In this second article of the six-part series, we discuss the role of physics and quanta in non-locality and indicate that these models are diverse, not just entanglement but there are at least nine other models. We introduce the idea of a global term “relative quantal non-locality”. These ideas provide a perspective to understanding non-locality in consciousness sciences. There may or may not be commonality as both models are diverse. We define consciousness. We also discuss Kafatos’s three-tier classification and show how it can be integrated into levels of the relative non-locality model. We emphasize the need for a broad classification of non-locality.
In this second article of the six-part series, we discuss the role of physics and quanta in non-locality and indicate that these models are diverse, not just entanglement but there are at least nine other models. We introduce the idea of a global term “relative quantal non-locality”. These ideas provide a perspective to understanding non-locality in consciousness sciences. There may or may not be commonality as both models are diverse. We define consciousness. We also discuss Kafatos’s three-tier classification and show how it can be integrated into levels of the relative non-locality model. We emphasize the need for a broad classification of non-locality.
Abstract Classical physics states that physical reality is local—a point in space cannot influence another point beyond a relatively short distance. However, In 1997, experiments were conducted in which light particles (photons) originated under certain conditions and traveled in opposite directions to detectors located about seven miles apart. The amazing results indicated that the photons “interacted” or “communicated” with one another instantly or “in no time”. Since a distance of seven miles is quite vast in quantum physics, this led physicists to an extraordinary conclusion—even if experiments could somehow be conducted in which the distance between the detectors was half-way across the known universe, the results would indicate that interaction or communication between the photons would be instantaneous. What was revealed in these little-known experiments in 1997 is that physical reality is non-local—a discovery that Robert Nadeau and Menas Kafatos view as “the most momentous in the history of science”. In The Non-Local Universe, Nadeau and Kafatos offer a revolutionary look at the breathtaking implications of non-locality. They argue that since every particle in the universe has been “entangled” with other particles like the two photons in the 1997 experiments, physical reality on the most basic level is an undivided wholeness. In addition to demonstrating that physical processes are vastly interdependent and interactive, they also show that more complex systems in both physics and biology display emergent properties and/or behaviors that cannot be explained in the terms of the sum of parts. One of the most startling implications of non-locality in human terms, claim the authors, is that there is no longer any basis for believing in the stark division between mind and world that has preoccupied much of western thought since the seventeenth century. And they also make a convincing case that human consciousness can now be viewed as emergent from and seamlessly connected with the entire cosmos. In pursuing this groundbreaking argument, the authors not only provide a fascinating history of developments that led to the discovery of non-locality and the sometimes heated debate between the great scientists responsible for these discoveries. They also argue that advances in scientific knowledge have further eroded the boundaries between physics and biology, and that recent studies on the evolution of the human brain suggest that the logical foundations of mathematics and ordinary language are much more similar than we previously imagined. What this new knowledge reveals, the authors conclude, is that the connection between mind and nature is far more intimate than we previously dared to imagine. What they offer is a revolutionary look at the implications of non-locality, implications that reach deep into that most intimate aspect of humanity: consciousness.
What quantum theory has revealed about the nature of reality has remained hidden in plain sight for almost one-hundred years because what quantum theory has revealed about the nature of reality cannot be comprehended in the context of the materialist model and conception of reality in which science presently operates, which materialist model places physical reality at the center of reality and Consciousness at the periphery, as a secondary or derivative reality. What this work will demonstrate, by explaining the heretofore inexplicable basis of the phenomena that lie at the heart of quantum theory, is that it is Consciousness rather than physical reality that lies at the center of reality, and that it is physical reality rather than Consciousness that is a secondary or derivative reality. Specifically, wave-particle duality, quantum uncertainty, quantum non-locality, the probabilistic nature of the wavefunction, and the collapse of the wavefunction, will all be shown to be phenomena that have as their basis the way in which the fundamental Reality of Consciousness, through relation to Itself, creates what it apprehends as physical reality.One of the most important things the phenomena that lie at the heart of quantum theory will be shown to reveal about the nature of reality is that the nature of physical reality is like that of a reflection, and like a reflection, physical reality is able to obscure from view what is actually there, as long as it is mistaken for what is actually there. Thus, in revealing the reflection-like nature of physical reality, the phenomena that lie at the heart of quantum theory indirectly reveal that what is actually there, underlying the reflection that is physical reality, is the non-physical, non-experiential Reality of Consciousness that is, through relation to Itself, both creating and apprehending experiential reality in general and physical reality in particular. Ultimately, understanding the reflection-like nature of physical reality should make it possible for Individuals to understand that what actually Exists directly where they are, where their physical bodies appear to be, is not different in Nature than what actually Exists everywhere else as well, where the rest of physical reality appears to be, thereby disabusing them of the notion that what they are is a physical reality, while at the same time revealing to them their true Nature as Consciousness, which, through relation to that which is also Consciousness, creates what they, as Individual points of Consciousness, apprehend as experiential reality in general and physical reality in particular.Part II of this series of three articles includes: 2. The nature of quantum reality.
