrated, serial in shape, and self-directed their functioning, a synchrony which is likely the root of volition. The coherence flow model seems to put comprehension of the mind’s motive force insofar as it connects to the brain and perhaps the rest of the body within reach, but we still lack the total picture, for this does not in itself necessitate that consciousness look or feel like anything, that it be an awareness as opposed to machinery, more than mere magnetism within a framework of circuitry. How do percepts arise in conjunction with physiology of the brain and body?

    Electromagnetic Radiation as a Binding Agent for the Physiological Substance of Perception

    Entanglement is a process by which particle states such as spin in electrons and atoms or phase in photons correlate across distances at faster than light speed. It occurs via nonlocal forces that are still poorly understood, which underlie coherence in all its forms, more fundamental than electromagnetism. In relatively diffuse, minimally entropic, or relatively homogeneous material structures such as gases of more or less minimized temperature and simple chemical composition, faster than light entanglement can readily take effect, but very exacting conditions must be generated for the phenomenon to be observed in the lab. Under more common circumstances such as the flow of electric current through a compact structure such as a metal, or through an entropic substance such as aqueous solution, or through heterogeneous matter such as an organic body, the nonlocality of coherence is dissipated by the medium’s baseline decoherent state so that rates slower than the speed of light obtain. Coherence among electromagnetic particles of substantial mass thus tends to be mitigated in various degrees by density, a sort of rate bottleneck effect more pronounced the greater the complexity of density contour.

    But electromagnetic radiation is much less massive and does not have nearly the same constraints as electrons or atoms. Congregates of photons can evince statistically significant correlations across distances of at least 15 km. Light has further properties unique for electromagnetic matter, filling nonvacuum spaces populated by atomic structure as a wave, and much more readily superpositioning into additive structures than atoms, put on full display by the wide range of wavelength combinations associated with the visible spectrum. EM radiation is emitted when electrons in atoms or electric currents accelerate or decelerate, and most electromagnetic matter does to some extent, so nature is saturated with light. This light interacts with atoms in complex ways that are still rudimentarily understood, but we know for sure that its wavelengths can blend into atoms when energy is complementary. Many photons scatter as they collide with atoms, a phenomenon known as the Compton effect, but light can also form vibrational complexes of atomic nodes within photonic fields. Radiative/molecular superpositions as synchronously vibrating arrays of electromagnetic matter are an excellent candidate for the substance of percepts, and research into the connection between photonics and awareness is showing promise.

    In initial analysis of light’s interaction with biological systems, it was discovered that photosynthetic reaction center complexes achieve 100% energy yield from UV radiation because light waves take multiple routes or flow through numerous chlorophyll molecules as they are translated into chemical energy, fully absorbed by a reaction center hub without fail. Chlorophyll arrays are such that EM radiation blends into them like they are a pool of water and photons a bead of this water, conjoining as a coherent energy field. Early research into the response of neurons to light exposed them to the visible and UV spectrum. It was found that this relatively high energy EM radiation affects neural function, but primarily due to the degradation of ion channels and additional structures, reducing synaptic efficiency. Subsequent examination has proved more auspicious, however.

    A long-standing hypothesis about the source of consciousness, Roger Penrose and Stuart Hameroff’s Orch-Or (orchestrated-objective reduction) theory, proposes that microtubules are compact enough in the brain to produce a sort of integrated pulse responsible for awareness. The model has faced criticisms from scientists who claim the brain is too hot and wet to support large-scale coherence of this kind, but recent experiments have aimed to assess whether light induces a coherent energy field in microtubules where molecular structure alone cannot.

    Microtubules contain light-sensitive amino acids such as tryptophan, and absorption properties in response to UV light were recently tested. A solution of microtubule fragments exposed to UV light was proven conducive to remote energy transfer between component tryptophan molecules. Anesthetics inhibited the phenomenon, hinting at a link with consciousness. Combining this data with a model of tryptophan positioning inside intact microtubules suggested that the amino acid can mediate a coherent energy field spanning the microtubule’s entire length, ranging to 50 micrometers. The only source of UV light in a typical cell was hypothesized as perhaps the oxidation reactions of mitochondria, so it is doubtful these wavelengths have much of a functional role in the brain, but it becomes increasingly apparent that light superpositions and entangles among relatively large molecular structures to produce coherent energy fields in a wide range of circumstances. So the question is whether some alternative light source exists within the brain to cause an expansive energy coherence.

