Q. It there anything from the latest scientific discoveries, like the Higgs field and boson, that say anything about how it would be possible for "consciousness" to create matter?
G. Yes, the recent discoveries do a lot to enhance the understanding of how "consciousness" can create matter.
Earlier blogposts, "Do your mystical experiences fit quantum physics? neuroscience?" and "Is the universe alive? Does it evolve, think, reproduce?" showed that the new physics based on "quantum mechanics/physics", quantum field theory and Einstein's theory of relativity demonstrates that "matter" and "reality" are not how they appear.
Serious scientists now postulate that the universe is conscious, "self-aware" and all-pervasive. Could the Higgs field (described by Peter Higgs) and its enabling Higgs boson, be this "self-aware all-pervasive consciousness" that the ancient texts described?
There are some areas still needing "clarification":
A useful guide is Fred Alan Wolf, a.k.a. Dr. Quantum (FAW), who appeared in the 2004 film "What the "bleep" do we know?", (full version (1:48)). FAW also wrote the well-known "Taking the Quantum Leap" (1981), "The Dreaming Universe" (1994), "Mind into Matter" (2000), and "Time Loops and Space Twists: How God Created the Universe" (2011). Videos and interviews w/him are everywhere. FAW is a card-carrying member of the "universe is self-aware, conscious, all-pervasive" club.
A (redacted) interview w/FAW based on his "Mind into Matter" gives some insights into question 1).
Q. How does quantum physics work?
FAW. According to...quantum physics' uncertainty principle and complementarity principle, there is no reality until that reality is perceived.
Q. I’m not actually changing reality, am I? I’m just changing my interpretation of
reality.
FAW...as surprising as it may seem, you are changing reality simply by observing it. In the real world of quantum mechanics, ultimately and fundamentally we affect the universe whenever we observe it or anything in it.
...(the probability wave of) a photon emitted from a star light-years from earth...takes the form of a spherical wave... pulsing outward from the center...observer A on the earth could be thinking about the possibility of a star existing at some point in space....Suddenly on earth, something pops in the “mind” of A...who “sees/observes” the light of the star...the photon is said to have arrived.
Intelligence/knowledge has been altered...an alteration affecting the whole universe for one single instant. Observer, B...on the opposite side from observer A, would miss the show because A had collapsed the wave function.
When we observe an event, this "wave function collapsing" extends down to the firing of our neurons...Is the nerve cell firing itself? No...we need to look at a smaller part of the nerve cell...one complex molecule...two hydrogen atoms and one nitrogen atom...
Q. So it’s the atom that notices and decides? Are you saying atoms are conscious?
FAW. Neurons contain several billion atomic “self-reflective minds.”...each agent performs a single task - that of noticing itself...In that sudden mysterious event, one of those potential realities just “appears”. That act of consciousness is the creation of reality at the atomic/molecular level. Next the neuron is signaling the muscle. And on and on it goes.
(G. FAW gives no explanation for how the reality "just 'appears'" to the atomic "mind". He will later suggest from his most recent book that Consciousness, a.k.a. the Higgs field/"the mind of God", collapses the wave function. The "consciousness" of atoms has not been demonstrated; it is speculation - logical, but unproven.)
...difference between the one mind and the individual atomic minds. The atomic minds...operate at the level of quantum mechanics...possibilities. And their choices have not been decided upon until they choose...
your mind... deals only with what has been created by the choices made by the atomic minds...summing up the experiences of the atomic minds, the one mind makes up its mind.
Q. So the one mind is just the sum of all the choices made by the billions of atomic minds.
Question 2 from "Time Loops and Space Twists: How God Created the Universe".
FAW describes the creation of the universe as generating space, time and a field, like a field of consciousness that interacts w/space and time and that perceives what is coming about. FAW conceives this all as made of light of two forms; one of photons, our "normal" light. The other is a "funny, half-twisting, half-turning light somewhat like when a diver does a spiraling half twist".
This half twisting "light" is an accepted part of our current physics' Standard Model. Energy patterns w/potential to become certain particles have a "spin" of 1/2 (the purple and green guys). Whenever they interact with the Higgs field (w/0 spin) and its massive "God particle" the Higgs boson (red guy not shown), their spin axis rotates.
If this change in the spin axis did not occur just this way, there would be no universe! This interaction of the potential particle travelling at light-speed w/the Higgs field, causes it to effectively zig/zag, slowing it down enough to make it manifest as matter, specifically electrons and quarks, out of which the entire universe is constructed.
In FAW's model, the ordinary forms of light, photons (a red guy), are used for sending messages back and forth between the particles. As they are spin 0, they do not interact w/the Higgs field and pass through unimpeded.
The Higgs field, interestingly, interacts only with "left handed, 1/2 spin" particles (really). Neutrinos (first row of green guys) are only "right-handed" and so do not interact w/the Higgs field and pass on through at the speed of light. (420 billion neutrinos pass through every square inch of the earth facing the sun, every second.)
This is all in accordance w/the Standard Model. The speculative part is whether or not the Higgs field is "conscious".