What quantum theory has revealed about the nature of reality has remained hidden in plain sight for almost one-hundred years because what quantum theory has revealed about the nature of reality cannot be comprehended in the context of the materialist model and conception of reality in which science presently operates, which materialist model places physical reality at the center of reality and Consciousness at the periphery, as a secondary or derivative reality. What this work will demonstrate, by explaining the heretofore inexplicable basis of the phenomena that lie at the heart of quantum theory, is that it is Consciousness rather than physical reality that lies at the center of reality, and that it is physical reality rather than Consciousness that is a secondary or derivative reality. Specifically, wave-particle duality, quantum uncertainty, quantum non-locality, the probabilistic nature of the wavefunction, and the collapse of the wavefunction, will all be shown to be phenomena that have as their basis the way in which the fundamental Reality of Consciousness, through relation to Itself, creates what it apprehends as physical reality. One of the most important things the phenomena that lie at the heart of quantum theory will be shown to reveal about the nature of reality is that the nature of physical reality is like that of a reflection, and like a reflection, physical reality is able to obscure from view what is actually there, as long as it is mistaken for what is actually there. Thus, in revealing the reflection-like nature of physical reality, the phenomena that lie at the heart of quantum theory indirectly reveal that what is actually there, underlying the reflection that is physical reality, is the non-physical, non-experiential Reality of Consciousness that is, through relation to Itself, both creating and apprehending experiential reality in general and physical reality in particular. Ultimately, understanding the reflection-like nature of physical reality should make it possible for Individuals to understand that what actually Exists directly where they are, where their physical bodies appear to be, is not different in Nature than what actually Exists everywhere else as well, where the rest of physical reality appears to be, thereby disabusing them of the notion that what they are is a physical reality, while at the same time revealing to them their true Nature as Consciousness, which, through relation to that which is also Consciousness, creates what they, as Individual points of Consciousness, apprehend as experiential reality in general and physical reality in particular. Part III of this series of three articles includes: 3. The nature of the wavefunction; 4. There is no spoon; and 5. The connection between quantum physics and eastern philosophy.
The notion of Non-Locality (NL) in physics has great epistemological implications and impact on the perceptive of Reality. Numerous counter intuitive experimental results that clearly violate Bell's inequality have prompted several physicists to believe in 'mysterious' non-local correlations particularly in quantum systems of EPR type. Not commenting much on whether NL is true or not, our contention is that NL, in general, leads to the concept of holistic universe and further to a global concept of 'Consciousness-Centered-Cosmos' (CCC) as almost inevitable rational outcome. These suggestions though ostensibly unorthodox, are rather within rational and legitimate frame work of science. Our reasoning is quite distinct from the erstwhile doctrine of the role of consciousness in the measurement problem and state vector reduction although the latter may add further credence to the our contention. We address particularly the implications NL and discuss certain related aspects of new quantum world view in general. The less recognized association of the principles of uncertainty with locality, causality, the arrow of time and reality are brought out. Perhaps these underpinnings are much less appreciated than necessary.
Introduction We saw in Part I that in addition to explaining consciousness there is another hard problem for the modern scientific worldview – understanding what quantum physics is telling us about reality. And if anything this one is harder. In philosophy of mind there is at least consensus enough for an orthodox position to exist (materialism), and a widespread expectation that it will be vindicated by future neuroscience. By contrast, in philosophy of physics all sides understand that quantum theory is compatible with a variety of metaphysical interpretations, and have little hope that new empirical discoveries will settle the matter. But both problems are “hard” in the sense that, despite tremendous intellectual effort over many decades, no clear progress has been made toward solving them. The basic idea of quantum consciousness theory is that bringing the two problems into contact may be the key to solving both (though I will be addressing only the mind–body problem in what follows). That this could be a novel idea attests to the fact that their philosophical discussions have evolved quite separately. While philosophers of physics have long been interested in the role of consciousness in the measurement process, they have engaged little with the mind–body problem per se; and philosophers of mind have been almost unanimous in dismissing the suggestion that consciousness has anything interesting to do with quantum physics. Social scientists might echo such skepticism, wondering how adding the problem of interpreting quantum theory to the problem of consciousness will help them . Besides piling up jargon and arcane debates, in moving to the sub-atomic level we are now even farther removed from the human world, and seemingly poised to engage in the most vulgar reductionism. Yet, naïvely one might expect the two problems to be related, for two reasons. The first is the intriguing analogies mentioned in Chapter 1 between the mental and quantum domains.
This is the second in a series of three articles that will outline a proposed scientific model with the goal of stimulating a new vision toward resolving the Mind-matter question and acknowledging an underlying connectiveness in the universe. Scientific is understood to mean that the parts or links already exist as useful concepts in the scientific community. The model being proposed assumes that everyday reality is not simply there nor is it within. Rather, it is suggested that everyday reality is a perception we construct from aspects of the unity within which we are immersed. Parr I presented the basic assumptions of the model and introduced the model by exploring aspects of a reality that extends beyond our limited concepts of three dimensional space plus time. 1 • 2 The power of symbolic patterns in the physical for serving the role of mediator between the happenings in the physical (or outer reality) and the menral (or inner reality) was emphasized. Part II, Mapping Beyond Space-Time, discusses a process of interfacing between Mind and matter consistenr with the concepts of quantum physics. Emphasis is placed upon the quantum feature of non-locality and upon twistor theory. The issues of causality and reproducibility in science are discussed. The article concludes with a description of the dynamics of the process-how the interplay takes place and works. This includes an outline of other symbolic tools of mathematics such as chaos theory that permit extending out three dimensional thinking. In Part III the authors will explore [he relationship of their model to human experience.