PsiPog.net

Science is EvolvingHomeArticlesQ&AArchiveMediaLinksSearch

About Me

My name is Sean Connelly, and I've gone by the pseudo-name Peebrain while on PsiPog.net. This blog was a running stream of my thoughts, beliefs, and experiences about PsiPog and psychic abilities in general.

Previous Posts


Thursday, March 23, 2006

Consciousness

So I bought this DVD set for $40 on amazon.com: click here. I know it sounds expensive, but there are 5 DVDs, so it's about $8 per DVD.

The entire thing is over 9 hours of interviews with scientists about what different fields say about consciousness, and how it all fits together. I haven't finished watching it, but I did watch the first DVD. Some of the interviews are a little hard to understand, but the one with Dr. Stuart Hameroff, M.D., is really interesting (Dr. Hameroff also runs the website QuantumConsciousness.org).

Hameroff has some cool ideas that can answer some questions in the field of OBEs. I've listened to his interview twice now, and I think I understand what he's mostly saying. I recommend buying the DVD to hear him directly, but I'm going to give you my interpretation and understanding at this point.


The first thing you need to understand are the terms and ideas behind quantum physics. Which is WAY too complicated for this post. So go read up on it. For a crash course in QP, check out this movie.

His idea is that our brains use quantum computing. It breaks down like this: our brain (and nervous system) is made up of neurons. These neurons have things called "microtubules". Now, if we keep zooming in, we eventually get to the atoms, and electrons, neutrons, and protons... In the atomic world, things are wishy washy because of quantum physics. But as we zoom out, things become more solid. So if we want to use the power of the quantum world in our brains, there has to be some point where quantum information is transfered from the quantum world, to the solid world that we've been studying since Newton.

Microtubules are the things that perform that function of transfering the quantum data to the Newtonian world. They are large enough to affect the neurons, but small enough to be susceptible to quantum physics. When it leaves the Newtonian world to get some quantum data, it is said to be in "superposition". (Please be aware that I am grossly simplifying Hamerhoff's research... for more accurate and detailed information, please see his website.)

Ok, so we got a shit load of these microtubules in our nervous system. Hamerhoff says that not all of these are in superposition all the time, just a percentage. They leave for a little bit, then collapse back into the Newtonian world with some information from the quantum world. Hamerhoff postulates that every time they collapse, we experience consciousness (I might disagree here, but I don't know yet).

He uses the analogy of a movie. A movie is a bunch of frames that flicker so quickly, that we perceive a fluid movie. But really it's individual frames that happen so quickly in succession, that we don't notice the gaps. Collapses happen about 40 times per second, which is the rate at which we experience reality.

He says we can alter how quickly these collapses happen - and we do so during emotional times. This would explain why we perceive time differently during emotional experiences... like in a fight when we perceive things in slow motion. Hamerhoff would equate that intense emotion to a signal to your nervous system to speed up the collapsing, so that consciousness flickers quicker.

In the interview, he's asked what he thinks about Near Death Experiences. He replies with the idea that when the brain loses the ability to collapse in an organized mannor, that the quantum information is still around... it just doesn't really have a way to communicate with the brain. He says, "The quantum information isn't lost, it just kind of leaks out to the universe at large. ... You may think that it's going to disipate and spread out and be lost, but because of quantum entangelment, it tends to stay together."


Ok, so basically he's making a scientific case for the soul. But more importantly (to me), is does his theory help us in understanding OBEs, and can I actually use the ideas to help me out when I get out of my body?

Possibly! Theories are pointless without some practical application. If, when we leave our body, we are turning our attention towards a quantum existance (as opposed to our normal waking Newtonian existance), then different rules apply. Things that collapse and are static in the Newtonian world are now possibly dynamic. I.e., when you experience your immediate environment, and see everything is mostly correct... but notice a few things that are off - the explaination for this could be that you are perceiving a superposition instead of the collapsed version of the same thing.

Also, the rules about time and space are fudged in the quantum world. Which would explain why people report easily travelling through time, and moving quickly through space.

