Philosophical musings on Quanta & Qualia;  Materialism & Spiritualism; Science & Religion; Pragmatism & Idealism, etc.

Post 35. 05/10/2018 continued  . . .

Consciousness & Freewill

Consciousness is a Quality, not a Thing

So, if we give credence to modern Physics, we must conclude that the hypothetical Quantum Field — its existence defined only by statistical mathematical qualities — has the creative power to give form to the formless. It can convert potential energy into actual energy, and then into material particles. But all of those fundamental functions are pre-material, and non-quantifiable. Physical Quanta only emerge from potential Qualia5 in the creative process of enformation . Holistic fields create particular things, which aggregate into more complex entities. Hence, Virtual6 creative potential is more elementary to our reality than actual countable objects.

As mathematical complexity increases, clumps of simple things evolve into organized systems7 of intricately inter-related things. As entanglement increases, the odds of useful new states of being increase. Yet those higher level states began on the Quantum Field level as only mathematical (logical, mental, statistical) relationships between imaginary points in a formless field of nothing. Some of a system's emergent features are physical, like eyes, and others are meta-physical, like vision. Vision is awareness of patterns detected by eyes. It's a mental function.

Therefore, Consciousness is not a thing, but a quality of holons8. It doesn't consist of particular countable objects, but holistic unitary functions of many things working together in common cause. The property of Vision emerges from a complicated ocular system. The quality of Life is matter working together to process energy over time. Metaphysical Mind emerges from matter & energy cooperating to assist Life in basic continuance and reproduction. The higher quality mind-function of Consciousness allows organisms to live subjectively in social groups. And Self-consciousness permits them to know themselves objectively in the context of society and environment.

By adding Holism to reductive Science, our conscious choices may be predetermined by, not a linear chain, but a 3D web of prior causes & effects. Whole systems of inter-relationships may spin-off new webs when they reach a critical point of com-plexity (e.g. cellular meiosis). At each quantum leap from possible to actual, something new is added to the world, a new thing, a new system, a new person. Eventually, those little causes & effects culminate in Me, as a conscious agent, with personal needs, and with the power to imagine novelties that never existed before. From my subjective perspective, I am the cause of my actions. That's who I am : a freewill agent.

Science depends on predictable determinism. But philosophy looks for unpredictable unique meanings : "the difference that makes a difference". Free choice interferes with the smooth flow of cause & effect determinism, because it introduces an element of non-random novelty, directed toward self-interest. Even an if-then dichotomy, in a complex system, becomes a multiple-choice question. In a computer, a diode is a simple either-or choice, with no chance for conflict. But in a self-conscious person, each fork in the road has two viable options, the predetermined path or My Way. After countless steps up the ladder from energy exchange, to information flow, to knowledge transfers, metaphysical Consciousness gradually evolves from Quantum Physics.                  
                                    End of Post 35

Are you free to choose your own future path?

5. Quale, Qualia :
Metaphysical Properties considered apart from physical Things. Properties are mental attributions or essences (e.g colors), rather than physical sensations (e.g vibrations). Mathematical relationships (ratios) are virtual properties.

6. Virtual :
Non-actual, Implicit, Inferred, Possible, Potential, Essential, Unexpressed, Computational. The inferred properties of Virtual Particles are mathematical ratios such as position & velocity, determined only after an observation. Mathematical properties are detectable only by rational Logic, not by physical senses.

7. Systems Theory :
 A system can be more than the sum of its parts if it expresses synergy or emergent behavior. Changing one part of the system usually affects other parts and the whole system, with predictable patterns of behavior. More parts, means more interrelationships, and more complex properties & activities, including mental functions.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Systems_theory

8. Holon :
Something that is simul-taneously a whole and a part. A system of entangled things that has a function in a hierarchy of systems.

My Theory of Evolution
of Consciousness :
  The metaphysical self-knowledge we call “Mind” emerges from the physical matter of the brain, not by divine ensoulment, but by a chain of Enformation extend-ing back to the original meta-physical Singularity, which consisted only of mathematical “if-then” codes — the software for com-puting a physical world from meta-physical information.
   The Big Bang initiated the eons long sequence of binary operations we now call Evolution. Thermo-dynamic flows from high to low information density convert raw mathematical data into energy, then into matter, then into Entropy, except when Life & Mind emerge from random mutations, sifted & selected by the conditional “If-then” rules of Natural Law.
  This hypothesis is consistent with scientific evidence, but not with the conventional materialistic interpretation. It is based on the Enformationism thesis, that what we call self-knowledge in the mind is simply the leading edge of a wave of EnFormAction that began with the sudden emergence of something from nothing, of space-time from infinity-eternity. What came before that event is debatable. Materialists call the First Cause “Multiverse”; I call it “G*D”.

Freewill is a quantum leap from possible to actual from virtual to real