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

Post 34. 05/01/2018 continued  . . .

The Brain/Mind Paradox

How can the brain know itself?

The so-called “reptilian” brain-stem controls basic life-sustaining operations, such as blood pumping & breathing, and reflexes, such as the startle response & fight-or-flight emotions. All of these are completely sub-conscious, except for special occasions that call for over-riding the automatic settings with more adjustable, semi-conscious controls. For less life-or-death situations, such as social contexts, the brain takes its time to process a wider range of data inputs, and to find more nuanced responses to complex conditions. Then, when previously recorded routines (habits, instincts, intuitions) are found to be inappropriate, the problem is referred to fully-conscious aware-ness for the design of customized responses to current needs. These arduous steps may include logical and mathematical reasoning.

 But how does self-conscious awareness arise from physical operations of a material brain? The meat Brain and the ethereal Mind seem to be two completely different kinds of things. So reconciling meat with mind has been called the “hard problem” of philosophy. But it becomes easier if we look at the situation from the cosmic perspective of Enformationism. In that world-view, the fundamental element of our universe is immaterial enformation, best visualized as the completly abstract form of Logic we call Mathematics, along with its structure-defining geo-metric ratios. Where the physical brain sees real shapes, the meta-physical mind sees ideal geometry. Yet brain & mind are merely different forms of that creative element4. So it shouldn’t be surprising that energy/information flowing through neurons could generate something like a mind-field5.

The early philosopher Pythagoras was mystified by the close relationship of abstract numbers & ratios to concrete things in the real world. He expressed his awe in the phrases , “All is number” and “God is number”. Now, modern science has removed some of the mystery from math by learning more about how it relates, not just to classical geometric forms, but to irregular natural shapes. Based on that new information about mathematical enformation, I think the old mystic may have been wrong about evil beans, but he was on the right track with the notion that all of reality is essentially numbers. And I'll even go so far as to agree that “ALL is G*D”.

Consequently if matter is a form of energy, and energy is a mathematical relationship (ratio) between any two things — as proposed by Into The Cool [at right] — then everything made of matter or energy is a mathematical construct. That includes meat brains and mystical minds. So, here’s my guess : meta-physical Enformation is the creative force behind Energy, which enforms Matter, which assumes the form of Brains, which in-turn generate metaphysical Minds and Self-images. Yet metaphysical entities are no more or less spiritual than mathematical objects. From the tolerant BothAnd perspective, you can think of the Mind/Self in the old-fashioned notions of Spirit/Soul, or in the modern terms of neurological patterns. Either way, those highly-evolved complexly-enformed minds are now making artificial brains out of mundane matter & energy. And who knows what amazing forms of Enformation will emerge from teleological Evolution next? 

End of Post 34

Click here
for popup

4. Teleological Energy :    Into The Cool is a book of physics, explaining thermo-dynamics in terms of a flow from positive to negative, from hot to cold, and from high information density to low order (entropy). The ratio of high to low determines the rate of change. But some upward “force” [see Enformy at left] allows highly complex systems to emerge from within the downhill flow of energy.
   The physically-complex Brain is one such system, and the mysterious Mind is a high-level function of that organ. So, the authors conclude that progressive upward evolution is a natural, though ironic, result of negative Entropy.

<< They seek to endow the second law of thermo-dynamics – which describes in formal mathematical terms a tendency for available energy to dissipate and become entropic – with the properties of a “force” that gives rise to various phenomena that serve its purposes. . . .  a “natural-istic teleology”. >>
http://complexsystems.org/publications/into-the-cool/

5. Mind Field :
   By analogy with electricity flowing through a wire and producing a magnetic field, we can metaphorically imagine that information flowing through neurons could create a mind field.
   Neuroscientists have looked in vain for more physical mechanisms to explain consciousness. Maybe a metaphysical explanation will be more fruitful.
   Yet, like quantum fields, the mind field will not be detected by instruments, but by rational inference. (e.g.You can’t see a magnetic field, but you can infer its presence from the odd behavior of iron filings.)

Enformy :
   In the Enformationism theory, Enformy is a hypothetical, holistic, metaphysical, natural trend, opposite to that of Entropy & Randomness, to produce Complexity & Progress.
   It is the mysterious teleological tendency for aimless energy to occasion-ally create the stable, but temporary, patterns we call Matter, Life, and Mind.
   The natural order is : first bodies, then brains, then minds, then self-conscious-ness, then who knows?.

Energy is Information :
1.https://physicsworld.com/a/information-converted-to-energy/
2.http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/blogs/physics/2014/04/is-information-fundamental/
3.https://physics.stackexchange.com/questions/22084/how-is-information-related-to-energy-in-physics
4.http://bigthink.com/philip-perry/the-basis-of-the-universe-may-not-be-energy-or-matter-but-information

Note : this is a brief overview of the mind/brain theory of Enformationism. Please raise any objections in the Forum.