A solid and objective physical reality has been the basis for logical thinking during centuries. We see the outside world as a solid universe and dependable.. The materialistic approach to science has only solidified this kind of beliefs. However, the special relativity asserts that the fundamentals of our objective world which are space, time and matter are not rigid. They are malleable and change according to each person’s frame of reference. The space of a plane passenger is different from space of a static person. Time for somebody who lives around equator passes slower than time for a person in higher altitudes. Mass of fast passing object is bigger than the same object if it stays in our frame of reference. 

Conclusion, objective reality is not solid rather it is different for different individuals.  Furthermore, quantum mechanics draws a much more bizarre picture of reality. According to quantum physics, the objects actually exist as potentialities and not certain forms. In other words, they are in superposition of different states. They exist in all possible states concurrently.  Somehow on the eye of the observer they turn in one solid state. We call this one state objective reality.

www.blacklightpower.com/theory/DoubleSlit.shtml

In Tonomura double-slit experiment, we send electrons one by one towards a barrier with two slits, and we get interference pattern which suggests that electrons are waves. However if we put a detector next to any of the slits to identify the slit  that electron actually passes through, electron acts like a particle and passes only through one slit and we see just one band where the electrons as particles hit the screen. Same experiment has been performed with bigger object up to sodium atom with the same result. Check Double slit experiment for an animation of the experiment.

Here, we conclude that electrons are in superposition of states (wave and particle) while traveling along the path between electron source and the screen.

However, the act of detection reduces the double character of the electron to just one observable character (particle). Therefore, what we have assumed to be a solid objective reality during centuries is in fact a fuzzy picture of different probabilities which superimpose on top of each other. The reality as we see it is an artificial state chosen from a coherent state.  Somehow just one state of all the possible states is singled out and projected in our consciousness. This is what we call objective reality. As you can see this is a very shaky reality indeed.  

How are we to interpret this state reduction? How does the double character of electron turn just to one character (particle state)? How and where does the so-called state reduction happen? We can categorize the possible answers as follows.

External Reduction

These are the answers that contribute the reduction to elements outside of our consciousness. It refers to state reduction possibilities before occurring before the signals are sent to our attention.

a/ First possibility is that the electron is alive and can notice our presence and plays trick on us. As soon as it notices our detector, it reduces itself to just a particle. Then we have to define life and see if an elementary particle can have such a sophisticated mind. Biology dictates that sophisticated mind requires a complex neurological system. Even if we assume an elementary particle has consciousness, it cannot demonstrate the functionality of a sophisticated mind.

b/ may be the detector itself is affecting the wave-particle duality of the electron and reduces it to just particle.   However, this is against Schrodinger’s principle. According to Schrodinger, the detector itself has to be in superposition and has to demonstrate all possible states that it can have. The multiple character of the detector coupled with dual character of electron only adds to confusion. It cannot reduce the electron to one state.

c/ Many believe that encounter with other particles and rays in the vicinity dissolves the superposition of states at quantum level and changes the super-position to only one objective state observed in the macro-world. This is how it is supposed to work. The objects are not isolated systems. They are in an environment and in constant interaction with other particles and photons. For example, cosmic rays can interact with the particles in an object and reduce their states to one of the possible state. According to this school, this is why we do not see an object in a chaotic and superposition condition.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

However, again other photons and particles are in superposition state themselves. They cannot bring us out of the chaos. 

d/ Our sensory organs are in fact lenses and act just like the lens of a camera. We know about the eye lens. It takes the light waves and turns it to a spatial image which is projected into the retina. From there the image is transferred to our brain through nerve impulse (action potential). Our ear is doing the same thing. It turns the sound waves to nerve impulse and sends it to brain where it is interpreted as different sounds. What our skin actually senses is the vibration. If we keep a vibrating tuning fork close to our skin, it feels that the fork is in contact with our skin, although in reality there is no actual contact. The other two senses act as lenses as well. Therefore, we may conclude that the outside world is just in spectral form and made of waves. We may conclude that our brains receive the impulses and interpret them as a solid (massive) outside world.

Here again the incoming waves are supposed to be in superposition and deliver contradicting messages. Thus, collapse of information to one observed state cannot happen at this level.

Internal Reduction

Hence, we may assume that information that is received by the experimenter/observer contains all the probable states (the whole information of the superposition). However, somewhere in our consciousness domain it is altered to just one logical state.

Here, let us look at the anatomy and physiology of the nervous system. A sensory impulse travels along peripheral nerves and reaches the brain. Inside the brain, the peripheral nerve attaches to many different neurons via its many fingers called dendrite. The contact points are called synapse. There are about 23.5 million synapses in the brain.

http://webspace.ship.edu/cgboer/neuron.gif

Dendrites of different neurons are not actually attached to each other. In higher magnification, there is a gap between the dendrites of different neurons that is about two hundred angstroms (1*10^-10 m) wide. These gaps are called synaptic cleft.

There is a debate about the mechanism that signal passes through synaptic cleft. Many believe that synapses are where all the communications and consciousness mechanics reside.

Because the body of neuron ends at the synapse, the normal impulse (sodium pump action) cannot transfer the signal anymore. Electron is known to transfer the signal throughout the cleft and to the next neuron. However the released electron does not have enough energy to pass the gap. Its energy is enough for about seven angstroms trip.

Evan Harris Walker ⁷² an American physicist believes that electron has to perform quantum tunneling to reach the next neuron. Quantum tunneling happens when a particle that does not have enough kinetic energy to pass a barrier appears to be successful in passing it anyway.

