Consciousness Physics

Consciousness or coincidence?

Andy and I have two theories for what accounts for consciousness: Andy says, “My impressionistic idea of consciousness is that it’s characteristic of sophisticated nervous systems and thus diminishes down the phylogenetic scale.” In his view consciousness is a consequence of a nervous system’s myriad sensory input, making any creature “down the phylogenetic scale” less conscious than those up that scale. My only argument with his theory lies in its shallowness (no offense Andy). For me, consciousness feels much, much deeper.

I think of consciousness (especially the synchronous, spontaneous moment to moment experience side of consciousness) as a consequence of ‘quantum weirdness’. Deep down we are ‘tuned’ into all of it through quantum non-locality . It is the ‘backbone’ of the consciousness of all things, in my indistinct and shadowy worldview.

For Andy, the more sophisticated nervous systems, the more truly conscious. For me, everything’s conscious, from atoms to humans; no nervous system necessary here. Naturally though, each thing’s experience of consciousness is colored by its nature, biological and chemical. However, for simplicity sake, I’ll set aside my everything’s conscious point of view and limit this to human consciousness.

So who theory holds more water? Perhaps the recent article Living Physics (in Science News) offered a sliver of support for my view. As one researcher put it, “Now, with growing evidence that quantum weirdness indeed exists in biological systems, scientists are looking for ways to tell how, or even if, nature exploits these effects to confer an advantage.”

Still, there is no way to really prove either theory correct. So, like Schrödinger’s cat, perhaps both theories exist in two states: alive and dead (true and false). From that standpoint they are equal. Take your pick and peek. Your observation determines their fate. Of the two, I like mine best because it offers me a deeper sense of unity and communion with all things of which I’m conscious. Also, quantum non-locality parallels mysterious sameness in my view.

The moral of this story: If you can’t prove either of two theories, picking the one that offers a deeper sense of connection makes sense. After all, we are social animals. Thus, anything that can enhance our sense of connection should certainly feel better.