Researcher proposes new theory of consciousness
medicalxpress.com
medicalxpress.com
some quotes:
"Consider for example, the arrangement of iron filings sprinkled over a magnet. A conventional computer could calculate their configuration by inputting the initial random configurations of the filings into an algorithm that implements either Maxwell’s equations or the equations of quantum electrodynamics to output their final equilibrium configuration. Yet the EM field at each point in space, generated by the electron spin of iron atoms within the magnet, instantly computes this solution. In this sense, the field represents an algorithm in space, rather than the algorithms in time that are implemented by Turing machines. And, most importantly, the information involved in the computation is simultaneously available in the space of the magnet and its surroundings. It is spatially, rather than temporarily, integrated information. The EM field’s information is complex information that is physically bound."
...
"I previously proposed that ‘Nearly all qualia—the sound of C minor, the meaning of the number seven, the image of a triangle, the concept of a motor car, the feeling of anger, etc.—are similarly complex … conscious states [that] integrate parallel information streams to form a model that is both complex and physically unified within the cemi field.' That is, the qualia associated with hearing the musical note middle C is what an a EM field perturbation in the brain that correlates with the sensory input of middle C feels like, from the inside."