So how can I apply this to my current training? Instead of looking at objects in my OBEs as static and rigid, I can try to open myself up to the idea that they can be multiple things at once. When I leave my body, I am expecting a rigid Newtonian environment... this expectation could have a drastic effect on what I'm capable of experiencing. Instead, I can try to be more open attitude, and be willing to accept a dynamic environment.

That doesn't mean I should go crazy and accept everything I experience as fact, and interpret everything through this new perspective... but it does open up a logical and possible way of explaining and accepting some phenomenon. It will still take a lot of experience to investigate a theory like this, but I like the new direction.

~Sean

Thursday, March 23, 2006, 1:16 PM — 4 comments

4 Comments:

On March 24, 2006 3:52 PM, Anonymous said...

Let me get this straight. Neurons (cells that are connected by synapses) transfer impulses via neurotransmitters (a chemical that contains electric signal could be amino acid or other various chemicals)to process information from the external world. And this scientist is telling me there is more to it than that. I agree, reasoning capabilities and self-awarness doesn't make sense when described by mere electrical impulses. The big difference between a robot and a human, self awarness. So these proteins microtubules that make up synapses play a much deeper role. In quantum physics uniformity falls apart giving rise to all kinds of theories like extra dimensions. Perhaps explaining self-awarness might make sense of it all and allow a more uniform explaination, just a thought. Ok the measurement problem in QM is that scientists can measure the momentum of the wavefuntion but not its position and vice versa. This is called the uncertainty principle. Some people think that when the wavefunction (stuff is so small at that level it behaves like a wave and a particle hence wave function) is observed the observer determines where the wavefuction is because the wavefunction seems like it is in two places at once. So this theory I think is saying that superposition (wavefunction being at two places at once) can account for the quantum information these scientist theorize your consciouness must have. Now this two places at once is like spacetime curvature backwards screwing up normal spacetime geometry. Some people use this idea of two places at once to be accounted for by multiverses and extra dimensions. I think I see where these scientists are going... I'm going to make my own conjecture. This quantum superposition (wavefunction in two places at once) makes consciousness omni-present. This omni-presence allows us to do tk, remote presence and OBEs. OBEs is yourself at the quantum level you are both outside experiencing and inside your body gathering the information. Perhaps your soul is a kind of wavefunction and by functioning in a different frequency so to speak allows you to go to the this "astral" plane everyone talks about. Perhaps when you die your wavefunction self changes frequency allowing to enter the astral. Perhaps reality is subjective (dependent on conscious existence). Ok enough speculation but perhaps this is the element needed for physicists to come up with a TOE. This a strange and exciting study.

 
On March 25, 2006 12:15 PM, Peebrain said...

Robert Bruce also presented the theory that when you leave your body, you are copying your consciousness... like, you are conscious and outside of your body, but you are also conscious and inside of your body in bed. He never equated it to quantum physics (that I know of), but there could be some connections. It's very interesting, but it's still all very theoretical (which I don't like) but hopefully we can think of ways to test/use this theory.

 
On March 25, 2006 5:43 PM, Jared Brahma said...

I remember once reading an article about scientists breaking protons and neutrons apart and trying to measure where the different particles inside of them flew off. One particular particle inside of the protons ALWAYS appeared only where the scientists hypothesized (expected) that it would. Thus, if we are agreeing that our brains have power over the world, it is perhaps this particle that accounts for that. A little piece of every bit of the universe that responds to our expectations. Thus, when you are expecting to find a normal reality during your OBEs, you are in fact making sure that normal is all you will find. :-)

That's all ihad to say i guess.

 
On March 29, 2006 6:43 PM, Anonymous said...

The whole "quantum physics" thing is VERY inresting.Even though confuesing to a 13 year old like me i think that its actually possible to drasticly change an OBE by will power if that much thinking does send you back into your body i think you my be able to alter things in a OBE such as the way you see things or if things are there our not. I have read many article in with people find or see things in an OBE that arent really there. My therioe is that things you see in an OBE are actually pulled from your memory.

 

Post a Comment

<< Home