    An obvious option for endogenous light in the brain is infrared radiation, which saturates physiological structures while constantly absorbed and emitted by rotating and vibrating atomic bonds. The capacity of the infrared spectrum to transmit through aqueous solution quickly diminishes as this radiation’s wavelength increases from 1-10 micrometers, but plenty of circumstantial evidence ties the thermal energy of molecular motion instigated by infrared radiation, better known as temperature, to brain function. Brain tissue temperatures have been measured to exceed those of the blood by 0.5-0.6 degrees Celsius in various mammals. In rats, temperature of the hippocampus increases 1.5-38 degrees Celsius when actively exploring. In male finches, temperature of brain tissue increases during variance in song tempo. Feeding and social interaction produce rapid, unique, and relatively long-lasting brain temperature elevations, occurring faster and with greater magnitude than those of the arterial blood supply. In humans, somatosensory cortex temperature increases during nerve stimulation, and likewise for motor cortex and bodily movement. Many brain regions such as the substantia nigra alter their activity when temperature is varied. Rise in temperature of neuronal pathways is generally associated with sensory stimuli, and similar correlations between temperature and data obtained on resting potential, action potential, nerve conduction velocity and synaptic transmission are well-established. Anesthesia lowers brain temperature, a sign that infrared radiation may be linked to conscious awareness. The total brain varies in temperature by 1-3 degrees Celsius in some animal models. The correlation is obvious, but whether temperature contributes some function or is merely an insignificant byproduct remains uncertain. Indications exist, however, that neurons may be tailored for the purpose of sustaining the brain’s infrared spectrum at robust levels. A rapid spike in temperature of two degrees microCelsius occurs during action potentials, hinting at connection between nerve firing and a boost to the infrared spectrum. So if we hypothesize that neurons are designed to expand the quantity of infrared light while regulating its local behavior, how might this mechanism work?

    Assuming the coherence flow model is accurate, as it certainly seems to be, lengthwise signals are transmitted through a neuron as electric currents which attain a relativistically significant percentage of light speed, so the mass/energy of this rapidly moving matter increases. We know from technological applications that matter moving at relativistic speeds emits higher energy (frequency), shorter wavelength EM radiation while it decelerates, and lower energy, longer wavelength radiation while it accelerates, both a byproduct of extra mass. For instance, when a beam of electrons traveling at half the speed of light collides with a metal plate in an x-ray machine, it emits high energy braking radiation in the x-ray portion of the spectrum, and accelerating current in a radio antenna emits low energy radio waves. Essentially, if an accelerating coherence current is almost instantaneously compressed as it alternates, EM waves will be emitted proportional to total breadth, speed, and perhaps lesser overall energy density of the current (in addition to waves at further spectral ranges), and if a decelerating coherence current is likewise compressed, EM waves are emitted in proportion to size, speed and perhaps greater energy density of the current segment that is decelerating. So if current acceleration is sustained in a neuron, the spectrum of EM waves will be prone to lengthen, and the reverse is true for decelerating current.

    During an action potential, electric current accelerates between a node of Ranvier and adjacent juxtaparanodes, while gradually decelerating as it traverses internodal space. However, this current flow is momentary, halted by reverse propagation of the ebb effect upstream of each node of Ranvier upon Na+ influx, so is probably not capable of generating a sustained photonic field.

    At the synaptic junction, current accelerates from single positive ion concentrations (Na+ and K+) at the last node of Ranvier in the action potential chain to lesser electron density of Ca2+ concentrations near the axon terminal. Current would also accelerate from the first node of Na+ channels in a dendrite to its upstream tip, on the opposite side of a synapse. In order for acceleration to be sustained, Ca2+ would have to cycle into and out of a neuron at rapid rates, continuously drawing energy away from nodes with a replenishing supply of lower electron density ions. Indications are that ions travel through ion channels via quantum mechanisms, so the cycle might be near-instantaneous enough to hold acceleration stable. But at present, more research into neuron anatomy near the synaptic junction is necessary before this hypothesis can be corroborated or refuted.

