What is Consciousness?
Consciousness is easy to recognize but difficult to define. Consciousness can be defined as, "the ability to be aware of and to be able to perceive the relationship between oneself and one's environment", or quite simply, "awareness." For complex organizations of matter such as animals with a brain, a description of consciousness may include the following ideas: "thoughts, sensations, perceptions, moods, emotions, dreams, and awareness of self."
At a basic level of consciousness, there seems to be an association with a sense of separation and awareness of the surrounding environment from the conscious entity. It also seems to be associated with the ability to process, store and/or act on information gathered from the external environment (Mitchell and Staretz, 2011). But is consciousness limited to the brain?
At a basic level of consciousness, there seems to be an association with a sense of separation and awareness of the surrounding environment from the conscious entity. It also seems to be associated with the ability to process, store and/or act on information gathered from the external environment (Mitchell and Staretz, 2011). But is consciousness limited to the brain?
Roots of Consciousness
Could it be that at the most fundamental level consciousness begins with ubiquitous quantum events? Evidence suggests that certain quantum phenomena operate at the macro level as well as the micro level and are responsible for many phenomena that living entities experience that cannot be otherwise explained. Just like everything else in nature, moving up the evolutionary chain of increasing complexity in organisms is built upon the foundation of what has come before. At the lowest level of consciousness resides the most basic aspects of undifferentiated awareness built upon the quantum principles of entanglement. At this most elementary levels all matter seems to be interconnected with all other matter and this interconnection even transcends space and time. This is the basis for the most fundamental aspect of consciousness which extends up the entire evolutionary chain of increasing complexity of living organisms (Mitchell and Staretz, 2011).
Holographic Processing
It has been suggested that the brain processes and stores information holographically as a massively processing and associative computer system. Researchers have studied this extensively and demonstrated it in the laboratory with animals and in operating theaters on humans. In the latter case the brain has been exposed and stimulated with low voltage electrical signals while the patients was conscious to describe the resulting experience. The subjects recalled extremely detailed and vivid memories as if they were actually reliving the experiences being recalled. Animals that have had portions of their brains damaged or removed have been able to recall memories (e.g., optimum ways to run a maze) even when the damage has been extensive. These experiments and several others provide evidence that suggest that brains store information holographically (e.g., stored as images contained within interference patterns). Not only that, researchers believe that the information is also processed holographically. This process has been attributed to, in effect, creating a detailed three dimensional movie generating the stream of consciousness that the mind experiences.
Holographic processing is accomplished with the brain acting as a type of logic circuit where the inputs are sensitive to the input signal. The result is a "virtual" signal which is a mirror image of the quantum emissions (e.g., photons of light) actually being emitted from the object being perceived. The brain acts as an information receptor utilizing adaptive resonance with a specific range of electromagnetic frequencies in its input path. The input signals received are a representation of the external object resonating with similar virtual signals generated (output) by the brain. The input signal is really the quantum emission spectrum of the object being perceived.
Like all holographic processing, the associative pattern that is created facilitates retrieval of information in a resonant loop utilizing overlapping reference signals of quantum emissions from the external object. Similar to how bats, dolphins, and whales, that use sonar to send out signals and receive reflections back to locate targets.
One of the most important aspects of holograms is that is exhibits the distributive property. This means that even a small part of an entire hologram contains the entire record of the recorded image but with less resolution. In other words, the holographic universe is composed of fractals, the same repeating pattern at every scale.
Holographic processing is necessary for the brain to perceive objects as they really exist in three dimensional space. If the brain had to rely solely on the visible light spectrum that was reflected off the external object and onto the retina of the eyes, the object would appear two dimensional just as it would be if a picture of the object was recorded photographically with a camera. Contrary to the popular belief that we see objects in three dimensions entirely because of binocular vision, just close one eye and observe an external object with the remaining open eye. This clearly presents a survival advantage to an organism allowing it to accurately see and locate objects in three dimensional space.
Holographic processing is not restricted to processing sensory information in visible light portion of the electromagnetic spectrum but it applies to enhancing all of the five normal sense. Consider snapping your fingers. The sound seems to originate form the location of the fingers in 3-D space and not at a point within the brain. This experience results from the fact that the signal carrying the sound to the brain is resonating with the virtual signal created in the brain (Mitchell and Staretz, 2011).
Holographic processing is accomplished with the brain acting as a type of logic circuit where the inputs are sensitive to the input signal. The result is a "virtual" signal which is a mirror image of the quantum emissions (e.g., photons of light) actually being emitted from the object being perceived. The brain acts as an information receptor utilizing adaptive resonance with a specific range of electromagnetic frequencies in its input path. The input signals received are a representation of the external object resonating with similar virtual signals generated (output) by the brain. The input signal is really the quantum emission spectrum of the object being perceived.
Like all holographic processing, the associative pattern that is created facilitates retrieval of information in a resonant loop utilizing overlapping reference signals of quantum emissions from the external object. Similar to how bats, dolphins, and whales, that use sonar to send out signals and receive reflections back to locate targets.
