Space-time theories of consciousness Guide, Meaning , Facts, Information and Description
Space-time theories of consciousness relate the geometrical features of conscious experience, such as viewing things in space-time at a point, to the geometrical properties of the universe itself.Space-time theories of consciousness have been advanced by Eddington, Smythies and other scientists. The concept was also mentioned by Hermann Weyl who wrote that reality is a "...four-dimensional continuum which is neither 'time' nor 'space'. Only the consciousness that passes on in one portion of this world experiences the detached piece which comes to meet it and passes behind it, as history, that is, as a process that is going forward in time and takes place in space".
CD Broad, in common with most authors in this field, proposed that there are two types of time, imaginary time measured in units of the square root of minus one and real time measured in ordinary units. The combination of these result in the possibility of things and brain activity being at a point as well as being distributed in 3D space. In other words, if a volume of things in 3D is considered it has a complex shape similar to an hour glass in 5D, the waist of the hour glass being at a point.
John Smythies proposes that there are extra dimensions for arranging things that form a separate "phenomenal space of consciousness". The phenomenal space would be a physical instantiation of Descartes' Res Cogitans, the point from which he proposed things in the brain were seen.
Alex Green has developed an empirical theory of phenomenal consciousness in which it is proposed that conscious experience can be described as a five dimensional manifold. As in Broad's hypothesis space-time can contain vectors of zero length between two points in space and time because of an imaginary time coordinate. A 3D volume of brain activity over a short period of time would have the time extended geometric form of a conscious observation in 5D. Green points out that imaginary time is incompatible with the modern physical description of the world and proposes that the imaginary time coordinate is a property of the observer and unobserved things (things governed by quantum mechanics) whereas the real time of general relativity is a property of observed things.
Elizabeth Rauscher has developed a detailed theory of an eight dimensional complex Minkowski space in which such phenomena as remote viewing would be possible as well as apparently being able to view things at a point.
These space-time theories of consciousness are highly speculative but have attractive features: each individual being unique because they are a space-time path rather than an instantaneous object (ie: the theories are non-fungible), and also because consciousness is a material thing, albeit time-extended (direct supervenience).
Theories of this type are also suggested by cosmology. The Wheeler-De Witt equation describes the quantum wave function of the universe (or more correctly, the multiverse). This equation does not involve time. Time was explained by Bryce De Witt by dividing the multiverse into an observer with measuring devices and the rest of the universe. The rest of the universe then changes relative to the observer. This introduction of time results in the occurrence of space-time, gravity and the rest of the observed material world. As the famous cosmologist Andrei Linde puts it:
- "The general theory of relativity brought with it a decisive change in this point of view [the 3D world]. Space-time and matter were found to be interdependent, and there was no longer any question which one of the two is more fundamental. Space-time was also found to have its own inherent degrees of freedom, associated with perturbations of the metric - gravitational waves. ............"
- "Is it possible that consciousness, like space-time, has its own intrinsic degrees of freedom, and that neglecting these will lead to a description of the universe that is fundamentally incomplete?"
See also
External links
- “Science and Ultimate Reality: From Quantum to Cosmos”, honoring John Wheeler’s 90th birthday. J. D. Barrow, P.C.W. Davies, & C.L. Harper eds. Cambridge University Press (2003)
- Broad, C.D. (1953), Religion, Philosophy and Psychical Research (London: Routledge & Kegan Paul).
- Green, A. The Science and Philosophy of Consciousness.
- Rauscher, E.A. & Targ, R. (2001) Speed of Thought: Investigation of a Complex Space-Time Metric to Describe Psychic Phenomena. Journal of Scientific Exploration, Vol. 15, No. 3, pp. 331–354, 2001
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