    It seems more feasible at this stage to postulate a model for current acceleration in
    the soma. A tapering from more to less positive ion concentration is maintained between the largest quantity of Na+ channels and ions in a neuron at the axon hillock and relatively expansive space of the soma with its lesser rate of Na+ and K+ reuptake. This tapering ranges all the way to cellular space near the dendrite/soma junctions, where Cl- channels and ions maintain a much higher electron density. Cl- influx during an IPSP blocks EPSPs from propagating into the soma, followed by some Cl- reuptake and an accompanying cessation of the IPSP. In the absence of an IPSP, the ebb effect of EPSPs can draw greater electron density around the base of dendrites out of successively more interior regions of the soma. This is likely combined with a renewal of Cl- influx such that electron density increases slightly while simultaneously breaching the positive ion gradient. Once this greater electron density reaches the axon hillock’s sphere of influence, extending well into the soma, it accelerates rapidly towards the axon hillock. Upon reaching the axon hillock, a companion LFP triggers large quantities of Na+ to rush in, sustaining acceleration from the opposite side due to greatly reduced electron density even as the relatively negative charge initiated at the dendrite/soma junction reaches a minimum due to dilution. As Na+ ions again diffuse into the soma, the gradient of positive charge is replenished, and though the overall strength and influence of positive charge lessens in the soma, Cl- concentrations increase and regain a maximum, driving acceleration from the opposite side.
    To summarize:

    At the dendrite/soma junctions:
    1.Cl- influx, concentration and electron density maximum
    2.Cl- concentration and electron density attenuation
    3.The ebb effect force of dendritic potentials followed by resumption of Cl- influx
    4.Electron density from Cl- concentration at a minimum, with continued influx

    Instigated by the axon hillock:
    1.Na+ concentration attenuation
    2.Greater Na+ concentration attenuation
    3.Na+ concentration minimum
    4.Na+ influx and concentration maximum

    Thus, a flux of Cl- concentration maximum to minimum coupled with Na+ concentration minimum to maximum conceivably maintains a constant acceleration of electric current through the soma. As in the case of possible current acceleration around the synaptic junction, this model needs empirical verification.

    So if current continuously accelerates at the synaptic junction and within the soma, what would be the properties of emitted EM radiation? These currents have no circuit to stabilize their velocity as in electrical wiring, so if charge is constant they would initiate at the same rate as baseline agitation from decoherence and gradually decelerate due to the ebb effect. EM wavelengths produced probably hover at around 1 micrometer, slightly longer than the boundary between visible and near-infrared portions of the spectrum. If electric current does indeed accelerate at the synapse and through the soma, this would add slightly longer wavelengths to the spectrum. It seems reasonable as a very approximate hypothesis that the spectrum could range from 1-10 micrometers in wavelength. This spectrum is capable of traveling through aqueous solution at distances of 100 millimeters to 10 micrometers, with range shrinking considerably as wavelength increases. The soma is about 12 cubic micrometers and the synaptic space 1 cubic micrometer, with the currents themselves probably equivalent in volume, so it seems plausible that a persistent field of photonic waves can inundate both. Boosted by maximal reflection from white matter, grey matter may be filled with a substantive light spectrum capable of interacting with molecular arrays and biochemical pathways to form an integrated photonic field studded with a wide range of atomic and multiatomic nodes.

    An exception to the general link between brain hyperthermia and awareness is the visual cortex, where it has been observed with fMRI that tissue temperature decreases by 0.2 degrees Celsius during activation of the neural processing involved. Some uncertainty exists as to the accuracy of these results, but if valid this suggests molecular structures may exist in some parts of the brain to shift the EM radiation spectrum towards shorter wavelengths such as visible light that are less likely to dissipate as the heat of vibrating and rotating chemical bonds. It is intriguing to consider that centers of vision in the brain, probably correlated with the phenomenality of image perception, might generate a light field roughly comparable to the one upon which vertebrate optical mechanisms are based.

    A couple further categories of mechanism in addition to basic current acceleration seem likely for how spectrums of EM radiation may thicken and assume functional form in the nervous system and brain. Visible, near-infrared, mid-infrared radiation and perhaps beyond of course must interact with molecules in such a way that wavelengths are modified into a wide variety of vibrational signatures, with all of this essentially dissipating into the sink of slightly increased temperature during activation as baseline decoherence continually reasserts itself. The electric currents themselves may also rapidly decelerate upon contact with molecular structures to cause braking radiation, shortened EM wavelengths of relatively low intensity. Whether these processes can also occur in non-neuronal cells via ion channel mechanisms is an interesting topic, barely broached. So how then might this basic substrate of structural integration in the brain, nervous system and perhaps the wider body give rise to awareness’s percepts, the substance of perception?

