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Journal of consciousness exploration & research

Zero Energy Ontology & Consciousness

Matti Pitkanen

Published Jan 18, 2020• 0 citations
OpenAlex

Abstract

Zero energy ontology (ZEO) lies behind TGD based quantum measurement theory in turn giving rise to a theory of consciousness by making observed part of system as a conscious entity - self. ZEO solves the basic paradox of quantum measurement theory forcing to give up ontology altogether in the Copenhagen interpretation. ZEO has become a key aspect of the entire TGD based physics. In this article I will consider more precise mathematical formulation and physical interpretation of ZEO. ZEO forms also the cornerstone of TGD inspired theory of consciousness and quantum biology and I will consider also some related aspects of ZEO such as the notions of free will and intentionality, the notions of memory and precognition as its time reversal, intuitive in contrast to formal reasoning, and remote metabolism as a universal thermodynamical mechanism of metabolism in ZEO based thermodynamics.

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Zero energy ontology (ZEO) lies behind TGD based quantum measurement theory in turn giving rise to a theory of consciousness by making observed part of system as a conscious entity - self. ZEO solves the basic paradox of quantum measurement theory forcing to give up ontology altogether in the Copenhagen interpretation. ZEO has become a key aspect of the entire TGD based physics. In this article I will consider more precise mathematical formulation and physical interpretation of ZEO. ZEO forms also the cornerstone of TGD inspired theory of consciousness and quantum biology and I will consider also some related aspects of ZEO such as the notions of free will and intentionality, the notions of memory and precognition as its time reversal, intuitive in contrast to formal reasoning, and remote metabolism as a universal thermodynamical mechanism of metabolism in ZEO based thermodynamics.
This article is a summary of TGD inspired theory of consciousness as it is towards the end of 2025 and of its applications to biology. This article gives a summary of TGD inspired theory of consciousness as it is towards the end of 2025. In the TGD framework, it is not possible to discuss consciousness without the TGD view of space-time and quantum. Also the applications to quantum biology and neuroscience have been essential in the development of ideas. The basic inspiration has come from the deep philosophical problems of recent day physics and philosophy of consciousness. The TGD view of consciousness can be seen as a generalization of quantum measurement theory: the observer as an outsider becomes a part of the system. The basic new elements are zero energy ontology (ZEO) as a new quantum ontology forced by the new view of space-time as 4-surfaces analogous to Bohr orbits of particles as 3-D surfaces. The dynamics of the classical space-time obeys holography = holomorphy principle. The failure of a strict classical determinism provides geometric correlates of intention and cognition. ZEO allows us to solve the basic problem of quantum measurement theory, allows free will, and provides a new view of the relation between geometric time and subjective time. Physical existence, identified as the mathematical existence of quantum states: one can speak of quantum Platonia. Conscious existence is identified as quantum jumps between them and can be seen as two different kinds of existence. The classical non-determinism gives rise to quantum jumps giving rise to conscious entities, selves, and the ordinary quantum jumps are predicted to change the arrow of time. This means death and reincarnation of self with an opposite arrow of time. Also the number theoretic visions of TGD is central. A key implication of the number theoretic vision is a hierarchy of Planck constants heff making possible quantum coherence in arbitrarily long scales crucial for the coherence of living matter. p-Adic length scale hierarchy is the second number theoretic prediction. The applications to quantum biology and neuroscience rely on these hierarchies. In this article, the key notions and ideas of TGD, especially those relevant to consciousness and quantum biology, are summarized. The TGD view of consciousness emphasizing recent progress is summarized. The basic ideas and applications to quantum biology are also described.
Quantum criticality (QC) is one of the basic ideas of TGD. Zero energy ontology (ZEO) is second key notion and leads to a theory of consciousness as a formulation of quantum measurement theory making observer part of the quantum system in terms of notion of self-identified as a generalized Zeno effect or analog for a sequence of weak measurements, thus, solving the basic paradox of standard quantum measurement theory, which one usually tries to avoid by introducing some "interpretation". ZEO allows one to see quantum theory as "square root" of thermodynamics. It is interesting to apply this vision in the case of quantum criticality to gain additional insights about its meaning.
This article is a summary of TGD inspired theory of consciousness as it is towards the end of 2025 and of its applications to biology. This article gives a summary of TGD inspired theory of consciousness as it is towards the end of 2025. In the TGD framework, it is not possible to discuss consciousness without the TGD view of space-time and quantum. Also the applications to quantum biology and neuroscience have been essential in the development of ideas. The basic inspiration has come from the deep philosophical problems of recent day physics and philosophy of consciousness. The TGD view of consciousness can be seen as a generalization of quantum measurement theory: the observer as an outsider becomes a part of the system. The basic new elements are zero energy ontology (ZEO) as a new quantum ontology forced by the new view of space-time as 4-surfaces analogous to Bohr orbits of particles as 3-D surfaces. The dynamics of the classical space-time obeys holography = holomorphy principle. The failure of a strict classical determinism provides geometric correlates of