Implications from FAW:
"Recognize that your self is a projection. you are an actor on the stage, the writer of the scenery, the director in your current performance. Each of us is not real, we are creations of our own mind."
"...from the beginning of time--to the end of time...an ultimate intelligence, call it what you will, guides and directs the various activities of everything in the universe...in an unfathomable, unseen way."
"There is no place inside your body where “you” actually exist...this sense of presence is that you “are everywhere.”...we have the illusion that our human bodies are solid, but they are over 99.99% empty space."
"...what we call God continues to create, with infinite intelligence, every billionth of a billionth of second...what is created with this perfect intelligence reflects and modifies everything at every instant and at every level."
"There is no such thing as duality. There is only one thing. What that is, is much more mysterious than I can ever fathom. It’s deep and mysterious. It appears to separate into a material world and an observer observing a material world...
"whether that kind of transformative effect, such as the probability field in one mind effects another mind so that the group mind is felt as one field of probability which then effects everything? - it may be indeed what is happening."
G. Yes, the recent discoveries do a lot to enhance the understanding of how "consciousness" can create matter.
Earlier blogposts, "Do your mystical experiences fit quantum physics? neuroscience?" and "Is the universe alive? Does it evolve, think, reproduce?" showed that the new physics based on "quantum mechanics/physics", quantum field theory and Einstein's theory of relativity demonstrates that "matter" and "reality" are not how they appear.
 |
| Peter Higgs |
There are some areas still needing "clarification":
1) In a quantum world, for "consciousness" to create matter, we need an
"observer" to "collapse the wave
function"; whatever might become "matter" is just a "possibility" until an "observer" sees it and makes it
"real". Can your pet, an amoeba, or an electron do it?
How do "we" collapse all of the wave functions in all of our
electrons, atoms and molecules in ourselves and "our world"?
2) How does the recent Higgs field/boson validation show that matter is created by consciousness so that
matter is an "epiphenomenon" of consciousness, rather than the
traditional viewpoint that somehow matter creates consciousness?
 |
| Fred Alan Wolf Dr. Quantum |
Q. How does quantum physics work?
FAW. According to...quantum physics' uncertainty principle and complementarity principle, there is no reality until that reality is perceived.
Q. I’m not actually changing reality, am I? I’m just changing my interpretation of
reality.
FAW...as surprising as it may seem, you are changing reality simply by observing it. In the real world of quantum mechanics, ultimately and fundamentally we affect the universe whenever we observe it or anything in it.
...(the probability wave of) a photon emitted from a star light-years from earth...takes the form of a spherical wave... pulsing outward from the center...observer A on the earth could be thinking about the possibility of a star existing at some point in space....Suddenly on earth, something pops in the “mind” of A...who “sees/observes” the light of the star...the photon is said to have arrived.
Intelligence/knowledge has been altered...an alteration affecting the whole universe for one single instant. Observer, B...on the opposite side from observer A, would miss the show because A had collapsed the wave function.
When we observe an event, this "wave function collapsing" extends down to the firing of our neurons...Is the nerve cell firing itself? No...we need to look at a smaller part of the nerve cell...one complex molecule...two hydrogen atoms and one nitrogen atom...
Q. So it’s the atom that notices and decides? Are you saying atoms are conscious?
FAW. Neurons contain several billion atomic “self-reflective minds.”...each agent performs a single task - that of noticing itself...In that sudden mysterious event, one of those potential realities just “appears”. That act of consciousness is the creation of reality at the atomic/molecular level. Next the neuron is signaling the muscle. And on and on it goes.
(G. FAW gives no explanation for how the reality "just 'appears'" to the atomic "mind". He will later suggest from his most recent book that Consciousness, a.k.a. the Higgs field/"the mind of God", collapses the wave function. The "consciousness" of atoms has not been demonstrated; it is speculation - logical, but unproven.)
your mind... deals only with what has been created by the choices made by the atomic minds...summing up the experiences of the atomic minds, the one mind makes up its mind.
Q. So the one mind is just the sum of all the choices made by the billions of atomic minds.
FRED ALAN WOLF...one mind is all of the atomic minds and any
one of them at the same time. There are no clear dividing lines...the mind has
no location in space...consciousness is able to sense things (and collapse
them) on an atomic scale.
Question 2 from "Time Loops and Space Twists: How God Created the Universe".
FAW describes the creation of the universe as generating space, time and a field, like a field of consciousness that interacts w/space and time and that perceives what is coming about. FAW conceives this all as made of light of two forms; one of photons, our "normal" light. The other is a "funny, half-twisting, half-turning light somewhat like when a diver does a spiraling half twist".
 |
| Standard Model of matter |
This half twisting "light" is an accepted part of our current physics' Standard Model. Energy patterns w/potential to become certain particles have a "spin" of 1/2 (the purple and green guys). Whenever they interact with the Higgs field (w/0 spin) and its massive "God particle" the Higgs boson (red guy not shown), their spin axis rotates.