    Implications of CEMI and Coherence Field Theory for Modeling Experience

    In this model, sizable particles such as biomolecules in the brain are synchronized somewhat remotely via a supervenient EM field, but EM radiation within this material framework is the binding agent which flows around with effective instantaneity to integrate biochemical arrays, cells and tissues at trillions of locations as the vibrational structure of perception. The details of how percepts would form and be orchestrated in this manner are undoubtedly complex and, if justified by the evidence, probably warrant decades of research. But if these theories are accurate, it could provide for some very simple ways to define features of mind in terms of matter.

    This model views percepts, to the extent they arise from electromagnetic properties of tissue, as the emergent organization of atomic nodes within photonic fields, regions of coherent energy most fundamentally characterized by vibration. The brain is unique because electric currents likely found in all cells are so strong and compact in this organ that a robust EM field is generated which can coordinate the magnetic particles in large swaths of tissue as an individual unit. The brain is thus much more synchronized than the rest of the body. If the hypothesis proves valid, this mechanistic chassis of electrical energy is saturated by EM radiation of a primarily infrared spectral range which interacts with molecules to produce the structural components of mind, insofar as they reside within the brain, as oscillating patterns of vibration and rotation in constituent matter.

    Most of our basic sentience - sound, touch, taste, smell, visceral sensations, in essence feel - would essentially be vibrational textures in matter with their shapes, rates of oscillation and locations determining the quality of experience. Input from specialized sensory apparatuses in eye, ear, olfactory, gustatory and tactile cells superimposes on fundamentally cognitive textures to render our environment a crisp perceptual world.

    Image sensation might be a modification of EM wavelengths within the textural field such that light in the visible range is produced, so that optical inspection and image imagination coevolved into complementary forms. We thus visualize much of what our eyesight takes in without optical stimulation. Visual stream of consciousness is then a complex of visible light and specially adapted cellular structures, while the verbal stream would probably be infrared light and still different biomolecules and cells, together a range of emergent textures induced by the brain and perhaps the wider body. All of this sentience and stream of consciousness converges to constitute the foundational substrate of emotion and thought.

    Memory would derive from interaction of this coherent energy field with neural architecture, accounting for how recall cannot be easily pinpointed to any particular region of the brain or body, for it is linked to the field/circuitry complex at fundamental, intracellular levels. Synesthesias build neural circuitry into intricately emergent structures so that logical insights are possible, the environment “making sense” via a background of more or less abstract interrelationships rather than just starkly presenting. The self can be defined as a collection of functions that monitor one’s own coherence field of radiative/molecular percepts.

    The question of how a coherence field of awareness projects beyond the body can be raised. It must be remembered that coherence is not fundamentally electromagnetic, physiological, or local in the Newtonian sense, and under suitable conditions causality can propagate faster than light. It might be possible for similar mechanisms to those which manifest within the brain and body to conjure beyond physiology, as a hybrid of standing and traveling waves within a medium of infrared light, visible light and perhaps more energy sources, all interspersed by atomic and molecular nodes with which this energy more or less synchronously vibrates. If an experiment can entangle photons at 3 trillion m/s across a distance of 15 km, any material structure which manipulates the underlying coherence responsible for such entanglement should be capable of similar influence, and the brain could be such a material structure. The coherence field concept may eventually explain why we do not perceive the field of awareness as entirely within our own heads or bodies despite the fact that neural and cellular architecture is required to comprise an organic mind.

    CEMI theory is a probable model for how matter is synchronized in the brain, and by adding a gedanken experiment based on what we know of neural anatomy and the physics of electrical energy it is possible to describe this synchronization at the subatomic scale. If EM radiation and atoms within coherence fields behave in the way proposed, an entirely realist, mechanistic model of mind could be within reach. If we can open a textbook and simply glance at the inner workings of consciousness as we do with diagrams of a neuron or brain this would be a monumental improvement in our picture of the world with a great unifying effect upon academia and society. It seems well worth the effort to pursue an elaboration of CEMI theory into what holds the potential to become a comprehensive coherence field theory of conscious matter.
  • Metaphysician Undercover
    12.3k
    Fascinating stuff Enrique. That's a lot of research. Here are a few things to think about, if you're interested.

    CEMI theory thus holds potential to demystify the experience of volition, empirically countering questions raised by the well-known research of Benjamin Libet and more about whether conscious intention even exists, for the experience of our own willing would merely be the effect of especially large-scale and phase-locking saturated EM fields.Enrique

    To speculate about such a conclusion is premature. There is no discussion of the cause of such phase-locking, therefore no support to such speculation.