intention and cognition. ZEO allows us to solve the basic problem of quantum measurement theory, allows free will, and provides a new view of the relation between geometric time and subjective time. Physical existence, identified as the mathematical existence of quantum states: one can speak of quantum Platonia. Conscious existence is identified as quantum jumps between them and can be seen as two different kinds of existence. The classical non-determinism gives rise to quantum jumps giving rise to conscious entities, selves, and the ordinary quantum jumps are predicted to change the arrow of time. This means death and reincarnation of self with an opposite arrow of time. Also the number theoretic visions of TGD is central. A key implication of the number theoretic vision is a hierarchy of Planck constants heff making possible quantum coherence in arbitrarily long scales crucial for the coherence of living matter. p-Adic length scale hierarchy is the second number theoretic prediction. The applications to quantum biology and neuroscience rely on these hierarchies. In this article, the key notions and ideas of TGD, especially those relevant to consciousness and quantum biology, are summarized. The TGD view of consciousness emphasizing recent progress is summarized. The basic ideas and applications to quantum biology are also described.
This article is inspired by the article "Is a time symmetric interpretation of quantum theory possible without retrocausality?" of Leifer and Pusey related to the notion of retrocausality. Retrocausality means the possibility of causal influences propagating in non-standard time direction. The conjecture is that retrocausality could allow wave functions to be real and allow to get rid of the problematic notion of state function reduction. TGD leads to a new view about reality of wave function solving the basic problem of quantum measurement theory. In ZEO quantum states are replaced by zero energy states analogous to pairs of initial and final states in ordinary positive energy ontology and can be regarded as superpositions of classical deterministic time evolutions. The sequence of state function reductions means a sequence of re-creations of the superpositions of classical realities identified as space-time surfaces. The TGD based view about scattering amplitudes has rather concrete connection with the view of Cramer as I interpret it. There is however no attempt to reduce quantum theory to a purely classical theory. The notion of the "world of classical worlds" (WCW) consisting of classical realities identified as space-time surfaces replaces space-time as a fixed observer independent reality in TGD. Retrocausality is basic aspect of TGD. Zero Energy Ontology (ZEO) predicts that both arrows of time are possible. In this sense TGD is time symmetric. On the other hand, twistor lift of TGD predicts a violation of time reflection T and this might imply that second arrow of causality dominates in some sense. The ZEO based view about state function reduction essential for TGD inspired theory of consciousness and implying generalized Zeno effect giving rise to conscious entities - "selves" - is also essential. One might say that when conscious entity dies it re-incarnates as time-reversed self.
We remember our conscious experiences, also as re-experiences, and not just as learned, often unconscious, behaviors that reduce to associations. In the standard ontology of quantum theory. The information of the conscious experience, if determined by the quantum jump, must be about the initial and the final states of the quantum jump and the transition between them. In the standard ontology of quantum theory, it cannot be represented by the final state of the quantum jump. According to the standard quantum theory, quantum states 3-D time=constant snapshots and do not remember anything about the previous quantum jumps. In TGD, the zero energy ontology (ZEO) combined with holography = holomorphy vision suggests a universal mechanism of memory storage and recall. The slight non-determinism of the classical field equations, determining the space-time surface, implies that quantum states are superpositions of space-time surfaces analogous to 4-D Bohr orbits for 3-surfaces as particles. In standard ontology they would be superpositions of 3-surfaces. State function reductions (SFRs) occur between these states and the information about the initial state (in 3-D sense) and about transition to the final state (in 3-D sense) is coded to the Bohr orbits associated with the final state (in 4-D sense). The slight on-determinism makes possible memory recall in ZEO. The proposed mechanism is universal and applies also to matter, which is usually regarded as "dead" (since it looks dead in the time scales of our perceptive abilities). This justifies the notion of the 4-dimensional brain. In this article the notion of memory is discussed from the points of view of computer science and neuroscience, of quantum theories of consciousness, and of TGD inspired theory of consciousness.
TGD replaces Einsteinian space-time with many-sheeted space-time, and gauge and gravitational fields with purely geometric induced fields leading to the notion of field body. TGD also forces to generalize quantum theory by introducing the hierarchy of Planck constants explaining dark matter and providing universal mechanism of evolution as increase of algebraic complexity and intelligence. Zero energy ontology in turn solves the basic problem of quantum measurement theory and allows to understand "free will" with conflict with the laws of physics. The implications for quantum biology are rather dramatic. In this article some problems related to biochemistry based approach, metabolism, and replication will be discussed in this framework. Examples from bio-chemistry are bio-catalysis with application to DNA replication, the selection of bio-molecules, and genetic code. Metabolism is second topic - I have included also a universal purely thermodynamical model of remote metabolism relying on zero energy ontology. Generalization of point like particle to 3-D surface allows to understand replication basically as analog of particle decay taking place at the level of magnetic body.