If this change in the spin axis did not occur just this way, there would be no universe! This interaction of the potential particle travelling at light-speed w/the Higgs field, causes it to effectively zig/zag, slowing it down enough to make it manifest as matter, specifically electrons and quarks, out of which the entire universe is constructed.
In FAW's model, the ordinary forms of light, photons (a red guy), are used for sending messages back and forth between the particles. As they are spin 0, they do not interact w/the Higgs field and pass through unimpeded.
The Higgs field, interestingly, interacts only with "left handed, 1/2 spin" particles (really). Neutrinos (first row of green guys) are only "right-handed" and so do not interact w/the Higgs field and pass on through at the speed of light. (420 billion neutrinos pass through every square inch of the earth facing the sun, every second.)
 |
| Higgs Boson a.k.a. "The God Particle" Lifetime - 1 septillionth second Mass = world's energy for 1.3 hrs |
This is all in accordance w/the Standard Model. The speculative part is whether or not the Higgs field is "conscious".
Implications from FAW:
"Recognize that your self is a projection. you are an actor on the stage, the writer of the scenery, the director in your current performance. Each of us is not real, we are creations of our own mind."
"...from the beginning of time--to the end of time...an ultimate intelligence, call it what you will, guides and directs the various activities of everything in the universe...in an unfathomable, unseen way."
"There is no place inside your body where “you” actually exist...this sense of presence is that you “are everywhere.”...we have the illusion that our human bodies are solid, but they are over 99.99% empty space."
"...what we call God continues to create, with infinite intelligence, every billionth of a billionth of second...what is created with this perfect intelligence reflects and modifies everything at every instant and at every level."
"There is no such thing as duality. There is only one thing. What that is, is much more mysterious than I can ever fathom. It’s deep and mysterious. It appears to separate into a material world and an observer observing a material world...
"whether that kind of transformative effect, such as the probability field in one mind effects another mind so that the group mind is felt as one field of probability which then effects everything? - it may be indeed what is happening."
This elegant summary blogpost is one of the best here. It poses and explores a very fundamental chicken/egg question, still in hot debate: What came first, consciousness or the brain? The easy and traditional answer is brain first. The more intuitive answer, apparently supported by QM and recent discoveries and "interpretations," is that consciousness is primary. Great question and reply -- thanks all. Andy H.
ReplyDeleteSo if a conscious observer is required to collapse the wave function and bring matter into being, who/what acted as the observer when the universe was being formed and there was no life (conscious observers) around.
ReplyDeleteHi Anonymous. That was the point of the blogpost, but perhaps it wasn't explained clearly enough.
DeleteFred Alan Wolf's viewpoint is that at the smallest level, the individual elementary particles are somehow "self-aware" and so are capable of "self" collapsing their own initial wave functions, without needing any other "conscious observer". The rest all flows "upwards" from there.
The other alternative, which is the Higgs field discussion, is that the "all pervasive" Higgs field is, itself, "self-aware" and so the field is the initial agent in the collapsing of the initial wave functions. This presumes that the Higgs field was there from the beginning when the universe was formed, which appears reasonable, but perhaps unknowable. The ability of the Higgs field/particle to create matter from a wave function for a potential particle demonstrates that this is possible.
Trust this is useful.
If you actually study Quantum Mechanics, you'll find it says nothing about consciousness. It talks about *measurements* collapsing the wave functions. A measurement is sometimes, sloppily, called an observation. People like Zukav and Chopra then make an enormous leap to conscious observers.
DeleteI'm sad to see What the Bleep do We Know being cited. It's an extreme case of misusing Physics terminology to pretend that Physics endorses old metaphysical speculation. It's as dishonest as The Secret.
Anonymous, it is very honest, the double slit experiment proves it.
DeleteAnonymous, Measurement does not exist without consciousness. Placing a ruler next to an object does not measure the object; measurement is consciousness relating the ruler to the object. Measurement is relation. All matter is continuously measured by/related to all matter, therefore all matter is the function of consciousness.
ReplyDeleteThe big failing of physics is that most theories never figure consciousness into their equations. All of reality is perceived and generated within the mind of the observer. We are composed of and exist within vibrating, oscillating energy. Mind affects all of our reasoning and perception. Einstein may tell us that time ceases at the speed of light and we will not age, but how does this affect the mind?
ReplyDeleteHi INCARNA COMICS,
DeleteYes, absolutely, most theories in physics overlook the role of consciousness in their models, but that is beginning to change. If you look @ the blogposts "Consciousness over matter?..." and "Is consciousness created because you see someone?" you will see more on this change.
BTW, if folk look @ the first blogpost "Consciousness over matter?...", they will see that a release from the European Space Agency a few days ago says that the data is now less conclusive. They have combined data from three sources, and found more interference from "obscuring space dust" in the Milky Way in the same frequency range as the CMB signal confirming gravity waves, so the statistics are less compelling. This is explained in an intro para and a link in that post, for those interested.
stillness
Consciousness is the only truth and eternal in this universe. Matter and energy was not created by matter. Consciousness created it. This whole universe is pervaded by consciousness which is truth and matter and energy are illusions as the sum total of it is zero.
ReplyDelete