    The problem as I see it, is that our understanding of electrical flow, as human beings, is extremely limited to the way that we use electrical flow, and that is as DC and AC. These modes of usage are represented as a modeling of the movement of particle, electrons. However, we also know that "the real" electrical flow does not occur through the movement of electrons, the energy is transmitted through the fields which are associated. So the modeling is not an accurate representation, only a useful one. And we will never properly understand the activity of the fields without the proper modeling of them, which would be without a dependence on a flow of electrons.

    Entanglement is a process by which particle states such as spin in electrons and atoms or phase in photons correlate across distances at faster than light speed.Enrique

    This I believe is another premature conclusion, so it should be looked at as an unsound premise.

    The model has faced criticisms from scientists who claim the brain is too hot and wet to support large-scale coherence of this kind, but recent experiments have aimed to assess whether light induces a coherent energy field in microtubules where molecular structure alone cannot.Enrique

    "Hot and wet" is not a beautiful image, let's just say that the brain is warm and moist, that's more appealing.

    The brain is unique because electric currents likely found in all cells are so strong and compact in this organ that a robust EM field is generated which can coordinate the magnetic particles in large swaths of tissue as an individual unit.Enrique

    Isn't this a sort of backward way of looking at things? Instead of saying that electric currents generate an EM field (as if a current of electrons creates the field), we should say that the EM field causes what is observed as an electric current. Then we do not have the dual level of causation you describe, electric current causes EM field which causes ordered particle patterns. That dual level of causation creates undue complexity. Instead, we could say that the EM field causes coordinated particle patterns, some of which can be observed as electric current.
  • Enrique
    842
    The problem as I see it, is that our understanding of electrical flow, as human beings, is extremely limited to the way that we use electrical flow, and that is as DC and AC. These modes of usage are represented as a modeling of the movement of particle, electrons. However, we also know that "the real" electrical flow does not occur through the movement of electrons, the energy is transmitted through the fields which are associated. So the modeling is not an accurate representation, only a useful one. And we will never properly understand the activity of the fields without the proper modeling of them, which would be without a dependence on a flow of electrons.Metaphysician Undercover

    The idea of electrical energy existing within an atom as an electron is problematic, I agree. It would be more accurate to refer to the EM field as containing density maximums induced by nuclei, and electromagnetic energy's signal velocity a flow through these density maximums at rates typically less than the speed of light, such as 90% light speed in a copper wire, or 50% light speed in an x-ray machine. Electrical conductance in aqueous solution is probably somewhere in between. I'm not familiar with the properties of superconductors, which might be capable of reaching even faster speeds. Density minimums of the EM field, occupying most of its space and projecting well beyond the domain of density maximums, propagate at the speed of light. What we really need is an entirely reworked model of the atom and the substance of electromagnetism.

    There is no discussion of the cause of such phase-locking, therefore no support to such speculation.

    Instead of saying that electric currents generate an EM field (as if a current of electrons creates the field), we should say that the EM field causes what is observed as an electric current. Then we do not have the dual level of causation you describe, electric current causes EM field which causes ordered particle patterns. That dual level of causation creates undue complexity. Instead, we could say that the EM field causes coordinated particle patterns, some of which can be observed as electric current.
    Metaphysician Undercover

    McFadden's papers describe phase-locking in depth. With regard to synchronization, the LFP-phase-locking-feedback loop emergence picture seems convincing to me, but a lot more research is necessary to determine how exactly this might work on a macroscopic scale. Electric currents (density maximums) could flow through neurons to perturb an EM field (density minimum) as an LFP with effective instantaneity relative to the currents. EM fields of individual electric currents phase-lock with multiple neurons, perhaps via ion channels, making the LFPs of neural networks tightly integrated, in-phase units. Feedback loops between brain regions as mediated by axon-dendrite connections then cause electrical energy to flow in a more or less orchestrated (but noninstantaneous) way through congregates of neural networks. This supervenient electric field may magnetically coordinate biochemical pathways in thousands of neurons, somewhat like a wind flowing through the leaves of a tree to create a flurry of simultaneous activity, except in this case with a functional role. Still speculative I admit, but CEMI-related research seems to support it so far.

    This I believe is another premature conclusion, so it should be looked at as an unsound premise.Metaphysician Undercover

    Initial experiments that put a 15 km distance between photons streams and then measured suggested the speed of entanglement between respective destinations was 3 trillion m/s, so evidence seems to suggest entanglement occurs at least one order of magnitude faster than light, but perhaps this result has received a challenge from some source. I'd like to learn more about the experimental design and whether the result has been replicated.
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