If quantum mechanics comes to the picture in the brain function, then we have to use quantum physical laws to evaluate the process. Maybe synapses are where state reduction or as it is called state vector collapse happens.

 

 

Evan Walker like many other theorists believes in the presence of a universal consciousness that we all are somehow connected to and interact with it. He believes that consciousness is not tied directly to any of the usual construct of the physical world, like space, time, mass or fundamental forces. However it is tied to information. He suggests that consciousness being considered as some quantum mechanical process going on in the brain. 

Previously, I have assumed the proposed singularity as being the ultimate source of information. Furthermore, in previous chapter I speculated that during quantum tunneling the particle joins the proposed singularity while being absent from space-time. 

Mixed Reduction

Individuals acquire different perspectives from the same physical reality.   This Gestalt picture is a representation of this fact.

Gestalt Picture: Do you see a beautiful girl or an old lady?

Obviously, a portion of state reduction is happening inside the brain of each individual. That is where we get our individual perspectives from. However, there are many common elements between different individual’s perspectives on the same physical phenomenon. So the main portion of state reduction has to occur outside one’s consciousness.

To find a solution we can look at the logical derivation and cognition. Our consciousness is filled with a jungle of memories and experiences that many times contradict themselves. The data embedd in the subconscious also exacerbates the disorder even further. Our brain processes 400,000,000,000 bits of information every second. We are just aware of about 2000 bits of it.

We may conclude that during the act of logical thinking our consciousness selects and permits only the suitable data to appear in our awareness. That is how we draw a meaningful conclusion out of a chaotic situation. Our consciousness is responsible in creating an orderly concept or perspective out of countless disarrayed data .

However, our individual perspectives though minutely different from others , basically evolve around a state of reality that is more or less shared by other conscious beings as well. So, there must be a reality out there beyond our consciousness. What created this decent reality. . The question is how we arrive from an uncertain and disorder quantum frenzy, in micro-world to a definite and deterministic reality in macro-world.   If we are allowed to use the logical thinking mechanism as an analogy for external state reduction as well, then we may envisage answers for the state reduction paradox.  

If consciousness is needed to create a logical conclusion out of information frenzy in mind, maybe we need similar element to create a logical world out of quantum frenzy. Therefore, we may assume that there is an awareness out there which tends to put everything in order. This leads us to the concept of universal consciousness. This is an alternative answer to decoherence phenomenon explained above.

Then where is the boundary between individual consciousness and universal consciousness.  Does our body skin delineate this boundary?  The answer is not easy to reach. Many evidences like double slit experience and hypnotism suggests that our awareness field extends beyond our body limits. On the other hand, phenomena like intuition and telepathy suggests that the universal consciousness field can penetrate our own consciousness.  Therefore, we may conclude that there is an overlap between the boundaries of two domains. It seems an undetermined gray area exists between these two arenas.

My personal conviction is that the universal consciousness is fundamentally different from the god that is advocated by traditional religions. Obviously, this universal awareness function is completely different from conventional religions’ creator. It doesn't need our worship, neither has it appoint representatives. It certainly doesn't need our donations neither will it order us to kill each other. The god of religions’ is human-like.

I delve into universal consciousness in the contest of singularity/space-time dual nature hypothesis. All along I have been trying to show that the encounter with singularity did not finish at the time of Big Bang. I have been claiming that singularity is an informational domain and ever present as a fundamental element of physical world and us. More and more paradoxes arise that cannot be explained in the contest of physical world alone. A universal informational domain can provide decent solutions for the paradoxes.

Twenty first century calls for new insights and beliefs based on today’s knowledge. Carrying over the beliefs and perceptions of our ancestors with their limited knowledge can only create disaster. 

 

 

Further Reading

Chalmers David: THE CONSCIOUS MIND (Oxford University Press, 1996)
Culbertson James: THE MINDS OF ROBOTS (University of Illinois Press, 1963)
Culbertson James: SENSATIONS MEMORIES AND THE FLOW OF TIME (Cromwell Press, 1976)
Eccles John: EVOLUTION OF THE BRAIN (Routledge, 1989)
Eccles John: THE SELF AND ITS BRAIN (Springer, 1994)
Globus Gordon: THE POSTMODERN BRAIN (John Benjamins, 1995)
Herbert Nick: ELEMENTAL MIND (Dutton, 1993)
Lockwood Michael: MIND, BRAIN AND THE QUANTUM (Basil Blackwell, 1989)
Marshall I.N., Zohar Danah: QUANTUM SELF : HUMAN NATURE AND CONSCIOUSNESS DEFINED BY THE NEW PHYSICS
Penrose Roger: THE EMPEROR'S NEW MIND (Oxford Univ Press, 1989)
Penrose Roger: SHADOWS OF THE MIND (Oxford University Press, 1994)
Pribram Karl: LANGUAGES OF THE BRAIN (Prentice Hall, 1971)
Pribram Karl: BRAIN AND PERCEPTION (Lawrence Erlbaum, 1990)
Searle John: THE REDISCOVERY OF THE MIND (MIT Press, 1992)
Stapp Henry: MIND, MATTER AND QUANTUM MECHANICS (Springer-Verlag, 1993)
Yasue Kunio & Jibu Mari: QUANTUM BRAIN DYNAMICS AND CONSCIOUSNESS (John Benjamins, 1995)

http://www.scaruffi.com/science/qc.html

The arguments presented are open for debate. The reader is encouraged to email his/her inputs to correct, modify or develop the contents. Please send your emails to; zpfields@yahoo.ca