One of the most important aspects of holograms is that is exhibits the distributive property. This means that even a small part of an entire hologram contains the entire record of the recorded image but with less resolution. In other words, the holographic universe is composed of fractals, the same repeating pattern at every scale.
Holographic processing is necessary for the brain to perceive objects as they really exist in three dimensional space. If the brain had to rely solely on the visible light spectrum that was reflected off the external object and onto the retina of the eyes, the object would appear two dimensional just as it would be if a picture of the object was recorded photographically with a camera. Contrary to the popular belief that we see objects in three dimensions entirely because of binocular vision, just close one eye and observe an external object with the remaining open eye. This clearly presents a survival advantage to an organism allowing it to accurately see and locate objects in three dimensional space.
Holographic processing is not restricted to processing sensory information in visible light portion of the electromagnetic spectrum but it applies to enhancing all of the five normal sense. Consider snapping your fingers. The sound seems to originate form the location of the fingers in 3-D space and not at a point within the brain. This experience results from the fact that the signal carrying the sound to the brain is resonating with the virtual signal created in the brain (Mitchell and Staretz, 2011).
The Quantum Hologram
A growing body of evidence indicates that every physical object (both living and nonliving) has its own unique resonant holographic memory and this holographic image is stored within Zero Point Field (Marcer et al., 1997). This information, its storage and its access is collectively called the Quantum Hologram.
Evidence the Universe May be a Hologram
Theoretical physicists and astrophysicists, investigating irregularities in the cosmic microwave background (the 'afterglow' of the Big Bang), have found there is substantial evidence supporting a holographic explanation of the universe—in fact, as much as there is for the traditional explanation of these irregularities using the theory of cosmic inflation.
A holographic universe, an idea first suggested in the 1990s, is one where all the information that makes up our 3-D 'reality' (plus time) is contained in a 2-D surface on its boundaries.
Imagine that everything you see, feel and hear in three dimensions (and your perception of time) in fact emanates from a flat two-dimensional field. The idea is similar to that of ordinary holograms where a three-dimensional image is encoded in a two-dimensional surface, such as in the hologram on a credit card. However, this time, the entire universe is encoded.
Although not an example with holographic properties, it could be thought of as rather like watching a 3-D film in a cinema. We see the pictures as having height, width and crucially, depth—when in fact it all originates from a flat 2-D screen. The difference, in our 3-D universe, is that we can touch objects and the 'projection' is 'real' from our perspective.
In recent decades, advances in telescopes and sensing equipment have allowed scientists to detect a vast amount of data hidden in the 'white noise' or microwaves (similar to the random black and white dots you see on an un-tuned TV) left over from the moment the universe was created. Using this information, the team were able to make complex comparisons between networks of features in the data and quantum field theory. The researchers came to the conclusion that some of the simplest quantum field theories could explain nearly all cosmological observations of the early universe (Afshordi et al., 2017).
A holographic universe, an idea first suggested in the 1990s, is one where all the information that makes up our 3-D 'reality' (plus time) is contained in a 2-D surface on its boundaries.
Imagine that everything you see, feel and hear in three dimensions (and your perception of time) in fact emanates from a flat two-dimensional field. The idea is similar to that of ordinary holograms where a three-dimensional image is encoded in a two-dimensional surface, such as in the hologram on a credit card. However, this time, the entire universe is encoded.
Although not an example with holographic properties, it could be thought of as rather like watching a 3-D film in a cinema. We see the pictures as having height, width and crucially, depth—when in fact it all originates from a flat 2-D screen. The difference, in our 3-D universe, is that we can touch objects and the 'projection' is 'real' from our perspective.
In recent decades, advances in telescopes and sensing equipment have allowed scientists to detect a vast amount of data hidden in the 'white noise' or microwaves (similar to the random black and white dots you see on an un-tuned TV) left over from the moment the universe was created. Using this information, the team were able to make complex comparisons between networks of features in the data and quantum field theory. The researchers came to the conclusion that some of the simplest quantum field theories could explain nearly all cosmological observations of the early universe (Afshordi et al., 2017).
References
Afshordi, N., Corianò, C., Delle Rose, L., Gould, E. and Skenderis, K. (2017). From Planck Data to Planck Era: Observational Tests of Holographic Cosmology. Physical Review Letters, 118(4). https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.118.041301
Marcer, P., & Schempp W. (1997). Model of the Neuron Working by Quantum Holography. Informatica, 21, pp.519-534.
Mitchell, E. and Staretz, R. (2011). The Quantum Hologram and the Nature of Consciousness. Journal of Cosmology, [online] 14. Available at: http://www.experiencer.org/1780-2/ [Accessed 7 Oct. 2017].
Marcer, P., & Schempp W. (1997). Model of the Neuron Working by Quantum Holography. Informatica, 21, pp.519-534.
Mitchell, E. and Staretz, R. (2011). The Quantum Hologram and the Nature of Consciousness. Journal of Cosmology, [online] 14. Available at: http://www.experiencer.org/1780-2/ [Accessed 7 Oct. 2017].
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